4.51pm Thank you for joining us By
Thank you for reading our live coverage of the 2026 Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit today.
This is where we will leave our coverage, here are some of the key takeaways from today:
Herald editor Jordan Baker, NSW Education secretary Murat Dizdar, and NSW Education Minister Prue Car at the Sydney Morning Herald’s 2026 Schools Summit. Flavio Brancaleone NSW Education Minister Prue Car announced the rollout of gifted education for more than 750,000 students in NSW public schools, a policy she first flagged at the Herald’s summit in 2024. Car said “postcode should never determine a child’s opportunity”. Education leaders, principals, and teachers have weighed into how artificial intelligence has played a role in the sector. NSW Education secretary Murat Dizdar said knowledge would “matter even more” in the age of AI, and the chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW Dallas McInerney said schools needed to ‘avoid the mistakes’ universities made with AI. NESA boss Paul Martin said remaining cautious, waiting and watching to take advice was the most reasonable approach. The nation’s curriculum authority will review the kindergarten to year 2 maths curriculum after NAPLAN data showed that around one in three Australian students in year 3 are not reaching challenging but achievable numeracy standards, and one in 10 are still requiring additional support.
Teachers and school leaders have spoken of the growing challenges in mathematics education, pointing to rising student anxiety and declining confidence as a pressing concern in classrooms.
Chief executive of NESA Paul Martin has acknowledged the difficulty of HSC mathematics, and said the subject had an “image problem”, but reiterated its importance for society to properly function.
School leaders say the impacts of COVID-19 continue to shape student wellbeing, with anxiety and body image pressures rising among both girls and boys.
Senior school leaders say solving the state’s teacher shortage requires more than short-term fixes and urge governments to improve support for early career teachers, including addressing the workload pressures driving staff away.
A university professor has raised the alarm on a decline in students’ civics knowledge, and called for the subject to be established in schools’ curriculum, so students can be educated on democratic knowledge, skills and values. 4.26pm Educators confront ‘maths anxiety’ in classrooms By David Barwell
Teachers and school leaders have spoken of the growing challenges in mathematics education, pointing to rising student anxiety and declining confidence as a pressing concern in classrooms.
Speaking at today’s summit, Kelly Norris, senior research associate at the Centre for Independent Studies, described the emotional toll maths can take on students.
“I had students break down in my class because they were so incredibly anxious about maths,” she said. Norris argued that the issue is rarely a lack of ability. Instead, she said, many students become trapped in a cycle that begins in the early years of schooling.
A panel on early intervention in foundational mathematics for kindergarten to year 2 students. Flavio Brancaleone “There’s a huge opportunity we’re missing in the early years to identify who is struggling and intervene. Without that, students fall into a terrible cycle – low self-esteem, low motivation, anxiety. They avoid maths lessons, avoid homework, avoid choosing it as a subject. With less practice, they get worse. And that reinforces the belief they ‘can’t do
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