menu_open Columnists
John Frew

John Frew

Pearls and Irritations

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

When charity no longer means need

When charity no longer means need

Australia’s charitable framework now rewards compliance over need, allowing well-resourced institutions and contested activities to sit alongside...

30.03.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Half the truth: defending public education requires more honesty, not less

Half the truth: defending public education requires more honesty, not less

Criticism of public schools is not entirely wrong – but by ignoring unequal conditions, it misdiagnoses the problem and misplaces responsibility....

29.03.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Regions, not postcodes: the structural reality of rural public education

Educational disadvantage in Australia is often framed as urban or socioeconomic. But across regional and remote communities, public schools operate...

01.03.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Shame hasn’t vanished. Care has

Public outrage fixates on the absence of shame among elites. But the deeper problem is cultural and structural – a political economy that has pushed...

19.02.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Victoria’s school funding deal locks in inequality

Victoria’s latest school funding agreement freezes public schools below the Schooling Resource Standard, formalising stagnation while preserving the...

13.02.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Why Australia should consider boycotting the World Cup

10.02.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Education savings plans and the quiet erosion of public schooling

03.02.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Trump, misogyny, and the refusal of repair

28.01.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Grief, proximity and the failure of moral judgement

11.01.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

The market lie at the heart of public education policy

16.12.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

The pecking order: how class blindness governs Australian schools

08.12.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Why false beliefs feel safer than the truth

28.11.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Innovation talk, austerity walk: Australia’s failing science policy

23.11.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Managing bullying or manufacturing shame? How neoliberal bureaucracy gets it wrong – again

23.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Counting what doesn’t count: How consultants are hollowing out the university

17.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

From play to performance: Sport as the new Roman circus

14.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

How the ALP outsourced the soul of higher education

07.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

China’s youth: Between collectivism and the new individualism

03.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

The social smog of neoliberalism: How competition breeds violence and division

14.09.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

How the ALP built the market that is destroying public schools

28.08.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Ley’s impossible task – Leading a party at war with its future

27.05.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Truth, citizenship and the failure of Australian education

04.05.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Beyond the test: Reclaiming education for purpose, compassion and community

07.03.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

The politics of fear: How belief and emotion drive electoral outcomes

14.02.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

Public vs. private schools: The illusion of collaboration

20.01.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew

The silent crisis killing Australia’s public education

The exodus from Australia’s public schools is not a quiet migration – it’s an outright stampede. This dramatic shift, particularly in...

13.01.2025 20

InDaily

John Frew

The silent crisis killing Australia’s public education

13.01.2025 20

The New Daily

John Frew

The silent crisis killing public education

The exodus from Australia’s public schools is not a quiet migration – it’s an outright stampede. This dramatic shift, particularly in secondary...

08.01.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

John Frew