Bunyips in the Classroom: The 10 Changes

An elephant in the room is a big embarrassing issue everyone is aware of, which is deliberately not mentioned. A bunyip in the room is a big issue people aren’t aware of, which is extremely obvious and thus embarrassing, once highlighted and acknowledged. Currently, Australian education is full of bunyips.

Bunyips in the Classroom: The 10 Changes explores key issues currently impeding progress in Australian education. While many other nations enjoy highly effective education, Australia has ongoing low literacy and academic achievement, far too many struggling readers, excessive child and teacher workload, and inappropriately pressured teaching and learning: our Find the Learning Time Challenge.

Bunyips doesn’t just suggest changes. It also provides logical practical solutions, including the 10 Changes, so Australia too can achieve and enjoy highly effective education and highly literate, well-educated Aussies.

Well-considered and wise, Bunyips  is a highly entertaining and easy read, as it explores the 10 Changes and Australia’s need for them, and introduces our many education bunyips. Dr Galletly’s insights are shrewd, insightful, practical, and positive. Her logical 10 Changes improvements provide Australia with wonderful potential for improvement.  

An enticing solution-focussed book for teachers, health professionals, parents, academics and researchers alike, Bunyips is for all readers interested in exploring Australia’s current education struggles, our crucial needs for improvement, and strategic ways forward.

Bunyips is the first book in the Aussie Reading Woes trilogy. Its partner books, The Research Tours: The Impacts of Orthographic Disadvantage (Book 2, now on sale) and The 10 Changes: The Nitty Gritty (Book 3) which will be released later in 2023.

Dr Susan Galletly is a Mackay speech language pathologist, researcher & teacher, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Central Queensland University, keen to improve literacy outcomes of lower achievers. She has a keen interest in the impacts of cognitive processing skills and high cognitive load on communication, literacy and learning skills; and crosslinguistic differences in literacy development, difficulties and learning needs. Recently working as coordinator of a collaborative ARC project developing principles of optimal instruction for early years at-risk readers, Susan also conducts a private SLP practice working with school children with literacy learning difficulties.