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More than half of Australia’s population is under COVID-19 lockdowns, which means many of you are right in the thick of a long period of remote learning, maybe while trying to homeschool your own children at the same time. We’ve been separated from loved ones, we’ve missed important milestones and celebrations, and been restricted from doing some of the things we enjoy most. It’s no wonder our wellbeing has taken a hit. That’s why our fortnightly publication, Wellbeing by Teacher, may be just what you’re looking for. In today’s episode we run through some of the recent wellbeing pieces we’ve published, as well as some other highlights from a busy month here at Teacher. Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: The Hatchery Schools Learning Community

Our guest today is Dr Gary Stager, one of the world’s leading experts and advocates for computer programming, robotics and learning-by-doing in classrooms. He’s also a journalist, teacher educator, consultant, professor, software developer, publisher, school administrator, and presenter at conferences around the world – but we’ll have Gary explain to you a little more about his extensive and impressive work early on in the episode. The reason for our interview today is to talk about his 30-year study into laptop use in schools. In fact, in 1990, Gary led the professional development in the world’s first laptop school. We ask him about the challenges they faced back then in the implementation of the program, how students engaged with the technology in the early days, but also what he’s learned about the way computers are used in schools today. Guest: Gary Stager Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: The Hatchery Schools Learning Community

In this episode of School Improvement, we’re taking you to a school in rural New South Wales where they’ve seen students in Years 5 to 9 read 12 books a year, and a 40 per cent increase in male students reading beyond their assigned texts. It’s all because of the reading culture they’ve developed and Head of Middle School and English teacher Alex Wharton has had a key role in this. He’s been named a Commonwealth Bank Teaching Fellow this year for his work, and he joins us in today’s episode to discuss what they’ve implemented at Carinya Christian School to see more students pick up novels to read in their spare time. Alex shares some fantastic insights in this episode, so let’s jump straight in and hear first a little bit about the school context. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Alex Wharton Sponsor: Australian Volunteers Program

With ACER’s Research Conference 2021 fast approaching, at Teacher magazine, we’ve been catching up with some of the keynote speakers that are on the line-up for the five-day online conference. The theme is: ‘Excellent progress for every student: What will it take?’ and, at the time of publishing this episode, you can still secure your registration. The conference kicks off on the 16th of August. In today’s episode we're going to get you up to speed on these exciting stories at Teacher, and also some more of my highlights. And, like all episodes of Teacher Staffroom, we’ll be posing some questions throughout the podcast, so feel free to pause the audio as you go, gather some colleagues and discuss together how these stories could be relevant to your school context.

Teachers are thought of by many as an important role model in the community. And when it comes to drawing a line between a teacher’s professional and personal life, this can be challenging, particularly when it comes to their private use of social media. This idea has been explored by two researchers from the School of Law at Western Sydney University – Dr Sandy Noakes and Dr Sarah Hook. Their paper, which looks at the status of regulation of teacher behaviour on social media in Australia, found a huge variance in the social media policies that are in place for educators at schools across the country, and that there is room for teachers to be more aware of their rights in this area. The impetus for this research was a decision made by the High Court in Australia in 2019 on the Comcare and Banerji case, which you’ll hear Sarah and Sandy refer to throughout this episode. This case involved an employee of the Australian Human Rights Commission who used a private, anonymous Twitter account to criticise their emp

ACER’s Research Conference is back in 2021, after a COVID-19 pandemic pause last year. The fully online event kicks off in August, and runs from the 16th to the 20th. The 2021 theme is ‘Excellent progress for every student: What will it take?’ and will feature international researchers from a range of disciplines. One of the keynote speakers this year is Rich Lehrer, Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A former high school science teacher, Rich is a member of the National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and a recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions in Applications of Psychology to Education. Ahead of the event next month, we sat down with Rich to discuss his research that explores science and mathematics education for elementary school students in the US. He also gives listeners a taste of what he’ll be sharing at the conference and why he decided

In today’s episode we're shining a spotlight on reading, as it’s been a topic covered quite a lot on Teacher recently. From encouraging students to find a love of reading, to ensuring they have access to a wide variety of texts, to the books children borrowed most frequently from libraries in 2020 – there is so much to squeeze into this Teacher Staffroom episode. We’ll be posing questions throughout, so as always, feel free to pause the audio and consider the questions either by yourself or perhaps with some colleagues. Host: Rebecca Vukovic

A literature review undertaken by Hannah Yared from Monash University has examined racism and racial bias in the Australian primary school context. In total, six studies were examined for this research which uncovered four main themes. The first is a lack of teacher confidence and competency regarding racial issues. This meant that in general, teachers tend not be have the confidence to engage fully with racially diverse students, and to discuss racial issues in a meaningful way. The second theme was white normativity, which is in reference to the fact educators tend to position whiteness as the norm for which everything is compared to. Third was colour-blindness which in this instance refers to the belief that minimising discussions about racial differences or racism is actually better than drawing attention to them, which Hannah’s research found many teachers tend to believe. And the final theme was silencing, which refers to the silencing of discussions about racial issues. Crucially though, Hannah’s re

In this Teaching Methods episode, we speak to education consultant Michael Minas about a study he conducted to measure primary school students’ attitudes towards completing challenging problem solving tasks in maths. Michael shares details of the lesson structure he utilised, and why students responded to it so positively. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Michael Minas

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Teacher Staffroom, where we catch you up on the latest evidence, insight, and action. In this episode, we’re looking into leadership. Many educators are engaging in leadership practice as part of their day-to-day work, no matter what position they hold in a school. So, whether you're a principal, a leading teacher or an aspiring leader, there's something for you in this episode. Like each edition of Teacher Staffroom, we'll take you through these topics, along with other noteworthy stories. I'll also be posing some questions throughout this podcast, so feel free to pause the audio as you go, gather some colleagues and discuss together how these stories could be relevant to your school context. Host: Dominique Russell

In this episode in our School Improvement series, we're joined by Vanessa Rauland, Portia Odell and Karen Murcia, who have recently published an examination of a two-year pilot study which encouraged schools to actively try to reduce their carbon emissions. Their study, and resulting report titled Schools: An Untapped Opportunity for a Carbon Neutral Future assessed which actions proved to be most effective, considering both the cost involved and the outcome achieved. The study came about after Vanessa Rauland and her colleagues conducted the two-year pilot program, the Low Carbon School’s Pilot Program, between 2015 and 2017. Fifteen schools were involved in this, and then PhD candidate Portia Odell, decided to investigate further as part of her PhD research. Thirteen of the original 15 schools jumped on board for this further examination, and it’s the examination of these schools which we’ll discuss today. Alongside Vanessa and Portia, we’re joined by Karen who was the supervisor for this research of Portia

Casual relief teachers, or CRTs, are an integral part of the teacher workforce, but many often report feeling a lack of support and exclusion at schools they’re working in. We know this ourselves at Teacher magazine, with many of you getting in touch to share these same challenges you’ve faced as a CRT. Minami Uchida from Macquarie University has analysed the experiences of casual relief teachers working in primary schools in Australia. Her study involved surveying 104 teachers who were at various points in their career as casual teachers, and interviewing executive staff for their perspectives. Common challenges faced by casual teachers emerged, as well as useful supports that can be provided by executive school staff to mitigate these concerns. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Minami Uchida Sponsor: Bank First

The term ‘evidence-based practice’ is widely used in education. Schools are presented with strategies, programs and approaches that claim to be ‘research-based’ or ‘evidence-based’. But what is evidence-based practice? And, how do schools determine which of these programs and methods have solid foundations in research? These questions have been explored in several articles and podcasts on Teacher this month. Throughout this episode, I’ll be taking a deeper dive to explore some of the key messages to come from these pieces. I’ll also highlight some of the contributions we’ve published, as well as some of my favourites pieces to be featured on Teacher this month. I’d be keen to hear if these were some of yours as well, as well as any general feedback you may have, so please leave a comment on the transcript of this podcast on the Teacher magazine website, or rate and review us in your favourite podcast app. Host: Rebecca Vukovic

As a primary school teacher, how confident would you say you are at teaching music? Do you feel adequately prepared to teach music, or incorporate music into your lessons? What areas of music do you feel you need the most support in? A pilot professional development program on music teaching in primary schools has been assessed in a new report. The program involved five separate sessions on different areas in music, like composition, singing and instruments. The confidence of the teachers involved in the program were assessed before the program commenced, and after they’d completed all the sessions. The main contributor to their increase in confidence was the simple activities they were able to pick up, which we’ll share in this episode. We're joined in this episode by the report’s authors, Benjamin Thorn and Inga Brasche. Benjamin is a composer and a casual lecturer in Creative Arts education at the University of New England, and Inga Brasche is a former university lecturer and currently teaches at Presbyt

You’ll be well aware that here at Teacher we are all about promoting quality teaching and leading and assisting school improvement at a grassroots level. We aim to support educators by sharing stories using evidence-based approaches which you can trust and adapt for use in your own school settings. We also ask you how you use Teacher content in your practice in our annual reader survey, and so many of you always tell us about how stories we’ve shared have motivated school change, or inspired discussion with colleagues. But on a broader scale, how are teachers and school leaders accessing and using research and evidence? What challenges do they face when doing so? And, what enables quality use of research and evidence? The research team for the Monash Q Project is looking at all of these questions in a report they have just released. The report shares data from a survey they conducted of teachers and school leaders on how they’re using research and evidence in their work. The Monash Q Project is a much large

Thanks for listening to this episode of Teacher Staffroom, where we catch you up on the latest evidence, insight, and action. I'm Rebecca Vukovic. In 2015, Teacher columnist and ACER CEO Professor Geoff Masters penned a column for Teacher on the ‘big five’ education challenges facing Australian schools. This influential column remains the most popular article to ever be published on Teacher, collecting hundreds of thousands of page views over the past six years. This year, ACER decided to hold a five-part webinar series to revisit the big five challenges and ask what progress has been made on each, and what needs to happen next? To date, three of the webinars have already taken place, and in today’s podcast, we’ll be exploring each of them and providing details on how you can catch the next two, which will take place in May. By the way, if you’ve missed any of the earlier webinars, not to worry, they’ve all been recorded and I’ll provide links on how to watch them in the transcript of this episode. Host:

We’re taking you to Tasmania in today’s episode, where staff at Bowen Road Primary School have been working with a local electrical engineer for a few years now to teach students about coding. The partnership came about through the CSIRO’s STEM Professionals in Schools program, which invites STEM industry professionals from across the country to volunteer in schools to share their expertise and real-world perspectives with students. We're joined in this episode by the electrical engineer volunteering at Bowen Road Primary School, Robbie Bell, from Hydro Tasmania, which is Australia’s largest generator of renewable energy. Lynne Hanlon, the educator at Bowen Road Primary School who facilitated this partnership, also joins us to offer her perspective. Host: Dominique Russell Guests: Robbie Bell, Lynne Hanlon

A study has followed primary school teachers through an entire school year to document how they taught mathematics to be inclusive of children with Down syndrome. Each teacher involved in the study had a student with Down syndrome in their classroom, and the researchers took note of examples of innovative mathematics teaching practice by observing lessons, looking at the maths work completed by children with Down syndrome, and one-on-one interviews with the teachers involved. As a result of this research, four different ways that teachers can include students with Down syndrome in their maths classrooms have emerged. Associate Professors Rhonda Faragher, from the University of Queensland, and Associate Professor Barbara Clarke, from Monash University, have published their findings in the Mathematics Education Research Journal. Dr Faragher joins us today to discuss the research. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Rhonda Faragher

As we settle in to the 2021 school year, teachers and school leaders are certainly grappling with the continued disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But how can school communities begin to implement change from things already learned from previous periods of remote teaching and learning? For instance, how has remote teaching and learning changed the way school communities collaborate? How can schools work more effectively with tutors to support students who might have fallen behind last year? These are two topics we’ve covered at Teacher recently, and in today’s episode we’re going to take you through some of the most important points. And, like all episodes of Teacher Staffroom, we’ll be posing some questions throughout the podcast, so feel free to pause the audio as you go, gather some colleagues and discuss together how these stories could be relevant to your school context. Host: Dominique Russell

How can teachers go about identifying the underlying causes of a student’s behaviour, and then approach responding to it in a respectful and effective way? To dissect these questions further, we’re joined today by Senior Lecturer at Monash University, Dr Erin Leif, and PhD student and former primary school teacher, Russell Fox. Erin joined Monash University in 2018 after working as a therapy assistant in a school for children with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts in the United States and completing her masters and doctoral degrees in behaviour sciences. Now, in her capacity at Monash University, Erin heads up a postgraduate course in applied behaviour analysis. Russell’s PhD research – which you’ll hear him speak about throughout the episode – focused on understanding what is required to support teachers to successfully and sustainably implement evidence-based behaviour support practices, specifically School-wide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (or SWPBIS). Host: Dominique Russell