Dominique Russell

Teaching assistants (TAs) and other specialist support staff are important resources in a school. In this edition of Researching education: 5 further readings, we share 5 resources on this topic, including guidance reports designed specifically for leaders and a report on the role of Aboriginal Education Workers.

As a school leader, organising your school timetable might be a task you’re beginning to turn your mind to as we look ahead to the 2026 school year. In this article, we speak to 2 principals trialling major changes to their school calendar – one by moving to an 8-term model, and the other by introducing a 4-day learning week. 

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) captures the knowledge and experiences of school educators. Artificial intelligence (AI) featured as survey topic for the first time in 2024. This infographic shows the percentage of Australian teachers who ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the following benefits and challenges of using AI tools in education.

A survey of over 115,000 students in the UK found that over 71,000 only enjoy reading ‘a bit’ or ‘not at all’ in their free time. To understand more about what could make them want to read, these respondents were asked to choose as many options as they liked from a list of 13 suggestions. The results presented in this infographic offer insights into possible strategies for your own students.

What opportunities are available to your students to develop skills in data analysis, game theory and digital citizenship? eSports might be one vehicle for schools. In this article we speak to the eSport Coordinator at Ripley Valley State Secondary College to find out about its eSport Academy.

It’s well known from the research that high quality teaching and leadership teams learn from each other's practices. In today’s episode of Teacher Staffroom, we highlight one school’s story of their journey to build staff capacity. We also look at what principals have learned from leading during crises, and the success of one school’s phone-free year 9 program.

‘Instead of focusing on absence, we focus on presence now. We celebrate students turning up.’ In today’s episode, Dominique Russell is joined by Chantel Barnes, Principal at Glenora District School in rural Tasmania, to hear all about how they’ve flipped the script on attendance in the last 12 months by focusing on the language they use and sharing data with all members of the school community. 

It’s well known that physical activity can positively impact students’ health and wellbeing. But what do students enjoy about PE lessons? How could certain aspects of PE lessons be improved? New research explores student views on PE and sports days. In this article, we find out more from the lead researcher. 

How are you engaging students in STEM subjects and empowering them to choose a career in STEM? These are the aims of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge, and the 2025 winners have been announced today. Find out more in today’s article. 

The Walton Family Foundation partnered with Gallup to find out how US teachers are using AI tools in the classroom and the potential for it to save time. Over 2,200 K-12 teachers responded to a survey in April 2025. Here’s a snapshot of some of the findings on how frequently teachers use AI for 9 different tasks, and how many save time by doing so.