Short articles

Helping Indigenous children get the best start to their formal schooling by modelling the day-to-day running of an early primary classroom is one of the aims of the animated children’s series, Little J & Big Cuz, which is back for its second season.

Can student voice offer insights into how schools can improve reading achievement? A new Australian study examining the link between secondary students’ attitudes towards school and reading performance has found that experiencing bullying has a strong relationship with how students perform on the NAPLAN reading assessment.

St Paul’s College’s new campus in Melbourne is transforming the education of students with additional needs. In this photo story, we take a closer look at some of the learning spaces, and hear from the principal and architect about what’s behind the design.

What makes a teacher great? In our latest reader submission, David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), explores some of the characteristics that great teachers have in common.

In this monthly series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online catalogues. This month’s theme is parental engagement.

Drawing on students’ enthusiasm and engagement with the medium of film, David Chapman decided to introduce a documentary filmmaking unit in his Year 7 English lessons. Here, he explains how he did it and shares tips for other educators.

Introducing documentary filmmaking to the classroom is something teachers can do across the curriculum, with students of different ages and abilities. This AFTRS Media Lab learning resource and accompanying teacher guide provides a practical introduction to the medium.

At this New South Wales secondary school for boys, a student survey revealed many students say they do not like reading because ‘reading is something girls do’. We speak to the Head of Library at St Joseph’s College to see how she changed these attitudes and increased reading engagement.

The Alfa Omega School in Indonesia is an example of architects working alongside the local community to come up with a functional facility that’s also easy on the eye, and the environment.

Researchers have assessed the impact of physically active lessons on students’ educational, health and cognition outcomes. They found that implementing physical activity into classroom lessons has a positive impact on some domains.