Columnists articles

‘Perhaps the most important realisation for any school community is that culture is never owned by leadership alone.’ In her first column for Teacher, Associate Principal Rachael Lehr explores how strong, positive school cultures are deliberately built through everyday actions and shared responsibility.

‘Supporting relationship skills often requires empathy, active listening and sustained dialogue.’ OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares international insights from TALIS 2024 on how teachers respond when students disengage or struggle with relationship skills.

In his new Teacher column, Professor Martin Westwell – Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education – shares findings from a major systematic review of persistence and academic resilience across K-12 education. He highlights how persistence and resilience are not fixed personality traits but rather a part of the learning process, shaped by task design, classroom conditions, and how teachers respond when students struggle.

‘Too often, civics and citizenship education is framed about students rather than with them.’ In his latest Teacher column Professor Martin Westwell – Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education – shares details of the first Active Citizenship Convention, which gave prominence to student voice.

‘… research published in recent months has shown how students’ dispositions to learning are shaped by us, and how these dispositions in turn influence achievement.’ In his latest Teacher column, Professor Martin Westwell – Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education – discusses the maths gender gap.

‘… Ukraine’s efforts to reimagine the professional learning journey of its extraordinary teachers is a reminder to us all: the strength of an education system depends on the strength of its teaching profession.’ OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares news from an ambitious stakeholder conference in Kyiv.

'In embracing EdChat, we chose responsiveness over rigidity, learning over waiting, and trust over control.’ In his latest column, Professor Martin Westwell – Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education – shares the thinking behind a generative AI chatbot that has been custom-built for teaching and learning, and its initial impact.

‘By focusing on future-orientated education, we can find innovative solutions to the megatrends our planet faces.’ In his first Teacher column for 2025, OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares finding from the latest Trends Shaping Education report, and the implications for teachers, school leaders, students and policymakers.

In his first Teacher column Professor Martin Westwell, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education, discusses a worrying trend in education and PISA 2022 evidence that ‘our greatest strength in education is the professional judgement of our teachers’.

In his first Teacher column for 2025, Professor Geoff Masters AO poses these questions: will schooling be different for children born this year, and if so, how? He then offers 3 suggestions for how learning at school might evolve by 2040.