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. In today’s episode we’re going to get you up to speed on these exciting stories at Teacher, and also some more of our highlights.

In education research, an ‘effect size’ has traditionally been used to sell the promise of improved outcomes, for both teachers and students, in the lucrative professional development market. However, critiquing the quality of research is more important than relying on a single measure, writes Dr Drew Miller.

Australian schools and teachers will be better equipped to help young people navigate the online world safely with the launch of a new national online safety education framework from eSafety.

‘In a digital society threatened by various disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, lifelong learning attitudes have become even more crucial in fostering the resilience and adaptation of youngsters.’ In his latest Teacher column, Andreas Schleicher discusses how teachers, schools, education systems and parents can influence the development of lifelong learning attitudes.

A new whole-school program targeting positive body image development for students in primary school aims to work towards preventing body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in young Australians.

A series of consultations undertaken by the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Tasmania has identified that young people in Tasmania believe a more responsive education system would improve their overall wellbeing, and further, what they think specifically needs to be improved.

Is school a safe place for gender and sexuality diverse students to be themselves? In today’s Q&A, Western Sydney University researcher Dr Jacqueline Ullman shares findings from her report Free2Be…Yet?, a follow-up to 2015’s Free2Be?. It details the findings from a second nationwide survey of gender and sexuality diverse Australian secondary school students.

Each year, in the Teacher survey, we ask our readers to share one piece of advice they'd give to a fellow educator. Here, we share some responses from our 2020 survey on the topic of working collaboratively with students.

‘What can we learn from one school that is showing the way in supporting sustainable education using a whole-school approach throughout its entire systems and operations?’ Julie Bosevska and Dr Jeana Kriewaldt, from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, share four ‘lighthouse practices’ to help schools strengthen their approach to sustainability.

Findings from an action research project in three West Australian schools suggest the use of quality mentor texts when explicitly teaching how to write narratives can improve students’ storytelling ability. Ron Gorman and Dr Sandy Heldsinger share more details about the teaching and assessment strategies used, and samples of student writing.