School leaders play a crucial role in improving outcomes for students and the success of a school community. But, what happens when they leave? In today’s episode of School Improvement we’re talking about succession planning.

This month, we’ve been finding out how Parklands Christian College introduced a STEM Studies elective. Here, Kristie Schulz talks about student assessment and reflects on some of the highlights and challenges of the last 12 months.

In 2017, Parklands Christian College in Brisbane launched a new elective for Year 10s called STEM Studies. In this first instalment of a three-part series, Kristie Schulz – Lead Teacher of Mathematics and Science – explains how the journey began.

In Australia scholarly articles and media reports regularly state that between 30 and 50 per cent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years. But, where do those figures come from and how accurate are they? A study published in the Australian Journal of Education suggests there is no robust Australian evidence and data.

Results from the latest cycle of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) show the literacy achievement of Year 4 students in Australia has improved. However, there are significant achievement gaps by gender, Indigenous status, socioeconomic status and school location. ACER Deputy CEO (Research) Dr Sue Thomson, joins Teacher to discuss the results further.

In today’s podcast special we speak with Neil Bramsen and Brett McKay who were named winners of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching – one for primary and one for secondary.

In this instalment of The Research Files we discuss student fitness and wellbeing, specifically, two simple exercise programs – the first is a new project aimed at improving adolescent health and wellbeing, and the second is being used by thousands of early years and primary students across the world.

Are male teachers headed for extinction in Australia? Researchers who carried out the first ever study tracking the trajectory of male participation in the teaching profession say the short answer is ‘yes’. Macquarie University's Dr Kevin McGrath joins Teacher to explain more.

Professor Simone Reinhold joins Teacher to discuss inquiry based learning in primary mathematics, including the benefits of students working on a common task with differentiated outcomes, and the role of the educator in finding a balance between explorative and informative learning.

Three Deakin University academics ­– Dr Linda Hobbs, Associate Professor Coral Campbell and Associate Professor Colleen Vale – recently visited ACER to share their research on out-of-field teaching. In today’s School Improvement podcast, we share some highlights from their presentation.