What made you decide to become a teacher? We’ve been looking at teacher recruitment this month, but perhaps from a different lens that you might think. In this episode, you’ll hear about what young people are saying about teaching as a career, how much schools in Australia are growing year on year, and more.

We speak often about the importance of students having an adequate amount of food to help them focus and learn during the school day. But what about teachers? In today’s podcast special, we’re joined by Tammie Jakstas, former teacher and Accredited Practising Dietitian, to hear about her teacher nutrition study.

Purposeful school design can support student learning and wellbeing. Aspect Hills Shire School is a new autism-specific primary school that opened its doors to students last month. In this photo story, Principal Shane Morris takes Teacher readers on a tour of the new school and its design features.

In the latest Teacher reader survey, you let us know you’d like more content on the topic of curriculum implementation. At the ACER Research Conference 2025, poster presenter Dr Liana Luyt showcased her research into effective incorporation of the General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum. Here, she shares the details and an implementation guideline resource for school leaders. 

A US study has explored the different reasons why pre-service teachers (PSTs) decided to pursue a teaching career. Researchers analysed roughly 2,800 essay responses and identified 10 ‘supertopics’. The most common supertopic, appearing in nearly 60% of essays, was ’altruism’, followed by ‘intrinsic motivation’. This infographic gives an overview of the results.

Megan Gilmour is the CEO and Co-founder of MissingSchool, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness of the educational and social needs of children who miss school because of serious illness or injury. In today’s Q&A we hear more about her work to help students stay connected to their classmates. 

As a teacher, knowing the words your students frequently use in their writing can help you understand where to extend their spelling and vocabulary skills. The 2024 Oxford Children’s Word of the Year report reveals words frequently used by primary aged children in their writing. 

In our latest reader submission Rebecca J Collie, Andrew J Martin and Dragan Gasevic share an update from their work into teachers’ use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek. They discuss the findings of a new Australian study, and the implications for schools.

We know the global teacher shortage is impacting many different school contexts, and that encouraging young people to consider a career in teaching is an important part of the long-term picture. Dr Tracy Woodroffe joins us to discuss her 12-month research project that gathered perspectives from Aboriginal students and teachers. These perspectives informed recommendations to encourage more Aboriginal young people in the Northern Territory to consider teaching.  

In this episode of Teacher Staffroom, we share highlights from our podcasts this month, including our episodes with Professor John Munro and Dr Claire Scoular. We also delve into our archive to share some of our most popular content of all time, some with over a quarter of a million views.