We’re right at the beginning of a new school year here in Australia. That means most of you are busy setting up your classrooms, meeting new students and establishing relationships with them and their families. In today’s podcast special, we’ve spoken with several winners from last year’s Teacher Awards to ask them their most valuable tips, strategies and priorities for starting the school year off right.

The Culturally Nourishing Schooling project aims to champion Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural inclusion and genuine long-term engagement in First Nations communities across New South Wales. In today’s article we speak to Julia Dimitriadis from Matraville Sports High School about how the program has helped her to feel more confident to incorporate Indigenous knowledges and cultures in her classroom.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic affect public perceptions of teachers and the teaching profession, and how were their views and beliefs influenced by media coverage? Researchers in the UK have been exploring these questions, and their findings offer some interesting insights into how society values the profession, and the impact this has on teacher mental health and wellbeing.

In our first reader submission of the new year, Dr Rebecca J Collie shares findings from her latest study showing the link between teacher motivation, wellbeing and retention, and how this can help school leaders support staff.

Teacher dips into the pages of Leading Professional Conversations: Adaptive expertise for schools, the new book from Emeritus Professor Helen Timperley. This exclusive extract discusses the importance of firstly establishing the purpose and focus of the conversation, and some things to think about before diving in.

It’s time for our annual podcast highlights episode for 2023! The editorial team at Teacher have selected some of our favourite episodes of the year, across a range of different series, and will be chatting about why we enjoyed them and why they resonated with our audience so much.

School Assembly is the podcast series from Teacher that explores what it takes to build a new school from the ground up. In episode 5, we talk to Jo Camozzato, Principal of Bemin Secondary College, about the physical build at the dual campus site.

As a school leader, a key consideration when implementing a new approach, or evaluating existing practices, is the effective use of data. A new support resource outlines 7 steps to guide school leaders in using data for monitoring and evaluation. Find out more in today’s article.

Our annual reader survey just concluded for another year. This year, many of you let us know you’d like more content on the topic of AI and teacher workload. In this episode, we highlight a range of stories we’ve published recently that you might find useful.

In this episode of The Research Files, we speak with Suzanne Rice from the University of Melbourne about her new research paper which explores the current diversity of Australia’s teacher workforce, the positive impact a diverse teacher workforce can have on student outcomes, and practical strategies for school leaders on retaining a diverse staff.