‘To say that teachers have a significant impact on students’ motivation and engagement is not controversial, nor particularly enlightening. Trucks can be filled with the research papers that show this.’ In this reader submission, Professor Andrew Martin says a more informative exercise is to dig into the ways teachers make a difference to students’ motivation and engagement.

‘Clearly, the decline in Australia’s PISA scores is a complex problem, necessitating complex and varied solutions. What is evident from these data, however, is that the decline in scores cannot be attributed to one particular school sector, but it is shared across the whole system.’ In her latest Teacher column, Sue Thomson examines achievement, school climate and student wellbeing in Australia’s three school sectors.

What makes leadership impactful in regional, rural and remote schools? In this episode of The Research Files, we chat with Scott Eacott, unpacking some of the concepts covered in his recent research on leadership in regional, rural and remote schools.

As a school leader, recruiting new staff has likely always been a complex issue and pressing problem. This month at Teacher, we’ve shared strategies for school promotion and planning for successful recruitment, and some tips for broadening your job search as a teacher. Catch up on these stories and more in today’s podcast.

‘Our vision for PLTs? To build a healthy, collaborative professional learning culture of inquiry that positively impacts student learning through teacher learning,’ Sarah Gunn, Head of Teaching and Learning of Middle School at St Laurence’s College in Brisbane shares in today’s reader submission.

We know that participating in sport and physical activity benefits health and wellbeing. New research has found it also has a small positive effect on students’ academic performance, particularly in mathematics and science.

As a teacher, how can you best manage when a student in your classroom makes an inappropriate comment in the middle of a lesson, catching you off-guard and disrupting other students? What about when this happens in the playground? What if the comment is offensive? We unpack these questions in-depth with researchers Dr Erin Leif and Russell Fox.

‘Long gone is the traditional view of a museum as being static and dusty. Contemporary museums promote interactive exhibits, experiential learning experiences and technological “open” accessibility.’ Dr Deb Cohen explains how teachers can use museum education programs to support classroom learning.

The two most recent winners of the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching join us in this podcast. They each share how they’re improving student outcomes in their own school settings and their top tips for other Science teachers across the country.

If you’re in a co-education school, look at student enrolments for STEM subjects and participation in STEM-related clubs and extracurricular activities – is there a gender imbalance? A new report shares global examples of effective interventions from primary and secondary education settings.