A Maths and Science teacher who gives away 80 per cent of his monthly salary to help his community has been named winner of the US $1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2019.

Yasodai Selvakumaran has made the top 10 finalists for the 2019 Global Teacher Prize. We catch up with her to discuss her approach to teaching Humanities at her western Sydney school and how she builds confidence in her students.

Welcome to the first episode of a new series. Teacher Staffroom is a chance for you to take some time out, on your own or with colleagues, to reflect on some of the content we’ve covered here at Teacher recently.

Once a fortnight the Teacher team ventures down to Room 3 – the basement archives at the Australian Council for Educational Research – to bring you education quotes from some of our favourite historical titles.

Professor Nan Bahr thinks there’s a lot that educators can learn from Winnie the Pooh and his mates. Here, she reflects on the journey of Piglet to illustrate why we need to turn our considerations for teaching upside down to enable us to better address the needs of learners for lifelong resilience and success.

Our annual reader survey is open now and we’re asking educators: ‘If you could share one piece of advice with your peers, what would it be?’ One of the themes to emerge is ‘change’. Here are some of the responses we’ve received so far on the topic.

Western Sydney University researcher Dr Jacqueline Ullman discusses her study of teachers and school leadership staff who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, or other diverse sexuality and gender identities, and their experiences of homophobic and transphobic discrimination in their schools.

At Kilvington Grammar in Melbourne’s south-east, Growth Mindset is embedded throughout the school – in lessons, extra-curricular opportunities, student-teacher interactions and within the learning intentions for lessons themselves.

For students from a migrant or refugee background moving to a new school often means learning a new language or joining outside of the normal transition period. Noble Park Primary School Principal David Rothstadt discusses how staff support new students and their families, and create a safe learning environment.

On this episode of School Improvement, Cobram Primary School Principal Matt Knight and teacher Cassie Ryan discuss an initiative that has dramatically reduced the number of unexplained and chronic student absences at the school.