Students miss school for a whole range of different reasons, such as illness, suspension, or family holidays. Today, we’ll be speaking with Kirsten Hancock, Honorary Research Associate from Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia about how different types of absences affect student outcomes, and what families and schools can do to tailor their support to students who are missing school.

A new study from Monash University draws upon a 2019 questionnaire of 2444 Australian primary and secondary school teachers, revealing that only 41% of respondents intended to remain in the profession. We look at some of the findings from the analysis in this infographic.

It can be hard to prioritise engaging in hobbies or learning something new among the busyness of day-to-day life. But there are many benefits to dedicating time to learning a new skill, and it’s never too late to start. Here, Monika Schmid, Head of Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York, shares the benefits of learning a new language as an adult.

In the second part of our Q&A, author-educator Vanessa Hamilton discusses what consent education is (and some of the misconceptions), examples of what it looks like for students in primary and secondary, best practice for schools, and some of the challenges faced by teachers and leaders.

Age-appropriate consent education will be mandatory in all Australian schools from 2023. Kit and Arlo Find a Way: Teaching consent to 8-12 year olds is a fictional chapter book created for use in primary classrooms. In the first instalment of a two-part Q&A with author-educators Ingrid Laguna and Vanessa Hamilton, we find out more about the resource and research about the impact of consent education in schools.

How have things changed for schools over the last two years of the pandemic, and what are the improvement priorities now for teachers, principals and communities on the ground? Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy joins us for the latest episode in our School Improvement podcast series.

As a primary school teacher, are you aware of how many students in your class are finishing their lunch each day? How many are taking food back home? New Australian research has found that most primary school students have just 10 minutes to eat their lunch during the school day. Find out more in today’s article.

How can we support reading aloud in the early years, at school and at home? And how does reading aloud affect our lives in the long term? Today, we’ll be speaking with Professor Emerita Rosemary Johnston AM, who shares some of the research on the benefits and joys of reading aloud and how we can continue to support reading aloud at school and at home.

Understanding your diet and implementing healthy eating habits can be an empowering way to take charge of your heart health. Here, we speak with Senior Food and Nutrition Advisor at the Heart Foundation, Jemma O’Hanlon, about the foods and eating habits that can promote heart health.

‘Finally in Victoria, we are settling into some cooler weather which always has me craving a warm, nourishing bowl of soup. Minestrone soup is my favourite, mostly because of how flexible the recipe is.’ Editorial Assistant for Teacher, Dominique Russell, shares her recipe for Minestrone soup.