Principal Kerrie Russell explains why Professional Learning Communities with a particular focus on feedback were implemented at Alice Springs School of the Air, and how they could be set up with a small team of teaching staff.

In today’s reader submission, teacher educators Dr Dawn Castagno-Dysart and Dr Bryan Matera consider the importance of learner persistence and the role of both teacher and student in the ‘productive struggle’.

Keeping students engaged in the last few weeks of the school year can be a challenge, but at Ivanhoe Grammar School, a whole-school Early Commencement Program has helped keep students switched on and learning.

Dr Lyn Sharratt explores three practical learning, teaching and leading approaches – writing to improve critical literacy skills, bump-it-up walls, and collaborative assessment of student work – that each support teachers’ focus on creating critically literate graduates.

At Bradshaw Primary School in the Northern Territory, the use of Professional Learning Communities has included implementing Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) in order to improve the reading results of students.

To increase the leadership capacity of principals in South Africa, Dr Louise van Rhyn founded a program named Partners for Possibility, which pairs business leaders with principals for a 12-month structured leadership development program.

In today’s Q&A, we hear from Gunda Tire, the National Project Manager for PISA in Estonia, who shares more about the features of the Estonian school system, and what teachers have been doing to support students to reach their educational potential.

Teachers Leah Carter and Hugo Engele are undertaking a two-year action research project to investigate the impact of physical activity on student writing ability. Here, they share the research aims and what has happened so far.

In our latest reader submission, Dr Tanya Vaughan discusses the growth and advancement of evidence in education, and the parallels with scientific progress.

The Teacher team is on the road this week at the ACER Research Conference 2018 in Sydney. In this special podcast episode, we share highlights from the ‘In Conversation’ session on evidence-based teaching practices between Laureate Professor John Hattie and ACER CEO Professor Geoff Masters AO.