Real reform and significant progress in improving the quality and equity of Australian schooling depend on tackling our deepest and most stubborn educational challenges, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

By the turn of the century, the observation had been made in many countries that substantial increases in expenditure on schools had failed to deliver measurable improvements in student performance. But just how effective are incentives as an improvement strategy?

A willingness to acknowledge and learn from failure is essential for all progress, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

In his final Teacher column of the year Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, shares his key takeaways from this month’s Forum for World Education in Paris.

A regular school day for a school girl in Malawi looks vastly different to what her peers experience in Australia, as Julia Gillard witnessed firsthand during a trip to south-east Africa.

Teacher content draws on the wealth of knowledge and expertise that exists within the education community. This month, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with several experts in education on a range of different topics, and in today’s podcast, we take you through some of the highlights.

In today’s podcast we’re talking with Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy about continuity of teaching and learning during COVID-19, trying to understand and mitigate the impacts on student outcomes, how schools have adapted to ‘emergency remote teaching’, and how the experience could lead to future changes and innovations in practice.

A recent study tracked the reading trajectories of children in Grades 1, 2 and 3. Alongside this, the concerns teachers held in relation to their reading, as well as the support they provided, were analysed. Here, the study’s authors discuss the implications of their findings for educators.

‘[My former students] were proclaiming that “Station Eleven is becoming real!”.’ Here, Ben Tiffen shares how Emily St John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel is an opportunity for teachers to choose a study text drawing on students’ recent experiences.

What is epilepsy? How does the condition impact on a student’s learning? And what do school leaders, teachers and anyone with a duty of care in K-12 settings need to know? In this Q&A, Teacher speaks to Wendy Groot, President of Epilepsy Australia, to find out more.