Research has found that educators working in primary schools in Australia lack the confidence and competence to address racial issues in the classroom. As well as this, white normative teaching and the belief that minimising discussions about racism is better than drawing attention to them are common behaviours. In this podcast, we discuss the role of school leaders in addressing these behaviours, and how teachers can confront their own biases.

In this Teaching Methods episode, we speak to education consultant Michael Minas about a study he conducted to measure primary school students’ attitudes towards completing challenging problem solving tasks in maths. Michael shares details of the lesson structure he utilised, and why students responded to it so positively.

The fundamental reason we eat food is to provide our bodies with the nutrients and energy we need to function. But, we often eat for other reasons too. In today’s article we speak to Associate Professor Esben Strodl about emotional eating, why people turn to food in times of stress and why it’s important to understand our emotional triggers.

The process of comparative judgement for schools in the first ever Australian project resulted in student data that provided a writing age and an assigned NAPLAN band. The question for the Year 3/4 Team at Templestowe Heights Primary School was what to do with the information.

Schools in West Australia participating in a pilot study managed to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions per student, with 60 per cent of the initiatives they implemented requiring no cost. Here, we speak to the researchers involved to see which initiatives proved to be most impactful, and how other schools can do the same.

The final webinar in a series tackling major challenges in school education in Australia will explore the ‘wicked problem’ of how to raise the status of the teaching profession. Topics up for discussion include how to attract and retain highly capable people, and changing attitudes towards teachers and teaching.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has today published new analyses of questionnaire data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019, examining the home, school and classroom contexts in which learning and achievement occur, and student attitudes.

Staff at St Rita’s College in Brisbane have worked with researchers to implement an academic reading skills intervention for Year 7s. The ‘Lost in Transition’ project merges evidence from the literature with research in the context of the school to meet student needs.

Keeping physically fit, eating a healthy diet and doing regular mental exercises can help to maintain your brain’s functions and boost its capacity for recall. Professor Kaarin Anstey from UNSW joins us today to discuss how the brain changes as we age, lifestyle factors that affect the brain and tips for improving our brain function and memory.

A review by researchers at the Telethon Kids Institute into different approaches over the last decade to improving student wellbeing has highlighted six key learnings to help drive decision-making in schools. Find out more about the recommendations and other findings from the review in today’s article.