Effective teacher-parent relationships and parent engagement in their child’s learning improves student outcomes. Researchers in the United States have surveyed parents and carers of preschoolers about their role in their child’s learning, and the support they’d like from teachers.

What are the key characteristics and concepts of computational thinking? And, how can a student’s performance of computational thinking be assessed? In this edition of Researching education: Five further readings, we are sharing a range of resources which seek to answer these questions and more.

Bernie Hawker, Head of Department Teaching and Learning at Goondiwindi State High School in Queensland, joins us to talk about the school’s award-winning STEAM Program, which has been successful in improving student writing outcomes. You’ll also hear about the strong culture of sharing and collaboration among staff, including through Professional Learning Communities, that’s been key to the program’s continued growth and success.

A new study involving students in Grades 1 and 2 from three primary schools in Melbourne has assessed the impact of implementing active breaks throughout the school day on the focus and learning of students.

In this monthly series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online databases, and Teacher archive content you might not have come across yet. This month we’re looking at teaching spelling.

Dr Gary Stager joins Teacher to discuss his 30-year study into laptop use in schools. We discuss the challenges they faced in the early 1990s in the implementation of the program, how students engaged with the technology in the early days, but also what he’s learned about the way computers are used in schools today.

When you think about student agency, do you picture classroom tasks and surroundings? What about ‘free play’ areas, such as the playground or oval? Here, Rachael Jamieson-Newton and Benjamin Newton share details of a review into primary students’ play at St Paul's Grammar in Sydney, New South Wales.

Families will often engage in the shared reading of picture books about starting Kindergarten to help children with their transition. But, how are Kindergarten teachers demographically represented in the books that children read during this time? And importantly, who is missing from these representations?

In this episode of School Improvement, we’re taking you to a school in rural New South Wales where students in Years 5 to 9 are reading 12 books each year. Head of Middle School and English teacher Alex Wharton joins us to share how this has been achieved.

In this reader submission, teacher Martin Poeder makes a case for why Steiner education’s imaginative curriculum delivery is well positioned to meet the future demands of a transforming world, sharing practical examples of students’ engagement with the natural world from his own school in Bairnsdale, Regional Victoria.