‘The sense of achievement I feel when a messy, weedy garden bed is turned back into a neat and tidy patch makes me happy.’ Victorian educator Donna White shares her passion for gardening with readers, explaining why her garden is both a form of escapism and a sense of pride.

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.

‘[Virtual Reality] cannot be an outcome in itself but needs to be a tool that creates meaningful, authentic and integrated learning opportunities when fully embedded with the curriculum.’ Dr Susan O’Donnell and Adrian Rayner share the five pillars of a successful VR program in education.

Findings from an action research project in three West Australian schools suggest the use of quality mentor texts when explicitly teaching how to write narratives can improve students’ storytelling ability. Ron Gorman and Dr Sandy Heldsinger share more details about the teaching and assessment strategies used, and samples of student writing.

The FlexiSpace initiative in Queensland is aimed at reconnecting disengaged students and supporting them to stay at school. Evaluations of the pilot and first phase of expansion provide early evidence of their effectiveness. Peter Kelly, Deputy Director-General at Queensland Department of Education, shares details of the approach, and the impact it’s having in participating schools.

Professor Dianne Siemon will be delivering a Keynote address at this year’s ACER Research Conference. In this Q&A, she expands on her Keynote, ‘Excellent progress for all – a function of a year level curriculum or evidence-based learning progressions?’

Ahead of ACER’s Research Conference next month, we sat down with Professor Rich Lehrer from Vanderbilt University to discuss his research that explores science and mathematics education for elementary school students in the US. He also gives listeners a taste of what he’ll be sharing at the conference and why he decided to name his keynote address ‘Accountable Assessment’.

Who was the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) of women’s tennis in 2018? Teams participating in this year’s International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM2C) were tasked with developing and applying a model to determine just that.

Sexual harassment, including online sexual abuse, has become ‘normalised’ for children and young people and so commonplace for some that they see no point in reporting it to teachers and school staff, according to the findings of a review in England.

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.