In today’s expert Q&A, ACER Research Fellow Dr Amy Berry explores the challenges teachers face when engaging students in the classroom, the impact this has on students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging, and how teachers can cultivate a culture of engagement in their classrooms.

Last year, staff at Skillset Senior College investigated the impact of school-based interventions on student mental health. The research findings have recently been published. In this article, we speak to Dr Martin Hughes about the interventions and the positive impact of the action research project on students and staff.

Each year the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards recognise pioneering projects that are having an impact on the ground. The recipients for 2022 were announced last month and in today’s article we look at the winners.

ACER’s Global Academic Challenge was held for the first time this year and offers higher-performing students in Years 4, 6 and 8 the opportunity to attempt the kinds of questions sat by students in international schools around the world. ACER Senior Research Fellow Frances Eveleigh, who led the development of the challenge, shares some of the insights in this article.

Early-career teacher at Tasmanian eSchool, Ruby Lyons-Reid, has recently been recognised for her use of digital resources to engage students in learning about First Nations histories and cultures, and in this article, she shares the learning activities she’s found to have the most impact.

‘As the world faced a global pandemic, the spotlight shone on our wonderful Auslan interpreters in the media, and more and more schools began to show interest in including Auslan in their curriculum.’ In today’s reader submission, Auslan educator Kerrie Taylor shares how schools can bring Auslan into the classroom in a way that embraces the richness of the language, and respects and honours the Deaf community.

What is involved in moving museum content online for educational purposes? What are the benefits? What are the challenges? In this Q&A, we speak with Melina Mallos, former Education Manager at the Museum of Chinese Australian History, about the process of digitising museum content.

Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50, edited by Dr Gary Stager, celebrates the vision of Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert in their seminal 1971 paper. In this exclusive extract, Martin Levins shares ‘Some Modern Things to Do with a Computer’, with examples from Australian schools.

An OECD survey explored how 27 education systems across the globe responded during school closures in 2020. This infographic shows how widely nine different measures were used for at least one level of schooling to target students at risk of exclusion from distance education platforms.

‘Educators employ a range of strategies to manage student wellbeing, but the impact of COVID-19 on their approach to this is not yet fully understood.’ Dr Bridianne O’Dea – Senior Research Fellow in youth mental health at the Black Dog Institute – shares the findings of a recent investigation into secondary school educators’ approaches to student mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown.