For the last 6 months, Series 3 of our School Assembly podcast has been following Dan McShea, Foundation Principal of Notre Dame P-12 College on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The big day finally arrived, and in this episode Teacher Editor Jo Earp checks in with Dan on how that first day of the new school went.

‘Educational provision includes what students learn … how they will be taught … and the culture in which they will be taught ... Gifted students benefit from the opportunity to interact with differentiated versions of each of these.’ Professor John Munro explains 3 areas of differentiation, and shares examples of what this could look like in the classroom.

In today’s Q&A, Teacher speaks with the National Excellence in Teaching Awards 2024 winner of the Founders’ Principal for Leadership Award, Angela Phillips from Westminster School in South Australia. She chats about her work to establish engaging professional learning opportunities, increase the number of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers, and her latest initiative – a Micro Rewards scheme for staff.

The Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales (STANSW) is offering a range of professional development events, networking and advocacy this year, supporting NSW teachers to excel in science education. 

It’s a special, bumper episode of School Assembly as Teacher Editor Jo Earp chats to Dan McShea about setting the teaching direction, and also checks in on Ray Boyd and Rachael Lehr, who we followed in Series 1, and Series 2 principal Jo Camozatto to find out what’s been happening at their schools.

Steven Kolber is an experienced teacher and has been reflecting on his own practice in relation to the widespread usage of AI. In this reader submission, he explores the importance of human knowledge in the face of generative AI and shares some reflection techniques and tools he has to be found useful not only in this area, but also throughout his 12-year teaching career more broadly.

The study of classic novels is a staple in many secondary English classrooms across the country. In this reader submission, English and History teacher Alec Santucci shares how he has approached including discussion throughout the learning of the classic novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, with his year 11 students – sharing strategies that have proved effective in his own classroom for enhancing student engagement

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) seeks to improve the experiences and academic achievements of marginalised and minoritised learners. In this edition of Researching education: 5 further readings, you can read research on CRT, including building cultural competence among teachers, how to further develop culturally responsive pedagogies, and more.

After her double win at the National Excellence in Teaching Awards for her work helping teachers and schools in New Zealand implement structured literacy into their practice, Amie Roberts speaks to Teacher about how this approach empowers all students.

Artificial Intelligence is now a hot topic in teaching and learning. For the last 3 years, Digital Technologies teacher Jo Rea has been developing an AI ethical inquiry unit for year 5 students to help them build their ethical understanding of different AI tools and technologies. Here she shares the phases, classroom activities and student responses.