What makes leadership impactful in regional, rural and remote schools? In this episode of The Research Files, we chat with Scott Eacott, unpacking some of the concepts covered in his recent research on leadership in regional, rural and remote schools.

Phillippa Adgemis is Principal at Coldstream Primary School – one of the six schools highlighted in a recent Australian study exploring the common features of exemplary school playgroups. In this article, she shares more about how the playgroup is run, and the effect it has had on the school.

Our guest on episode 72 of The Research Files is Professor Joseph Ciarrochi from Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education. He’s the lead researcher for projectHOPE – a program that’s notched up success in re-engaging at-risk secondary students with their schooling.

Philanthropic funding is one way school leaders can access support to implement and enhance initiatives and projects. Australian charity Schools Plus recently published details of applications for its latest round of grants. The requests from schools provide a snapshot of the initiatives and projects educators are seeking funding for.

School playgroups benefit children, their families, schools and communities. New Australian research has identified six key features of high-performing school playgroups.

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.

In his latest Teacher column, OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares preliminary findings from the organisation’s Special Survey on how systems have responded to the pandemic – from school closures and remote learning, to teacher vaccination and gradual returns to in-class instruction.

Creating and implementing a school Reconciliation Action Plan is a way to formalise your commitment to building and sustaining strong relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, embedding respect, and providing opportunities to improve outcomes for students and the wider community.

In this episode of The Research Files we talk to Dr Katherine Dix about the importance of school libraries, some of the different models being used by schools, and the connection between the value leaders place on their library and its representation on the school website.

In her last column, Dr Sue Thomson examined secondary school teacher and principal views on resourcing issues that hinder quality teaching, as revealed by the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey. What, then, do these teachers see as the spending priorities for Australian education? And are the priorities different in primary schools?