In this fortnightly series, Teacher takes a closer look at some of the Gonski recommendations and highlights existing work by educators and schools to illustrate what they might look like in practice.

Adolescence presents developmental challenges across the social, physical, and emotional dimensions of the lives of young people. Professor Nan Bahr uses contemporary research to guide teachers in their support for a stronger and more positive transition through the murky adolescent years.

Dr John Halsey joins Teacher for this episode of The Research Files. His final report on the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education here in Australia explores the key issues, challenges and barriers affecting student learning outcomes and suggests four priority areas for action.

Tara.Ed is an Australian NGO that aims to promote sustainable, quality education in rural and remote parts of India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan through teacher training and capacity building. Here, we talk to founder Jennifer Star about the organisation’s focus on empowering educators.

Associate Professor Lynn Barnett-Morris joins Teacher to discuss her longitudinal study The education of playful boys: class clowns in the classroom. For the last three years she’s been researching Kindergarten-aged children to determine how playfulness in the classroom is viewed by the children themselves, their classmates and their teachers.

Dr Danny Steele, Principal of Thompson Sixth Grade Center in Alabama joins Teacher for this School Improvement podcast. He discusses the role of a principal in maintaining a positive school culture, and the importance of genuinely listening to parents.

Feedback is an essential part of learning, especially when we want to improve our practice and attain high professional standards. And the best form of feedback is right there in front of us in our classrooms.

School leadership is an increasingly complex role and research suggests the demands certainly take their toll on the health and wellbeing of principals. Associate Professor Philip Riley joins The Research Files to discuss the latest findings of the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety & Wellbeing Survey.

In his second article on introducing the concept of artificial intelligence to school students, Dr Joshua Ho – from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and UNSW – gives a step-by-step guide to two classroom activities illustrating the concept of machine learning.

Do you use ability grouping in your classroom? New research published in the Cambridge Journal of Education suggests this approach may be hindering those in the lower attainment groups because their self-confidence is likely to suffer.