In Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education and care, Associate Professor Anna Kilderry and Honorary Professor Bridie Raban lead a team of 34 contributors, sharing knowledge and insights from research and links to everyday practice. This exclusive extract for Teacher readers discusses the ‘Principles of quality assessment’.

Researchers at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales have been working with teachers and school leaders around Australia to better understand what motivates them to be involved in school-university partnerships. Here they share some of their study findings.

You and your students may have access to lots of technology in your classroom, but are you making the most of it? The Digital Pedagogies Lighthouse Project at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School has seen staff make the shift from using tech tools for productivity and presentations to embedding them in authentic mathematics learning.

‘Being reflective by collaborating with colleagues, committing to improvement, building on current skills and knowledge and sharing with others is vital for all educators.’ Here, we speak to school leaders about the importance of and skills needed for reflection.

Proficiency in critical and creative thinking, collaboration and problem solving helps students succeed in their learning, but these kinds of skills are also highly valued by employers.

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.

Working with colleagues to assess and moderate student work enables teachers to make consistent judgements of achievement and progress. In our latest reader submission, Learning Specialist Jeanette Breen shares how Templestowe Heights Primary School has improved its writing moderation process and five tips for a more successful experience.

‘There are several cognitive strategies that support the development of resilience … these are the skills we want to encourage children to develop in the early years.’ In part two of her series on resilience, Dr Sarah Tillott discusses the adaptive and maladaptive traits of resilience.

Teachers are asked to respond to new and uncertain situations all the time – from keeping abreast of subject knowledge updates to making quick pivots when a lesson isn’t quite going to plan. Dr Rebecca Collie joins us in this podcast episode to discuss teacher adaptability.

Media coverage of the Californian wildfires has evoked reminders of Australia’s past bushfires and prompted discussion about the coming season. In today’s article Patrice O’Brien, Chief Community Officer at Beyond Blue, discusses why talking about bushfires with your students, no matter where your school is located, can help ease anxiety.