The final webinar in a series tackling major challenges in school education in Australia will explore the ‘wicked problem’ of how to raise the status of the teaching profession. Topics up for discussion include how to attract and retain highly capable people, and changing attitudes towards teachers and teaching.

Planning ahead to meet the professional learning needs of staff to improve teaching effectiveness in your school is an important aspect of a principal’s work. But, what happens when these plans get overtaken by events?

‘While we found that a lot of elements in our lives can be replaced by an online substitute, after a year of lockdowns we still have not been able to replicate the “human” element. The lack of peer-to-peer interaction was perhaps felt most by children.’ Professor John Toumbourou discusses the role of peer support programs in rebuilding student resilience.

The fourth topic in a series revisiting the ‘big five’ challenges in Australian education asks what progress has been made towards ensuring all children get off to the best start in life. Ahead of their webinar this week, expert panellists Dr Dan Cloney, Myra Geddes and Mary-Ruth Mendel give Teacher readers an overview of what they’ll be discussing.

Casual relief teachers (CRTs) are an integral part of the teacher workforce, but many often report feeling a lack of support and exclusion at schools they’re working in. Recent research has uncovered the common challenges faced by CRTs, and how school leaders can mitigate these concerns. Find out more in this podcast episode.

Russell Vale Public School recently commissioned a local artist to revamp buildings in the school grounds. Here, Principal Paul Cuthbertson shares why the school decided to commission the work, and why it was important to depict local wildlife.

Teachers play an important role in the mitigation of bullying, particularly in the early years, where children are more likely to rely on their teachers to help them fix their problems. So, as an early years educator, how do you approach assessing behaviour to decide whether it is bullying?

Translating academic research into classroom practice is traditionally a one-way relationship – from research to practice. University of Queensland colleagues Stephanie MacMahon, Jack Leggett and Annemaree Carroll share details of a collaboration with educators making it a two-way process of engagement.

As a primary school teacher, how confident would you say you are at teaching music? What areas of music do you feel you need the most support in? A pilot professional development program has improved the confidence of general primary school educators in music teaching. In this podcast we speak with the research team to find out more.

Learning to read is a complex task for children, and there are many evidence-based approaches to teaching children to read. So, how do children learn to read? How can teachers be most successful in reading instruction? We share five resources which seek to answer these questions.