As educators in Australia return to face-to-face teaching, and schools around the world grapple with new ways of working to provide continuing support to students during the pandemic restrictions, readers have been getting in touch to share what’s been happening in their own context.

‘While schools will be gradually re-opening in China by mid-April, they’re closing around much of the rest of the world. How well are we prepared? OECD’s TALIS survey offers some insights,’ Andreas Schleicher, the organisation’s Director for Education and Skills, writes in his latest Teacher column.

Julia Gillard explains why schools and early learning services are in a strong position to help children and young people bounce back after the bushfire disaster, and looks at some of the resources available to support students and teachers.

‘Educators and parents are questioning the effect that technology can have on students' mental health and wellbeing, now more than ever,’ Julia Gillard writes in her new Teacher column.

'While people have different views on the role that digital technology can and should play in schools, we cannot ignore how digital tools have so fundamentally transformed the world outside of school,' OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher writes in his new column.

Improving educational opportunities has a far greater reach than just the benefits for that individual child. ‘This is particularly the case for educating girls and young women,’ Julia Gillard writes in her latest Teacher column.

‘The reality is, teaching can be really tough, and teachers, more concerned with the health and wellbeing of their students, can often put their own wellbeing last,’ Julia Gillard writes in her latest Teacher column.

Much discussion of evidence-based teaching is based on a narrow definition that would benefit from a broader recognition of the role of evidence in teaching and learning, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest Teacher column.

The increasing number of children enrolled into primary schools globally show there is great progress being made to improve the quality of education, Julia Gillard writes. Despite these achievements, there is still one group being left behind from all this progress: children with disabilities.

School improvement is most likely when an entire school has a shared improvement agenda and is committed to learning how to improve. Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses a five-step improvement cycle.