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 quality of an education system can never exceed the quality of its teachers.’ In his new column, OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher explores responses from TALIS 2018 where teachers around the globe share their views on the state of the teaching profession.

Most people would argue that children should feel safe at school. For some children, school is possibly the only place in which they feel safe. In her first column for 2019, Dr Sue Thomson explores student perceptions of school safety.

Dr Sue Thomson explores how the COVID-19 crisis has propelled schools to an online learning environment, and draws on data from the OECD’s 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) to shed light on students’, teachers’ and schools’ preparedness for the ‘new normal’.

‘A quality education always starts with a great teacher’. In her final column of the year, Julia Gillard shares details of some of the programs aimed at improving the recruitment, training and support of teachers in developing nations.

In his final Teacher column of the year, OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher argues the biggest risk to schooling today isn’t its inefficiency, but that our way of schooling is losing its purpose and relevance.

Dr Sue Thomson addresses three broad areas that may hold females back from participation in STEM subjects in school and in entering these careers, providing teachers with the knowledge to address the underlying issues.

In his new Teacher column, OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher outlines several strategies for elevating the teaching profession, including strengthening professional autonomy, trust and the collaborative culture.

There are still many children who live in a world where even the most basic of school infrastructure does not exist. In her latest column, Julia Gillard shares how the Global Partnership for Education is helping to get infrastructure and supplies to schools in conflict-affected countries – from classroom furniture in Yemen to handwashing stations in Sierra Leone.

One of the main resources in schools is teachers, and in this column Dr Sue Thomson looks at the provision of teachers to advantaged and disadvantaged students in Australia.