In today’s School Improvement podcast, Professor John Munro explores leadership for the provision of gifted education. Drawing on themes from his book published by ACER Press, Leading Improvement for Gifted and Talented Students, Munro discusses what it takes to develop a vision, putting together an action plan, upskilling teachers and collaborating with the wider community. 

What are the essential skills we need for learning and life, and how can teachers help students to develop them? The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has been working with more than 30 countries to identify 5 essential skills and design a suite of free educator resources. Dr Claire Scoular shares more details in this expert Q&A.

In his first Teacher column for 2025, Professor Geoff Masters AO poses these questions: will schooling be different for children born this year, and if so, how? He then offers 3 suggestions for how learning at school might evolve by 2040.

The Butterfly Foundation’s BodyKind Online Education program will be available to schools in early 2025. In today’s article, Head of Prevention at Butterfly Danni Rowlands discusses what the program is exactly, some of the results of the pilot evaluation of the program, and discusses how it supports a safer online experience for young people in Australia. 

Welcome back to a brand-new year of Teacher. As usual, we’re kicking things off with our round up of the key themes and dates for 2025 – that should provide some extra inspiration and resources for your lesson planning over the next 12 months.

Over the last 5 years, staff at St Mary’s School in Geelong, Victoria, have had a focus on lifting student outcomes through evidence-based instruction. What started with Foundation phonics has now spread across the curriculum and year levels.

In our latest expert Q&A we’re joined by ACER Senior Research Fellow and lead author of the ‘TIMSS 2023 Australia Volume I’ report Nicole Wernert to discuss the main takeaways, and what the data say about year 4 and 8 student strengths and weaknesses in maths and science.

Recent research reveals a decline in high-quality music education availability, and that music teachers are particularly vulnerable to burnout. In response to these challenges, Gradus Software has developed MusicApprentice through extensive consultation with music educators over several years. 

Professor Phil Roberts joins Teacher Editor Jo Earp to talk about the Rural and Regional Education Project, which explores how to lift outcomes for students in these areas. The project included a roundtable event bringing together a range of stakeholders, including the important voices of principals and teachers. We’ll be discussing some of the research findings and feedback from educators.

With the advent of ChatGPT and the emergence of similar generative AI tools, the teaching and learning landscape is facing a major challenge as it considers how schools might respond to generative AI. To guide schools with their investigation and implementation of generative AI, the Australian Government released the ‘Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools’ to guide the responsible and ethical use of generative AI tools.