Findings from an action research project in three West Australian schools suggest the use of quality mentor texts when explicitly teaching how to write narratives can improve students’ storytelling ability. Ron Gorman and Dr Sandy Heldsinger share more details about the teaching and assessment strategies used, and samples of student writing.

Schools in West Australia participating in a pilot study managed to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions per student, with 60 per cent of the initiatives they implemented requiring no cost. Here, we speak to the researchers involved to see which initiatives proved to be most impactful, and how other schools can do the same.

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.

What contributes to a teacher’s decision to leave the profession? And, at the same time, why do others thrive and find success and personal fulfillment at work? Hugh Gundlach is a researcher, pre-service teacher educator and classroom teacher, and he joins us today to discuss his research on teacher attrition and retention.

Large scale research into school break times suggests relatively simple changes to daily routines could drastically reduce teachers’ exposure to UV radiation and risk of skin cancer. Ben Dexter tells Teacher more about the 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.

‘Through careful reflection, design and planning of daily learning activities, teachers can identify opportunities for teaching resilience in their classroom.’ Dr Sarah Tillott and Dr Michelle Neumann discuss learning activities that foster resilience in the classroom.

Since 2018, a Tasmanian primary school has been on a journey of school improvement which as seen significant progress in student engagement and achievement, as well as staff retention and teacher welfare. The Principal and Assistant Principal join us in this podcast to discuss how this was achieved.

Which is more creative, the Arts or the sciences? Professor David Cropley from the University of South Australia joins Teacher for today’s podcast to discuss this question and to delve into his research into whether any specific differences exist between creativity in the Arts and creativity in STEM.

‘[It] is worrying that in one-third of countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018 more than one in two students said that intelligence is something about them that they can’t change very much.’ In his new Teacher column Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, discusses insights from PISA 2018.