How can we make assessment work for learners and learning in a rapidly changing world? How can we establish where students are at in their learning, including in the hard-to-measure skills and attributes they need to flourish in life? These questions will be explored at ACER’s Research Conference 2022, where the theme is ‘Reimagining assessment’.

With plenty of ‘get rich quick’ hype circulating around social media, and well-marketed trading apps luring people in to investing, it’s important to understand cryptocurrency. In this context, schools and teachers have an important role to play. Here, Dr Carly Sawatzki, Dr Jill Brown and Peter Saffin explore how teachers can understand students’ learning needs in this area.

Students miss school for a whole range of different reasons, such as illness, suspension, or family holidays. Today, we’ll be speaking with Kirsten Hancock, Honorary Research Associate from Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia about how different types of absences affect student outcomes, and what families and schools can do to tailor their support to students who are missing school.

A new study from Monash University draws upon a 2019 questionnaire of 2444 Australian primary and secondary school teachers, revealing that only 41% of respondents intended to remain in the profession. We look at some of the findings from the analysis in this infographic.

There are many examples in the Teacher archive of schools giving students the opportunity to be critical and creative thinkers, and in this edition of Teacher Staffroom, we share some recent examples with you.

‘Being accountable for my wellbeing requires scheduling in time for my goals and passions outside of the classroom.’ Here, English teacher Marissa Lombardo shares how attending Italian classes to learn the language has helped her make new friends, connect with her family culture and challenge herself in new ways.

It can be hard to prioritise engaging in hobbies or learning something new among the busyness of day-to-day life. But there are many benefits to dedicating time to learning a new skill, and it’s never too late to start. Here, Monika Schmid, Head of Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York, shares the benefits of learning a new language as an adult.

‘As the world faced a global pandemic, the spotlight shone on our wonderful Auslan interpreters in the media, and more and more schools began to show interest in including Auslan in their curriculum.’ In today’s reader submission, Auslan educator Kerrie Taylor shares how schools can bring Auslan into the classroom in a way that embraces the richness of the language, and respects and honours the Deaf community.

‘One way of making full use of reclaimed classroom spaces, whilst building collaborative and pro-social skills and behaviours, is Socratic Circles.’ English and History teacher Steven Kolber explains how to use this technique in your own classroom, the benefits and outcomes for students, and the role of the educator.

In the second part of our Q&A, author-educator Vanessa Hamilton discusses what consent education is (and some of the misconceptions), examples of what it looks like for students in primary and secondary, best practice for schools, and some of the challenges faced by teachers and leaders.