Teachers from Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have been recognised as nominees for the 2021 Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Award for their contributions to music education by fostering students’ self-esteem; keeping them engaged and inspired during periods of remote learning; and providing performance opportunities.

Getting students engaged and invested in their learning leads to improved outcomes. It also makes the lesson a more enjoyable experience for everyone, including the teacher. Enhanced lesson engagement was just one of the benefits of a small-scale study focusing on quality teaching in Physical Education.

How effectively do you think you’re delivering Indigenous content in the curriculum? Would you say you have enough knowledge and confidence in this area? A program established by the University of New South Wales’ Matraville Education Partnership is looking to address these two areas of teacher practice.

A quarter of Australians aged 15 years and over participated in unpaid voluntary work through an organisation in 2020, whilst almost half provided unpaid work or support to others outside their households. In today’s article we speak to Dr Darja Kragt from the University of Western Australia about why people are motivated to volunteer their time, and how it boosts their overall sense of wellbeing.

As COVID-19 vaccination rates increase and schools here in Australia and around the world return to on-site learning, teachers and students will need to reestablish face-to-face relationships and routines, take time to reflect on their home learning experiences and think about where to from here. Dr Gail Brown and Dr Carl Leonard offer some advice and questions for reflection in today’s reader submission.

Australian students report greater levels of respect for people from other cultures and more positive attitudes towards immigrants than the OECD average, according to a new report from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Find out more in today’s article.

What is excellence in Indigenous education? And, how is it conceptualised in practice? In this article, researchers from the University of Queensland, Dr Marnee Shay, Dr Jodie Miller and Dr Suraiya Abdul Hameed, share details of their pilot study in Queensland schools that explored these questions.

Our annual reader survey has just wrapped up for another year. It’s an opportunity for you to tell us what content you’d like to hear from us, and this year you told us you’d like more information and support on inclusive education. Inclusive education is something we’ve covered this month at Teacher, so it’s a good opportunity to put it in the spotlight in this episode.

Today’s article, written by Professor Fiona White from the University of Sydney, explores the research pilot she led as a consultant for the new television series airing in Australia on the ABC, The School That Tried to End Racism. The pilot involved 20 students in Year 6 completing a range of activities to challenge their racial biases.

‘Racism impacts profoundly on the lives of children and young people with major effects on health and wellbeing, and on education and social outcomes.’ In this Q&A, the lead author of a rapid evidence review on the prevalence of racism and racial discrimination experienced by young people in Australia, shares the findings and implications for educators.