Professor Dianne Siemon will be delivering a Keynote address at this year’s ACER Research Conference. In this Q&A, she expands on her Keynote, ‘Excellent progress for all – a function of a year level curriculum or evidence-based learning progressions?’

Ahead of ACER’s Research Conference next month, we sat down with Professor Rich Lehrer from Vanderbilt University to discuss his research that explores science and mathematics education for elementary school students in the US. He also gives listeners a taste of what he’ll be sharing at the conference and why he decided to name his keynote address ‘Accountable Assessment’.

NAIDOC Week is a chance for schools in Australia to celebrate the rich histories, diverse cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The official celebrations run from 4-11 July, but there are lots of teaching and learning resources that can be used throughout the year.

In the first article in a three-part series on virtual reality in education, Dr Susan O’Donnell and Adrian Rayner explain how virtual reality has been used in many industries and commercial products over decades, why using it comes so naturally to 21st Century learners, and why virtual reality represents exciting learning possibilities for students and teachers alike.

‘Every assembly I read a book to the whole school and I expect all of our teachers to be reading aloud to our kids every day.’ Christies Beach Primary School Principal Catherine O’Dea shares why encouraging students to develop a love of reading is the key aim of the South Australian school’s improvement plan.

In this series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online databases. In this edition, the focus is online professional development.

Sexual harassment, including online sexual abuse, has become ‘normalised’ for children and young people and so commonplace for some that they see no point in reporting it to teachers and school staff, according to the findings of a review in England.

Research has found that educators working in primary schools in Australia lack the confidence and competence to address racial issues in the classroom. As well as this, white normative teaching and the belief that minimising discussions about racism is better than drawing attention to them are common behaviours. In this podcast, we discuss the role of school leaders in addressing these behaviours, and how teachers can confront their own biases.

‘[Reflection] does not come naturally to many of the students in our classrooms (perhaps not even to ourselves).’ Head of Department Lia Sharma shares how the Christian Studies teaching team at Sydney’s Roseville College has been working to develop their own and their students’ skills in this area.

The research-based reading group #edureading brings teachers and academics together on Twitter to engage with research. In today’s article, Victorian teacher Steven Kolber and researchers Dr Keith Heggart and Dr Sandy Nicoll explain why the group was formed, and how it has helped educators contribute to educational research in a meaningful way.