Chapter three of the Gonski report discusses the value of excellent teachers, the importance of upgrading their professional practice, and the need for expert educators ‘who foster the learning growth of their students through collaboration, mentoring and continuous learning’.

In this fortnightly series, Teacher takes a closer look at some of the Gonski recommendations and highlights existing work by educators to illustrate what they might look like in practice. Here, we explore the use of internal self-reviews and external quality assurance processes for school improvement.

In the second article in a series related to ACER’s Communication Student Learning Progress project, Jonathan Heard and Dr Hilary Hollingsworth examine recent and current reporting trends and practices in schools, and the growing use of digital systems and tools.

Adolescence presents developmental challenges across the social, physical, and emotional dimensions of the lives of young people. Professor Nan Bahr uses contemporary research to guide teachers in their support for a stronger and more positive transition through the murky adolescent years.

Dr John Halsey joins Teacher for this episode of The Research Files. His final report on the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education here in Australia explores the key issues, challenges and barriers affecting student learning outcomes and suggests four priority areas for action.

The importance of families having fun with one another has been highlighted in a new report which shows that family cohesion is a vital ingredient for early adolescents having a good life. Lead author Dr Petra Lietz joins Teacher to discuss the impact this has on student learning.

Professor Simone Reinhold joins Teacher to discuss inquiry based learning in primary mathematics, including the benefits of students working on a common task with differentiated outcomes, and the role of the educator in finding a balance between explorative and informative learning.

Nan Bahr delivered the closing keynote address at last month’s EPPC. We share highlights from that keynote, titled ‘Personal attributes: Developing the hidden qualities in quality teaching’.

'Targeted teaching is characterised by an unrelenting focus on "big ideas", without which students’ progress in mathematics will be seriously impacted.' Professor Di Siemon discusses how targeted teaching in relation to six ‘big ideas’ in number can lift student achievement in mathematics.

‘The ability to spell is without doubt a literacy skill that does span the entire curriculum.’ Peter Westwood discusses a cross-curricular approach to spelling.