In this episode in our Behaviour Management series, Dr Erin Leif and Russell Fox from Monash University join us to answer questions submitted by Teacher readers on trauma-informed practice, strategies for casual relief teachers, and the links between positive behaviour support and academic outcomes.

When we think of transitions in education, often what comes to mind are the ‘macro’ transitions from home to early childhood settings, and then into school and beyond. But just as important are the everyday ‘micro’ transitions between spaces, activities and people. Here, we speak with Dr Loraine Fordham about why these transitions are important, and tips for educators to handle them sensitively.

In this podcast special, we’re joined by Corey Tutt OAM, founder and CEO of Deadly Science – an organisation that provides science resources to remote schools in Australia, to inspire and celebrate the next generation of Indigenous people in STEM.

‘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.

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.

Age-appropriate consent education will be mandatory in all Australian schools from 2023. Kit and Arlo Find a Way: Teaching consent to 8-12 year olds is a fictional chapter book created for use in primary classrooms. In the first instalment of a two-part Q&A with author-educators Ingrid Laguna and Vanessa Hamilton, we find out more about the resource and research about the impact of consent education in schools.

How have things changed for schools over the last two years of the pandemic, and what are the improvement priorities now for teachers, principals and communities on the ground? Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy joins us for the latest episode in our School Improvement podcast series.

As a primary school teacher, are you aware of how many students in your class are finishing their lunch each day? How many are taking food back home? New Australian research has found that most primary school students have just 10 minutes to eat their lunch during the school day. Find out more in today’s article.

Our guest for this episode of School Improvement is Judith Weir, Principal of Our Lady of Mercy College (OLMC) Heidelberg. We caught up with her at the start of the school year here in Australia, to talk about leadership, strategic planning, how to balance competing priorities, the impact of COVID on student wellbeing and the importance of professional mentoring.

As a teacher, how can you best manage when a student in your classroom makes an inappropriate comment in the middle of a lesson, catching you off-guard and disrupting other students? What about when this happens in the playground? What if the comment is offensive? We unpack these questions in-depth with researchers Dr Erin Leif and Russell Fox.