In today’s Leadership Q&A, River Nile School Principal Charles Hertzog shares what makes his school community unique, how the context shapes his leadership priorities, and how he brings teachers, wellbeing staff, and external agencies into a shared vision.

What do ‘friend’, ‘cost’ and ‘privacy’ have in common? They’re all past winners of Oxford’s Australian Children’s Word of the Year. Now we can add ‘vitamin’ to the list, with the latest research highlighting an increase in students writing about self-care. Find out what else made the shortlist, and about some of the changes in the rankings of the 100 highest-frequency words, in today’s article.

In his new Teacher column, Professor Martin Westwell – Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education – shares findings from a major systematic review of persistence and academic resilience across K-12 education. He highlights how persistence and resilience are not fixed personality traits but rather a part of the learning process, shaped by task design, classroom conditions, and how teachers respond when students struggle.

Recent research from Edith Cowan University highlights a lack of disability representation in children’s picture books. In today’s article, lead researcher Associate Professor Helen Adam discusses the study findings, and practical advice for K-12 teachers when it comes to selecting books for a school or classroom library.

A pioneering educator and acclaimed artist from India who has transformed neglected walls into hundreds of vibrant, open-air learning centres has won the $1 million 2026 Global Teacher Prize. Rouble Nagi creates large-scale, interactive educational murals teaching literacy, numeracy, science, hygiene, history, environmental awareness, and social responsibility.

In today’s episode Dominique Russell speaks with the 2 recipients of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching – Paula Taylor from the ACT and Matt Dodds from NSW. They share the lesson activities that are a hit in their science classrooms, the teachers that had an impact on them, and how they’re sharing their knowledge with other educators. 

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a global award that recognises organisations and high schools that are delivering practical, scalable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Last week, the Prize announced the cohort of 2026 winners in a ceremony held during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. In today’s article, we learn more about the 6 winning high schools from 6 world regions.

Welcome to the 2026 school year and fresh content from Teacher. As is tradition, we’re kicking off our 2026 content with an article to help you with your lesson planning. Read more to get across key events for the year to inspire some of your curriculum planning. 

Do your students count on their fingers for mathematics tasks? Do you encourage them to count on their fingers, or do you focus on supporting them to make calculations mentally? New research from Switzerland suggests finger counting has a positive impact on student outcomes, but only when it’s used at a specific age. 

To support the development of middle leaders, and to recognise the importance of their role in schools, AITSL has developed middle leadership standards. In this Q&A, AITSL CEO Tim Bullard explains why the standards were developed and how they can be used.