In this expert Q&A Amy Ayres – President of the Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales – discusses integrating technology into science instruction and improving students’ critical thinking or inquiry skills. These were 2 areas of future PD need highlighted in the latest Australian TIMSS teacher questionnaire findings.

‘I wanted to make a meaningful change in how our kids see themselves as mathematicians.’ Mathematics teacher Holly Wedd has been making a significant difference to the way students at her school succeed in maths by boosting their confidence and reducing mathematics anxiety. 

Each cycle of the global Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) includes a teacher questionnaire. One questionnaire topic – encouraging mathematical thinking – can help foster critical thinking, enhance problem-solving skills and allow students to see the relevance and connectedness of mathematics in their lives.

What opportunities are available to your students to develop skills in data analysis, game theory and digital citizenship? eSports might be one vehicle for schools. In this article we speak to the eSport Coordinator at Ripley Valley State Secondary College to find out about its eSport Academy.

Our latest edition of Teacher’s Bookshelf features the open-access resource Teaching Reading Comprehension in a Digital World: Evidence-Based Contributions Using PIRLS and Digital Texts – a collaboration between the IEA and researchers from the Dutch Centre for Language Education. This extract is from the chapter on good practices for teaching and shares an example from Talbot Senior National School, Ireland.

How are you engaging students in STEM subjects and empowering them to choose a career in STEM? These are the aims of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge, and the 2025 winners have been announced today. Find out more in today’s article. 

What are the persistent teaching dilemmas you find yourself thinking about in your spare time and circling back to time and again? Professor Brianna Kennedy from the University of Glasgow joins the podcast to talk about a 2-stage process for cracking persistent challenges in the classroom, how teachers can use it in practice, and the impact it has on student learning and engagement. 

This term, thousands of 15-year-olds around Australia are sitting PISA – showing how they can apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems and situations. Here, we look at what’s new for the 2025 cycle of this global assessment, and how teachers and leaders can use PISA insights to inform their own practice and drive school improvement.

In today’s Global Education podcast we’re joined by Dr Pauline Martinot, the lead author of the groundbreaking French study that points to the first year of school as the time and place where a maths gender gap emerges in favour of boys. Dr Martinot shares how her colleagues went about conducting the study of over 2.6 million children, some key findings, and the impact of this research on schools and teachers around the world. 

Adolescence is a period of rapid development. To support students through various challenges during this time, educators need effective tools to help them understand how they’re coping – and how they can do so more effectively. Find out more about the Adolescent Coping Scale for Schools (ACS-S) in this article.