Day one of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) National Conference 2026 has kicked off in Perth with keynotes and presentations on the theme of Bold Leadership: New Frontiers in Education. Presented in partnership with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), the conference has drawn delegates from around the world to explore complex leadership, the future of learning and the evolving role of educators.

‘Tour a school and you’ll likely see many classrooms displaying finished student work … perfection is visible; process is private. … The Thinking Museum is a classroom routine that makes intellectual growth visible, celebrated, and unforgettable.’ Find out more in our latest reader submission from K-12 teacher Varun S Nair.

Recorded live at the National Education Summit in Melbourne, Teacher’s Deputy Editor Rebecca Vukovic is joined by Jonathan Heard, a Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research for this School Improvement episode. They discuss the importance of having a shared definition on what critical thinking is, the connection between critical thinking and information literacy, and provide some key takeaways for teachers, teacher librarians and school leaders.

Australia’s 15-year-old students continue to perform above the OECD average across science, reading, and mathematics, the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show. In today’s article we share more about Australia’s performance and explore how it compares internationally.

Jo Earp sits down with Brad Gaynor to talk about leadership burnout. It's a timely topic – it’s R U OK? Day in Australia today. Brad's book From Burnout to Breakthrough: The Leadership Reset, looks at the growing pressure on school leaders and how it can impact wellbeing. He also shares his own lived experience of burnout.

‘Neuro-affirming practice requires us to genuinely examine our assumptions, our language, our pedagogical decisions, and our classroom design.’ In this StoryBoard article, Monash University shares how small adjustments and intentional shifts in how educators design learning environments, build relationships, and respond to learner differences can make a big difference. 

In this episode of School Assembly, Teacher editor Jo Earp catches up with the leaders from all 3 series – Dan McShea from Notre Dame P-12 College in Queensland, Jo Camozzato from Bemin Secondary College in Victoria, and Dr Ray Boyd and Rachael Lehr from Dayton Primary School in Western Australia – to hear all about the progress made at their schools since we last spoke.

‘Alongside asking, “What do students need to know and be able to do?”, we might ask, “Where will students need to stop an immediate response in order to learn successfully, and how can we help them get better at doing that?”’ In his latest Teacher column, Professor Martin Westwell, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department for Education, argues self-regulation is a powerful yet underused contributor to successful learning.

Ahead of the 2026 ACEL National Conference – presented in partnership with ACER – Teacher editor Jo Earp is joined by Lisa Newland, CEO of ACEL, and Lisa Rodgers, CEO of ACER, to unpack the conference’s theme of bold leadership. Lisa and Lisa tell us about their approach to leadership, what they’ve learned over the years, and more. 

Ahead of the National Education Summit in Melbourne this September, we sat down with Andrew Fuller – clinical psychologist, author and family therapist – to discuss his work on converting neurodiversity into neuro-advantage. In this episode, we explore transitions and regulation, school belonging and finding your people, and how educators can help turn neurodivergence into a genuine advantage for young people.