Engagement

‘Our research shows aspirations for school community engagement in the design of school outdoor spaces are high. … And yet, for many re-designs to schoolyards, engagement does not happen.’  In this article, Hannah Richardson from the University of Canberra shares 3 simple activities for engaging students in schoolyard design.  

A recent 2-year research project into outdoor spaces in secondary school settings found many students report insufficient seating at their school. In this article, researcher Hannah Richardson shares considerations for how schools can improve seating options in their setting. 

It’s National Science Week – a time to celebrate curiosity, inquiry and shared learning. In today’s article, we learn more about the Victorian Space Science Education Centre and how its immersive STEM experiences contribute to knowledge acquisition, but also to the development of teamwork, communication, resilience, and connection.

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.

At EDUtech 2026, the Teacher team caught the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge presentation hosted by Lisa van Beeck, ACER Research Fellow and Project Director for the challenge. In this exclusive video for Teacher readers, we recorded the presentation in full. You’ll hear van Beeck walk delegates through the challenge itself and highlight the suite of teacher resources designed to support it.

Absent students miss more than just lesson content; they miss the opportunities to build the habits and skills to succeed at school and in life. New OECD research shows ‘school attendance problems are no longer a marginal issue; they have become a challenge affecting classrooms in nearly every country’.

‘What I love most is making sure children have the support they need so they can thrive and learn.’ In this article, an assistant principal at a Victorian primary school shares how she balances her busy career in education with another important role – being a foster carer.

For many people, foster care is something they see from a distance. They may think about doing it one day, but assume they are too busy, not qualified, or not in the right stage of life. For one Melbourne teacher, those doubts were familiar too. Yet 5 years later, foster care has become one of the most meaningful parts of her life.

As a grade 1 teacher Haylea loves making learning fun through singing, dancing and creativity. But outside the classroom, she has found another meaningful way to support young people: becoming a foster carer.

Our guest on today’s podcast is Kayla Borg from St Mary’s Primary School in Whittlesea, Victoria. She shares how she went about co‑designing a podcast lesson for her year 5 and 6 students in partnership with the eSmart team at the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, what her students learned from this experience, and why real‑world, student‑led digital learning can have such a powerful ripple effect across the entire school community.