Evidence-based practice

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.

To complement the widely adopted Driving School Improvement books by Pamela Macklin and Vic Zbar, the new Driving School Improvement Workbook offers school leaders a practical framework for turning improvement plans into action. This extract for Teacher readers is taken from a chapter on knowing you are making a difference.

The release of the results of the latest cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) made headlines around the world. More than 760,000 students assessed internationally, representing around 33 million 15-year-olds from 91 countries and economies. But the initial data are just the beginning.

‘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.

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.

‘Our ambition was never a polished framework that looked impressive on a classroom wall. It was to strengthen the quality of teaching inside every classroom, every day.’ In today’s article, Michael Rosenbrock and Martine Gill unpack key lessons from Clover Hill State School’s journey to develop and implement a pedagogical model that impacts teacher practice.

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.

This week we're celebrating Australian Primary Principals Day. To mark the occasion, we sat down with Anthony Boys, Principal of Marist Catholic College, North Shore in Sydney to discuss his approach to instructional leadership and hear how distributed leadership works in practice at his school.