Evidence-based practice

‘Best literacy practices in specialist schools look very different to best practice in regular classrooms.’ New research published in the Australian Journal of Education explores the different observational tools needed to understand effective literacy environments in specialist schools.

How can we make assessment work for learners and learning in a rapidly changing world? How can we establish where students are at in their learning, including in the hard-to-measure skills and attributes they need to flourish in life? These questions will be explored at ACER’s Research Conference 2022, where the theme is ‘Reimagining assessment’.

As a school leader, how do you apply research in education to your practice? How does it inform the goals and progress of your school? This month at Teacher, we’ve been digging into the research to bring you updates from Australia and abroad. Catch up on these stories in today’s podcast.

Students have a diverse range of personal and contextual factors that influence their access to and achievement in their education. A new global study calls for a re-evaluation of education systems to promote personalised education.

Taking turns and sharing in early childhood develops children’s pro-social skills in the early years, helping them to thrive in school and later life. In the second part of a Q&A with Teacher, Lauren Armstrong – Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the University of Tasmania – discusses how early years and primary teachers can support the development of these important skills.

Taking turns and sharing in early childhood develops children’s pro-social skills in the early years, helping them to thrive in school and later life. In the first instalment of a two-part Q&A, we speak with Lauren Armstrong – Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the University of Tasmania – about the impact of these skills for school readiness, and the current research on the topic.

‘Our vision for PLTs? To build a healthy, collaborative professional learning culture of inquiry that positively impacts student learning through teacher learning,’ Sarah Gunn, Head of Teaching and Learning of Middle School at St Laurence’s College in Brisbane shares in today’s reader submission.

‘Underpinning PAT is recognition that every student is at some point in their long-term progress and is capable of further progress given learning opportunities at an appropriate level of stretch challenge.’ In his latest Teacher column, Professor Geoff Masters AO explores what makes ACER’s progressive achievement (PAT) resources special.

Readers often get in touch with Teacher to share how their school is making a difference to student outcomes. New South Wales educator Mary Semaan contacted us recently to talk about how the teaching and leadership team at Al Sadiq College has been working to improve primary students’ writing skills.

‘To make a real difference to the way students learn science, we think it is important to link cognitive growth to learning progressions through formative assessment in everyday practice.’ In today’s article, academics from the SiMERR National Research Centre at the University of New England share how the Chemical Science learning progression they developed can be implemented in the classroom.