Intervention

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Endowment Foundation designed and established the National Tutoring Programme in England, with the aim to support the educational outcomes of children from disadvantaged families. In today’s Q&A, we sit down with Emily Yeomans from EEF to discuss the design and implementation, challenges, and key lessons learned that could help others in the future.

‘Learning is complex – students need explicit and implicit knowledge, skills, and dispositions to succeed across the diverse and often crowded curriculum. But do our students actually know which learning strategies are the most effective?’ Today’s article shares details of the Learning to Learn program and Learner’s Toolkit at Goulburn Valley Grammar School.

‘In a digital society threatened by various disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, lifelong learning attitudes have become even more crucial in fostering the resilience and adaptation of youngsters.’ In his latest Teacher column, Andreas Schleicher discusses how teachers, schools, education systems and parents can influence the development of lifelong learning attitudes.

In education research, an ‘effect size’ has traditionally been used to sell the promise of improved outcomes, for both teachers and students, in the lucrative professional development market. However, critiquing the quality of research is more important than relying on a single measure, writes Dr Drew Miller.

The FlexiSpace initiative in Queensland is aimed at reconnecting disengaged students and supporting them to stay at school. Evaluations of the pilot and first phase of expansion provide early evidence of their effectiveness. Peter Kelly, Deputy Director-General at Queensland Department of Education, shares details of the approach, and the impact it’s having in participating schools.

In today’s article, Assistant Principal at Kerrimuir Primary School, Jo Jolly, updates Teacher readers on the progress and impact of an intervention program for incoming Foundation students to ensure they are well-equipped with the essential skills needed to be ready to learn.

A refugee student mentoring program has proved to be successful with South Sudanese students at a school in New South Wales. Here, Greg Whitby sits down with Melinda Bowd to discuss how the program supported students by preparing them for life after school.

Helping students to retain information is a fundamental challenge in education. Staff at Coolum State High School have partnered with researchers to investigate one promising technique for improving retention: Retrieval Practice.

In his latest Teacher column, OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares preliminary findings from the organisation’s Special Survey on how systems have responded to the pandemic – from school closures and remote learning, to teacher vaccination and gradual returns to in-class instruction.

For many schools, the shift to remote learning during the pandemic has led to new conversations about the possibilities of Blended Learning as a more integral aspect of regular learning and teaching programs. Today’s article looks at how a research-practice partnership is supporting four schools in Queensland to investigate this further.