Long reads

Media coverage of the Californian wildfires has evoked reminders of Australia’s past bushfires and prompted discussion about the coming season. In today’s article Patrice O’Brien, Chief Community Officer at Beyond Blue, discusses why talking about bushfires with your students, no matter where your school is located, can help ease anxiety.

The yourstoryourjourney website has been created to help teachers and school leaders form relationships and partnerships with communities and parents to achieve better educational outcomes for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

‘While it will take us some time before we understand the full effect of temporary school closures on student learning long term, we’ve (in the meantime) learnt some important things to inform our teaching practices going forward.’

Researchers from the University of Newcastle’s Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, Laureate Professor Jenny Gore, Associate Professor Jess Harris and Dr Drew Miller discuss their latest research that explores the impact of Quality Teaching Rounds on student outcomes.

A primary school in Melbourne will be implementing a new four-week program for incoming Foundation students next year to better prepare them for learning following disruption to their kindergarten year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The emerging definition of ‘student voice’ involves young people in a true partnership with adults, so they can influence what happens to them in school, and become meaningfully involved in their own learning. In today’s article Roger Holdsworth from the Youth Research Centre at The University of Melbourne discusses how the definition has evolved since it first emerged in the 1980s.

‘In a year that has seen a great deal of disruption to classes, the relationship between students and their teachers has become far more important.’ In her new column, Dr Sue Thomson explores the latest report from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and offers insights into how Australian students perceive their teachers.

New data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show Australian students report having high levels of self-efficacy and competence, particularly in the face of adversity. In today’s article we take a close look at the new report that explores students’ experiences at school and how they relate to student performance.

‘The 16 Habits of Mind are versatile dispositions that help us solve life's challenges and master subject area content.’ Dr Keith Mason and Dr Jason DeHart trace the ways Costa and Kallick’s Habits of Mind might take shape in a literacy-focused classroom.

In his latest Teacher column, Andreas Schleicher explores PISA data on teacher support and enthusiasm, school climate, student satisfaction with life and parent participation. ‘[The] most interesting lesson from PISA is that a higher sense of student wellbeing does not need to come at the expense of lower academic outcomes.’