Long reads

As educators in Australia return to face-to-face teaching, and schools around the world grapple with new ways of working to provide continuing support to students during the pandemic restrictions, readers have been getting in touch to share what’s been happening in their own context.

‘[It] is worrying that in one-third of countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018 more than one in two students said that intelligence is something about them that they can’t change very much.’ In his new Teacher column Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, discusses insights from PISA 2018.

New research suggests that hands-on science mentor programs can be beneficial for high achieving senior secondary students in rural areas. In our latest reader submission, Louise Puslednik details the study findings.

A new research-based series encourages early years educators to take advantage of everyday teaching and learning opportunities to improve young children’s scientific understanding, and shares four step-by-step activities for the classroom or learning at home.

In the first of two articles, teacher educators Kate Coleman and Abbey MacDonald share practical examples of how visual arts teachers and artists transformed the ways they connected and communicated with students, and each other, during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure a continuity of learning.

How have the COVID-19 school restrictions affected pre-service teachers and their ability to complete their professional placements while students are learning remotely? We speak to Associate Professor Miriam Tanti, from Australian Catholic University, about how pre-service teachers have used it as an opportunity to develop a unique set of skills, knowledge and undestanding so early in their careers.

ACER researchers Dr Amy Berry, Kellie Picker and Rachel Parker discuss some of the characteristics of playful learning at school, share examples of classroom practice, and explain how Australian teachers can contribute to our understanding of learning through play in the classroom.

At Mossman in Queensland, a local Indigenous language called Kuku Yalanji was at risk of being lost. Now all students at Mossman State School learn the language and in this article, language teacher Sharon Case shares how the language program was developed.

A recent study tracked the reading trajectories of children in Grades 1, 2 and 3. Alongside this, the concerns teachers held in relation to their reading, as well as the support they provided, were analysed. Here, the study’s authors discuss the implications of their findings for educators.

What is epilepsy? How does the condition impact on a student’s learning? And what do school leaders, teachers and anyone with a duty of care in K-12 settings need to know? In this Q&A, Teacher speaks to Wendy Groot, President of Epilepsy Australia, to find out more.