Professional learning

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.

Teacher content draws on the wealth of knowledge and expertise that exists within the education community. This month, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with several experts in education on a range of different topics, and in today’s podcast, we take you through some of the highlights.

Many experienced teachers will have had to draw on their knowledge of good classroom practice to navigate the move to remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. But for beginner teachers like Savannah Epskamp, starting a teaching career in the middle of the pandemic was a whole unique challenge in itself.

Each year in our reader survey, we ask you: ‘looking back on your experience as an educator, if you could share one piece of advice with your peers, what would it be?’ In this infographic, we take a look at some of your responses on the topic of professional development.

All Australian schools and school leaders are currently managing change in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even under ‘normal’ circumstances, change is a difficult process to lead. How can schools implement effectively and efficiently, to support student learning in such unprecedented times?

At Pakuranga College in Auckland, New Zealand, gathering data and using evidence-based resources is the basis of their professional development. Here, Deputy Principal Larraine Barton shares how a Teacher magazine podcast informed part of the beginner teacher program at the school.

Melanie Macmillan, Principal of Warwick Farm Public School, shares how her experience in The Principals’ Centre in Australia: Leadership for School Excellence program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education strengthened her professionally as a school leader, but it also helped her to understand how she could better support the needs of families at her school.

This month has been has been one characterised by a lot of fear and uncertainty as the world grapples with the challenge of containing the spread of the coronavirus. In this episode of Teacher Staffroom, we do a round-up of what we’ve published so far related to Covid-19, as well as other more general content that we thought would be of interest.

‘While schools will be gradually re-opening in China by mid-April, they’re closing around much of the rest of the world. How well are we prepared? OECD’s TALIS survey offers some insights,’ Andreas Schleicher, the organisation’s Director for Education and Skills, writes in his latest Teacher column.