Professional learning

ACER’s Research Conference brings together leading education researchers from Australia and overseas. In today’s article, Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses the aims of the conference and this year’s theme – ‘Teaching practices that make a difference: Insights from research’.

Building teacher expertise involves school leaders providing staff with opportunities to continuously improve their skills and practices. It also means leading by example. Principal Julie Perry is a firm believer in attending PD sessions alongside her staff.

In this program, a group of experienced primary school teachers have become practitioner researchers, focusing on strengthening their practice and improving outcomes for students. Program facilitators Dr Hilary Emery and Dr Neil Saunders share their experience of working with these teachers.

This school in Western Australia is focused on creating a culture of continuous learning for both staff and students. To ensure everyone is on board, they’ve captured student voice through an online survey. Here, we learn how they’re using the information they’ve captured to improve school culture, and structure their approach to teaching and learning.

Are you currently going through the process of achieving full teacher registration? Is it something you hope to do soon? In today’s Q&A we speak to a teacher who is partway through preparing for proficient certification status, and her principal about his mentoring tips for teachers.

Can being confused actually be a beneficial part of the learning process? And in what ways can teachers allow for more uncertainty in their classrooms? These are questions being explored by researchers at the Science of Learning Research Centre.

Teachers are often encouraged to take up opportunities to mark external exams or tests. There is extra money to be earned, but they are also often told that it is good professional development. But what do people mean when they say that, and what parts of your professional practice does marking help to develop?

In this episode of The Research Files, we speak to Adjunct Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at James Cook University, Brian Lewthwaite. He's the lead author of a research project exploring the perspectives of Indigenous Australians on effective teaching practice and he joins us to talk about phase one of this study.

Jayne Heath is in her first year as principal at the Australian Science and Mathematics School in South Australia. Here, she explains the benefits of having a strong leadership succession plan in place and the impact on the wider school community.

Dr David Armstrong from Flinders University is our guest in today’s Behaviour Management podcast. We explore how certain behaviour management models are simply ineffective, particularly for students with learning or mental health difficulties, and discuss his research in this area.