School leaders

Australia’s year 4s achieved the country’s best-ever result in the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Alongside the year 4 and 8 assessments, students, teachers and principals at participating schools completed a questionnaire – those findings have been released today.

In today’s article, Rachael Lehr, Associate Principal at Dayton Primary School in Western Australia shares her advice on how to set the tone for a new school term to get the best out of your students and staff. From creating positive relationships, to setting high expectations and revisiting routines, Rachael shares what has worked in her school setting.

Every day, across classrooms, school halls, and virtual learning spaces, educators are quietly performing extraordinary feats – finding new ways to connect with students, leading their colleagues through change, and putting everything they have into helping young people thrive. Yet, all too often, their efforts go unrecognised. The 2025 National Education Summit Teacher Awards aim to change that.

We’ve reached the penultimate episode of Series 3 of our podcast series School Assembly. Teacher editor Jo Earp talks to Notre Dame P-12 College Principal Dan McShea about distributed leadership and developing a leadership pipeline in a new school. Dan also shares his biggest challenge, key learning and proudest achievement since last month’s episode. 

The 2025 Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) National Conference, taking place from 26 to 29 August in Brisbane, is shaping up to be one of the most significant and inspiring events on this year’s professional learning calendar for primary school leaders across Australia. 

How can teachers meaningfully integrate Indigenous perspectives? In this expert Q&A, Indigenous curriculum specialist Melissa Serrurier discusses culturally responsive teaching, making the shift from tokenism, using authentic resources, and the ways schools can respectfully build and sustain genuine partnerships with local communities.

In this episode of The Research Files podcast, Teacher editor Jo Earp chats to Jenni Ingram, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, about the OECD’s Unlocking High-Quality Teaching report. Alongside insights from 150 schools in 50 countries, it explores 20 practices that teachers draw on to achieve 5 key teaching goals.

This episode of our School Assembly podcast is all about professional learning. Our Series 3 Principal Dan McShea joins us from Queensland’s Notre Dame P-12 College to share how it links back to strategic planning and key teaching and learning documents. We’ll also find out about his biggest challenge, key learning and proudest achievement since we caught up last.

‘Students are uniquely placed to bring to conversations something which only they can, their lived experience of what it means to be a learner in their school.’ In today’s article, John Cleary asks if ‘student voice’ is enough, and discusses how educators can instead partner with students to ensure their voices (and views) are heard and acted upon.

The Narragunnawali Awards are held every 2 years and celebrate outstanding reconciliation initiatives. With applications open for 2025, we catch up with Kim Calabrese, Principal of Winterfold Primary School, Western Australia – winners of the 2023 Schools award.