School leaders

In today’s podcast we’re talking with Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy about continuity of teaching and learning during COVID-19, trying to understand and mitigate the impacts on student outcomes, how schools have adapted to ‘emergency remote teaching’, and how the experience could lead to future changes and innovations in practice.

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.

‘For some, this transition will be filled with as much anxiety as the first day of school or the school year.’ In this reader submission, Dr Carl Leonard and Dr Gail Brown provide tips and suggestions for teachers and leaders to help manage the transition for all students, and particularly those with additional needs.

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?

With the COVID-19 pandemic comes a dramatic change to education and a lot of questions about the continuation of learning. At Teacher magazine, we’ve published a lot of content looking at navigating this challenge. In this podcast, we take you through some of the highlights.

‘As the evidence for home-supported learning with school-aged students is being rapidly explored, lessons of what works in schools provide a starting point for "best bets" in translating evidence-based practices for learning at home.’ Susannah Schoeffel and Dr Tanya Vaughan take a closer look at some of these ‘best bet’ strategies.

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.

Fostering a sense of school pride and meeting the individual needs of every student are just two priorities for Melanie Macmillan, Principal of Warwick Farm Public School. In today’s article she shares how she focuses on community partnerships, visible leadership and student engagement to achieve those goals.

While COVID-19 is grinding much of society to a halt, schooling has entered uncharted territory. During this time, it is important that teachers look after themselves. Our latest reader submission shares several evidence-backed strategies that can help support teachers’ wellbeing.

‘In this home-supported learning environment parents are being called upon to play a broader role in their children’s education. The role of the parent is not to replace the teacher in learning from home …’ Dr Tanya Vaughan and Susannah Schoeffel share evidence on how teachers can work with parents to support students in a rapidly changing education landscape.