Student engagement

Students miss school for a whole range of different reasons, such as illness, suspension, or family holidays. Today, we’ll be speaking with Kirsten Hancock, Honorary Research Associate from Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia about how different types of absences affect student outcomes, and what families and schools can do to tailor their support to students who are missing school.

‘One way of making full use of reclaimed classroom spaces, whilst building collaborative and pro-social skills and behaviours, is Socratic Circles.’ English and History teacher Steven Kolber explains how to use this technique in your own classroom, the benefits and outcomes for students, and the role of the educator.

In her latest video for Teacher, Mathematics teacher Holly Millican shares two activities she uses in her classroom to help students understand, and build connections between, 2D shapes and 3D shapes.

Additional Needs Coordinator Sue Pickett shares a modified program worksheet she created with her team at Eltham High School in Victoria called ‘How we will work with…’ to support teachers in assisting students with additional needs.

Over the last four years, Aquinas College in Perth, Western Australia, has revamped its Student Leadership program, with the aim of increasing participation and strengthening student voice. Mark Weston – Director of Character Education and Leadership – shares details of how the program is structured and the impact it’s having.

Student engagement in Maths is becoming increasingly important in Australia with the demand for skilled graduates in STEM industries growing. Here we speak to researcher Dr Maaike Wienk about new data showing a decline in Year 12 Maths participation, and what schools can do about it.

Additional Needs Coordinator Sue Pickett shares a study planner she created with her team at Eltham High School in Victoria to support teachers in assisting students with additional needs.

Effective classroom management can be bolstered by an informed understanding of student behaviour, and a reliable toolkit of tips and strategies. In this article, we outline five further readings that examine effective approaches to classroom management.

In her first video for 2022, Mathematics teacher Holly Millican shares three engaging activities for teaching lower secondary students about directed number. She also shares some resources and worksheets.

Our guest on episode 72 of The Research Files is Professor Joseph Ciarrochi from Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education. He’s the lead researcher for projectHOPE – a program that’s notched up success in re-engaging at-risk secondary students with their schooling.