Wellbeing

Earlier this year, our podcast with Mandy Nayton – Educational and Developmental Psychologist and CEO of the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation – explored ways to support students of all ages read successfully. In the first of 3 follow-up articles, ACU Professor Genevieve McArthur – Director of Research Translation at the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation – shares how reading difficulties can impact student wellbeing.

As a school, understanding the reasons for student absenteeism in your context is key to providing targeted support. Drawing on data from PISA 2022, new OECD research shows school attendance problems are widespread and increasing. In this infographic, we share the reasons students missed 3 or more consecutive months of schooling.

In this episode of The Research Files, Teacher editor Jo Earp is joined by Mason Zhou and Professor Dot Dumuid to talk about a South Australian study into the impact of secondary school transition on student wellbeing. One of the key findings is it’s not a short-term dip – students may be struggling in their second year, too.

Absent students miss more than just lesson content; they miss the opportunities to build the habits and skills to succeed at school and in life. New OECD research shows ‘school attendance problems are no longer a marginal issue; they have become a challenge affecting classrooms in nearly every country’.

In our latest reader survey you let us know that you’d like more content on the topic of curriculum implementation. We’ve been hard at work having a look at this in the first few months of 2026, and in this episode of Teacher Staffroom, we take you through some highlights. 

In his new book, From Burnout to Breakthrough: The Leadership Reset, educational leader and author Brad Gaynor explores the growing pressures on school leaders and the toll these demands can take on wellbeing. In this extract for Teacher readers, Gaynor draws on his own lived experience of burnout to unpack the warning signs and share why naming it gave him the first foothold toward recovery.

The past few years have been a challenging time for school leaders around the world. In this episode of The Research Files, Dominique Russell is joined by Michelle Striepe to discuss her and her colleagues’ research into what school leaders have learned from leading during crises – including a 3-prong approach they utilised – and how they can be more resilient for future crises. 

What are the essential skills we need for learning and life, and how can teachers help students to develop them? The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has been working with more than 30 countries to identify 5 essential skills and design a suite of free educator resources. Dr Claire Scoular shares more details in this expert Q&A.

‘We weren’t looking at expanding (the program) but the demand from the education sector was strong.’ Researchers behind the trial of a meditation program for primary students have just launched a new study focusing on principals and teachers. In this article, we find out more from Dr Peta Stapleton.

Effective teaching and learning go hand in hand with supporting the health and wellbeing needs of students and, just as importantly, staff and school leaders. In this Q&A we speak to high school teacher Sue Webb, whose book Teachers Cry Too shares her struggle with and recovery from mental illness.