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We’re well and truly into the new school year here in Australia. In today’s Teacher Staffroom podcast, we run you through the highlights from this month, including our round up of some key events happening throughout the school year to help you with lesson planning, and an article that shares 4 design principles to help turn classrooms into spaces that support and celebrate student learning.

The 2026 recipient of the Global Teacher Prize has been announced – Rouble Nagi from India took out the top prize. One Australian teacher was a top 10 finalist this year – Colleen O’Rourke from the Hills Cristian Community School in Adelaide, South Australia. Teacher caught up with her shortly after she was named a finalist to find out about the work she’s been recognised for. 

In today’s episode Dominique Russell speaks with the 2 recipients of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching – Paula Taylor from the ACT and Matt Dodds from NSW. They share the lesson activities that are a hit in their science classrooms, the teachers that had an impact on them, and how they’re sharing their knowledge with other educators. 

It has been an exciting year of Teacher podcasts! In this annual wrap-up of highlights from 2025, the team at Teacher select their favourite episodes and discuss why the episodes resonated with them and Teacher listeners. They also chat about how they put the podcast together, how they select guests for each episode, and give a sneak peek of what’s to come in 2026.

In a Teacher exclusive, Minister of Education and Research for Estonia Dr Kristina Kallas joins editor Jo Earp for this special podcast to talk about setting teachers and students up for success, the early years foundations for Estonia's impressive PISA performance, and the next big challenge – AI in education.

A big part of getting ready for a new year is setting up your learning spaces. Whether it be how you’ll set up your own classroom, the school library space, or even outdoor areas, there’s plenty to consider. In this episode of Teacher Staffroom, we catch you up on our latest content on learning spaces.

Teacher editor Jo Earp sits down with Mali Jorm, Madison Dearnaley and Tracy Kelly to talk about managing school library and reading spaces, including building a student-driven collection, creating fresh and welcoming spaces, and strategies to encourage reading for pleasure. They also share their personal and student book recommendations. 

It is important that teachers feel confident to respectfully and effectively address religion and beliefs in diverse classrooms. In today's podcast, Professor Peter Sherlock discusses why it’s important for schools to engage with religion and belief systems, how to engage students in meaningful conversations about religion in a respectful way, and resources available to help teachers build their confidence in this space. 

Earlier this month, Australia’s results from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (or TALIS) were released. Here at Teacher, we covered the results in several different formats. In this episode I’ll run you through the highlights, including an overview article of key findings, a podcast episode with the report’s lead author, and an infographic that shares teacher views on the use of AI. 

In this episode of our Research Files podcast series, editor Jo Earp talks to ACER’s Dr Tim Friedman about the latest Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). We’ll be focusing on the theme of staff wellbeing and looking at some of the protective factors when it comes to levels of teacher job satisfaction and stress.