Short articles

Chapter three of the Gonski report discusses the value of excellent teachers, the importance of upgrading their professional practice, and the need for expert educators ‘who foster the learning growth of their students through collaboration, mentoring and continuous learning’.

New South Wales public school principal Hamish Woudsma recently returned from the professional learning trip of a life time – a six-day school leadership course at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. In today’s article, he shares what he learned during his time in Boston.

It’s Science Week this week in Australia, and plenty of schools across the country are marking the event by involving students in real-world science activities, including monitoring local bird life and building prosthetic hands.

Prep teacher Sarah Ferguson has been working with Australian academics Dr Jill Cheeseman and Dr Andrea McDonough to explore young students’ perceptions of maths learning.

Miss Chen shares some of the F-2 resources she’s been using in her classroom. In today’s activity, the Foundation students learn more about the ocean in their Science lessons by visiting the local beach.

Student expectations of their future in education are shifting, a report released today has found. The report – which analyses PISA results from 2003 to 2015 – has shown an overall decline in the proportion expecting to go on to tertiary education.

A school-based survey has been designed to help schools assess the effectiveness of school-wide program implementation, particularly programs based on mental health. Teacher takes a look at how educators could use this tool to gain a clearer idea of how valuable their current social-emotional health promotion is for students.

A new paper published in the Australian Journal of Education explores the reasons why many students, especially girls, choose not to study advanced mathematics in Australian secondary schools. Author Dr Helen Law joins Teacher to share her findings.

In this fortnightly series, Teacher takes a closer look at some of the Gonski recommendations and what they might look like in practice. Here, we explore the review panel’s focus on individual student achievement.

The Cathy Freeman Foundation works closely with remote Indigenous communities with the aim of improving student engagement at school. One of the foundation’s programs focuses on improving student attendance and in today’s article, Cathy Freeman and a teacher involved tell us more.