National Science Week – an annual celebration of science and technology in Australia – is going to look a little different in schools this year due to COVID-19. The Australian Science Teachers Association coordinate school involvement in the event, and have had to make significant changes to what celebrations will look like this year.

‘The current New South Wales school curriculum is in need of reform. That was the clear message from state-wide consultations and submissions to my review.’ In his latest Teacher column, Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses three aspects of the curriculum identified as being in need of reform.

At Teacher magazine, we love to share innovative and research-based classroom activities from educators across Australia and the world. In today’s podcast, we take take you through some of the engaging learning activities educators have been using during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Knox School’s Allan Shaw and Ben Righetti join Teacher to discuss the Character and Leadership Model that was implemented at the school between 2017 and 2020. It aims to foster the development of young people of character who will be ethical citizens and community leaders and involved a redesign of camps, excursions and community-based learning.

'The school curriculum should embody a society’s vision for its future and play a vital role in achieving that vision.' Professor Geoff Masters AO reflected on this during his review of the New South Wales curriculum and on a study visit to Estonia.

This week, Teacher has been sharing reader stories on their school’s response to the pandemic. This final instalment is written by Michael Rosenbrock, Assistant Principal at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.

In today’s article, Kate Hill – an Australian teacher from Melbourne who is currently teaching Year 7 and 8 English at Braeburn School in Nairobi, Kenya – gives an international perspective on learning during the pandemic.

As educators in Australia return to face-to-face teaching, and schools around the world grapple with new ways of working to provide continuing support to students during the pandemic restrictions, readers have been getting in touch to share what’s been happening in their own context.

New research suggests that hands-on science mentor programs can be beneficial for high achieving senior secondary students in rural areas. In our latest reader submission, Louise Puslednik details the study findings.

In the first of two articles, teacher educators Kate Coleman and Abbey MacDonald share practical examples of how visual arts teachers and artists transformed the ways they connected and communicated with students, and each other, during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure a continuity of learning.