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What does it mean to be a Totally Inclusive School? The latest instalment of Teacher’s Bookshelf includes an extract from the book Becoming a Totally Inclusive School: A Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, written by Angeline Aow, Sadie Hollins and Stephen Whitehead. According to the authors, ‘a Totally Inclusive, equitable and just institution is where all learners have access to the curriculum in learning spaces that continually strive to eliminate oppression’. In today’s episode, we're going to be talking a bit more about this Teacher’s Bookshelf article, as well as a School Improvement podcast episode featuring Angeline and Sadie, which explores this topic of diversity, equity and inclusion in greater detail. Later on in the episode, we’ll also be sharing some of the outstanding contributions we’ve published this month, from both Teacher readers and academics working in education. Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: The Victorian Government

In a Teacher’s Bookshelf article last month, we shared an exclusive extract from Becoming a Totally Inclusive School: A Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, written by Angeline Aow, Sadie Hollins and Stephen Whitehead. In this episode of School Improvement, we're joined by 2 of the authors, Angeline and Sadie, who are based in Germany and the UK. We’ll be talking about what we mean by Total Inclusivity, and taking a closer look at the Continuum on Becoming a Totally Inclusive School – that’s a framework to help schools and educators move from theory to practice. There are 6 stages of the continuum and we’ll be going through each, thinking about what that might look like in a school and what the next steps could be the move to the next stage. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Angeline Aow, Sadie Hollins Sponsor: Planet Ark

Any kind of change can be exciting and sometimes daunting, and moving from primary to secondary school is no different. So, what are the worries and challenges for students, and what would help to make the process easier? Guide to Thrive is a new evidence-based transition program from Life Ed that brings together teacher professional development mapped to the AITSL standards, practical classroom activities and supporting resources for parents and carers. In this episode of School Improvement, we’re joined by Murray Baker, a teacher of 20 years who’s now a Program Development Co-ordinator at Life Ed, and Dr Shani Sniedze, a Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research who’s been involved in the program. We’ll be discussing some of the findings from the research literature and student feedback forums, and how this student voice has informed the program and activities. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Murray Baker, Dr Shani Sniedze Sponsor: Teacher Awards

Today, nominations open for the inaugural Teacher Awards. In this special episode, Teacher Editor, Jo Earp, introduces the award categories, our Judging Panel, and information on how you can enter. Host: Jo Earp

School Assembly is the podcast that explores what it takes to build a new school from the ground up. In Series 1 we’re following Principal Dr Ray Boyd and Associate Principal Rachael Lehr as they navigate the exciting and challenging journey. Each month, we touch base for updates and reflections on their progress in the newly developing suburb of Dayton, located in the eastern metropolitan city of Swan in Perth, Western Australia. Building a great school and an expert team of leaders, teachers and support staff means nothing, of course, without the students. So, how do you start from scratch when it comes to getting new students? In this episode we’re discussing enrolments. Let’s get started. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Dr Ray Boyd, Rachael Lehr, Sponsor: Bank First

The latest results from PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) were released this month. The data sheds light on the literacy achievement of year 4 students in Australia, and in today’s podcast, we’ll take you through what you need to know. Host: Dominique Russell Sponsor: The Victorian Government

As an educator, finding the time to discuss matters you are finding challenging with colleagues, to seek advice and reflect on your practice, might seem impossible. In this episode, from LaTrobe University in Victoria, we're joined by Dr Anne Southall and Associate Professor Fiona Gardner. For the past few years, Anne and Fiona have been researching the impact of implementing the reflective circles education model they’ve developed for use in schools, to give educators the opportunity to reflect on challenging situations they’ve faced. In this episode, they’ll share the details of how the model works and what the research has shown about its positive impact. Host: Dominique Russell Guests: Dr Anne Southall and Associate Professor Fiona Gardner

School Assembly is the podcast that explores what it takes to build a new school from the ground up. In Series 1 we’re following Principal Dr Ray Boyd and Associate Principal Rachael Lehr as they navigate the exciting and challenging journey. Each month, we touch base for updates and reflections on their progress in the newly developing suburb of Dayton, located in the eastern metropolitan city of Swan in Perth, Western Australia. It's been a big start to the month for the team with the official opening of the school. Congratulations to everyone involved on that massive milestone for the community. Our focus for this episode of School Assembly is educational research and reading, and how this evidence base is the foundation for everything that’s happening at the school, from classroom teaching to leadership. A heads-up on terminology – when talking about keeping up to date with research, Ray mentions WAPPA (that’s the Western Australian Primary Principals' Association) and ACEL (that’s the Australian Council

It is widely acknowledged that teaching is a stressful job, and the global events of the past few years have added an enormous amount of pressure to those working in education. It is therefore crucial that the health and wellbeing of teachers and school leaders is prioritised. In today’s episode we're going to share with you some of the pieces we’ve published on the topic of teacher health and wellbeing, including a Q&A with high school teacher and author Sue Webb, who talks about her book Teachers Cry Too and shares her struggle with, and recovery from, mental illness. Later on in the episode we’ll also share some of the articles we’ve published on the topic of behaviour management, and some pieces from experts in education on a range of topics that may be of interest. Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: The Victorian Government.

Having access to outdoor spaces at school is great for play at break and lunchtimes, but it also opens up a whole host of curriculum-linked learning possibilities that extend beyond PE lessons. A new study by researchers at the University of South Australia has found that primary schools may not be making the most of the outdoor areas they have when it comes to curriculum delivery. The study acknowledges that schools and teachers are juggling multiple priorities, with possible barriers including a crowded curriculum and a lack of teacher training or confidence in this area. Dr Nicole Miller, Online Course Facilitator at UniSA Online, joins us in today’s episode to discuss the research findings, which have just been published in the journal Children, Youth and Environments. We also chat about the different types of outdoor play and learning spaces, and the benefits for students and teachers. Host: Jo Earp: Guest: Dr Nicole Miller Sponsor: Teacher Jobs

School Assembly is the podcast that explores what it takes to build a new school from the ground up. In Series 1 we’re following Principal Dr Ray Boyd and Associate Principal Rachael Lehr as they navigate the exciting and challenging journey. Each month, we touch base for updates and reflections on their progress in the newly developing suburb of Dayton, located in the eastern metropolitan city of Swan in Perth, Western Australia. So far in this series we’ve covered setting short- and long-term goals, planning for the new school, connecting with the community, the physical build, what goes into creating a new school, building the foundation staff, and developing policies and processes. In Episode 8 we’ll be talking about the school ethos and culture, including the values and vision, and what those look like in practice. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Dr Ray Boyd, Rachael Lehr Sponsor: Teacher Jobs (jobs.teachermagazine.com)

New research from the University of Newcastle has found that early career teachers deliver the same quality of teaching as their more experienced colleagues. In fact, when the researchers in this study looked at lessons delivered by teachers with experience ranging from less than one year in the classroom to more than 24 years, they found no statistically significant differences in teaching quality. In today’s episode we’re joined by the lead researcher on this project and Director of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre at the University of Newcastle, Laureate Professor Jenny Gore. You may remember that Jenny has been a guest on a previous podcast episode and has written several articles for Teacher. In today’s episode though, she joins me to talk all about this study on the relationship between years of experience and quality teaching, why they decided to do this research in the first place, and how the findings are both surprising and counterintuitive. Host: Rebecca Vukovic Guest: Professor Jenny Gore

At Teacher we love to recognise the work of teachers and school leaders who are improving practice and student outcomes and bring you the latest on research from experts in the field. We’ve highlighted the work and expertise of many in the past few weeks at the magazine, so in this episode, I’m going to bring you up to speed on these stories. Like all episodes of Teacher Staffroom, we’ll be posing some questions throughout the podcast, so feel free to pause the audio as you go, gather some colleagues, and discuss together how these stories might be relevant to your school context. Host: Dominique Russell

We know that schools partnering with families, other education institutions, businesses and the wider school community can have a positive impact on student outcomes. In this episode, we’re taking you to Yipirinya School in Alice Springs. Year 3 and 4 students at the school were recently participants in a trial of Charles Darwin University’s Children’s University – a program which offers students the opportunity to undertake learning experiences by visiting local businesses and organisations. We’re going to hear from Gavin Morris, Principal at Yipirinya School, about the impact participating in this program has had, and from Mariann Reu, project officer at Charles Darwin University, about the program’s design. The Children’s University is a concept that began in the UK over 30 years ago and outside of recognising learning that is completed outside of school, it helps younger students to understand the post-school pathways available to them, and has also been shown to improve student attendance and achieveme

School Assembly is the podcast that explores what it takes to build a new school from the ground up. In Series 1 we’re following Principal Dr Ray Boyd and Associate Principal Rachael Lehr as they navigate the exciting and challenging journey. Each month, we touch base for updates and reflections on their progress in the newly developing suburb of Dayton, located in the eastern metropolitan city of Swan in Perth, Western Australia. We’re well into Term 1 and the staff at Dayton Primary School have been getting to know their students and helping them settle into the new surroundings. Last time out I spoke to Ray and Rachael about recruitment. In this episode we’ll be discussing how they’re developing school policies. One head’s up on terminology, we mention the DFES – that’s the WA Government Department of Fire and Emergency Services – and the ‘Good Standing Policy’ in WA is around student behaviour. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Ray Boyd, Rachael Lehr Sponsor: Teacher Jobs

Why is everyone talking about ChatGPT? In today’s podcast special, we speak with several education experts to hear their thoughts on the potential impact of ChatGPT on teaching and learning – from assessment, to equity in education, and policy decisions. ChatGPT will also be joining us as a guest. Hosts: Rebecca Vukovic, Dominique Russell Guests: Catherine McClellan, Pasi Sahlberg, George Siemons

According to new data from the annual Mission Australia Youth Survey, the environment is now the number one concern for young people. In fact, of the 18,800 young people aged 15 to 19 who took part in the latest survey, 51% identified the environment as one of the most important issues in Australia compared to 38% in 2021 and 30% in 2020. The results show that 26% of young people were ‘extremely’ or ‘very concerned’ about climate change. In today’s episode of Teacher Staffroom, we're going to run through some of the ways that schools are tackling issues of sustainability in their communities, both here in Australia and internationally. We’ll also highlight some contributions we featured on Teacher this month and bring you up to speed on what we’ve been working on here at the magazine. Host: Rebecca Vukovic

If you’re a long time-listener of our podcast, you’ll know that each year, 2 winners are announced for the annual Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching – one winner working in primary schools and one winner working in secondary schools. The most recent winners were announced in late 2022 and they are George Pantazis from Marble Bar Primary School in remote Western Australia and Veena Nair, from Viewbank College in Melbourne. In January this year just before the school year started, we caught up with George and Veena to hear more about the work they’ve been recognised for nationally, and the impact they’re having on student outcomes in their own school settings. Host: Dominique Russell Guests: George Pantazis, Veena Nair Sponsor: QT Academy

Deakin University’s Economics + Maths = Financial Capability project set out to research what can be done differently to support secondary school teachers to prepare financially capable young people. In today’s episode, we're joined by Dr Carly Sawatzki, a teacher educator and educational researcher in Deakin University’s School of Education, and a lead researcher on this project. She shares insights into what the key aims of the project are, some of the key findings to be published in their research report (which was released late last year), and discusses the state of financial education in schools across Australia. Perhaps most importantly for teachers and school leaders though, Carly also shares how opportunities for teaching and learning about finance are framed within the current and new versions of the Australian Curriculum, and provides examples of other educators teaching financial education exceptionally well. Host: Rebecca Vukovic Guest: Carly Sawatzki

The most recent instalment of Mission Australia’s Youth Survey – which surveys tens of thousands of Australians aged 15 to 19 – shows that young people are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. In your school, what initiatives do you have in place to engage students in learning about sustainability, and how their actions can have a positive impact on the environment? At one school in Victoria, sustainability is embedded across the school, and in this episode, their Sustainability Coordinator, Venkata Kalva, joins Dominique Russell to discuss their journey to prioritising sustainability in the school community, the function of the school’s Green Team, and advice for other schools across the country looking to prioritise sustainability in their school settings. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Venkata Kalva