Teacher Magazine (ACER)

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 for Educational Leaders).

Host: Jo Earp

Guests: Dr Ray Boyd, Rachael Lehr

Sponsor: Bank First

As a teacher, have you ever been in a situation where a death in your school community has occurred? Experiencing grief is something we will all confront at some point in our lives, but navigating a death in the school community, when you also need to support your students, can be really challenging.

The book, Grief and Loss in Schools: A Resource for Teachers was published earlier this year and is written by author Hazel Edwards. If that name sounds familiar to you, you might have her best-known book on your shelves at home, There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake. We sat down with Hazel to hear more about her new book for teachers and the topic of grief and loss more broadly.

Hazel is a former teacher and wrote this book based on her own experience and research. Her goal with this book is to work towards removing the uncomfortable feeling associated with grief and loss. As you’ll hear in this episode, the book is filled with practical advice and suggested learning activities to open up conversations and help teachers work through such a difficult time with their students.

Host: Dominique Russell

Guest: Hazel Edwards

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

Sponsor: Teacher Jobs