Teacher Magazine (ACER)

When we ask readers and listeners about the professional learning topics that interest them and what they’d like more support on, teacher wellbeing is always right up there. We're here today at the University of Queensland in Brisbane to find out about a teacher wellbeing study, looking at the impact of two stress interventions.

Our guest for the second episode in our Behaviour Management podcast series is Phil Beadle – a teacher, education consultant, public speaker, author and broadsheet columnist. Phil was once named Secondary Teacher of the Year in the UK and is considered an expert in the areas of literacy and behaviour management. In today’s podcast he joins us on the line from the UK to discuss behaviour management, but in particular the different de-escalation techniques that educators can use to manage challenging behaviours in their classrooms.

Three Deakin University academics – Dr Linda Hobbs, Associate Professor Coral Campbell and Associate Professor Colleen Vale – recently visited ACER to share their research on out-of-field teaching. In today’s School Improvement podcast, we share some highlights from their presentation.

Professor Jenny Gore joins The Research Files to discuss the findings of a new Australian study by academics from the University of Newcastle and Western Sydney University investigating the occupational and career aspirations of Indigenous school students.

Our guest on The Research Files today is Amanda Datnow, a Professor in the Department of Education Studies and Associate Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Her current research explores best practice in relation to data-informed teaching and learning, including how to build educator capacity. In August, Professor Datnow will be in Melbourne for Research Conference 2017, hosted by the Australian Council for Educational Research, where she’ll deliver a keynote titled ‘Opening or closing doors for students? Equity and data-driven decision-making’.

Professor Nan Bahr delivered the closing keynote address at last month’s Excellence in Professional Practice Conference on the Gold Coast. Her keynote, titled ‘Personal attributes: Developing the hidden qualities in quality teaching’ examined the concept of quality in teaching and the personal attributes of teachers that are central to the teacher-learner relationship. In this special episode, we’ll be sharing the highlights from Nan’s keynote address at EPPC.

The practicum component of pre-service teacher education courses is an important part of preparing students for the profession. A recent Australian study shines a spotlight on the highs and lows of the practicum experience from the perspective of pre-service drama teachers. The findings have been published in the Australian Journal of Teacher Education and lead author Dr Christina Gray, from Edith Cowan University, is our guest in this episode of The Research Files.

A new study from academics at Queensland University of Technology has found there’s a gender gap when it comes to the behaviourial skills of children starting school. Professor Sue Walker joins me in this episode of The Research Files to discuss the study findings and the implications for educators and parents.

By building strong professional learning communities (PLCs) school leaders can improve not only the quality of teaching, but also student outcomes. So, what does an effective PLC look like and how do you go about building one? My guest is Dr Lawrence Ingvarson, a Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). He’s developed ACER’s Professional Learning Community Framework (PLCF). The framework covers five key domains: professional culture; leadership; a focus on student learning, wellbeing and engagement; a focus on improving professional knowledge and practice; and teachers who think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.

To whet the appetite for the 2017 Excellence in Professional Practice Conference, we speak to both keynote speakers – Professor Stephen Dinham and Professor Nan Bahr – and revisit the EPPC archive to share our favourite snippets from interviews with previous presenters.