Teacher Magazine (ACER)

School Assembly is the series where we find out what it takes to build a new school from scratch. We’ve been following Dan McShea from Notre Dame P-12 College on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast since the middle of last year, hearing about the role of Foundation Principal and what it entails – not just in the lead-up to a new school opening, but also the first few months of operation. This is Series 3, and today we’re on Episode 8. So, the topic for this one is policies and processes. Which documents are the responsibility of the Foundation Principal? Is there a template that schools work from? Is it a different procedure for whole-school policies and subject-specific ones? These are just some of the questions we’ll be discussing as Dan gives us a glimpse into the world of strategic planning school leadership.

My guest today is Professor John Munro, a teacher and a psychologist who has taught and researched in gifted education and talent development for 4 decades. The last time I sat down with John was in January 2020 when we recorded a podcast on gifted education – in particular, how to identify these learners, how to understand their learning needs and how to encourage them to reach their potential in the classroom. Five years on, we sat down again here in Melbourne to discuss themes from his new book published by ACER Press, Leading Improvement for Gifted and Talented Students. In particular, we explore leadership for the provision of gifted education – what it takes to develop a vision, putting together an action plan, upskilling teachers and collaborating with the wider community. Guest: John Munro Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: This podcast from Teacher is supported by Sora, the student reading platform that provides access to curriculum and popular digital books for schools. Learn more at discoverSora.com/global.

We hear a lot about the role of educators and schools in developing the essential skills students need for learning and for life – things like critical thinking and collaboration. But, it’s not necessarily a simple thing to support the development of these things in the classroom. We're delighted to welcome Dr Claire Scoular back to the Teacher podcast today. You may recognise her name – Dr Scoular is a Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research and she’s been working on developing frameworks for the essential skills for learning. The frameworks are designed to support educators to understand the essential skills by defining the skill, breaking it down into aspects that comprise it, and presenting those aspects as observable behaviours. It also identifies different levels of proficiency in the skill. This work has involved collaboration with more than 30 countries around the world to identify and select 5 essential skills. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Dr Claire Scoular Sponsor: Sora

It’s our first episode of Teacher Staffroom for 2025, and there’s plenty to take you through today to catch you up on content that’s kicked off our publication schedule for term one here at Teacher. If you’re new to Teacher Staffroom, or it’s been a little while since you’ve last listened to the series, don’t forget, like all of our other episodes of Teacher Staffroom, we’ll be posing some questions throughout this 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 Sponsor: This podcast from Teacher is supported by Sora, the student reading platform that provides access to curriculum and popular digital books for schools. Learn more at discoverSora.com/global.

Thanks for joining us for Episode 7 in Series 3 of the School Assembly podcast from Teacher. School Assembly is the series where we find out what it takes to build a new school from scratch. For the last 6 months we’ve been following Dan McShea, Foundation Principal of Notre Dame P-12 College on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Well, the big day finally arrived and we’re about to check in with Dan on how that first day of the new school went. Guest: Dan McShea Host: Jo Earp

The winner of the 2025 Global Teacher Prize has been announced. Mansour Al Mansour from Saudi Arabia has walked away with the $1 million US dollars in prize money. Mansour was recognised for his strategic vision and unwavering belief in his students' potential, and for building an inclusive and innovative learning environment. One Australian teacher was a top 10 finalist this year – our very own Brett Dascombe from Wavell State High School in Brisbane. Brett is a Senior Geography Teacher doing some incredible work in his school. He introduces his students to real-world, project-based learning, by embedding geospatial technologies like GIS, drones and remote sensing data into the geography curriculum. He’s also really keen to share his expertise with the wider community, by participating in professional learning and training with other schools. He is very clearly having a massive impact on his community, and now his work has been recognised on the world stage. We sat down with Brett ahead of the announcement to hear all about this work, and after 23 years in the profession, what it means to him to be recognised in the top 10 this year. Guest: Brett Dascombe Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: This podcast is supported by Sora, the student reading platform that provides access to curriculum and popular digital books for schools. Learn more at discoverSora.com/global

In the classroom, how can we go about enacting global citizenship? What might it look like when you’re starting out with your students? What does it look like when it’s being done well? A new Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit has been released to explore and answer these questions. Developed in partnership by ACER and UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding, the toolkit is designed for use by teachers, school leaders and education systems. Today, ACER Senior Research Fellow, Rachel Parker, joins us to take us through the 4-phase inquiry-based learning cycle that is the central mechanism of the toolkit, how teachers and school leaders can use it, and also share some background on how the toolkit was developed. Guest: Rachel Parker Host: Dominique Russell Sponsor: This podcast is supported by Sora, the student reading platform that provides access to curriculum and popular digital books for schools. Learn more at discoverSora.com/global.

Some of our 2024 Teacher Awards winners join us in this special podcast episode, where they share their top tips for starting the new year. From reading recommendations to leadership tips for welcoming and supporting staff for the new year, there’s something in this episode for everyone. Host: Dominique Russell Guests: Cathy Cook, Donna Harvey, Rose-Marie van Raad and Georgia Wignall

It’s a special, bumper episode of School Assembly as Teacher Editor Jo Earp chats to Dan McShea about setting the teaching direction, and also checks in on Ray Boyd and Rachael Lehr, who we followed in Series 1, and Series 2 principal Jo Camozatto to find out what’s been happening at their schools. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Dan McShea, Ray Boyd, Rachael Lehr and Jo Camozatto

Happy New Year from the team at Teacher magazine. In this bonus podcast episode, we’re delighted to share with you a sneak preview into what podcasts you can expect from us this year. Host: Jo Earp