The high school years are an important steppingstone to future study and career opportunities, but it can also be a difficult time for some students. So, how can teachers and leaders support teenagers who are not engaged with their studies or who may be at risk of dropping out of school all together? Our guest on episode 72 of The Research Files is Professor Joseph Ciarrochi from Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education. He’s the lead researcher for projectHOPE – a program that’s notched up success in re-engaging at-risk secondary students with their schooling. Through projectHOPE, students are connected to qualified mentors. Now, the particularly good news is that researchers found that just a 15-minute online mentoring session once a week made a big difference. In this episode we’ll find out more about the research team, how the program works, and the impact on students – including their wellbeing and engagement at school. Host: Jo Earp Guest: Professor Joseph Ciarrochi

In Australia, we’re at the start of another school year. That likely means new students and possibly a new learning space to set up. For those students who are moving up from preschool or primary or for those educators who switched jobs in the summer, it could mean getting to grips with completely different surroundings at a new school. In this special episode, we’ve gathered a panel of experienced teachers and leaders, who will be sharing their priorities, strategies and tips for those first few weeks and for a successful year. There’s some great advice on things like classroom displays, professional learning needs, authentic activities, positive behaviour management, keeping on top of your email inbox and there’s lots more – so, let’s jump in. Host: Jo Earp Guests: Rebecca West, Holly Millican, Nicole Wilson, David Webster, Lisa Seewraj, and Alex Wharton.

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 we have in the pipeline for Teacher podcasts in 2022. Host: Dominique Russell

Here we are at the end of 2021 and it’s time to look back at all of our podcasts from the last 12 months. Join the Teacher team in this episode as we cast our mind back and share our personal favourite episodes from this year. Hosts: Jo Earp and Dominique Russell

In today’s episode, we're delighted to be joined by Rebecca West, Deputy Principal Instructional Leader at Bonnyrigg Public School in Bonnyrigg, about an hour west from Sydney in New South Wales. Rebecca was this year named a Top 10 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize. She was selected from over 8000 nominees from over 100 countries, and has been recognised for her work at her primary school in supporting students with additional needs and refining the school’s professional development program so teachers can work through identified areas more in-depth than ever before. The Global Teacher Prize is an annual prize presented by The Varkey Foundation which recognises one teacher for their outstanding contribution to the profession. The winner takes home US $1 million, and this year that winner was high school English teacher Keishia Thorpe from Maryland in the United States. We’ll be catching up with her in the new year, so be sure to subscribe to our free Teacher bulletin at our website, teachermagazine.com, so you never miss a story. In this episode, Rebecca shares more detail of her approach to ensuring all student needs are met, how collaboration between staff is key to improving student outcomes, and why their professional learning is conducted in three-week cycles. Host: Dominique Russell Guest: Rebecca West

As a school leader, what’s your response to negative events or difficult situations? In the upcoming school year, what areas might you choose to work collectively with staff on improving? We’ve unpacked these questions recently at Teacher, so in this episode we’re looking at leadership. Host: Dominique Russell

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University, joins The Research Files this month to talk about the Childhood Nature Play study. We’ll be chatting about the different types of nature play, and the teaching and learning resources that have been co-designed as a result of the research project. Host: Jo Earp Guest: Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

In this episode of Teaching Methods we’ll be looking at how PE teachers adapted to online learning during the pandemic. Our guest is Dr Vaughan Cruickshank and we’ll be discussing in this ‘emergency mode’ of teaching and learning, did PE happen at all? If it did, it more Physical Activity than Physical Education? And what lessons can we learn from this experience for the future? Guest: Dr Vaughan Cruickshank Host: Jo Earp

What is excellence in Indigenous education? This is a topic that’s been widely explored on Teacher this month and in today’s episode, we run you through some of the highlights. This includes a podcast on delivering Indigenous content in the curriculum, and a submission that explores how Indigenous peoples, school leaders and educators conceptualise what excellence in Indigenous education is or could be. Host: Rebecca Vukovic

In this episode of School Improvement, we’re taking you to Ireland, where research has recently been conducted looking at engaging students in the school self-evaluation process in a meaningful way. The research is outlined in the paper, Students as co-researchers in a school self-evaluation process, and the lead author, Shivaun O’Brien, joins us in this episode to unpack the impetus for the research and to talk us through some of the findings.