Classroom Teaching

No failure learning in military instruction Because failure to learn may have dire consequences for military students, the American Department of the Army (1954) firmly asserts: “if a student failed to learn, the instructor failed to teach” (p. 5). Whew! That puts a different spin on our teaching doesn’t it?

A letter from an early childhood educator As a skilled industry, we are used to putting other children’s needs above our own. Please know that we see this as a part of the job – caring for little people, often at cost to ourselves.

Sensory strategies in the classroom What comes to mind when you visualise a classroom?  The posters on the wall, the chitter chatter of students, desks with colourful pencils, children’s artwork? For a student with sensory processing challenges, these things can all be very distressing and get in the way of their learning.

How a Tasmanian school grew students enrolled by 312 per cent It’s been a bit over 12 months since Ron West arrived as the new principal at Australian Christian College Burnie in Tasmania and in that time enrolments have jumped, more than tripled in fact.

Micro-credentialling at every stage of learning HaileyburyX, a new project from independent school Haileybury, creates short courses for teachers, parents and students from pre-school to Year 12 that can be accessed anywhere in the world.    Working in small teams, Haileybury teachers are developing the courses in-house supported by HaileyburyX Director Prof Peter Thomas, who brings a background in higher education, technology and innovation to the initiative.

Will your teaching staff be here at the end of the year? Workload, particularly increased non-teaching tasks, lack of support, and the lack of respect and appreciation for the teaching profession, are the main reasons many teachers choose to leave the occupation (Buchanan, 2010).

Building a curriculum that includes students with vision impairment The first national curriculum for students with a vision impairment could be rolled out in schools across Australia soon with trials taking place in schools later this year.

Stolen Generations grants further Indigenous knowledge in schools There has been a national shift in perception around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and this is being driven, in part, by more Indigenous knowledge at the school level. Towards that schools can now apply for grants of up to $500 to access stolen generations teaching material.

The issue of engagement The process of learning to cooperate with others begins very early in life – often it is a sandpit experience. A term I often use when asked what I do is that “I teach people how to play nicely in the sandpit”.

Will your teaching staff be here at the end of the year? Top factors that will determine whether a teacher makes it through this year: the issues that impact teacher retention explained.