Talking Teachers

Hosts Jane Hunter and Don Carter interview Youth of the Streets (YOTS) leader Amy Gill who has many years’ experience working with young people outside mainstream schooling. YOTS is often a last chance to gain an education. Compassion, patience and optimism are Amy’s trademark. Anyone interested in how Amy and her staff have turned many lives around makes for compelling listening. William Verity, producer of this podcast offers his podcast tips and tricks, and there is even a 30 second rant on ‘hot education issues’ with the audience. This podcast episode was a life event at FASStival, the annual celebration of activities, programs and creative work conducted in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), held in December 2024. Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Erin Morley is the editor of Education Review and Campus Review both of which report on current issues in school-based education and higher education respectively. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Erin completed her internship at the Illawarra Mercury, where she investigated the lack of childcare vacancies by phoning 100 childcare centres within 70km of Wollongong. Throughout 2023, Erin investigated and produced news for the health sector through Nursing Review and Aged Care Insite.  Show Notes Knijnik, J., Hunter, J. & Paterson, C. (December 2024). Paper presentation: Education and democracy in schools through the lens of the Australian print media: a decadal examination at AARE Annual Conference, Macquarie University.  Hopwood, N., Palmer, T. A., Koh, G. A., Lai, M. Y., Dong, Y., Loch, S., & Yu, K. (2024). Understanding student emotions when completing assessment: technological, teacher and student perspectives. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 1-16.  Maher, D., & Young, K. (2023). Artificial Intelligence and Literacy Development in K–12 Schools. In Creative AI Tools and Ethical Implications in Teaching and Learning (pp. 80-98). IGI Global.  Manuel, J., Carter, D., (2020). The English Teacher’s Handbook A-Z (2nd Edn). Phoenix Education.   Mockler, N. (2022). Constructing teacher identities: How the print media define and present teachers and their work. London: Bloomsbury.  Nationwide News Pty Ltd. (2024). Education Review.  Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Dr Jill Brown is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education at Deakin University. She is a former maths teachers and current maths educator and education researcher. Jill is internationally recognised for her research where her interests include researching the teaching, learning, and assessing of real-world applications and mathematical modelling, mathematical thinking and reasoning, functions in technology-rich environments, affordances, zone theory, and anything that furthers our understanding of teaching and learning mathematics. She was an elected member on the International Executive of the International Community of Teachers of Mathematical Modelling and Applications (ICTMA), 2013-2022.   Show Notes Brown, J. (2024). Explicit teaching mandate – a pushback now is critical, AARE EduResearch Matters, April.  Brown, J. P. (2024). Challenging Tasks: Opportunities for Learning. In Proceedings of the 14th International Congress on Mathematical Education: Volume II: Invited Lectures (pp. 77-92).  Brown, J. P., Stillman, G. A., Galbraith, P. L., & Ng, K. E. D. (2024). Mathematical modelling of real-world phenomena. Research in Mathematics Education in Australasia 2020–2023, 29-57.  Brown, J. et al (Ed). (2023). Affordances for learning to teach mathematics: the case of out of filed teachers. Methodological approaches to STEM education research. 4:1-19. Cambridge Scholars.   Gabriel, F. (2022). Maths anxiety–and how to overcome it. Significance, 19(1), 34-35.  Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Marnee Shay is an Associate Professor and a Principal Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. She is an Aboriginal woman whose maternal family is from the Ngen'giwumirri language group (Daly River, Northern Territory), she was born in Brisbane, with strong connections to Indigenous communities in southeast Queensland. Marnee is an experienced and qualified secondary teacher.  Marnee is a lead editor of a critical text in the field of Indigenous education, “Indigenous education in Australia Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures”, published by Routledge in 2021 The book won a national award for ‘The Tertiary/VET Teaching and Learning Resource' category at the Education Publishing Awards Australia.  Show Notes Mielke, M. & Farrington, D.P. (2021). School based interventions to reduce suspension and arrest: A meta-analysis, Aggression and Violent Behaviour. 56   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359178920302226?via%3Dihub  Perkins, R., Thomson, A. & Shay, M. (2024). Towards equity: Privileging Indigenous knowledge in education research. Understanding sociological theory for education practices (pp. 45-63). Cambridge University Press.  Shay, M., Miller, J., Hameed, S. & Armour, D. (2024). Indigenous voices: reimagining Indigenous education through a discourse of excellence. The Australian Educational Researcher, 1-19.   Shay, M. & Oliver, R. (Eds). (2021). Indigenous education in Australia: Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures. Abingdon, Oxon United Kingdom: Routledge.  Shay, M. & Sara, G. (17 May 2024). There’s $110 million for Indigenous education in the budget. But where’s the evidence it will work? in The Conversation  https://theconversation.com/theres-110-million-for-indigenous-education-in-the-budget-but-wheres-the-evidence-it-will-work-230103  Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Professor Rose Luckin is an internationally respected academic and influential communicator across multiple stakeholders about the future of education and technology, particularly artificial intelligence. With over 25 years of experience, Rose is a recognised expert on computer science, education and she has served as an advisor to policymakers, governments, and industry globally. She is emerita at the University College London and the founder and CEO of Educate Ventures Research Ltd, a company that provides training and consultancy to the education sector to help them leverage AI ethically and effectively.  Show Notes Adarkwah, M.A., Islam, A.Y.M.A., Schneider, K., Luckin, R., Thomas, M., & Spector, J.M. (2024). Are Preprints a Threat to the Credibility and Quality of Artificial Intelligence Literature in the ChatGPT Era? A Scoping Review and Qualitative Study. International Journal of Human- Computer Interaction, Taylor & Francis Inc.  Educate Ventures Research. (2024). Beyond the Hype: The reality of AI in education across England. Access here https://www.educateventures.com/beyond-the-hype  Hunter, J. (2021). High Possibility STEM Classrooms: Integrated STEM learning in research and practice. New York: Routledge.  Luckin, R. (2018). Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: The Future of Education for the 21st Century. Institute of Education Press.  Luckin, R., George, K. & Cukurova, M. (2022). AI for school teachers. CRC Press.   Luckin, R., Rudolph, J., & Grünert, M. (2024). Exploring the future of learning and the relationship between human intelligence and AI: An interview with Professor Rose Luckin. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching,7 (1) pp 346-363.  Luckin, R., (2024). Nurturing human intelligence in the age of AI: rethinking education for the future. Development and Learning in Organizations.  Note: The Skinny is a weekly newsletter with the latest insights at the intersection of AI and education from Professor Rose Luckin and the EVR Team.   Subscribe to The Skinny. Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Stephen Gniel was appointed CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in July 2024. Previously, he has held senior leadership roles in both Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory in early childhood, schools and post school portfolios with both policy and operational priorities.  In addition, Stephen was a member of the ACARA Board and served as the CEO of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), as well other senior positions within the Victorian and ACT Education Departments.   He was also the National President and Board Chair of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders between 2016 and 2022.   Show Notes Carter, D. & Buchanan, J. (2022). Implementing the general capabilities in New South Wales government primary schools. Curriculum Perspectives, 42(1), 1-12.   Carter, D. & Piccoli, A. (2024). Power, politics, and the playground: Perspectives on power and authority in education. New York: Routledge.  Ewing, R. (2020). The Australian curriculum: The arts. A critical opportunity. Curriculum Perspectives, 40(1), 75-81.  Ladwig, J. (2022). AERO’S writing report is causing panic. It’s wrong. Here’s why.  https://blog.aare.edu.au/aeros-writing-report-is-causing-panic-its-wrong-heres-why/  Larsen, S.A. (2024).  Are Australian students’ academic skills declining? Interrogating 25 years of national and international standardised assessment data. Australian Journal of Social Issues. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.341  Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.  

Professor Susan Groundwater- Smith is one of Australia's greatest academic practitioners who has remained close to practitioners in schools. She has over 50 years of teaching and academic experience in both mainstream and special education. She's the author of many scholarly books and peer reviewed journal articles. Plus, she has published resources, commentary, and numerous reports. Susan has a particular literary obsession, and in her writing about schools, teachers, and young people, she possesses conceptual and philosophical arguments, but always strongly grounded in the world of practice itself. Show Notes Groundwater -Smith, S. (Ed). (2025). Hope, Wisdom and Courage: Teaching and learning practices in today’s schools and beyond. Berlin: Peter Lang.   Groundwater-Smith, S. (2023). Why Listen? Student Voice Work Defended: Students as ‘Expert Witnesses’ to Their Experiences in Schools and Other Sites of Learning. In K. E. Reimer, M. Kaukko, S. Windsor, K. Mahon & S. Kemmis (Eds.), Living well in a world worth living in for all (Volume 1: Current practices of social justice, sustainability, and wellbeing). Singapore: Springer.   Groundwater-Smith, S. & Mockler, N. (2022). Researching education. In A. Welch et al (Eds.) Education, change and Society. Fifth Edition, Oxford University Press, pp. 392 – 427.  Groundwater-Smith, S. (2022). "Conversations and the reflexive turn in social practice". In Ewing, R., Waugh, F. & Smith, D. L. (Eds.), Reflective practice in education and social work: Interdisciplinary explorations, London: Routledge.  Groundwater-Smith, S. (2016). Why student voice matters: The reinvention of power in a participative democracy, Education Canada, 56(4).  Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Credits Hosts: Associate Professor Don Carter and Associate Professor Jane Hunter, members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney.  Producer: William Verity from Verity Media. Made on Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, with respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Jason Clare is the Federal Minister for Education - he has held the portfolio since 2022.     In this episode, Minister Clare responds to our questions on initial teacher education, his proudest achievements in the role so far, the challenges of funding – the cases of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, consulting the archives of research conducted by recognised teacher education associations and scholars – plus there is even a rant … well not really – maybe a blooper. Don’t miss it.     Show Notes  Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) https://aare.edu.au/  Australian Research Council (ARC) https://www.arc.gov.au/  Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) https://atea.edu.au/  Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) https://acsa.edu.au/  Carter, D. & Piccoli, A. (2024). Power, politics, and the playground: Perspectives on power and authority in education. Routledge.  Hunter, J., Yasukawa, K., Kearney, M., Eckert, G., Heggart, K., Carter, D., Bates, K., Maher, D., & Patterson, C. (29 July 2022). Submission No 123 Upper House Inquiry into teacher shortages in NSW. UTS: FASS, pp 1-12.  Larsen, S.A. (2024).  Are Australian students’ academic skills declining? Interrogating 25 years of national and international standardised assessment data. Australian Journal of Social Issues. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.341  Lingard, B. (2015). Think Tanks, ‘policy experts’ and ‘ideas for’ education policy making in Australia. Australian Educational Researcher, 43(1), 15–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-015-0193-0   Sawyer, W. & Hattam, R. (2023). Submission to the Teacher Education Expert Panel Discussion Paper. https://www.education.gov.au/system/files/documents/submission-file/2023-07/TEEP_Emeritus%20Professor%20Wayne%20Sawyer%20and%20Emeritus%20Professor%20Rob%20Hattam.pdf  Skourdoumbis, A. & Rowe, E. (2024). A critique of ‘Strong Beginnings’ initial teacher education reforms: mandating neuroscience as core curriculum within the ‘what works’ movement, Australian Educational Researcher, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-024-00743-y 

Randall Mumbulla is a final year teacher education student in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) Program at the University of Technology Sydney. Randall was also one of the winners of the recent 'If I was Prime Minister' essay competition, run by the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) with the award being presented to him by the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.   In this second episode of Talking Teachers, we speak with Randall about this award and his experiences as an Indigenous teacher education student.   Show notes Lorenza, L., Carter, D., Baguley, M., de Bruin, L., Levido, A., Meiners, J., Zouwer, N.,Booth, E., & Stanton, L. (2023). Stage 1 Initial Findings Report for the Emerging Priorities Program. An examination of primary teacher, student and parent experiences of arts learning online during COVID-19 lockdown. CQUniversity. https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Stage_1_Initial_Findings_Report_for_the_Emerging_Priorities_Program_An_examination_of_primary_teacher_student_and_parent_experiences_of_arts_learning_online_during_COVID-19_lockdowns/23699763   Lowe, K., & Galstaun, V. (2020). Ethical challenges: the possibility of authentic teaching encounters with indigenous cross-curriculum content?. Curriculum Perspectives, 40, 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-019-00093-1   Moodie, N. (2019). Learning about knowledge: threshold concepts for Indigenous studies in education. The Australian Educational Researcher. 46, 735–749. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00309-3   Thomson, A. (12 December 2022). Indigenous voices: why we urgently need windows and mirrors, EduResearch Matters blog, https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=15464

Jo Lampert is a Professor of Social Inclusion and Teacher Education and Director of the Commonwealth and State supported NEXUS alternative pathway into teaching. NEXUS is a community-engaged teacher education program designed to prepare culturally diverse, high-quality teachers for metropolitan, regional, and rural secondary schools in Victoria, many of which are hard-to-staff. Jo was founder and co-director of the National Exceptional Teacher for Disadvantaged Schools (NETDS) program for ten years prior to moving to La Trobe University in 2017 - where over the past 5 years she developed NEXUS. In 2022 she took up a professorial role in teacher education for social transformation at Monash University.   Over the past twenty-five years, Professor Lampert’s internationally recognised research has included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, teacher education for high poverty schools and community-engagement in teacher education. She has been CI on many Australian Research Council grants including a current Indigenous Discovery on co-design and educational policy. She has research collaborations in Canada, the US, the UK, Hong Kong, Spain, and Brazil and is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Teacher Education. With a background in literary studies Professor Lampert is known for her research in children's books about September 11, 2001. She tweets @jolampert   Show notes Kettle, M., Burnett B., & Lampert, J (2022).  Conceptualising Early Career Teachers' Agency and Accounts of Social Action in Disadvantaged Schools, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 47(8):1-17.   Lampert, J. (11 August 2022). Why that one tweet went viral (and what we must do now to fix “teacher shortages”) EduResearch Matters blog, https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=14048   Lampert, J., Mcpherson, A., & Burnett, B. (1 May 2023). Teacher shortages: Is teaching family-friendly now? EduResearch Matters blog, https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=16599   Shay, M., Sarra., & Lampert, J. (2023). Indigenous education policy, practice and research: unravelling the tangled web, Australian Educational Researcher, 50(1):73-88

Associate Professor Jessica Gerard works at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne where she researches the changing formations, and lived experience, of social inequalities in relation to education, activism, work, and unemployment.   Jessica holds two ARC Discovery projects on an investigation of the shifting practices of public schooling, school governance and parental citizenship in disadvantaged contexts and in the second project is on community activism and education policy reforms across Australia in the 1970s and 1980s (with colleagues Proctor and Goodwin). She is the co-author of several books including Learning Whiteness, Class in Australia Migrations, Borders, and Education: International Sociological Inquiries. She is a member of the Social Transformations and Education Research hub. She tweets at @Jess_Gerrard   Dr. Jessica Holloway is Senior Research Fellow and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow within the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education at Australian Catholic University, Brisbane Campus. Her first academic position was as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University (USA). In 2016, she relocated to Melbourne to pursue a research-intensive postdoctoral fellowship within the Research for Educational Impact (REDI) Centre at Deakin University, where she conducted work on the relationship between accountability and educational leadership.    Her current project (funded 2019-2022), ‘The Role of Teacher Expertise, Authority and Professionalism in Education’ investigates the role of education in modern democratic societies, with a particular focus on teachers and teacher expertise. She tweets @JessLHolloway   Gerard, J. & Holloway, J. (2023). Expertise. Bloomsbury.   In their new co-authored book Expertise published by Bloomsbury (2023), Gerard & Holloway explore how expertise is socially constructed in relation to governance, uses of data and evidence, understandings of ignorance and the unknown, and – ultimately – power. Using contemporary and historical examples from international contexts, the authors address the political positioning of expertise and how this creates boundaries between who is an expert and who is not, and what is (and is not) expertise. Gerard & Holloway argue that ongoing policy debates about teacher expertise cannot be resolved by neutral definitions of 'good teaching'. Rather, expertise is unavoidably political in its expression.   Gerrard, J. & Watson, J. (2023). The Productivity of Unemployment and the Temporality of Employment-to-Come: Older Disadvantaged Job Seekers. SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ONLINE, 28(1), pp. 21-36. doi:10.1177/13607804211009534   Hogan, A., Gerrard, J. & Di Gregorio, E. (2023). Philanthropy, marketing disadvantage and the enterprising public school. The Australian Educational Researcher. 50, 763–780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-022-00524-5   Holloway, J. (2021). Metrics, Standards and Alignment in Teacher Policy Critiquing Fundamentalism and Imagining Pluralism. Springer Nature.    Holloway, J. & Louise Larsen Hedegaard, M. (2023). Democracy and teachers: the im/possibilities for pluralisation in evidence-based practice, Journal of Education Policy, 38(3), 432-451, DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2021.2014571   Marom, L. (2019). Under the cloak of professionalism: covert racism in teacher education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 22(3), 319-337, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2018.1468748   Smith, W.C., Holloway, J. (2020). School testing culture and teacher satisfaction. Educational Assessment Evaluation and Accountability, 32, 461–479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-020-09342-8   Sripraakash, A., Rudolph, S. & Gerard, J. (2022). Learning Whiteness: Education and the Settler Colonial State. Pluto Press.

Gabrielle Zolezzi is a classroom teacher with experience working in both the public and private sectors of education. In her first six years of teaching, she has moved between full-time classroom teacher roles to positions on her school executive, shaping her holistic view and understanding of our education systems. Gabrielle has led, designed, and implemented whole-school programs focused on encouraging agile thinking and 21st century skill development and is the current recipient of a grant to research further into this area. Show notes Beames, J. R., Christensen, H., & Werner-Seidler, A. (2021). School teachers: the forgotten frontline workers of Covid-19. Australasian Psychiatry, 29(4), 420-422. Dabrowski, A. (2020). Teacher wellbeing during a pandemic: Surviving or thriving? Social Education Research, 2, 35-40, 10.37256/ser.212021588   Heffernan, A., Longmuir, F., Bright, D., & Kim, M. (2019). Perceptions of teachers and teaching in Australia. Monash University. Monash University. https://www.monash.edu/thank-yourteacher/docs/Perceptions-of-Teachers-and-Teaching-in-Australia-report-Nov-2019.pdf   Hunter, J. (2021). High Possibility Classrooms: Integrated STEM learning in research and practice. New York: Routledge.   Keller-Schneider, M., Zhong, H. F., & Yeung, A. S. (2020). Competence and challenge in professional development: teacher perceptions at different stages of career. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(1), 36-54.   Morrison, A., Rigney, L. I., Hattam, R., & Diplock, A. (2019). Toward an Australian culturally responsive pedagogy: A narrative review of the literature. University of South Australia.

Dr Ken Boston began his professional career as a university lecturer, after being awarded his PhD in Earth Sciences. He then went into the education bureaucracy to go on to a distinguished career in Australian and international education. Dr Boston is a former Director-General of Education in South Australia and New South Wales, a former Director-General, Education and Training and Managing Director, TAFE NSW and former CEO of Britain’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. He was also a Gonski school funding reforms panellist.   Show notes   ABC Radio National interview with Dr Boston on 6th June 2023 https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/edpod/dr-ken-boston/3057944   Boston, K. (September, 2016). What Gonski really meant, and how that’s been forgotten almost everywhere. Inside Story. What Gonski really meant, and how that’s been forgotten almost everywhere    Boston, K. (February, 2017). Gonksi at five. Vision or hallucination. Inside Story. Gonski at five: vision or hallucination?    Hare, J. (May 2022) Gonski has been politicised, bastardised and cherry-picked: Ken Boston https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/gonski-has-been-politicised-bastardised-and-cherry-picked-ken-boston-20220217-p59x8w  

Adrian is a former NSW Minister of Education, and previous director of the Gonski Institute at UNSW. In this episode, Adrian responds to our questions on who holds power in education, how does it relate to the current teacher shortage and what are the major ‘roadblocks’ to progressing different agendas forward in schools, the broader community and in teacher education in universities.   Show Notes Carter, D. (2017). 'I'm scared of NAPLAN': The consequence of a reductive view of education. Sydney Morning Herald. Carter, D. & Piccoli, A. (forthcoming). Who Holds the Power in Australian Education? An Insiders’ Account of How Decisions Are Made, Who Makes Them and Where Students Fit. Taylor & Francis. Hunter, J., Yasukawa, K., Kearney, M., Eckert, G., Heggart, K., Carter, D., Bates, K., Maher, D., & Patterson, C. (29 July 2022). Submission No 123 Upper House Inquiry into teacher shortages in NSW, UTS: FASS, pp 1-12. Palmer, T-A. (21 September 2022). I’d just like to get on with my job. The barriers facing Science teachers in Australia. The Conversation. Wilson, R. (9 July 2022). New research shows NSW teachers working long hours to cope with the administrative load. The Conversation. Wilson, R. & Piccoli, A. (2021). Putting students first: Moving on from NAPLAN to a new assessment system. UNSW.

Adrian is a former NSW Minister of Education, and previous director of the Gonski Institute at UNSW. In this episode, Adrian responds to our questions on who holds power in education, how does it relate to the current teacher shortage and what are the major ‘roadblocks’ to progressing different agendas forward in schools, the broader community and in teacher education in universities.   Show Notes Carter, D. (2017). 'I'm scared of NAPLAN': The consequence of a reductive view of education. Sydney Morning Herald. Carter, D. & Piccoli, A. (forthcoming). Who Holds the Power in Australian Education? An Insiders’ Account of How Decisions Are Made, Who Makes Them and Where Students Fit. Taylor & Francis. Hunter, J., Yasukawa, K., Kearney, M., Eckert, G., Heggart, K., Carter, D., Bates, K., Maher, D., & Patterson, C. (29 July 2022). Submission No 123 Upper House Inquiry into teacher shortages in NSW, UTS: FASS, pp 1-12. Palmer, T-A. (21 September 2022). I’d just like to get on with my job. The barriers facing Science teachers in Australia. The Conversation. Wilson, R. (9 July 2022). New research shows NSW teachers working long hours to cope with the administrative load. The Conversation. Wilson, R. & Piccoli, A. (2021). Putting students first: Moving on from NAPLAN to a new assessment system. UNSW.

Julie is a recently retired classroom teacher, union member, and advocate for public education. We speak about her many decades of classroom experience and what she believes early career teachers require to be the best they can possibly be. Show Notes Burke, P., & Buchanan, J. (2022). What attracts teachers to rural and remote schools? Incentivizing teachers’ employment choices in NSW. Australian Journal of Education, 62(2), 115-139. Carter, D., & Buchanan, J. (2022). Implementing the general capabilities in New South Wales government primary schools. Curriculum Perspectives. 42(1). Erkert, G. (2022). PhD thesis. UTS The roles and positioning of non-English speaking background overseas-trained teachers in the Australian public school system. Heggart, K., & Flowers, R. (2019). Justice-Oriented, “Thick” Approaches to Civics and Citizenship Education in Australia: Examples of Practice. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_38-1 Lorenza, L. & Carter, D. (2021). Emergency online teaching during COVID-19: A case study of Australian tertiary students in teacher education and creative arts. International Journal of Educational Research.  

Julie is a recently retired classroom teacher, union member, and advocate for public education. We speak about her many decades of classroom experience and what she believes early career teachers require to be the best they can possibly be. Show Notes Burke, P., & Buchanan, J. (2022). What attracts teachers to rural and remote schools? Incentivizing teachers’ employment choices in NSW. Australian Journal of Education, 62(2), 115-139. Carter, D., & Buchanan, J. (2022). Implementing the general capabilities in New South Wales government primary schools. Curriculum Perspectives. 42(1). Erkert, G. (2022). PhD thesis. UTS The roles and positioning of non-English speaking background overseas-trained teachers in the Australian public school system. Heggart, K., & Flowers, R. (2019). Justice-Oriented, “Thick” Approaches to Civics and Citizenship Education in Australia: Examples of Practice. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_38-1 Lorenza, L. & Carter, D. (2021). Emergency online teaching during COVID-19: A case study of Australian tertiary students in teacher education and creative arts. International Journal of Educational Research.  

Alan is one of Australia’s leading education research scholars. In this third episode we talk to him about the damaging effects of neo-liberalism on education and why policy in Australian education is taking us backwards.   Show Notes Hunter, J. (16 August 2022). Teacher shortages and the ‘crisis’ in rural and remote schools, incentives and what needs to change. Interview on ABC radio MCERA webinar (26 August 2022): The underlying and overlooked aspects of the teacher crisis. Webinar link Reid, A. (2019). Changing Australian education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. Varadharajan, M., Carter, D. & Buchanan, J. (2021). Career change student teachers: lessons learnt from their in-school experiences. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48:107–124.

Alan is one of Australia’s leading education research scholars. In this third episode we talk to him about the damaging effects of neo-liberalism on education and why policy in Australian education is taking us backwards.   Show Notes Hunter, J. (16 August 2022). Teacher shortages and the ‘crisis’ in rural and remote schools, incentives and what needs to change. Interview on ABC radio MCERA webinar (26 August 2022): The underlying and overlooked aspects of the teacher crisis. Webinar link Reid, A. (2019). Changing Australian education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. Varadharajan, M., Carter, D. & Buchanan, J. (2021). Career change student teachers: lessons learnt from their in-school experiences. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48:107–124.

Chris is an education commentator and former school principal. He is a longtime campaigner for public education and his recent publications both in books and online opinion pieces in national publications focus on equity and funding. He is not hopeful about where education in Australia is at, he says: “It’s in the too hard basket. We have left so many things undone, for example, we haven’t solved the problem of equity – private providers undermine equity – it’s a system at war with itself. Deep structural reform is needed.”   Show Notes Bonnor, C. (13 August 2022). Solve school crisis by funding most in need. SMH Bonnor, C. (21 September 2022). We couldn’t have built a less fair system if we tried. SMH Eacott, S. (22 September 2022). What we must do now to rescue Australian schools. AARE EduResearch Matters Greenwell, T. & Bonnor, C. (2022). Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools. Sydney: UNSW Press.