Talking Teachers

Talking Teachers

Hosts: Dr Don Carter & Associate Professor Jane Hunter https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-arts-and-social-sciences/podcasts  Don & Jane are members of the Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. They have spent decades involved with education in schools as classroom teachers, head teachers, policy advisors, curriculum experts, course developers, partners in school-based research studies and the advancement of undergraduate and postgraduate teachers including inservice teacher professional learning.

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Episodes

Talking Teachers and Youth on the Streets: live at UTS FASStival

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...

Maths education in Australian schools with Jill Brown

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...

The media taking note to improve practice with Erin Morley

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 NotesKnijnik, J., Hunter, J. & Paterson,...

AI in schools with Rose Luckin

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...

New CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority with Stephen Gniel

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...

What matters in Indigenous teacher education in Australia with Marnee Shay

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...

Trusting teacher professionalism and teacher judgement with Susan Groundwater-Smith AM

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...

Ministerial Matters with Jason Clare

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...

Indigenous teachers in schools with Randall Mumbulla

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...

A former Director General looks back to look forward with Dr Ken Boston

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...

Exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools with Jo Lampert

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 -...

New teacher perspective with Gabrielle Zolezzi

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 NotesBeames,...

Teacher expertise with Jessica Gerard and Jessica Holloway

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...

Power and education with Professor Adrian Piccoli

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 NotesCarter, D. (2017). 'I'm scared of NAPLAN': The consequence of a reductive view of education. Sydney Morning Herald.Carter, D. & Piccoli,...

Voice from the classroom with Julie Moon

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 NotesBurke, 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...

Teacher Education and the Teacher Shortage with Emeritus Professor Alan Reid

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 NotesHunter, J. (16 August 2022). Teacher shortages and the ‘crisis’ in rural and remote schools, incentives and what needs to change. Interview on ABC radioMCERA webinar (26 August 2022): The underlying and overlooked aspects of the teacher crisis. Webinar linkReid, A. (2019). Changing Australian education:...

School Funding and the Teacher Shortage with Chris Bonnor

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...

Schools and the Australian Media with Jacqueline Maley

Jacqueline is a senior writer and regular columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers. In this fifth episode we ask about her own unique writing processes which are not necessarily 'scientific' but driven from the news cycle and topics that she might be discussing with friends, family and current events.Show NotesGore, J. & Mockler, N. (23 June 2022). Teachers the fall guys for a failing system. SMHHayes, D. (25 July 2022). Here’s what a brave education minister...

The State of Play in Schools and Union Solutions with Correna Haythorpe

Correna became Federal President of the Australian Education Union in February 2015. She has spent 17 years teaching in public primary schools. As President of the AEU, she led the union through a long-running industrial dispute with the SA Government as well as organising the “I Give a Gonski” and “Stop TAFE Cuts” campaigns. She has extensive experience and understanding of social justice issues, with a particular interest in students and their families from disadvantaged areas.Show NotesAEU Submission No 112...