In his work leading professional development, Peter Klosterman found that teachers specifically asked for help teaching optimisation more effectively. To address challenges students often experience solving optimisation problems, he explains useful pedagogical strategies to support the teaching of optimisation and student learning in this topic.

Discourses of social justice, equity and inclusion are often presented as given constructs to schools, with the expectation for school leaders to construct schooling provision and practices to 'solve' a wider societal, national, and global plaguing problem. While schools are crucial to ensure the provision of equitable education, they may also…

Neoliberalism, after decades of reform, continues to steer educational policies around the world. As private enterprise encroaches public education, schools are held accountable, tangled up in an internationally competitive culture of achieving benchmarks that meet technically managed standards. Not only is it academic performance that is audited…

With the aim of engaging more students in meaningful thinking in mathematics, a cohort of Year 7 students were introduced to a 'Building Thinking Classrooms' framework for learning in mathematics. In this paper, the authors outline the key features of the implemented framework and share reflections on challenges and benefits.

This article provides insights into stakeholders' challenges while bringing educational accountability to private tutoring providers through a self-regulation model. There is no participant involved in this narrative inquiry study. Policymakers may be ambivalent about bringing accountability as their families may benefit from private tutoring.…

As a "Dyirbal Gumbilbara Bama" woman and anthropologist in the sport for development (SfD) field, I have found that 'honouring Indigenous knowledges in research and practice' continues to be a form of 'lip service'. This position has been reached through my presence at conferences in Australia, where most attendees are non-Indigenous.…

Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians is a unique enrichment program that has been produced annually by the Australian Mathematics Trust since 1991. In its present form, it is divided into four levels and caters for talented students from years 3 to 10. In a typical year, it attracts over 15,000 entries. Individual schools arrange a period…

Schools reflect society and societies reflect the schooling of their citizens. Amidst the COVID Pandemic, the failures of many nations to respond effectively and in an equitable manner have been on display for the world. The authors highlight the failure of neoliberal educational policies to create compassionate societies and propose a radical…

The authors describe and discuss an activity in which primary school students were instructed how to use graph theory to solve a spatial puzzle. This activity was aligned with the design principles of vicarious failure. They discuss how this impacted the type of dialogue observed in the classroom and found that students were more likely to focus…

This article reports on a critical policy analysis of discourses related to school exclusions. The management of problematic student behaviour is one of the intractable problems facing education systems today. Despite being ineffective, school suspensions and exclusions are commonly used in many countries as a discipline strategy to manage student…

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is exposing more and more Australians to financial loss, hardship and poverty. Even primary-aged students may be privy to conversations about unemployment, business closures, household budgeting, and difficulties making ends meet. Mathematics is a powerful tool that can raise awareness of inequity…

This is the first of four columns by Tim Erikson which introduces us to the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP). CODAP is a free, web-based software tool that your students can use for many types of tasks. This first column shows how CODAP can be used for mathematical modelling and where it might fit with the "Australian Curriculum:…

The teaching of white privilege in Australian tertiary settings is beset by a number of obstacles arising especially from resistance, disbelief and outright obstructionism in white students, and occasionally colleagues. The article summarises the historical and societal context regarding race relations, racism and white hegemony in Australia, then…

Holistic and ecological approaches to mental health support have been identified by many as best-practice approaches for creating and sustaining well-being. Those who experience mental health challenges including, for example, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), often struggle to find adequate, sustainable and ongoing care from clinical…

The importance of engaging students with complex societal challenges has led to the adoption of various interdisciplinary teaching and learning practices in both K-12 and higher education. However, interdisciplinary learning is one of the most complex domains of contemporary educational practice, and, despite its significance, remains…