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 Ve...

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, functio...

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...

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 CE...

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 a...

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 secon...

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 pa...

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 educati...

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 epis...

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 Direct...

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...

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...

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 ci...

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 universit...

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. Austral...

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...

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...

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 Notes Gore, J. & Mockler, N. (23 June 2022). Teachers the fall guy...

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,...