Whole-school approach to teaching and reviewing vocabulary reaps rewards

Sarah Duggan

By Sarah Duggan
Published November 9, 2023

James Dobson was in his office recently when he heard a student’s voice ring out nearby: “That’s toxic, you have to wash your hands!”

Literacy specialist James Dobson says teaching vocabulary, one of the five key pillars of reading, helps to counter ‘The Matthew Effect’.

It was a satisfying exchange to witness: just days before ‘toxic’ had been explicitly taught to children as part of ...

Teaching Assistant

Veritas Harrogate

Teaching - Primary / Oct 05, 2026

PMLD Teaching Assistant - Early Years - Specialist School

Veritas South West London

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Oct 05, 2026

Eyfs SEN Teaching Assistant - Specialist School - Merton

Veritas South West London

Teaching - Early childhood / Oct 05, 2026

School news / Lacking bikeability: Melbourne’s cycling network falls short for school connection

Fewer than one in four homes across Greater Melbourne are connected to their local public school by a safe cycling route, a new study has found.

Opinion / We teach students how to argue. But are we teaching them how to listen?

Picture a senior English classroom. A student is tasked with writing a persuasive speech about whether women’s sport should receive equal coverage to men’s sport.

School news / High school student protests grip France as PM calls crisis meeting

A rapidly expanding protest by high-school students, furious about long hours, teacher shortages and decaying facilities, has escalated into what the French Government has described as “urban violence”.

School news / Violence for the sake of it: the new form of extremism that has experts concerned

Violence committed or threatened by young people without a clear ideological, religious or political motive is an emerging threat and presents major challenges for traditional intervention methods, experts say.

School news / Contradictory and even discredited: education depts’ messy advice on student behaviour

‘Cursory, fragmentary, and nebulous’ is how researchers have described much of the evidence sitting behind the behaviour support information offered to Australian teachers and school leaders on department websites.

School news / ‘Accidental counsellors’: year level coordinators face compassion fatigue, burnout

Year level coordinators are working as untrained counsellors by default in many schools, with compassion fatigue, burnout and less pay than other middle leaders all defining features of their role.

School news / Nothing quite like Experience: the exciting new partnership teaching AI to educators

A new program from Adelaide University’s Computer Science Education Research (CSER) Group is set to upskill teachers in the ways of AI, providing clarity on how it works, developing teachers and students' technical language and understanding of it...

School news / ‘Catch them before learning gaps appear’: immersive early years literacy assessment launches

Experts behind an inventive new early literacy assessment that takes children on a digital storytelling experience say the tool needs minimal teacher supervision and offers a full picture of where students are at well before any learning gaps can ...

Opinion / Unis and schools are moving away from AI detection software. They should stop using it altogether

Since artificial intelligence (AI) software ChatGPT was released in 2022, teachers have been looking for ways to tell when AI has been used to generate text in assessments. AI-detection software is still sold by some tech companies, such as Pangra...

School news / First Nations teacher ed hub celebrates first major milestone

A First Nations Training and Teacher Education Hub program is creating new pathways for experienced Aboriginal educators in remote communities to gain university qualifications while remaining on Country.

Comments