About and for K-12 educators who teach subjects for which they don't have the necessary qualifications. This fortnightly show features insights, tips and solutions from teachers, researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs and more.
#108 • Success strategies for teachers working beyond their specialist field Prof Em Patrick Daneher & Assoc Prof Nick Kelly
What success strategies do teachers themselves draw on when navigating their complex professional work? Professor Emeritus Patrick Danaher, University of Southern Queensland, and Associate ProfessorNick Kelly, Queensland University of Technology, are among the co-authors of Understanding Australian Teachers’ Success Strategies: Narratives of Motivation and Resilience, arising from the Australian arm of a five-nation study. They unpack four strategies — value-driven, agentic, adaptable and relational — and consider what these mean for out-of-field teachers, including questions of professional legitimacy, relationships, agency, invisible design work, and when adaptability risks normalising inadequate staffing.
12 Oct 2026
#107 Teacher shortages: What OECD Education at a Glance 2026 doesn’t capture
What if some of the teacher shortage isn’t showing up in the numbers? The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026 takes a close look at teacher shortages — but it doesn’t measure out-of-field teaching. In this episode, I unpack what the report does tell us about subject shortages, teacherqualifications, retention, and Australia’s unusually high proportion of second-career teachers. And I ask a bigger question: if every classroom has a teacher, doesthat mean the shortage has been solved?
Links
OCED Education at a Glance 2026 report
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2026/09/education-at-a-glance-2026_3bce4131/full-report/teacher-shortages-and-the-attractiveness-of-the-teaching-profession_074961e4.html (https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2026/09/education-at-a-glance-2026_3bce4131/full-report/teacher-shortages-and-the-attractiveness-of-the-teaching-profession_074961e4.html)
My LinkedIn article https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shortage-behind-what-oecds-education-glance-2026-us-03psc/ (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shortage-behind-what-oecds-education-glance-2026-us-03psc/)
28 Sept 2026
#106 Dr Amber Hughes: Rethinking what counts as mathematical knowledge
Dr Amber Hughes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle (UON), talks about decolonising mathematics education in Australia. Her work asks whathappens when we look beyond access to the existing curriculum and think more deeply about whose knowledges are recognised, represented, and valued in mathematics. We discuss the limits of ‘Closing the Gap’ framings, the role ofAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges, why listening and humility matter, and why teachers do not need to have all the answers before they begin.
For out-of-field maths teachers, this conversation opens up a different way of thinking about mathematics teaching: not as a rush to the ‘right’ method, but as relational, reflective, and open to students’ intuitive and creative ways of knowing. Amber is also part of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre at the UON.
Links:
https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/amber-hughes
https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/centre/teachers-and-teaching
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