Posts tagged EducationHQ
Explicit teaching’s ‘robotic’ tag cast aside as new podcast showcases great practice
Explicit teaching’s ‘robotic’ tag cast aside as new podcast showcases great practice

Australian Teacher Magazine, April 22, 2025, By Sarah Duggan

A new podcast that is aiming to blow apart the misconception that explicit teaching is robotic and inflexible is set to hand teachers a ‘front row seat’ to some of the best classrooms in the world.

Launched by prominent NSW school leader Rebecca Birch and LaTrobe University senior lecturer Dr Nathaniel Swain, ‘Chalk Dust‘ will zero in on footage taken from real classrooms to unpack the seemingly subtle but highly impactful ways in which teachers are applying the science of learning.

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MagazineNathaniel SwainEducationHQ, Teacher Magazine, 2025Comment
Beautiful ‘TeacherTok’ classrooms might hinder learning: researcher
Beautiful ‘TeacherTok’ classrooms might hinder learning: researcher

Australian Teacher Magazine, February 3, 2025, By Sarah Duggan

TikTok is fuelling a certain type of classroom aesthetic which may not be conducive to learning, one researcher has warned…

La Trobe University's Dr Nathaniel Swain has previously argued that the focus should be on scaling back what’s in classrooms. The less visual ‘noise’ and distraction, the better, he's said.

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MagazineNathaniel SwainEducationHQ, Teacher Magazine, 2025, whole class, explicitComment
Whole class explicit teaching the best start for all learners: expert
Whole class explicit teaching the best start for all learners: expert

Australian Teacher Magazine, July 2, 2024, By Sarah Duggan

Whole class teaching has been wrongly deemed an out-of-date and exclusionary instructional approach, but in reality it facilitates equity in the classroom and is more effective than differentiation when done well, one expert says.

According to former primary teacher Dr Nathaniel Swain, now a senior lecturer in learning sciences at La Trobe University, too many Australian teachers do not draw upon responsive and adaptive whole class teaching as a means of catering to classes with diverse learning needs. 

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MagazineNathaniel SwainEducationHQ, Teacher Magazine, 2025, whole class, explicitComment
EducationHQ - Feature Article
EducationHQ - Feature Article

Australian Teacher Magazine, June Issue 2022, By Grant Quarry

Keen to chart his own path, the first 10 years or so of Dr Nathaniel Swain’s career were spent studying linguistics, then Speech Pathology, a PhD in Education, and then lecturing at Melbourne Uni. Having built a real passion about young people at the margins of society, he is determined that they have excellent learning experiences. Now teaching foundation students in a school in southeast Melbourne, he’s doing some incredible work to ensure that every single student learns to read and write and can do maths from a young age.

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MagazineNathaniel SwainEducationHQ, June 2022, 2022, Grant QuarryComment
An ‘uncomfortable truth’: Do innovative learning spaces really improve outcomes?
An ‘uncomfortable truth’: Do innovative learning spaces really improve outcomes?

Australian Teacher Magazine, March 22, 2022, By Sarah Duggan

Dr Nathaniel Swain has no qualms that his space might look ‘out of step’ with current layout and design trends.

He is well aware that to the casual observer his classroom might appear different. For starters, desks are arranged in neat, front-facing rows. There’s not a collaborative ‘cluster’ or ‘U’ shape formation in sight. For the teacher, instructional coach and researcher, it’s a simple set up that feeds perfectly into his instructional practice and the learning routines he wants to establish with his prep students.

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MagazineNathaniel Swain2022, EducationHQ, Teacher MagazineComment