Intentional teaching is widely regarded as a key teaching practice within early childhood education and care settings. It involves educators making deliberate, thoughtful decisions to achieve quality learning outcomes for children. This discussion paper synthesises evidence related to intentional teaching in early childhood and highlights gaps in the evidence base.

This explainer outlines how memory systems support learning and the conditions that optimise retention and recall, recognising the diverse ways students engage with and process information.

Attention and focus are essential for students to process and retain new information effectively. This explainer examines how students direct their attention in a schooling environment and how the actions of the teacher can support focus, minimise the impact of distractions on learning and foster conditions for learning success.

This explainer outlines how students develop mastery by consolidating knowledge – storing and strengthening it in memory through practice and review – enabling them to solve unfamiliar problems, think critically and creatively, and generate new representations and applications of their understanding.

This explainer explores the critical processes through which students acquire, store and utilise knowledge to develop understanding. Knowing the function of memory systems and the process of acquiring knowledge helps explain how learning is retained over time and supports students’ ability to build on what they know.