If you’re seeing more students move from green thumbs towards screen thumbs instead, how can you nurture them in a manner that follows similar principles? Students are seeking the right attention, guidance, and environment that can help them thrive in school and everyday life. In an increasingly digital era, you are now tending a garden that’s more diverse, data-rich, and tech-influenced than ever.
Before planting the seeds for the year ahead, keep in mind that these are students navigating pressures that earlier years may not have faced in academic, social, and technological aspects. That’s why it’s worth understanding what today’s students value when it comes to being guided through technology: clarity, meaningful connection, and guidance around the tools that shape their daily lives.
Recent insights from the OECD’s PISA 2022 assessment show that Australian students continue to perform above the OECD average in mathematics. The report does highlight their particular strengths in interpreting statistical information and probability, but the flip side shows something else.
They experienced higher ‘mathematics anxiety’ at an index mean score of 0.17, similar to Portugal, Singapore, Canada, Belgium and the OECD average. This ‘mathematics anxiety’ is characterised by feelings of tension, fear, or apprehension. In turn, this can interfere with working memory, increase cognitive load, hinder performance, and foster avoidance behaviours.
This also reinforces the Department of Education’s 2026 – 2028 Data Strategy, where data skills are not just a nice-to-have anymore, but a core skill. Crucial to this is teachers easily accessing the data they need and analysing and interpreting it to help students feel confident using their own strengths in these areas.
Australian teachers are also increasingly using AI, with 66% of lower‑secondary teachers reporting AI use, which is one of the highest rates globally. Their most common uses include brainstorming lesson plans and summarising learning content. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge: teachers recognise the benefits, but many remain cautious about privacy, data integrity, and how to guide students toward ethical use. Connecting with other schools and your network on how they use data to assist their school can be a great starting point for these conversations.
Students are already using AI for time-consuming tasks such as starting points for drafting or structuring assessments, which raises concerns about over-automation and a loss of independent thinking. And yet, research shows that lack of confidence or digital literacy, not ill intent, is often what pushes students to misuse AI.
In research conducted in 2024 by Balmoral High School and UQ Learning Lab, students shared sentiments like:
Supporting your students through data-driven insight should look like guidance, transparency. Then, an open dialogue can shift AI from a grey area to productive learning support.
This year brings a major cultural shift: Australia’s world-first ban on social media for users under 16. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Snapchat, and Facebook must now take “reasonable steps” to remove or prevent accounts of users under 16, facing penalties of up to $49.5 million if they fail to comply.
Last year, Pureprofile conducted a study among Australian parents, teachers, and students on their views about the ban. Although 90% of teachers support the ban, fewer than 25% feel confident it will work.
When diving a bit deeper, the sentiments were similar – parents, teachers, and students agreed on the ‘why’, but not the ‘how’. In such a tech-savvy era, students can easily find workarounds, with some turning to other platforms or using VPN connections. This shift means seeing things like:
Though the ban prioritises protecting mental health, reducing exposure to harmful content, and supporting parents, implementation won’t be perfect, and refinement will be ongoing. Shared responsibility is needed for things like clear policy, curriculum-aligned guidance, and digital literacy education that helps them teach safe, ethical technology use.
Understanding students as individuals; their background, strengths, barriers to engagement, and wellbeing indicators, has never been more critical. TrackOne Studio’s Learning Analytics Suite allows teachers to quickly recognise patterns, identify students at risk, or set goals to set their students up for success to track learning strategies.
Many teachers observe the same pattern each year: students start strong, then engagement fizzles out. According to TALIS 2024, the most commonly reported sources of stress for Australian teachers were:
With a demanding workload that can encumber minds throughout the year, this kind of environment can influence student motivation too. Pastoral care, soft skill development, and trust-based teacher–student relationships form the foundation of academic persistence.
Here are a few tips to keep students connected:
Students in 2026 want teachers who guide, not police. They want to feel trusted when using AI tools, social platforms, and digital resources. They seek collaboration and want clear boundaries that feel fair and transparent.
In a year shaped by AI, social media reform, and growing data capability, the most impactful teachers will be those who:
Just like any thriving garden, the goal is to nurture growth, not control it. To learn more about how TrackOne Studio can help you support students this year, reach out today to discuss how we can help your school create more meaningful pathways for your school community.