Ochre Education’s submission to the Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System – Consultation Paper

Ochre Education has made a submission to the Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System – Consultation Paper.

In the submission we call for the following:
To include the development of an opt-in national bank of evidence-based, curriculum-linked teaching materials created by highly effective teachers as a future reform in the next National School Reform Agreement. This could be complete within 3 years, and would require investment of around $22M ($33M if all lesson videos are produced).

We highlight that:

• Ochre was established to address what the Consultation Paper suggests is the most significant issue impacting Australian education: persistent and entrenched educational inequalities in Australia.
• Quality teaching is the most important in-school factor affecting student learning, but many Australian teachers face significant challenges in delivering a high-quality school curriculum.
• International studies have shown the potential for the provision of high-quality instructional classroom materials to have a significant impact on student learning and the improvement of equity across school systems.
• Current options available to support teachers are not meeting teacher needs. This is clearly demonstrated in use of Ochre Education resources: Australian teachers are accessing Ochre resources in very large numbers; teacher feedback on our resources has been extremely positive
• Quality curriculum materials such as Ochre’s also support teachers to implement effective teaching practices. A shared curriculum bank such as Ochre’s can also cut teacher workload.
• Such an initiative must be championed by governments, and has clear cross-jurisdictional benefits. To deliver a coherent and comprehensive offer, and produce high-quality resources as swiftly and effectively as possible will require governments to commission the development of new resources, aligned to Australian curricula.

We outline:

• How this recommendation can help to achieve the original ambition of the previous NPI, the Online Formative Assessment Initiative (OFAI)
• How governments can move with speed and urgency to implement this recommendation, to support the Australian teacher workforce, and its current significant and pressing challenges.