Most teachers carry a heavy lesson-planning load, and too often are left to do their best in near-impossible circumstances. Too many teachers plan lessons in isolation, spending hours each week scouring the internet to try to find materials.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Grattan’s recent report, Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools, shows that high-quality curriculum materials can take this heavy planning burden off individual teachers, giving them more time to focus on the needs of their students.

In this special Grattan online event, our Deputy Education Program Director, Amy Haywood, will discuss the power of high-quality curriculum materials with Ron Berger, Senior Advisor for Teaching & Learning at the US-based, internationally renowned EL Education.

Amy and Ron will discuss Grattan’s findings, and EL Education’s work over many years supporting teachers and schools, including through its acclaimed Kindergarten to Year 8 English curriculum. Developed two decades ago for and by American teachers, this set of open-source curriculum materials has been downloaded more than 10 million times, and is used as the core curriculum in many large U.S. cities and districts. Comprehensive and research-informed, the materials are designed to engage teachers and students through compelling, real-world content and create learning opportunities for all students, from the most gifted to those who are falling behind.

Ron has worked closely with teachers, school leaders, and education districts. He will describe the impact high-quality curriculum materials can have on teacher practice and student learning, and identify key challenges for policy makers.

Ron and Amy will also allow time to answer questions, from students, parents, teachers, principals, policy makers – anyone with an interest in improving school education.

Date: Thursday 9 February
Time: 10am – 10.45am AEDT / 6-6.45pm EST 
Location: Online