Department links and other resources

The Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment

The Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment commissioned six pieces of research to examine the potential impact of remote learning from home on educational outcomes for vulnerable cohorts of children, including barriers to access and actions to respond.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)

AITSL has released a ‘Spotlight’ to guide teachers on online learning. It contains advice and links for teachers on delivering online content (including principles for quality online/distance teaching and suggestions for online content) and advice and links on what teachers can do to help parents and carers (including principles for online/distance learning for parents, setting up a home learning environment and supporting student wellbeing).

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)

ACECQA has a page dedicated to information, support and guidance about COVID-19 for the children’s education and care sector and families. Resources include risk assessment and management for education and care services and information on supporting educator wellbeing.

Australian Capital Territory

The ACT Directorate of Education has established a site on home learning resources for students and families. The site includes:

Resources – The resource library provides access and information about digital platforms, online resources and activity ideas that support children in their learning. Resources are presented by different subject areas (English, maths, science, technology, humanities & social sciences, the arts, health and physical education and languages) and age of the child.

New South Wales

The NSW Department of Education has a learning from home site that refers to the ways schools will maintain teaching and learning in the event of a prolonged school closure or student absence. The site includes:

School planning – General support and resources for school leaders and teachers to ensure continuity of learning for their students including tips on communication, continuity of learning for students with a disability, using technology, sample school learning continuity plans and suggested roles and responsibilities for school staff.

Teaching and learning resources – Curriculum resources and activities for teachers to support students temporarily unable to attend school grouped by education stage (early childhood, K‑6 resources, 7 – 10 resources, 11 – 12 resources). Includes sample units of learning, texts and worksheets from the NSW Department of Education as well as links to external content to support teachers and students. These resources are sub-grouped by subject area (e.g. English, maths, science and technology, HSIE, creative arts etc).

Delivery of learning – Tips on how to support students who are temporarily unable to attend school and are learning from home including using live video, structure of the day, providing material, creating digital learning activities and finding online materials.

The NSW Department also has general advice, support and resources for teachers working from home, principals and other educational leaders planning a move to remote learning and ideas for school staff supporting student wellbeing while teaching and learning from home.

The NSW Department of Education also provides information on effective reading in the early years of school including videos, sample lessons and student worksheets related to phonics instruction.

Northern Territory

The NT Department of Education has created a site called Learning Together: Families and Schools which includes resources and advice for parents, carers and families when supporting their child’s learning. The site includes:

Keeping Kids Learning – Resources for parents, carers and families to support their child’s learning and engaging activities for families to explore (presented by age ranges from Birth to Year 9). Includes daily activities for English, maths and wellbeing and other projects and fun activities linked to arts, humanities and social sciences and science.

The NT Department of Education also provides Preschool STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) Games, a series of four resources in science, technology, engineering and maths designed to provide early childhood educators with examples of age appropriate play-based activities to develop STEM competencies and language. These resources were developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne to support the implementation of the Northern Territory Preschool Curriculum.

Queensland

The Queensland Department of Education has created a learning@home site that refers to the ways schools will maintain teaching and learning in the event of a prolonged school closure or student absence. The site includes:

Curriculum resources in English, Mathematics, Science and Senior Schooling – Learning opportunities for students to continue their learning while not being able to access a school, presented by year level (Prep to Year 10).

Inclusive education – Resources designed to provide targeted support for students with autism, vision impairment, deaf and hard of hearing, and other learning differences to fully participate in learning@home.

earlylearning@home – A website with with ideas, tips, links and apps for parents to help families stay healthy, safe and connected. There are resources for 0 to 3 year olds, as well as activities for kindergarten aged children to support oral language and early literacy development.

South Australia

The South Australian Department for Education has a site called Our Learning SA to support continued learning between school and home. The site includes:

Curriculum and other online resources – Resources presented by age (prior to school, reception to year 2, years 3 to 6, years 7 to 10 and stage 1 and 2) and marked ‘for students and families’, ‘for teachers’ or ‘for everyone’.

Tasmania

The Tasmanian Department of Education has a learning at home site to support families and students with resources and ideas for learning at home. The site includes:

Wellbeing – Information, activities and advice on topics such as mental wellbeing, connectedness and building resilience.

Resources and ideas for learning at home – Presented by age (Birth to 4 years of age, 5 to 8 years of age, 9 to 12 years of age, 13 to 16 years of age, Years 11 and 12.

The Tasmania Department of Education also has Good Teaching resources to support educators. These cover literacy and numeracy in Kindergarten to Year 2, Years 3 – 6 and Years 7 – 10. There are also general guides for teachers on staff discussion, differentiated classroom practice, curriculum mapping and planning, quality assessment practices, data literacy, trauma informed practice and inclusive schools.

Victoria

The Victorian Department of Education and Training has a learning from home site which has specific sets of information for parents, carers and guardians; schools, teachers and principals; early childhood services; and health information. The site includes:

The learning from home in a school setting page which contains information for educators about learning continuity during remote teaching and learning, tips for teaching and learning from home, online and offline options, and advice for communicating with parents/carers and families.

The learning from home in an early childhood setting page contains information on learning continuity contingency planning, online resources and tips on talking to children about COVID-19.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training also has general resources to support teaching and learning including:

Literacy Teaching Toolkit – Practical advice and high impact teaching practices for educators from early childhood to Level 10.

Mathematics Teaching Toolkit – Evidence-based approaches for effective numeracy and mathematics from birth to Level 10.

FUSE – a library of digital resources for educators, children and parents that can be used to support learning at home, grouped by age (from early childhood to years 9 – 10).

Western Australia

The WA Department of Education has created a learning at home site with resources and information to support learning and wellbeing in the home. This site includes:

Learning resources by year level – resources across all year levels (kindergarten to year 12) and learning areas, to give children and young people the best opportunity to continue to learn at home.