The Australian Government announces free short courses for teachers

The Australian Government has announced a new initiative helping teachers to upskill with free short courses focused on phonics and classroom management.

Designed by experts, these free microcredentials will offer evidence-based professional development opportunities for teachers.

“These evidence-based courses will help teachers build on their skills in classroom management and the teaching of phonics,” explained Minister for Education, Jason Clare. “They support new and experienced teachers and will help to improve student learning outcomes.”

Earlier this year, The Grattan Institute released the ‘Reading Guarantee’ report, which revealed around eight students in a classroom of twenty-four will not show a proficiency in reading.

It wasn’t long after the Victorian Government announced its plans to adopt phonics as the primary method of teaching literacy skills in 2025.

As well as supporting literacy skills, the courses will also help teachers build classroom management skills.

An OECD report found 43% of Australian students reported their classrooms were disruptive, which is 10% above other OECD countries, resulting in the loss of instructional teaching time.

The Albanese Government is investing over three million dollars in funding to the University of Adelaide, who will be designing and delivering the courses aimed to empower teachers and improve student learning outcomes in Australia.

These courses will be available from next year.

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References:

1. The Australian Government Ministers’ Media Centre. (2024) “Free Short Courses to Help Teachers in the Classroom”

2. Hunter, J., Stobart, A., and Haywood, A. (2023). “The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance of success”. Grattan Institute.

3. OECD (2023). “Education policy outlook in Australia”, OECD Education Policy Perspectives, No. 67, OECD Publishing, Paris.