Our Work

Featured reports

Fixing the hole in Australian education: The Australian Curriculum benchmarked against the best

Learning First has conducted the first detailed benchmarking of the content of the Australian science curriculum against several high-performing and comparable systems around the world. Download the full report here and the short report here.

 

Report infographics: poor sequencing in the Australian Curriculum 1 and 2; A lack of breadth, depth and specificity in the Australian Curriculum.
What we teach matters: How quality curriculum improves student outcomes.

This report written in collaboration with Dr David Steiner, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, sets out the evidence that quality curriculum matters to student achievement.

Preparing to lead: Lessons in principal development from high-performing education systems.

In recent decades school systems have spent huge sums on leadership courses for aspiring principals, but they have not got the value they need. This report, commissioned by the National Center on Education and the Economy, shows how four of the world’s highest-performing systems in PISA tests – Ontario, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong – have developed leadership training that uses deep knowledge of their individual system to prepare aspiring principals. Download the country briefs here.

Australia’s Primary Challenge: How to lift teacher quality in the early school years Australian edition.

This report shows how four of the world’s highest-performing school systems – Hong Kong, Japan, Finland, and Shanghai – place a strong emphasis on teacher subject expertise, even in early year schooling. In these and other systems, the most effective teachers do not just know their subjects (content knowledge) they also how to teach them (pedagogical content knowledge). Acquiring both forms of knowledge is more important and more difficult than many people realise. This report was commissioned by the National Center on Education and the Economy – the original report is available here, along with tools and appendices.

Beyond PD: Teacher professional learning in high-performance systems Australian edition.

We spend millions of dollars on teacher professional development, but it’s not having the desired impact on our kids’ learning. But in some systems it is working. This report shows how British Columbia, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore improve teaching in schools. Why is professional learning having an impact in these systems? What are the steps other systems can take to refine their improvement strategies? This report was commissioned by the National Center on Education and the Economy – the original report is available here along with related materials and tools.

Other Public Reports

Teaching Critical Thinking: exploring implications for Stages 4 and 5 Science and History teaching

Learning First for the NSW Department of Education

April 2021

Teaching Critical Thinking: exploring implications for Stages 4 and 5 Science and History teaching

Case Studies: Singapore and Hong Kong

March 2021

The experience of remote and flexible learning in Victoria

By Learning First

July 2020

The problem with “finding the main idea”

By Learning First

January 2019

High-quality curriculum and system improvement

By Learning First

January 2019

Curriculum literacy in schools of education?

The hole at the center of American teacher preparation

November 2018

Overcoming challenges facing contemporary curriculum

Lessons from Louisiana

November 2018

Overcoming challenges facing contemporary curriculum

Lessons from British Columbia

November 2018

A new approach: Reforming teacher education

By Learning First

March 2015

Country note – Key findings from PISA 2015 for the United States

By OECD

November 2015

Teaching our teachers: a better way

Danielle Toon & Ben Jensen

November 2017