Blog Post
Why Teachers Need Shared Resources – The Latest Research
Colin Bell – CEO of Concord Australia
Australia’s educational system faces major challenges with stagnating student performance and overburdened teachers.
Implementing comprehensive teaching material banks could provide a crucial support system to address these issues – streamlining curriculum planning and improving student outcomes.
Problem: Excessive teacher workloads
According to a recent Grattan Institute report, only 15% of schools have a bank of high-quality curriculum materials.
Without shared and carefully vetted resources – which teachers can adapt to suit their classroom – students can miss important content and receive inconsistent explanations.
Solution: Digital resource curation
A well-organised bank of curriculum materials – delivered through a digital resource curation platform, like LibPaths – can streamline lesson planning and ensure consistency in education.
Teachers in schools with shared learning resources…
Material banks are especially beneficial for disadvantaged schools, which are half as likely to have access to high-quality materials.
Implementing shared resources across all schools can level the educational playing field and ensure that every student benefits from well-prepared lessons.
Concerns: Outsourcing education
Some educators worry that teaching material banks might reduce professional autonomy or lead to a standardised, one-size-fits-all approach.
However, the goal of shared resources is not to mandate uniformity. It’s to provide a foundation of high-quality resources that teachers can customise to suit their needs.
Case study: LibPaths
Concord’s LibPaths platform includes access to shared libraries of digital resources, curated professionally by teachers for teachers. Through PortalHub, educators can import, customise and share these engaging portals with their students.
LibPaths is more than just a shared library of learning material. It transforms both teaching and learning by bringing relevant, verified and up-to-date content to your students’ fingertips – filtered by subject, topic, grade and more.