12 days saved in lesson planning time

A 2023 program funded by the federal government's Emerging Priorities initiative saw teachers save an average of 94 hours each in lesson planning time this year.

The grant program was established in 2021 to fund projects that assist school communities with 'priority issues', such as the increasing burden of administrative and planning workloads.

The 'admin burden' has been identified as a reason for burnout and teacher resignations, and is felt the most strongly at low socio-educational schools.

One of the funded projects by Inquisitive supplied 15,000 teachers from 1000 disadvantaged schools with online lesson-plan-building tools and other resources, which have been identified as tasks teachers often spend completing after hours and on weekends.

Teachers were supplied with whole programs, including activities and assessments through video, eBooks, maps or interactive tools.

Teachers could select a subject or unit, choose their year level, then access the lesson plans that meet those requirements and see how they fit into the scope and sequence of their state's curriculum.

A survey of the participating educators by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation found an average of 12 days of time was saved over the course of the year, and that this led to improved teacher wellbeing and increased confidence in the quality of their coursework.

The participating teachers said they liked the quality of the resources the most, cutting down the time they needed to spend developing engaging, curriculum-adhering content.

Inquisitive co-founder and head of education Sarah Rich said government funding into quality resources is one of the most important current investments into education.

"Teachers need high quality lessons and supporting materials that are easily accessible, curriculum aligned and adjustable as they juggle the demands of the job," she said.

The program will not be funded by the government program next year, but the same schools will be offered discounted prices for the same services by Inquisitive.