With this being my first blog post of the year, I thought I would highlight 22 Australian Educators who are constantly teaching and inspiring me. These people are great advocates and thinkers on promoting ways to improve education in Australia.
Disclaimer
This list is just from my personal point of view and based on Australian educators who I have come across in the online world. Most of these people I haven’t even met! I know that there are thousands of inspiring teachers going out there and doing a tremendous job every single day and I would never try and name a “best of” list!
In alphabetical order, because I’m a teacher and I don’t like to show favouritism, but I do like things to be in order!
Birch, Rebecca (@msrebeccabirch – https://rebeccabirch.substack.com/): An evidence-informed educator who writes reflective blogs on her experiences and issues in education. Somehow, she’s managing to blog daily at the moment!
Breen, Jeanette (@jettybe3): Learning Specialist, Jeanette Breen has been successful in getting Daisy Christodoulou’s No More Marking program to Australia. Recently, she’s taken up a role as Head of Global Partnerships with No More Marking.
- Providing explicit feedback on Writing – What could this look like?
- Using comparative judgement – data from the Australian Writing Assessment Project
Buckingham, Jennifer (@buckingham_j): Director of Strategy & Senior Research Fellow at MultiLit Pty Ltd, Jennifer is one of the leading voices in Australia when it comes to providing evidence-based effective reading instruction. Founder of the Five-from-Five project.
- Groundhog day for reading instruction
- On porcupines and predictable text: What are predictable texts and why are they a problem?
Campbell, Natalie (@NatalieJCam): One of the administrators for the hugely informative and supportive Facebook group Reading Science in Schools. Constantly offering advice and support for teachers in implementing the Science of Reading (SoR).
Clarke, Alison (@spelfabet – spelfabet.com.au): Alison Clarke is a speech pathologist who set up the Spelfabet website as a way of supporting educators to implement research.
- Running Records are an uninformative waste of teacher time
- Don’t waste school PA time on syllables and rhyme
Clement, Greg (@GregClement15 – principals-of-reading.com): A School Principal who has been blogging about his school’s journey in implementing the SoR.
Davidson, Scott (@ScottsDavidson – scottsdavidson.com/): Currently, Director Strategic Liaison, Office of the NSW Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning. Scott provides a thought-provoking blog on school leadership and change management.
Dobson, James (@jdtdobson – layingthefoundations.weebly.com/): Science of Reading advocate who blogs about how it works in his classroom.
Esterman, Matt (@mesterman – https://medium.com/@matt_esterman): Helped establish TeachMeet NSW and is constantly thinking of ways to support teachers and future-proof learning.
Jackson, Dan (@DanJacksonTPD – teacherspd.net/): Founder of teacherspd.net and pdhpe.net, Dan has supported thousands of teachers and students in improving and recently authored the book -Work Less, Teach More. He also hosts the Effective Teaching Podcast.
Steven Kolber (@steven_kolber – stevenkolber.com): Deservedly he was recognised in 2021 as a Global Teacher Prize top 50 Finalist having supported teachers professional development through Teach Meet Melbourne, his Youtube videos and edureading academic group.
Part Two
Part two features the next 11 inspiring educators and a bonus list!