17 July 2023

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) will work with its primary school teachers to develop high-quality, comprehensive curriculum resource materials enabling them to focus more on the core task of teaching, where their time and energy counts the most.

The move follows a survey of curriculum delivery practice across almost 300 MACS schools in 2022 finding teachers are continuously developing classroom resources, and overwhelmingly (over 80 per cent) believe more support and better access to resource materials would assist them.

The feedback from MACS teachers aligns with national and international studies showing that improving teaching through providing curriculum support materials can have a positive impact on student achievement, especially when partnered with teacher professional development programs.

In addition, this approach will promote equity and excellence across MACS schools, ensuring all students have access to evidence-based, quality-assured, sequenced learning materials that will help lift their outcomes over time.

In what is anticipated to be a three-year project across the F–6 Victorian Curriculum, MACS will work collaboratively with teachers to develop the resource materials, focusing initially on F–2 Mathematics, for rollout in 2024.

The materials will include:

• curriculum materials, including curriculum plans, scope and sequences
• comprehensive units of work, including instructional materials
• quality lessons and learning activities
• formative assessment, including daily review and reteach materials.

‘We know our teachers work tirelessly to individually develop curriculum resources and it is clear we can support them more effectively in this work’, MACS Executive Director, Dr Edward Simons said.

‘Importantly, teachers will retain the autonomy to customise the resource materials to meet the individualised needs of their students in local contexts.

‘Our teachers will also guide the development and quality assurance of the resources.

‘The materials will be supported by professional learning programs, alongside a set of on-demand webinars and resources.

‘Catholic schools seek to provide opportunities for every student to fully flourish in their learning. This is a significant project to more effectively support our teachers to achieve this aim’, Dr Simons said.

MACS operates 296 Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne, educating more than 113,000 (one in five) students and employing almost 10,000 teachers.

Media contact: Gerard Delaney on 0413 274 176 or gdelaney@macs.vic.edu.au

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