Evaluating resources

Description

Educational resources encompass everything a school needs to support quality teaching and learning. Evaluating teaching, learning and assessment resources ensures that educational materials are high quality and align with the Australian Curriculum achievement standards and content descriptions. By systematically reviewing and evaluating resources, school and curriculum leaders can support consistent, high-quality instruction across year levels. They can promote equitable learning opportunities and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

Key points

Educational resources must clearly connect to the achievement standards and content descriptions. Leaders need to ensure that resources address the intended knowledge, understanding and skills set out in the curriculum.
Leaders need to consider whether the resources actively support quality teaching and lead to improved student learning outcomes. This involves looking at evidence of impact, adaptability for all learners and how well the resources support pedagogical approaches.
Leaders need to determine how resources align with the school’s broader teaching and learning framework. Resources should be sustainable over time in terms of cost, teacher workload and ongoing use.

Aspect overview
Guiding questions and AITSL standards
Support resources
Research and further reading

Overview

This aspect is designed for school and curriculum leaders to use as they work with teachers to evaluate externally available teaching materials and resources to support implementation of the curriculum.

High-quality educational resources support curriculum implementation and help reduce teacher workload. The focus of quality resource identification is therefore important for curriculum planning. Many jurisdictions provide advice around evaluating educational resources and make recommendations regarding specific resources to be used in schools. However, there may be instances when school and curriculum leaders need to make decisions regarding resources to be used in classrooms in their specific school context.

The criteria used in this aspect have been adapted from the 2021 OECD Applying Evaluation Criteria Thoughtfully paper. It sets out 6 areas for focus when considering, implementing and reviewing a resource. This framework is particularly valuable when evaluating educational resources, as it provides multiple entry points into the evaluation process depending on the purpose and context.

Relevance can be applied to determine whether a resource aligns with curriculum requirements and the specific learning needs of students.
Coherence prompts leaders to consider how well the resource complements other teaching practices and whole-school priorities. This ensures that new tools are not working in isolation but are part of a consistent approach.
Effectiveness allows for reflection on whether a resource is achieving its intended outcomes. This is evidenced by data collected through both student assessments and teacher feedback.
Efficiency draws attention to the use of staff time, cost and effort relative to the benefits.
Impact supports consideration and evaluation of both the immediate improvements in student engagement and their long-term achievement.
Sustainability supports predicting whether benefits will or can be maintained over time.

School and curriculum leaders can use these criteria when making initial decisions about introducing or adopting resources. They can also use these criteria to monitor how resources are being used in classrooms and review evidence of their long-term contribution to student learning and school improvement.

Figure 1: Focus areas and guiding questions for evaluating resources. Adapted from Applying Evaluation Criteria Thoughtfully OECD (2021).

School and curriculum leaders may also consider other curriculum leadership aspects to support the development of a whole-school approach to evaluating resources. Consider the following questions when making decisions about existing approaches and the needs of staff, when developing a whole-school approach to implementing the Australian Curriculum.

Building teacher capability

Will the resource support teachers to build their curriculum knowledge and strengthen instructional confidence?

Using the Australian Curriculum

Do selected resources fully address the achievement standards and content descriptions for the focus learning area and year levels?

Sequencing learning

Does the resource demonstrate a clear sequence of learning?

Including all learners

How are selected resources able to be adapted to meet the range of student capabilities?

Aligning curriculum and assessment

Do selected resources enable teachers to effectively assess student progress against achievement standards?

Planning for multi-age classes

Are selected resources able to be adapted for multi-age classes?

Engaging with community

How will selected resources be shared with families and the wider school community?

Reflect–Act–Evaluate cycle

The Reflect–Act–Evaluate cycle is a practical framework designed to support continuous improvement. It encourages thoughtful engagement by guiding leaders through 3 key phases.

Reflect: this phase invites leaders to pause and consider current practices, beliefs and outcomes. It promotes deeper understanding by asking, “What is happening?” and “Why is it happening?” before moving to action.

Act: based on insights gained through reflection, this phase focuses on intentional decision-making and implementation. It asks, “What will we do?” and “How will we do it?” to ensure actions are purposeful and aligned with school priorities.

Evaluate: after action is taken, this phase supports review and learning. It prompts leaders to ask, “What changed?” and “What did we learn?” to assess impact and inform future cycles of improvement.

Figure 1: The Reflect–Act–Evaluate cycle

Guiding questions

The guiding questions in the accordions below are structured around the ‘Reflect–Act–Evaluate' cycle to help school and curriculum leaders reflect on current approaches to curriculum implementation and lead discussions with teachers. School and curriculum leaders should select from these questions to support decision-making and discussions when reflecting on, actioning and evaluating educational resources and their alignment to the Australian Curriculum.

Reflect Does this resource align with the curriculum and the knowledge, skills and understanding students are expected to develop?

Act How will we ensure this resource is used to teach the intended curriculum content and achieve learning objectives?

Evaluate To what extent did the resource effectively support the curriculum goals and achievement of the intended learning outcomes?

Reflect How well does this resource fit with other teaching materials, approaches and school initiatives?

Act How will we integrate this resource with existing teaching practices and other materials?

Evaluate How effectively did the integration of this resource enhance coherence across teaching practices and whole-school initiatives?

Reflect Does the resource support high-quality teaching practices and pedagogical strategies?

Act What professional practices and pedagogical strategies will be used to ensure the resource is implemented with fidelity and aligned to quality teaching standards?

Evaluate How effectively did the resource support the use of high-quality teaching practices and enhance pedagogical consistency across classrooms?

Reflect Are the time, cost and effort required to implement this resource justified by the benefits?

Act How can we deploy the resource to make the best use of teacher time, classroom time and school budgets?

Evaluate How efficiently did the resource support effective teaching and learning while optimising teacher time, instructional minutes and financial investment?

Reflect What difference does this resource make to student learning and teacher practice?

Act How will we monitor and measure the effect of the resource on student outcomes and teaching quality?

Evaluate What observable differences did the resource make to student learning outcomes and teacher practice?

Reflect Can this resource be used over the long term without additional strain on staff or budgets?

Act What steps will we take to ensure the resource can be maintained and used over time?

Evaluate Can the resource continue to be used effectively in future teaching cycles without adding strain on staff or budgets?

AITSL standards

School and curriculum leaders play a crucial role in supporting teachers through the process of evaluating and selecting educational resources. Their responsibilities include ensuring that resources align with the Australian Curriculum and are sustainable in the long term. They also support the professional development needs of educators to effectively implement the resources in the classroom.

The information that follows outlines the relevant standards from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Australian Professional Standard for Principals, Australian Professional Standards for Middle Leaders and the Australian Professional Standards for teachers: Lead career stage. These standards have been identified to support school and curriculum leaders in implementing whole‑school approaches to evaluating resources.

Professional Practice: Leading teaching and learning

Principals create a positive culture of challenge and support, enabling effective teaching that promotes enthusiastic, independent learners, committed to lifelong learning. Principals have a key responsibility for developing a culture of effective teaching, for leading, designing and managing the quality of teaching and learning and for students’ achievement in all aspects of their development. They set high expectations for the whole school through careful collaborative planning, monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of learning. Principals set high standards of behaviour and attendance, encouraging active engagement and a strong student voice.

Professional Practice: Developing self and others

Principals work with and through others to build a professional learning community that is focused on continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Through managing performance, effective continuing professional learning and feedback, they support all staff to achieve high standards and develop their leadership capacity. Principals support others to build capacity and treat people fairly and with respect. They model effective leadership and are committed to their own ongoing professional development and personal health and wellbeing in order to manage the complexity of the role and the range of learning capabilities and actions required of the role.

Professional Practice: Leading improvement, innovation and change

Principals work with others to produce and implement clear, evidence-based improvement plans and policies for the development of the school and its facilities. They recognise that a crucial part of the role is to lead and manage innovation and change to ensure the vision and strategic plan is put into action across the school and that its goals and intentions are realised.

Australian Professional Standard for Principals

Enabling Standards

Standard 2 Enabling knowledge and skills

Middle leaders draw on, and support others to develop clusters of knowledge and skills to solve problems of teaching and learning while building trust with those involved. The enabling knowledge and skills describe the how of effective school leadership and are enablers towards building a culture of learning across the school. This standard describes middle leaders leading with a strong sense of who they are, what they know and do and how they draw on their knowledge and skills to help all students achieve.

2a Using relevant knowledge

The ability to use and source knowledge to enhance the attainment of improvement goals.

Core Standards

Standard 6 Managing effectively

Middle leaders use their management knowledge and skills to optimise processes, systems and resources to enable a clear focus on improving student learning. Middle leaders work strategically in their sphere of influence to lead the implementation of the school’s strategic agenda by planning and scheduling implementation strategies. They identify evidence-based team strategic goals and establish mechanisms for accountability, negotiating the adoption of these goals with the principal and other senior school leaders. They provide advice and information to the principal and other senior leaders and share insights from the staff they lead and from collected evidence about the effectiveness of operational and strategic matters.
Middle leaders implement required policies and processes ethically and transparently, ensuring procedural fairness. Middle leaders implement performance and development processes and performance management processes to maximise staff performance. Middle leaders ensure staff and student routines are fit for purpose and consistently implemented to prioritise instructional time. Middle leaders strategically and transparently manage resources to meet the priority goals of their school and the diverse needs of their students. They increase the time available to teachers by leading the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning and streamline administrative and record keeping systems and processes. Middle leaders recognise teaching staff as the single most powerful in-school influence on student learning and ensure a safe, supportive and orderly learning environment where all students are included and diversity is valued.

6d Resource allocation

Strategically managing resources in a fair, inclusive and transparent manner that meets the diverse learning needs of students and monitor its impact. Resources may include staff, budget, teacher and student time, teaching materials, and technology.

Australian Professional Standards for Middle Leaders

Professional Knowledge

Standard 2 Know the content and how to teach it

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Lead and support colleagues within the school to select and use ICT with effective teaching strategies to expand learning opportunities and content knowledge for all students.

Professional Practice

Standard 3 Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning

3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs

Conduct regular reviews of teaching and learning programs using multiple sources of evidence including: student assessment data, curriculum documents, teaching practices and feedback from parents/ carers, students and colleagues.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Lead Career Stage

Professional learning for school and curriculum leaders

ACARA has developed a professional learning course to support school and curriculum leaders to develop a deeper understanding of the advice, resources and research in the Evaluating resources aspect. This course will support leaders to:

understand how effective evaluation of resources supports high-quality instruction and implementation of the curriculum
identify and use 6 specific criteria when evaluating resources.

This course supports school and curriculum leaders to reflect on current practice and initiate planning a whole-school approach to curriculum implementation.

Access to this course is through ACARA’s Professional Learning Hub.

Professional Learning Hub