The Great Teaching Tookit

Evidence Based Education

The Crowther Centre is bringing the Great Teaching Toolkit to Australia! Developed by Evidence Based Education, recipients of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2019.

The Great Teaching Toolkit is a suite of feedback tools and online courses for teachers and leaders to improve the quality of instruction in your school.

The Crowther Centre is offering implementation support for Australian schools in the form of online coaching.

What is the Great Teaching Toolkit?

Model for Great Teaching

At the heart of the Toolkit is our Model for Great Teaching – the things teachers know, do and believe that research has shown to make the biggest difference to student learning. It can be thought of as a curriculum for teacher learning.

Teacher Courses and Leader Programs

Aligned to the model are teacher courses and leader programs focused on improving specific elements of Great Teaching (e.g., structuring, questioning, explaining).

Toolkit Instruments

Toolkit instruments provide feedback to teachers on their practice and development. These too are related to the dimensions and elements found in the Model for Great Teaching.

A focus on great teaching

A focus on great teaching – in every lesson, from every teacher – is our most powerful lever for driving improvement.

Use the Great Teaching Toolkit to:

  • Develop teacher practice in areas and ways that are most likely to improve outcomes for students.
  • Give students a voice in teaching and learning.
  • Create a culture for the continuous improvement of teaching practice.
  • Provide additional insights into teaching practice in your school.
  • Personalise professional development for individual teachers.
  • Help develop and retain staff.
  • Highlight areas of Great Teaching in your school.
  • Generate insights to better understand the school environment.
  • Enhance the quality of teaching as part of your school improvement strategy.
  • Create communities of practice, common professional language and a shared structure for Great Teaching.
Developing Great Teaching

The Toolkit includes teacher courses and lead programs which relate directly to dimensions and elements of the Model for Great Teaching. Delivered online, our courses and programs all incorporate structured collaboration with colleagues, as well as activities to plan, implement and evaluate pedagogical approaches in your context.

The Foundation

All teachers should complete the Toolkit Foundation course: An evidence-based approach to great teaching. It serves as an orientation to the Toolkit and covers core concepts at the heart of the Model for Great Teaching.

For Teachers

A selection of courses enable teachers to connect the most up-to-date research evidence on learning to practical classroom approaches, and then select and adapt individual teaching strategies to hone and use in their own practice.

Each course consists of an eight-week study period, followed by an implementation cycle.

  • Creating a supportive environment
  • Maximising opportunity to learn
  • Embedding
  • Explaining
  • Interacting
  • Questioning
  • Structuring

You can find more information about the courses on the EbE website.

For Leaders

Lead programs cover specialist areas, each aligned to the Model for Great Teaching. Programs provide a grounding in research evidence and then equip you to lead improvement to policy and practice in the following areas:

  • Behaviour and Culture Program
  • Science of Learning Program
  • Assessment Lead Program

For more information about the courses, see the EbE website.

Personalise professional development

The instruments in the Toolkit take the form of student surveys. Designed by Prof Rob Coe and trialled in schools, these instruments are easy to administer and give teachers accessible and actionable feedback about their practice.

Students respond to questions relating to their classroom experiences in each of the four dimensions from the Model for Great Teaching.

The surveys give students a voice in teaching and learning and the feedback they generate can be a powerful tool for teacher learning – offering additional insight that allows teachers and leaders to personalise professional development.

When teachers themselves make the decision about what it is that they wish to prioritise for their own professional development, they are more likely to make it work.” – Dylan Wiliam

Information you can act on

Download the Great Teaching Toolkit information pack

The Great Teaching Toolkit information pack (PDF)

 

1-day launch and masterclass (Model for Great Teaching)

Attend a 1-day launch and masterclass, led by Dr Mark Dowley and Ollie Lovell who will provide an overview of the Model for Great Teaching. You’ll get resources and training to give you the knowledge to implement various programs in your own schools and teaching.

Learn more and to register for the masterclass – $350 (+GST)

 

Subscribe to the Toolkit

The Great Teaching Toolkit is the vision of Prof Rob Coe, made possible with the dedication and support of many colleagues, teachers and students.

Raise the quality of teaching at your school or college with an evidence-based curriculum for teacher learning, courses to enhance specific elements of Great Teaching practice, and tools and instruments to provide feedback for professional development over time.

Subscribe to the Toolkit
The Facilitators

Dr Mark Dowley
Associate Head – Staff Development and Instruction, Crowther Centre

Ollie Lovell
Senior Researcher, Crowther Centre