The Supporting the Australian Curriculum Online component of the package will provide support for teachers to develop flexible learning approaches and integrate digital resources into the classroom. It will also significantly enhance the pool of national, state and territory digital curriculum resources to support all teachers. There will be a focus on filling resource gaps identified for English, mathematics, science and history and providing extra resources to help teachers to teach geography, languages and the arts.

This $31.4 million component of the package includes:

• $15 million to provide support and professional development to teachers to integrate digital curriculum resources into classroom teaching.
• $11.4 million for sourcing and acquiring digital learning resources to support implementation of the Australian Curriculum in the key learning areas of English, mathematics, science, history, geography, languages and the arts. Resources will also support teaching of the cross-curriculum priorities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia and sustainability.
• $5 million for enhancing the existing infrastructure for storage, distribution, discovery and access to digital resources to support the Australian Curriculum.

The package will be delivered through a number of important partnerships. Education Services Australia (ESA) has been engaged to provide the package and will work closely with government and non-government schools authorities, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and teacher professional bodies to maximise the benefits of this initiative. ESA has developed strong partnerships with cultural institutions, government agencies, scientific organisations and international resource repository owners to identify, apply metadata, license and prepare resources for educational use. ESA will continue to work closely with these bodies to procure resources.

The Australian Government, along with states and territories, has made a major investment in the National Digital Learning Resources Network managed by ESA. It comprises a digital curriculum resources collection, delivery infrastructure and metadata standards. This investment has enabled the online delivery of the Australian Curriculum and its connection to a growing range of digital curriculum resources for students, as well as resources to support teachers to achieve professional standards.

As resources are progressively acquired they will be placed in the National Digital Learning Resources Network and made available through Scootle and local elearning platforms through the Australian Curriculum Connect project.