Educational publishers are important partners with educators, parents, students and school systems in delivering curriculum and educational resources. They encourage these partners to make informed choices about their curriculum resources, and are happy and willing to assist Education Departments and providers in their decision-making during this unprecedented crisis and rapid move online.
Ultimately, educational publishers continue to create and provide access to resources that are produced in Australia, and specifically for the delivery of the Australian Curriculum. This won’t change with COVID-19 and a move online, but they have reacted quickly to address new needs in this rapidly changing market.
Below you’ll find an overview of what publishers in Australia are offering teachers, parents and others tackling the challenges of homeschooling and distance learning, with links through to their educational resources along with an overview of who their resources are created for.
Publishers offering educational resources during COVID-19:
- AlphaKids Digital Library (Eleanor Curtain Publishing)
- Australian Children’s Television Foundation
- Back to Front Maths (Kennedy Press)
- Cambridge University Press
- Cengage
- Cool Australia
- Firefly Education
- Hawker Brownlow Education
- Jacaranda
- Matilda Education
- McGraw-Hill
- ORIGO Education
- Oxford University Press
- Pearson
- Psych4Schools
- Quirky Kid
- R.I.C. Publications
- Walker Books
Other organisations offering educational resources during COVID-19
Alphakids Digital Library (Eleanor Curtain Publishing)
The Alphakids Digital Library is a guided reading program focusing on levels K-3. It consists of 240 student e-books with corresponding tutor support material, audio and after-reading printable activities.
Discounted access for individuals and classrooms is currently available using the code “remotelearning” at AlphaKidsDigital.com.
Australian Children’s Television Foundation
The ACTF Education team has worked extensively over the last few weeks curating a wide range of our education resources, short-form clips, cast webinars and TV series to make freely available for home learning at our ACTF Home Learning page. All our education resources are mapped to the Australian Curriculum and targeting primary and lower-secondary year levels.
All of our other freely available education resources (Teaching Toolkits, Cast Webinars, free Movie-Making Apps, etc.) can be found in the Education section of our ACTF site. Our ACTF YouTube Channel also has a range of education related freely available videos.
Back to Front Maths (Kennedy Press)
The B2FMaths@Home program, aimed at Foundation to Year 7 students uses a portion of our Back to Front Maths resources and are relevant to maths teaching under the Australian curriculum in any state or territory.
Because our focus is high-quality resources for students and teachers, we have elected to make B2FMaths@Home free to access, including the student resources, teacher resources and e-mail support, as well as regular bulletins and webinars to upskill teachers in providing quality teaching under these new conditions.
Cambridge University Press
In response to recent disruptions to schools, Cambridge University Press Education Australia is offering full complimentary digital access to Cambridge HOTmaths to primary schools currently not using this resource. Access to these resources will be available until the disruption to school learning ends. Details and instructions can be found here.
We are also providing support for schools using digital resources for remote learning during the COVID-19 restrictions. We have created dedicated support articles and video tutorials to guide teachers and students through the digital learning experience, from simple step-by-step getting started instructions to digital textbook tips and advice for how teachers can use digital resources to keep their students engaged. We have also created additional support articles for resources powered by Cambridge HOTmaths and Edjin that feature a robust Learning Management System for teachers.
All secondary schools who need support, complimentary access to digital resources or guides for teaching remotely should visit www.cambridge.edu.au or contact educationsales@cambridge.edu.au
Cengage
During this challenging time, Cengage is working to support customers who are already using Cengage resources to assist them with the growing need to offer online delivery of their courses and resources so that students can continue working toward their goals. Our School division is working closely with our customers to ensure teachers and students can access our rich online resources as they transition learning from schools to home.
Our eReader platform – PM eCollection – has a 30 day trial for 30 students which we have committed to extending. We are also offering 25% discount on a PM eCollection Premium account and 25% off our PM Guided Reading Planner.
Cool Australia
Cool Australia is used by 90% of Australian schools and we have been supporting teachers and homeschoolers since 2008, providing them with learning activities and resources (K-12) that make teaching and understanding real world scenarios as easy as possible. Units, lessons and activities are Australian curriculum aligned and FREE to educators and students. You can choose to follow full units of study or pick individual lessons to fit in with your curriculum.
Firefly Education
We want to minimise the disruption to student learning under the current circumstances, which is why we’re providing complimentary access to our digital resources from now until the end of Term 2. Any school can now access the following resources free of charge:
- English Stars 3–6 (Teacher and Student Access with Online + Printable Activities)
- Think Mentals Digital Classroom 2–6 (Teacher and Student Access)
- Sound Waves F–6 Online (Teacher and Student Access with Printable Pages)
- iMaths F–6 Online (Teacher and Student Access with Printable Pages)
Over the coming weeks we’ll also be providing articles and virtual PD workshops to help you support students learning from home. Please contact us, or view our FAQ article for more information on how we’re supporting schools during this time.
Hawker Brownlow Education
Hawker Brownlow Education presents a curated range of relevant resources to aid parents and teachers during these challenging times. These resources include a selection of books with activities that can be done at home, freely-downloadable reproducibles from our extensive catalogue, as well as ebooks.
Jacaranda
We are very aware of the challenges and uncertainty facing Australian schools around COVID-19, and as leaders in online learning, would like to play our part in supporting you. We’re offering free digital/PDF access to all our available resources for years 7-12 during Term 2, which encompasses both national curriculum and NSW, VIC, WA, QLD curriculums – more information is available via our website. For teachers already using Jacaranda, there’s an online learning action plan to help you get prepared.
Matilda Education
At Matilda Education, we are doing everything we can to help teachers navigate a sudden switch to remote learning and are responding to requests from both teachers and parents. We are trying to provide exactly what they require and have notified those in our database asking them to reach out to us if they need assistance. We are typically dealing with requests in 4 categories:
- PDF access
- requesting permission to put Matilda resources on school networks to enable remote access
- Free codes so that children have 1:1 interactive access (particularly where they ordinarily share resources)
- Free codes to replace expired codes in second-hand books.
These measures are in place until 31 December 2020 and will then be reviewed. Find out more about our Primary and Secondary resources here.
McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill Australia and New Zealand has been dedicated in assisting our education community while we all respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our primary goal has been to ease the pressure on instructors and minimise disruptions to learning outcomes through our world-class content, dedicated digital implementation support and interactive e-Learning products.
We’ve provided a collection of resources that will help you navigate and reacquaint yourself with our digital products and platforms for grades K-5. You can also find a set of FAQs regarding access to our resources during the COVID-19 outbreak.
ORIGO Education
ORIGO At Home provides guidance and instruction to continue maths learning at home. ORIGO’s team of educators have handpicked resources and activities to help provide engaging mathematical thinking and practice for school students in Years F to 6. No login is required and it is completely FREE!
Each week provides five daily activities organised around a specific maths topic. To help establish a rhythm for learning at home, each day of the week has a specific focus. Access ORIGO At Home here.
Oxford University Press
As a not-for-profit organisation and the largest university press in the world, Oxford’s heart is education! We are here to support teaching and learning across Australia – and right now our highest priority is ensuring that you have access to the resources you need to support your students.
For remote learning to be as effective as possible, access to high-quality, award-winning digital resources and online learning platforms is greater than ever before. To support schools around Australia with planning and resourcing for remote instruction, we have made some important changes that will help you access what you need without delay.
- Free access to Oxford Owl digital resources for years F–6 during Term 2, including Maths Plus, Oxford Maths and Oxford Atlas+
- Free access to Writing Legends for years 3-6 during Term 2 to get your students writing
- Free access to Oxford Digital years 7-10 English, Humanities, Mathematics and Science resources during Term 2
- Free videos to support learning to read at home using Read, Write, Inc.
- Free webinars to support teacher and student wellbeing
- Free professional development for teaching online
Learn more about all these opportunities on the OUP website.
Pearson
In this uncertain environment, the type of learning resources and tools available to learners is more important than ever. That’s why our team is working hard to provide Australian schools with access to the types of resources that will help learning continue in these difficult times, including expert tips for remote teaching as well as world-class learning resources.
- Primary: Free access for 90 days to the ActiveLearn Primary platform including eBooks of literacy series Bug Club and Rapid.
- Secondary: Free access for 90 days to all eBooks and associated assets on our digital learning and teaching platform, Pearson Places. eBooks offered include all key 7 to 10 and Senior series.
Pearson are creating and curating webinars as well as PD from around the globe to assist you with teaching and learning in these unprecedented times.You can find these and a selection of mindfulness resources for teachers, learners and parents along with a growing supply of support material which can be accessed here.
For personalised support according to your school’s needs please do not hesitate to reach out to explore other ways we may be able to help – contact your Schools Educational Consultant for Primary F-6 or Secondary 7-12.
Psych4Schools
Psych4Schools offers resources to support Australian teachers, leadership teams and other professionals working with primary and junior secondary school children. Practical online resources help teachers and psychologists work more effectively with children, parents and colleagues.
After nearly a decade of successful support, and in response to the COVID-19 crisis Psych4Schools is now open to parent membership, and has many FREE online resources such as their newsletter, blogs, e-book excerpts, resources for parents and practical behaviour support and student management strategies on 10 key topics that concern teachers which can be adapted to the home setting.
Quirky Kid
In addition to child psychology services, Quirky Kid is also a niche publishing house producing unique therapeutic resources for young people and families. We have created materials using Australian illustrations to support families discussing COVID-19 with children, along with advice for families working from home.
Redgum Reads
In a move to ensure children have easy access to books in every way possible during times of self-isolation, Australian owned and operated children’s book club Redgum Book Club will be launching several new initiatives. The first of which is Redgum Reads, a free book reading video streaming platform with content from Australian authors.
We want to provide schools, teachers and now parents home-schooling – with resources that they can use to entertain, engage and educate their children. A number of the books talk to National Curriculum connections, which are then mirrored in the available teachers resources.
R.I.C. Publications
For parents and students we have launched a parent information centre here. This is where parents and teachers can expect weekly free resources to use at home, with a pack for each year level from Foundation – Year 6 containing Maths, English, STEM and cross curricular activities which are all provided as PDFs and are aligned with the Australian Curriculum.
For teachers, we are converting our top selling Australian Curriculum resources (Foundation – year 6), into enhanced ebooks and have created editable PDF files for each of the worksheets in these resources. For offline delivery of learning we are also providing free freight on every order to help schools get their workbooks to students, and have launched a new “Learning at home” workbook series providing 4 weeks of cross curricular learning for students which can save teachers creating their own, and assist parents looking for this type of resource.
Storybox Library
Story Box Library is a creative, educational and fun platform developed for children to improve their literacy and language skills. A subscription-based educational service working to engage and excite the next generation about reading and storytelling.
Our products are aimed at preschool and primary aged readers, and allow students access at home, as well as in the classroom. With simple login details kids can access hundreds of engaging Australian and New Zealand stories brought to life by passionate storytellers, authors and illustrators.
All stories are accompanied by at home activity time suggestions, curriculum-linked classroom ideas, student task sheets and inspiration for personal inquiry projects. Teachers benefit from time saving accessibility features to support varied learning needs, options to curate theme based playlists and ongoing resources are shared with educators to help communicate clearly in a time of overwhelming information.
Addressing the impact of closed schools, Story Box Library is committed to supporting educators by offering free access to our resource for two months and ongoing support for teachers and their student community. To access this offer, use the code: SBLFREE2020 via our Schools sign up page here or contact: admin@storyboxlibrary.com.au.
Walker Books
Walker Books Australia has created an online hub offering resources and more from their authors where you’ll find story time kits, activity packs, classroom ideas, teacher notes, videos and more.