Educators stepped up in 2020

It gives me great pleasure to present the Education Horizons School Survey Report 2021: The Voice of Australian Educators – our second annual survey of Australian schools.

In November and December last year, 1,008 Teachers, School Leaders, Managers and Technical Staff from 589 schools around Australia shared their views on the challenges of 2020 – and their priorities for 2021.

As expected, the response to COVID-19 dominated this year’s survey results:

  • Remote learning exposed the significant pressures on teachers – reinforcing long-standing concerns about the time available to plan and prepare;
  • Schools felt significant pressure around student engagement during remote learning alongside effectively connecting with parents and families; and
  • After facing these challenges in 2020, it is no surprise that the number one priority for schools in 2021 continues to be student and staff wellbeing – consistent with results from last year.

 

Other critical priorities identified for 2021 include:

  • Embedding consistent pedagogy across schools;
  • Improving teacher workflow to reduce workload – including managing the growing compliance and administrative burden; and
  • Improving integration of the systems schools rely on to operate effectively
  • Around Australia, our schools became a frontline in the pandemic response in 2020. We asked our educators to go above and beyond anything they could’ve imagined when they sat down to plan the year ahead. And they did.

    The Education Horizons Group School Survey Report 2021: The Voice of Australian Educators, is a vital record of the lived experience of educators in 2020.

    As our second annual survey, this report also adds to a growing store of knowledge about education challenges, priorities and opportunities – as our seen by educators on the frontline.

    I welcome you to review this report here.

    And please share your insights and experiences with us as we all work together to learn the lessons of 2020.

DAVID WEICKHARDT
CEO, Education Horizons Group