WHY CREATE THIS JOURNAL?

Katie Roberts-Hull

Teachers are motivated to implement evidence-based practices, but as we all know, the research can only take us so far.

Educators still have to do the hard work of figuring out how to translate research into daily teaching practice.

Think Forward Educators began in 2019 when a group of teachers got together to figure out how to apply what they were learning from educational research to their classrooms. They discovered strong teacher demand to learn how to change their approaches. At the core was a desire to ensure that all children were taught in the most effective ways in order to address the huge inequities of outcomes for Australian students.

Now in 2024, Think Forward Educators has over 20,000 teachers and leaders in its community across Australia. Educators are getting more connected to the research on evidence-based practices. We have seen school systems, universities, not-for-profits, and government bodies producing incredibly useful summaries of research and evidence for the use of teachers and leaders.

Teachers are motivated to implement evidence-based practices, but as we all know, the research can only take us so far. Educators still have to do the hard work of figuring out how to translate research into daily teaching practice. While there are clear principles that can be applied in almost all settings, implementation can really vary depending on school context.

This is why we are starting the Journal of Think Forward Educators.

Download Entire Journal HERE

We want to support those in the Think Forward Educators community to document the different approaches they are taking to implementing evidence based practices. We want to show what practice looks like in a disadvantaged school, a very small school, a specialist school; in subjects outside of just maths and reading; in multi-age classrooms; in early primary and senior secondary.

We know that seeing examples of what is working well - and hearing about what did not work so well - can help educators understand what research looks like in daily classroom teaching.

With the Journal of Think Forward Educators, we hope to provide teachers and leaders with more fine-grained information about how they might apply research on effective practice in their schools. We also want to provide a platform for the many excellent educators in Australia (and internationally) that have something incredible to share from their practice.

The contributors in this edition - from Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland - have all written rich pieces with specific and detailed discussions of practice. We hope you enjoy this first edition of the journal.