On Monday, 22 July, the NSW Minister for Education, the Hon. Adrian Piccoli MP launched TESAustralia, a new website designed to help Australian teachers share resources.

The Board of Studies NSW, the Professional Learning Centre (PLC) and the Australian Education Union (AEU) have worked with the UK-based company TSL Education to develop the website. TESAustralia encourages teachers to upload resources they have used in the classroom and map them back to relevant parts of the curriculum. Other teachers are then able to see how they might use or adapt resources in their own teaching programs.

Many Australian teachers will already be familiar with the products of TSL Education with similar websites in the UK, the USA and India already having substantial Australian membership. The development of TESAustralia ensures that local teachers are able to access a website that is specifically designed to suit the Australian teaching experience. Over a half a million teaching resources are currently available through TESAustralia. The website is free and can be used by anyone, not just teachers.

President of the Board of Studies NSW, Mr Tom Alegounarias, said at the launch that he was proud of the Board's involvement in TESAustralia as it could help support all NSW teachers, particularly during the transition into using the four new syllabuses for K–10 English, Mathematics, Science and History.

"The Board has stewardship of NSW syllabuses, more than ownership. It is our job to protect the quality and integrity of the syllabuses, and to support teachers to deliver them. TESAustralia offers NSW teachers a great source of inspiration by allowing them to see how their colleagues in other parts of the country – in fact in any part of the world – are approaching particular topics, and the resources they are using. The Australian website also encourages teachers to contribute suggestions on how to deal with whole-of-school issues, not just classroom teaching".

For more information, contact
Communications Unit
information@bos.nsw.edu.au