What were you doing a decade ago? In May 2014 I welcomed readers to a new chapter in the life of Teacher magazine. Today, I’m excited to be celebrating a magnificent milestone for Teacher online as it reaches its 10th birthday.
Over the years we’ve published thousands of articles, infographics, podcasts and videos supporting K-12 teachers and leaders in their important work to lift students’ academic achievement and wellbeing. But, whatever the topic or content format, our focus on Evidence + Insight + Action has remained constant.
When Teacher was re-launched as a fully online publication by ACER our ambition was to become a trusted source of information in schools, providing classroom practitioners and leaders with a rich source of content on what the research says and, more importantly, what that means for their own context and practice.
‘A key idea we had in mind when developing our vision for Teacher, was the idea of the teacher-researcher,’ says Ralph Saubern, Deputy CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research and Publisher of Teacher magazine. ‘The teacher-researcher is an education professional actively working to improve their capacity to have a positive impact on student learning, placing evidence at the centre of their practice.
‘Our goal for Teacher was to provide timely, high quality, independent content that all teachers could trust and act upon, and a platform to exchange, explore and understand the evidence base.’
Our reach and impact have far exceeded our initial ambitions. More than 5 million readers from Australia and all over the world have accessed content on our website, and our podcasts (it’s strange to think, but it was a bold new digital format when we released our first ever episode back in 2014!) have clocked up more than 1.7 million listens.
Over the years we’ve worked with leading researchers, interviewed international education experts, showcased excellent practice from schools from every sector, state and territory, and published hundreds of reader contributions. And last year we launched the inaugural Teacher Awards to celebrate the fantastic work happening in K-12 settings across the country.
The ‘action’ element of our strapline has been all-important. With so many competing demands, we know your time is precious. Our focus hasn’t been high-level policy, rather practice. And our editorial philosophy has always been to provide more than just a ‘good read/listen’ – it needs to be a good and useful.
That’s why your contributions, suggestions and feedback have been so important. You might have chatted to one of the team at a conference or event (just look for the Teacher green t-shirts!), got in touch by email to share how our content is helping you and your colleagues, or filled out our annual survey to let us know what you want more support on. I can tell you that all your feedback has informed what we do.
Over the coming months we’ll be looking back at some of our own highlights, the topics that have been most important to you, and exploring Teacher’s impact. For now, though, to everyone who’s played a part in the publication’s success – thank you.
It’s been hugely fulfilling to reflect on all that we’ve achieved together in the last 10 years, and the Teacher team is excited to continue the journey with you.
