Reports have shown that teachers, especially those new to the profession, are feeling overworked and under-resourced, and as such, don’t always have the time to focus on their professional development.
Indeed, an important aspect of professional development is not only accessing evidence-based resources, but the sharing of knowledge between educators themselves.
Recognising this, a new online ‘Literacy Academy’ has been launched that brings both of these elements together.
The Intrepica Academy, developed by specialist instructors from LiteracyPlanet, is a personalised and interactive online school for all teachers across Australian and New Zealand. The Academy allows teachers to communicate within the forum, ask questions, share ideas, and provide feedback, as well as delivering expert-led courses on mastering the power of teaching literacy.
"So many online learning platforms offer an individual experience, which is great for personalised learning, but what we’ve seen, more than ever, is that the teaching community need methods for genuine connection," ,” Tom Richardson, CEO of LiteracyPlanet, told The Educator.
"Intrepica Academy will support teachers’ individual professional development, but the key difference here is the peer level of resources they can access and the support they’ll get from like-minded and understanding teachers. Our vision is to really drive the community engagement in the Academy."
Richardson said users of the platform will be inspired to elevate their learning by exploring what works in literacy teaching – together.
“We want this to be a space where we can help nurture the growth of great literacy scholars and encourage teachers to support each other right across the globe.”