Blog post by Sophie Rasic, Primary Publishing, Editorial & Research Coordinator
Introducing the Oxford School Partnerships Program, fostering strong relationships between Oxford University Press and schools in Australia
Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand (OUP) has launched a new partnership program to formalise our relationship with a number of schools as a part of our commitment to offering research-based, high-quality educational resources.
The Schools Publishing division at OUP has partnered with a range of primary and secondary schools across Australia to conduct ongoing, qualitative research and feedback on educational resources. This reciprocal relationship allows educators to have their say and help shape the future of OUP’s publishing and drive innovation.
Through the partnership, schools provide scheduled access to teachers and students for focused research through various means, including product trials, phone and face-to-face interviews, case studies and supervised classroom observations. Teachers’ and students’ continuing experiences with resources in schools and at home inform the development and improvement of OUP’s publishing plans.
Hanna Jacobsen is a Secondary Publisher on the Oxford School Partnerships committee. She says, ‘As publishers, we work hard every day to create resources that support teaching and learning. Unfortunately, we often don’t get a chance to have continuous conversations with the people who are in the best position to give us unique insights and feedback on this work – the teachers and students using our resources! The School Partnerships Program can help open up this line of communication, hopefully leading to improved resources and better learning outcomes for students. It’s a very exciting project!’
In Victoria, OUP recently formalised its relationship with Lalor Gardens and Orchard Grove primary schools to maintain long-lasting connections with teachers and students already familiar with OUP staff and resources. This year, both schools trialed Oxford’s new digital reading platform, Oxford Reading Buddy, ahead of its launch. In 2018, Lalor Gardens trialed the guided reading literacy series, Oxford Reading for Comprehension (ORFC). Teachers were able to test the program in classrooms and feedback their experience with using the teacher components of the series, such as Comprehension Coaching Cards and Graphic Organisers. Leading Teacher of Curriculum at Lalor Gardens, Amy Sneddon, commented on ORFC saying, ‘by explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies, we’re giving students a toolbox that they can draw from when they’re not understanding a text’. To find out more about teachers’ experience and feedback on using Oxford Reading for Comprehension, view the teacher interview video.
The Oxford School Partnerships Program is an Australia-wide initiative committed to excellence in research and educational publishing by maintaining meaningful relationships between OUP and schools. To get in touch with the team behind the School Partnerships Program and find out more information, contact Joanna Lake at [email protected] for all Primary enquires, or Evan Curnow at [email protected] for Secondary schools.
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