The Australian Curriculum, or its state-based derivatives, has overarching standards detailing the knowledge and skills expected of students by particular stages of schooling. However, the classroom instructional resources to achieve these outcomes remain largely unstructured, leaving educators to navigate a landscape of largely unregulated online resources, contemporary educational theories, or unproven materials.

For students to successfully meet Australian Curriculum achievement standards, or beyond, teachers must have access to High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) that align with these standards. Yet despite the importance and the substantial resources provided to Australian schools, classroom instructional materials are not required to meet a defined standard, nor are they subjected to vetting by relevant educational authorities. Identifying and addressing this gap in the quality of instructional material would be an important step forward in elevating the Australian education sector.

This paper seeks, in part, to address this disconnect by leveraging insights from international policy examples for curriculum-aligned HQIM — educational resources that effectively support student learning by aligning with curriculum standards and applying evidence-based teaching and learning approaches. It explores initiatives for the establishment of an HQIM ecosystem in Australia for the purpose of scaling evidence-based practice into practical, school-ready instructional resources, and the potential for collaboration among education authorities, publishers, researchers, and agencies.