Expanded resources for Reading Australia thanks to the Copyright Agency’s board.

Ahead of UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day on April 23, Copyright Agency’s Board has committed half a million dollars from the agency’s Cultural Fund to develop even more resources for teachers to bring Australian literature into the classroom.

Copyright Agency’s Reading Australia website has been live since October 2013 and has already engaged thousands of teachers Australia-wide with its free resources for primary and secondary students and it continues to be expanded on an ongoing basis.

“We developed the website and the resources with the specific aim of getting Australian literature back into schools,” says Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund Manager, Zoë Rodriguez.

“The First 200 list of works on the Reading Australia website was chosen by the Australian Society of Authors’ Council after considerable debate and discussion.

“Teacher resources have so far been developed for 21 titles (10 primary, 11 secondary) in partnership with the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the English Teachers Association NSW, with another 20 secondary resources already commissioned and due on the website before the end of June.”

The teacher resources include classroom activities, assessments and links to the new Australian curriculum. In addition, the secondary resources include an introduction to the text from high profile authors and artists, such as Libby Gleeson, David Berthold, Melissa Lucashenko, Malcolm Knox and Alice Pung.

“The extra funding, which will begin in the new financial year, will rapidly expand the free resources for teachers with 20 teaching modules related to books for primary students, 40 for secondary students and 30 for tertiary students,” Ms Rodriguez says.

“It’s a tremendous commitment to Australian authors, publishers, teachers, students and general readers. We feel Reading Australia will put adored, but sometimes forgotten, Australian books back on people’s radars, beginning a whole new love affair with some of this country’s finest authors.”

The Copyright Agency is an Australian not-for-profit organisation that has been standing up for creators for more than 40 years. We enable the reuse of copyright-protected words and images in return for fair payment to creators.

Learn more about the Copyright Agency on their website.