Illuminating Australian children's literature
The 2025 Illuminating Australian Children’s Literature program, designed and hosted by Professor Alyson Simpson from the University of Sydney, is designed to inspire engagement with quality Australian children’s literature. It directly supports the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and the CBCA Sun Project: Shadow Judging program.
The course will highlight this year’s CBCA shortlist. For educators it will provide valuable insight, enjoyment, and professional learning for teaching and student/reader support. It will provide all participants with opportunities to spend time exploring books and sharing ideas.
A story will transport a child to another world, empower them, ignite their imagination, and build empathy. This course will prompt discussion about reading and illuminate examples of award-winning Australian children’s literature. It is suitable for anyone wishing to increase their engagement with reading Australian children’s literature as well as those curious to learn more about promoting enjoyment and critical appreciation of children’s literature.
The 4-week online course
The course will run online over 4 weeks using a Canvas learning management system and will include extensive resources.
Each week you will have access to a pre-recorded lecture (up to one-hour, broken into chunks), using real-world examples that relate to CBCA Book of the Year Award categories and criteria, plus a 1.4 hour interactive Zoom webinar to discuss weekly topics.
Lectures will be available to view from Fridays 25 April, 2 May, 9 May and 16 May.
Zoom webinars will be held on Thursdays 1, 8, 15 and 22 May from 6 pm to 7.30 pm AEST.
Weekly topics for Zoom discussions:
- Week 1: Reading for pleasure – why personal choice matters
- Week 2: Engaging the reader – developing aesthetic appreciation of picture books, novels and non-fiction
- Week 3: Responding to literature – building critical awareness through close reading & paying attention to literary language
- Week 4: Choosing quality literature – how to find quality literature – why does quality matter?
Fees & registration
The cost for this four-week program is $99.00 (GST inclusive). Payment by credit card at the time of registration is required to confirm enrolment, and Canvas access details will be forwarded to you prior to the course start date. You will need a stable internet connection to access the Canvas site, online resources and participate in Zoom webinars.
The Zoom sessions for the program allow time for additional quality dialogue and interaction through breakout spaces and feed-in from authors and shadow judges. We understand that the timing of Zoom meetings may not be suitable for all participants on all weeks. These sessions are optional. We may record the Zooms for quality and evaluation purposes, though cannot guarantee that recordings will be able to be made available for distribution.
Please direct any registration queries to Nina Goodwin by email at [email protected] or by phone on 02 9351 6329.
This course will be valuable professional learning, and teachers in all states and territories may be able to submit their PL hours under their respective regulatory authorities’ policies as elective or individually identified professional development.