This guidance report provides evidence-based insights for how Australian education systems can most effectively support schools to take up and sustain evidence-based practices at scale. Teaching is the single most powerful in-school influence on student outcomes. This report focuses specifically on how education systems can support schools in taking up and sustaining evidence‑based teaching practices effectively. 

The report defines an ‘education system’ as an authority directly overseeing the administration of multiple schools, with responsibility for workforce, curriculum, policy, funding, regulation and evaluation. Supporting schools as the primary site of implementation is central to system success.

Key elements for systems to support the adoption of evidence in schools

• Principles: the guiding mindsets or orientations that shape how a system approaches its work.
• Levers: the key functions or mechanisms through which systems act to support schools. 
• Enabling conditions: the operational and relational factors that allow principles and levers to work in practice.

Successful systems have each of these three elements in place and ensure they operate in unison. The research suggests that when they work together, these elements support systems in delivering an effective model of support to schools, providing them with the necessary resources to implement evidence-based practices in their unique contexts. The report outlines a structured process for introducing new or time-bounded initiatives to ensure they are impactful and align with these three elements.