Flipped Classrooms: Rethinking the Time and Place of Learning

Have you heard about flipped classrooms and why they might benefit you as a CRT Teacher?

In Australian classrooms today, teachers face a familiar dilemma: the curriculum is packed, time is limited, and students come to school with a wide range of needs and abilities. Finding time for both content delivery and deeper learning has become increasingly difficult.

One innovative solution is gaining traction across primary and secondary schools: the flipped classroom model.

What Is a Flipped Classroom?

The flipped classroom reverses the traditional teaching sequence. Instead of delivering new content in class and assigning homework for practice, the flipped model asks students to engage with new material at home, typically through short videos or reading tasks. Then, when they come to class, students apply that knowledge through group work, discussion, problem-solving, and teacher-supported activities.

It’s a shift in focus from passive reception of information to active engagement and collaboration.

Where Did the Flipped Model Originate?

The concept emerged in the early 2000s, when American science teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams began recording their chemistry lectures for students who missed class. They quickly discovered that all students benefited from being able to pause, rewind, and revisit content especially before assessments or during revision.

From this small-scale experiment, the flipped classroom evolved into a widely recognised teaching approach, now used globally including in many Australian schools.

Why Flip the Classroom?

The flipped classroom supports a range of educational goals that are central to effective teaching in Australia:

1. Increase Valuable Class Time

Instead of spending precious minutes explaining content, teachers can use face-to-face time for deeper learning, targeted instruction, and timely feedback.

2. Supports Diverse Learning Needs

Students can review content at their own pace, an enormous advantage for learners who need extra time or repetition, including those with additional learning needs or for whom English is an additional language.

3. Promotes Student Agency

By asking students to prepare before class, flipped learning fosters independent study habits, digital literacy, and greater personal responsibility for learning.

4. Enables Differentiation in Practice

With students arriving at different stages of understanding, teachers can more easily adapt instruction during class working one-on-one, in small groups, or guiding peer-supported activities.

A student attentively engages with a lecture during a video call, taking notes as her teacher explains.

How Do Teachers Deliver Flipped Content?

In most cases, flipped classrooms rely on digital platforms to deliver materials before class. Here are some widely used tools that support flipped learning in Australian schools:

• Loom: Allows teachers to record short explainer videos with voiceovers, ideal for walkthroughs and mini-lessons.

• Screencastify: A Chrome-based tool for creating screen recordings and tutorials.

• ClickView: An Australian platform offering curriculum-aligned video libraries for K–12 schools.

• Edpuzzle: Let's teachers embed questions into existing videos to check for understanding.

• YouTube Education: A valuable source of short, high-quality videos across all subjects.

These resources can be shared with students using platforms such as Google Classroom, Seesaw, Compass, or Sentral all commonly used in Australian schools.

Is It Suitable for All Year Levels?

Flipped learning works particularly well in:

• Years 5–12, where students are developing strong digital and independent learning skills.

• STEM, English, and Humanities subjects, where layered skills build over time.

• Classrooms with reliable access to devices and the internet, whether via school-issued laptops or BYOD programs.

For younger students, the model can still be adapted with families supporting video viewing at home and teachers using class time for guided literacy, numeracy, and inquiry-based learning.

Why Flipped Learning Matters

The flipped classroom is not about using more technology for its own sake. It’s about rethinking how we use time in the classroom and beyond.

It invites teachers to consider:

• What can students reasonably learn independently, with the right scaffolds?

• How can class time be used to build deeper understanding, not just deliver content?

• How can I shift my role from instructor to facilitator and coach?

  
  

A Step Toward Student-Centred Learning

In Australian schools, the flipped classroom represents a powerful strategy for enhancing engagement, improving differentiation, and making the most of every lesson. With thoughtful planning and the right tools, it allows teachers to do what they do best, teach with impact.

As schools look toward more flexible, inclusive, and future-focused approaches to learning, flipped classrooms offer a practical way to reimagine what teaching and learning can look like.

SOS Teacher Agency would love to hear from Australian teachers as to whether you have experimented with the Flipped Classroom model in any of your classes in 2025?