Sarah Bakker Named One of Australia’s Most Influential Educators for 2025

We’re excited to share that our Head of Education, Sarah Bakker has been named one of The Educator’s Most Influential Educators for 2025, recognising her leadership, creativity and dedication in transforming writing instruction across Australia.

The Award

The Educator’s annual list highlights 50 education changemakers who are shaping the future of Australian education. It follows a rigorous three-month evaluation process, including industry expert consultations and in-depth research to identify leaders driving genuine impact within schools and communities.

“It’s such a privilege to work alongside passionate teachers to transform writing instruction and unlock the voices of Australia’s next generation,” said Sarah upon receiving the award. “This recognition is a testament to the impact of empowering teachers, engaging students and inspiring a lifelong love of writing.”

As The Educator’s Managing Editor for Special Reports, Chris Sweeney, noted:

“Sarah Bakker is one of the Australian education industry’s true changemakers and her innovation and creativity is driving progress, in both her own organisation and across the entire sector. Her contribution delivers value as well as raising the bar.”

Sarah’s inclusion in this prestigious list reflects her commitment to delivering practical, high-impact approaches that make writing more engaging and accessible for students, while empowering educators with tools and strategies to build confident, capable young writers.

👉 Find out more here.

High-quality resources

Over the last nine years, Sarah’s work at Seven Steps has had a transformative impact on classrooms across Australia. Her innovative, accessible, curriculum-aligned resources have helped thousands of students build confidence in their writing, while reducing teacher workload and boosting outcomes.

In the last 2 years alone, Sarah has:

• updated the Narrative Writing Course, which went on to win New Digital Course of the Year in the Digital Education Awards 2024
• redesigned the award-winning NAPLAN Writing Success resources as a course on Teacher Hub
• created a suite of NSW-specific resources to support teachers using the new Department of Education units alongside Seven Steps
• developed a new Read to Write course and an accompanying Reading–Writing Connection webinar to help teachers integrate reading and writing instruction
• created implementation resources and curriculum resources to support teachers across Australia and beyond.

Take a look for yourself on Teacher Hub.

👉 Not a member? View subscription options including our free Starter account.

Teacher support

Sarah also offers hands-on support to teachers – giving practical advice, responding to real classroom challenges and designing training and resources that inspire confidence and bring writing to life.

You can book in a one-on-one session or a whole school session for support and advice about Seven Steps, Teacher Hub and writing in general. Ask her all your curly questions, find out about the new AI assessment tools coming soon to Teacher Hub and give her your wish list for future resources.

👉 Book a session with Sarah.

👉 Book a spot at our monthly Implementation Session.

About Sarah Bakker

Sarah Bakker is a leading education professional dedicated to transforming writing instruction in Australian classrooms. As Head of Education at Seven Steps to Writing Success, she develops high-quality resources for teachers and schools to make the teaching of writing more engaging, effective and achievable for every student.

👉 Find out more here.