Every child CAN learn

As we come to end of the 2012 school year in Australia, I wanted to reflect on the work of our system of nearly 80 schools and in particular our focus for the year – learning by inquiring. This, in essence, means learning about the learner, learning about learning, and learning about teaching, in order to meet the needs and improve the learning outcomes of each and every student in our care. At its heart, it’s a simple proposition but the nature of the work is ever complex and challenging.

As I said to our system leaders at the very start of this year, there is greater student diversity in our schools today than at any time in our history. Our schools represent, in microcosm, the diversity that in exists in modern society. Coupled with this, is the expectation that every child can learn – not should learn – but can and will learn.

One of the great joys of my work as an Executive Director of a large system of schools is that I get to observe some absolutely outstanding examples of learning and teaching. Last month I was privileged to officially open our second Catholic Trade Training Centre at Loyola Senior High School in Mount Druitt funded largely through a $9 million investment by the Australian Government.

For those of you who don’t know Mount Druitt, it is about 40 kms west of Sydney and has a high migrant population with 48% of residents coming from countries where English is not their first spoken language. The median age of 30 years is about 7 years younger than the median age for Australia. Mount Druitt is one of the lowest SES (socio-economic status) areas in Sydney and has double the national average unemployment at over 12%. * 2011 Census 

This is a hugely diverse community with a great many challenges, but I don’t provide these statistics to garner sympathy for the teachers at Loyola. Rather, I provide them to paint a picture of the community Loyola serves. In fact, Loyola’s principal Rob Laidler is adamant that his students’ postcode doesn’t equal their potential.

We know from the work of John Hattie this is true. The greatest effect on student performance is not socio-economic status or family background, the greatest effect is the quality of the teacher.

Over the course of the year I have traversed a range of issues via Bluyonder with the central themes of:

• Identifying new ways of learning by starting with the kids – knowing who they are and what they can do and responding to their diverse needs; and
• Investing in our teachers so they can deliver the learning and teaching needed to see every student succeed

Loyola is an outstanding example – a lighthouse – of just what a school community can achieve when teachers take this responsibility seriously. In terms of meeting the needs of each and every student they ‘walk the talk’.

They meet the kids where they are at, value them, identify and use their talents and interests and ask the question: ‘how can we help you?’. They provide depth and breadth (diversity) in their delivery of schooling.

Loyola provides multiple pathways for learning. Every student can follow a curriculum that meets their needs, not just the requirements of external examinations. Whether through the traditional academic route, the University Hub, the Step Up Into Teaching program, the Nicholas Owen vocational program or now the trade training centre – Loyola finds a way to meet the needs of the kids in their care and give them the best possible opportunities to succeed.

Caption: Remy Low from the University of Sydney speaking about Loyola’s University Hub

This can only happen with great leadership and vision, and the continuous development and willingness of teachers prepared to go outside the square and ask the question: ‘what do I need to learn to help you learn?’.

I was reflecting on this point at the end of the opening and blessing ceremony when a group of Loyola’s students stood up and sang ‘Amazing Grace’. They looked like they could have represented the United Nations the diversity was obvious.

When one of the students, Ida, started to sing a solo piece she simply lit up. There was so much passion in her voice; so much confidence in her song and I know her school – our school – has contributed to that. What an awesome example of our work.

Caption: Ida (far right) and Loyola’s Choir singing ‘Amazing Grace’

There are many, many more and it makes me so proud as an educator and leader to be in the business of schooling today.

Thank you for being on the journey with me this year. Have a joyous Christmas.

Greg

Honoured to be in schooling

I was surprised and humbled last night at our Silver Jubilee Celebration when presented with a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St Gregory the Great. I am not often lost for words, as this blog attests, but I was quite moved by the significance of the honour presented by our Bishop, Anthony Fisher OP. The citation read by Fr Arthur Bridge said I was being acknowledged, not just for my contribution to Catholic Education over the past few decades, but also for my work in reframing schooling in a contemporary age.

As I said last night – when I was finally able to string some words together – our work in the area of making schooling relevant for today’s world is only possible through the support and confidence of the Bishops with whom we work. Some might think it’s remarkable that the Catholic Church is so willing to lead a progressive agenda in schooling – I disagree.

Catholic schools are called to be different. The Catholic Church is by nature counter-cultural; it follows, then, that Catholic schools must also be counter-cultural. It’s in our DNA. If Catholic schools simply mirror the existing landscape and become extensions of the ‘norm’, we will have failed to fulfil our moral imperative which is to ‘have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10). This doesn’t mean we hole up and forget the secular world. On the contrary, we have to be an integral part of the world we serve, but we must also seek to transform that world – to make it better – by challenging the status quo and continually looking to improve the experience of schooling for the young people in our care.

In the Diocese of Parramatta, we are working collaboratively to find new ways of learning and teaching informed by what we know is good theory and practice; we are trying to embed that at every level of the system; and to continue to build the capacity of our teachers and leaders so they can prepare the next generation to go out and transform the world for the better.

This Papal honour is an acknowledgement of the work WE, as a diocese, are doing to ensure Catholic schooling is relevant, meaningful and transformational for our 43,000 students; and of our responsibility to share this work with our colleagues across sectors and across the globe.

To my colleagues, thank you for your ongoing commitment to Catholic education and happy Jubilee.

Sir Greg

Policy muddle stifles innovation

I, like many, eagerly awaited the Prime Minister’s response to the Gonski recommendations at the National Press Club earlier this week with a degree of certainty that a new funding model for Australian schools would be announced.

But when the Prime Minister made no announcement about the funding model, the quantum of funds and the processes to support and introduce it, we were all left scratching our heads.

All schools need to forward plan. This planning requires funding certainty. Instead of steering a clear path ahead backed up by detailed funding measures, the Prime Minister’s speech on Monday only seemed to stir a pot of growing frustration. In the absence of providing any details, the void is mostly filled with questions. I can only hope that clarity around funding levels comes soon.

I was also concerned by the issues the Prime Minister raised and her call for us to join her ‘national crusade’. In one sense, her speech was very Whitlam-esque; forward looking and spoken with passion, filled with case studies and imagery to tug at even the hardest of hearts. While a good crusade always rallies the troops and builds momentum, it is a call to the wrong thing.

The simple assertion of the need ‘to improve schools’ doesn’t stand up to scrutiny; nor do the simplistic international examples that reduce the complexities involved to a ‘race to the top’. The literature and the practice are clear on this matter.

Professor Anthony Welch made the point in an article in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald that a narrow focus on improving Australia’s rank on international league tables avoids real and persistent problems in education. He says if the government places too much emphasis on test results, we’ll have teachers teaching to the test, children learning but not understanding and a widening gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.

This narrow focus does nothing to raise the overall standard of learning and teaching in Australia.

The proposed scheme to hold schools to account based on a new school improvement plan that is checked and published demeans the work already going on in schools and the good work that our teachers currently do.

‘Irreplaceables,’ a great way to think about good teachers.

We know that the most effective way to improve student learning and thus improve schooling is to invest in good teachers and leaders. I recently came across The Irreplaceables, a report from the US addressing the ‘good teacher retention crisis’. It struck me that the term ‘irreplaceable’ is a great way to think about good teachers, and highlighted how we need to support them by building their capacity and providing ongoing feedback. The report found that top teachers who were provided with a mix of feedback and development, recognition, leadership opportunities and access to professional learning resources planned to remain at their schools longer than those who didn’t.

We already know how to do this.

Building teacher capacity is the way forward. Why is the government focused on implementing a policy aimed at measuring teacher capacity rather than building it?

Good teachers make the difference. Building teacher capacity is how we will improve student learning in Australia.

The human dimension of schooling

Last Thursday, our system hosted French Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès OP, the Vatican’s Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, who is responsible for Catholic educational institutions around the world. While speaking specifically to more than 1,000 leaders about the nature and purpose of Catholic education, I believe his analysis of the challenges schools face today, is not only relevant to Catholic schools but has universal application for all schools.

Archbishop Bruguès OP

Archbishop Bruguès called on Catholic schools to adapt to pedagogical evolutions and even anticipate them, saying pedagogy ‘is by nature in constant evolution: one can no longer teach today in the same way as 40 or even 20 years ago’ and to aim ‘at excellence: excellence of knowledge, excellence of its pedagogy, excellence in transmission’.

The pursuit of innovation and excellence should be the aim of all schools as we work to reframe schooling to meet the needs of today’s learners. The digital world is dramatically reshaping the way we live and we need to respond creatively as educators if we are going to keep pace with our students and provide them with the knowledge and skills to navigate and contribute to the world.

This requires new skillsets for both learners and teachers and the Archbishop encouraged educators to engage both curiosity and reason in the way forward.

‘A Catholic school is essentially a school with a sense of curiosity, interested in all the various forms of knowledge and the multiple dimensions of human culture… one in which reason is given a privileged role in the quest for truth, the moral good and beauty…’ Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès OP, 2012.

The ability to incorporate human reason in navigating both digital and physical environments is essential to effectively prepare young people for the unknown challenges our world will face. We can harness the insatiable curiosity of our students, and aligned with innovative pedagogy, guide our students in the pursuit of knowledge about the world, about learning, and about ideas. This is achievable and should be a hallmark of all good schools.

Our own Bishop, Anthony Fisher OP, addressed our principals the following day and made the point that in a world marked by secularisation, consumerism, family dysfunction and values disorientation, many – even outside the church – recognise the challenge we have to transmit vision and values.

This is not a specifically Catholic challenge but applies to all schools in the modern world and lies right at the heart of learning and teaching. As educators, we need to approach our students with compassion and understanding of the diversity they bring into the classroom. When we know each of our students as individuals and tailor learning and teaching to meet their needs, we are valuing each student as a distinct person worthy of dignity, trust and respect.

Often the focus on schooling is around economic value, but as educators we need to shift our thinking to see the broader dimension of the human purpose of schooling. In modelling core values to students, educators – regardless of faith background – play a key role in forming the hearts and minds of the young people they teach and enabling them to thrive in an increasingly complex world.

Bishop Anthony expressed his desire that our young people be formed into young men and women of ‘principle, purpose and passion’. We need teachers with principle, purpose and passion, who in the doing and living out of these qualities will strengthen them in their students.

In today’s world learners need good teachers more than ever. Archbishop Bruguès nailed it when he said, ‘the time of teachers has a bright future’. Indeed it has.

The road less travelled

I thought it a good opportunity over the next few months to get a fresh perspective on some of the issues and initiatives we are addressing and implementing at the coal face of learning and teaching. I’ve asked our Team Leaders in System Learning to share their insight on bluyonder as a way of providing a lens on some of the work.  My thanks to John Gildea, Team Leader Vocational Educational and Training for his post below on the status of VET in Australian schools.

You may have come across a report released in Britain last year that appeared in the media with headlines such as “Vocational education and training not good enough” (BBC). On first reading this might imply that the commitment of energy, time and money being made in this area is failing. In fact when you read the Wolf Report, one of the key findings is a call to strengthen the quality and range of VET courses to ensure they give students not only solid learning experiences but carry with them realistic opportunities for career in their chosen fields. The British government has pledged to reform the area.

The direction of VET in schools in Australia and in our system in particular is doing exactly that.  In 2004, the National Council for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) published a report on VET in schools. Research included canvassing over 1400 students and 300 teachers and found that:

VET plays an essential role in making the curriculum inclusive of a broader range of needs. VET was also viewed as a useful means of improving learning and giving many students a chance of success at school, some experiencing it for the first time. (NCVER report on VET in Schools, 2004, P.7)

This and other research demonstrates that students completing a VET course as part of their HSC, increase their likelihood of having life long employment to 85%. These same students also demonstrate an improved ATAR and their VET course is most often their first or second best result. This helps to dispel the myth that VET is a less academic pathway and only students who are somehow “not very capable” should be offered or encouraged into VET courses. VET courses are challenging and require a commitment of time and discernment that could be attractive to any student, which is why all students should have an opportunity to engage in VET courses.

VET provides a tremendously effective way of personalizing learning. Key aspects of VET that support this include competency based performance and assessment, where students can proceed at their own pace and capabilities and where assessment is not about just how they perform against a group of other students but fundamentally centered on whether the student can competently demonstrate the skills and understandings necessary for the qualification and success in the workforce. VET courses are founded in real world contexts and experiences and include embedded work placement.

VET courses allow students to pursue a range of pathways into university, work and further training.

Our system has extended its commitment to VET in schools through two key initiatives. The first was established some years ago and is the Cluster VET model where leadership and management of VET resources and delivery is coordinated by school clusters who through their management committees and dedicated Cluster Coordinators have allowed us to be much more flexible and responsive to change and ensure a strategic vision and direction for VET in schools.

The second initiative is the Trade Training Centre program which began in 2010 with our first Trade Training Centre at McCarthy High School and a second in 2011 at Loyola Senior College. These state of the art centres allow school students to achieve an apprenticeship pathway as well as completing their HSC. No other education system in NSW has the provision for high level qualifications and apprenticeship pathways combined with the HSC that our TTC’s provide. The TTC’s provide access to the ‘traditional’ trades such as carpentry, brick and block and hospitality but also are moving into emerging trade areas in technology, engineering, financial services and transport and logistics.

Students have the opportunity to experience some of the best VET in the state and to access  qualifications pathways that very few others can. The question isn’t why VET but why wouldn’t a student consider it as part of their learning pathway.  It shouldn’t be the road less travelled.

Art of teaching

Over the course of the year I have written about a range of issues but the central theme has been about learning and teaching in a contemporary and connected world. The more I write about this, the more I recognise that improving student learning is about improving teacher quality.  It’s not pie in the sky stuff, it’s achievable when we get teachers working and learning together, opening their practice up to critical reflection and setting high benchmarks for themselves and their students.

I know this has been the road less travelled in our profession for the past hundred years and I suppose it can be difficult to imagine how teacher practice could change.  Opening your teaching up to comment is a huge risk but when done in the spirit of continuous improvement, the rewards are great.

I am fortunate to be able to see this in practice when I visit schools.  When I hear teachers talking about Helen Timperley’s inquiry cycle as a framework for reflection, it not only changes practice but culture.

Recently, I was asked to view the art work of students at Caroline Chisholm, Glenmore Park.  These students are being taught by teachers who are part of a professional learning community committed to improving their own and their students’ learning.  I know I often say I was wowed by student work but I don’t think I can capture the standard here in words.

What is impressive is that the art teachers expect their Year 1o students to produce Year 12 quality work – and they do.  By the time this cohort gets to Year 12, the standard is extraordinary.   Out of a class of 30 this year, 10 were nominated for the NSW Art Express  and 7 have been chosen to exhibit. The teachers are charting the progress of their students from Year 7 through to Year 12.

I spoke to several of the students who acknowledged their teachers and were supportive of the stretch their teachers provided.  The teachers didn’t think their practice was out of the ordinary and this is when you know you there’s been a cultural change.

Learning Conversations Caroline Chisholm

It’s a great base from which to build and I look forward to continuing the learning conversations with teachers and leaders next year.

Touching the future

Last Friday,  Australia celebrated World Teachers’ Day.  As much as it is important for us to acknowledge the work of teachers, I still believe teachers themselves are the best advocates for their profession.  There is much good work happening every day in classrooms around the country and too often we never hear about.

Teachers are often reluctant to promote themselves or their colleagues but as more teachers share their practice and wisdom via traditional channels and now social media, we begin to build a stronger and more skilled profession which is esteemed by the wider community.

Finland for example became an educational leader because they made teaching the most highly esteemed profession – not the most highly paid but the most highly sought after.

In celebrating World Teachers’ Day, I thought I’d ask Rosana Ingrati from St Canice’s Primary School Katoomba to reflect on what teaching means to her.

Why did you become a teacher?

I have been a teacher now for around 17 years. I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to make a difference to the greater community, and make a different to our future generation.  I also love working with children, and find they are so much fun to be around.

What it means for you to be in the role?

I feel responsible to continually learn about the changes in technology and teaching practices. I work in a Catholic school so I also feel responsible to help the children grow socially and morally, as well as academically.

What challenges and opportunities do you experience?

I think keeping up with the pace of change in technology has been both a challenge and opportunity.  The other thing I find challenging is finding the time to put all the excellent professional training into practice and to be able to read all the great resources I am given.

I think this is also an opportunity because it means there is so much room for professional development as a teacher.

What do you find most rewarding?

Making an impact in the lives of the children is most rewarding.  I think of one story of a boy I am teaching who waited until all the other children had left the class to specially thank me for teaching him about a lesson on ‘time’.  It is so nice to be appreciated like that.

I also love that I am a valued member of the whole school community, and know that the parents, colleagues and children appreciate what I (and other teachers) do.

I’m always mindful of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher on board the Challenger space shuttle who when asked about her career said ‘I touch the future, I teach.’

Teachers have significant responsibilities and they need to be proud of the work they do.  This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be reflective and open to change.  They are not opposites, they are different sides of the same coin.  As a society, we need to recognise the valuable contribution made by teachers everywhere because without them we don’t have a future.

Teachers at the centre

Is student-centred learning a given when we are talking about schooling in today’s world?  Our system’s theory of action has the student at the centre but in recent times, I have begun to rethink whether the teacher should be at the centre.  Without good teachers and leaders at the centre, can you improve the learning outcomes of every student?

A few weeks back I caught a TED talk by Geoff Mulgan about a new model of school called the ‘Studio School’, which aims to reach disengaged teenagers who didn’t see any relationship between what they learnt at school and future jobs. The key features of ‘Studio Schools’ include smaller class size, curriculum centred on real life practical experiences, coaches in addition to teachers and timetables much more like a work environment in a business. The underlying principle of this model of schooling is based on the idea that a large portion of teenagers learn best by working in teams and by undertaking real-world activities. The result was that student performance improved significantly.

The Studio School is one example of the innovations taking place in education today, centred of course around the learner.  But good teaching is the other ingredient in this and I wonder whether we are over-compensating for the deficiencies of an industrial model by not focusing enough on the quality of teaching and the role of the teacher.

We have tangible examples where investment in learning at every stage of a teacher’s careers is having an impact on the quality of learning.  Linda Darling-Hammond states that in Singapore, teacher education is a serious investment throughout a career. Darling-Hammond writes in The Flat World and Education ‘to get the best teachers, students from the top one- third of each graduating high school class are recruited into a fully paid 4-year undergraduate teacher education program, and immediately put on the ministry’s payroll. When they enter teaching, they earn as much as or more than beginning engineers, accountants, lawyers and doctors who are in civil service…during the course of their preparation, there is a focus on learning to use problem-based and inquiry learning, on developing collaboration, and on addressing a range of learning styles in the classroom.’

Countries that have invested in improving teacher quality have seen the largest gains in student achievement according to a recent article by William J. Bushaw and Shane J. Lopez in the Phi Delta Kappan Journal. Their finding was based on the conclusion reached by educators who participated in the International Summit on the Teaching profession hosted by the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and data from the latest PDK/Gallop poll which surveyed over 1,000 people about their views on public education.

Andy Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley in The Fourth Way: The Inspirational Future for Educational Change also concur that high quality learning is dependent on highly qualified teachers and teaching. Finland controls teacher quality at the point of entry. They get high-quality teachers and know how to keep them by giving teachers’ professional status, support and considerable autonomy.

The New York Times featured Relay Graduate School of Education which has no campus, no lectures and graduate students mentored primarily at the schools they teach. The president of Relay, Norman Atkins, claims that vastly improving teacher education is critical in fixing the failure of America’s public education.

We know that good teachers always put their students at the centre and good teaching is what makes the difference.  Perhaps our theory of action requires a rethink or a tweek so that this relationship is clear.  This understanding puts to rest the proposition that you don’t need teachers in an online connected world.

Schools desperately need good teachers now more than ever. Invest in teachers and you’ll see dramatic improvements in student achievement.

Leadership Insights

I was interviewed last week by John Chesher from Trak Recruit – a recruitment consultancy company.  The Q&A is on their blog if you’re interested in my advice to aspiring educational leaders.

 

What I know

I consider myself an informed system leader who understands the complex issues of providing relevant schooling in today’s world for all students.  Over the past few years I have used this blog as a way of expressing my views about learning and teaching and some ideas around a way forward.

A few days ago an idea popped into my head uninvited, which has really intrigued me. I was thinking of my next blog post when I thought “why do I think the way I do about schooling and when did I learn the things I know about 21st century schooling?”  I naturally assumed that I had always known these things but I realised that wasn’t the case.  Everything I know is being updated, challenged, enriched and stretched on a daily basis.  Your expertise changes every day as the connections strengthen.

On Friday evening, I saw the most remarkable and uplifting performance at the Seymour Centre in Sydney by over 30 young secondary students from our Captivate program.

It was an improvised dance performance work-shopped over three years in partnership with the talented Shaun Parker and his team of collaborators who brought to life the very best of what we can expect from young people when they are taught well.

How often are we brought back to earth by such experiences!  We can easily assume that we know everything there is about schooling and just when we think we do, our teachers and students challenge our thinking (again).

The performance on Friday night was Richard Elmore’s instructional core in action – the relationship between student and teacher in the presence of content. It was a powerful learning experience for the student, teacher and the audience. As Elmore says ‘if you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there.’  It’s what I saw and what I know.