It’s been interesting to catch snippets of the conversation with Sir David Attenborough at the World Economic Forum in Davos recently. Sir David was discussing the ‘urgency of now’ needed to address the global environmental challenges we face. If you mute the sound and read the captions or insert education instead of environment, you may … More Time for adult decisions
We’ve sent humans to the moon, scaled the highest mountains on the planet and developed 3D printers – all giant steps in human endeavour. Yet I believe the one area where we struggle to make the greatest leap forward is schooling. As an educator, I am flabbergasted when I re-read the likes of John Dewey … More A giant step forward for schools
Schooling must undergo a massive shift from a bureaucracy that continues to promotes improvement and discourages risk-taking to micro-enterprises that are adaptive and in pursuit of ambitious targets for all learners. If you’re looking for some food for thought or discussion starters in the staffroom, I recommend Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini’s piece in the … More Imagination, experimentation and learning
It may feel as if New South Wales has become the education review state of late. We have a review of the NSW curriculum and the one into the use of smart phones in schools. These reviews, while important, skirt around the core issues. What would happen if the time and energy invested into these … More What’s missing when it comes to educational policy?
I’ve had a long career in education and over that time I’ve been exposed to the ideas, opinions and theories of teachers, academics, colleagues and parents. But when I stop to think about those people who’ve had the greatest impact on my professional life, it would have to be what I refer to as the … More The educational elders
There are schools and then there are, as Yong Zhao says, schools like Templestowe College (TC) in Melbourne. This is a school that walks the talk in terms of students’ agency and voice over their learning. Hence their motto, ‘take control of your learning’. The impetus for transformation was a serious decline in enrolments and facing … More Take control of your learning
The Conversation Australia had a recent piece on the differences between summative and formative assessments. I think it’s important for students and parents to understand the nature of assessment because if we understand what it is then we also understand why it is being used and in what context. Having said that, I believe there … More The tragedy of lost potential
