Over Christmas I had a grandfather’s delight of reading Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to my grandson. The story follows the adventures of a girl transitioning from childhood into a never-seen-before world. Alice talks about her experiences in this new environment as ‘curioser and curioser’. It got me thinking about the importance of curiosity … More Why 2018 needs to be the year of curiosity
As you may know, I spent the end of the 2017 school year visiting schools in the UK and Scandinavia. Their challenges are the same as the ones faced here: concern over the quality of schooling, overall relevance of schools in a rapidly changing world and the absence of a coherent educational policy. Nonetheless when … More Transformation is the global agenda
For those who grew up watching Sesame Street in the seventies, there is research suggesting the much-loved show led to improved early educational outcomes for children. A new study has found that US children who had greater access to Sesame Street when it first aired experienced positive learning outcomes throughout primary school. Boys and black, non-Hispanic children experienced the … More Lessons from Sesame Street
If you’ve been watching the series Redesign My Brain with Todd Sampson, you’ll be familiar with the work of neuroscientist Dr Michael Merzenich. Dr Merzenich is a world authority on brain plasticity – the idea that the brain can continually re-wire itself. Hence, the term ‘soft-wired’. Sam Seidel, author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education also believes … More Remixing schooling
If you ask the general population about their perception of teaching, I am sure the response would be 9-3pm working day, lots of holidays. Teaching is a profession that is still defined by its (industrial) conditions. The scope of teachers work remains categorised by a school week, a school term or a school year. The … More The tip of the iceberg
Following on from last week’s blog post on big data, I had the great pleasure of meeting researcher and educator George Siemens recently. George is the Associate Director, Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University in Canada. He was also one of the first people ever to facilitate the use of MOOCs. George has been immersed in learning and … More A different level of insight
I had the great honour of being invited to deliver the Occasional Address last Thursday at the graduation ceremony for the University of Western Sydney School of Education. As someone who grew up in western Sydney and now leads a system of schools here, I have seen its transformation from an outpost to a dynamic, diverse … More The new prophets
Canadian principal George Couros spent last week sharing his ‘connected’ learning with our teachers and leaders. Several school leaders said they felt ‘inspired’ after hearing George talk so passionately about his students, profession and his professional learning. The workshops with George and our Principals Masterclass may look like ‘stand-alone’ or ‘one-off’ events but they are … More ‘Connected’ learning
Last month I returned from South Africa where I participated in the CSC Leaders program. I arrived in Johannesburg around the time former president Nelson Mandela was hospitalised. Wandering through the Apartheid museum one afternoon I was stopped by a BBC cameraman asking for my reflections on Mandela and his legacy. My comment was that … More A powerful weapon
On Friday, the Age newspaper featured a story on how foreign fee paying students have become a lucrative income source for cash-strapped Victorian schools. It’s coincidental because I’ve just caught up reading the February report by the International Education Advisory Council on the challenges and opportunities of Australia’s international education sector. While the focus is predominately on expanding … More Australia – educating globally
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