As a follow up to the post on my recent visit to Northern Beaches Christian School, I have included the thoughts of principal, Stephen Harris on why they have embraced this learning agenda. Stephen redefines passion and vision and inspires both confidence and a spirit of innovation in the school community. I believe we are … More A principal’s perspective
Anecdotally at least, teachers are likely to learn when they interact with other teachers. The process of mentoring, coaching and feedback are powerful strategies for empowering and enabling teachers. Never before have we needed more intellectual rigour as our schools respond to the challenges of a national curriculum, 21st century pedagogies and a mercurial education agenda. This … More The practice of collaboration
All too often, we spend too much time swimming in our own billabong when there is a river nearby that runs into a vast ocean of diversity, capacity and inspiration. My thanks to Frank Crawford for bringing to my attention these links from Learning and Teaching Scotland. These examples demonstrate the power of feedback in … More Asking more simple questions
On a recent visit to Sydney, I asked Frank Crawford, Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland to share his sage advice on what schools need to do to improve. For Frank the questions we need to ask schools are simple but on the mark. Too often we frame the question – are you improving learning … More Asking simple questions
As schools are becoming more embedded in their local communities, partnerships become more critical. There are growing examples where parents and local experts are contributing to the learning agenda in practical ways. As I said in a previous post, it is understandable that parents often feel left behind in the learning journey (probably symptomatic of their experience of … More Engaging Parents
Stephen Heppell has spent the past two days visiting some of our primary and secondary schools. The feedback I have received from staff and students has been overwhelmingly positive. I think he struck a chord with teachers everywhere when he immediately affirmed the work of schools. As part of his visit, Stephen presented a keynote which was … More Heppell’s wisdom
bluyonder.wordpress.com 