A colleague of mine spent a week at Harvard Business School earlier this year learning how to apply scientific methodologies to strategic decision-making. The course drew participants from all sectors and all parts of the world. Yet very few in education. Telling perhaps? The premise is that if you are going to roll out a … More Can we apply scientific rigour to teaching?
There’s been discussion recently regarding the increasing demands placed on school leaders and teachers. We live in a world that demands greater accountability, transparency, productivity and performance. Education is not immune. We also have the research outlining qualities of high achieving/effective schools and the ‘high expectations’ on student and teacher performance. Parents expect their children will achieve quality … More Learning and leading
I’m not sure if you have had this experience, but the last thing I expected while travelling in Greece on a pilgrimage with Catholic Education colleagues was to be approached by two fellow Australians who recognised me from my Twitter profile. It was a powerful moment to connect ‘face to face’ with people who had … More It’s a small ‘virtual’ world
Our system has been very fortunate to have been working with Michael Fullan over a period of five years. Given Fullan’s vast experience and the demands on his time, it never ceases to amaze me how generous he is with his time when he is present. To sit around the table and explore issues in … More Make learning the work
I caught an interview on CNN with Bill Gates reflecting on what he would do to change the education system in America. Gates said if he could change something about the system, he would ‘hire the best teachers’ and get them to learn from each other because the research on the influence of good teaching … More Our biggest investment
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 … More Touching the future
There has been a lot of discussion around the topic of creativity. Educators and society in general seem to agree on the importance of creativity – but do our schools provide a fertile ground for our teachers and students to develop and cultivate this attribute? In Will Richardson’s blog, he argues that on the whole … More Creativity crisis
Interesting study reported in the Daily Telegraph from the University of Western Sydney and University of Technology, Sydney on a looming shortage of teachers. We’ve known for a long time that our baby boomer teachers will retire in the next decade and this is one of the big challenge for all education systems. The report warns … More Teacher shortage
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit in on a class conducted by visiting Apple Distinguished Educator, Californian teacher of the year (twice) and internationally recognised educator Marco Torres at one of our schools. Although I was only there with the primary and secondary students and teachers for 40 minutes, it was enough time to … More Marco and company
Is there a fundamental difference between professional development and professional learning? Can teachers be doing PD and teaching at the same time? If we define professional development as a one-off activity that takes place outside of classrooms, the answer is no. Professional development is a remnant of the 20th century when perfecting routines and tasks … More From PD to PL
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