As another school year comes to completion, I think it appropriate to leave the last word to one of our secondary teachers, Jill Harrington. Jill’s reflection on her role as a team-member and on her own professional journey as a maths teacher exemplifies a new understanding of student-centred learning and teacher-learning. Without good teachers who can reflect on … More Reflections – part III
On the subject of the ubiquitous nature of social technologies – I recently attended a dynamic event in Scotland arranged by a great colleague, John Connell called GregMeet. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but it turned out to be two and a bit hours of intellectually stimulating discussion connecting educators around the UK using video … More GregMeet
How many of us have fond memories of Year 9 science? I suspect most of us don’t unless we had a natural aptitude for the subject. The reality is it probably had something to do with the way the subject was taught – a one size fits all approach to science that was far removed from our lives and yet … More The science of learning
The task we have set ourselves of building a high performing system has been challenging but our work has been enriched by the ideas and input of great educational change agents like Michael Fullan, Stephen Heppell and most recently, John Hattie. On 19 October, more than 600 educators came to hear John Hattie deliver the 2009 Ann … More John Hattie
Princeton Professor of bioethics, Peter Singer has written in Melbourne’s Age newspaper this week about the importance of teaching university students to think for themselves – a convincing argument.
Last Friday, the Sydney Morning Herald published the results of a University of New England Study claiming ‘teacher effect’ only plays a minor role in student learning. In response, I refer again to John Hattie’s book Visible Learning in which he claims: ‘ what teachers do matters’. As educators, we should no longer be satisfied with simply … More The ‘teacher effect’
Leading US educator, Marco Torres is back in Parramatta this week working with 90 Year 5, 6 and 7 students from three local schools. The students are undertaking project-based learning; exploring an issue that impacts on their local environment using multi-media. It is immensely satisfying watching students learn but when you pause to reflect you … More Marco’s Magic
Interesting to read that the average age of teachers in Catholic schools is now 40. This is nearly 10 years below that of their colleagues in government schools. It’s predicted that in the next 5 to 10 years, 40% of government school teachers will retire. This will mark a significant generational change, one that will be … More Sowing the seeds
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