Brisbane Girls Grammar School Insights 2015

INSIGHTS 2015 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

This publication comprises articles written by senior staff for the School’s weekly newsletter, the BGGS News. As a collection, they provide the opportunity to reflect on the educational landscape of 2015 and the values, philosophy and direction of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

Insights also provides a platform for the voices of our students to be heard through their Perspectives articles.

The images in this edition of Insights are works produced by our creative and talented Visual Arts students in 2015.

In this edition, we celebrate 140 years of educating girls with a special article that looks at the legacy of leadership at Girls Grammar through the eyes of our former students, Grammar Women.

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Contents INSIGHTS 2015

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

ENGAGING ETHICALLY WITH THE WORLD

MR PAUL MARTINEAU

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THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GATEKEEPER

MRS JENNY DAVIS

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IN PRAISE OF PEDANTRY: A PRAGMATIC PLEA FOR PARENTS AND PEERS

MR STEPHEN WOODS

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CHAOS THEORY

MRS KRISTINE COOKE

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OPPORTUNITIES TO WONDER, WANDER AND EXPLORE …

MS MAGGI GUNN

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WORDS TO LIVE BY

MRS PAULINE HARVEY-SHORT

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WHAT, ME WORRY?

MRS VIOLET ROSS

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ANZAC DAY ADDRESS 2015: REMEMBERING AND EXPERIENCING GALLIPOLI

MS JULIE HENNESSEY

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A LONG, LONG WAY TO RUN

MR ANDREW PENNAY

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DADS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS — CONNECTIONS THROUGH SPORT

MRS CHRIS MOORE

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FINDING WAYS TO FIND THEIR WAY

MR JAMES SEAHA

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WILL YOU BE MY PAL-DATE?

MRS EMMA LOWRY

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HISTORY, IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY

MS ALISON DARE

46

TRUST ME

DR KAY KIMBER

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

MS ALYSIA STARK

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TEEN BRAINS — FIT FOR PURPOSE

MRS ANNE INGRAM

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THE GRAND GAP

MS SUSAN GARSON

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LOOK, THERE’S A ROCK …

MS NATALIE SMITH

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GRAMMAR WOMEN: A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP AT GIRLS GRAMMAR

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PERSPECTIVES 73

Important perspectives

Ms Jacinda Euler, Principal

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Philosophy of Learning journey

Jessica Mangos, Year 7

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The value of sport

Sarah Tisdall, Year 12

77

Transitioning

Zoe McDonald, Year 12

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Is pure altruism possible?

Josefine Ganko, Year 12

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All that glitters is not gold

Grace Mitchell, Year 10

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Can war ever really be won?

Josefine Ganko, Year 12

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OPTIMISTIC SUPERSEDERS

MR BRENDON THOMAS

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TOWARDS REDUNDANCY — WIRING FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

MR JAMES MCINTOSH AND MRS CAROL MCINTOSH

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LITTLE MISS PERFECT REIGNS

MRS JODY FORBES

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FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD: RENEGOTIATING RELATIONSHIPS

MS RUTH JANS

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TIMES OF FAMINE: LOST IN SEARCH OF PRIVACY AND REFLECTION

MS LORRAINE THORNQUIST

102

FORGET THE BINARY: THINKING AND LEARNING REQUIRES THE OLD, THE NEW AND THE HOME!

DR BRUCE ADDISON

105

IT’S TIME FOR A GOOD ARGUMENT

MRS ANNE BYRNE

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PART OF THE CLAN

MRS SYBIL EDWARDS

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EVERY GIRL MATTERS

MS RACHAEL CHRISTOPHERSON

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PRESENT TENSE

MR STEPHEN FOGARTY

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THE GALA CONCERT — ACHIEVING A SUMMIT EXPERIENCE

MR MARK SULLIVAN

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THE SECRET TO CONFIDENCE

DR ANN FARLEY

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CREATING THEATRE, SHAPING PEOPLE – COGNITION, EMOTION AND EMPATHY IN DRAMA PRACTICE

MRS KATRINA RIVEROS

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REMEMBRANCE DAY ADDRESS 2015

MRS NARELLE WAVERLEY-SMITH

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A MOST CURIOUS CASE

DR SALLY STEPHENS

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SELF-COMPASSION: A HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE TO SELF-ESTEEM

DR ALIX VANN

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EMBRACING AMBIGUITY TO LEAD COMPANIES INTO THE FUTURE

MRS ANNA OWEN

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THE RHYTHM OF LIFE

MS SARAH BOYLE

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Engaging ethically with the world M R PAU L M A R T I N E AU, H U M A N I T I E S T E AC H E R A N D ANTIPODEANS ABROAD COORDINATOR | 20 FEBRUARY 2015

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living (Miriam Beard).

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t Brisbane Girls Grammar School our aim is to foster the development of well informed, critically thinking and civically engaged citizens able to judiciously and ethically engage with the world. These ideas implicitly and, at times, explicitly inform what happens in the classroom.

We understand our work in an intellectual and thus intangible sense will, at some point in the future, translate into action. While encouraging our students to think beyond the white picket fence, it is important that we provide them with the opportunities to actually turn these ideals into reality and immerse themselves in experiences in unfamiliar and often challenging environments.

The Antipodeans Abroad programme (referred to as ‘ Antips’ by the students) is one such opportunity. Antips commenced at Girls Grammar in 2004, and in 2015 approximately 110 girls from Years 10-12 will travel to Cambodia and Nepal. The programme involves the girls travelling to a developing country where they undertake a community service project, a physical trek, as well as cultural and sightseeing experiences. The expeditions also provide ample opportunity for students to develop independence,

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teamwork and more than a little resilience. Our goal is to transcend the rhetorical so that this experience is indeed life-changing.

Creating opportunities for Grammar girls to give back to the community through service is a valued part of our cocurricular programme. Antips allows them to take service even further and can be seen as a step up from their Year 10 community service programme. It also enables them to contribute in a variety of ways.

Initially, the girls fundraise throughout the year to pay for the materials needed for their projects in-country. The girls also give physically while in-country. The locals are always amazed when they see a group of thirteen — fifteen girls arrive for their project and the admiration only deepens when they see how hard they work and what they can actually accomplish in the four or five short days we are there.

The programme brings together the academic, student care and co-curricular areas of the school as well as the character dispositions we strive to instil in our students. The research done during the year prior to departure allows them to

develop a greater understanding of the history, geography and culture of their destination. The strong connections with the communities we stay in while on expedition allow them to gain greatly from their travels. In a report for the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC), Greg Richards and Julie Wilson highlight the benefits gained from Antipodean-style trips. Eighty per cent of respondents recorded that they came away with a greater appreciation of and interest in finding out about other cultures. In addition, seventy-one per cent reported a greater self-awareness due to their travels, with seventy per cent also reporting an increase in self-confidence. Perhaps of even greater significance for our girls is the finding that ‘females gain more from their trip as they scored significantly higher than males on every single benefit they were asked about’.

(Richards and Wilson, 2003).

Upon their return, students often reflect how incredibly lucky and grateful they feel for the opportunities that they actually have and feel a greater responsibility to make the most of them. At the same time they understand more fully how having these things is not a necessity for their happiness. What we hope is that, through the Antips

programme, we will have planted a seed of community service that will continue to grow throughout the lives of our students. Where this could lead is best demonstrated by a chance encounter we had last year on our Antipodeans trip to Borneo. On our flight to Singapore, we met old girl Bethany Holt, (2009) who participated in the Antipodeans trip to Tanzania in 2008. Beth took some time out to come over and talk to the staff that she knew and also to talk to the girls about the importance of what they were about to do. She explained that she is currently studying Medicine at The University of Queensland and was on her way to London. However, on the way she was taking a side trip to East Timor where she was going to be volunteering in a health clinic for three weeks during her holidays. She explained to the girls how her experience with Antipodeans in Tanzania had made her realise the importance of service and how important it was for her to give back in a meaningful way that could ultimately have a profound impact on the community and people she was working with.

It is this attitude towards continued service after they have left Girls Grammar that we hope the Antips trip can foster.

REFERENCES Beard, M. (n.d.). goodreads.com. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5623775.Miriam_Beard Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2003). Today’s Youth Travellers: Tomorrow’s Global Nomads. New Horizons in Independent Youth and Student Travel. A Report for the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) and the Association of Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). Retrieved from http://www.atlas-euro.org/pages/pdf/FINAL_ Full_Report.pdf

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The responsibility of the gatekeeper MRS JENNY DAVIS, LIBRARIAN – SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 26 FEBRUARY 2015

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n archivist holds a potent position in any institution but what do old, dusty archives, stored away in secure vaults and locked rooms, have to do with power? Just suppose an archivist, gate-keeper to one of thousands of collections worldwide, took exception to an account of events, or a disparaging piece of correspondence, or an offensive or biased report? Would they not be tempted to destroy the damning item? Would anybody be the wiser? Perhaps not — the writer of the letter or author of the report might well have passed away or have long forgotten its existence.

Archives — as records — wield power over the shape and direction of historical scholarship and collective memory, over how we know ourselves as individuals, groups, and societies, and in the pursuit of their professional responsibilities, archivists do wield enormous power over those very records; they have the ability to change historical accounts through their control of the very resources in their care.

Girls Grammar is proud of its tradition and reputation of being a leader in the world of education and at the forefront of pedagogical research. The collection of historical documents stored in the Mothers Group Archives Centre reflects this and acts as a source of inspiration for the School community. Memories fade and recollections of places and events change over time. In the Archive we are fortunate to have a wealth of recollections, reports and correspondence collected over the past 140 years recounting the history of the School through the participation of the 101 Board Members, sixteen Principals, many hundreds of teachers and staff, and the 21 874 students who have passed through its doors.

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Stored on a deep shelf in the repository of the Archive is a leather-covered ledger, the School Inspectors’ Report Book for the years 1910 to 1912. It has a beautiful brass clasp, and lock and key. On the cover is written ‘The Property of the Trustees’ and inside is a list of the staff at that time, accompanied by remarks about teachers — an early version of modern staff performance reviews. Despite the fact that it was kept secure, the first couple of pages of remarks have been defaced. This act of vandalism had been done some time ago, the ink rubbed off making holes in the pages, and again raises so many questions: why had these tantalising entries been removed; were they deemed too critical, too harsh? Questions about which we can speculate today but to which we will never know the answers.

Although we cannot read the contents of this old ledger there are so many other treasures to enjoy, often only revealing their true value over time. One of these only recently came to light, and is particularly important in 2015 — the year of the Centenary of Gallipoli — when Australians are reminded of the many men and women who served in the Great War. Some time ago I came across a charming, unframed watercolour tucked away in a drawer. The painting was of an elderly woman standing in a garden in front of a small cottage. Written at the bottom was ‘Aunty Grace’s house’, and underneath, in pencil, ‘Mooroolbark’. There was no name or date and the painting appeared to be an example of a piece of student art. Recently, while carrying out some research on a past student, the name ‘Mooroolbark’ surfaced again, and the painting’s subject and its importance finally came to light.

CLARE GORDON / 9E (DETAIL)

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In 1897, Grace Wilson spent a year at Girls Grammar in the Remove Class[1]. Grace went on to train as a nurse and, by the time World War I broke out, she was matron of the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Grace was one of the first nurses to sign up with the Australian Imperial Force, and in 1915 was sent to the island of Lemnos as matron-in-charge of the hospital which would care for the wounded Australian soldiers from Gallipoli. Grace had an extraordinary nursing career, was decorated for her service in both World Wars, and eventually retired to Mooroolbark, Victoria. So this was the ‘Aunty Grace’ so lovingly painted in the small watercolour! At last a seventy-year-old treasure could finally be identified and find its proper place in the collection.

The First World War had a significant impact on the School; in response to its declaration, the old girls formed the Grammar School War Memorial Fund, and staff and students rallied to support the men who had signed up.

They raised funds to support the Red Cross, the Returned Soldiers’ Residential Club and the Australian Comforts Funds. They put parcels together to send overseas, knitted socks and blankets, as well as signing up themselves to join the Australian Imperial Force, the Red Cross, the Voluntary Aid Detachment working as nursing orderlies, and other service organisations. Some stayed on the home front to work for the war effort, while others went overseas to places as far afield as Lemnos, Abbassia, Salonica, London, Abbeville, Suez — even to Bangalore, India.

Erected in 1948 in the old Assembly Hall — now the Annie Mackay Room — is the Old Girls’ War Memorial Honour

Board 1914–18, with its list of thirteen names. These are our own Anzac girls, young women who, like Grace Wilson, left Australia and went to care for the wounded soldiers abroad.

The list has grown over the years as more names have been found — recently one was discovered on the Royal Brisbane Hospital’s Memorial Board, while another was identified in the 1918 School Magazine.

It is through the work of the archivist that these links connecting the contributions of students to the world are revealed and that their characters, nurtured by the Girls Grammar tradition are acknowledged and recognised.

Tradition is very important in keeping a community together but, sadly, some traditions at Girls Grammar have been lost over time, and only the memory is kept safely in the Archive.

One such example was the annual planting of trees in the Anzac Grove.

On Anzac Day we planted trees in our ANZAC Grove, in honour of the soldiers who fought and died for us in the Great War. The task of keeping up this custom and carrying on the old school traditions in future years rests with those girls who are now in the lower school and with the new girls (BGGS Magazine, June 1921, p. 4).

It is not enough that the repository shelves are full; the archivist’s job is to make sense of this array of disparate formats — from rare books to photographs, from letters, reports and manuscripts to born-digital archival records — and to reflect the historical and educational foundation of a school proud of its place as a leader of exceptional scholarship.

FOOTNOTES [1]

The Remove Class ‘was formed to meet the needs of girls who entered the School at a late age’ (Head Mistress’s Report for 1897)

REFERENCES Kaplan, E. (2000). We are what we collect, we collect what we are: archives and the construction of identity. American Archivist, 63, 126–151.

Schwartz, J.M., & Cook, T. (2002). Archives, records, and power: the making of modern memory, Archival Science, 2, 1–19.

Jimerson, R.C. (2005). Embracing the power of archives. American Archivist, 69, 19–32.

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In Praise of Pedantry: A Pragmatic Plea for Parents and Peers MR STEPHEN WOODS, DIRECTOR OF ENGLISH | 6 MARCH 2015

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s I make my curmudgeonly way through my third decade of teaching, I feel the need not just to stand up for pedants, but to proselytize for more recruits.

The label itself is pejorative; to be a pedant — to be pedantic — is to be a nitpicker, tiresome, a know-it-all, or a show-off.

I readily admit to sometimes being all of those things, but I actually think that as an English teacher, a bit of linguistic pedantry is part of the job description. I want to argue here that the job of pedantically insisting on verbal correctness is a responsibility which we should all share, and I base this job-share invitation on the irrefutable maxim that it takes a village to raise a child, and slightly more refutable tenet that all good villages have resident pedants.

Here is an illustrative case. A couple of weeks ago I was following my morning routine of listening to the wireless while having breakfast. All was proceeding well toast-wise until the ABC News Radio announcer advised that there was ‘a chance of a possible shower’ for Brisbane later in the day.

A chance of a possible shower. To test my suspicions, I pondered whether there could ever be the chance of an impossible shower, and having found that this was itself impossible, I decided that the statement was a tautology, and a pretty egregious one at that. In the same meteorological vein, the recent cyclone emergency saw a public figure

intone on television that ‘serious reports of damage’ had been received. I wondered whether they had been expecting comic, satiric, or interpretive dance reports; surely it was the damage that was serious, not the reports?

“Where’s the harm?” you might say. ‘You knew what they meant’, you might opine, and of course you are right. I did understand that there was a chance of a shower, and that damage had occurred, but this is beside the point, which is that my attention — to borrow from Marshall McLuhan — was distracted from the message by its medium. This happens a lot. I missed the content of a recent ABC television news story about an unmanned rocket exploding because the on-screen caption read ‘Disasterous [sic] Launch’. I decided against buying an AMG Mercedes (I have a rich fantasy life) because the Benz website editors can’t tell the difference between its and it’s, so I am loath to trust their employer with my highway safety. I tune out of otherwise riveting interviews and expert commentaries on a daily basis because distractingly skyward inflections at the end of every sentence impede my ability to concentrate on the other, more tonally-appropriate words.

My suggestion that we all get a bit pedantic is prompted not by a fetish for grammar, or by a need to show my own erudition (I do that by using words like ‘erudition’). My plea

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is based on pragmatism. We are in the business of teaching young women to enter a noisy wider world in which cut-through is hard to achieve, and all the harder for women. We owe it to our girls to help them remove as many impediments as possible to being heard. If we can help them weed out as many distractors, annoyances, and inconsistencies as we can, then maybe those listening to and reading their future words will have no choice but to focus on the message and not the medium. If the medium is transparent, the message stands a better chance of getting through. In English classes we try to make this mission as explicit and concrete as we can, so that the girls see our pedantry not as the ‘judging’ so abhorred by adolescents, but as constructive feed-forward.

There are, of course, some preconditions for pedantry to be a positive, enabling force rather than a destructive, confidence-eroding one. The first of these is that there has to be agreement that getting things right is important. If enough villagers think something matters, then so will that village’s children. Home and peers are powerful educative factors, and if positive pedantry from these quarters is added to the professional version from teachers, then maybe a critical mass of concern for eliminating errors can be reached. The second precondition is that the criticism has to be unmistakably well-intentioned. Research reveals that young language learners respond well to verbal correction and modelling, but adolescents have bigger — and paradoxically more fragile — egos, and are therefore somewhat less biddable.

Parental pedantry can work. Parents actively and consciously shape their children’s language use through overt correction in the early years, but this positive pedantry tends to trail off along with the bedtime reading. On the bus to the Swimming Carnival last week, I happened across some anecdotal evidence that pedantic parents do make a difference. I overheard the girls in the seat behind me talking about . . . well that’s the point, I do not recall the meat or even the gist of what they were saying, because one of the girls referred to an amount of people.

Incomprehension of the difference between things that can be counted and things that can’t is endemic in our land, so I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me, and very pleasantly,

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was that one of the two girls helped me explain the different usage of number and amount to her friend. I complimented her on her syntactic awareness, which she put down to the fact that her mum had explained the difference to her, and had subsequently insisted on correct usage.

I saw positive peer pedantry in action at Open Day last year.

Three excellent young old girls, now uni students, dropped in to the English display to say hello, and at one point in our conversation, one of them very supportively advised her friend that she had just committed a grammatical faux pas.

Long — and sometimes bitter — experience having taught me that not everyone appreciates having their linguistic infelicities constructively critiqued prompted me to ask why she had done so. The pedant’s response was intriguing; the friends had in fact made a pact that they would monitor and offer constructive feedback on each other’s language use whenever they were together. They had decided on this because they want to make sure that they sound as intelligent as they are, and because they know that all villagers can benefit from a bit of well-intentioned coaching.

Research indicates that peer feedback can actually be a more powerful factor in improvement than the teacherly variety, which is why I was so chuffed to see this little pedantic sorority in action.

The pragmatic brand of pedantry I am pushing avoids the pedant’s pitfalls of nostalgia and absolutism; I don’t think language use was any better in the olden days, and don’t subscribe to the ‘we’ll all be rooned’ narrative of linguistic decline. I’m an English teacher; trust me on this one. I am also aware that our language is in a constant state of flux (yes, I know that’s an oxymoron), a flag in which many of our girls like to drape themselves when we English teachers point out the inadequacy of ‘relatable’ to describe a character, or the myriad more nuanced alternatives to the fashionable ‘impact’ (as a verb). Things change, and ‘correctness’ is fluid. My gauge is a simple one: if it gets in the way of meaning, or risks foregrounding the expression at the expense of that meaning, it merits a helpful comment.

It isn’t nit-picking if it’s motivated by a desire for our girls to be heard. Silence, after all, signifies assent, and offers no chance of a possible improvement.

Chaos theory MRS KRISTINE COOKE, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SERVICES | 13 MARCH 2015

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ibraries eschew chaos. They offer structure, surety, and stability. Certainly, this is the traditional view and it should be preserved – but they must also facilitate inspiration and transformation. This is the paradox involved in what libraries offer and what librarians do. While the provision of quiet and effective spaces to work either independently or collaboratively is vital, there must be a balance with the more ‘chaotic’ side by providing challenge and transporting students beyond the known, the safe, and the expected. They need to be encouraged to ‘travel’ and discover.

Twenty-first century libraries are designed to respond to the divergent needs of a wide range of users and for an endless range of purposes. Library staff are professionally trained to encourage reading and promote literature but what is really exciting to the modern librarian is that not only can they engender a love of that precious artefact: the book; they can also capitalise on the opportunities afforded by technology.

Who says an ebook is not acceptable? Whichever format is preferable or more appropriate for the task, the library’s role is to ‘inspire’ reading ‘with passion’ not to instruct users how to read (Fui, 2014). This is where school libraries are such wonderful places to work: they are not simply ‘designed for accessing curriculum material; they are also a playground for young minds. Students who discover the joys of reading for pleasure are well positioned for enhanced literacy, language acquisition, cultural understanding, and social skills’ (Clark, & Rumbold, 2006). Literature and reading promotion programmes are, therefore, still relevant – perhaps even more so in this age of technological distraction and immediate gratification – but encouraging exploration and

experimentation not only applies to fiction; it is just as important to ‘inspire the passions’ of the history or physics student. They, too, need the facility and the courage to investigate information and resources and to test ideas and hypotheses.

While inspiring researchers to be passionate about information location and evaluation may seem a less likely scenario than exciting readers about literature, it is not impossible, and there are students who love the ‘thrill of the chase’ and the ‘Eureka moment’. In 2014, one Year 10 history student was doggedly pursuing a particular article from a mid-nineteenth century Sydney newspaper. It was not ‘good enough’ to find a secondary source that referenced the article; she was determined to locate the original and primary source.

With the assistance of the Reference Librarian, she did not give up through days of searching until the original was discovered. How satisfying was the end result and what skills she had learned in the process.

No matter how determined their attitude, students are not born with research and information skills; they must be explicitly taught and meaningfully integrated into classroom activities and assessment pieces. Despite appearances, teachers cannot assume that the students in their classes are technologically and information savvy and where else can the learner most appropriately acquire these abilities but in the specific space designed for the purpose? Where else is there a library staff member astutely blending the traditional and the cutting edge, printed pages with the latest search engine, paper magazines with databases and e-texts.

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Libraries should be the centre of technological innovation in schools. The library is the creative heart of a school and I believe the humble library will come into the fore more now than ever before. Librarians are trained to assist students in sorting through information sources. They help students to learn to use new tools, and answer their questions (Fui, 2014).

What professionally trained library staff can provide users is a customised and nuanced service. They are a ‘bridge to knowledge, tempered with an understanding of the demands of tertiary research’ (Levy, 2014). And this is the destination of the vast majority of our students: university.

In the modern world of information saturation, the trained librarian and teacher librarian provide personalised attention, a conceptual framework that matches the task required, and a ‘roadmap’ through the complexity and confusion of the information environment.

Open web and common search engines [read Google] will always be used by students BUT open web searches offer ‘casual browsing’ rather than scholarly research which must be purposeful: ‘a positive means to a positive end’. They do not offer a trustworthy ‘brand’, have ‘no catalogue, limited ebooks and certainly no proprietary subject indexes’. These facilities offer ‘high quality relevance ranking’ that improve

the ‘usability’ of search results and reduce the number of searches required (Levy, 2014).

There is also a library role for the modelling and explicit teaching of technology. The expertise of library staff is in ascertaining the purpose behind different software and technology and what particular application is appropriate in which case: if it has a purpose then it needs to be taught and assessed, otherwise students may never make the transition from using the technology as a form of entertainment to a productive tool (Georgiou,2014).

What Brisbane Girls Grammar School has created with the construction of the new Research Learning Centre is a unique opportunity in its 140-year history for the innovative and cutting-edge to complement the traditional and the familiar. The new facility with its staircase journeys and seamless integration of library spaces and classrooms, of books and technology, will become that special place where learners can reflect, contemplate, discover, explore, and create on their own or with others. It is a beautiful and dynamic building that not only incorporates the knowledge of ages past but also welcomes purposeful connection with the twenty-first century outside world.

REFERENCES Clark, C. & Rumbold, K. (2006). Reading for pleasure: a research overview. National Literacy Trust.http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED496343.pdf Fui, A. (2014). To inspire or to instruct. Connections, 91, 1-2 Georgiou, N. (2014). A world of online distraction. Connections, 91, 10-11 Levy, R. (2014) Open web v the library. Incite, 35(10), 19

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Opportunities to wonder, wander and explore …

MS MAGGI GUNN, DEAN OF CO-CURRICULUM | 20 MARCH 2015

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significant challenge for education is that students are being educated for a future that will involve technologies that do not yet exist, careers that are as yet unknown and a multitude of developing global issues.

In a world that is characterised by increasing productivity, longer life expectancy, redistribution of jobs due to technological advancements and high youth unemployment, entrepreneurial traits, skills and abilities will prove valuable assets. Additionally, entrepreneurship is not only considered as a benefit for an individual but increasingly being recognised, examined and valued at organisational, interorganisational, national and global levels (Luke, Verreynne and Kearins, 2007). According to the World Economic Forum (2012):

e ntrepreneurship has never been as important as it is today when the world is confronted with big challenges that extend well beyond the global economy.

Entrepreneurship is a tremendous force that can have a big impact in growth, employment generation and social empowerment.

The term ‘entrepreneur’ originates from the French verb, entreprendre, meaning ‘to do something’ or ‘to undertake’.

The development of this notion of action is consistent with definitions that encompass discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunity (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000), a process requiring creativity, innovation and growth (World Economic Forum, 2009) and the necessity to bring about change that is beneficial (Kent, 1990). A Google search of ‘traits of entrepreneurs’ yields over three and a half million

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hits, with the many articles specifying between four and twenty-five ‘essential’ traits of the successful entrepreneur.

Unsurprisingly, a perusal of numerous articles identifies a core of similar characteristics, mindsets and skills — passion, persistence, vision, flexibility, self-belief, confidence, motivation, drive, willingness to take risks and an ability to rebound from failure. Presumably these entrepreneurial traits contribute to the ability to transform an idea into sustained action for change and benefit. According to the World Economic Forum (2009), entrepreneurship is ‘a key competence for all, helping young people be more creative and self-confident in whatever they undertake’.

In his book, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, Zhou (2012) identifies that the most desirable education ‘is one that enhances human curiosity and creativity, encourages risk taking, and cultivates the entrepreneurial spirit in the context of globalisation’. Given the value of entrepreneurship at individual, organisational and global levels, entrepreneurship education, in the form of courses and programmes, is being developed, implemented and assessed world-wide (World Economic Forum, 2012).

However, research has not yet definitively demonstrated the benefit of entrepreneurial education in this structured form (Pena, Transue and Riggieri, 2010). Indisputably, the experiences we have and the opportunities we pursue play a significant role in how we develop and what we become, and thus it could be expected that experiences, opportunities and learning beyond a structured learning environment would contribute to the development of an entrepreneurial

CAITLIN DOYLE

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mindset. With the Aspen Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy Group (2008) identifying ‘a critical mix of success-oriented attitudes of initiative, intelligent risk-taking, collaboration, and opportunity recognition’ as necessary for the development of an entrepreneurial mindset, the co-curricular opportunities at Brisbane Girls Grammar School offer substantial and diverse ways in which to develop and grow entrepreneurial traits.

Not everyone develops the same interests and exhibits the same talents. Encouraging students to identify and explore their passions and enhance and expand their skills is important. Encourage your daughter to participate in co-curricular activities of appeal — learn a musical instrument, perform in an orchestra, sing in a choir, compete in a sport, participate in a lifestyle activity, express her creativity in the drama club, explore expression through Grammar Dance, learn calligraphy, attend an art walk or work collaboratively in a debating team. The inevitable wins and losses of participating in a sport or debating allow students to experience failure and develop resilience and tenacity.

Supporting students in their interests and passions has been shown to develop competent, responsible, passionate, productive and happy citizens (Posner, 2009). Improvement and mastery come from thoughtful and regular engagement.

While regular attendance at sport training, drama rehearsal or music practice can be achieved through parental organisation, true engagement requires intrinsic motivation. Encourage in your daughter the commitment, dedication, independence and autonomy that will allow her to pursue her strengths and talents and achieve her potential in her chosen endeavours.

Entrepreneurial skills can be developed through productoriented or service activities. Employing the perspective of creator, developer or provider rather than recipient or consumer of learning or knowledge promotes entrepreneurial behavior (Zhou, 2012). Students can assist with the production of the School Magazine, be involved in the Digital Photography Club, participate in the Composers’ Club or join the Robotics Club. Service endeavours such as the

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Ecumenical Coffee Brigade, Interact, Second Chance, Time for a Change and the Uralla Club develop skills of communicating, facilitating, managing, organising and collaborating, promote an understanding and empathy for others and provide an experience of sustained and meaningful commitment. Awareness of and empathy for others can improve the ability to frame problems as opportunities and challenge the status quo.

Developing a global perspective requires engaging with people from other places and looking beyond what is comfortable and familiar to develop a cultural understanding. New ideas, perspectives and understandings arise through participation in a language tour to one of our five International Affiliate Schools, undertaking astronaut or fighter pilot training on the biennial US Space Trip, participating in the Antipodeans Abroad Programme, studying abroad through the Northern Hemisphere Summer Schools Programme or even hosting a student from one of our International Affiliate Schools. Whether through visiting another country or hosting a student from another region, determining mutual interests, respecting diversity and developing the ability to communicate despite language and cultural differences are highly beneficial in developing a global conscience.

Although co-curricular activities and opportunities constitute a valuable component of a quality education in the preparation for a productive and balanced life beyond school, it is essential that these activities are also recognised as enjoyable and worthwhile experiences in themselves. Encourage your daughter to use co-curricular opportunities to wonder, wander and explore her interests and passions, and to develop tenacity, grit, flexibility, confidence and an ability to rebound from failure. The traits, skills and abilities she develops will enhance her involvement and contribution to a world of globalised relationships, innovative social technologies and accelerating change.

REBECCA ZHU / 9G (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Aspen Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy Group. (2008). Youth entrepreneurship education in America: A policy maker’s action guide. Washington DC: The Aspen Institute.

Kent, C.A. (Ed.). (1990). Entrepreneurship education: Current developments future directions. New York, NY: Quorum Books.

Luke, B., Verreynne, M. & Kearins, K. (2007). Measuring the benefits of entrepreneurship at different levels of analysis. Journal of Management and Organization, 13 (4), 312-330.

Pena, V., Transue, M., & Riggieri, A. (2010). A survey of entrepreneurship education initiatives. Washington, DC: Institute for Defense Analyses, Science and Technology Policy Institute.

Posner, R. (2009). Lives of passion, school of hope. Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications.

Shane, S. & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review. 25(1), 217-226.

World Economic Forum. (2009). Educating the next wave of entrepreneurs: Unlocking entrepreneur capabilities to meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum.

World Economic Forum. (2012). Global entrepreneurship. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-entrepreneurship Zhou, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press & National Association of Elementary School Principals.

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EMMA NEALE / 12W (DETAIL) 18

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Words to live by M R S PAU L I N E H A RV E Y - S H O R T, D E A N O F S C H O O L | 2 7 M A R C H 2 0 1 5

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ntent, values, purpose, mission statements, key performance indicators, aspirations are now vital aspects of any self-respecting organisation. In fact, ‘they are typically used by organisations to describe why the entity exists, what it is striving to accomplish, what it stands for, and how it plans to achieve its objectives.

These statements have become an integral component of corporate strategy’ (Cady, S.H., Wheeler, J.V., DeWolf, J., Brodke, M., 2011). Former CEO of the American Management Association, David Fagiano, states ‘organisations are living organisms, in many ways very similar to individuals. People have personalities, organisations have cultures. Personalities and cultures are formed by values because, quite simply, values state what is important to individuals or businesses’ (Cady et al., 2011).

Brisbane Girls Grammar School is an organisation that was founded on strong values and has developed a rich culture to support these.

Embedded in the statements of the current Brisbane Girls Grammar School aspiration and intent is the School motto: Nil Sine Labore. This motto has been the driving force of the School since its establishment, acting as the mission statement for Grammar women for decades. The student body now takes the idea of a motto personally as, since 2000, successive cohorts of senior students have developed their own mottos. Values and culture which were subliminally communicated to students for over 100 years are now clearly enunciated, discussed, and ‘owned’.

To define a motto, Joseph Gora (2010, p.77) states that it is ‘a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organisation’. The motto should be punchy and should be ‘about seven words long’

(Shyti, 2014, p. 24). It would seem that the 2000 Year 12 cohort motto embodied these criteria.

The year 2000 was always going to be momentous: the 125th birthday of the School, the Sydney Olympics, a new century. The Head Girls of 2000, Eleanor O’Gorman and Eleni Anthony, met before school commenced and planned to ‘do something different’ and to harness the energy of this significant year. Ms O’Gorman could articulate their purpose fifteen years later: they wanted ‘a year to remember, to make it their own and to use a unifying concept’ (O’Gorman, E., 2015). The combined result of the Head Girls’ thoughts and the Student Executive collaboration was Dream it, Dare it, Do it which was later immortalised in the mosaic embedded in the pathway at the front steps of the Main Building. For this Year 12 cohort, the motto provided direction, guidance for all their activities during the year, unity, and a sense of purpose: all characteristics of sound mission statements.

In the next fifteen years, mottos often incorporated similar themes and aspirations. The underpinning concepts have been: personal challenge; relationships and connectedness; and spirit and passion. The 2002 motto created by Frankie Bain and Alexandra Anthony was Born to be Blue. The acronym of BLUE captured these recurring values: B for building bridges, L for live and learn, U for unleash the spirit and E for extending yourself.

The creation of the 2015 motto was instigated by the Head Girls, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz and Jacinta MacGinley, who explored their perception of the values of the School at the Alliance of Girls’ Schools January leadership conference at Bond University. For them, tradition, passion, and

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sisterhood were paramount in a year in which the School was to celebrate its 140th birthday and welcome and integrate Year 7s for the first time.

It was the responsibility of the Head Girls in their induction speech to launch the motto to the School community:

The dynamic of a group creating a value statement, or motto in the Student Council’s case, is engrossing and can often predict its future success. The 2015 discussion was robust, honest, and at times humorous, and by arriving at an end result, a most collegial experience. The process afforded the opportunity for members to learn more about each other and develop tact, patience, and sensitivity. The debate over the use of a verb in the motto was enlightening and reinforced for me that Grammar girls are ‘doers’, wanting tangible goals and beneficial outcomes. The Council also recognised the advantage of having a motto which could be promoted but would also capture the imagination of the student body and resonate with all age groups. The level of satisfaction in determining a framework for the year was palpable. There was a sense of excitement and achievement as the collective felt the motto embodied the School’s values of striving, inclusion and respect.

From the values of the Student Council we moved on to the things which we truly value about the School.

We recognised principles of scholarship, uniqueness, community, spirit, diversity, fun and excellence.

Nevertheless, it was passion, sisterhood and tradition that stood out to us and were the three things that had the most influence on our vision for the year (Gulbransen-Diaz, N. and MacGinley, J., 2015).

‘It seems that everyone agrees that school communities should have some sort of covenant, vision, mission, philosophy, or values to guide their work’ (Lew, A., 2001, p. 290). The 2015 Student Council embraces the power of unified purpose and continues to challenge all members of the Grammar community to inspire your sisters old and new, 140 years in royal blue.

REFERENCES Cady, S.H., Wheeler, J.V., DeWolf, J., Brodke, M. (2011). Mission, vision, and values: What do they say? Organisational Development Journal, 29(1), 63–78.

David, M.E., David, Forest R., David, Fred R. (2014). Mission statement theory and practice: A content analysis and new direction. International Journal of Business, Marketing and Decision Sciences, 7(1), 95–110.

Gora, J. (2010). Run that sexy motto by me again. Australian Universities Review, 52(1), 77–80.

Gulbransen-Diaz, N. & MacGinley, J. (2015). Unpublished induction speech.

Lew, A. (2001). From plaques to practice: How schools can breathe life into their guiding beliefs. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(4), 289–293.

Shyti, D. (2014). Leadership values and virtues: Has your corporate culture gone stale? Leadership Excellence,31(6), 24–25.

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KIMBERLEY HUANG / 12H (DETAIL) INSIGHTS 2015 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

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What, me worry?

MRS VIOLET ROSS, HEAD OF WOOLCOCK HOUSE | 2 APRIL 2015

When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened (Winston Churchill).

W

e usually see worrying as a negative trait, but it has a constructive purpose. Worrying can be instrumental in enabling us to work out solutions, complete tasks in an organised fashion and foresee potential negative outcomes. In fact, recent research conducted at the Netherlands’ Tilburg University has even found a link between worrying and higher verbal intelligence (McKay, 2014). Readers of Mad magazine knew that Alfred E. Neuman was a dullard because he steadfastly refused to worry. Our thoughts can, of course, have powerful effects on our feelings and, subsequently, our behaviours.

It’s when our thoughts and worries get out of hand that debilitating problems can emerge, leading to feelings of anxiety, depression and even physical illness. At the end of a busy first term, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on how we manage our worries, and to consider what strategies we might employ in the future to ensure that our worries are kept in check.

In small doses, a bit of worry or stress is beneficial. It helps us to meet life’s daily trials and tribulations, accomplish tasks more efficiently, and it motivates us to focus on our work and reach our goals. It can even boost memory (Hodgekiss, 2013). Too little of this kind of stress can result in complacency, lethargy and a lack of direction. It may well be an uncomfortable feeling, but stress is how the body

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readies itself to take on a challenge. It is what prepares us to perform at our best —even just acknowledging this can help to keep negative feelings in perspective. Leading a worryfree life is therefore not good for our children. They need experience in worrying about and sorting out their problems, working out the best plan of attack, being willing to try different strategies to see what may or may not work.

The normal worries of everyday life, however, should be relatively easy to control or switch off. Some of us, though, can find ourselves becoming consumed with excessive worry and anxiety, inhibiting our enjoyment of life and reducing our ability to perform at our best. The particularly traumatising aspect of suffering from excessive worry is that the anxious thoughts are ‘all in the mind’, therefore making them inescapable (Doidge, 2010, p. 164). As educators of young women, we must take particular note of recent research conducted by Resilient Youth Australia. This study found that, in general, twenty-five per cent of girls feel anxious and under strain and, for Year 12 girls, these statistics soared to sixty-nine per cent. Clinical psychologist, Andrew Fuller, explains the negative effects anxiety can have on young people: The biggest barrier for most students to doing well at school is not their attitude, intelligence or motivation;

it is their levels of anxiety… [High] levels of anxiety are accompanied by sleep and concentration problems, memory difficulties and distractibility, not to mention the lessening of the joy of learning (Fuller, 2014).

Feeling anxious is a sign that our brains have become overloaded. The levels of cortisol and adrenaline increase and blood travels away from the brain. The body is solely focused on survival, blocking creativity and memory. For parents, it can be confusing, frustrating and painful to watch daughters suffering from excessive worry, leaving them unsure of how best to help. It may be that the traditional parental responses to seeing our children worry need to be rethought.

Psychologist and creator of GoZen (an anxiety relief programme), Renee Jain, suggests the following seemingly counterintuitive strategies for parents with anxious children: • Stop reassuring your child. Your child wants to listen to you but can’t. Children experiencing anxiety are unable to think clearly, use logic or even perform basic tasks.

Instead Ms Jain suggests a technique she calls the FEEL method:

1. Freeze — stop and breathe to help reverse the nervous system response

2. Empathise — anxiety can be frightening and your daughter needs to know you understand

3. Evaluate — once your daughter is calm, try to work out some possible solutions together

4. Let Go — of any guilt you might have and remember you are giving your daughter essential life skills to help her manage her worries.

• Highlight the positive aspects of worrying. It has a purpose, it protects us from harm, it is normal, everyone does it, there is nothing wrong with you.

• Encourage accurate thinking (as opposed to positive thinking). Feelings are not facts. Is there any evidence to support the negative thoughts or feelings she has?

• Let your child worry — about anything and everything — but for a limited period of time, ten to fifteen minutes.

This prevents your child from bottling feelings up inside but also stops her from poring over perceived concerns for long periods.

• Help change her thinking from ‘What if?’ to ‘What is?’.

Research shows that living in the present can alleviate tendencies to worry about the future — things that may or may not happen. Mindfulness exercises are also very helpful for this.

• Let your daughter be in situations that might cause her to be anxious or worried and resist your natural desire to protect her from such situations. Avoidance ultimately makes anxiety worse so she needs opportunities to build the necessary skills to deal with difficult situations. Jain recommends a method called ‘laddering’ — chunking, creating mini goals to get closer to the bigger goal through gradual exposure. The first goal might, for example, simply be arriving at an event, then the second would be attending the event for a short period of time, etc.

• Have strategies in place for when feelings of anxiety rise — a checklist of methods to calm down. This might be stopping and taking some time to do breathing exercises, evaluating the situation, trying some methods for relaxation, and thinking in the present — puzzles, art, yoga, sport and even mathematics! (Jain, 2014).

‘Exercise, sports and rhythmic activities energise and focus the brain’ (Fuller, 2014).

Each day we seem to be bombarded by all sorts of information from a wide variety of technological sources — social media, news broadcasts, endless emails. Our children live much more scheduled lives than generations before them — music lessons, sports training and matches, dancing rehearsals, interschool debates — and there seems to be an ever-increasing emphasis on achieving perfection rather than one’s personal best, perhaps augmenting our fear of failure.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School takes the wellbeing and mental health of our students very seriously. Our Student Care team understands the importance of keeping a healthy balance between work, rest and play. Our students study

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hard, often while also managing a wide range of cocurricular commitments, and can put a lot of pressure on themselves and worry about meeting their own high expectations. It is fortunate that they have access to the expertise of our three psychologists – Mrs Jody Forbes (Student Counselling Co-ordinator), Dr Alix Vann and Mrs Tara MacLachlan. Our psychologists work closely with the girls to build their time management and organisational skills, and to bolster their abilities to cope with a wide range of stressful situations.

Societal expectation, coupled with the pressures we place on ourselves, means that it is little wonder that brains are

becoming overloaded in such an environment and that we are perhaps more vulnerable to overwhelming worry.

It is therefore increasingly important that we gain strategies to control our thoughts, rather than allowing our thoughts to control us and interfere with our enjoyment of life.

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives (Thoreau, 2006, p. 27).

REFERENCES Boston, J. (2011). Reigning in his power, 3rd ed. Bloomington: WestBow Press.

Doidge, N. (2010). The brain that changes itself, Rev. ed. Melbourne: Scribe Publications.

Fuller, A. (2014). Ten ways schools can reduce anxiety. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://andrewfuller.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/anxiety.pdf Hodgekiss, A. (2013, April 17). Being stressed can be good for you — it boosts memory. Daily Mail Australia. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ article-2310343/Being-stressed-CAN-good–boosts-memory.html Jain, R. (2014, August 6). 9 things every parent with an anxious child should try. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/renee-jain/9-things-everyparent-with-an-anxious-child-should-try_b_5651006.html McKay, T. (2014, December 17). Science has good news for people who think they worry too much. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mic.com/articles/106752/ science-has-good-news-for-people-who-think-they-worry-too-much Thoreau , H.D. (2006). Thoreau and the art of life: Precepts and principles. Vermont: Heron Dance Press.

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KELSEY HOEDEMAKERS / 12G (DETAIL) INSIGHTS 2015 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

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Anzac Day Address 2015: Remembering and experiencing Gallipoli M S J U L I E H E N N E S S E Y, H E A D O F H I S T O R Y | 2 4 A P R I L 2 0 1 5

An edited version of the Anzac Address delivered at the Commemoration for Anzac Day and 36th Anniversary of the Christmas Creek Tragedy Assembly on Wednesday 22 April 2015.

A

nzac Day is a national day of remembrance.

But what does it mean to remember? In the first instance, to remember is to hold in mind or bring to mind someone or something from the past. It requires us to draw together, imagine and reassemble often disparate parts of our personal and collective memory. As we re-member the people and events surrounding Anzac Day each year, we repeatedly (as the Latin prefix ‘re’ indicates) draw together our memories and review our understandings of that time.

In doing this, we imbue it with meaning and significance.

Anzac Day is one of Australia’s most important national days of remembrance. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, when the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey on 25 April 1915. But the meaning of Anzac Day has transcended that particular day and that particular place. It has become a day in which we remember

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Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations as well as the ‘spirit of Anzac’ with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice.

The 2015 anniversary of Anzac Day is of particular significance; marking the centenary of the Gallipoli landing.

Our School community is privileged to be able to take part in these commemorations with students, Josie Ganko (12R), Anna Ruddell (11O) and Laura Fell (11B) currently in Turkey.

As winners of the Queensland Premier’s Anzac Prize, they will attend Anzac Day services in Gallipoli and tour the Western Front over the next two weeks.

This year, for the first time, the School organised its own inaugural trip to Gallipoli to commemorate the anniversary.

The Brisbane Girls Grammar ‘Anzacs and Antiquities’ tour has just returned from an extraordinary trip to Turkey and Greece. Our two days on the Gallipoli peninsula were particularly special, arriving there on Easter Sunday 5 April 2015, just over two weeks ago. Our first stop was Anzac Cove,

a narrow, crescent-shaped beach marked by a stone sign on its southern end. From this vantage point we were able to view the full expanse of the cove, arguably the most iconic ‘piece of Australia’ not actually in Australia or owned by Australia. The cove is incredibly small when you stand on it, only 600 metres long and could be walked, at a comfortable pace, within eight to ten minutes from end-to-end. It was hard to imagine that this was the location where most of the 16 000 soldiers landed on the first day, and that this small cove became both the base of the entire Anzac operation and the main rest area for soldiers in the opening months of the campaign. It was here that Anzac soldiers obtained some respite from the frontlines situated in the steep cliffs above, less than a kilometre away. Though this small nook also made them easy targets for the Turks who commanded the heights.

Looking up from the beach to the cliffs we began to comprehend the challenges and difficulties our soldiers faced. Anzac Cove was never safe. From their high observation posts, the Turks could see parts of the beach both north and south and constantly bombarded the area with artillery fire. More than a thousand men are said to have been killed or wounded there, many while swimming. In total over 8700 Australians died in the Gallipoli campaign; a figure today which would be unacceptable and abhorrent to the Australian public. In contrast, the Turks lost an estimated 86 000 troops defending their homeland – ten times more men than the Australians. Yet despite these devastating figures and despite the fact that Australia, along with Britain, France and New Zealand invaded Turkish land, the relationship between Australians and Turks has been based on a deep respect and friendship forged in the futility of war.

We all bore witness to this upon reading the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk inscribed in stone on the northern end of Anzac Cove. (Ataturk was a Turkish military commander during the Gallipoli campaign who went on to become the founder of modern Turkey.) Here is an extract from this inscription:

Those heroes that shed their blood, and lost their lives…

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore, rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,

Here in this country of ours.

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries…

Wipe away your tears.

Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.

After having lost their lives on this land, they have

Become our sons as well.

Ataturk’s words are the ultimate message of reconciliation and magnanimity between two hostile parties. This good-will and generosity of spirit was evident all around us – the Historic National Park status of the site to protect the battle fields, the establishment of Allied lawn cemeteries and memorials around and above Anzac Cove as well as the adoption of place names given by Australians during the campaign which feature in the signage in the Anzac area such as Lone Pine, The Nek, Quinn’s Post and Shell Green. Each of these sites hosts eerily beautiful lawn graves, meticulously maintained and, when we were there, blooming with bright daffodils. Green lawns and gold daffodils – Australia’s colours – punctuated by the stark white of the understated grave stones.

Walking from the beach at Anzac Cove to Shell Green and then onto Lone Pine along the Artillery Road, we retraced the steps of our soldiers on this dirt road which carried guns and men from the beach to the front line. As we walked, we could only imagine what the Anzac troops faced on that first day as they scaled the ridges in the dark, in the confusion of mixed battle lines, weighed down by heavy equipment and under Turkish fire. Forced back by heavy gunfire, the troops were ordered to ‘dig, dig, dig’ for their very survival. So precarious was their position that divisional commanders asked for an immediate evacuation.

This request was denied so the Anzacs bunkered down and secured a small beachhead surrounding the cove which would become their home for the duration of the campaign. Despite the daily onslaught, the Anzacs stood fast, establishing and maintaining the base for eight months through the searing summer and the freezing winter until their evacuation just before Christmas in 1915.

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At each of the places we stopped – Shell Green, Lone Pine and Quinn’s Post – we sought out grave sites or memorial inscriptions of soldiers that each girl on the trip had ‘adopted’.

As a gesture of remembrance and acknowledgement the girls shared stories of their soldiers’ lives and the circumstances surrounding their deaths; they planted single-stemmed, blood-red silk poppies next to their grave stones and laid a wreath at the most important Australian memorial to the missing at Lone Pine. The Lone Pine memorial commemorates the thousands of Australian and New Zealand troops, who either died in the Anzac area or at sea, and whose graves are not known. It is at this site the names of nineteen of the twenty-eight Brisbane Grammar School boys and masters can be found.

As a mark of respect and reconciliation a wreath was also laid at one of the most important Turkish war memorial sites — a memorial to the famous 57th Turkish regiment. This regiment was the first defending unit to go into action following the landing at Anzac Cove. On this day, in response to the Turkish soldiers cries that they were unarmed and could not fight, Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal declared, ‘I am not ordering you to attack. I’m ordering you to die.’ The regiment was subsequently wiped out – heartbreakingly, not a single man survived.

Most of the soldiers ‘adopted’ by the girls were from Brisbane Grammar School. Of the twenty-eight Grammar boys and masters who lost their live on the Gallipoli peninsula, five were on the day of the landing: Thomas Ford (20 years old), Frank Hayman (23), Alan Radcliffe (25), William Rigby (23) and Raymond Shirley (22). Others like Keith Watson, who survived the landing, died nine days later on 4 May 1915. Keith Watson was not only a former Grammar boy but also the great, great uncle of Emily Hawkins (10W), who participated in the tour.

The most senior officer commemorated at Quinn’s Post cemetery was Thomas Logan, a former Grammar boy and the great grandfather of Emma Tripp (Class of 2010). Major Logan of the second Light Horse was killed leading the first wave in a charge from Quinn’s Post on 7 August 1915. He fell dead before he had gone 4.5 metres. He was thirty-seven and left behind his wife Beatrice and six children.

War has traditionally been an all-male preserve and as a consequence women have been written out of the Anzac

tradition. The only Australian women allowed to actively participate in World War I were nurses, a traditional occupation defined by its female qualities of nurturing and supporting.

Nurses did not care for Anzac soldiers on the peninsula but rather hospital ships moored offshore and field hospitals on nearby Lemnos Island. These women need to be remembered for their role in the Gallipoli campaign.

The first war assignment given to nurse and former Grammar girl, Grace Wilson, was to set up and run No. 3 field hospital on Lemnos Island for injured soldiers being shipped out of Gallipoli. Grace Wilson was lauded by both her peers and superiors. She went on to become the matron-in-chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service and is one of the most highly decorated Australian women to participate in any war. During the war she was mentioned in dispatches five times and awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal (First Class) in 1916. After the campaign she was appointed a Commander (Military) of the Order of the British Empire (in 1919) and the Florence Nightingale Medal (in 1929). She was also the first woman to receive life membership of the Returned Service League (RSL).

But while Grace is the most distinguished, she is just one of thirteen former Grammar girls who participated in the war. The School’s tribute to them can be found on the World War I and World War II honour boards in the Annie Mackay room.

During the Gallipoli campaign Grace witnessed things that she said were ‘too awful for words’. In our archives you can read a letter from Grace to her sister Minnie, dated 6 August 1915.

In this letter, she wrote of the death of her beloved brother, Graeme, at Quinn’s Post in the early days of the campaign.

She expressed her relief that his suffering was over.

Tell mother from me to be thankful if he fell in action… the men have suffered… from the utter inability of the medical service to cope with things… and if any of you could see a hundredth part of what I have seen, you would feel as I do absolutely glad… that he was killed… Things are just too awful for words.

So far removed from such horrors, we can only imagine the hardship Australian soldiers and nurses experienced during the Gallipoli campaign; however in remembering them, in holding them in our mind, we acknowledge their sacrifice and pay tribute to their courage and loyalty to Australia.

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A long, long way to run M R A N D R E W P E N N AY, H E A D O F C U R R I C U L U M M U S I C | 1 M A Y 2 0 1 5

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ach year, I am surprised by the number of younger students who have never seen the 1965 film adaptation of the musical The Sound of Music in which Julie Andrews famously rattles off the solfa syllables comprising a major scale (do re mi fa soh la ti do) with barely cursory explanation. Although the initial development of the solfa syllables is widely attributed to Guido d’Arezzo in medieval Italy, it is more likely that the syllables we use at Brisbane Girls Grammar School originated in the Arabian ‘Separated Pearls’, dãl, rã’, mim, fã’, sãd, lãm, tã’(Chami, 2014).

These notes form the basis of six years of curricular music instruction here at Girls Grammar, in order that students come to know more of the function and emotion that individual notes possess. As such, solfa is supremely useful in sight-reading, composition, improvisation, musicological analysis and aural development. Going beyond ‘making music’ as performance, Christopher Small’s term ‘musicking’ (1998) gives credence to these other aspects of musicianship development, including rehearsal, practising, listening and dancing (p. 9). A few years earlier, and without the special ‘k’, David Elliott (1995) had suggested ‘musicing’ should acknowledge the importance of the critically reflective and co-dependent actions of performing-and-listening, improvising-and-listening, composing-and-listening, arranging-and-listening and conducting-and-listening in the classroom.

Elliott’s concept of musicianship as ‘the way the music goes’ through aural understanding lends itself to the use of relative solfa (changing do to always belong to the right key) as a learning tool. Let’s look at some practical examples of these notes to show you something of the function and emotion each one carries.

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Do Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

In the major key, do feels like home and is understandably referred to as the ‘tonic’, underpinning most of the music we hear. Think of the satisfaction when Whitney Houston sings ‘And IIIIIIIIII will al-ways love yooooouuu!’ She means it. Beethoven means it in the very end of his Symphony No. 5, too. Despite beginning in a minor key and then exploring many keys over thirty minutes, the final forty seconds centre irrepressibly around do (1). The ever-insistent do also pops up in Megan Washington’s How to tame lions (look at her right hand on the keyboard and listen to the verse melody). Girls Grammar alumna Hannah Cameron (2008) also crafts her use of do to indicate home in her song This Thing. Watch her right hand thumb for the first twenty seconds as she keeps returning home to do on the guitar. She then ventures kaleidoscopically before returning home aching at 2:01.

Re In her famous Non, je ne regrette rien, Edith Piaf draws on re as the highest note in her melody to scoop above do. We hear the note most pleadingly at 01:45 (‘for me, it’s all the same!’). Re is even more delicious when used as a nonchordal tone, unexpected and colourful. Andrew Lloyd Webber capitalises on this more piquant re in Phantom of the Opera in the duet “All I ask of you”. The very first note of Raoul’s ‘No more talk of darkness’ is non-belonging and leads the listener on. Christine’s consequent ‘Say you love me’, two octaves higher, commences with three re tones to punctuate the pleading nature of the libretto (2).

Mi Onwards and upwards to mi, the name Mimi ‘calls herself’ in Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. In the very last minute of this verismo opera, Rodolfo rushes to Mimi’s bed, realising she has died. ‘Mimi,’ he calls (coincidentally?) on a high mi. And again, ‘Mimi!’. Although we also hear mi as the first three declamatory notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (mi mi mi do!), gentler manifestations of mi present themselves in the first three melodic notes played by the little finger in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (from bar five with six G sharps in a row), and the very first note of the enchanting melody of Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude. It’s all about the context.

Fa My favourite! Listen out for the third viola note (at 0:35) in Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel. The note is full of uncertainly, longing to return to the mi that precedes it. Fa is later employed as the highest note in this same melody at 8:28 before the tune slowly and gently glides down the scale over an octave to rest back at the mi we started the piece on. In a more contemporary context, fa is the highest note in Taylor Swift’s You belong with me (‘So, why can’t you see? You belong with me!’). In both works, fa yearns to drop a half-step down to the relative security of mi. In Swift’s work (co-written with Liz Rose), the lyrics are enhanced significantly as a result.

Soh The jazz standard, One-note samba, commences with nine bars of a sung soh, as heard in Stacey Kent’s performance.

This tone is much more stable than fa, and accordingly is referred to as the ‘dominant’. Closer to home, it is no coincidence that this one little pitch soh makes up five out of six notes of the opening phrase of our School song (Nil si-ne la-bo-re), the opening three notes of our School Hymn

(Now thank we all our God), and three notes from the first phrase of our national anthem (Aus-tra-lians all let us re-joice). Soh is declamatory, indeed!

La La forms the basis of another compositional universe. When used in place of do as the ‘tonic’ note, music takes on an entirely different character (it becomes minor). Let’s return to Arvo Pärt and observe his Fur Alina. The opening la in the left hand sets the tone for the work, followed by another la in the right hand played simultaneously with a ti then a do. It’s a simple technique but it can shake a listener to the core.

Ti So much more than a drink with jam and bread, this ‘leading note’ tries desperately to return home to do or at least fall to la. Current Year 11 student Olivia Wong (11B) has it right when she pleads ‘Please Mis-ter Blue Moon, it’s dark tonight. Use your light to guide us home’.

Congratulations to Olivia who was one of four finalists in the Queensland Music Awards last month for this song, which was composed, performed and recorded to CD as a Year 10 Music assignment last year.

Do That will bring us back to do, exemplified by the very final violin note in Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.

Although this closing melody was used in an earlier organ work by Messiaen, its present incarnation was completed in Stalag VIII-A, a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp, and was premiered there, outside in the rain, in 1941 for forty fellow prisoners and guards. This very final note, a high do in E major, is transcendental and Messiaen himself noted this ‘slow ascent to the acutely extreme is the ascent of man to his god, the child of God to his Father, the being made divine towards Paradise’ (as cited in Tacet).

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FINN TILBURY / 8G (DETAIL)

FOOTNOTES 1.

Interestingly, Stefan Romanó (2009) suggests this big finish is a paraphrase of an older opera overture by Cherubini!

2.

More plagiarism! Snelson (2004) notes the uncanny similarity between Christine’s phrase and Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West seventy-six years earlier.

REFERENCES Chami, H. (2014). Deconstructing a medieval legend: Guido D’arezzo, the ‘Arabian influence,’ and the role of ‘historical imagination’ (Master’s thesis, University of Florida).

Retrieved from http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/04/68/10/00001/CHAMI_H.pdf Elliott, D. J. (1995). Music matters: A new philosophy of music education. New York: Oxford University Press.

Romanó, S. (2009). Ending the fifth: The myth that Beethoven did not know how to finish. The Beethoven Journal, 24 (2).

Small, C. (1998). Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening. Hanover: University Press of New England.

Snelson, J. (2004). Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yale, CT: Yale University Press.

Tacet. (2013, January 3). Quartet for the End of Time, Olivier Messiaen. [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://articulatesilences.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/quartet-for-theend-of-time-olivier-messiaen

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Dads and their daughters — connections through sport MRS CHRIS MOORE, DIRECTOR OF SPORT (ACTING) | 8 MAY 2015

There are some things that every Dad should know about his daughter — especially if she didn’t come with an instruction manual (de Winter, 2009).

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oday’s girls are talented, ambitious and accomplished. They’re wise beyond their years.

But they are burdened as well—pressured to grow up too fast, before they’ve had a chance to explore who they are or who they wish to be. We would do well to better understand how the female brain operates and how this links with the emotional and social lives and cultural contexts in which girls grow up. Girls need more than academic success to sustain resilience. Not all life is about success, and learning to lose, and to be a sporting loser, can be as important a lesson as learning to win and to be a champion. The development of character, the guiding principles of how young people will live their lives also can occur through sport — for example: courage, learning to persist in the face of adversity is just one of the skills that can be developed and enhanced through sport.

Being able to handle criticism positively and effect change that leads to personal growth is another of the things that can come from being involved in sport. The psychological and social outcomes of sport and its great support potential are obvious. Harnessing this potential

is a major task for all those who feel responsible for supporting the development of young people —as one sport psychologist from Boston has said: Society has gone too far to protect children from the knocks of life by never having anything go wrong or providing negative feedback. It’s part of the feel good movement that everything we do with our children has to be positive (Zaichkowsky, 2008).

Girls will have to learn to deal with negativity and toughness in the real world, so let’s help prepare them for it. Raising self-esteem needs to be balanced with being able to take criticism, to experience failure and learn that in competition there are winners and losers. Children can learn how to deal with failure and mistakes in a supported environment such as in a sporting team. Social and emotional skills such as perseverance and sociability (along with self-esteem) have been shown to influence social outcomes in a positive way. Coping with disappointment is one of the keys to developing resilience. Being a gracious winner or a good loser are life skills for which sport can prepare you. Practical experience in co-curricular activities

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enhances a sense of responsibility, capacity to work in a team and self-confidence (Gittins, 2015)

organised sport provides a setting in which they feel comfortable and competent as a parent.

Our values are shaped by experiences as well as by significant others who influence our lives — our parents, our teachers, our coaches, our friends. Parents are important teachers and serve as role models for physical activity.

Parental involvement is particularly relevant for girls because parent activity and encouragement have been shown to influence the activity patterns of girls to a greater extent than boys. Studies by sports psychologists Greendorfer and Lewko (1978) found that fathers tend to be the most critical behavioural influence for both boys and girls regarding sport matters and in particular becoming involved in sport. In her editorial in the Journal of Leisure Studies (2006), Tess Kay discussed the dramatic transformation of family life and parenting over the past two decades. We have seen an historically unprecedented shift from traditional family values and fathers (or heads of the household) to gender equity in family life and today’s standard of parenting under which mothers and fathers are held responsible for the whereabouts and actions of their children twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Beginning secondary school coincides with the key changes in adolescent development, including biological and cognitive growth, social development, and renegotiations of family relationships, especially parent–adolescent relationships. The confluence of these developmental and contextual changes at early adolescence increases the risk that students may not reach their potential, and heightens the need to identify sources of support. Parents at this time must attempt to set boundaries and communicate expectations while promoting healthy independence.

Parental influence often becomes more indirect. Parents’ beliefs about adolescents’ abilities, skills and potential, shape adolescents own beliefs, which influence performance.

Research repeatedly demonstrates that paternal influence can and does affect many facets of a woman’s life, from her sense of self to the treatment she comes to expect from men and even her career and academic success. To become a successful and strong woman, a daughter requires the attention and wisdom, as well as protection of her father.

A successful, strong father sees this as an opportunity as well as an obligation. Dr Bruce Robinson, author of Daughters and Their Dads (2008) and Fathering in the Fast Lane, says: ‘an involved father is not only a moral anchor for his daughter, but a role model of independence and competency who demonstrates the way to navigate the world outside the family’.

There has been a huge shift in parenting in the past few decades and much attention has been given to the importance of the father’s role in raising his children.

The reality is that today’s father needs to be an involved and emotionally available co-parent. Leisure is clearly a major site for this to occur and in focussing on parental involvement in youth sport, a study by sports and leisure researcher Coakley (2005) demonstrated how this is a particularly prominent site for fathering. Coakley argued that, as fathers seek to become increasingly involved in their children’s lives, youth sports provide parenting contexts that privilege men and at the same time enable fathers to develop mature relationships with their sons and daughters and claim that they are sharing child-rearing responsibilities with their wives, former wives or partners. The prominence of sport as a dominant cultural context for fathering is highlighted by Shaw and Dawson’s (1998) findings in Leisure Sciences that being with and doing leisure activities with their children, and using these occasions to bond, communicate and instil values, is central to the generative notion of fathering. For many fathers,

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Daughters are exposed to a lot more potentially risky influences than was ever the case when fathers were young.

In a society where girls are bombarded with negative, false and superficial media portrayal of women, a strong, present and protective father has never been more critical. To counteract the negative effects of this media onslaught, dads need to spend time with their daughters. Robinson (2008) believes that there are three main things that a daughter needs from her father: a sense of her own beauty, a sense of self-confidence and a sense of how she should be expected to be treated by a man. Men can also help change attitudes in the media — there are plenty of opportunities to go and see enthralling women’s sport and plenty of opportunities to report it. The failure to do so says something about us as a

society, and it’s not a good thing. Women’s sport does matter and we should be working to see more positive stories about it in the media. Fathers could have an important role here!

A father needs to give his daughter time — neither quality or quantity time work by themselves — ‘quality moments happen on a platform of a quantity of time’ (Robinson, 2008). All girls can benefit from a good father figure. Shane Gould, former Olympic swimmer says: ‘Fathers, sports coaches, teachers, any father figure should seek to make her feel special and give them confidence and belief in themselves’. According to Shane, her father always set challenges that were achievable and he always made her believe she could do it. Affirmation is one of the many important things that fathers can give daughters, along with a sense of humour — both are confidence-building social skills. Some dads, like some football coaches, try to

get their children to strive continually to attain higher goals by indicating that they are never satisfied with them. This, of course, has more chance of destroying confidence, than building it. Fathers need to give their daughters confidence that success is not out of reach. As Henry Ford said: ‘Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t — you’re right!’. Appropriate risk is an important part of life and if girls grow up without being told to ‘have a go’, they won’t.

In our busy modern lives, it can sometimes be difficult for parents to really connect with their daughters and this is particularly true for dads, but any father needs to realise that if he’s not taking time with his daughter, he’s probably missing just as much as she is.

So, enjoy being a Grammar Dad and being involved in Grammar Sport — the time will be over all too soon!

REFERENCES Coakley, J. (2005). The good father: Parental expectations in youth sports. Leisure Studies, 25 (2), 153–165.

De Winter, A. (2009). Top of the pops — parenting: Fathers and daughters. Wellbeing, 122.

Greendorfer, S. & Lewko, J. (1978). Role of family members in sport socialisation of children — A review. In.Landers, D. &.Christina, R. (Eds.), Psychology of motor behaviour and sport. Champaign, USA: Human Kinetics.

Harrington, M. A. (1983). Sport and leisure as contexts for fathering in Australian families. Leisure Studies, 25(2), 165–183.

Gittins, R. (2015). Balance of cognitive, social and emotional skills needed to succeed. The Age. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/comment/balance-of-cognitivesocial-and-emotional-skills-needed-to-succeed-20150318-1m0vu4.html Gould, S. (2003). Tumble Turns. Sydney: Harper Sports.

Kay, T. (2006). Fathering through leisure. [Editorial]. Leisure Studies, 25 (2), 125–131.

OECD (2015). Skills for social progress: The power of social and emotional skills. OECD Publishing: Paris. Extract retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/ educationandsocialprogress.htm Robinson, B. (2008). Dads and their daughters. Perth: Macsis Publishing.

Shaw, S. M. & Dawson, D. J. (2001). Purposive leisure: examining parental discourses on family activities. Leisure Studies, 23(4), 217–231 Zaichkowsky, L. (2008). Winners and losers — The sports factor. [Radio interview]. Transcript retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sportsfactor/ winners-and-losers/3268598#transcript

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Finding ways to find their way MR JAMES SEAHA, DIRECTOR OF POST-SECONDARY PLANNING | 15 MAY 2015

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uilding a career is a personal and individual process that rarely begins with the collective end in mind.

While identifying a path is the first step, the wholeness of the concept called ‘career’ is only fully appreciated upon reflection.

Finding one’s way (building a career) can be loosely described as an exercise in stringing together seemingly random life experiences; seizing new opportunities as they present themselves; navigating unforeseen circumstances; and embracing life-wide education and emergent technologies.

Looking to the past and evaluating the present are equal partners in guiding the way to the future. Therefore, an ever-evolving reflective compass must also direct the trekker’s route.

The stories in this article are written with a singular purpose in mind: to reflect upon the emerging careers of recent Brisbane Girls Grammar School graduates to teach, guide and inspire those who will follow. While at school, Teilah, Julie and Ali were proactive and involved students.

These young women learned the value of engagement by embracing the academic and co-curricular offerings of the School. They were enthusiastic participants in their education which was enriched by their commitment to those seemingly random interests and activities, all of which would one day influence their path. They learned to recognise an opportunity when it presented itself, and sometimes when it didn’t. They are young women who

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plan; act on opportunity; spend time in reflection; and embrace new ideas.

Embedded in their stories are the genesis of their careers, which now become lessons for girls still in the planning stage. While each story is as different as the young woman who navigated the path, the lessons for girls who follow are the same: plan a direction that reflects a personal preference; seek and grasp opportunities as you discover them; and navigate unforeseen circumstances with positivity and resilience.

Equally, embracing a life-wide view of education and the technologies of the twenty-first century will help focus on the career horizon, while contemplative reflection will guide decision making.

TEILAH’S WAY Always one to tread her own quiet path, Teilah (2009) is a young woman with a dream who is in no rush to achieve it.

While she enjoyed her time at Girls Grammar, she readily admits that she did not then consider herself an academic ‘high flyer’. She did, however, most certainly find her wings at university.

After winning the Bond University Collegiate Scholarship and with a long-term goal to study medicine, Teilah entered the Bachelor of Biomedical Science. There she discovered an unforeseen opportunity, acted on it, and found a passion that would eventually redirect her path.

KIANA ETEBARI / 8B

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While still an undergraduate student, she was invited on to a research team investigating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and, inspired by one of her lecturers, added an honours year to her Bachelor degree. In 2012, Teilah graduated on the Vice Chancellor’s List with first class honours and, in her own quiet way, decisively reinforced the notion that ‘you don’t have to begin as a high flyer to become one’.

Now on the backburner, medicine will have to wait until Teilah satisfies her curiosity for research. At present, she continues her work on a postgraduate doctorate as part of a research team at Griffith University’s Menzies Health Institute, where she enjoys working on scientific research projects centred on the process of discovery and innovation.

Driven by a curiosity to understand how the human body functions when challenged by disease, she welcomed the unexpected opportunity to contribute to research with a focus on clinical translation.

While her journey began with the goal of traditional medicine, it is research that has captured Teilah’s attention.

Twice tempted by invitations to medical school interviews, she has chosen to keep her focus on research.

Completing my PhD has given me the time to investigate and explore intricate details of the human body. At the same time, research projects have afforded me the patient contact I originally sought in traditional medicine. I am also developing the professional and clinical skills that are necessary in a medical career. Patient stories emerge from patient interactions and they follow me into the laboratory where they provide me with the motivation to achieve and report valid outcomes to help understand disease. I find great comfort and satisfaction in the fact that all of what is currently known and taught in medicine has been discovered through research. It is a privilege to be a part of that.

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JULIE’S WAY ‘Mr Seaha, I changed my career over the weekend! On Friday I was working in my office in London and on Monday I started classes at Sydney University Medical School’.

This single quotation goes a long way towards describing Julie (2002). The epitome of a Grammar Girl, she is intelligent, driven, and unafraid. In 2003, she earned a place to study engineering at Cambridge University beginning in September. In the interim, she decided to spend semester one studying engineering and law at Sydney University ‘because I won a scholarship and didn’t want to waste the opportunity’.

Cambridge exposed me to a wide range of professionals who came to talk to us about careers. Like my experience at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, I was encouraged to be curious and adventurous; to seek and take every opportunity as it presented itself. There I began to understand the concept of transferable skills.

I started to see how the diverse interests and experiences of my early life had begun to fuse into the foundations of my career.

Julie spent her first summer internship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). A focus on bioengineering planted the seed of interest in health careers. A second-year summer internship at Goldman Sachs followed and, at the end of her third year at Cambridge, she won a Women in Investment Banking Scholarship which included another summer internship in the finance industry, this time at Lehman Brothers.

Teilah’s journey is not one taken by many. It is certainly longer than most, but it is the path of a young woman who is ‘in no rush’.

For nearly three years following the completion of a Masters in Engineering, Julie worked for JP Morgan as an investment banker. She was happy and successful there until she found herself becoming more and more interested her husband’s medical studies. ‘I discovered that I could sit the GAMSAT in London’. And so, somewhat reliant on fate, Julie booked a place.

‘Others live at breakneck speed, but for me there is time — time for research, time for experience, time for life’. Teilah is happy to take all the time she needs.

I realised there was a part of me that was unfulfilled in the banking world. I enjoyed the technical and quantitative aspects of the job as well as the human

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interaction with clients and colleagues, but something was missing. What I really sought was to combine those skills and make a more tangible impact on people’s lives. Medicine gave me that opportunity.

Armed with competitive GAMSAT scores, an indomitable risk-taking curiosity and nothing to lose, Julie applied to the Sydney University Medical School. Her invitation for an interview came quickly and coincided with her annual leave so Julie returned home for a visit and a chance at a medical career.

Now a doctor in her second year of practice, Julie admits that her road has been long — but for a purpose. ‘My path seemed complicated and my decisions drastic to my friends and colleagues — it even seemed drastic to me — until I met many others in my course who had done the same’.

Unafraid and full of curiosity, confidence and drive, Julie credits the like-mindedness of Cambridge University and Brisbane Girls Grammar School for the richness of her journey thus far. I, however, suspect that the natural warmth, drive and intelligence that is Julie has also played its part in her varied and successful journey.

When opportunities present themselves, I have found it best to go with my instinct. The reason for making decisions may not be clear at the time you make them.

There is the risk; there is the adventure. However, I have found that whatever the result, each decision I have made has led me forward in unexpected ways.

Interests may change, but the skills and insights we gain along the way will last forever.

ALI’S WAY ‘If anyone had told me that I would one day own a business I would not have believed them’. Ali (2008) knew she wanted to dance from an early age. Her career actually began at the age of four when she discovered dance. Since then, ‘it’s all I ever wanted to do’.

A self-described ‘creative person’, Ali finds her energy and motivation in dance. ‘While at school, I was so focused on dance that my academics took second place. I lived in

parallel worlds of Girls Grammar and dance’. In that regard, little has changed since 2008. Ali still lives in a parallel world, but high school academia has been replaced by a developing business mind.

Ali says that Girls Grammar provided the mould that helped to shape the woman she is becoming. Her involvement in school musicals and drama productions brought confidence and discipline while her love of dance provided motivation and direction. In the end, it has been the inspiration and encouragement from her teachers, the unconditional support of her family, and a personal passion for dance that has empowered her to turn a random opportunity to volunteer into a thriving business — all before the age of twenty-three.

In 2009, Ali began a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at Queensland University of Technology. Quite apart from studying her passion, she volunteered at a local community centre with an interest in special needs. This single random choice opened her eyes to the prospect of sharing her passion for dance with young people with special needs and Bust A Move Dance was born.

She loved the community centre dance classes, but did not realise their impact until grateful parents began approaching her and encouraging her to continue. Feeling a strong sense of community and connectedness with the philosophy that focuses on ‘encouraging and supporting rather than helping and hand holding’, Ali developed a philosophy of her own.

Like most people, these young people know how to dance. They need only the same support and encouragement as anyone else. We don’t teach people how to dance; instead, we use the medium of dance to teach life skills and create change.

In 2014, Ali was offered of a place in a national mentoring programme sponsored by the Foundation of Young Australians. The programme shared a wealth of business tips, resources and networking opportunities and Ali learned very quickly how to run a business. An opportunity to pitch an idea to the QANTAS Foundation followed and Ali won generous start-up funding for her work.

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TESS CILENTO

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/ 10E

Bust A Move Dance has grown to more than 100 students in twelve classes per week in a variety of dance spaces across Brisbane. Ali and her young team of employees and volunteers are passionate about dance and the inclusivity of dancers with disabilities so that ‘people of all abilities feel equal and powerful in the world’.

The fiercely determined Ali completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and followed it with a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education while shepherding her growing business. She (and Bust a Move Dance) are presently fundraising to take sixty dancers to the Los Angeles Special Olympics World Games in July this year and her sights are already set on the future. ‘There is a community of young people with disabilities in every city in the entire world!’.

Open to the idea of celebrating ability at any level, Ali has witnessed a recent shift in the perception of disability in the wider community and ‘it fuels my drive to know that I have been a spark to that change. I know that inclusion can be successful’.

With a passion to inspire other young people to excellence, Ali has already changed her world. It is only a matter of time before she changes ours.

FINDING WAYS TO FIND YOUR WAY During its lifetime, a career unfolds as a series of (hopefully) well-considered decisions influenced by opportunity, circumstance, technology and personal preference. Its wholeness becomes visible with the reflective powers of hindsight. As they did at school, these young professionals continue to engage their world with open-minded, well-informed planning. As a result, they recognise new opportunities, manage unforeseen circumstances and embrace the technologies of the twenty-first century to fulfil a destiny that only they determine.

For each, seemingly unconnected youthful opportunities delivered life experiences that signposted a career. Their paths are pointed in different directions, each leading to an unknown destination that, in the end, will reflect the young woman who set herself upon it.

One wonders what decisions lie ahead; what circumstances will influence them; what technologies will demand of them. If the immediate past is any indication of their future, I am confident that they and hundreds more like them, will build careers that will leave an indelible mark on their professions.

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Will you be my PAL-date?

M R S E M M A L O W R Y, A S S I S TA N T D E A N O F S T U D E N T S | 2 2 M A Y 2 0 1 5

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he double intake of Year 7 and 8s this year has had an extremely positive impact on the School community; the Year 12 Prefects and Buddies have made particular comment on the younger girls’ levels of exuberance and often playful approach to school-life, and have actually questioned ‘where does it come from and why aren’t we like that?’

As our girls mature in age and development, their personal interactions in the school grounds change, classroom behaviour and expectations become more serious, and ‘play’ becomes more complex and purposeful. Although the ‘childish play’ of primary school becomes outgrown, some students, regardless of age, are still left with a wilful sense of nostalgia for pure playful experiences.

‘Play’ is seen as an activity which engages children, so playing is seen as childish and can often be dismissed in the eyes of young adolescents. When we reflect on our own childhood and teenage years, ‘going out to play’ was the norm, however, children now spend fifty per cent less time outside than they did just twenty years ago (Brown, 2009).

The social time which we experienced in our youth would often lead to physical activity and self-organised and unstructured play, but for today’s youth, free-time and opportunity to play can, at times, be replaced with electronic devices and screen-based entertainment, with some youngsters having up to six or seven hours of screen-time per day (Brown, 2009) and ten hours per week on sites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Slocombe, 2015).

‘Screen-based entertainment is as far removed from the “real play” children need for healthy development as junk snacks are from real food’ says Sue Palmer, author of

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21st Century Girls – how the modern world is damaging our daughters and what we can do about it (2014). Already, research shows that nine out of ten young Australians’ main use of the Internet is for entertainment and communication (Slocombe, 2015). Palmer talks of how the division between play and entertainment has become blurred for adults and children alike, resulting in society seeing ‘play’ as passive leisure pursuits. For adults, watching sport, listening to music or enjoying the theatre has become so much easier now that second-hand play can be done with a device and the touch of a button. For adolescents and children, it is our responsibility as educators and parents to ensure that healthy habits are developed and encouraged to safeguard screen-based entertainment and passive forms of play from becoming the default leisure-time activity.

It should be acknowledged that there are different kinds of play that are pivotal to one’s personal development.

Brown and Vaughan (2009, p. 35) define play as ‘an absorbing, apparently purposeless activity that provides enjoyment and a suspension of self-consciousness and sense of time. It is also self-motivating and makes you want to do it again’. Subtypes include social play of friendship and belonging, rough-and-tumble play and celebratory and ritual play. Sometimes running is play, and sometimes it is not.

Whilst many students of Girls Grammar are heavily involved with structured activities which are organised and scheduled outside of school hours, the knock-on effect is that there is less time after school for unstructured, free play. This concept of ‘play’ should be pondered upon: what would our Year 7 and 8 girls miss out on if free play became a thing of the past, best enjoyed at primary school?

From an academic perspective, play and downtime is just as important as classroom-based learning experiences, and research suggests that regular lunchtime physical activity and nature time can influence behaviour, concentration and academic performance (Parker-Pope, 2009). Psychiatrist and founder of the National Institute for Play in the USA, Dr Stuart Brown (2009), pronounces that just an hour of vigorous play such as running, chasing, tag or dodgeball, can provide intense skill learning, including how to deal with being left out or excluded from such activities, how to solve problems, the value of judicious decision making and the development of social skills by interacting with others as equals (Lahey, 2014). Physical activity benefits mental health, well-being and social interaction (Knowles, Niven & Fawkner, 2011), it is known to lessen the symptoms of ADHD and childhood obesity and active children and teenagers perform better academically in the long term (Brown, 2009; NCB 2010; Ward, 2012). In correlation to this, a lack of playtime at school can have a negative impact on classroom performance and social development (NCB, 2010).

For our girls who are transitioning from primary to secondary school, physical activity is the main form of play outside the classroom, however quantitative studies conducted in the UK (Knowles, Niven & Fawkner, 2012) indicate that this is the period where adolescent girls’ level of physical activity starts to decline. Rates of physical activity for young adolescent girls are consistently lower than boys, which may reflect maturational differences, but other barriers which have been studied indicate that uniform, negative reactions from peers and feelings of inadequate competency also have some impact on physical activity in young girls aged twelve to thirteen years (Watson, Eliott & Mehta, 2015).

The Department of Health and Ageing recommends that young Australians accumulate at least sixty minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day (Watson et al., 2015). At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Year 7 and 8 students engage in practical HPE lessons twice a week, and all students are offered eighteen competitive sports to participate in over the year, as well as a range of other activities such as Student Yoga, Grammar Dance, Rock Climbing, Gym and Felgates Drama which individually

contribute toward the daily levels of physical activity recommended for adolescents.

Sign-on figures for sport at the School indicate that a vast number of girls want to continue or try new sporting activities, contrary to Australian statistics which indicate that physical activity is low through early adolescence and that girls are consistently less active than boys (Watson et Al., 2015). This year we had almost 900 sign-ons via Grammarnet of Year 7 and 8 students registering their interest in trialing for a sport but, with not all girls able to make a team, other opportunities for physical activity — both within the school day and after school — need to be identified.

School lunchtimes have been recognised as an ideal time for maximising levels of physical activity (Stanley, 2012; Watson et al., 2015), albeit not sport, but an opportunity to discourage girls from using their personal devices as forms of entertainment, and to be physically active. In an initiative implemented in 2014 when the School officially introduced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Year 12 Prefects have been inviting the Year 7 and Year 8 cohorts to PAL Dates — Play at Lunch Dates, once a week. Activities are designed to be fun, playful and interactive in a non-threatening way and are open to all girls regardless of ability or competence. Acknowledging the barriers which prevent girls from participating in such physical activities, the Year 12 Prefects organise activities which can be played in full school uniform, either on the Green Floor, the Pool Lawn or in the Sports Centre, with any number of students and the senior girls take the leadership role of mentor and foster a culture of encouragement for all girls in their House to participate and to be actively involved.

Dodgeball appears to be the most popular lunchtime activity, as it brings out the competitive nature in some of the girls, but the spirit of the PAL Dates is to just play, to have fun, to make new friends in different Houses and to enjoy the downtime away from classroom learning. Other non-competitive activities which have been arranged include Stuck in the Mud, Red Rover, Capture the Flag, skipping and scavenger hunts.

Future play-based activities which are planned include Just Dance, board games and friendly games of sport, and the Year 12 girls warmly welcome input and feedback from the junior girls.

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Watching the girls enjoy the PAL Dates, it’s easy to acknowledge the superficial benefits — their ecstatic faces, their joyful squeals and their words of encouragement to all those around them. To dig deeper however, there is much greater benefit. There is agreement amongst scientists that free play — which includes vigorous physical activity — is much more than just a way to burn energy, to let off steam or to disengage from screen time. Hening (2008) refers to research that indicates play is a central part of neurological growth and development and is important for children and young adolescents to build complex, skilled, responsive, socially adept and cognitively flexible brains.

With limited time in the school day and busy after-school schedules, our Year 7 and 8 students attempt to cram as many of those hours as possible with activities that are productive and educational. While co-curricular activities are an essential part of a Grammar girls’ day, it is important for all us to remember the value of creating a space for free-play in the three-dimensional world, and to allow our girls to be the eleven to thirteen-year-old girls that they are. It is absolutely essential for healthy neurological development, mental health and well-being, physical fitness, social development and academic performance.

REFERENCES Brown, S. & Vaughan, C. (2009). What is play and why do we do it? In Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the Imagination and invigorates the soul. Australia: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd. Brown, S. (2009, September 2). Let the children play (some more). The New York Times. [The Opinion Pages]. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes. com/2009/09/02/let-the-children-play-some-more/?_r=0 Henig, R. M. (2008, February 17). Taking play seriously. The Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17play.html?pagewanted=all Knowles, A., Niven, A., & Fawkner, S. (2011). A qualitative examination of factors related to the decrease in physical activity behaviour in adolescent girls during the transition from primary to secondary school. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 8(8), 1084-1091. Retrieved from Ebsco Host.http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/ eds/detail/detail?sid=8872951c-263d-4659-ae16-1fd8bf022c8e%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=s3h& AN=70465932 Lahey, J. (2014, June 20). Why free play is the best summer school. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/for-better-schoolresults-clear-the-schedule-and-let-kids-play/373144/ National Children’s Bureau (2010). No 15. The benefits of school playtime. Children’s Play Information Service NCB, London, England. Retrieved from http://www.ncb.org.uk/ media/124800/factsheet15_benefits_playtime_cpis_011210.pdf Palmer, S. (2014). 21st Century Girls — How the modern world is damaging our daughters and what we can do about it. (2nd ed.). Great Britain: Orion Books Ltd. Parker-Pope, T. (2009, February 23). The 3 R’s? A fourth is crucial, too: recess. The New York Times. [Health]. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/ health/24well.html Slocombe, J. (2015). Engaging parents in the cyber world. Paper presented at 2015 Protecting Children and Youth Online Conference, Mercure Hotel, Sydney.

Stanley, R.M., Boshoff, K., & Dollman, J. (2012). Voices in the playground: A qualitative exploration of the barriers and facilitators of lunchtime play. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 15(1), 44-51. Retrieved from SAGE. Ward, H. (2012, November 2). All work and no play. TES Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storyCode=6298806 Watson, A., Eliott, J., & Mehta, K. (2015). Perceived barriers and facilitators to participation in physical activity during the school lunch break for girls aged 12–13 years.

European Physical Education Review, 21(2), 257-271. Retrieved from SAGE.

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History, imagination, creativity MS ALISON DARE, DIRECTOR OF HUMANITIES | 29 MAY 2015

… the historian’s picture of the past is … in every detail an imaginary picture … (Collingwood, 1946)

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s a teacher of history, I sometimes wonder about the mysterious space that exists between my understanding and that of my students. It is not just a matter of my knowing more than they do but rather, how the image that I try to create might be received by them; whether I can make them see what I see. Of course the process of learning is far more complex than the transferral of knowledge directly from teacher to student (it’s not, after all, about reading the teacher’s mind). Nevertheless the question of how we ‘see’ history is an interesting one.

The British philosopher and historian, R.G. Collingwood, asserted in the 1940s that imagination was an integral part of the historical process. Rejecting the positivist trend which sought to treat history as a science, he claimed that the historian’s picture of the past is … in every detail an imaginary picture, and its necessity is at every point the necessity of the a priori imagination. Whatever goes into it, goes into it not because his imagination passively accepts it, but because it actively demands it (Collingwood, 1946, p. 245).

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Collingwood’s ideas regarding the importance of imagination certainly align with the current emphasis we place on empathy as a way of understanding the past. The importance of ‘walking in another’s shoes’ is a foundational message given to students when introduced to the discipline. Without imagination, it is impossible to form empathy since empathy involves the imaginative recreation of a person’s life or situation.

What does it mean to imagine? To imagine is to conjure an image in our mind’s eye. It is a process which is inherently creative and the images we create are not formed in a vacuum but come to us from both our immediate and the broader social context. The visual is very powerful and, some would argue, has more immediacy than words — perhaps because as infants we understand the world in images before we acquire words.

Certainly, in the history of civilization, pictures preceded words as the basis of language. The advertising industry well understands the power of the visual and uses it to great effect.

To the extent that history is first formed in the imagination — something we creatively conjure up in our minds — it is thus also, to some extent, subjective. History only exists in the narratives that individuals make of past events and, unlike science, there are very few (if any) universal laws of history waiting to be uncovered by clever individuals.

Rather than being the sum of everything that ever happened in the past, history is always the product of human endeavour and thus reflects the subjectivity of the individual(s) who created it.

two opposite but equally deplorable effects’ (de Sousa, 1987, p. 142). First, he contends that ‘it promotes the idea that emotions are essentially unimportant, or only as distractions from the serious business of life’. Second, he suggests that this approach disallows rational debate regarding the realm of the subjective. It ‘fosters the automatic justification of any behaviour on the grounds that one must go with one’s feelings: since feelings are purely subjective, no sensible debate or rationalisation of them is possible’ (loc. cit.).

If, then, history is a subjective exercise, merely the product of individuals and their imaginings, where does this leave notions of truth and objectivity? At the end of the day, we teach our students that history is ultimately about getting to the truth (or truths) of the matter. How many people died in the Holocaust, why the Roman Republic collapsed, the causes of World War One — these are all significant questions that require reasonably concrete, if complex, answers. Moreover, the answers to such questions often have a real bearing on the present day. With this in mind, there would appear to be a contradiction between the process of history as discipline and the goal of historical knowledge.

How can history be both an imaginative pursuit as well as a discipline which demands objective outcomes? It can be seen that the analytical and imaginative aspects of history are in no way contradictory but rather are both equally essential to the process (Levin, 2006). While there may be few laws of history, it is nevertheless possible — and in fact imperative — that we adopt a methodical approach in the way we construct history. This is particularly the case when using sources which form the basis of historical inquiry. Indeed, the best history is that which is formed from the most rigorous interrogation of sources. Yet, when faced with the often fragmentary nature of sources, as in the case of ancient remains, it is only the imagination that allows us to weave the historical narrative, which is like a thread connecting the various aspects of the evidence, into a coherent whole.

In some ways, the dichotomy in our Western thinking between the realm of feeling and that of rationality has limited our capacity to understand the crucial role that emotion and empathy play in the construction of knowledge. The philosopher Ronald de Sousa, in countering our traditional way of splitting thought and feeling, argues that emotion can be seen as a kind of perception. According to de Sousa, the way we have tended to see ‘emotion as both subjective and irrational has had

Ultimately, the imagination is deeply personal and idiosyncratic and no-one will ever know how another really sees the past (or even the present) but it is in that liminal space where imagination meets the outside world that old assumptions are challenged and new forms of knowledge are opened up.

REFERENCES Collingwood, R. G. (1946). The Idea of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

De Sousa, R. (1987). The Rationality of Emotion. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Levin, K. (2006). On the importance of imagination in historical studies. Canadian Social Studies, 38(2).

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Trust me DR KAY KIMBER, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE | 5 JUNE 2015

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y focus for professional reading this year was sparked by my observation of the frequent mention of ‘trust’ in the media and collegial conversations. My early musings turned to literature: how King Duncan’s trust in Macbeth was misguided to say the least; how E.M. Forster’s Lucy Honeychurch could not trust herself to know her own heart. My delving into a wider literature field, however, has revealed trust to be not just a core value, but also a key concept for marketing and scientific research.

If asked to define trust, people might cite confidence in another’s ability to deliver whatever had been promised.

They might just ‘feel’ that the other person can be trusted or ‘know’ that someone can be consistently relied upon to respect confidentiality or complete a designated request.

Comments might refer to a person’s level of trustworthiness, integrity or character. Stephen R. Covey (2004) of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From effectiveness to greatness fame, explained trust metaphorically as ‘the key to all relationships’ (loc.cit. 2617), ‘the glue that holds organizations, cultures, and relationships together’ (loc.cit.

2618), and ‘the root of motivation’ (loc.cit. 2960). Core to these understandings of people or organisations is evidence of their credibility and reliability.

In an interview for Forbes magazine on the publication of The Speed of Trust: the one thing that changes everything, Stephen M. R. Covey (2008a) explained that ‘trust and credibility are like two sides of the same coin’, but ‘credibility is actually the foundation on which all trust is built’, first ‘through your credibility and then your

behavior’ (p. 1). For him, transparency was an important component of trust and the key to transforming low-trust situations into high-trust ones, especially in organisations: ‘Leaders are rediscovering trust as they see it with new eyes. Looking beyond the common view of trust as a soft social virtue, they’re learning to see it as a critical, highly relevant, performance multiplier.’ (Covey, 2008b, p. 1).

The ‘performance multiplier’ perspective explains why businesses might come to rely on trust consultants like the Coveys or Trusted Advisor (Green, 2000), designers of strategies to aid organisations leverage trust for greater productivity or profitability. From Covey’s ‘Self trust™ and the 4 cores of credibility™’ (2008b) to Green’s ‘Trust Equation’, promoted as ‘a deconstructive, analytical model of trustworthiness that can be … used to help yourself and your organization’ (Green, 2000, p. 1), credence is given to the notion of trust as an economic driver, not just a personal core value. Establishing (or losing) consumer trust can cost businesses dearly, hence the marketability of trust-building.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INTO TRUST Innovative research has revealed fascinating findings about trust and trustworthiness. Social psychologist David DeSteno (2014a, b, c) and his interdisciplinary team have been identifying the metrics by which the human mind infers the trustworthy intentions (or lack thereof) of others. Using behavioural economics, social robotics, and automated pattern detection, the team has been able to identify how ‘the mechanisms of our minds [might] allow us not only to mispredict our future

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behavior but also whitewash our past actions’ (2014a, p. 1).

From isolating several components of trust, trustworthiness and deceit, his team suggests that the ability to ‘navigate the minefield of trust’ (p. 1) is one of life’s most valuable assets.

DeSteno’s research findings on both the economics of trust and the biology of trust point to its instability. Several experiments using game-playing principles required subjects to vye with a partner for small sums of money or make choices of activities from rolling a dice, pitting self-interest against co-operation (DeSteno, 2014b). The team found that ninety per cent of their reputedly trustworthy subjects would negotiate more money for themselves or rethrow the dice multiple times (or lie) until they ‘won’ the ten-minute activity, forcing their supposed partner in another room to complete the forty-five minute chore. DeSteno (2014c, p. 3) claimed that everyone weighs up short-term versus long-term gains when deciding to trust another and the mind’s computations occur without conscious control or awareness. Such research findings lead us to speculate on just how confidently we can say, ‘Trust me’.

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perceived as experts (that is, trustworthily competent) over people they perceived as nice, even remembering the information for longer. Hence, teachers’ competence and expertise are more trust-inducing for students’ sustained learning than affability.

CAN TRUST BE DEVELOPED? Trust is built through your own integrity, credibility, behaviour and transparency across time. For Covey (2004), trust is built by keeping promises and ‘actively nurtured with regular acts of kindness, consideration, appreciation and service’ (loc.cit. 2659). Threats of punishment might prevent untrustworthy behaviour in the moment, but they can be counterproductive in the long term as they reduce the belief that everyone is intrinsically motivated to be honest (DeSteno, 2014c). Issues of trust permeate our lives and actions more than we realise.

Turning to the biology of trust, neuroception has been identified as an additional mind-processing mechanism for individuals to assess threats. Research ‘to understand the evolutionary origins of fairness, trust and co-operation’ (De Steno, 2014b, loc.cit. 766) repeatedly confirmed that chimpanzees and capuchins not only recognised unfair allocation of treats, but also appeared to grow quite indignant. This finding prompted DeSteno’s conclusion: ‘Anger at being treated unfairly or in response to broken trusts is in our DNA; it’s who we are’ (loc.cit. 801).

Alerts about misplacing trust in online exchanges have been issued for as long as the Internet has been operational. Whether ascertaining the credibility of web sites or remaining skeptical of the authenticity of an identity, adults, as well as children, know to exercise wariness. Yet numerous scams reveal the reality of untrustworthy individuals and their too-trusting victims.

DeSteno’s team found that people who meet others face-to-face for the first time have a higher chance of ascertaining the others’ trustworthiness than those engaging online. DeSteno’s research into non-verbal cues showed that identifying a configuration of four bodily movements was more strongly predictive of untrustworthiness than one cue alone, so face-to-face meetings were best.

WHEN DOES TRUST DEVELOP?

TOWARDS A CULTURE OF TRUST

Harvard University researchers working with infants and young children ascertained how early and how deeply trust impacts on learning. Even before babies could sit up unaided, they sought to determine whom to trust. Before babies could talk, they already recognised fairness and co-operation. Before they turned three, trust was already influencing how they learned. By five, children intuitively favoured receiving information from people whom they

Now mindful of the layers of meaning of ‘trust’, I return to the significance of Covey’s ‘key’, ‘glue’ and ‘root’ metaphors (2004) and DeSteno’s research findings on the essentials of trust for success in learning and interpersonal relationships (2014b). How can we leverage trust in our School community? Evidence suggests that nurturing our relationships, fostering a culture of trust, and building integrity and expertise are all critical elements.

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One step towards embracing a culture of trust this year has been the framing of Open Doors by the Centre for Professional Practice. Teachers invite a colleague into their classrooms for targeted professional learning opportunities about how best to help students learn. Their ensuing collegial conversations about this shared, trusted experience help the growth of their professional relationships and expertise, and ultimately the strength of the School learning community.

Modelling relational strength and scholarly practice, the teachers exemplify Howard Gardner’s notion of a scholarly community (Euler, 2015) to solidify our culture of trust.

Now when someone says, ‘Trust me’, perhaps you might think of core values, economic drivers, scientific research or cultures of trust.

REFERENCES Covey, S. R. (2004, Kindle edition). The 8th Habit: From effectiveness to greatness. New York, NY: Free Press.

Covey, S. M. R. (2008a). Transcript: Trust as an economic driver. Forbes Magazine, 16 June. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/16/covey-trust-transcript-opedcx_hra_0616long.html • (2008b). The Speed of Trust: The one thing that changes everything. Book summary. Retrieved from http://www.speedoftrust.com/How-The-Speed-of-Trust-works/book DeSteno, D. (2014a). Scholars Seminar: Professor David DeSteno. Retrieved from http://www.northeastern.edu/universityscholars/2014/03/31/eight-scholars-seminar-profdavid-desteno-3/ • (2014b, Kindle edition). The Truth About Trust: how it determines success in life, love, learning and more. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press (Penguin Group).

• (2014, February 27). David DeSteno: “the Truth about Trust” | Talks at Google. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUbmNph6atAoGfqLoCL_ duAg&v=b_AtRE0hDbw#t=688 • (2014c, March). Who can you trust? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://her.org/2014/03/who-can-you-trust Euler, J. (2015). A scholarly community. Grammar Gazette, 25, Autumn, pp. 2–3.

Green, C. (2000). Trusted Advisor. Retrieved from http://trustedadvisor.com/.

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Food for thought MS ALYSIA STARK, HEAD OF ENGLAND HOUSE | 12 JUNE 2015

There are many ways for Australians to achieve dietary patterns that promote health and wellbeing and reduce the risk of chronic disease. Diet is arguably the single most important behavioural risk factor that can be improved to have a significant impact on health (Australian Government, 2013).

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ecently, I attended the Mental Health in Schools Conference (Sydney, 21–22 May 2015). Among the many exceptional speakers at the conference, Dr Dan Woodman provided insightful social commentary on significant trends faced by current generations, and Dr Felice Jacka addressed the audience with her latest research findings in adolescent mental health and how they correlate to nutritional intake in this population. Michelle ChevalleyHedge explained why our students are ‘tired, but wired’.

I hope to share some of their salient points and provoke informed discussion so that we may guide our current student cohort towards a healthier future.

In the past thirty years, researchers have noted an increased consumption of fast foods, pre-prepared meals and carbonated drinks across all populations (Dietz, 2001). The processed food market has generated an ‘obesogenic’ environment which specifically targets adolescents to develop lifelong associations with their products. Making healthy choices for our students has never been more difficult. Products labelled as ‘low-fat’ and ‘healthy’ can be misleading and contain high amounts of added sugars, sodium and saturated fats. Excessive consumption of these processed products leads to raised blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance and dyslipidaemia (abnormal levels of cholesterol and/or fat in the blood), contributing to ever-

increasing levels of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes among young women aged eighteen to thirty-five (Macdonald-Wicks, 2014; World Health Organisation, 2003).

So while our students show few, if any, signs of these non-communicable diseases in our School community from the ages of twelve to seventeen, it raises the question: Are they perhaps developing poor habits which will haunt them into adulthood? And how are their food choices impacting on their mental health every day in our classrooms?

Dr Jacka’s research reveals that students with poor diets (those low in nutritional value, high in saturated fats and sugars) correlated with an increased incidence of mental illness, particularly depression and anxiety. She concluded that, given that the majority of common mental health problems arise in adolescence, her team’s research suggests that there is a consistent trend towards a relationship between good quality diet and better mental health outcomes early in life. A good quality diet in this instance incorporates fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meat (including lamb and beef), and complex carbohydrates, with a low intake of extra processed foods (O’Neil, 2014).

Could something as simple as what we eat/don’t eat throughout day have such a significant impact on our mental health both now and in the future? When did we become

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unconscious consumers of the food we are putting in our mouths? This idea struck a chord with me as I reflected on what I had eaten on the morning of the Conference and why I had made those choices. Much of my motivation in food choice lay in the uncertainty of the day ahead. I had to make my way to an unfamiliar venue, in a city that I had limited experience travelling through — in some ways the experience was probably not too dissimilar to that of our Year 7 and 8 students earlier this year when they began at Brisbane Girls Grammar.

Like them, I was distracted by getting to my new place of learning on time, negotiating crowded and unfriendly public transport with a heavy bag, and excited and nervous to be meeting new classmates and teachers. Breakfast that morning had been a means to an end; something that had to be done quickly and efficiently, so that I could start my day’s adventure. A bowl of sugary cereal, a cup of tea, a blueberry muffin, and a mandarin on the run ensured that this brief was met. Little did I realise that I had already met my maximum daily recommendation of nine teaspoons of added sugars within the space of one meal. How had this affected me mentally and physically? By lunchtime I was ravenous, as my blood sugar had crashed due to the high GI component of my food, and my concentration was waning.

Herein lies Dr Jacka’s concern with our national adolescent population. In our ever time-poor schedules, adolescents are grabbing what is fast and convenient, much of which is laden with sugar, salt, and preservative numbers you need a diploma to decipher. The World Health Organisation recommends that people consume between six and nine teaspoons of added sugar per day (World Health Organisation, 2003). Australian adolescents are averaging a staggering twenty-two teaspoons per day (Dunlevy, 2012; Somerset, 2003).

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This means students are meeting thirteen per cent of their daily energy demands with sugary items that are high in caloric value and low in nutrients. This is two to four times over the recommended daily limits for extra foods (Rangan, 2008). The implications for this are far-reaching, and the predicted impacts on Gen Z or the ‘postmillennial’ generation is alarming. Social researchers have established that the generation before (the Gen Ys), are one of the unhealthiest generations to date, and it is predicted that their successors won’t fare much better.

As Dr Woodman explained, Gen Y is ‘more anxious, more depressed, and unhealthier than any generation before them,’ with one in four having a mental health issue and one in six suffering from an anxiety disorder. Despite better standards of living and access to resources, particularly different types of fresh foods, diet related diseases are at an all-time high (Woodman, 2015).

Globalisation has resulted in facilitating a competitive market of ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ processed foods which act as fillers for hungry stomachs, provide billions of dollars in profit for their producers, yet provide little nutritional value to growing teenage bodies and brains. But there is hope amidst what appear to be quite unhappy statistics and predictions, and it comes in the form of education and dietary intake.

Dr Jacka (2015) points out that many students eat reasonably well at home for breakfast and dinner, but are making poor choices once they are at school for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea because, unlike primary school, they suddenly have access to their own money.

Based on anecdotal observations of our own girls’ habits at the tuckshop, I would certainly agree that some of our students consume far too many extras per day and often it is due to poor choices at School.

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Cupcakes, chocolates, ice-blocks, and carbonated softdrinks are taking their toll on their adolescent bodies. ChevalleyHedge (2015) describes it as being ‘tired, but wired’. This results in their sugar levels swinging wildly from highs to lows up to five times a day, leaving them lethargic, moody and unable to concentrate in the classroom. They may have a sufficient daily energy intake, but many are not consuming the nutrients they require for lifelong health, including positive mental health and a functional and effective immune system.

Chevalley-Hedge explained that seventy-five per cent of our immune system is supported by our gut health and that our neutrophil (white blood cell) activity is suppressed when people consume high amounts of sugar in one meal (approximately five teaspoons) — the equivalent of a blueberry muffin (Null, 2013). With this in mind, we know that girls who are studying like to make regular visits to the fridge and pantry to snack, and this is important to fuel working brains. But we need to consider what they are choosing to snack on as it could be decreasing their immune response during heightened levels of stressful exam periods.

We also need to be aware of food’s impact on their mood.

The quality of food an individual consumes is an incredibly important factor in how much serotonin one’s body can produce. Serotonin is a vital neurotransmitter in the human nervous system and is thought to be responsible for the following functions: mood and social behaviour; appetite and digestion; sleep; and memory. Eating a poor diet and then taking vitamins will not deliver the same result as

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eating fresh, whole foods. A depletion of this important neurotransmitter within the body has been found to correlate with an increased incidence of depression.

Seventy per cent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the human digestive tract, but this process can only occur when low GI and nutrient dense foods containing the precursors Vitamin B and Tryptophan are consumed (Jacka, 2015; Medical News Today, 2015; Gant, n.d.). Foods such as eggs, milk, lean red and white meats, whole grains, as well as fruit and vegetables. Processing these foods destroys, or significantly depletes, their Vitamin B and Tryptophan content, thus leading to a reduced intake of vital nutrients (Combs, 2008).

So how is this latest research informing what we are doing from an educational perspective to reduce the risk of our students’ developing non-communicable diseases? At Girls Grammar, students are educated about food and nutrition through the Health and Physical Education curriculum.

Our Year 8 students are currently completing this unit, and are investigating the role of food and nutrition in enhancing health and wellbeing. The content supports students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to make healthy, informed food choices and to explore the contextual factors that influence eating habits and food choices. (Australian Curriculum, 2015). It is hoped that with this increased nutritional knowledge within our student cohort, supported by sound healthy-eating policies, our girls can develop into happier and healthier young women for life.

REFERENCES Australian Curriculum (2015). Health and Physical Education. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/health-and-physical-education/content-structure Australian Government (2013). Eat for Health – Australian Dietary Guidelines: Providing the scientific evidence for healthier Australian diets. Retrieved from https://www. eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n55_australian_dietary_guidelines.pdf Chevalley-Hedge, M. (2015, 21–22 May). Vitality, energy and serotonin — How to engage people in healthy eating practices. Paper presented at Mental Health in Schools Conference, Sydney Combs, G. F. (2008). The Vitamins: Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. San Diego: Elsevier.

Dietz, W.H. (2001). The obesity epidemic in young children. British Medical Journal, 323: 1331-1335.

Dunlevy, S. (2012, 19 October). Teens consuming up to 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day, report says. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ news/teens-consuming-up-to-22-teaspoons-of-added-sugar-per-day-report-says/story-e6frg6n6-1226498866427 Gant, C. (n.d.). The Role of 5HTP as a Precursor for Serotonin and Melatonin in the Treatment of Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Sleep Disorder, Weight Management, Fibromyalgia, Migraine and Withdrawal from Antidepressant Medication. Retrieved from http://www.charlesgantmd.com/articles/5HTP-as-precursor.pdf Jacka, F. (2015, 21–22 May). Diet quality and mental health. Paper presented at Mental Health in Schools Conference, Sydney Macdonald-Wicks, L. (2014). Can food help our mood? Australasian Science, 35(1), 32–33.

Medical News Today (2015, 3 June). What is Serotonin? What Does Serotonin Do? Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232248.php Null, G. (2013). No more diabetes: A complete guide to preventing, treating, and overcoming diabetes. New York, USA; Skyhorse Publishing O’Neil, A. et al. (2014). Relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents: A systematic review. American Journal of Public Health, 104(10) Rangan, A. (2008). Consumption of ‘extra’ foods by Australian children: Types, quantities and contribution to energy and nutrient intakes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 62, 356–364 Somerset, S. (2003). Refined sugar intake in Australian children. Public Health Nutrition, 6(8), 809–813 Woodman, D. (2015, 21–22 May). Growing up in the changing world. Paper presented at Mental Health in Schools Conference, Sydney World Health Organisation. (2003). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: Report of the joint WHO/FAO expert consultation [WHO Technical Report Series, No. 916]. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/download/en/

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Teen brains — fit for purpose MRS ANNE INGRAM, DEAN OF STUDENTS | 18 JUNE 2015

T

he teenage brain is a wondrous organ, capable of immense stimulation and stunning feats of learning.

Granville Stanley Hall, the founder of the child study movement, wrote in 1904 about the exuberance of adolescence: The years are the best decade of life. No age is so responsive to all the best and wisest adult endeavour.

In no psychic soil, too, does seed, bad as well as good, strike such deep root, grow so rankly or bear fruit so quickly or so surely (Hall, as cited in Jensen, 2015).

Hall described adolescence in a truly optimistic fashion as ‘the birthday of the imagination’ and to this day this still rings true, and fiercely so. But Hall also asserted that adolescence is inherently a time of ‘storm and stress’ when all young people go through an emotional and behavioural upheaval before establishing a more stable equilibrium in adulthood. This age of exhilaration also encompasses a range of dangers including impulsivity, risk-taking, mood swings, lack of insight and poor judgement.

Parents the world over have struggled with and pondered the class of humans we call teenagers and this exciting but seemingly treacherous period of development. To navigate such a turbulent time is difficult for any family, when daughters become unfamiliar, unpredictable and bent on being different. It can be confusing, exhilarating, frustrating and maddening, all at the same time. We can take some comfort from history and know that we are not alone!

Aristotle concluded more than 2 300 years ago that ‘the

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young are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine’.

A shepherd in William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale laments this period of youth, wishing that ‘there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty’ (Dobbs, 2011). Hall’s ‘storm and stress’ links in with Freud’s view of adolescence as an expression of torturous psychosexual conflict. Current child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg refers to the ‘princess bitchface’ syndrome. Adolescence, through the ages, it would seem, has always been a problem.

Until quite recently, the neuroscience of the adolescent brain was underfunded, under-researched and certainly not well understood. Scientists believed that brain growth was complete by the kindergarten years. This incorrect assumption promoted a number of myths and misconceptions about the teenage brain and adolescent behaviour that are now so ingrained that they have become accepted social beliefs: teens are impulsive and emotional because of surging hormones; teens are rebellious and oppositional because they want to be difficult and different; the die is cast at puberty as far as IQ or apparent talents are concerned (Jensen, 2015).

With the development of brain-imaging technologies, it has been possible to view the teen brain in sufficient detail to study both its physical development and patterns of activity with very surprising results. How mistaken we were to view it through the prism of adult neurobiology. When it comes to functioning, wiring and capacity, all are different in the adolescent brain (Jensen, 2015).

Between the twelfth and twenty-fifth years, the frontal lobes of the brain experience an extensive reorganisation that can be likened to a network and wiring upgrade. The axons — the long fibres that nerve cells use to send signals to other neurons — gradually become more insulated with a fatty substance called myelin which serves to boost the axons’ transmission speed up to one hundred times.

Simultaneously, dendrites, the branchlike connections between neurons, grow ‘twiggier’ and the most heavily used synapses — the chemical junctures across which axons and dendrites communicate — grow richer and stronger. At the same time, the synapses that see little use begin to wither. This synaptic pruning causes the brain’s cortex — the area of our brain where we do much of our conscious and complicated thinking — to become more efficient. Because the brain is winnowing, ridding itself of unused neural circuitry, it is highly malleable and in a state of experience-dependent re-organisation.

B.J. Casey, neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar, has spent substantial time applying brain and genetic studies to understanding adolescence, and sees past the distracting, dopey, monosyllabic teenager to view the adaptive adolescent within.

We’re so used to seeing adolescence as a problem.

But the more we learn about what really makes this period unique, the more adolescence starts to seem like a highly functional, even adaptive period. It’s exactly what you‘d need to do the things you have to do then (Casey, as cited in Dobbs, 2011).

As these brain changes are slowly taking shape, teenagers tend to rely on a part of their brain called the amygdala during decision-making, because their frontal lobes are less reliable. The amygdala (part of the brain’s limbic system) is responsible for impulsive and aggressive behaviour and its dominance makes adolescents more prone to react with gut instincts. A fully-developed frontal cortex offers a check of emotions and impulses originating from the amygdala but this is not the case for teenagers.

This slow and uneven development of the brain offers an alluringly pithy explanation of teenage behaviour.

Teenagers are highly social creatures who gravitate towards their peers and crave excitement, novelty and risk. While this gives parents cause for concern (and we often find ourselves stumbling as we walk the blurry line between helping and hindering our children as they move towards adulthood), it is critical to look beyond these behaviours and with a view to the adaptive edge that this period of development affords youth. Teenagers meet more people and create wider circles of friends. Their risk-taking often requires moving out of the home, into less secure situations. Resilience and self-confidence grow. They gravitate towards their peers and away from their parents for a most powerful reason — to invest in the future rather than the past. While they may have entered a world made by their parents, they will live most of their lives in a world run by their peers, and building relationships with them will bear critically on success.

Recent research has begun to view current brain findings in a brighter, more flattering light, one distinctly coloured by evolutionary theory. The adaptive-adolescent story casts the teen less as a rough draft than as an exquisitely sensitive, highly adaptable creature, wired almost perfectly for the job of moving from the safety of home into the complicated world outside. This sits well with biology’s most fundamental principle, that of natural selection.

Selection does not tolerate dysfunctional traits. If adolescence is a collection of these — angst, idiocy, haste, impulsiveness, selfishness and reckless bumbling — then how did these traits survive selection (Dobbs, 2011)?

Teenagers can be moody, impulsive, and exasperating but wonderful, interesting and full of promise. They are energetic, caring and capable of making many contributions to their communities. Science attests that the teen brain is at a very special point in development which offers unique vulnerabilities but also the ability to harness exceptional strengths. In times of doubt, when our teens are at their most maddening, take inspiration in the prolonged plasticity of those late-developing frontal areas as they slowly mature. This delayed completion heightens flexibility just as our teenagers confront and enter the world they will face as adults, fit for purpose.

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GRACE MCLAY / 10R (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Dobbs, D. (October 2011). Beautiful brains. National Geographic Magazine. Retrieved from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text Jensen, F. (2015). The teenage brain — A neuroscientist’s survival guide to raising adolescents and young adults. HarperCollins: London.

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The grand gap MS SUSAN GARSON, DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES | 17 JULY 2015

I

n a few months the final exams for the Year 12s will be over. The stress and anxiety caused by the frenetic pace of school life will subside. Then comes the reality of deciding what to do next. What about twelve months off between school and university to mark the transition from one phase of life to another? The notion of the gap year has been around for a long time, and sounds like a great idea, but how does one make it truly successful and not just a hiatus? New knowledge and myriad skills and positive experiences await those who embark on a gap year in the right manner.

A gap year can take many forms. Students may, for example, defer enrolment at university or participation in a career to complete a year of travel, special venture or activity, to engage in service learning, or to work or spend time in another meaningful way (Fitzsimmons, McGrath & Ducey, 2011). The whole point is to ‘take stock’ somewhere separate from one’s home, familiar pressures and expectations. Some gap years also involve students stretching themselves even more to purposefully live in a country where they do not speak the language. As Director of International Studies and a German teacher, I will declare a particular interest here. This enables them to immerse themselves in a new language in daily life activities, learn it in a structured way at a language school or utilise their new-found skills when working with a family, in a capacity such as an ‘au pair’. The social norms that school leavers are used to are likely to be challenged, requiring them to be more adaptive and sensitive to cultural differences (CESA Languages Abroad).

In 2014, approximately four per cent of Brisbane Girls Grammar school leavers deferred their university offers in

order to complete an overseas exchange, employment or other activities. The benefits of undertaking a gap year are many and varied, but are very much linked to the approach of the individual. Students may gain a fresh perspective and purpose and become excited about embarking on a journey, new and unknown. Travel to exotic and different places, listening to and learning different languages and connecting with new friends, is all part of the mix. Dr Joe O’Shea, author of Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in the Ways the World Needs, believes that the communicative and relational capacity built while on a gap year enables students to ‘remove the focus on themselves and shift to become more others-oriented’ (cited in Leocata, 2014, p. 2). Gap years involving foreign language learning, in particular, can allow students to deepen their engagement with others. The value of building this kind of intercultural capacity cannot be underestimated, in terms of the self-confidence and maturity students return with and put to use in tutorial sessions, other aspects of university life or in the working world at large. Indeed, such skills may enhance employability. Furthermore, Moore (2012, p. 2) suggests that ‘experience has its own currency’ and that some of the most valuable things in life are learnt when ‘we are left to our own devices’. Not everything during a gap year will be charming and anticipated, and risks may have to be taken.

Certainly, it is these risks that could generate uncertainties amongst parents when discussing the prospect of gap years with their daughters. Parents may fear, for example, that the academic momentum gathered through an education at a school like ours would be disrupted by taking a break. If they break away from formal education, will they be able to

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re-enter ‘the zone’? These concerns are understandable, but it is worth pointing out that many educators support taking a gap year, assured that students will not only get back on the ‘academic treadmill’ (Hoder, 2014, p. 1), but will also be able to run faster, be more engaged and keep going in a purposeful manner. It is informative that universities such as Harvard and Yale have advocated for gap year experiences and supported scholarships and the deferral of courses for some years (Fitzsimmons et al., 2011).

Researchers from The University of Sydney report that a gap year can pay academic dividends. Professor Andrew Martin and his colleagues from the Faculty of Education have traced more than 900 students in Arts, Social Sciences and Science through their first four semesters at The University of Sydney. Professor Martin states that ‘when used constructively, gap years helped students to gain skills, obtain better grades and did not slow their rate of progress through their courses’ (cited in Maslen, 2013, p. 2).

Although the researchers did not have specific data about the activities that the students undertook, it was thought ‘likely that structured volunteering, part-time work or language-based travel in a foreign country could help develop skills useful for university study’ (Boyd & Creagh, 2013; Maslen, 2013, p. 2). Professor Martin’s most recent research found overwhelmingly positive effects on student motivation, and genuine achievement. He gives excellent advice to students and states that, ‘once school is over, post-school education is a new chapter, a fresh start, a blank slate … it might mean having an honest look at what academic skills they need to enhance to make university a more positive experience’ (cited in Maslen, op.cit.). His earlier 2010 study reported that those students who undertook a gap year were far more motivated than those who had directly enrolled from high school. Linda H. Connelly, a counsellor at New Trier Township High School District 203 near Chicago, agrees with Professor Martin and adds that gap year programmes are beneficial for those who might not yet be ‘mature enough’ for university as well as ‘burnt-out overachievers’ (Sparks, 2010, p. 2).

There are a number of factors that make a gap year grand.

The first is structure. ‘Gappers’ need a road map to a successful year. The starting point is actually the final goal.

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What do they want to get out of the experience and what particular outcomes do they seek? Perhaps students seek personal growth experiences, work or academic pursuits, or an immersion language experience. The key here is that each student must define those outcomes for herself rather than reflect an image of well-meaning parents. Students must be allowed to make these choices on their own (Fitzsimmons et al., 2011). This is not to diminish the value of encouragement from parents and the step-in guidance provided by professional school counsellors. They are excellent human resources who can introduce students to gap fairs and other gap year programmes, can guide students through the broader goal-setting process, and assist in applying to the right university courses of their choice. In addition, counsellors direct students through the deferral process and safeguard the right credentials to support them in a chosen career. This saves the confusion of not having a plan on their return from abroad.

Our School provides a great deal of this kind of step-in guidance which helps school leavers to see the gap year not just as a space that needs to be filled, but rather as a grand, planned experience that contributes to the development of the whole person. Director of Post Secondary Planning, Mr Jim Seaha, assists students to formulate their plans, gain acceptance to university, defer study, and embark on personal growth experiences. Mr Seaha also organises a ‘Personal Growth Evening’ in even years, the next of which will be held in Term I, 2016. This event encompasses discussions and advice around tertiary study and personal growth pathways, and engages guest speakers to share their wisdom and experiences with current students.

The value of a grand gap year is real. Life-changing events, turning points, and unfamiliar paths, all add to personal growth, new visions for the future, increased intercultural awareness, heightened academic engagement and career prospects. We should not fear that students taking gap years will miss out or fall behind, but rather, look forward to the ways in which their involvement in a new world of experiences will broaden and enhance their academic, social and cultural outlooks.

PHOEBE ROE / 11O

REFERENCES Boyd, S. & Creagh, S. (2013). Study links a gap year to better university grades. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/study-links-a-gap-year-to-better-universitygrades-18275, 1–3 CESA Languages Abroad. Retrieved from https://cesalanguages.com/cesa-language-courses/gap-year-language-courses#language%0competance Fitzsimmons, W., McGrath, M. & Ducey, C. (2011). Should I take time off? Retrieved from http://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/should-i-take-time, 1–13 Hoder, R. (2014). Why your high school senior should take a gap year. Retrieved from http://time.com/97065/gap-year-college/, 1–2 Leocata, A. (2014). Mind the gap: An analysis of gap years. Retrieved from http://harvardpolitics.com/harvard/gap-year/, 1–3 Maslen, G. (2013). Students find clarity in gap years. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/students-find-clarity-in-gap-years-20131110-2x9p3.html, 1–3 Moore, S. (2012). In defence of the gap year. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/03/gap-years-gorgeous-broaden-mind, 1–2 Sparks, S. (2010). Research suggests a ‘gap year’ motivates students. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/09/15/04gap.h30.html, 1-–9

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Look, there’s a rock …

MS NATALIE SMITH, DEAN OF STUDIES AND PLANNING | 24 JULY 2015

‘D

o you have a lower attention span than a goldfish?’

This provocative question is the title of an article

by Aamna Mohdin (2015) following the publication of a study commissioned by the Microsoft Corporation, which found that the average human attention span has dropped from twelve seconds in 2002 to eight seconds in 2013. This puts humans after goldfish which have an attention span of nine seconds.

The study involved a survey of 2 000 Canadians over the age of eighteen, followed by the use of EEG (electroencephalography) to examine the brain activity of more than 100 participants. Researchers found a decrease in human attention span across all age groups and genders.

According to the study, ‘forty-four per cent of Canadians have to ‘concentrate hard to stay focused on tasks’, and forty-five per cent get ‘side tracked from what they’re doing by unrelated thoughts or day dreams’(Mohdin, 2015). The researchers correlated the inability to focus on a single task to the adoption of technology, the volume of media consumption, use of social media and multi-screen behaviour. The study went on to suggest that people’s long-term focus is being diminished by increased digital consumption (Mohdin, 2015).

If this is the case, what are the implications of this erosion of cognitive attention for our society as a whole and — in our context here at Brisbane Girls Grammar School — for our students?

Research conducted by Rosen, Carrier and Cheever (as cited in Paul, 2013) focusing on the effects of media multitasking on students’ learning, found that it does have an impact.

Over a fifteen minute period, 263 middle school, high school

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and college students were observed as they studied.

Participants in this study were asked to ‘study something important, including homework, an upcoming examination or project, or reading a book for a course’. During this time, the observers marked down once a minute what the students were doing as they studied. The check-list included: reading a book, writing on paper, typing on the computer, using email, looking at Facebook, engaging in instant messaging, texting, talking on the phone, watching television, listening to music, doing schoolwork and surfing the Web. It was noted that students’ ‘on-task’ activity started to decline after the two-minute mark as they responded to text messages or checked their Facebook feeds. It was observed that, over the fifteen minutes, only about sixty-five per cent of the time was used by students for doing their school work.

According to Annie Paul (2013), attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment while studying, doing homework and sitting in class has become common behaviour among young people. She further points to evidence that suggests that ‘when students multitask while doing their schoolwork, their learning is far spottier and shallower than if the work had their full attention. They understand and remember less, and they have a greater difficulty transferring their learning to new contexts’. The problem with media multitasking while doing schoolwork is that activities such as texting, emailing, posting on Facebook are mentally complex activities which draw on the same mental resources — using language and parsing meaning — as those demanded by schoolwork.

After studying the effects of divided attention on learning, Professor David Meyer of the University of Michigan (as cited in Paul, 2013) states that:

The brain simply cannot do two complex tasks at the same time. It can only happen when the two tasks are both very simple and when they don’t compete with each other for the same mental resources. An example would be folding laundry and listening to the weather report on the radio. That’s fine. However, doing homework and being on Facebook, each of these tasks is very demanding, and each of them uses the same area of the brain, the prefrontal cortex.

The negative outcomes that occur when students multitask are well documented.

First, assignments take longer to finish. This is due to both the time spent on the other activities and the time required for the student to re-familiarise themselves with the assignment material once they return to it.

Second, increased mental fatigue caused by repeatedly dropping and picking up mental threads can lead to an increase in errors. There is a high cognitive cost to switching between tasks. For example, a student who responds to emails while writing an English essay is constantly switching between using the formal, precise language required for the English essay and the casual style of language required for the email. This can be exhausting.

Third, the memory of what students are working on (learning) also becomes impaired. This is especially true if attention is divided right at the moment of encoding (original saving) the memory. Distraction can lead to the brain processing and storing information in different, less useful ways.

Meyer sees the long-term problem being the possibility of ‘raising a generation that is learning more shallowly than young people in the past. The depth of their processing information is considerably less, because of all the

distractions available to them as they learn’ (as cited in Paul, 2013). ‘Given that these distractions aren’t going away, academic and even professional achievement may depend on the ability to ignore digital temptations while learning’ (Paul, 2013).

Forty years ago, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted the famous ‘Marshmallow Test’, which found that children who displayed greater levels of delayed gratification were more likely to succeed with school and in their careers. In an updated, information-age equivalent of Mischel’s Marshmallow Test, Rosen and his team of researchers tested a group of college students by asking them to watch a thirtyminute videotaped lecture. During the lecture, some students were sent two text messages while others were sent four or zero text messages. When asked to complete a test on the content of the videotaped lecture afterwards, results showed that those students who were interrupted more, performed worse than those who weren’t interrupted. An interesting discovery was that, of those students who received text messages, the students who replied straight away performed more poorly on the test than those students who waited until the end of the lecture to reply (Rosen et al. as cited in Paul, 2013).

So where does this lead us? What are the implications for teachers and parents, for students and children? What sort of structures or disciplines do we need to put into our classrooms and our homes to assist our students to become more focused when they are learning? The first step must be to develop within our students a consciousness or awareness of their behaviour and then to assist them to develop strategies and techniques to counter distractions. After all, the world is a complex place requiring complex solutions to complex problems that will need greater attention than a goldfish can give us.

REFERENCES Mohdin, A. (2015, May 18). Do you have a lower attention span than a goldfish? IFL Science. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/brain/do-you-have-lower-attentionspan-goldfish Paul, A. M. (2013, May 3). You’ll never learn. The Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/multitasking_while_studying_ divided_attention_and_technological_gadgets.2.html

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JAN JORGENSEN (GOELDNER, 1960)

‘Brisbane Girls Grammar School’ Gregory Terrace, Spring Hill, Brisbane by Jan Jorgensen (Goeldner, 1960), oil on linen canvas.

Commissioned by Brisbane Girls Grammar School to celebrate its 140th anniversary. Officially unveiled at Grammar Women in the Arts, 15 October 2015.

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Grammar Women: A legacy of leadership at Girls Grammar

W

hat makes a great leader? Do certain skills, characteristics and experiences combine to shape successful leaders? And can a school’s culture and approach to education provide an environment conducive to nurturing leaders?

The Brisbane Girls Grammar School 2016-2019 Strategic Design describes a Grammar girl as being curious, principled, adventurous, balanced, and a leader—someone who inspires contribution to a greater purpose. It defines leadership and advocacy as being ‘demonstrated in a willingness—among Grammar girls and young women, alumnae and staff—to speak up, challenge the status quo and take direct action against injustice’. It states that ‘an international outlook and open-minded approach to life’ is encouraged and cultivated through meaningful engagement with affiliate schools, our own diverse Girls Grammar community and the wider world.

Throughout the decades, Brisbane Girls Grammar School has nurtured a proud legacy of leadership.

Understanding the impact a Girls Grammar education has had on the success and leadership abilities of Grammar Women over time, can only serve to help positively shape the School’s leaders of the future.

During 2014, in anticipation of the 140th anniversary of Brisbane Girls Grammar School, we undertook a project to investigate and gather the stories of our School’s legacy of leadership.

Interviews conducted with Grammar Women who graduated between 1954 and 2013 sought to draw out their experiences of leadership and Service at the School and to understand how these experiences shaped their futures. The following provides an insight into their responses.

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CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS When asked to reflect upon their time at Girls Grammar and to consider the culture, values and ethos of the School during their time as students, there were many and varied responses that reflected the formative experiences of Grammar Women spanning multiple decades.

Among these responses, prominent themes emerged that underpinned the experience of Grammar girls across the ages—girls can do anything they put their minds to; they are entitled to equitable treatment; and with hard work, all girls can reach their potential. ‘Nil Sine Labore’ was considered to be a core and guiding message.

BGGS encouraged every girl to achieve to the best of her ability and to strive for excellence. The School stressed that we, as young women, could be anything we wanted to be.

That was a powerful message in the 1980s!

Elsina Wainwright (1988) There was an ethos of excellence at Girls Grammar and a commitment to strive for it in whatever the chosen field.

Girls were encouraged to be multi-dimensional, to have many interests and to be curious about the world. The School inspired academic excellence and encouraged a joy for learning, but not at the expense of social responsibility.

I ’ve felt the influence of my years at BGGS in every aspect of my life. Dena Blackman (1955)

Girls’ social, emotional and ethical development was fostered to cultivate the ‘whole’ girl. Students were given the freedom to pursue subjects for which they were passionate, while involvement in art, music and sport was supported and encouraged.

We were absolutely blessed with opportunities. Chloe Yap (2013) Many Grammar Women described a strong School spirit with an emphasis on helping others and a supportive culture where lifelong friendships were forged.

The culture I experienced was unlike anything else—the School highly valued academic excellence, community service, and encouraged each girl to realise her potential in numerous ways ... I strived hard to achieve goals and

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excellent results. It was like the ‘invisible push’ that comes with a culture of high achievement. Stephanie Carter (2007)

BECOMING AGENTS OF CHANGE While opportunities to contribute to change in School life and beyond appeared to have been somewhat limited during the 1950s through the 1970s, alumnae from the 1980s and beyond described a growing mood of empowerment within the School to effect change.

However, discussion and debate was still a critical part of the earlier Brisbane Girls Grammar educational experience, particularly during the sixties when students were encouraged to explore their positions on a wide range of issues. During that period, news about Vietnam and student protests, new music, art, fashion and scientific discoveries dominated. There were debates and public speeches, lunchtime discussions about euthanasia, and in 1969, a number of alumnae recalled the whole School stopping to witness the moon landing.

Moving into the 1980s and beyond, School leadership positions, Service programmes and other co-curricular programmes (including debating, Youth Parliaments, Young Model UN competitions, Antipodeans Abroad, Duke of Edinburgh, overseas study tours etc.) had a significant impact on the worldviews of alumnae. They provided opportunities to develop their ideas and opinions and to explore methods for advocating for positive change. Overseas travel altered perspectives and inspired interest in international politics and other cultures.

In particular, the Year 10 Community Service Programme had a critical impact on the thinking of a number of alumnae, encouraging them to expand their knowledge about global issues.

Throughout these decades, Brisbane Girls Grammar School teachers were described as being responsive to new ideas and supportive of student participation, encouraging students to step up and follow their passions, to create opportunities and to lead.

I never felt constrained or limited in my ability to initiate new ideas that could contribute to change. Benedicte Galichet (2000)

During their time at School, many alumnae felt they were encouraged to not only develop their own positions on issues, but to also influence positive change. Girls were encouraged to excel in academic areas and to give back to the world around them. Invited guests from the wider community presented on local and international affairs, and opened their minds to life after School.

Every subject seemed to inspire desires to have an occupation in those various fields. Although I was more artistically oriented, I remember always sitting in my science classes wondering if I’d maybe one day become a marine biologist or vet. Sarah-Jane St Clair (1995)

hysics taught me to view the world in a way that didn’t P come naturally to me at all, and that was wonderfully revelatory. Elsina Wainwright (1988)

odern History opened my eyes to past and current conflicts, M and the ramifications on communities and economic development. It gave me an insight into different cultures and ways of life, and made me appreciate how lucky we are in Australia. Suzie Fraser (2000)

THE IMPACT OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES ON SELF-BELIEF Overwhelmingly, participation in co-curricular activities was thought to have contributed to the self-belief and confidence of alumnae. These activities broadened their horizons and helped them realise that ‘giving something a go’ was far more enjoyable than sitting on the sidelines, and that you need not be a champion to participate. They learned that with practice, determination and teamwork, they could be a part of something bigger and positive.

In addition to building self-belief, co-curricular activities were often described as having contributed to a better understanding of self, through the exploration of passions, strengths and interests, and by fostering a broader sense of community awareness. These activities were thought to have provided confidence, resilience and determination, characteristics that would not have been fully understood through academic pursuits alone. In fact, many alumnae could draw a direct link between co-curricular pursuits and their future career paths and successes.

I f I had to choose one aspect of school life, I would say the most powerful influence on my leadership skills was participation in extra-curricular sports. Geordan Shannon (2002)

FINDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD Eventually, all students gravitate towards certain subjects that ignite their imaginations or stir a passion within them.

These early educational foundations shaped students’ thinking and influenced their outlook on the world, fostering a sense of curiosity and an excitement for learning.

The enthusiastic engagement of teachers was recognised as having had a profound impact, helping alumnae understand the difference they could make in the world.

THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF ROLE MODELS As girls enter secondary school they are exposed to important figures who can make a lasting impression and sometimes even change the course of their futures. For the alumnae interviewed, it was evident that girls who held leadership roles—Head Girls, Prefects, and House, Sporting, Arts and Academic Captains—were seen as important role models who embodied ‘Nil Sine Labore’. They embodied qualities that were both admired and aspired to, qualities including grace, composure, patience, fairness, positivity and empathy.

I vividly remember how the Head Girls could hold the focus of the room. They were respected by students and teachers alike, not because they demanded it, but because they had earned it. I really admired the way they could make each student feel a part of the BGGS community. Georgia Bright (2004)

For the women who held these leadership positions, the experiences were equally as important in providing practical opportunities to discover what leadership was, to lead and work as an effective team and to hone time management skills. These roles were taken seriously and were considered an honour. They recalled fulfilling their roles to the best of their abilities, leading by example in the hope they would inspire the girls around them. ‘Confidence building’ was a recurring term used to describe the impact these leadership positions had on their own personal development.

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I left school feeling confident about life and my ability to surmount the challenges that lay ahead. Benedicte Galichet (2000)

Many alumnae also found role models in their teachers— friendly and understanding teachers, some with incredible technical knowledge, and others, ‘simply brilliant’. The teachers commanded respect and had many qualities that girls admired and sought to emulate.

Old girls returning to the School to share their experiences were also acknowledged as important and inspiring role models. Being exposed to excellent female role models who were professionally successful was widely considered to be an important part of the experience at Girls Grammar.

I would listen with awe and hope that someday, somehow, I could be as successful as them! Geordan Shannon (2002)

KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP Each person’s concept of leadership is naturally slightly different and can change with lived experiences in leadership positions and as team members. According to the alumnae interviewed, while having adequate skills and experience was a given, other key aspects of leadership included the ability to mobilise people towards a vision or goal; bringing out the best in others; doing what is right, and not always what is popular; giving people the best opportunity to live their full potential; having integrity, respect and compassion; stepping up and leading by example; being an effective communicator and listener; and motivating and inspiring.

While many effective leaders have these skills, it does not necessarily make them effective, ethical leaders. The women interviewed described the attributes of ethical leaders as: having strong moral, personal and professional beliefs; being fair, honest and courageous; having integrity, humility and empathy; using social and emotional intelligence; having the ability to delegate, trust and relinquish control; being consistent and following through; having quiet determination and discipline; displaying flexibility; having confidence, but not taking yourself too seriously; and being a good person who earns respect.

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Time and experience were considered important factors in redefining ideas about leadership. Many had lived through the experience of working with ineffective leaders, which made them more appreciative of good leaders. Some realised that popularity contests could only get a person so far, and that it was important to make the right decision, which may not necessarily be the popular decision.

NURTURING LEADERS OF THE FUTURE While alumnae acknowledged that good leadership cannot be taught, they recognised that many skills and experiences contribute to the making of an effective leader, and that with an open mind and great mentors, anything is possible. They recognised that leadership skills develop with experience, opportunity, observation, a commitment to self-improvement and with growing selfconfidence. They also suggested that leadership cannot be forced on the unwilling and that some people have more natural inclinations towards leadership than others.

Alumnae were asked about the aspects of School life they believed to have impacted their ability to effectively lead later in life. Some described the culture in general at Girls Grammar as an essential part of their leadership training—a culture where girls were given opportunities to lead both formally and informally, and to make mistakes and learn from them. They learned that leadership was not about status or benefits, rather it was about delivering the service and deserving the position of trust that it entailed.

Many believed the academic experience at Girls Grammar provided unparalleled opportunities to cultivate critical thinking and analytical and problem-solving skills. Asking questions and developing an ability to articulate ideas was valued and underpinned by the concept that worthwhile outcomes result from hard work.

Being in classrooms with other bright and engaged young women was crucial. The hard skills like problem-solving, decision-making and communication skills were developed through academic work. Georgina Horsburgh (2005)

LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES Throughout the years and decades since graduating, many of the Grammar Women interviewed have forged successful careers and leadership positions. They were asked about how they developed their leadership capacity and managed challenging people and situations.

Building resilience and not taking things too personally or yearning to be liked was considered key, as was having integrity and self-confidence. Some applied universal principals of fairness and equity to their management styles and aimed to be just and forthright in managing challenging scenarios. Others suggested networks should be called upon for advice and solidarity, rather than facing tough situations alone.

Displaying empathy and an ability to see things from another’s perspective was considered important, and to remember that kindness should not be interpreted as weakness—leaders can be soft, yet strong.

hen you know you are right, be persistent and build W an indestructible case. Jan Richardson (Murphy, 1983)

Alumnae were also asked about the challenges they believed the Grammar girls of today faced in the future.

The responses ranged from climate change and global warming concerns through to the glass ceiling and the gender pay gap. They recognised that while so much progress had been made, balancing motherhood and careers in a male-dominated social structure continued to pose challenges for women and that it was difficult to ‘have it all’ all at once. However, they were hopeful that the growing number of women assuming senior leadership positions alongside a groundswell of men supportive of such progression would continue to provide in-roads for talented younger women in the future.

Others recognised the rapid pace with which the job market was changing and that it would be important for girls to be generalist enough to adapt their skills to changing careers, but specialist enough to make a meaningful contribution.

PARTING WORDS OF WISDOM FROM TODAY’S LEADERS TO TOMORROW’S Finally, the Grammar Women were asked to reflect on what they wish they had known as a girl leaving School. For the girls currently making their way through Girls Grammar, and particularly for those preparing to graduate and find their place in the world, these are valuable parting words of wisdom from past and current leaders, to the leaders of the future.

elf-belief is vital … Achievements may come over many S years and in various forms but hard work and application are needed to succeed in a career. Just don't expect it all to happen at once! There will be successes and failures in career and personal life. Enjoy the successes and be resilient and roll with the failures but keep optimistic. Learning is a lifelong process. Rosemary Doyle (Henzell, 1967)

Think about your life goals and who you want to be—this makes it easier to find a career that aligns with your goals and will help with the perpetual struggle for work-life balance. Benedicte Galichet (2000) Nurture your networks and always follow through. Talent is nothing without hard work, but cultivate your resilience—you’ll always need it. Georgina Horsburgh (2005)

Never take the easy option, take the right option. Sally Farquhar (2006)

ife is an individual effort which is enriched, enabled and L enhanced by others, but which relies, in the end, on you …

Seek out the experiences in life that have the most meaning and most happiness for you. Don’t waste time on people, things, activities or situations that are not important and do not give you a sense of satisfaction and reward. Do all you can to earn your living doing something that fills you with joy ... Nicola Beadman (Fulton-Kennedy, 1971)

ou don’t have to make everyone happy. Be proud of small Y achievements and don’t feel the need compare yourself to other girls who have graduated with you or before you— be proud of who you are. Michelle Pham (2010) and Lucy Tonge (2011)

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PERSPECTIVES | 2015

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IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVES M S JAC I N DA E U L E R , P R I N C I PA L

A word after a word after a word is power (Margaret Atwood).

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t Girls Grammar, girls are inspired to have the courage to find their voice and to use it with confidence. To express opinions and ideas, to defend a position, to make a case or to connect with others, requires an ability to think and to articulate an argument, and the freedom to deliver with confidence. These skills and qualities are highly valued and constantly nurtured.

This year, we embarked on the challenging and rewarding process of formulating the School’s new Strategic Design—it contains the driving philosophical approach that guides how we educate Grammar girls. The introduction captures a little of how our broad, liberal education helps to shape this learning: At Girls Grammar we will inspire girls to dare to dream, without fear of failure, and to test the unfamiliar; they will develop enduring life and leadership skills and become resilient and adventurous in spirit. Challenged beyond the classroom to strengthen their minds and bodies, Grammar girls are adaptable young women who readily embrace challenge, experience growth through performance and develop grit and determination.

Whether in the classroom or beyond, Grammar girls are constantly challenged to think and to problem solve, to formulate responses and to articulate them. Girls are presented with opportunities across multiple platforms to find and use their voices, in an environment where, if they stumble or fall, they will have the strength and support to regroup and rechallenge. This fundamental preparation for their lives beyond this School will be with them long into the future.

I am proud that we graduate girls with exciting ideas, interesting opinions and the confidence to express them. It is our very great pleasure to see them go out into the world, in whatever field they choose, to apply their ideas passionately and with purpose.

Please enjoy reading this year’s student Perspectives, a selection of the girls’ unique voices.

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ALISON BECKEY / 9R (DETAIL)

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PHILOSOPHY OF LEARNING JOURNEY JESSICA MANGOS, YEAR 7 | 15 JULY 2015

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n 2015, Year 7 and 8 students participated in the School’s unique and tailor-made Philosophy of Learning course. Students explore issues such as organisation, mindset, failure, resilience, brain science, metacognition and thinking skills. Our approach emphasises the learning journey and that success is not necessarily always linear. In fact, students are encouraged to view disappointment as a wonderful opportunity for growth.

Year 7 students were asked to write a poem encapsulating as much as they could about their Philosophy of Learning journey during their first term at the School. Jessica’s poem was a wonderful expression of how she had internalised the term’s curriculum.

We are who we are and that is good enough.

It is all about our achievement and while beating someone else is a bonus it should never consume us.

When we fail, learn to fail well and try to be better next time.

Resilience is no more than experience lived well.

To be inquisitive and ask questions because no question is ever stupid.

Show empathy and have a heart as big as Cupid’s.

Take the advice given and use it, don’t abuse it.

Study hard and study well, don’t leave it till the last minute.

Keep on going and don’t ever accept limits.

Don’t be mean but always be keen.

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THE VALUE OF SPORT SARAH TISDALL, YEAR 12

| 24 JULY 2015

The most important thing in life is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well (Pierre Baron de Coubertin).

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n honour of the founder of the modern Olympics and all that he stood for, the Pierre de Coubertin Award was created, which is awarded annually to one student from each high school in Australia. The award aims to spread awareness of the Olympic values and increase participation in sport. This year, I was extremely lucky to receive this award. Over two days, all of the Pierre de Coubertin Award recipients from around Queensland attended a two-day workshop which included leadership activities, a high ropes course, a presentation ceremony and a seminar with a panel of five inspiring Olympians — Sally Callie (BGGS Rowing Co-ordinator and triple Olympian), John Callie, Duncan Free, Natalie Cook and Leiston Pickett.

The workshop inspired me to think differently about sport.

I realised that sport is so much more than a game you win or lose. It is so much more than building physical strength. In fact, I now realise that sport is about learning values and life lessons, which can be applied in our everyday lives for the greater good.

Of the many valuable lessons that I learnt at this workshop and through sport, three stand out to me: to focus on the process rather than the outcome, to embrace failure, and to give it everything you’ve got. All of these lessons can be learnt and developed in a safe environment in sport, ready to use every day.

I began to learn about focusing on the process rather than the outcome at the free throw line in basketball. Mr Fogarty taught me that it’s not so much about the ball going in the hoop, as it is about the process: balance, elbow, elevation, followthrough. If we focus on the process then the outcome will take care of itself, but even if it doesn’t, we can improve our shot far more by focusing on the process. You don’t win a rowing race by focusing on the finish line or the gold medal, you win by focusing on the process of each individual stroke, which Pierre de Coubertin refers to as the ‘fight’. If we can put everything into the ‘fight’ and have no regrets, I believe this is triumph in itself, and more important than the gold medal.

During the process, it is inevitable that you will fail at some point in time, which brings me to my second realisation, that failing is perhaps more beneficial than succeeding. I have failed many times. One example was last year at rowing, where our crew was determined to be the first ever BGGS First VIII+ to win the Head of the River. We trained incredibly hard for months in preparation, and were shattered when we placed third. Looking back, I realise that we should not have based our success on the end result, but rather, the grit, determination and mental strength that we learnt along the way, as well as the friendships and memories we made. While I’m not saying that we should fail on purpose, if we put in 100

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per cent effort and still do not achieve our goals, we build more resilience and determination than if we had succeeded.

Win or lose, I believe that taking part means that you have already beaten those who never even gave it a go.

Finally, I’ve learnt the importance of giving it everything I’ve got. John Callie (Olympic rower) said that if he could give one piece of advice it would be to give it ‘every iota’, meaning we can’t half-heartedly commit to something if we really want it— and we can’t just want something, we have to REALLY want it and be willing to make sacrifices. Our rowing coach, Paul Pettigrew, lives by the rule ‘near enough is not good enough’, and said that if we can lay our heads down on the pillow at

night and know that we have no regrets then we should be happy. Yet again, this value learnt in sport can translate into every aspect of life—whether it be achieving a certain academic standard, taking a driving test, or making a toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich—we should give it everything.

At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, we have so many opportunities to become involved in sport. I strongly encourage everyone to get involved, enjoy the process, embrace failure and give it everything. More importantly, we must use the lessons and values learnt from sport after school to contribute to something greater than ourselves.

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TRANSITIONING ZOE MCDONALD, YEAR 12

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| 25 AUGUST 2015

here is something so profoundly honest about the feeling at the end of your schooling years. It’s this naïve giggle, a gasp of oversaturated images collected like shiny pieces from older friends, cousins, siblings; it’s this ripple that seems to go through each and every girl, where we take the step from child to adult.

When you are younger, there is a certain sense of submissiveness within you. Whenever an adult confronts you or reprimands you, although you may roll your eyes or initially feel angry, there is always a small part of you that feels guilty at disappointing someone older than you. You are the child, they are the adult — it’s the natural way of things.

It’s in this honesty where we find the fear — the terror at how vast oblivion seems and how dimly lit the path of the future is.

It is the wholly-enveloping, mind-numbing fear of making one of the biggest decisions of our lives. It is where we define ourselves as adults.

But when you reach the critical transition stage, where you’re sitting right on the cusp of adulthood and all the responsibility that comes with it, that disappointment is replaced with disregard, or even contempt; the dynamics have changed. You are no longer the child.

With this decision comes the finality of who you are. You are choosing your identity, and for the first time, you have complete control over what that is. There is no one telling you who you have to be – of course, there is sometimes the persistent push of parents or the grudging grit of teeth from older family members — but for the very first time in your entire life, none of them can do anything about it. You, and you alone, have the final decision.

Your metamorphosis brings with it a new sense of entitlement — an entitlement to respect, from both your peers and your teachers, and from society as a whole. You feel a need to be treated not as inferiors, but as equals. You want to stand in the middle of this firestorm of grades and lectures and unrelenting pressure and scream — you want to be unafraid, despite the all-consuming fear lapping at the edges of it all; you want to be wholly eager, despite the earnest brush of nostalgia against your heart; and you want to be seen completely as an adult, despite your numerous relapses into a state of childishness.

When you’re in that transition stage, where the phases overlap and the line between adult and adolescent becomes hazy, there is a completely foreign feeling that replaces the immaturity and the passivity within you — a need to be respected.

So it is here, amongst these words, where I hope you can remember your final year of school — the tears, the fervent joy of taking the final step, and most of all, how you blazed so brightly amongst the darkness of the future.

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IS PURE ALTRUISM POSSIBLE? JOSEFINE GANKO, YEAR 12, SENIOR MERLE WEAVER PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION WINNING SPEECH | 20 NOVEMBER 2015

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onsider a thirty-year-old nurse. This nurse has spent the last ten years of her life working in hospitals in developing nations. Many people would consider her to be the embodiment of selflessness. But the question I raise today is, is selflessness even possible? This nurse would surely gain immense satisfaction from her work, as well as praise from her peers, making her work, in many ways, selfish in nature. After all, if you are doing something that makes you feel good, isn’t it selfish?

It is entirely possible that those who devote their lives to what we see as altruism are in fact just as selfish, if not more so, than everyone else. As cynical as it may sound, a life spent chasing personal satisfaction is the height of selfishness in many regards.

As much as I hate to quote the dictionary, it supports my argument here. The dictionary defines altruism as ‘the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others’. But as humans, we can’t honestly claim that we would continue to do something for other people if we got absolutely nothing out of it ourselves, which leads many to believe that altruism is simply a concept, and not a reality.

This paradox is one that I have often pondered, and in many ways, it forms a personal existential crisis, as the foundation of my life rests on the assumption that selflessness is possible.

Yet, as somewhat of an oxymoron, deep down I believe that pure altruism is simply impossible.

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It’s a paradox I’ve personally experienced.

I recently decided that the ultimate altruistic deed for me would be to give blood. The last three times I’ve had blood tests, I’ve passed out, and the idea of donating blood disgusts me to my very core.

But I figured this is what altruism is — giving blood can save lives, but I will personally have a terrible time doing it. But it wasn’t that easy, because the next level of analysis led me to realise the very fact that I was seeking out a selfless pursuit is selfish in its very nature, as well as the fact that I would probably feel pretty good about myself after going through with it.

The sad nature of altruism is that even the most painful of sacrifices for the good of others, will ultimately make the person feel good about themselves, hence making it selfish.

This is why I don’t believe in altruism; I ultimately do not think it is possible to commit an entirely selfless deed.

Full disclosure: I get immense satisfaction from much of the service I do, and when I tell people that I want to pursue a career in a charity such as UN Women, the impressed responses don’t go unnoticed. Does that make me a selfish person? Maybe. I don’t know, and I don’t really like to think about it, to be honest.

This may sound odd to many of you, coming from a service captain after all. In many ways I am admitting that what I do

as service captain may be out of selfishness. Maybe I am incredibly selfish. Maybe the reason I do service is because it makes me feel really good, in which case I’m a pretty terrible person. You can see why this is giving me so much strife.

I heard a fact recently that said that the ventral striatum is the part of the brain that is stimulated when donating to charity, which is the same part of the brain that is active when under the influence of cocaine. This revelation was incredibly worrying to me. After all, maybe I should just give up service and adopt a cocaine addiction, if the end result is the same.

But that’s where you reach the difference. A cocaine high isn’t going to get you anywhere, in fact it will get you absolutely nowhere. A service high however, if that’s what we’re calling it now, is ultimately beneficial to others in need.

Does it really matter if your motive is selfish, if the outcome helps those who need it most?

The unavoidable realisation is that we are all selfish. Despite what anyone in this room may say, we are all ultimately in pursuit of our own happiness, before anything else. I’m currently doing a speech on selflessness, yet I am literally spending half the time talking about myself. It’s simply human nature, self-preservation, survival of the fittest.

At the end of the day, it can’t be seen as a bad thing if what you personally draw satisfaction from helps other people, especially when compared to the alternative of benefitting from the suffering of others.

I would take selfish service over selfish greed any day.

Ultimately what I am trying to say is we are all selfish, but that is not such a bad thing. It makes sense to look after ourselves first and foremost. All I hope is that we direct our selfishness into acts that will also help, or at least not harm, the people around us.

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ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD GRACE MITCHELL, YEAR 10, JUNIOR MERLE WEAVER PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION WINNING SPEECH | 27 NOVEMBER 2015

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ureka! I have struck gold. Five hundred grams of glittering, glowing, glossy gold that will make me a million … no scratch that, a billionaire. But what’s this? It appears reality has crushed my dreams for this piece of heaven is pyrite, commonly called fool’s gold, valued at $21.27.

Good morning special guests, teachers and students. Our world is overflowing with glittering facades, concealing less desirable realities. They are present in fairy tales, for example poor Hansel and Gretel who believed they had found their delicious dream house, when it actually obscured a hungry witch equipped to make a Hansel and Gretel stew. The moral: ‘all that glitters is not gold’, is a proverb and lesson we all must learn. This proverb was based on the aforementioned ‘fool’s gold’ and originated in our old buddy William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, in which Portia could only marry the man who chose the right casket out of three: gold, silver and lead. When the Prince of Morocco came knocking and chose the gold he exclaimed ‘all that glitters is not gold’, after having not chosen the correct casket, which was the lead. Here’s a little secret, Shakespeare, going on 452, is no longer the epitome of the modern man, however, his proverb ‘all that glitters is not gold’ underlies many modern societal trends.

As teenage girls, we believe we are invincible, strong beyond belief, yet we are all too often struck down by human nature: the nature to be deceived by external appearances. We are distracted by dazzle and glamour and glitz … only to find out it can be superficial and worthless.

Click, click, click. The magazine industry and its partner in crime, Photoshop, are perfect models for ‘all that glitters is not gold’. Girlfriend, Dolly, Cosmo Girl and Teen Vogue are all splattered with large images of flawless, tanned and skinny cover girls, who all glitter in the false spotlight of perfection. They

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advocate the aura that if we looked like them for a second we would be more successful, more popular and overall better people. These deceitful publications promote the ideal woman: long tanned legs, wide hips, skinny waist, toned arms and a perfect face featuring not one, but two, eyebrows on fleek. But this image is superficial. The reality is not as golden as those fake tans — the reality is Photoshop. Single airbrush strokes make models skinnier than physically possible and exterminate bulges, bumps and blemishes, inventing a new rare mutation, the mulier fortis A.K.A the perfect woman. However, these glittering illusions are spoiling thousands of girls’ lives as they strive for this dangerous superficial image.

Seventy per cent of Australian teen girls complain of body dissatisfaction, reportedly saying they are more afraid of gaining weight than of a nuclear war, losing loved ones or getting cancer (National Eating Disorders Collaboration, 2015). Their goal of being the glittering ideal woman and how they want to get there is not gold. Bulimia, anorexia, dieting are not gold. Thousands of hours spent at the gym, fretting over how ‘fat’ you are is not gold.

Ruining your future by terrorising your body to achieve a glittering ‘perfect body’ is not gold. This rare, photo-shopped mutation that shines under the spotlight of modern media and girls’ dreams is definitely not gold.

To conclude, we are constantly chasing the glitter, trying to be people, who if real, would be too skinny to live. So, we must always keep this proverb, ‘all that glitters is not gold’, in the back of our mind as just because something may appear priceless or pretty, it’s no sign that it is worth having.

REFERENCES National Eating Disorders Collaboration (2015). Eating Disorders in Australia.

Retrieved from http://www.nedc.com.au/eating-disorders-in-australia

MAJA EATHER / 7O

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CAN WAR EVER REALLY BE WON? JOSEFINE GANKO, YEAR 12 | 1 DECEMBER 2015

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ttending the Anzac Day centenary at Gallipoli is an occasion few Australians can say they have experienced.

As a fortunate recipient of the 2015 Premier’s Anzac prize, I spent two and a half weeks travelling Europe with seventy-nine fellow Queenslanders. Our pilgrimage across the battlefields of the First World War took an extreme emotional toll on every one of us. While we all reacted differently, there was not one person on the tour who didn’t have a moment of realisation. This clarity occurred when the gravity of the conflict we were confronting hit head on. My moment was when I stood in the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, looking at the massive walls of the gate, up to twenty metres high and absolutely covered in the names of the dead. As I stood there, I contemplated all the people — the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives —who suffered so greatly because of the human race’s inability to maintain peace, because of our inability to step away from our animalistic reflexes of violence and destruction. Of course I don’t think anyone wanted this war, or any war for that matter, but unfortunately, violence and conflict are so ingrained in our culture, in our very being. So many lives have been lost, an outcome that can never truly be called a victory. In the case of World War One, no tensions or conflicts were truly resolved; in fact many new ones were spawned. With so much loss and destruction, can war ever really be won?

Anzac Day at Gallipoli was undoubtedly a rare privilege and honour, but surprisingly, it was not the highlight of my trip.

When you stand on the shore at Gallipoli you can see why Australians find this beach so significant. It is a truly breathtaking sight. But as the thousands of Australians piled into the stands, I couldn’t help but feel slightly uneasy at how commercialised it all seemed. There were tickets and merchandise and tour buses, and the thought crossed my

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mind that many of the visitors were there to cross an item off their bucket list. Not that Gallipoli is a poor choice of location as the heart and centre of our war commemorations, but the memorial service that struck a chord with me was at Menin Gate, a ceremony that takes place every single night, with a simple bugle call and occasionally a brief address. This, to me, was true remembrance. Not concentrated around 25 April, and not a tourist destination, just purely people remembering what had happened there. For this reason I was so grateful to be part of a tour that spent an equal amount of time on the arguably more significant western front as at Gallipoli.

While I don’t protest the importance Australians place on Anzac Day at Gallipoli, it is vital we recognise that it was a small part of the war, and that Australian sacrifice on the Western Front was overall much greater — not to mention that other nations endured far greater loss. With this in mind, I decided my personal mission for the tour was to mourn war: to mourn every single unnecessary death in the name of peace.

The notion that many soldiers, especially those at Gallipoli, died in vain, is difficult for many to swallow. I personally believe this to be true, and in many ways it makes what happened far more tragic and relevant in the scheme of Australia’s involvement.

These young Australians were sent into a battlefield with little chance of success, on a mission that was poorly planned, lacking leadership, and not truly necessary to the war effort, for Turkey had not even officially taken any side in this war until imperial forces pushed them in to it. I felt various conflicting emotions as I stood on the beach at Anzac Cove as the sun rose on the 100th anniversary of their landing, and all I could think was how these boys didn’t have to die. While others consider their bravery and mateship, I think of the lives wasted. The fact that I mourn lives unnecessarily lost, rather than celebrate

heroics of naïve young men, who knew no better than to follow ill-conceived orders, certainly does not detract from the value of my commemoration; it is simply a different perspective.

I’ve always thought there should be a strong emphasis on remembrance. The ideal of remembrance however has been tainted by the glorification of war, a facet of war commemoration that prevents any true attempt at honouring those who died. While on the tour, I was faced with various moral dilemmas, regarding the glorification of war. I considered that my very presence on the trip may be contributing to this glorification.

I have always favoured the broader picture, remembering war and tragedy, rather than focusing on Australia’s limited participation. As we spoke about the bravery of the Australian soldiers, I couldn’t help but think of the soldiers from various other nations who faced the same harsh conditions and also put their lives on the line in protection of their countries. The site of the Langemark German Cemetery in Belgium, on the other side of ‘no man’s land’, is truly devastating. In one ten square metre mass grave, 25 000 German soldiers are buried.

In the same vein, far more Turkish soldiers were killed at Gallipoli than Australian soldiers, despite the fact that the Turks had not taken any side in the war, and were simply defending their country. This is why I mourn every single death, not just Australian. The words attributed to legendary Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s words regarding the

ANZACs of Gallipoli perfectly sum up my beliefs.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives…

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours…

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

We are all united in this tragedy. We are all losers at war, for where human life has been senselessly wasted, humanity has lost. But no matter what we think of war, it is vital that we remember it. Not just the personal acts of bravery, but the event itself. The over-used quote ‘those who do not know history are destined to repeat it’, still rings incredibly true.

I was so proud to have been a part of this tour, to get this chance to reflect and consolidate my thoughts and to hear the perspectives of an incredibly diverse range of Australians.

Whatever way we interpret the First World War, the only word that is synonymous in every opinion is tragedy, on all sides of the conflict.

And that is why the so often repeated phrase can never be overused …

Lest we forget.

REFERENCES Australian War Memorial. Atatürk (Mustafa Kemal). n.d. Retrieved from https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/ataturk/

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Optimistic superseders MR BRENDON THOMAS, DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGIES | 31 JULY 2015

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eing put on hold, waiting for service in a complex system or hastily trying to edit detailed information on a mobile device, we have all experienced the waits, tensions and downfalls of bottlenecked systems and services.

We can either get confused and frustrated, or we can design more effective solutions.

Today, design plays a much more profound role in shaping our lives than just appearance, styling and interiors (Norman, 2011). Well-designed systems can shape our experiences and communications. As though invisible, good design transforms and uncomplicates our daily interactions.

Designers, like great leaders, tackle bottlenecks and confusion on a daily basis. Being a good designer involves knowledge and practical understanding of associated systems, components and processes. The ability to redesign and generate new things also requires the ability to think visually with a solution-based metacognitive aptitude to synthesise, grasp and resolve the tension and layering of the artificial and the physical. We try to inculcate in the girls this kind of design-thinking mindset.

Entrepreneurship is a form of design, and requires a similar mindset and skill set. Successful entrepreneurs — like great designers — can now evolve in an e-commerce era where small-to-medium businesses can compete in new markets and with larger rivals in ways never before possible (Grayson, 2015). As a nation, we need to be bolder in our ventures and visions and our education authorities need to listen carefully to what is being presented in the business sector. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, suggested in April that we need to take genuine actions now to ‘promote entrepreneurship,

innovation, adaptation, and skill-building that rewards “real’’ risk-taking’ to support our future wellbeing (Stevens, 2015).

An avenue where these skills and challenges can be grown in our schools is the study of design and digital technologies.

In this curriculum, students commonly design, develop and appraise real products for real industries to solve genuine design challenges and create new solutions. Project-based learning in this discipline provides the relevance and ownership their young creative minds want and is an important link in their learning engagement and in developing their design-thinking mindset.

If Australia is serious about kick-starting its lagging productivity growth and exports, and weaning itself off the mining boom, it must ignite and amplify a genuine interest and optimism in a new generation of design thinkers by not eradicating our children’s natural predisposition to experiment and create (Brown, 2009). We also need to train the best and brightest teachers to nurture a new generation of start-up entrepreneurs and innovators with much better access to specialist education and funding.

Earlier this month Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, launched Advance Queensland, mentioning new initiatives and government strategy aimed mostly at the post-schooling agenda. As in pronouncements by our national leaders, the initiative included a brief mention of raising emphasis on computer science, robotics and teaching students to code. These very skills are to the fore in the current draft national technologies curriculum and are necessary for employment in a digital economy — an expanded focus on them would be welcomed.

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Technologies as a subject offers an authentic space for trialling scientific, mathematic hands-on logic and open-ended engineering approaches to designing physical and virtual technology systems. The fastest growing, most diverse and dynamic segments of the Australian economy exist in creative industries, with the dominant part of the segment being software development and interactive content (Crean, 2009; Green and Colley, 2014). Creative practitioners with commercial talent are now mainstream and embedded across the Australian economy (ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, 2013), but countries other than Australia have placed much greater emphasis on this kind of ‘intangible value’ in the interests of long-term growth and jobs (Green and Colley, 2014). Author Jeff Selingo (2015) suggests college graduates will essentially need a greater tolerance for ambiguity to excel in things they will not be asked to do and to be able to tackle problems outside their core area of expertise, not what their text book directly suggests.

Guy Holland, digital consulting partner of KPMG, proposes that there is currently a debate within organisations about how much should be invested in deep subject matter expertise versus a more generic set of skills (Sherbon, 2015). Coding, computational thinking and enterprise education need much more attention because they feed directly into the boom sectors of the post-mining economy.

We need to promote Australian entrepreneurial heroes in our schools just as we do our sporting, acting and singing stars — Australian entrepreneurial mentors like the Chief Executive of Harvey Norman, Katie Page, or Steve Baxter, founder of River City Labs (RCL). Baxter recently led the Shark Tank series on television and is serious about cultivating and nurturing young Australian talent. RCL,

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based in Fortitude Valley, is an enterprise incubator serving those with new ideas and teaching startups how to pitch their ideas. For the second year in a row, Baxter is taking twenty-five young Australian entrepreneurs to the heart of global innovation, Silicon Valley.

Eagle-eyed entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers like this apply their thinking to taming overly-complex, costly or confusing systems. This kind of intuitive and generative thinking is what companies like Airbnb and Uber are doing with large under-utilised assets such as cars and houses. They have envisaged and then developed better uses of well-established systems and, along the way, caused major disruption to the familiar models of current corporate systems. Roger Martin (2007) suggests we are all born with an opposable mind and we can use it to hold conflicting ideas in constructive tension to find a better approach to problems. Martin believes successful business people engage in what he calls an ‘integrative thinking mindset’ to ingeniously resolve the tensions in opposing models by forming entirely new and superior ones.

Better systems will always exist, they have just not been invented yet and it is much easier to predict what can be removed from a system than what will be designed next.

This will challenge all of us to refine our creative capacities in preparation for an entire generation of new jobs and ways of working. We need to be sure we are truly nurturing the next generation of workers to become optimistic designers of new services and systems rather the superseded toilers of tomorrow. Glenn Stevens is right — we need to get serious about developing enterprise thinking, inventiveness, ability to adapt and take risks, and we need to start doing more of it in our schools.

ABIGAIL LUI / 7O (DETAIL)

REFERENCES ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (2013). Australian creative economy report card 2013. Retrieved from http://www.cci.edu.au/Creative_ Economy_report_card.pdf Brown, T. (2009). Change by design. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Crean, S. (2009). Creative industries, a strategy for 21st century Australia. Retrieved from http://arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/creative-industries/sdip/strategic-digital-industryplan.pdf Grayson, I. (2015).Road map to future is wide open. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/AU/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/afr-report/digital/Documents/ afr-report-digital-business.pdf Green, R. and Colley, L. (2014). We can rebalance Australia’s economy with creative industries. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/we-can-rebalance-australiaseconomy-with-creative-industries-23458 Martin, R. (2007). The opposable mind: Winning through integrative thinking. Boston, USA: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Norman, D. (2011). Living with complexity. Cambridge, USA: The MIT Press.

Selingo, J. (2015). Wanted in college graduates: Tolerance for ambiguity. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wanted-college-graduates-tolerance-ambiguity-jeff-selingo Sherbon, J. (2015).Road map to future is wide open. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/AU/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/afr-report/digital/Documents/ afr-report-digital-business.pdf Stevens, G. (2015, April). The World Economy and Australia. Address to The American Australian Association luncheon, hosted by Goldman Sachs, New York, USA. Retrieved from http://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2015/sp-gov-2015-04-21.html

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Towards redundancy — wiring for Independence Day MR JAMES MCINTOSH, DIRECTOR OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION AND MRS CAROL MCINTOSH, OUTDOOR EDUCATION TEACHER | 7 AUGUST 2015

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he moment a new-born child draws breath, our role as a parent is clear. It is to nourish, guide and teach this delicate, completely dependent being so that ultimately they will be able to function effectively by themselves. Our task as a parent, or as an important other, is to gradually evolve ourselves into redundancy as our children become autonomous. Sounds easy!

When children are young we eagerly anticipate and celebrate the tiniest of milestones: first smile, first word, first tooth, first day at school. Learning comes fast and in obvious ways; each developmental milestone is celebrated and supported by eager onlookers.

As our flourishing child approaches the teen years, some of these milestones may no longer be as eagerly anticipated.

Physical changes morph their bodies so that they are more adult-like, and their emotions can run high. Their thinking can at times seem irrational and reactive as they start to push against the limits of their independence. Although positive, this can be an overwhelming and tumultuous phase for all involved. Siegel (2013), in his book Brainstorm, reminds us that it is important to embrace these changes and honour the necessary processes of adolescence. It is

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when our teens developmentally start to assert their independence and their adult likeness, and where they relish personal control and the ability to make choices and decisions for themselves.

Independence, unlike some other milestones, is difficult to pinpoint. There are many aspects to consider when assessing when an adolescent has developed full independence.

Hudson (2012), author of Raising Resilient Teenagers, stresses that building resilience and independence is a process, not a particular event.

Neuroscience is informing us that a significant consideration in this process is the change occurring in the adolescent brain. The notion that what you were born with is what you’ve got is no longer accepted and we are learning that adolescence is a time of particular and significant change (and opportunity) in the brain. Grey matter is pruning — engaging in ‘neural Darwinism’ (Edelman, 1978) — removing unnecessary and no-longer-useful connections, making way for the rewiring of new connections; white matter is building, laying down a fatty sheath and strengthening pathways of connectivity and speeding up the signals in the brain.

Two particular areas of the adolescent brain are actively transforming. First, the limbic system, where emotions and social information is processed, experiences heightened activity in the dopamine-driven neural circuits producing a haste for reward, impulsivity and a propensity to seek risk.

Second, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision making, evaluating risks, controlling impulses, and judgement, is developing. This reconstruction occurs in different areas of the brain at different times, working from the back to the front of the brain, with the frontal lobe the last to fully connect (Jensen, 2015). Construction is not complete until the early twenties. This malalignment of the construction phase leads to complications.

Despite the challenges and inefficiencies of the adolescent brain, the introductory remarks in The Adolescent Brain: learning, reasoning, and decision making (Chapman, Confrey, Dougherty, Reyna, 2012) emphasise that the adolescent brain is cognitively malleable and is able to acquire advanced reasoning skills under the right conditions of training. The brain reshapes itself to meet recurring processing demands. If we are preparing adolescents to be more independent, then ‘teens must gain experience making their own decisions and solving their own problems in order to develop key executive functions like problemsolving and impulse control’ (Jensen, 2015). Parents can skillfully help here, offering support and asking reflective questions from the side, to assist the adolescent’s grappling process and ability to see possible options. Occasionally, a well-timed piece of encouragement will be needed to motivate adolescents to leave their comfort zones, while at other times, gentle guidance and firm boundaries may be required.

Providing a range of opportunities to develop and practise skills associated with independence develops strong neural pathways and default settings. The habits, skills and thinking developments laid in adolescence establish an important foundation for adulthood (Chapman et al., 2012).

It is for this very reason that our guidance of teens at this time is critical. Despite the tendency for there to be some pushing away and, in some cases, total exclusion of adults by our teens as they attempt to adopt more adult-like traits, it is important that adults are involved, modelling and building learning scaffolds to assist them in their effort, even if our instinct may be to leave them to their own devices. Boundaries are still imperative. Structure and routine provide consistency and a sense of familiarity which helps to provide adolescents with the confidence to wander, explore and return.

Finding opportunities to take responsibility, practise self-care and make increasingly complex decisions is an important element in the progression towards independence. Like any journey there are going to be highs, lows and detours, many of which will provide pertinent teachable moments.

In this age of self-conscious parenting, descriptors such as ‘helicopter parenting’, ‘black hawk parenting’, ‘lawnmower parenting’, ‘curling parenting’ and ‘children raised in captivity’ have emerged. Parents, in their well-meaning way, are hypervigilant when it comes to the experiences of their children; often making decisions, solving problems for them and buffering them from failure and harm. The pitfalls of such parenting are now surfacing as society is witness to more young adults who are ill-prepared for the challenges of the world outside the family home.

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Hypervigilant parenting has created a paradox. Parents with good intentions wanting to assist and protect their children are creating just the opposite and, instead, we see children with an undermined sense of their actual selves and a malnourished sense of independence and resilience.

This is not to say that parents should leave them alone completely as there are also well-documented and obvious pitfalls of under-parenting. The challenge for us is to find the balance of involvement and connection while also letting our much-loved adolescent take greater control and make decisions.

Grose (2010) acknowledges that giving adolescents sufficient space to develop their independence is potentially the greatest challenge, but asserts that if we look for opportunities that allow learning one step at a time, thereby creating scaffolds, we create conscious ways of encouraging independence, at the same time ensuring that

we empower them to make good choices for themselves. As they become more responsible and capable, they are granted increasing levels of independence. However, allowing children to do things for themselves requires time and patience.

Parents are not solely responsible for developing independence; schools play a pivotal role in providing an array of opportunities to practise and support this process.

Throughout the four years of Outdoor Education at our Marrapatta campus, students are presented with experiences that compel them to make choices, experiment with strategies and demonstrate responsibility. The programmes are deliberately structured to nurture this independence and to help them take the next step towards interdependence. While we may not celebrate a distinct Independence Day, these experiences are helping to wire students’ brains for the journey towards independence.

REFERENCES Chapman, S. B., Confrey, J., Dougherty, M. R., Reyna, V.F. (Eds) (2012). The adolescent brain: learning, reasoning, and decision making. Washington: American Psychological Association.

Edelman, G. (1978). The Mindful Brain. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Grose, M. (2010). Thriving! Raising exceptional kids with confidence, character and resilience. North Sydney, NSW: Random House Australia.

Hudson, C. (2012). Raising resilient teenagers. Shellharbour, NSW: Charisbel Consulting.

Jensen, F. (2015). The teenage brain: A neuroscientist’s survival guide to raising adolescents and young adults. London: Harper Thorsons.

Siegel, D. (2013). Brainstorm: The power and purpose of the teenage brain. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.

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Little Miss Perfect Reigns MRS JODY FORBES, SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST AND STUDENT COUNSELLING COORDINATOR | 13 AUGUST 2015

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n the Mr Men and Little Miss series of children’s books there is no female equivalent for Mr Perfect, yet perfectionism in girls has proved a topic of considerable interest to educators and health professionals alike. Moreover, societal angst relating to perfectionism in boys does not appear to mirror that of girls.

Thought to plague gifted and high-achieving individuals, perfectionism has been accused of shattering self-esteem and damaging girls beyond repair, with reports that some young women ‘could be too clever now for their own good’ (Lambert, 2014). Oxford High School, one of the UK’s highest achieving independent schools, has established the ‘Death of Little Miss Perfect’ campaign aimed at teaching girls about the harmful effects of perfectionism (Carlisle, 2014). This apparent war on perfectionism in girls invites curiosity and requires careful consideration. I wonder would the ‘Death of Little Master Perfect’ be embraced as readily.

After all, perfectionists are typically characterised by their perseverance, motivation to succeed, striving to improve and strong work ethic. By lowering the bar for young women do we risk endorsing mediocrity? As a society how do we reconcile criticising girls for their perfectionism while simultaneously bombarding them with messages encouraging them to be perfect — beautiful, slim, clever, polite and feminine? Given it is unclear whether perfectionism promotes exceptionality or impedes it, we are obliged to examine this disposition rigorously and use this knowledge to guide our Grammar girls to be the best version of themselves that they can be.

What do we mean by ‘perfectionism’? Perfectionism appears to be a complex and often misunderstood personality trait

and is best understood in terms of its various dimensions.

In 1978, psychologist Don Hamachek was one of the first researchers to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism and labelled the two separate forms as normal and neurotic. Normal perfectionists were described as people who derive pleasure from doing well at something difficult.

Neurotic perfectionists however, never feel satisfied as they do not believe they ever do anything well enough to warrant this feeling. In the 1990s perfectionism was further differentiated into self-oriented, other-oriented and sociallyprescribed dimensions (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Self-oriented perfectionists strive to be the best they can be and set high standards for themselves. Other-oriented perfectionists hold unrealistically high standards for the behaviour of others, while socially-prescribed perfectionists believe that others expect nothing less than perfection from them. Further research has suggested that self-oriented perfectionism is mostly considered healthy while the socially-prescribed and other-oriented dimensions are characteristic of unhealthy perfectionism.

The paradox of perfectionism is that it can be experienced as either incredibly frustrating or deeply satisfying. Repeated failure to reach set goals, procrastination, catastrophising mistakes and feelings of guilt and shame are indicative of unhealthy perfectionism. Driven by an underlying fear of failure and coupled with extreme self-criticism, this form of perfectionism has been associated with low self- esteem, stress, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and relationship difficulties (Egan, Wade & Shafran, 2010; Schweitzer & Hamilton, 2002). Beyond psychological concerns, Dr Danielle Molnar (2006), a psychologist at Brock University in

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California, suggests perfectionism should be considered a risk factor for disease. Her research with adult perfectionists indicated that socially-prescribed perfectionists had greater episodes of illness, more doctor visits and higher absenteeism from work compared to non-perfectionists.

In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism has been associated with greater physical health, conscientiousness, endurance, academic achievement and success (Molnar, 2006; Stoeber & Otto, 2006). Healthy perfectionists have been shown to feel more motivated for exams, spend greater number of hours studying and engage in more discussions with teachers (Stoeber & Otto, 2006). In addition, university students high in healthy perfectionism have been shown to receive a higher grade point average than both unhealthy perfectionists and non-perfectionists (Grzegorek, Slaney, Franze & Rice, 2004).

One factor distinguishing healthy from unhealthy perfectionism is the amount of self-criticism perfectionists engage in when their expectations have not been met.

Individuals who blame themselves and react negatively when they feel they have failed fare much worse than those who can put things in perspective. So, perfectionism is far from straight-forward and is perhaps best summarised by Dr Linda Silverman: Perfectionism is an energy that can be used either positively or negatively depending on one’s level of awareness. It can cause paralysis and underachievement, if the person feels incapable of meeting standards set by the self or by others. It also can be the passion that leads to extraordinary creative achievement an ecstatic struggle to move beyond the previous limits of one’s capabilities (‘flow’).

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Perfectionism can develop from a number of factors including parental perfectionism, parenting style and early academic experiences. Unhealthy perfectionism appears mostly associated with having perfectionistic parents who adopt an authoritarian parenting style (Hibbard & Walton, 2014). Such parents tend to be controlling and have strict rules which they expect to be followed unconditionally (Baumrind, 1991). Little warmth is expressed between authoritarian parents and their children, and failure to respect parental authority usually results in punishment.

Studies show that adults scoring high on socially-prescribed perfectionism describe parents who held excessively high standards, were overly critical of mistakes and expressed disappointment when children did not meet their standards (Hibbard & Walton, 2014; Speirs Neumeister, 2004). In contrast, adults high in self-oriented perfectionism described experiences of an authoritative parenting style characterised by realistic expectations, supportive response to failure and parents who were engaged with their emotional needs (Hibbard & Walton, 2014; Speirs Neumeister, 2004). Additionally, high achieving self-oriented perfectionists reported having early experiences in school where success came easily and thus a pattern and expectation of perfection developed (Hibbard & Walton, 2014; Speirs Neumeister, 2004).

While perfectionism has proved to be both healthy and unhealthy, one expert promotes it as an attribute to be treasured. Psychologist and author of The Perfectionist’s Handbook, Dr Jeff Szymanski, considers perfectionism to be one of the most valuable traits an individual can have.

He believes a perfectionist’s attention to detail, persistence,

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desire to excel and insistence that everyone works to their potential, is crucial to success (Szymanski, 2012). According to Dr Szymanski, the problem with perfectionism is not the aspiration to be perfect, but rather what people do with this aspiration. Rather than extinguishing perfectionism altogether, Dr Szymanski suggests perfectionists consider the strategies they employ and whether these are helpful or not.

An approach he suggests involves asking the following questions: 1. My intention was …

2. The strategy I used was …

3. My desired outcome was …

4. The actual outcome was …

I recently used this method with a student who was experiencing anxiety regarding an assignment. Her intention was to do the absolute best she could, yet the actual outcome was that she had not completed much of the task, was feeling paralysed with fear and was in floods of tears. After some discussion, she was able to identify that her strategy of avoiding talking with her teacher, due to fear of making mistakes, was not proving helpful in terms of reaching her desired outcome. Rather than lower her expectations and submit an average assignment, my student was able to preserve her desire to excel by adapting her strategy and facing her fears. This may not be appropriate in all cases, especially when time has run out and the only strategy left available may be to alter one’s desired outcome and use it as a learning experience. However, given it is often the intensity of the challenge which determines the amount of triumph one feels, rather than rescuing young women from the throes

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of perfectionism by telling them to lower their bars, it may be wiser to assist them to tolerate their distress and engage in helpful problem-solving strategies.

So declaring that ‘Little Miss Perfect’ be put to death seems to be a rather hasty reaction. Rather than removing or curing perfectionism, it is more important to determine whether the perfectionism is of the healthy or unhealthy dimension.

I would also argue that instead of girls ‘being too clever for their own good’, perhaps it is society which needs to lower the bar. The expectations and pressure placed on girls to be good, to please others and look perfect, needs addressing.

Research further suggests that encouraging parents to embrace a less authoritarian style in favour of realistic expectations and emotional support will enable girls to take on challenges and risks, rather than avoiding them due to fears of disappointing parents. Girls who have traversed primary school with minimal experience of disappointment or failure are potentially at risk of unhealthy perfectionism.

Having a taste of failure and making mistakes allows girls to realise that the world does not end if they fail to be perfect.

The answer need not be to curtail perfectionism, but rather to encourage girls to retain their high standards and work towards allowing their perfectionism to work for, rather than against, their desired outcomes.

We might consider someone to be recovered from clinical perfectionism when they are able to still strive towards goals that are attainable, to not judge themselves adversely if the goals are not met, to invest energy in goals that are not performance related, and to be able to shift focus and effort away from unattainable goals. (Egan, Wade & Shafran, 2010)

REFERENCES Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56–95.

Carlisle, J. (2014). Goodbye Little Miss Perfect. Retrieved from http://www.independentschoolparent.com/pastoral/goodbye-little-miss-perfect Egan, S.J.; Wade, T.D.; & Shafran, R. (2010). Perfectionism as a transdiagnostic process: A clinical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(2), 203–212.

Grzegorek, J. L., Slaney, R. B., Franze, S., & Rice, K. G. (2004). Self-criticism, dependency, self-esteem, and grade point average satisfaction among clusters of perfectionists and nonperfectionists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(2), 192–200.

Hamachek, D.E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Journal of Human Behavior,15(1), 27–33.

Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 456–470.

Hibbard, D. R. & Walton, G. E. (2014). Exploring the development of perfectionism: The influence of parenting style and gender. Social Behavior and Personality, 42(2), 269–278.

Lambert, V. (2014). The truth behind the death of Little Miss Perfect. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11016817/The-truth-behind-thedeath-of-Little-Miss-Perfect.html Molnar, D. (2006). In Rettner, R. (2010). The dark side of perfectionism revealed. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/6724-dark-side-perfectionism-revealed.html Schweitzer, R. & Hamilton, T. (2002). Perfectionism and mental health in Australian university students: Is there a relationship? Journal of College Student Development, 43(5), 684–695.

Silverman, L.K. (n.d.). The many faces of perfectionism. Retrieved from http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/resources/parent-and-professional-resources/articles/issues-in-giftededucation/the-many-faces-of-perfectionism/ Stoeber, J., & Otto, K. (2006). Positive conceptions of perfectionism: Approaches, evidence, challenges. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 295–319.

Szymanski, J. (2012). The perfectionism paradox. Retrieved from http://drjeffszymanski.com/blog/the-perfectionism-paradox Speirs Neumeister, K. L. (2004). Factors influencing the development of perfectionism in gifted college students. Gifted Children Quarterly, 48(4), 259–274.

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From adolescence to adulthood: Renegotiating relationships MS RUTH JANS, HEAD OF MACKAY HOUSE AND YEAR 10 COORDINATOR | 21 AUGUST 2015

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magine if children came with a handbook providing parents with a list of rules and helpful hints on how to raise happy and healthy offspring. Think about how well we would sleep at night knowing that we were doing absolutely everything that was required in order to ensure these precious young people had all they needed for a successful life ahead. If only. Of course there is no such guidebook. However, David Ward’s article ‘Five messages every adolescent needs to hear’ offers something pretty close: a list of key concepts ‘important to successful family relationships for those with adolescents’ (2009, p. 48).

Ward begins by acknowledging that adolescence is a tumultuous phase of redefining relationships and boundaries within the family unit. However, his summary of five key messages provides a helpful navigational tool through this sometimes challenging period. The five key messages are: • You can go • We believe in you • We will miss you • We will cope without you • Let’s stay in touch

#1: YOU CAN GO Dr Murray Bowen’s conceptualisation of ‘family as an emotional system with the goal of emotional stability and maturity’ (Ward, 2009, p. 50) helps frame this key message as teenagers need to be given permission to separate emotionally and intellectually from their parents. The ‘you can go’ message relates to both age-appropriate physical freedoms, allowing them to leave and return to the family home when needed, as well as the emotional freedom to express their individuality: you can ‘be’ as well as ‘go’.

Allowing adolescents to enjoy age-appropriate activities outside the home and school can be empowering and can effectively communicate the message that they are allowed to leave the protection of the family and return at an appropriate time. Such experiences help ‘reflect mutual respect [and] clear interpersonal boundaries’ (Bell, L. and Bell, 2009, p. 472). The ‘you can go’ message can also be communicated to your children through encouragement to participate in school co-curricular as well as age-appropriate personal interest activities outside the home and school.

#2: WE BELIEVE IN YOU Closely tied to the first, this message reflects parents’ confidence in the adolescent’s ability to succeed while

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enjoying varying degrees of independence. Every time, after some brainstorming and discussion, parents allow their teenagers to problem-solve their way through challenges and negotiate with their peers and teachers on their own; the teenagers ‘hear’ that their parents know they can succeed on their own. With this in mind, one can see how the ‘helicopter parent’ (Somers and Settle, 2010) — who rushes in to rescue rather than empower — can interrupt this message and concomitantly communicate ‘we don’t believe you can cope’. The most important reason adolescents need to hear ‘we believe in you’ is that this not only helps ‘define them as competent, secure and optimistic’, it also provides them with an internal voice — a cheer squad — which will travel with them through life, helping them overcome difficult times (Ward, 2009, p. 50).

#3: WE WILL MISS YOU In contrast to the confidence and self-reliance inherent in message number two, this third message is more emotive. It balances attachment and individuation by recognising that, despite geographical distance, absent young adults will always be part of the family and that their absence will be noted. If communicated too enthusiastically, this message is at risk of being transformed into anxiety that the family cannot cope without them. However, if the message isn’t communicated clearly enough, it can indicate a lack of connection which may result in emotional cut-off. It is therefore crucial to get the balance right as ‘such entrances and exits in family systems are always of critical importance and evoke deep emotions’ (Ward, 2009, p. 50).

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#4: WE WILL COPE WITHOUT YOU Effective delivery of messages three and four are needed to ensure the successful launching of the adolescent into adulthood and this ultimately helps maintain the warmth and nurturing connections of the family unit. When adolescents are reassured that they need not worry about their family — that they will indeed cope fine without them — they are free to explore their world without guilt or anxiety (a precious gift).

This message also demonstrates ‘a solid [parental] hierarchy with firm boundaries’ (Ward, 2009, p. 50).

#5: LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH This final message usually takes place over a number of years and, if delivered well, balances the ‘connection / separation tension’ (Ward, 2009, p. 51). Over time, the parents and young adults renegotiate their relationship to one of equality and mutual respect.

It is important to note that the family is not the only system responsible for communicating these messages; schools can and should assist as well. For example, during the girls’ time at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, the ‘you can be’ message is communicated as each student’s strengths, talents and interests are recognised and encouraged. Whether she is a talented musician, artist, actor, athlete, or academic, there are resources available to help her flourish.

In addition, great care and thought is put into the girls’ last weeks of Year 12 in order to help communicate the ‘you can go’ message while ensuring, through ‘let’s keep in touch’ messages, that they know they are welcome back in the future to community events such as Open Day. Heads of House,

Directors and teachers all convey the ‘we believe in you’ message by encouraging our students to increasingly take more responsibility for their learning, to initiate conferencing, to determine how friendship problems are resolved and to recover from academic set-backs.

We also invite girls to represent the School in initiatives including the Lord Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, the International Youth Leaders Conference and international study trips, and in leadership positions such as House Prefects. The close bond that the students develop with their teachers, Buddies and Houses, allows the message ‘we will miss you’ to resonate in House Farewells, the Valedictory Dinner and the final traditions of Year 12 graduation. Additionally, while the Year 12 students play an integral role in the running of community events, they also

know that ‘we will cope without them’ as next year’s leaders are elected in time to allow for official handovers.

Finally, we invite the girls to ‘stay in touch’ through formal channels such as the Old Girls Association.

Each message is important and they all work together, balancing each other harmoniously. Sometimes the messages will be mixed or even incongruent. However, do not fear. As with psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion’s conclusion that mothers do not need to — and in fact should not — be perfect but rather ‘good enough’, so too, Ward (2009) reassures parents in his article that if they are able to communicate these messages in a ‘good enough’ manner then adolescents will be able to successfully renegotiate their relationships within the family system and enjoy a healthy adulthood.

REFERENCES Bell, L., & Bell, D. (2009). Effects of family connection and family individuation. Attachment and Human Development, 11(5), 471–490.

Somers, P. & Settle, J. (2010). The helicopter parent. College and University, 86(2), 2–9.

Ward, D. (2009). Five messages every adolescent needs to hear. Psychotherapy in Australia, 15(3), 48–54.

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Times of famine: Lost in search of privacy and reflection M S L O R R A I N E T H O R N Q U I S T, D I R E C TO R O F C R E AT I V E A R T S | 28 AUGUST 2015

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hifting paradigms of time and privacy in recent years are overturning our assumptions about place and space in our lives. Is our personal privacy no longer a ‘social norm’ as founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (2010), has been reported saying? Nobody is going to dispute, that in the developed world we live in a pressure cooker of relentless and tangled claims on our time and attention with a level of exposure to personal scrutiny through social media and surveillance such as we might not have imagined twenty years ago.

The dissolution of privacy is a significant and potentially troubling outcome of our fast digital age where filters have all but disappeared. In an article featured in the June 2014 issue of The Monthly entitled ‘The End of Secrets’, Linda Jaivan (2014) postulated that the boundaries of privacy have ‘radically shifted’. She discusses the overwhelming presence of online and bureaucratic surveillance as evidence that we have lost our access and indeed our rights to private lives — private thoughts, even. Frank Pasquale (2015) wrote of the algorithms that disturbingly invade our lives behind the online scenes to produce profiles on us which could be used in many ways unknown to and unforeseen by us. He titled his recent article (rather ominously) ‘Digital star chamber’.

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Not only has privacy lost its long-held meaning, but we also face the incessant call from the crowded and ever-changing digital world invading our time. Barry Schwartz (2014), Professor of Psychology at the prestigious Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, believes we live in an age of ‘attention deficit’ and speaks of ‘diminished attention’ as the ailment of our era. Schwartz believes we are complicit and compliant in allowing this to develop and we are creating a culture of acceptance of the glib and the superficial, ignoring the rich complexity of our world and our lives.

In the view of Schwartz, accepting this trend is a mistake of the first order since we risk losing the strength of our ‘attention muscle’ which, like any muscle, loses tone when neglected and unused. We are losing the experience of the ‘long and complex’. When facing the demanding issues of this century we will need all the strength of the attention muscle, not just in those who will be making the ultimate decisions at a national and international level, but in the wider population — those of us that must accept and accommodate complex decisions as they deeply affect our lives.

Acclaimed senior Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (2013) knows only too well the loss of privacy in his times of

imprisonment and house arrest when he has endured constant and multiple instances of surveillance. His despair at the loss of privacy is also a cultural despair which he believes has profound cultural implications. In an article he wrote for The Guardian in 2013, he contended: ‘that is why China is far behind the world in important respects: even though it has become so rich, it trails behind in terms of passion, imagination and creativity’.

repetition as well as areas of uncertainty and shifting parameters, to resolve contradictions in complexity. The realm of thoughtfulness can be harnessed to foster social skills including vital capacities in a complex world such as conflict resolution and empathy that promote a wider and more philosophical and ethical view of the world. The arts communicate out of the ideas and forms that have their origins in private reflection.

Passion, imagination and creativity. Individual and cultural identity, our wellbeing as individuals and as a culture are nourished and sustained by these qualities that reside in us but are often marginalised by the superficial and quotidian that crowd the centre stage in our working and personal lives and, importantly, in our minds.

‘Unitasking’ is what we should aim for, according to neuroscientist and author Daniel Levitin (2014), with sustained focus as a more efficient, effective, productive and rewarding approach. Being in the moment, having the capacity to touch and care for our inner self, to encourage that stillness and focus within us, is the means to building that ‘attention muscle’ that Schwartz speaks of. If the mind is wandering, it is wandering in the moment of passion, imagination and creativity, those elements of humanity that Ai Weiwei mourns as lost in his culture. For the individual, it is a private moment. For the group, it is their shared privacy that builds trust.

Just what is happening in our minds, in our brains, in a 24/7 open world is now being explored in the realm of neuroscience. Brain imaging has given neuroscientists a powerful tool to go ‘live’ in researching what happens in our brains, to map and investigate the physical, social and intellectual capacities and changes in the brain as we navigate the fast and furious highway of contemporary living. Learning relies on the mindfulness of stillness and of privacy and these have profound effects on thought, emotion and cognition. Studies in neuroscience show evidence that the expressive, affective and cognitive skills and capacities in students develop through their engagement in learning in the arts. Against the onslaught of ‘hurry sickness’ and amid the sometime chaos of multi-tasking and 140-character tweets, we should look no further than the arts as a means of countering these trends of ‘diminished attention’ and the erosion of privacy.

Reflectiveness is embodied in the arts, and complements the rich sensory nature of the arts where sustained focus and attention, bringing us into the moment, are inherent qualities and capacities. The arts compel diligence and persistence, the discipline of contemplation and private moments and help to cultivate patience to work through

The role of the arts in the cognitive, social and emotional development of students has become something of a priority field for scientific research that is still young and open-ended, whether it be neuroscience or neuroaesthetics.

Such deep questions and propositions concerning the arts and our brain and who we are in the world may not be definitively answered in the short term but each piece of the puzzle, fitted in, adds weight to the argument for a substantial arts education.

In the meantime, while the arts equal passion, engagement, hard work, and often serve to shock us into the present, they can at the same time be about powering down in a hyper-connected world, a moment to untangle, a victory over attention deficit, a place to recover our privacy, a space to enrich and appreciate and grow our human experience, our intellect and our humanity.

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BRIANNA WAKEFIELD / 8W (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Jaivan, L. (2014, June). The end of secrets. The Monthly. Retrieved from https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/june/1401544800/linda-jaivin/end-secrets?utm_source= Friends+of+the+Monthly&utm_campaign=4103df725d-FOTM_Highlights_June_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa67724caf-4103df725d-302729373 Levitin, D. (2015, January). Thinking straight in the age of information overload. Retrieved from http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/videos/all-videos/ Pasquale, F. (2015, August). Digital star chamber. Aeon. Retrieved from http://aeon.co/magazine/ Schwartz, B. (2013, November 1). Attention deficit. Australian Financial Review. Retrieved from http://www.afr.com/business/health/students-need-to-learn-the-skill-of-payingattention-20131031-j0748 Weiwei, A. (2013, June 11). NSA surveillance: the US is behaving like China. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/11/ nsa-surveillance-us-behaving-like-china Zuckerberg, M. (2010, January 11). Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jan/11/facebook-privacy

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Forget the binary: Thinking and learning requires the old, the new and the home!

DR BRUCE ADDISON, DEAN OF CURRICULUM AND SCHOLARSHIP | 4 SEPTEMBER 2015

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t last term’s Fathers Group dinner, presentations by staff of the Technology Studies Faculty generated much interesting discussion. The all-pervasive nature of digital technology and its impact on the home environment was of particular concern. Also of interest was the frequency and extent to which Bring Your Own Devices (BYODs) were used in our classrooms.

The reality of digital technology’s impact on the home front is that it is invasive and disruptive as much as it is curiosity-provoking and stimulating. For our young people, it is emancipatory, allowing virtual reality to extend the imagination while simultaneously destroying the notion of quiet time and the security associated with adult-centred oversight. Boundary-blurring, caused by digital accessibility, is both a blessing and a curse. As Furlong and Davies (2011, pp. 1–2) note: ‘Young people’s ubiquitous access to mobile technologies, especially the mobile phone, means that conventional institutional boundaries between home, school and leisure are increasingly breaking down’.

The reality is that the notion of what is ‘school’ work and what is ‘home’ work has changed significantly. It is well known that when students collaborate both personally and digitally, learning occurs. Another result arising from this digital connectedness is that the home is no longer an

uninterrupted ‘haven’ away from the distraction of friends and social media’s inevitable banality. Today, children cannot escape digital engagement — or digital distraction, digital engagement’s unrepentant partner.

The potential for distraction is enormous and, because of it, the environments in which learning occurs differ significantly from yesteryear (Sefton-Green, 2008; Furlong & Davies, 2011).

This new reality requires fresh skill sets from both students and parents. At its best, digitalism has the potential to reinvigorate curiosity intergenerationally.

Using digital technology to role-model curiosity and wonder is a way in which parents can contribute significantly to learning and the emergence of wonderbased curiosity. This approach would help to develop a culture in which the home becomes a natural extension of the school or, more importantly, the school becomes a natural extension of the home. This in many respects is the gift of digital connectedness. As Craft (2011, p. 73) notes, ‘children actively explore their environments with encouragement and support from adults, constructing meaning in context’.

Digital access is all-pervasive and is not confined to the home. The use of laptop devices (BYODs) has become

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commonplace in many classrooms across the country. Today, students have access to processing power which once would have been the stuff of science fiction fantasy. How frequently should these devices be used in our classrooms? There is no straightforward answer to this question. If it is suggested that the possession of BYODs will render pre-digital skills such as handwriting obsolete, then this is very flawed thinking.

Students need both keyboard and handwriting skills if they are to be effective twenty-first century learners. There is a number of very important reasons for this. First, most examinations require students to handwrite their responses.

If students are not practising and honing their handwriting skills this will cause a sub-optimal performance when they are required to write under examination conditions. Students must be exposed to an array of teaching styles, utilising both traditional and digital skill sets, if they are to optimise their learning potential.

Second, there is some very compelling research emerging which suggests that handwritten class notes enable higherorder processing skills that are not activated when typing notes, especially those generated from PowerPoint. Great c are must be taken to ensure that we are not producing a generation of parrots whose only skill is verbatim copying, devoid of critical reflection. Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014, p. 1159) in a recent study conclude: ‘when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing’.

May (2014, p. 2) when commenting on this research observes: Writing by hand is slower and more cumbersome than typing, and students cannot possibly write down every word from a lecture. Instead they listen, digest, and summarise so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information. Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy ‘mental lifting’, and these efforts foster comprehension and retention. By contrast, when typing, students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content.

Synthesis is a very important higher-order thinking skill and remains a key component of the many re-workings of RANITA ATCHESON / 11R 106

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Benjamin Bloom’s well-known taxonomy (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956). It is a very difficult skill to master. Marzano and Kendall (2007, p. 7) unpack this, noting that ‘synthesis requires creative behaviour on the part of the student because it involves newly constructed and unique products’.

synthesis arising from ponderous thought and handwritten note-taking. The old and the new should be allowed to co-exist comfortably. They should not be seen as a binary. Binaries are unhelpful as they polarise thought, creating competing constructs when more nuanced interrelationships are required.

This is why at Brisbane Girls Grammar School we have decided to introduce synthesis into our Year 7 and 8 students’ Philosophy of Learning course. It is a type of thinking requiring much practice and time to master.

The digital world is rewarding in so many ways. It offers the possibility of relevance, immediacy and modelling both at home and at school. If used in tandem with a well-designed approach to thinking skills, underscored by the craftsmanship of handwritten, synthesised reflection, our students will inherit the possibility of creative endeavour unknown to previous generations. If all of this is achieved carefully, creatively and thoughtfully, a thinking- and learning-scape will emerge worthy of the endless possibilities arising from the wonder of digital connectedness.

Our digital world has created many opportunities for exciting and relevant learning. Creativity and possibility-thinking (Craft, 2011) should be the reality associated with digitalism’s ascendance. This does not mean that all that is old should be jettisoned in favour of everything that is new. Students must master keyboard skills and digital acuity as well as the

REFERENCES Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, NY: David McKay. Craft, A. (2011). Creativity and education futures: Learning in a digital age. Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books.

Furlong, J. & Davies, C. (2011). Young people, new technologies and learning at home: Taking context seriously. Oxford Review of Education, 38(1), 45–62.

Marzano, R & Kendall, J. (2007). The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

May, C. (2014, June 3). A learning secret: Don’t take notes with a laptop. Scientific American, 1–5.

Mueller, P. & Oppenheimer, D. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.

Sefton-Green, J. (2008). Informal learning a solution in search of a problem. In K. Drotner, H. Jensen & K. Schroder (Eds.) Informal learning and digital media. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 238–255.

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It’s time for a good argument MRS ANNE BYRNE, SCIENCE TEACHER AND DEBATING COORDINATOR | 11 SEPTEMBER 2015

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n alarmist article in a recent weekend newspaper (Brennan, 2015) highlighted the potential perils associated with arguing with teenage children. The author drew a strong negative correlation between the frequency and intensity of these arguments and children’s self-esteem and general emotional well-being. It made frightening reading for an otherwise pleasant Saturday morning and no doubt loaded another layer of uncertainty on to the shoulders of caring parents.

Fortunately, social psychologists (Dusenbury, 2014; Willott, 2011) rarely take such a dismal view. Most, in fact, actively encourage regular robust exchanges, claiming that a well-conducted argument is conducive to the maintenance of healthy relationships within families, attributing significant social benefits to frequent arguments (Your Tango Experts, 2011). Of course, this claim is underpinned by the understanding that mutual respect, courtesy and well-understood rules of engagement are always observed by all protagonists – somewhat of a challenge as parents know!

Still, as Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber (2011) remind us, people argue passionately and effectively for a range of valid reasons, aside from a need to win. These include establishing a position in a relationship, getting what we want, reflecting shifts in the balance of power as well as setting out our beliefs and opinions. Well-conducted arguments invite others to understand and reflect on our perspective (Mercier & Sperber, 2011) with the most common goal being one of persuasion. Sounds like every family setting we have ever encountered, does it not?

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But if arguments are so necessary to effective social functioning, the puzzle, then, is why people are so amazingly good at arguing in some contexts and so amazingly bad in others (Mercier & Sperber, 2011). And, why is this apparently successful form of argumentation so spectacularly unsuccessful in most professional settings? The answer to this conundrum lies with the general lack of understanding as to what an argument actually is.

A formal definition of the word ‘argument’ (dictionary.com, n.d.) describes it as an ‘oral disagreement’ or ‘an altercation’.

Alternatively, an argument can be described as a discussion involving differing points of view or a debate. A third interpretation (Weinberg, 2012) concludes that arguments are a process of reasoning or a series of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory. Similarly, Michael Gilbert (2008) defines an argument as ‘a claim that is backed by reasons’. But, somewhat confusingly, he then adds that ‘in arguments both parties could be interested in finding the truth, solving the problem or in just being right’.

Clearly, what emerges from these definitions is that there are different types of argumentative styles required for different reasons in different contexts. This discussion proposes that the two most common styles of argumentation can be classed as ‘social’ argumentation and ‘professional’ argumentation, each performing best when applied within well-understood boundaries.

Social arguments begin with a belief or an opinion and the ‘combatant’ then chooses evidence selectively to support this belief, structuring it logically (sometimes) and persuasively (almost always) to convince the opponent of the

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veracity of the belief. In this scenario, arguing is not so much about establishing truth or even facts, but about convincing others and guarding against being convinced by others.

Good arguments in this setting invite us to understand and reflect on our perspective, while our focus is on the confirmation and acceptance of our own ideas. Ironically this often drives us not to the right decision, but to the one we can best justify (Mercier, 2011). This form of arguing is most commonly seen in family settings, politics, playgrounds, reality television shows, sports commentaries and social settings.

In contrast, professional argumentation has a very different intent: that of reaching a previously unknown conclusion or ‘truth’ from the analysis of evidence. This type of argument begins with the accumulation of non-selective evidence and progresses through a logical selection process, to a stage of hypothesising in order to reach a bias-free conclusion. The authenticity and validity of the process itself provides the persuasive factor in this form of argumentation. The intent of most professional argumentation is to improve societal, scientific and cultural knowledge and to assist in the making of better decisions (Mercier & Sperber, 2011).

We accept that the quality of our lives depends on our ability and the abilities of those around us to engage in sound decision making practices, thoughtfully considering all alternatives while using appropriate evidence to select one alternative over the other. This set of cognitive skills is what many researchers (Leighton & Sternberg, 2004) describe as internal argumentation which requires a set of skills that are not innate but rather must be taught and learned. Lohman and Lakin (2009) refer to this process as reasoning, an attribute that goes beyond merely selecting information and is deductive in both nature and outcome.

It is this reasoning capacity of humans that creates and sustains culture (Mercier, 2011).

But misconceptions about the role of reasoning in argumentation abound and can result in failure to achieve the goals of the argument. This is because, contrary to popular belief, reasoning underpins both social and professional arguments. Many exponents attribute nonreasoning and emotional features to social arguing situations

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and in the absence of these observable characteristics, assume that the argument taking place is ‘professional’ and ‘rational’ aimed at determining fact and truth. And this would be a dire mistake. This is because while the function of reasoning is argumentative (Mercier & Sperber, 2011; Weinberg, 2012), reasoning did not evolve specifically to pursue truth. Rather, it evolved to serve two masters; to win arguments as well as to seek the truth. Unfortunately, if the participant is not aware of which style best suits what context, poor outcomes are all too often the result.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School students arrive in Year 7 well-versed in the art of social argumentation, but have had little opportunity and even less role-modelling through cultural experiences to develop good skills of professional argumentation. Why, then, do we spend time encouraging girls to develop these skills when they are already, from birth it seems, so proficient at social argumentation and quite often, effective reasoning as well? One obvious answer to this question lies with the cognitive demands of their future career choices where professional argumentation underpins the interactions in most workplace settings.

As well, there is a cultural phenomenon recognised by social psychologists (Chodorow, 2012; Seelig, 2002) who have identified the quantum difference between how girls and boys argue from a very early age. Research shows that problem-solving boys demonstrate significantly stronger skills of professional argumentation by the time they enter secondary school, while their female counterparts are more likely to slip into the various forms of culturally endorsed (for girls) social argumentation, complete with the full repertoire of emotional overtones. While modern workplaces consist of similar numbers of both genders, males still dominate the leadership profiles of most organisations.

Seelig (2002) postulates that one of the principal reasons women find it difficult to climb leadership ladders is because of their limited understanding of how men in key positions manage conflict and work effectively through team negotiations.

So, where does the development of professional argumentation skills occur? At Girls Grammar, these skills are nurtured in the academic curriculum of most subjects.

Whether a student is constructing a History essay, shaping an analytical English oral or gathering evidence through laboratory experimentation to answer a research question, she is encouraged to build her understanding of how to harness reasoning and thoughtfully consider all alternatives while using evidence to construct a logically supported conclusion. In Science, this approach is explicitly developed as students are invited to question and investigate others’ claims, and to draw evidence-based conclusions (Hackling and Sheriff, 2015). The philosopher Patrick Stokes (2012) summed up this approach to education when he informed his students that they are not entitled to their opinion; they are only entitled to what they can successfully argue for.

He reminds us that teachers owe it to their students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument, and to recognise when a belief has become indefensible.

Debating at Girls Grammar also offers the opportunity to develop skills of professional argumentation. From the robust interhouse competition in Years 7 and 8, through the congenial atmosphere of TriSchools and the Brisbane Girls Debating Competition to the rigorously demanding Queensland Debating Union competition, our girls are offered multiple opportunities to build an understanding of this form of argumentation in a challenging but supported environment. Furthermore, debating provides a unique insight into how one works as part of a team, how to manage competition and conflict and how to view and accept the perspective of others in non-judgmental ways.

It seems, then, that the challenge we have as teachers and parents is to determine how and when we can have a good argument without picking a fight.

REFERENCES (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/argument Brennan, R. (2015, May 2). Not hard to argue with. The Courier Mail, pp. 66-67.

Chodorow, N.J. (2012). Individualizing gender and sexuality: Theory and practice. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

Dusenbury, S. (2014). What’s to love about love: The benefits of arguing. Retrieved from http://lifestyleetc.com/category/the-etc/ Gilbert, M. (2008). How to win an argument: surefire strategies for getting your point across. (2nd ) New York: John Wiley.

Hackling, M. & Sheriff, B. (2015). Language based reasoning in primary science. The Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association, 61 (2), 14-24.

Leighton, J.P. & Sternberg, R.J. (2004). The nature of reasoning. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Lohman D.F & Lakin J.M. (2009). Intelligence and Reasoning. Retrieved from https://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/docs/dlohman/Reasoning-and-Intell_Lohman-Lakin-102709.pdf Mercier, H. (2011, April 27). The argumentative theory. Retrieved from http://edge.org/conversation/the-argumentative-theory Mercier, H. & Sperber, D. (2011). Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Retrieved from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00904097/document Seelig, B.J. (2002). Constructing and deconstructing woman’s power. New York: Karnac books.

Stokes, P. (2012). No, you’re not entitled to your opinion. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978 Weinberg, A. (2012). How to have a logical argument in real life. [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://blog.thewebsitepeople.org/012/01how-to-have-a-logical-argument-inreal-life/ Willott, E. (2011). Why argue?: Why would you want to do it better? Retrieved from http://research.biology.arizona.edu/mosquito/willott/323/argument.html Your Tango Experts (2011.) Why do we feel the need to argue? [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/10/23/why-do-we-feel-the-need-to-argue/

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Part of the clan MRS SYBIL EDWARDS, HEAD OF LILLEY HOUSE

| 17 SEPTEMBER 2015

There is something in that bond, in that connection to school that changes the life trajectory — at least in health and academic behaviour. It is very powerful, second only to parents in power.

In some contexts it’s more powerful than parents (Blum, 2007).

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e all know that a feeling of belonging is one of our fundamental needs. Maslow, the famous American psychologist, placed belonging just below basic requirements such as food, shelter, warmth and security in his hierarchy of needs. For students, the feeling that they do not belong to their school can create significant psychological unease and is something to consider not only as an issue of pastoral care but as something that can impact greatly on effective learning.

Studies have shown an extremely strong link between depression and school connectedness in teenagers. In 2006, QUT conducted a study of over 2 000 students which found that teenagers’ sense of belonging to their school had more bearing on students’ mental health than even their home environment. It was an even stronger predictor of depression than attachment to parents (Cockshaw & Shochet, 2010). An extensive study in the US in 1997 involving 12 000 students had found similar results — that school connectedness protected students against nearly every health risk behaviour from emotional distress to delinquency and teenage pregnancy (Blum, McNeely and Nonnemaker, 2002). School, it seems, can be one of the most stabilising forces in the lives of young people.

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If this is so, then schools have an enormous responsibility which goes beyond traditional teaching and learning, and this is certainly acknowledged at our School with our strong emphasis on pastoral care. Most people associated with Brisbane Girls Grammar School, whether they be student, teacher or parent, would concede that the level of connectedness at this School is high. Mechanisms such as the House system, the Study Buddy programme and our co-curricular programme all aid in building a sense of belonging, with vertical age groupings shown to be a strong factor for success.

The Houses at Girls Grammar lay a strong foundation for bonds to be created among girls across all year levels.

Whether the girls are playing games at the House party, enjoying a pancake breakfast, working together on their choir performance or simply sharing formal photos at a House assembly, there are many different avenues within the House structure which allow the students to connect and feel a part of a smaller group within a large school. Likewise, the School’s Study Buddy programme where students from Years 8 and 11 are teamed together, can provide not only academic support but another all important social connection. About fifty pairs of girls meet regularly, with

the older students assisting with organisation and time management skills. Friendships can blossom alongside study, and barriers between year levels are broken down as the older students help their younger counterparts to find their footing in the high school setting.

Several studies recommend that in order for school connectedness to be strengthened, schools should not be seen to value only highly successful students or to only stress competition and performance-oriented goals (Cross, Lester & Waters, 2013). So how can we achieve this in a school such as ours with a reputation as a leading girls’ school where excellence is encouraged, acknowledged and celebrated (as it should be). The answer could be in embracing a philosophy of inclusiveness in the many co-curricular clubs within the school, rather than being purely outcomes-based.

The anime club is a prime example of a non-competitive, inclusive group consisting of around twenty students from all year groups. According to Ms Ruth Jans, the coordinator of the group, the club provides a haven for creative girls with interests in Asian culture such as anime and K-Pop (Korean pop). It may be easy to assume that the anime club is a quiet group who sit in the dark watching films but Ms Jans attests to the lovely sense of cohesion and spirit present in their sessions. They can become quite raucous, with the anime films prompting shouts, laughter and criticism from the students. Although they may not know each other well, it is a very unifying experience. There seems to be a lack of

barriers to begin with, because all the girls are obsessed with anime and Ms Jans believes that this sense of belonging comes from grouping themselves as ‘anime lovers’.

Much has been written about the way in which drama can be used not only as a form of entertainment and teaching aid but as a means to promote group functioning. As a nonauditioned club inviting students from all ages, the School’s drama club, The Felgates, is a wonderful environment in which to build social connections. Adam Blatner, an American psychologist specialising in using drama in psychotherapy, talks about ‘the profound feelings of the body in action, doing rather than just passively watching and hearing’ (2006). He says that ‘… there is great power in feeling and hearing one’s own voice speak’ (Blatner, 2006).When playing improvisation games, devising drama, rehearsing a script or organising the technical aspects of a production, students are involved in group decision-making which requires the social skills of co-operation, concentration and commitment. As students practise these skills in drama structures, their confidence and self- esteem increase, and likewise their feeling of belonging.

Students flourish in schools where they feel as if they belong, and where individuals are recognised and acknowledged.

Through our House system we have an in-built structure for strengthening connectedness with vertical groupings, and our co-curricular programme embraces not only excellence but a philosophy of inclusiveness in order to promote a sense of belonging to all students.

REFERENCES Blatner, A. (2006). Why Drama? Retrieved from http://www.interactiveimprov.com/whydramawb.html Blum, R. (2007). School Connectedness and Meaningful Student Participation. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov.admins/lead/safety/training/conn ect/school_pg3.html Blum, R., McNeely, C., & Nonnemaker, J. (2002). Promoting school connectedness: evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Journal of School Health, 72(4), 138–146.

Cockshaw, W. D., & Shochet, I. (2010). The link between belongingness and depressive symptoms: an exploration in the workplace interpersonal context. Australian Psychologist, 45(4), 283–289.

Cross, D., Lester, L., & Waters, S. (2013). The relationship between school connectedness and mental health during the transition to secondary school: a path analysis.

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 23(2), 157–171.

Law, P.C., Cuskelly, M., & Carrol, A. (2013). Young people’s perceptions of family, peer, and school connectedness and their impact on adjustment. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 23(1), 115–140.

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Every Girl Matters INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD: ASSEMBLY ADDRESS | 7 OCTOBER 2015 MS RACHAEL CHRISTOPHERSON, ENGLISH TEACHER

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n 19 December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 declaring 11 October the International Day of the Girl Child.

The United Nations advocates that ‘adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women’. Why? Because if supported effectively during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world — as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, and political leaders (United Nations Department of Public Information [UNDPI], 2015). Still today, girls are born into countries where they are denied access to education; they may not play sport or as young women, hold a job or drive a car; they are caged and suppressed because they are girls.

The International Day of the Girl Child is now in its fourth year. This is an important event for Brisbane Girls Grammar School on many levels. First, as a girls’ school renowned for its forward-thinking approach to girls’ education, I believe that it is our responsibility to recognise that this is not a privilege enjoyed by many girls worldwide, and therefore we have a responsibility to be the voice for those disadvantaged young women.

Over the last fifteen years, the global community has made significant progress in improving the lives of girls during early childhood. In 2015, girls in the first decade of life are more likely to enrol in primary school, receive key vaccinations, and are less likely to suffer from health and nutrition problems than were previous generations. However,

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serious challenges still remain: in 2014 women and girls comprised sixty percent of the 781 million adults and 126 million youth worldwide, who lack basic literacy skills (UNDPI, 2015).

You will remember that, more than a year ago, the extremist group Boko Haram abducted 250 school girls from Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria, sparking a worldwide campaign to ‘bring home our girls’ (Magnay, 2015). In fact what is concerning to note is that schools, particularly girls’ schools, are the target of so many terrorist attacks in developing countries — more than 350 attacks in 2013. It is clear that girls in developing countries face disempowering challenges that are beyond our imagination.

In my role as an English teacher and the co-ordinator of the School’s reading club, the Libellum Society, and therefore as a passionate advocate of literacy and learning, I would like to focus today on girls’ access to education. ‘Education is a human right in itself and an enabling right that transforms lives’ (UNDPI, 2015). It seems to me that for oppressive individuals, extremist groups and governments, an educated young woman is a threat. Education is an empowering weapon against poverty, injustice and abuse.

Did you know that before the invention of the printing press, books were so valuable that they were often chained to the shelves in libraries? To own a book was a mark of status, wealth and privilege. So, has anything really changed?

Let us examine the original name for ‘book’: ‘codex’. ‘Codex’ is a Latin word that describes an ancient book and is derived from the Latin word ‘code’. Thus to read is to ‘crack the

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code’. If you cannot read, you do not have the key to crack the code. We all know that if you do not have a key, you cannot get in!

texts in both English and Aboriginal languages to remote Indigenous communities of Australia. Its success is evident in the growing culture of reading in those communities.

Research worldwide points to literacy — reading — as one of the fundamental differences between advantage and disadvantage. Literacy levels are intrinsically linked to socio-economic status. It is the key to the doors of opportunity in all areas of life. Work by researchers such as Professor Peter Freebody has also shown that a girl in a developing country with even minimal education is more likely to marry later, have fewer children, and access better health care and other support networks for her family.

Education gives her choices.

Thus, Nobel Peace prize winner, Malala Yousafzai’s determination to receive an education and to promote the importance of education for all children is timely.

In addition, this year’s Australians of the Year reflect the growing value placed on literacy and education for women and on hearing their voices, especially in their endeavours to enrich the lives of our children — Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty (campaigner against domestic violence); Senior Australian of the Year, Jackie French (children’s author); Young Australian of the Year, Drisana Levitzke-Gray (advocate for the deaf).

Let me give you an example of the power of education.

According to Dhillon (April 18, 2015), India is currently ‘grappling with rising levels of violence against women and is turning to schools in an endeavour to change the patriarchal thinking in its society, starting with the contrast between what boys and girls do after they finish school’.

He goes on to provide imagined statements from a girl and a boy.

Boy: ‘I go home after school and have a snack, then I play cricket with my friends, come home for dinner, watch TV and go to bed.’

Girl: ‘I get up early to clean the house, fetch the milk and help my younger siblings and then go to school. After school, I help my mother with the cooking and cleaning, get fodder for the cow, help in the fields and wash up after dinner.’

(Dhillon, April 18, 2015) Suddenly gender inequality becomes clear, and education becomes a valuable means to changing attitudes towards women.

So determined is another community to provide education for their children that in Mexico City, a twelve-metre-long railway carriage serves as a single classroom, office and library of a school. The children’s parents were railway labourers; when the service train was discontinued it was parked and converted into housing and a school (Mollison, June 13, 2015).

In our own country, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation was established with the specific aim of providing more written

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This year, as the international community assesses progress under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ‘since their implementation in 2000 and sets goals to be achieved by 2030, girls born at the turn of the millennium have reached adolescence, and the generation of girls born this year will be adolescents in 2030’ (UNDPI, 2015).

In 2030 — our future — how will a girl’s life have changed?

So what part can you play as a student of a school that encourages you to ‘contribute confidently to [your] world with wisdom, imagination and integrity’? Past principal, Dr Amanda Bell, reminded Grammar girls: ‘You are part of a school that has panoramic aspirations and inspiring alumni all over the world’.

Education is a right, but for many girls in the global community, it remains a privilege. I believe that it is your responsibility to apply your privilege, your gift of education, and your opportunities, to open the doors of opportunity for other girls.

You have, in fact, made in-roads in ways that perhaps you are unaware of …

Your participation in Steptember is one example. By counting your steps and fund-raising you raised more than $8 000 for CPL (formerly known as the Cerebral Palsy League). Do you know what this money will provide? It enables disabled children to be involved in fulfilling, meaningful and fun

activities using equipment and learning devices designed specifically for children with cerebral palsy. Staff are trained to work one-on-one with these disabled children, providing a much needed break for the families of children with cerebral palsy or similar motor skill disabilities. Your money builds respite homes, learning facilities and playgrounds.

Have you considered how difficult it might be for a little girl with cerebral palsy to go on a swing at the park? Can she play on the swing? The answer is she cannot. She cannot jump up onto the seat. She cannot bend her legs to balance on the swing. It is difficult to get her arms around the chains to hold on. I know this, because I have seen it. But a swing specifically designed for a disabled child enables all of these things to happen. The little girl gets to experience the joys of a swing in the park. And it is magic to see that happiness.

That is what you achieved in Steptember.

All Year 9 classes have a World Vision sponsor-child. How does this help young girls in developing countries? My World Vision sponsor-child, Sumitthaa, is from Sri Lanka.

I have been her sponsor now for eight years. She progressed in school up to Year 9 and is seventeen. She works at home supporting her family, working in the vegetable garden, cooking and sewing. You might think that this is not much progress for this young girl compared to your own aspirations for the future. Actually the progress is huge.

That is because, at seventeen, Sumitthaa is a young, independent woman. She did not become a child bride; her family was not forced to sell her to an enslaved life of domestic work or worse; she is not pregnant or caring for her own small children; she does not have AIDS. She has

choices. Not as many perhaps as you, but she has choices.

It is possible for her to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Finally, this story about Rebecca. She is an eleven-year-old refugee from South Sudan who has settled in a refugee camp in Uganda. In Sudan, Rebecca lost her father to the conflict and was forced to escape Sudan with her mother and siblings.

In the World Vision-supported refugee camp, Rebecca receives food, shelter and medical care. This means she is now well enough to resume her Year 4 education – a great outcome because, in her school in Sudan, she was placed third out of 176 students. Rebecca says: I want to become a doctor so I can help people in my country. My father was an educated man and we want to go the way our father shows us. If we are all alive we can do education to be a leader in another time … and all people can know that this child is the daughter of this man who died from the war (World Vision Australia, 2015).

In this small way, you are catalysts for change. The challenge is how to maintain this momentum in the years ahead. The Reverend Martin Luther King said: ‘our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter’. Every girl on this planet matters. You matter. Your right and her right to a happy and fulfilling life matters.

In the words of Kathryn Stockett, from her inspirational novel, The Help: ‘You [are] smart. You [are] kind. You [are] strong. You [are] important’ (Stockett, 2009). The International Day of the Girl Child reminds us that every girl should feel that way.

REFERENCES Dhillon, A. (2015, April 18). Boys and girls learn a new lesson in Mumbai project. The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 42.

Independent Voice. (2015, May). Women’s rights: Looking back to Beijing and beyond. Independent Voice, p. 29.

Magnay, J. (2015, May 23). Film catches struggle of Nigeria’s daughters. The Weekend Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-supremeprice-film-catches-struggle-of-nigerias-daughters/story-e6frg6so-1227365747345 Mollison, J. (2015, June 13). Hardyards. The Weekend Australian Magazine, p. 18–21.

Stockett, K. (2009). The Help. New York: Penguin Books.

United Nations Department of Public Information (2015). International Day of the Girl Child. Retrieved from United Nations: http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/ World Vision Australia (2015). Hope emerges for children. World Vision: See the Difference, p. 5.

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Present tense M R S T E P H E N F O G A R T Y, D I R E C T O R O F H E A L T H A N D P H Y S I C A L E D U C A T I O N | 16 OCTOBER 2015

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first saw and heard an iPod in February of 2004. It was the year that I began teaching at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and one of the then Year 12 girls had brought one (together with a set of small, thin-sounding speakers) along to the Physical Education Lifesaving Camp at Marrapatta.

player, for when I really want to listen). In any case, today’s adolescents (the current generation of Grammar girls) do not mourn the loss of the richer sound quality of my earliest music experiences because they have lived their remembered lives without it. They will no doubt find other things to be nostalgic about.

At the time, it was relatively new technology with the device having been introduced to the world in October of 2001 and, by February 2004, Apple had sold ‘only’ two million iPods worldwide (a far cry from the claimed 390 million sold worldwide today). I remember that everyone on the camp was impressed with it — not with the sound quality; it was poor and the music struggled to find its audience through the inadequate speakers — but with its capacity to store songs. With the iPod (and we can now take this to refer to any MP3-based device that plays compressed music) time has shown that, as consumers, we have been more than willing to sacrifice sound quality for the advantages of compact storage and ease of exchange. The iPod was at the vanguard of this movement and we now see it in the way that we watch television programmes, music video clips, and YouTube. We embrace low fidelity on devices that have the capacity to provide ‘ultra-high definition’ because we value the vastly enhanced access and the quantity-over-quality volume and range of the online archive. Even those of us who, like me, hang on to an old-school music collection and remember the richer sounding music of our youth, have acquiesced because, ultimately, the allure of being able to carry that collection around with us in our pockets was too great. I am nostalgic about the music; less so about the way it is delivered (although, I still have a turntable and a CD

All of this reflection has been brought about because I have just finished reading Simon Reynolds’s Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past. Using pop culture (but mainly music), Reynolds presents a detailed examination of our society’s love of, and deeply embedded reliance on, nostalgia as a way to move forward. Our present and future is heavily influenced by our cultural past to the extent that we have become shackled by our own ‘retromania’. Reynolds argues that, as the pace of modern life increases, we spend so much time looking to the past (and the obvious implication that things were better then) for inspiration, that we no longer look to celebrate the now. We no longer look to create things that are truly new. The concept itself is not new. While at university I studied a sociology unit where the lecturer presented newspaper and other media reports going back two hundred years, each of them alluding to, or specifically referencing, the idea that things were better twenty years ago. One need look no further than the current trend for bands to tour on the twentieth anniversary of an album, playing the tracks in the order in which they appear on the album. It is not surprising. When we look to the past, we are reminded of our younger selves, a time when we had fewer responsibilities, and a time and place when and where things were ‘better’. During times of change or

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upheaval, we look to the familiar. We return to things that are comforting. But change, of course, is inexorable and the extent to which we notice it depends largely on the degree to which we are directly affected by it.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School has changed. In this, our 140th year, it would be rather obvious to point out that we are not the same now as we were in 1875. It is perhaps less obvious to point out that we are not the same as we were in 2014. Three-quarters of the way through the introduction of Year 7 (although when one considers the years of planning leading up to January of this year, we are much further along than that) we observe subtle differences in the School every day. Interestingly, these differences are not necessarily related to the specific ‘newness’ of the Year 7 cohort. Truthfully, the School is always in a state of change (as is every institution, community and, indeed, every individual) so the idea that we should spend time longing for the perceived riches of the past is misplaced.

As a school (particularly one as venerated as ours), we naturally and rightly reflect on our past. We review our successes and failures. We identify the things that we do well and we ask: ‘What do we need to do better?’. An understanding of the past is important, but the School changes (as it always does), and we cannot fall prey to ‘retromania’. We cannot embrace change and still keep everything the same. At some point, we have to sacrifice ‘sound quality’ for ‘ease of exchange’.

Our current cohort should not be forced to listen to music on turntables and CD players, just as they should not be made to feel that the best time has already passed them by.

There is no better time to be a Year 12 student at Girls Grammar. There is no better time to be a Year 7 student. In saying as much, we are acknowledging a simple truth – the best time is now! Anything less than our full attention on the now does our current Brisbane Girls Grammar School cohort a disservice. Their ‘time’ must necessarily be the best one — because it is.

REFERENCES Apple Inc. (n.d.). History of the iPod. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/pr/products/ipodhistory/ Costello, S. (2015, October 5). This is the number of iPods sold all-time. Retrieved from http://ipod.about.com/od/glossary/qt/number-of-ipods-sold.htm Reynolds, S. (2011). Retromania: Pop culture’s addiction to its own past. London: Faber and Faber.

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SEVELLA AGNEW / 9L 120

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The Gala Concert — achieving a summit experience MR MARK SULLIVAN, DIRECTOR OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC | 23 OCTOBER 2015

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s another generation of senior musicians prepares for their final Gala Concert, I find it fascinating that whenever I meet former students, the first question they ask after the chatter of re-acquaintance is: ‘What is the theme for the Gala Concert?’. The conversation then quickly moves to reminiscences and comparisons of the various occasions on which they performed and the vivid feelings of success and achievement that were experienced at the time.

In order to achieve a state of flow, a number of conditions must be present. These include: achievable tasks in relation to the available skills and abilities; clear goals set to achieve the task; focused concentration on a specific field; opportunities for immediate feedback; a deep effortless involvement without the everyday worries of life; an enjoyable experience with a high degree of personal control; and a loss of self-consciousness.

This led me to questioning what makes the Gala Concert such a memorable experience and why it has such a lasting impact for the participants.

When flow is achieved, musicians are able to retrieve information, access ideas, apply practiced technical skills, compare sounds and make choices ‘that release the spirit of the composer from the page and connect with the emotions stimulated by the piece of music’ (Corporon, 2000, p. 92). This state of flow is an exhilarating and powerful feeling for the performer.

The answer can be found in Professor Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi’s Theory of Optimal Experience. A former Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, Professor Csíkszentmihályi devoted his life’s work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled.

Known also as ‘flow’, his theory asserts that people enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in an activity that involves the whole being, during which they lose their sense of time, and experience feelings of great satisfaction.

During a flow experience people use their skills to the utmost, the ego falls away, time flies and the rewards are truly intrinsic.

Edward S. Lisk in his book, The Creative Director: Alternative Rehearsal Techniques, refers to this intense emotional state as a ‘summit or spiritual experience where an altered state of consciousness is achieved through musical expression’. He goes on to say that ‘the summit experience is a basic necessity of all human beings and the reason for study, practice and knowledge’ and that ‘continued occurrences of this state encourage and motivate the students to greater involvement, accomplishment and expectations’ (Lisk, 1991, p. 13).

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For a student in a choir or instrumental ensemble to experience a state of flow, the development of the group must be carefully prepared and managed in order to reach the ultimate performance experience.

Lisk asserts that: the priority of an ensemble rehearsal is to unify the group’s perception of the composer’s intent along with synchronizing the timing of the physical skills necessary to produce a musical result. There must be a rhythm of thinking and timing by all ensemble members and minds must work in concert (Lisk, 1996, p. 21).

In practical terms this means that, in addition to the basics of pitch, rhythm, phrasing, articulation and dynamics, musicians must be taught how to react spontaneously with other ensemble members to execute the slightest adjustments to balance, blend and intonation, in order to achieve unity in performance.

Lisk identifies five levels of ensemble development required in the achievement of a summit experience. During the first level, students deal with the mechanical functions of the piece — time signatures, key signatures, note values, rhythm, articulation and dynamics.

The second level is repetition where the initial skills are practised repeatedly to achieve accuracy and precision.

Repetition must be through a logical, sequential process in order for the cerebellum to accurately store these motor skills.

In level three, the focus moves to the structure of a piece, where students visualise and hear the total sound of the work while shaping and developing musical aspects such as motifs, phrasing, transitions and tempo changes.

Level four is the transition point where there is a shift to the functions of perception, creating conceptual images and developing expressive qualities. These are complex concepts to develop as we are dealing with ideas unseen, unheard and difficult to explain verbally, as well as the challenge of enabling each individual’s unique expression of feelings and emotions.

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Level five is reached when all previous procedures have been developed, and the performers can free themselves from the verbal, analytical, mathematical mode of thinking and allow the images of beauty, emotion and expressive qualities to take over. An holistic state is experienced when the performer achieves total involvement of all the senses in the musical experience, and an internal feeling of openness and freedom.

Each year the Gala Concert is conceived and planned to provide the vehicle for a true summit experience for the performers. The theme is set, the repertoire is selected, soloists are auditioned, rehearsals are planned, infrastructure is put in place and the preparation begins.

The variables are many and the stakes are high in this pursuit of the ultimate performance experience. It is a risky business, but with the combined efforts of the gifted and dedicated staff, the talented young musicians, the significant logistical assistance of the Music Support Group and the general support from School staff and the wider community, the final result is one that creates a significant and lasting memory.

The theme and title of this, our nineteenth Gala Concert was chosen to celebrate the Music Department and reflect on its development in this 140th anniversary year. As Time Goes By is an example of the balance between high challenge and high skills, and has provided a variety of opportunities for the adolescent performers to explore a wide range of feelings and emotions that will engage, entertain and captivate the audience.

On Saturday night, more than four hundred young musicians and community choir members will be taking the risk as they search for musical meaning and that special moment that sends a chill through the audience.

The hope is that the weekly music lessons, endless scales and arpeggios, ear training, tutorials, auditions and rehearsals will all converge to reach the state of flow which is the source of another powerful and lasting personal experience.

ELISHA YIN / 8W (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Corporon, E.M. (2000). Fervor, focus, flow, and feeling: Making an emotional connection. In R. Miles (Eds.), Teaching music through performance in band, Vol. 3 (pp. 81–101).

Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc. Lisk, E. (1991). The Creative Director: Alternative Rehearsal Techniques. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Meredith Music Publications.

Lisk, E. (1996). The Creative Director: Intangibles of Musical Performance. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Meredith Music Publications.

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The secret to confidence D R A N N FA R L E Y, D I R E C T O R O F C R O S S FA C U L T Y I N I T I A T I V E S

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ecently, our Philosophy of Learning students in Years 7 and 8 were asked to depict assessment as a creature. A number of their drawings showed two-headed monsters that represented the positive and negative elements of assessment. As I reflected on their pictures, I realised I identified strongly with their conflicted feelings about the contradictory nature of assessment.

Each time I prepare to mark a piece of assessment, I fear that the outcome will impact negatively on some students’ confidence and future approach to learning.

I know that students approach their work in very different ways. Some are not happy with their last result and have worked incredibly hard to improve it. How will they respond if their result has not improved? Others have been very busy with multiple commitments and I suspect that they have not done adequate preparation. Will they realise that this is what has happened and make plans to monitor future commitments, or decide that it is the subject that has become too difficult? Then there are the students who demonstrate their understanding of concepts during class time but become so anxious during tests that their outcomes never match their efforts. Will they be able to learn to ‘turn off their amygdala switch’ or will they give up?

I am concerned that each student may not achieve as well as she had hoped and I worry about the impact of this disappointment. For some, I know that this will be the timely ‘wake-up call’ – that they will evaluate their actions, adjust their time management, consider commitments, and take responsibility for monitoring their progress. For others, I worry that this may confirm in their minds that, no matter how hard they try, they will never improve. Each year I see students who persevere to overcome obstacles with grit and

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| 30 OCTOBER 2015

determination while others give up as soon as they encounter even minor challenges. I know that the earlier one truly learns to take responsibility for one’s own actions through reflection, decision making, and monitoring, the greater the possibility of success, not only at school but later in life.

Why is it that for some students taking charge of themselves appears to be easy while others seem to let life happen to them or in some cases roll over the top of them? Schimmer (2014) suggests that: Confidence separates those who persist from those who give up. When students have confidence, when they believe that they’ll eventually be able to achieve, they can learn almost anything. Without confidence, regardless of how on point a teacher’s instruction is, learning stops.

Without it, Fox (2009) warns: You question your ability and stress constantly. Fearing you will not be able to handle it, you may actually sabotage your ability to get it done. Instead of facing the task, you retreat, avoid, or procrastinate. Maybe you confront the task, but without believing in yourself you over-think it, over-do-it, or tremble through the process all the while doubting yourself.

Ongoing research into brain functioning has enabled us to understand with increasing clarity how levels of confidence can either stimulate or inhibit thinking. When students feel confident, the brain releases endorphins that trigger faster neurological connections, thus enabling them to think more clearly and logically, and this can lead to improved problemsolving abilities (DuBois-Maahs, 2013). In contrast, when

students feel too much stress and pressure, the amygdala triggers the body to react with the unhelpful fight, flight, or freeze mode rather than transferring data to the prefrontal cortex where information can be processed into long-term memory. Self-preservation takes over, reasoned action is difficult, and thinking and learning can shut down (Gregory and Kaufeldt, 2015).

None of us is immune to struggles with confidence and motivation but parents often have the opportunity to role-model confidence-building strategies, explaining how you plan to succeed at a difficult task. If it does not work, you can still demonstrate confidence by speaking about the changes you are going to make next time in order to succeed. You can also discuss past experiences that have been difficult, demonstrating that we all go through difficult times and make mistakes that result in a lack of confidence: a deficiency that you have developed strategies to overcome.

As teachers, we continue to encourage students to grow in confidence by becoming more active participants in monitoring and shaping their own learning. Brains are made to seek not just to ‘sit and get’ according to research conducted by Gregory and Kaufeldt (2015). We know that ineffective learned responses can be replaced through the

development of alternative neural pathways but it is up to each individual student to have the confidence to accept the challenge to persist in making necessary changes.

Schimmer (2013) emphasises the importance of the relationship between competence and confidence. To achieve competence, effective strategies need to be adapted to personal situations. Regardless of whether the student is struggling to achieve or regain confidence in sport, music, drama, or academic pursuits, she needs to persist at managing time for practice, monitoring learning through conscious self-assessment and practising strategies to overcome unproductive responses to stress and anxiety.

According to Fox (2009), ‘confidence is our greatest personal resource. With it, we can face any situation knowing we can handle it’. There is an inherent danger in letting life ‘happen’ to us because, inevitably, a situation will arise that requires considered action. Those who have learned to listen to their self-talk and respond to it effectively, to reflect on and evaluate current outcomes, and to make choices despite the sometimes overwhelming demands of peers and adults around them — have the greatest opportunity of developing the kind of confidence described by Schimmer (2013) as a ‘kind of self-efficacy … where they believe that success is an eventual outcome’.

REFERENCES DuBois-Maahs, J. (2013). Increase students’ confidence and boost in achievement. Education Update, 55(7), 6–7.

Fox, M. (2009, July 1). The key to confidence. Psychology Today [Weblog]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/think-confident-be-confident/200907/ the-key-confidence Gregory, G. & Kaufeldt, M. (2015). The motivated brain: Improving student attention, engagement, and perseverance. Alexandria, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Schimmer, T. (2014). The case for confidence. Educational Leadership, 71(6). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar14/vol71/num06/ The-Case-for-Confidence.aspx Schimmer, T (2013). How confidence through competence plays a part in assessment. Retrieved from http://researchnetwork.pearson.com/nextgen-learning-and-assessment/ how-confidence-through-competence-plays-a-part-in-assessment

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Creating theatre, shaping people – cognition, emotion and empathy in drama practice MRS KATRINA RIVEROS, HEAD OF CO-CURRICULAR DRAMA | 6 NOVEMBER 2015

I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being (Thornton Wilder).

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t is a strange thing, acting — pretending to be someone you are not. It could be viewed as deceitful if it were not for the fact that actors are pretending in the knowledge of being watched; that the role of the ‘watchers ’— the audience — is critical to completing the dynamic organism that is theatre. When creating theatre, purpose and context frame the shaping of action to communicate ideas to an audience.

Whether the purpose be to entertain, challenge, inform or confront, at the core of most quality theatre is meaning.

Theatre aims to ask questions about humanity and life and, since its origins in Ancient Greece, has encouraged audiences to make sense of their world through the actions and interactions of others.

Engaging with drama certainly provides students with opportunities to experience ideas, stories, emotions and situations beyond their own. Drama in education is often

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associated with attributes of fun, self-esteem and confidence building, which, although present, are more by-products or tangential benefits, rather than core skills of our practice.

Deep philosophical and socio-critical inquiry, creative problem-solving and psychological understanding of human behaviour are much more at the heart of our subject. We are on a search for truth and meaning (no ‘biggie’); a humble quest that engages head and heart. Hence, as we create and critique theatre, we are shaping people.

The nature and potential of drama as a means of human inquiry develops a capacity for empathy, both cognitively and emotionally. We understand empathy as seeing something from another’s perspective and appreciating their experience. It is not a stretch therefore for the non-dramatist to see how the art of acting, of ‘stepping into another’s shoes’, may encourage empathy. But is that its full reach?

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Psychological studies into acting and empathy have revealed that actor training and regular participation in dramatic activities, develop skills in empathy and intuition that, if transferred to everyday life, can enhance healthy interpersonal relationships. The act of role-play and characterisation requires students to intuitively understand the character’s beliefs, intentions and desires, even though they may be vastly different from their own. The technical term in psychology for this ability is Theory of Mind.

Professor of Psychology, Thalia Goldstein (2012) asserts that actors use a host of complex psychological skills, Theory of Mind, empathy and emotion regulation to create realistic portrayals of characters. Interestingly, Goldstein’s research found that the ability to read another’s thoughts and feelings is based on whether they practise Theory of Mind. In other words, people such as actors and psychologists who are consciously and regularly doing this as part of their job actually increase their own capacity for empathy in the process.

This ‘practice’ is inherent in actor training and indeed drama.

The learning mode of the drama classroom facilitates empathy through the fictionalised dramatic world and the dialogue in the classroom. Transference of these ‘practised’ skills to our life broadens our perspective and heightens social perception.

It is not particularly surprising that the application of human psychology underpins actor training. After all, it was the philosophies and findings of Darwin and Freud that actually influenced the birth of Modern Theatre, namely Realism. But what are the acting techniques that use psychological skills of cognition and empathy? Although there are many variations

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on actor training, there are essentially two schools of thought: an ‘inside-out’ and an ‘outside-in’ approach. Both approaches recognise the interconnected relationship of intellect and emotion but it is the order in which mind and body process information that differs.

Our senior Drama studies offer a balance of these approaches to students as they are exposed to a spectrum of key twentieth century and contemporary practitioners. When working in the style of Realism, we employ techniques based on the best-known and most widely used ‘inside-out’ approach — the Stanislavski System. Stanislavski, a Russian actor, director and theoretician, developed the system (which later developed into Method Acting) to develop actors’ emotional and sensory awareness in order to ‘be’ the character through a more truthful interpretation. It is about connecting the actor to the inner world of the play and the inner life of the character.

For student actors, coming to an understanding of a particular character’s actions and behaviours can be very challenging. ‘There is a reciprocal nature between thought and experience that marks the inextricable intertwining of the environment and the actor’ (Lutterbie, 2011). The process of analysing a character first requires students to remove any judgement — and in my classroom experience, also involves evoking a ‘language ban’. I am not talking about obscenities; I ban the word ‘weird’. In fact, I ban it pre-emptively now as I have heard it so many times during a first-time reading of a challenging play text such as Mother Courage and her Children or A Doll’s House. High-pitched, not-so-whispered comments of ‘She’s so weird — as if you would’, cannon around the circle in response to Mother Courage refusing to recognise

her dead son’s body or Nora kissing her children goodbye while they sleep before leaving them. Clearly we are at an intersection in their journey to developing empathy at this stage — but we check both ways for traffic, and proceed with caution … and analysis.

At this point, applying one of Stanislavki’s key acting techniques is helpful. No, in fact it is imperative — it is called (drum roll, please) The Magic If (da-dah!). Actors are to pose and hopefully answer the question: ‘If I were this character, in this situation, what would I do?’ This specific phrasing changes everything; it calls for the actors to imagine themselves as that person (adopting their values, beliefs, attitudes) and place themselves in their situation. It removes hurried judgement and encourages genuine empathy. Seeing students’ faces as they register the a-ha moment is always rewarding. It marks the deepening of imagined and researched insight into another human being’s world, from their perspective and with their hardships, but with the mind, heart and body of the actor.

However, deepening the connection between thoughts and emotion only comes when the actor embodies the character — moving from ‘thinking’ to ‘doing’ and ‘being’. For our

students, it is the visceral experience and intellectual rigour of the theatrical process that engages them with the subject Drama. And in response to the oft-asked question ‘Why don’t you do some plays that are light and funny?’, it is because there is truth to be found and empathy to be gained. How can we miss these opportunities with our young, growing people?

I will leave you with these poignant words extracted from John Malkovich’s speech delivered in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of World Theatre Day at UNESCO in 2012. They inspire my teaching and directing.

May your work be compelling and original. May it be profound, touching, contemplative, and unique. May it help us to reflect on the question of what it means to be human, and may that reflection be blessed with heart, sincerity, candor, and grace. May you be blessed with the talent and rigor to teach us about the beating of the human heart in all its complexity, and the humility and curiosity to make it your life’s work. And may the best of you — for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments — succeed in framing that most basic of questions, ‘How do we live?’.

Godspeed.

REFERENCES Goldstein, T. (2012, January 19). What, cognitively, does an actor actually do? [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindstage/201201/what-cognitively-does-actor-actually-do Lutterbie, J. (2011). Toward a general theory of acting: Cognitive science and performance. In B. McConachie & B. Vermeule (Series Eds), Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance Series p.24. London: Palgrave MacMillan Malkovich, J. (2012, March 27). World Theatre Day address at UNESCO. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgGUQlHlEJU

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Remembrance Day Address 2015 MRS NARELLE WAVERLEY-SMITH, HEAD OF STUDY OF RELIGION | 11 NOVEMBER 2015

At the 2015 Remembrance Day and Prize Reading Assembly, Mrs Narelle Waverley-Smith, Head of Study of Religion, delivered the following Remembrance Day address.

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ere we are in 2015, entering into a ritual that emerged in the aftermath of the ‘war to end all wars’, the world’s first international conflict that caused destruction on a scale unknown in human history.

In the year following the Armistice of 1918, we find this account in the Manchester Guardian describing the first time the two minute silence was observed. And it reads

The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect.

The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mightylimbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition.

Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of ‘attention’. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still …

The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a

sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain … And the spirit of memory brooded over it all.

We as a school community stop in silent reflection, just as we have done for almost 100 years. The silence we offer echoes that which fell over the battlefield at 11.00 am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 when the Armistice was signed to end World War I. We respect this ritual every year, because we need to be reminded. Reminded of our history, and of those who gave their lives or otherwise suffered in wars and conflicts.

Since the outbreak of World War I, over 100 000 Australian Defence Force servicemen and women have given their lives to our nation’s cause. Many of those people remain where they fell on foreign shores – never to return to their homeland. Never to return to their families. The only way we can respond to such a shocking truth is in silence for words literally fail us.

Among the many battles fought in World War I, there is one that demonstrates the cataclysm that was the Western Front.

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As our Year 9 students know, the tiny country of Belgium was the focus of intense conflict due to its position in Europe. In particular, some of the most devastating battles erupted near Ypres.

In 1917 our Australian troops joined the British in what became known as the Third Battle of Ypres. The soldiers who fought called it the Battle of Mud, for the conditions were horrendous.

It just over a week, 11 000 of our finest young Australian men became causalities of war.

The fighting continued until the last shell fell on Ypres on 14 October 1918. In this area alone, over 1.7 million soldiers from both sides were killed or wounded as well as a countless number of civilians.

These numbers are impossible to absorb.

How are we to respond?

Across Australia and overseas we have built memorials to honour the men and women who served in the various wars. These strong and enduring structures keep the memory of loved ones alive and remind us of lives taken by war.

As a nation, and as a school, we traipse off to obscure places in distant shores to lay wreaths to declare that we won’t forget the fallen.

One such place is Gallipoli. Earlier this year a group of our students and teachers made the pilgrimage to the War Memorials in Turkey to pay homage to those who served there.

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Closer to Australian shores, at the end of last year our Year 12 Antipodeans travelled to Borneo and visited the Kundasang War Memorial, a monument built to commemorate British and Australian prisoners of war who endured unimaginable hardship in World War II. Kundasang is a patch of jungle, otherwise unremarkable, except that it has become forever a place of sacred significance to Australians. This is the place where, out of the 2 428 soldiers who were imprisoned, all the British soldiers died and only six Australians survived the horrors of the prisoners of war camps and the death marches.

When we visit monuments of memory, what are we actually doing?

We are making a connection, whether that be with dear family members or simply fellow Australians.

We choose to connect and remember that those who have returned from war with broken bodies, disturbed minds and those who did not come home, were, and are, just like you and I, made of flesh and blood, full of hopes and dreams.

In sharing their stories, we make them present.

When we open ourselves to stories, mostly tragic, but sometimes triumphant; if we are ready to be changed by what we hear, something happens, we are transformed — for the stories are opening us to our humanity.

So here we are today, participating as a group in our own ritual for Remembrance Day. Ritual is an expression, an acting out of what we believe, of how we see ourselves. We believe that those who served our nation, mattered, and that they continue to matter.

A most curious case DR SALLY STEPHENS, DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE, ACTING DEAN OF STUDIES AND PLANNING | 13 NOVEMBER 2015

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ecent educational thinking around the idea of curiosity reads like a crime drama. Curiosity is the victim. In a shocking twist, the crime is thought to have been an inside job; the prime suspects in the murder of curiosity are adults aided and abetted by the very educational system charged with fostering it. The teaching of Science is one of the crime scenes. The pundits have got hold of the story, and the headlines are grim: theoretical physicist, Dr Michio Kaku, and astrophysicist, Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson report that curiosity has been ‘squashed’, and ‘crushed’ out of our children (Kaku, 2014; deGrasse Tyson, 2010), while Sir Ken Robinson opines that: Education is the system that’s supposed to develop our natural abilities and enable us to make our way in the world. Instead, it is stifling the individual talents and abilities of too many students and killing their motivation to learn. (Robinson & Aronica, 2009, p. 16) It is alleged that adults destroy intellectual curiosity in the young by inciting fear. Apparently children are so afraid of failure, being wrong, making mistakes, ridicule, and the displeasure of the significant adults in their lives that by the age of ten most children will not ask questions at all (Holt, 1982). There is also strong evidence to suggest that the absence of an invested adult is an impediment to the enthusiastic exploration of the curious child (Perry, n.d.).

The suspects, then, are adults, but the modus operandi runs the gamut from disinterest to displeasure.

As in all such cases, tributes to the victim from notables are many. According to Anatole France, ‘the whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young

minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards’. Bruce Perry warns that ‘curiosity dimmed is a future denied’ (Perry, n.d.). Psychologist, Todd Kashdan, praises curiosity as ‘the spark plug that ignites other factors that contribute to happiness and meaning in life’ (Kashdan, n.d.). Einstein himself argued that ‘curiosity is more important than knowledge’ (Chang, 2006), and offered the modest but telling self-assessment, ‘I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious’ (En.wikiquote.org, 2015).

We all know that (cats aside) curiosity makes both life and learning more effective and enjoyable. Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, and Seligman (2007) investigated the relationship between twenty-four character strengths (such as zest, hope, love, and gratitude) and well-being. They studied over twelve thousand adults from the US and 445 from Switzerland, and found that curiosity featured as one of the character strengths most highly linked to life satisfaction and the three routes to happiness – engagement, meaning and pleasure. Curiosity is ‘a positive emotional-motivational system associated with the recognition, pursuit, and selfregulation of novelty and challenge’ (Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004) and, as such, ‘is a mechanism for achieving high levels of well-being and meaning of life’ (Kashdan & Steger, 2007). Curiosity is an observable and desirable trait in a healthy baby and routinely ranks number one in the traits of a good scientist (Decker, n.d.; Katz, 2015).

Forensics only adds physiological gravity to the crime. Last year, researchers at the University of California conducted a series of experiments involving brain scans to discover what is happening in the brain when curiosity is aroused. They discovered that once their curiosity had been piqued, people

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were better at remembering not only the intended learning but other unrelated information as well. Curiosity appears to be able to put the brain in a state that is more conducive to learning and more prepared for long-term memory. The scans showed that when the participants’ curiosity had been aroused, there was not only increased activity in the hippocampus, which is the region of the brain involved in the creation of new memories, but also in the area of the brain that has to do with reward and pleasure (Gruber, Gelman, & Ranganath, 2014).

As in all good crime procedurals, the authorities retrace the victim’s steps to pin down the time of death. Here the findings are disturbing. In a discussion paper prepared for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority on learner characteristics, Reeve and Ainlee (2004) summarised the transition from Prep to Year 10 of behaviours related to curiosity and interest. They found that Prep to Year 4 students are attracted by new information and experience and are willing to explore what is novel. Students in Years 5 to 8 are developing their own personal interests, resulting in their responses to new knowledge and experiences becoming increasingly dependent on how they relate to emerging interests. By Years 9 and 10, the responses of students to new knowledge and learning experiences are now more dependent on their personal interests. It seems that as students age they are less likely to have their curiosity piqued by school activities.

And how is Science implicated in this tragedy? US studies reveal a developmental decline in intrinsic motivation in academic settings, particularly in maths and science (Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001). In Sweden, students decide whether or not to pursue a career in science by 12 to 13 years of age (Lindahl, 2003). Pell and Jarvis (2003) found that 10- and 11-year-old students in the UK lack enthusiasm for science and perceive it to be difficult, while Jenkins and Nelson (2005) found that students were uninterested in their science studies by the time they reached their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (15 to 16 years old). The story is similar in Australia. Even though the Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported that jobs requiring Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills grew at about one and a half times the rate of

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other jobs in recent years, Kennedy, Lyons, and Quinn (2014) assessed the decline in science and mathematics enrolments in Australian high schools from 1992 to 2012 to be Biology (-10%), Chemistry (-5%), Physics (-7%), multidisciplinary Science (-5%), intermediate Mathematics (-11%), and advanced Mathematics (-7%). It seems, as high school educators, that the death occurred on our watch.

The crime metaphor is arresting (pardon the pun), but, to borrow from Mark Twain, reports of curiosity’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, I can testify that curiosity is alive and well at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Over the past few years, the Science Faculty has developed and implemented sixteen new curiosity-inspired Junior Science units. In their Physics units, students float across the ground on a hovercraft, build a shaduf and a solar-powered car, and investigate the safety of their mobile phones. They are equally curious during their study of biology, chemistry and earth and space science. And, in the senior school, when their study of science is no longer mandatory and students are able to select subjects that correspond with their interests and tertiary aspirations, over ninety per cent of our students routinely study one or more of the sciences.

Never is a science student’s curiosity more on display than when she is engaged in an extended experimental investigation (EEI). These tasks are infused with obstacles so that students can develop and use the set of life and scientific attitudes required to overcome them. Usually students are given the topic, but it is up to them to interpret it and design their own theoretical and experimental investigations to derive a solution. Quite often, teachers are required to rein in student curiosity or they would never stop experimenting long enough to write the assessable report. We know children possess curiosity and, irrespective of their performance on other forms of assessment, tasks like EEIs foster and reward it.

Girls Grammar aspires to be a leader in exceptional scholarship, and systematic curiosity in research and learning is fundamental to this aspiration. The School may not be a crime scene now, but what do we — as the adults in the girls’ lives — have to do to keep it crime free? It is clear that we need to activate a Neighbourhood Watch programme which endorses and safeguards the sort of intellectual environment

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in which curiosity can flourish. The adult residents must foster a culture of uncertainty in which they entitle students to ask questions, to stray, and to explore without fear of making mistakes or being ridiculed. They must model curiosity and join in their children’s explorations.

They must listen and provide continuous and effective feedback. They must value every question and every child-inspired insight as being worthy of their time.

Curiosity is not dead, it is not even wounded. It is thriving at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. And that is a good thing because it is what drives and shapes our intellect. It makes both life and learning more effective and enjoyable. We must not fail in our efforts to cultivate curiosity because when children are not given the opportunity to be curious and to have their curiosity satisfied, they are denied another opportunity to enrich their lives.

REFERENCES Chang, L. (2006). Wisdom for the soul. Washington, DC: Gnosophia Publishers.

Decker, F. (n.d.). Four attitudes and behaviors of a good scientist. Chron. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/four-attitudes-behaviors-good-scientist-5668.html deGrasse Tyson, N. (2010, February 25). On literacy, curiosity, education, and being ‘in your face’. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2010/02/ neil_degrasse_tyson_on_literac.html En.wikiquote.org. (2015). Albert Einstein – Wikiquote. Retrieved 10 November 2015 from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein Gottfried, A. E., Fleming, J. S., & Gottfried, A. W. (2001). Continuity of academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through late adolescence: A longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 3–13. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/232491259_Continuity_of_Academic_Intrinsic_Motivation_From_Childhood_ Through_Late_Adolescence_A_Longitudinal_Study Gruber, M., Gelman, B., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron, 84(2), 486–496.

Holt, J. (1982). How children fail. Retrieved from http://iwcenglish1.typepad.com/Documents/Holt_How_Children_Fail.pdf Jenkins, E.W., & Nelson, N.W. (2005). Important but not for me: Students’ attitudes towards secondary school science in England. Research in Science and Technological Education, 23(1), 41–57.

Kaku, M. (2014, May 2). Michio Kaku on how curiosity is crushed by the “education” system. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=M5mRK0m6n_Q Kashdan, T. (n.d.). How Curious? will help you. Retrieved from https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harpercollins-ems/Curious-Amazon.pdf Kashdan, T. (2010). The power of curiosity. Experience Life. Retrieved from https://experiencelife.com/article/the-power-of-curiosity/ Kashdan, T., Rose, P., & Fincham, F. (2004). Curiosity and exploration: Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth opportunities. Journal of Personality Assessment, 82(3), 291–305.

Kashdan, T., & Steger, M. (2007). Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors. Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 159–173.

Katz, L.B. (2015). 10 characteristics of scientists: Human nature concepts. Retrieved from https://humannatureconcepts.wordpress.com/category/10-characteristics-of-scientists/ Kennedy, J., Lyons, T., & Quinn, F. (2014). The continuing decline of science and mathematics enrolments in Australian high schools. Teaching Science, 60(2), 34–46.

Lindahl, B. (2003). Pupils’ responses to school science and technology? A longitudinal study of pathways to upper secondary school. Unpublished summary of PhD Thesis, University of Gothenburg, Kristianstad. Retrieved from https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/9599/1/gupea_2077_9599_1.pdf Pell, A., & Jarvis, T. (2003). Developing attitude to science scales for use with primary teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 25(10), 1273–1295.

Perry, B. (n.d.). Curiosity: The fuel of development. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/curiosity.htm Peterson, C., Ruch, W., Beermann, U., Park, N., & Seligman, M. (2007). Strengths of character, orientations to happiness, and life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(3), 149–156.

Reeve, R., & Ainley, M. (2004). Learner characteristics. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Retrieved from https://pebblepad.latrobe.edu.au/pebblepad/download. aspx?oid=430958&useroid=0&action=view Robinson, K., & Aronica, L. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. New York: Viking.

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Self-compassion: A healthier alternative to self-esteem DR ALIX VANN, SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST | 20 NOVEMBER 2015

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day in the life of a Brisbane Girls Grammar School girl, in fact, of any adolescent girl, can be a roller coaster of emotion and experience. She is energised after her early morning cross-country training — she beat her previous personal best! She feels unmotivated in her history class — she did not get as much work done as her peer next to her. She is exhilarated by lunchtime conversation about the upcoming weekend — she was invited to an exclusive gathering, much to the envy of her friends. Through all of this, she is constantly aware of and monitoring herself — how does she compare to the ‘her’ she was yesterday? Does she fit in with her friend beside her? How does she measure up to her year level as a whole, and to what a ‘Grammar girl’ should be?

Self-esteem, which stems from evaluations of self-worth, is a concept often discussed in literature about psychological wellbeing, particularly in children and adolescents. Parents are told that one of the most important tasks in raising children is to nurture self-esteem, and teachers are urged to give all students gold stars so that they can feel special. High self-esteem has been touted in both academic and popular press as critical to wellbeing throughout the lifespan, with research consistently linking low self-esteem to a host of negative psychological outcomes, including lack of motivation, depression, and suicidal ideation (Harter, 1999).

Especially during adolescence, where there is often a drop in self-esteem, psychologists and parents try to find ways to give teens a self-esteem boost.

This process of self-monitoring and comparison with others plays a key role in the kaleidoscope of emotion that our adolescent girl experiences each day, as her interpretation of events and how she sees herself experiencing them, shape her sense of self and the degree of esteem in which she holds herself. But does this process of self-monitoring, self-comparison and self-judgement truly help our girls to develop a healthy sense of self and self-esteem, or does it leave them more prone to disappointment in themselves, self-centredness, or harshly judging others so that they feel more successful? When it comes to finding ways to relate to ourselves, recent thinking in the area of social psychology offers selfcompassion as a healthier alternative to self-esteem.

Research, however, demonstrates that self-esteem is highly resistant to change (Swann, 1996), making it difficult to raise your self-esteem from low to high. Further, it has been suggested that the emphasis that self-esteem places on evaluating personal performances against set standards, others’ evaluations of yourself, and the performance of others, creates an overemphasis on liking yourself, which may lead to narcissism, self-centredness, and self-criticism (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Seligman, 1995), and create interpersonal distance and a lack of connectedness to common human experiences (Neff, 2009). More recent research suggests that high self-esteem may not be as beneficial as once thought. Self-esteem is unrelated to improving academic or job performance; unconnected to preventing children from smoking, drinking or taking drugs;

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and bullies are just as likely to have high self-esteem as others. In fact, it might be argued that bullying is one way for individuals to feel good about themselves, which is essentially the aim of high self-esteem, perhaps signaling another unhelpful side effect of using self-esteem as the primary way of relating to ourselves.

So is there another, better way of relating to ourselves?

American psychologist and researcher Kristen Neff (2003) proposes the concept of self-compassion as a healthier way of developing self-attitudes. She defines self-compassion as involving three specific elements:

1. Self-kindness — extending kindness and understanding to yourself rather than harsh judgment and self-criticism.

2. Common humanity — seeing your experience as part of the larger human experience, rather than seeing your experience as separating and isolating.

3. Mindfulness — holding your painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness, rather than over-identifying or getting carried away with them.

Self-compassion involves taking a non-judgmental stance towards yourself, in stark contrast to the inherent selfjudgement required for establishing self-esteem. Selfcompassion also means discerning what is healthy and unhealthy for yourself, so that you can see yourself more clearly, rather than through the potentially rose-coloured glasses self-esteem encourages. So, self-compassion offers a safe way to see yourself as you truly are, without the threat of having to beat yourself up if you fail or make a mistake.

Self-compassion is not about indulging in a pity party for yourself, or about self-indulgence at all. Self-compassion is about doing what is best for your health and wellbeing,

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which may in fact mean enduring difficult feelings or making a decision that does not feel good, but that ultimately advances you towards a sense of wellbeing.

The process of harsh self-criticism is, for many of our girls, a primary motivational tool. How often do we hear the girls’ self-talk characterised by a critical voice instructing her to do more, be better? (‘I am never going to get anywhere with grades like this’). Neff (2003) argues that this self-talk can be adaptively replaced with a self-compassionate stance by acknowledging the suffering (‘I haven’t done as well as I wanted to on this exam, and it feels awful.’); reminding yourself that suffering is part of the human condition (‘It is ok to feel disappointed, it happens to all of us.’); and finding a way to be kind to yourself so that you are able to take the most helpful steps towards creating change (‘Maths is important to me and I believe in myself — I let my nerves get in the way of studying for this exam, so how can I make sure that I work more efficiently next time?’). Studies demonstrate that self-compassion in classroom settings is positively associated with mastery goals for learning, suggesting that self-compassionate individuals are more intrinsically motivated to learn and grow (Neff, Hseih, & Dejitthirat, 2005). Self-compassion has also been shown as a reliable predictor of student wellbeing (Neely, Schallert, Mohammed, Roberts, & Chen, 2009).

So, as she embodies the roller coaster of emotions and experiences in her adolescent day-to-day, what a wonderful gift it would be for each Grammar girl to receive a taste of what it is like to respond to her experiences and her view of herself with compassion, rather than judgement. Indeed, what a wonderful gift it would be for us all to be able to respond to ourselves with gentle and patient realism as we each forge our own path towards psychological wellbeing.

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BIDISHA ROY / 9R (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Alicke, M. D. & Govorun, O. (2005). The better-than-average effect. In M. D. Alicke, D. A. Dunning, & J. I. Kruger (Eds.). The self in social judgement (pp. 85-106). New York, USA: Psychology Press.

Harter, S. (1999). The construction of self: A developmental perspective. New York, USA: Guilford Press.

Neely, M. E., Schallert, D. L., Mohammed, S. S., Roberts, R. M., & Chen, Y. (2009). Self-kindness when facing stress: The role of self-compassion, goal regulation, and support in college students’ well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 33, 88–97.

Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a health attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2, 85–102.

Neff, K. D. (2009). The role of self-compassion in development: A healthier way to relate to oneself. Human Development, 52, 211–214.

Neff, K. D., Hseih, Y., & Dejitthirat, K. (2005). Self-compassion, achievement goals, and coping with academic failure. Self and Identity, 4, 263–287.

Seligman, M. E. (1995). The optimistic child. Boston, USA: Houghton Mifflin.

Swann, W. B. (1996). Self-traps: The elusive quest for higher self-esteem. New York, USA: Freeman.

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Embracing ambiguity to lead companies into the future M R S A N N A OW E N , D E P U T Y P R I N C I PA L | 2 7 N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 5

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nyone involved with workplace recruitment processes, or hoping to secure a position at a progressive workplace, would know that employers are increasingly looking beyond applicants’ academic records, to the ‘soft skills’ they bring to their teams.

Tertiary qualifications are integral and always will be. However, an individual’s character, her perceived potential and her demonstrated ability to learn adaptively, are the holistic qualities driving employee recruitment and development strategies across a growing number of industries.

This trend has largely been driven by the changing skills set valued by high-performing, agile companies. Warren Berger’s thought-provoking book, A More Beautiful Question, expands on this notion through a granular analysis of questioning in the creative space (2014).

Berger suggests that: ‘… whereas in the past, one needed to appear to have “all the answers” in order to rise up in companies, today, at least in some enlightened segments of the business world, the corner office is there for the askers’ (2014, p. 6).

If the corner offices of leading organisations of the future are to be occupied by adaptive leaders, who may not be the fount of all knowledge, but who know which questions to ask, how can educators help prepare our students for this future?

To begin with, schools must respond to the positive lead of these global companies by reporting on the academic growth

of our students in the context of the expert learner. This may mean mapping out the skills required of adaptive learning and tracking students’ progress against them.

We also need to find new metrics and new ways of reporting externally on soft skills. This is a concept well understood in educational institutions — if we report on a quality of a learner, we must be able to assess that identified quality.

This begins with a process of defining the quality and having a transparent and accountable process for the development of the quality in the learner over time.

In traditional educational institutions, the academic year is punctuated by semester reports, in June and again in December. However, it is in the spaces between those milestones, that I believe the real stories are revealed.

At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, we embed formative assessment into every lesson, for every student, across every year level.

The staff we employ are highly skilled subject specialists and they are not asked to teach outside of their field of expertise.

As such, sitting behind semester reports is individualised, continuous reporting in each of the student’s subjects, along a timeline not punctuated by semesters, but which begins on day one of Year 7, and continues without interruption, until her final day in Year 12.

If we flung open our doors and allowed access to those beyond the white picket fence, the intricate and sophisticated flow of communication between the expert learners and the

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expert curators in our classrooms would be revealed. Our teachers move fluidly, facilitating the development of soft and hard skills within their disciplines. However, they have never been asked to report on character, or the values that define a Girls Grammar valedictorian, for example, as an incremental process uncoupled from the student’s academic record. The current mechanism to report on these qualities is in the form of a testimonial at the end of Year 12.

Winston Churchill once said, ‘We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us’. In a school setting, it is our education mindset that is shaped in part by our existing educational ‘institution’.

Increasingly, those of us who teach are seeing education as an under-utilised source of extraordinary power.

Education is in the futures business in that it is responsible for preparing students to live successfully in the future, however success is defined. But it should not be about preparing them to cope with the future or simply wait for the arrival of the future. It should be preparing them to proactively create the future (McTighe & Curtis, 2015).

I like to envisage a world where every member of tomorrow’s workforce is systematically curious, creative and imaginative; a place where well-educated and well-informed, selfreflective problem solvers are light on ego.

As educators, our priority is to help our girls to navigate their way there. Tracking student development across these qualitative areas is critical. Formal semester reporting, agile and continuous adaptive teaching and learning, and defining and developing discrete virtues to build and practise character development, are three ways to achieve this.

While this is easy to describe in theory, it must be devised, lived and breathed every day in our classrooms, and is achieved when our teachers plan lessons that consistently demand their students to think. Low-performing and

high-performing students grow in this high-expectations environment because we all must learn to think for ourselves.

By introducing and using processes such as Design Thinking and other achievement-forming habits, and by practising sitting in ambiguity without rushing to the prototype, provides opportunities to develop those critical soft skills. In addition, avoiding the temptation to focus on the fastest, least-engaged, straightest path to the right answer, helps build character.

Importantly, when we broaden and deepen the value set of reportable qualities in a longitudinal way, it helps us to breach the gap between those who are deemed high performers at school, and high performers in ‘life’. There are too many factors in one’s life beyond school to ever make this capable of being either a direct correlation, or a tool of predictive value, but school should be geared for success and achievement, just as it is in life.

At Girls Grammar we work hard to maintain strong alumni relationships, which gives us a unique insight into how graduates with extraordinary track records of strong performance at school, use those enduring qualities and understandings to succeed in life. Interestingly, the metrics and measurement of qualities that are nurtured and determine achievement at our School are the same metrics and measurements that more broadly underpin achievement in life.

For 140 years, Girls Grammar has graduated young women who contribute confidently to the world. However, there is still much work to be done for women and by women, and we recognise the important part we play in educating the whole girl at this School. By demonstrating the qualities of an adaptive leader, by teaching adaptively, and by demanding students practise achievement-forming habits in order to learn adaptively and become expert learners, we enable our girls to look to the future, and ask more beautiful questions, intelligently, incrementally and gently.

REFERENCES McTighe, J. & Curtis, G. (2015). Leading modern learning: A blueprint for vision-driven schools. Bloomington, USA.: Solution Tree Press.

Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, USA: Bloomsbury Publishing.

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ANNABEL RYAN / 9E (DETAIL)

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The rhythm of life MS SARAH BOYLE, HEAD OF O’CONNOR HOUSE | 4 DECEMBER 2015

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t the risk of sounding cliché-like, it is hard to believe that it is December and a year has again slipped by.

The commencement of the year is still so vivid in many ways — the excited nervous energy of starting a fresh school year, the sun-kissed happy faces of new students in their crisp white blouses matched with a sea of perfectly composed blue ribbon bows adorning a plethora of perfectly cut pony tails.

The 140th year in the life of Brisbane Girls Grammar School was action-packed, designed to stretch the imaginations of all who entered its gates. It was marked with ceremony, great achievements, and memories that will be etched into the rich storyboard that belongs to Girls Grammar. It is now that time of year when we can sit in quiet reflection, contemplating what we have done and perhaps what we wish we had done.

Was it a year of never-ending bustle, lurching from deadline to deadline, calendar booking to calendar booking and assessment piece to assessment piece? Or was it a year of treasuring the moments of madness, relishing the busyness while taking the time to stop and be?

Each of us has our own rhythm that drives us. It appears that this rhythm is all too often underscored by the intense blue light that is twenty-first century reality. We wake to an alarm, and the morning routine is a series of hurried events. Willing traffic to move faster, dodging the slow walker, and completing the question before the enquirer has finished all ensure that time is being used efficiently and productively so that we can cross that task off the list and move on to the next before the day draws to a close. This is not our rhythm, but one that we feel we have to match or conquer in the need for speed. Carl Honore, in his 2011 book In Praise of Slow, refers to Guy Claxton, a famous British educator, who identifies that the

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hurry of the modern day is ‘now second nature to us: ‘We have developed an inner psychology of speed, of saving time and maximising efficiency, which is getting stronger by the day’ (p. 19). Consequently, if we cannot cross those tasks off the list, if our agenda for the day is not full or we have not checked our Facebook newsfeed before we have left our bed in the morning, somehow we are lacking. The current trend to towards mindfulness is a response to the manic control of the rush we all experience in so many aspects of our lives.

Mindfulness is a way of tuning in and paying attention. It is a way to centre on natural rhythms as a means to challenge all that is maniacal and oppositional to calm, centred peace. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is identified as the ‘father’ of western mindfulness. It was his practice of yoga and studies alongside Buddhist teachers that saw him draw aspects of these traditions together with science to create the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction programme in the late 1970s (The Center for Mindfulness, 2014). Mindfulness has gained momentum, particularly in recent times, through the popularity of colouring books that have become international best sellers, found at cash register checkouts across the globe.

According to neuropsychologist and neuroscientist Dr Stan Rodski, their success is because of three elements — ‘repetition, pattern and detail — that prompt positive neurological responses in participants’ (Story Carter, 2015).

Colouring takes us back to a time when we were not watching the clock and the simple concentration of staying inside the lines was all that mattered.

At Girls Grammar, some students have found benefit in a range of mindfulness strategies including the colouring phenomenon. It has allowed them to focus the mind away

from the frantic pace of academia, to narrow and calm it momentarily as they colour. Colouring is only one means of practising mindfulness. Students have engaged in moments of guided meditation during House Group Assemblies and the Year 12 students readily participated as they tackled each hurdle in their final year of schooling. In 2016, the School is formalising its approach to teaching mindfulness and will implement the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) in Year 8. MiSP, widely acclaimed as the ‘gold standard’ in mindfulness education, was developed in the United Kingdom in collaboration with Exeter and Cambridge Universities. Taught in twelve countries around the world, MiSP will provide students with the appropriate skill set to complement their schooling and their journey through adolescence.

The opportunity to pause, and to rest in that pause, gives things beauty and allows us to see clearly. Travel writer, Pico Iyer in his TEDtalk, The Art of Stillness, highlights the importance of taking time out of our ‘on demand lives’ and notes that, despite the fact we have so many time-saving devices, we feel as if we have very little time. He refers to the religious tradition of observing the Sabbath as a day of rest, a moment to pause and to be one with ourselves and those who are most important to us (2014, August). This is almost a quaint idea today in the age where cities seem to never sleep and are always ‘on’. The ‘on’ switch needs to be paused so that we can slow down and connect with our inner rhythm, in order to allow a sense of space and calm to have an impact on our emotional and physical wellbeing.

The Slow Revolution is permeating all facets of life across the globe and attracting followers at a rapid rate. Each year in the small town of Wagrain in the Austrian Alps, the annual

conference of the Society for Deceleration of Time is held to promote an alternative to the cult of doing things faster. The Society asserts that ‘in daily life, that means slowing down when it makes sense to do so’ (Honore, 2011). Further evidence of the Slow Revolution can be seen in the renewal of Slow Food. Savouring and appreciating the taste of real foods has been seen to increase the intake of healthy foods, leading to healthier lives. The book, In Praise of Slow, dedicates chapters to the philosophy of slow in medicine, leisure, cities and work.

However, to apply the philosophy to education, author Honore refers to Harry Lewis, Dean of the undergraduate school at Harvard. Lewis asserts: Get plenty of rest and relaxation, and be sure to cultivate the art of doing nothing. Empty time is not a vacuum to be filled, it is the thing that enables the other things on your mind to be creatively rearranged … Doing nothing, being Slow, is an essential part of good thinking (2011, p. 300).

This is an important reminder to disconnect and not be ruled by technology but to use it as a tool or instrument and to learn to sit comfortably without a device.

Therefore, as we approach the holiday season, let us slow down, become mindful and appreciate what we have. We can look forward to days ungoverned by the blaring of an alarm, school drop offs and pickups, and looming deadlines. So, let the weary faces be transformed by unstructured days. Let the blue ribbons hang untied as the hair it tamed becomes wild.

Enjoy the quiet moments of togetherness at this time of year and celebrate the successes and joys of the past year, remembering with mindful tenderness those things that disappointed both within and without. This helps to create the beautiful calm of a natural rhythm — our rhythm of life.

REFERENCES The Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School (2014). Jon Kabat-Zinn, founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness: Biography.

Retrieved from http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/about-us/people/2-meet-our-faculty/kabat-zinn-profile/ Honore, C. (2004). In praise of slow: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed. London, UK: Orion Books.

Iyer, P. (2014, August). The art of stillness. TEDSalon NY2014. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_the_art_of_stillness?language=en Story Carter, J. (2015, September 4). The science behind adult colouring books. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/why-are-australianadults-drawn-to-colouring-in-books/6750808

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School Gregory Terrace, Brisbane Queensland 4000 Australia Tel 61 7 3332 1300 Fax 61 7 3832 6097 admin@bggs.qld.edu.au www.bggs.qld.edu.au