The Educator 5.01

EDUCATORONLINE.COM.AU ISSUE 5.01

EDUCATION REPORT 2019 What are the top concerns on school leaders’ minds for the year ahead?

EMBRACING GROWTH How Haileybury forged a path of excellence

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PRINCIPAL WELLBEING A look inside a startling new report on the demands of the job

EASIER TIMETABLING Redesigning timetabling software with primary schools in mind

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ISSUE 5.01

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CONTENTS

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UPFRONT 02 Editorial

What the federal election might mean for Australia’s schools

04 Head to head

Thoughts on Labor’s proposal to limit teaching degrees to those with the highest ATAR scores

FEATURES

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

GETTING SCHOOL EXCURSIONS RIGHT How one online platform is simplifying the compliance demands of school excursions

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An edu-tech company offers a way to fine-tune feedback

12 News analysis

Principals reveal their biggest challenges for the year ahead – from keeping up with new technology to fostering wellbeing – and how they plan to meet them

For Holy Spirit Primary principal Brad Gaynor, leadership begins by fostering meaningful connections with students, teachers and staff

08 Learning and development update

Safeguarding students’ data privacy in a post-NDB world

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

THE PEOPLE’S PRINCIPAL

School leaders are at greater risk of violence than ever before

10 Technology update

SPECIAL REPORT

PEOPLE

06 Statistics

FEATURES

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GRIT AND GROWTH

Haileybury’s leaders outline how the school plans to build on its already impressive performance in 2019

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Why principal health and wellbeing is at an all-time low – and what can be done

17 Opinion

What the federal government is doing to raise the quality of learning in 2019

FEATURES 40 The importance of thoughtful assessments How frequent assessments can help drive better student outcomes

PEOPLE 48 Career path

Greg Whitby is leading change in the Catholic school sector and beyond

FEATURES

TIMETABLING FOR SUCCESS

Edval revamps its timetabling software for primary schools

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UPFRONT

EDITORIAL

A significant year lies ahead

S

ince The Educator launched its first issue in 2015, Australia has seen three prime ministers and just as many federal education ministers. If the pundits are right, it looks like we might see our fourth PM and education minister after the federal election in May this year.

Whatever the outcome of the election – be it the LNP delivering Gonski 2.0 reforms or a Labor government making good on its promise of a “fairer deal” for the nation’s schools – a cash splash for schools is on the way.

With burgeoning student enrolments, a population boom in metropolitan cities and shifting education demographics, it would be nice to think that these lifelines will alleviate many of the problems faced by schools across Australia, but unfortunately, not all schools will get the kind of support they require.

This fact is not lost on the 350 edu-tech companies servicing the entire education ecosystem in Australia, which are expanding their presence to meet the resourcing needs that governments can’t, or won’t, deliver.

It would be nice to think that these lifelines will alleviate many of the problems faced by Australia’s schools, but unfortunately, not all schools will get the kind of support they require The ever-shifting landscape of Australian K-12 education will no doubt present different challenges over the coming years, but Australians are no strangers to change. Whatever this change brings, the education profession has a plethora of adaptable, hard-working and multi-skilled leaders who are tirelessly working to improve the educational outcomes of more than 3.8 million students throughout Australia.

In the meantime, a significant year lies ahead. How will you prepare your staff and students as 2019 gets into full swing? In the latest edition of our Education Report, The Educator uncovers the obstacles faced by education professionals, examines how education is faring in the wake of government and regulatory changes, and reveals which schools are reaching the most successful benchmarks. I hope you find it an insightful and engaging read.

www.educatoronline.com.au MARCH/APRIL 2019 EDITORIAL Editor Brett Henebery Journalists Tom Goodwin Abel Riototar Contributors Dan Tehan Aytekin Tank Ron Ehrlich Brian de Haaff Production Editor Clare Alexander

ART & PRODUCTION Designer Joenel Salvador Production Manager Alicia Chin Traffic Coordinator Freya Demegilio

SALES & MARKETING Marketing & Communications Manager Michelle Lam Business Development Manager Dominic Tusa

CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as the magazine can accept no responsibility for loss

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EDITORIAL

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UPFRONT

HEAD TO HEAD

Should universities cap teaching degree enrolment?

Educators’ opinions are split on Labor’s controversial proposal to restrict university places for teaching degrees

Anne-Marie Morgan

Tanya Plibersek

Andrew Pierpoint

Professor and associate dean, teaching and learning University of New England

Shadow education minister Australian Labor Party

President Australian Secondary Principals Association

“We all want quality teachers – not least universities. We don’t willy-nilly allow anyone in. The long road to teaching has many quality checks: tests of professional suitability; entry hurdles, including three Band 5 HSC results in NSW, which restricts entry to the top 30%, sometimes top 15%, of students; a mandatory literacy/ numeracy test benchmarked to the top 30% of Australian society; a graduate test marked by accredited school supervisors; and, not least, the course of study itself, nationally accredited against strict standards and taught by highly qualified and committed staff.

Better conditions and higher pay would be more useful incentives than additional entry requirements.”

“Labor wants teaching to be a first choice, not a fallback. At the moment, the marks to get into teaching degrees continue to fall, and fewer high achievers are choosing teaching courses. That is a tragedy and the beginning of a dangerous spiral.

We know that teaching is complex, important work. That is why a future Labor government will work with universities to target entry to teaching degrees to the top 30% of academic achievers. We’ll also give our nation’s top achievers cash bonuses of up to $40,000 to encourage them into teaching. We obviously need to ensure there are pathways into teaching for those who might have struggled with their schooling … but are academically capable of teaching our children.”

“Simply being brilliant does not make you a good teacher. As principals who work with students every day in our schools know, teachers need far more than academic intelligence. Teachers need to able to communicate, be empathetic, have high resilience and have a burning desire to help students succeed.

OP/ATAR scores are not good indicators of teaching ability – students who have reasonably low performance at school themselves have gone on to be brilliant teachers, as they connect with students who have learned and progressed. There is no point in having an academically gifted person in front of a class if there is no connection and engagement with the students.”

A WORRYING TREND The proportion of students with an ATAR of 70 or lower being admitted to teaching degrees has increased significantly over the past decade, from 30% in 2007 to 40% in 2016. In a push to combat this and improve teacher quality, deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek proposed that teaching degrees be capped to the top 30% of high-school graduates, explaining that “Labor wants our high achievers to compete into teaching degrees in the same way they compete to get into medicine, dentistry or vet science.”

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

STATISTICS

The cost of leading

THREATS OF VIOLENCE ON THE RISE Since the survey’s inception in 2011, the percentage of principals who have experienced threats of violence has risen from 38% to 45% across Australia, and many states have seen much larger increases. This concerning trend is most pronounced in the ACT, where threats of violence jumped by nearly 10% over the past year and have risen by a whopping 31% since 2011.

A damning new report into principal wellbeing reveals that school leaders are teetering on the brink THE JOB of a school principal is one of the most important for society, yet those undertaking it are under so much pressure that onethird consider themselves “seriously distressed”.

This was one of many worrying findings in the eighth annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey. The report also revealed that in 2018, 37% of Australian school principals were physically attacked, while 45% said they’d experi-

81.3%

of principals said they're stressed out by the sheer quantity of work

79.3%

said they’re stressed by the lack of time to focus on teaching and learning

enced threats of violence at work. Worryingly, the rates of physical violence have shown an upward trend in almost every part of Australia.

Beyond bullying and violence, principals face numerous other stressors, including impossibly high workloads, demanding expectations and a lack of resources. Yet despite these challenges, school leaders across all sectors rated their job satisfaction significantly higher than the general population.

70.7%

2011 2012 2013 2014

2015 2016 2017 2018

62.4%

said employer expectations are a source of stress

of principals are stressed out by resourcing needs

Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

FEMALE LEADERS STRUGGLING Female principals are most at risk of bullying and physical violence. Forty per cent of women in the role said they’d experienced physical violence, while 37% had been bullied, compared to 32% and 34% of men, respectively.

Women

Men

Percentage of school leaders who have experienced physical violence

40% 32% Percentage of school leaders who have experienced bullying

37% 34%

2011

2012

2013

FREQUENCY

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

PERPETRATOR

35%

35%

30%

30%

25%

25%

20%

20%

15%

15%

10%

10%

5%

5% 0%

0%

A few times Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

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PHYSICAL ATTACKS INCREASE In 2018, more than one in three Australian school principals said they’d been physically attacked, up from 19% in 2011. The most common perpetrators were students, although parents committed a significant number of physical attacks.

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

Colleagues

Manager/ Subordinates Parents superior

Students

Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

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PERCENTAGE OF PRINCIPALS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THREATS OF VIOLENCE

QLD

NT

WA

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

ACT NSW

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

SA VIC

TAS

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

BULLYING DOWN SLIGHTLY

STILL SATISFIED

The good news from this year’s survey is that the frequency of bullying incidents against school leaders has fallen slightly, from 35.5% in 2017 to 35% in 2018. The bad news is that for the fourth year running, more than 20% of the perpetrators are parents.

Despite the demands, principals across all school sectors rated their job satisfaction at an average of 73.29 out of 100 – nearly eight points higher than the general population.

2011

2012

2013

FREQUENCY

2014

2016

2017

2018

Government schools

PERPETRATOR

35%

35%

30%

30%

25%

25%

20%

20%

15%

15%

10%

10%

5%

5%

0%

0%

A few times

2015

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

72.10 Catholic schools

76.21 Independent schools

78.81 General population Colleagues

Manager/ Subordinates Parents superior

Students

Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

65.30 Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

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UPFRONT

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Startup energises teacher effectiveness One edu-tech company is aiming to change the way teachers receive and incorporate feedback

students at a variety of learning abilities”.

According to EI co-founder and CEO Ken Wallace, “innovations across our frameworks and platform now mean everyone in your school can get access to quality feedback and development, including teachers, leaders and support staff”.

Wallace adds that the company’s interaction with schools made it clear that there’s a high demand for programs like those EI provides. “[Teachers] are on the record requesting school leaders to provide them with

“Everyone in your school can get access to quality feedback and development”

In collaborative environments, whether classrooms or corporate offices, lines of communication can become blurred and frustrated without effective feedback. Sydney-based edu-tech startup Educator Impact [EI] knows this well, which is why its scalable technology solution is built on using better feedback to drive improved student outcomes.

Delivered via an online portal, the technology enables teachers to receive constructive feedback from their students, as well as classroom observations from their peers.

NEWS BRIEFS

It then helps teachers use that feedback to set clear development goals and provides resources to help them improve their practice and advance towards their objectives.

To date, the platform has collected feedback from over half a million students, helping more than 15,000 teachers set and achieve evidence-based development goals. At St Philip’s Christian College in Cessnock, principal Darren Cox says the school has seen a 13% increase in positive student feedback on their teachers’ ability to “manage and engage

Labor’s plan to lift teacher quality draws ire

In January, deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek proposed limiting teaching degrees to the top 30% of high school graduates to lift the quality of teachers entering Australian classrooms.

However, Tania Apsland, president of the Australian Council of Deans of Education, noted that while raising teachers’ status is welcomed, there are holes in Labor’s plan. “A threat to mandate a cap on ATARs of 80 may sound like a quick fix, but in reality, fewer than one in four students are chosen on the basis of their ATAR alone,” she said.

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more feedback on how they are going and want to improve,” he says.

For 2019, EI plans to release new functionality, allowing schools to get more visibility and control over the development process. Wallace says the ability to customise the frameworks and processes based on a school’s specific needs has already been popular.

“Lots of schools and systems … are looking for solutions that have best practice embedded in them but also feel like an individually tailored solution,” he says. “We will also be enhancing interaction between participants and PLCs and continuing to build a community of educators who are striving to improve.

It’s a really exiting year ahead.”

Study shows teacher qualifications improving

A recent AITSL report on Australia’s teaching students and teaching programs, which evaluated data between 2007 and 2016, shows a steady rise over the past decade in the number of teachers with a post-graduate qualification, indicating that today’s teachers are more qualified than in previous years.

“The report also shows that job prospects for graduate teachers remain very good, with seven in 10 graduates finding full-time work as a teacher within four months of graduation,” said AITSL CEO Lisa Rodgers.

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Q&A

Bob Willetts Vice-president NSW PRIMARY PRINCIPALS ASSOCIATION [NSWPPA]

Years in the industry 20 Fast fact The Flourish Movement began in response to state and national principal wellbeing surveys and is designed to address principal wellbeing in a constructive, positive and proactive manner

Principals flourishing under new program How has the Flourish Movement improved the health and wellbeing of Australian school leaders?

To date, over 10% of NSW government school principals have completed the program, and the statistics from Deakin University show a profound positive impact on their health, wellbeing and happiness. The program has also had far broader reach and impact than initially intended because principals have openly shared their learning with their teachers, students and communities.

In many schools, health and wellbeing goals now form part of performance and development conversations.

It is important to recognise that there was widespread support for the pilot program. The NSWPPA and the South Coast Directors of Educational Leadership supported the pilot program with action research seeding grants to the local Primary Principals’ Council. The NSW Department has continued to work hard with the Principal Associations to address the recommendations of the National Principal Wellbeing Survey. The department has implemented strategies to reduce the administrative workload for principals and has provided $50m in additional resources in 2018 and 2019 for principals to use flexibly to support their role.

What are the most significant benefits for principals in a professional development context?

We understand that people’s sense of wellbeing is enhanced when they feel in control of their environment and on top of their workflow, so the program has modules specifically dedicated to controlling your environment,

Greater focus on food education needed

In a recent article in The Conversation, three Deakin University professors argued that Australian schools need to take food education more seriously to combat rising obesity. “At present, food education tends to be patchy, with some emphasis on students’ acquisition of food preparation skills but lesser coverage of environmental and social issues, marketing practices or family dynamics,” the researchers wrote, suggesting that more intensive education about food in university teacher education programs and continuing professional education could address this.

enhancing your workflow and productivity, and aligning your actions with your values. As a result, the participants have shown improvements like a 17% decrease in the time spent on administration and compliance, a 50% increase in time spent on strategy, a 56% increase on time spent coaching their staff and a 38% increase on time spent doing research. Imagine how that would translate into improved productivity and teaching performance across a system.

Looking ahead, how do you hope to build on the work already achieved?

I want the entire education sector to be a great place to work, and this program is definitely contributing to that goal. At the start of this year, Flourish For Schools was launched, which allows principals to share the program and build the wellbeing and capacity of all of their team.

What continually ignites and feeds my passion is the positive impact – not just the research statistics, but also the countless emails of success stories and thanks from colleagues who have joined the Flourish Movement. Personally, I won’t stop pushing to maximise the availability and access for as many people as possible because of the awesome outcomes it generates. I believe that a healthier, more productive workforce will create positive school cultures, enhance student outcomes and ultimately lead to a stronger, smarter, healthier society.

My personal vision and sincere hope is that this program is made available not only to principals and teachers, but to all frontline professionals in all government agencies.

Learning clubs helping disadvantaged kids

A new initiative by children’s charity The Smith Family is providing schools with trained volunteer tutors to help disadvantaged students get the support they need. The Smith Family currently runs 30 learning clubs at schools in 16 communities across Queensland, and the clubs have shown long-term benefits for students beyond the classroom. The Smith Family’s Queensland general manager, Alan Le May, said that as students start to improve their grades, there is “a positive flow-on effect in terms of their attendance and engagement at school”.

Schools can help reverse inactivity trend

A report card released by Active Healthy Kids Australia late last year ranked Australia 32nd out of 49 countries for children’s physical activity levels. According to Sport Australia CEO Kate Palmer, schools are a “key vehicle” for promoting activity among kids. “Sport and physical activity can play a crucial role in the holistic development of children, putting them on the path to vibrant and productive lives,” Palmer said. “It can impact positively on their physical and mental health, social development, and their ability to learn.”

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Students’ ICT literacy remains unchanged A recent ACARA report found that student performance nationally in information and communication technology literacy has remained stable since the previous assessments in 2014. While there has been no apparent improvement since the last round of testing, ACARA CEO Robert Randall noted that it is “early days” in the implementation of the digital technologies curriculum. “As implementation ... continues, we should start to see an impact by the next assessment in 2020,” he said.

Preschoolers increasingly connected online According to the eSafety Office, 81% of 2- to 5-year-olds are using internetenabled devices. Parents reported that their preschoolers access the internet through multiple devices – 92% used a tablet, and 85% used a smartphone – most commonly for entertainment purposes. “Connected devices are playing an increasingly prominent role in the lives of preschoolers,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. “We need to ensure young children reap the educational and creative benefits while minimising the risks these devices can enable.”

Study suggests e-books decrease comprehension A recent study in the US found that while students believe they perform better after reading on screens, their actual performance tends to suffer.

“We found that students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were more than a page in length,” wrote the researchers from the University of Maryland. “This appears

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to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension.”

The researchers added that while there might be economic and environmental reasons for schools go paperless, “there’s clearly something important that would be lost with print’s demise”.

Program helps students earn while they learn Reports that show Australia will need an additional 100,000 tech workers in the next five years, but there are currently less than 5,000 graduates coming out of university with ICT-related degrees each year, leaving a huge and growing shortfall of skilled tech talent. To address this, Microsoft launched a landmark traineeship program last November, which combines a Certificate IV in Information Technology with paid work experience at leading organisations. This program will deliver a range of benefits to participating students, specifically an opportunity to ‘earn while you learn’,” said Beth Worrall, Microsoft Australia’s national skills program lead.

Education tech transforms school operations According to edu-tech experts, competition in Australia’s multi-billiondollar education sector is driving schools to invest in collaborative and interactive learning technologies.

In particular, the trend towards collaborative learning has compelled schools to explore tools and solutions that facilitate this practice, says Damian Aivaliotis, strategy and portfolio manager of digital automation at Ricoh. “With increasing availability of products, information and services available almost instantly at the fingertips from all over the world, schools need to accelerate change in technology and productivity to compete,” Aivaliotis said.

How to safeguard digital privacy Last year’s data breach legislation should encourage schools to be more proactive about students’ digital privacy Last February, the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 came into effect, requiring that schools report all data breaches made within or from outside their organisation. While some schools are beginning to understand the ramifications of breaching students’ digital privacy, the majority are often slow to respond. To address this, Colin Anson founded Pixevety, a secure digital platform that facilitates the sharing of images but ensures that the protection of individuals’ privacy remains front and centre.

“Schools are keener than ever to talk about ways to reduce [breaches of] photo privacy and data,” Anson says. “I think that schools are starting to understand the real reasons behind the [NDB] legislation, and because they are concerned with the wellbeing of children, it is resonating.”

He says awareness has been assisted by the growing amount of media coverage of privacy issues at high-profile companies like Facebook and Google and the serious problems that can be caused by not protecting student privacy.

However, Anson says much more needs to be done to increase the general understanding of the ‘why’ behind the NDB scheme.

For its part, Pixevety recently began embedding new technological advancements in privacy, artificial intelligence and security. “We are constantly making technology updates to meet our clients’ needs as well as deliver our promise

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on child image privacy protection,” Anson says.

“This is especially important when it comes to the AI space, an industry still in its infancy within the education sector. There are some innovative uses of AI in education; however, the true ramifications need to be understood, and this is particularly important when considering facial recognition.”

“Principals must ensure their teachers and staff are fully trained and educated on how to handle personal data” The facial recognition algorithm Pixevety uses is locked down at a single gallery level rather than shared across the platform, as is the norm these days.

“We’ve also ensured our clients get access to facial recognition technology that is not sourced from open commercial facial recognition software companies that publicly share or sell data to third parties,” Anson says. “Each school gallery is completely separate and locked down, so each individual school only gets access to its own technology.”

For the year ahead, considering that the Australian education sector continues to be a popular target for cyberattacks and that human error is a key factor in school data breaches, Anson says principals need to take digital privacy risks more seriously.

“Principals must ensure their teachers and staff are fully trained and educated on how to handle personal data,” he says, “as well as improve transparency about activities that could raise privacy concerns with parents.”

Q&A

Steven Miller

Next-level tech support

Senior director of education MICROSOFT AUSTRALIA

Years in the tech industry 20 Fast fact Microsoft been directly engaging with the Australian education sector for more than 30 years, working with education departments in all states and territories

What are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities you see for Australian K-12 school leaders in 2019?

One of the important emerging trends we see is that technology is now very much embedded in the ‘how’ of doing things, and it’s taking things to the next level for teachers to make their lives a bit easier and bring to life the increasing opportunity that personalised learning brings.

Another big trend we see is providing not just data to teachers, but learning analytics and insights into how a class or cohort is doing. We have a real passion to make sure that no student is left behind, but we know that it’s an incredibly easy thing to say rather than do, so we are committed to delivering technology that will really support that. Providing analytics and personalised learning opportunities for teachers to allow them to know more about what their students need, and therefore also feeding that into how we think about the curriculum, is very important for us.

What will Microsoft be doing in the year ahead to build on the work it has done in education?

What you’ll see over the next 12 months is a continuation of the work we’ve always done with the sector. We try to have really deep partnerships with education departments across all the schooling sectors, as well as to outline what exactly it is they need for their systems. In Microsoft, we’re very fortunate to have a large, dedicated engineering group who look across the productivity side of the fence at the usage of Microsoft Teams and how we make Teams a system that is much more appropriate for sharing and learning throughout the classroom and system. So, looking at how we bring spaces together, how we solve challenges that make analytics easy for teachers to understand, identify who is performing well and who isn’t, and the tips and tactics teachers can use in an automated way to intervene and make sure no student is left behind.

Professional development of educators is also a critical area that many say requires more support. What does Microsoft have planned in the year ahead to assist with this?

I think we can all do a better job of improving professional development opportunities for teachers and making sure that students and teachers have access to tools that allow them to use technology in very meaningful ways. Another area that we’re continuing to partner with the sector on is making PD available to more teachers in different ways – especially in the rural parts of the country – but also making sure that when we introduce technology into the classroom, it is useful and supported by nurtured learning for both teachers and students. We’re also increasing the work we’re doing with our partners on LinkedIn to provide PD platforms to support teachers who want to get ahead and bring their own ingenuity and learning to the fore.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

A looming national crisis The latest report into principal health and wellbeing shows that increasing threats, violence and workloads are pushing Australia’s school leaders to the brink

SINCE 2011, the Australian Catholic University has conducted a report into the health and wellbeing of Australia’s school principals. Around half of all school heads participate each year, and since the release of the inaugural report in 2014, the results have reached an audience of around 10m.

Given its size and scope, it’s not surprising that the findings of the report have generated wide-ranging political impact and that departments of education around Australia are now routinely briefed on the findings. However, the worsening state of health and wellbeing for Australian principals suggests that despite the attention this issue is getting, too little is being done about it.

40% said they’d experienced violence, compared to 32% of male school leaders. The rates of physical violence show a concerning upward trend in almost every part of Australia.

The study also found that stress and anxiety are significant inhibitors to the health and wellbeing of Australia’s school leaders. Principals named the sheer quantity of work and the lack of time to focus on teaching and learning as their greatest sources of stress. Other stressors include teacher shortages and the responsibility of managing the mental health issues of staff and students.

Across the nation, school leaders continue to experience higher-than-average job demands (1.5 times the general population), emotional

“Clearly, our nation-builders are under attack. Consequently, fewer people are willing to step into the role” Phillip Riley, Australian Catholic University The 2018 Australian Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey found that principals are increasingly struggling with physical assault, threats of violence and bullying, among other stressors. Almost half of all principals (45%) reported being threatened with violence in 2018, compared to 38% in 2011. Female school leaders are most at risk of physical violence –

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demands (1.7 times) and emotional labour (1.7 times). They also have higher levels of burnout, stress symptoms, difficulty sleeping, cognitive stress, somatic symptoms and depressive symptoms than the general population.

Perhaps most worryingly, this year’s survey respondents generated 739 ‘red flag’ emails, which are sent to the report’s lead author,

Australian Catholic University associate professor Philip Riley, when a principal answers yes to a statement like “In the past week, I’ve felt like harming myself ”, or when a principal’s quality of life or psychosocial risk score fell below a certain benchmark.

“Clearly, our nation-builders are under attack,” Riley says. “Consequently, fewer people are willing to step into the role. At a time when 70% of school leaders will reach retirement age within two to three years, we are ignoring a looming national crisis.”

To reverse these dangerous trends, Riley believes Australia needs to adopt “a whole of government approach to education” to improve principal health and wellbeing. “This would mean the federal government, states and territories combine to oversee a single education budget,” he explains. “The funding agreement should be bipartisan and a transparent mechanism which is simple to understand.”

Beth Blackwood, CEO of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia [AHISA] and a member of the survey’s

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FAST FACTS: PRINCIPAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

One out of every three principals was physically attacked in 2018

Adult-adult bullying has risen from 34% in 2017 to 35% in 2018 (around four times higher than the general population)

Nearly all principals (99.7%) said they worked hours far beyond those recommended for positive mental and physical health

consultative committee, notes that the role of the school principal has been described as “the best job in the world, with some of the worst days imaginable”.

“The survey results reveal that principals work longer hours and suffer far higher levels of work-related stress than the general popu-

functioning and student learning” and that anything adversely affecting this should be of concern to everyone. Pierpoint added that the issues highlighted in the report are deterring prospective principals from taking on the job.

“There is a strong feeling amongst

“For the sake of all those who work and learn in our schools, Australia must do better” Beth Blackwood, Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia lation,” Blackwood says. “They are also at greater risk of physical violence and threats of violence. At the same time, principals report far higher levels of job satisfaction than the general population.”

Andrew Pierpoint, president of the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association [ASPA], says principals are “central to school

principals in jurisdictions across Australia that the issues impacting negatively on their own health and wellbeing, as reported by this study, are reflected in the declining number of people applying for leadership roles in our schools,” Pierpoint says.

Chris Presland, president of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council [NSWSPC],

In 2018, principals who participated in the survey sent 739 ‘red flag’ emails, which indicate a risk of self-harm, substandard quality of life or high psychosocial risk Source: The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

says the report should be “a wake-up call” to policymakers and leaders that the problems identified in the survey aren’t going away.

However, despite the findings around the need for better policies and resources to support principals, Presland was positive about the overall job satisfaction.

“What these survey findings show is that we need to support and build a culture of leadership resilience and increase internal social and personal capital for principals and schools,” he says. “Being a NSW public school principal is a wonderful privilege, and aspiring leaders should not be deterred from taking that next step in their principalship journey.”

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PEOPLE

THE BIG INTERVIEW

THE PEOPLE’S PRINCIPAL Holy Spirit Primary School principal Brad Gaynor tells The Educator about the value of differentiated leadership and why school leaders must always be visible

IN 2017, Brad Gaynor became president of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association [ACPPA], which represents principals from more than 1,200 Catholic primary schools and 150 combined schools across Australia. Last August, Gaynor reached another milestone when, in recognition of his effective leadership at Holy Spirit Primary School, he was named Primary School Principal of the Year (Non-Government) at the inaugural Australian Education Awards.

When accepting his award, Gaynor gave credit to his staff. “You can’t do the job on your own these days, and I think that having a really good team behind you can help you achieve more,” he says.

Describing his leadership style as “differentiated”, Gaynor explains that “it’s about knowing yourself, your strengths and your limitations. It’s about knowing what you stand for, having high expectations, a sense of what’s right, and an ability to make decisions thoughtfully and for the good of all, not just yourself. Differentiated leadership is about knowing and utilising the diverse learning styles, intelligences, motivations, skill levels and interests of staff. This takes relational skills and is distinguished depending on the relationship you have with the individual.”

By valuing the opinions, thoughts and

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talents of others, Gaynor believes principals are more likely to create processes that will motivate and engage staff and students.

“This creates a positive learning environment that leads to effective teaching and learning,” he says. “In terms of positively influencing staff and students, it is about building positive relationships and being an encouraging role model.”

but being relational allows you to be in tune with your community, to know what is happening and to know who may need some additional support.”

Gaynor says this visibility also allows principals to see teaching and learning in action, which helps them understand what resources are needed and makes them more available and accessible to staff and students.

“Being more reachable encourages students and staff to share their learning and to discuss any concerns they have …

By knowing your community, I believe a principal can have a much more positive influence on all aspects of the school” The importance of visibility Despite the complexities of the job, Gaynor says principals can’t forget the importance of having visible presence in the school.

“I try to prioritise part of each day to visit a classroom or to touch base with a teacher who I may not have spoken with recently,” he says.

“This can be challenging to achieve some days,

“Being more reachable encourages students and staff to share their learning and to discuss any concerns they have,” he says.

“This builds that sense of community and positivity that is necessary to improve teaching and learning for all. By knowing your community, I believe a principal can have a much more positive influence on all

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PROFILE Name: Brad Gaynor Title: Principal School: Holy Spirit Primary School Located in: Nicholls, ACT Years as an educator: 29 Career highlight: “The opportunity to work with children who continue to inspire and motivate me.

They are still the reason I do what I do.”

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PEOPLE

THE BIG INTERVIEW

aspects of the school.”

This also allows students to know their principal and feel comfortable with them. “A student will achieve a great deal more if they know the principal, teachers and staff really care about them,” Gaynor says.

Managing expectations – as a team Because education is a complex profession, Gaynor expects that government, system and parental expectations will only grow.

“More and more has been asked of schools, of leaders and of teachers, especially in terms of administration, compliance and accountability,” he says. “This has been well documented and debated within the profession

outcomes for the schools and, more importantly, for students.”

Maintaining balance Gaynor says one of the best aspects of being a principal is chatting with students, “to see them excited about what they are learning or to follow up on how their football or netball final went”.

“It’s about celebrating their achievements,” he says, adding that the same principle applies to staff. “It’s also about knowing them and supporting their wellbeing. Initially, the principal has to model positivity, self-regulate effectively, know good pedagogy and have the ability work with all staff.”

“More and more has been asked of schools, of leaders and of teachers, especially in terms of administration, compliance and accountability … a principal simply cannot do all these things single-handedly, let alone our core business of teaching and learning” and in the media. In terms of leadership, a principal simply cannot do all these things single-handedly, let alone our core business of teaching and learning.”

Meeting these expectations, he says, requires a close connection with the school’s entire community and leading as part of a unified structure rather than from the solitude of the principal’s office. Indeed, Gaynor has always been acutely aware that running a successful school takes a team, noting that over the years, he has been “gifted with many wonderful co-leaders and staff ”.

“Together we have been able to plan, debate, implement, trial, learn from mistakes, and refine programs and initiatives,” he says. “By working and growing together, we have been able to achieve some great

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BRAD GAYNOR’S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

For Gaynor, a big part of fostering wellbeing is modelling “a good life-work balance” for his staff.

“I have put life first because stating work first sends the wrong message,” he explains.

“Work is a big part of life, but it should not be the only focus. Family, fitness and recreation are more important. Life-work balance is not easy, but I try to have one early afternoon each week where I leave by 4pm to catch up with friends, and I try not to email outside school hours or on weekends.”

Gaynor also puts a high priority on humour and social connections with his staff. “Sharing a laugh and a having a social get-together builds community and gives an opportunity for everyone to check in and make sure colleagues are doing OK,” he says.

1990 Starts teaching career at St Francis of Assisi Primary School in Calwell, ACT

2006 Becomes principal at Sacred Heart Primary School

2017 Becomes principal of Holy Spirit Primary School

2017 Is named president of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association

2018 Wins Primary School Principal of the Year – Non-government at the Australian Education Awards

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UPFRONT

OPINION

GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email brett.henebery@keymedia.com.au

Towards better student outcomes Improving K-12 education in 2019 means getting back to basics, writes Education Minister Dan Tehan OUR GOVERNMENT believes Australian students should receive a world-class education, tailored to individual learning needs and relevant to a fast-changing world. Students should be challenged and supported to progress and excel in learning in every year of school, appropriate to each student’s starting point and capabilities.

To achieve this, our government is delivering real, needs-based funding, along with real reforms to improve student outcomes.

The Morrison government will provide a record $307.7bn in recurrent funding to all Australian schools over the period from 2018 to 2029. There will be more money available for disadvantaged students, including those with disability, those from remote and regional areas, and Indigenous children.

However, despite the states, territories and commonwealth spending more money than ever before on education, our performance is stagnating in parts and going backwards in others – so spending more money can’t be the only answer. That’s why our government is delivering reform with our National School Reform Agreement. We are ensuring every state and territory commits to the improvements identified in the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools.

That review identified three priority areas.

First, deliver at least one year’s growth in learning for every student every year. Second, equip every student to be a creative, connected and engaged learner in a rapidly changing

world. Third, cultivate an adaptive, innovative and continuously improving education system. Every state and territory is now bound to deliver reforms across these three areas.

To further the Morrison government’s education agenda, this year we will embark on the ambitious and necessary project to update the 2008 Melbourne Declaration, which set out the aspirational goals to improve

that means we are sacrificing quality for quantity. The Australian curriculum has the fundamentals right, but we can maintain stability while reducing complexity.

It is the view of the Morrison government that our education system must ensure that every child gets the basics right. If you can’t read and you can’t write and you can’t count, then you can’t continue to learn.

As Australia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, points out, deep subject-matter knowledge is the key to success. As Dr Finkel says: “Mastering a discipline is mastering your destiny. Focus on your discipline – then you’ll see your options expand.” Our government will never support any change to our national curriculum that diverges from these priorities.

Another area of opportunity is the area of teaching. We know that teachers can make the biggest difference to a child’s education.

Research by respected education academic John Hattie indicates that a student’s achievements can be improved by as much as 30% if they experience quality teaching.

I want to ensure that the best, the brightest and the most passionate people want to

“An updated Melbourne Declaration ... must outline what we want for students, for society and for the economy in the future, and ask how education will get us there” equity and excellence in education for every student. An updated declaration will need to be a big-picture document – it must outline what we want for students, for society and for the economy in the future, and ask how education will get us there. This will mean looking beyond the scope of the original Melbourne Declaration to encompass education from early childhood through to higher education, vocational training and beyond.

One thing that is apparent is that we need to strengthen the relationship between students, parents and educators. As I have travelled around the country talking to teachers and parents, I keep hearing the same message: the curriculum is overcrowded, and

become teachers and want to stay teaching.

That’s why I asked the House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training to inquire into and report on the status of the teaching profession, specifically looking at increasing the attractiveness of the profession, reducing out-of-hours work and increasing retention rates.

We have all benefited from Australia’s world-class education system, and we all have a stake in the education of future generations.

Dan Tehan has been the federal minister for education and training since August 2018.

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SPECIAL REPORT

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

EDUCATION REPORT 2019 18

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The Educator asked senior members of the profession from all over Australia to share their goals for 2019, their plans for achieving those goals and the challenges they expect to face in executing those plans. Once again, their responses paint a picture of a sector committed to its students and teachers ADAPTING TO changes in curriculum and funding was the top challenge identified by education leaders who took part in The Educator’s annual survey of the sector.

Respondents also named keeping up with new teaching methods and increasing enrolment numbers as key concerns.

These issues are made even more challenging by mounting administrative demands that are diverting school leaders’ attention away from the classroom. That’s especially true in smaller schools, where respondents named not having an assistant principal to help with

administration work as their top challenge.

Leaders of small schools also bemoaned the lack of funds to hire ES staff to support children with autism or other special needs.

Meeting the needs of 21st-century learners was the driving force behind many of the challenges school leaders are currently grappling with, from implementing a school-wide digital curriculum to transitioning from blended to personalised learning. Wellbeing is another key concern; school leaders place significant importance on looking after the mental health of their staff and students.

WHERE ARE RESPONDENTS BASED? STATE WA

7%

QLD

10%

NSW

51% SA

7%

ACT

3% VIC

21%

LOCATION

55%

Metropolitan area

33%

12%

Regional area

Rural area

ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS TYPE OF SCHOOL

GENDER

34% male

66%

female

AGE 25–34 7% 35–44 18% 45–54 33% 55–64 42%

Independent 31% Catholic 4% Government 64%

Kindergarten–Year 6 42% Kindergarten–Year 12 31% Year 7–Year 12 27%

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SPECIAL REPORT

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

KEY CHALLENGES: THE SCHOOLS For the second year running, respondents named adapting to government and regulatory changes to curriculum and funding as the biggest challenges schools currently face. As the educational landscape changes, schools are also working to upgrade their facilities and teaching methods in order to remain effective and relevant.

WHICH CHALLENGES OR ISSUES ARE SCHOOLS CURRENTLY FACING? Respondents were asked to rank the most important priorities for their schools on a scale from 1 (not a challenge) to 5 (significant challenge).

Average score Significant challenge

Less of a challenge

4.13

Adapting to government and regulatory changes to curriculum and funding

3.84

Introducing or improving new school facilities

3.51

Keeping up with new technology and teaching methods

3.27

Improving communication between teachers, students and parents

3.21

Staff attraction and retention

3.10

Introducing or improving extra-curricular activities

STAYING RELEVANT amidst rapid changes remains a prominent challenge for Australian schools. According to survey respondents, who gave it a score of 4.13 out of 5, adapting to government and regulatory changes to curriculum and funding is the primary challenge their schools will face in 2019. School leaders in NSW expect these changes to intensify in the latter half of 2019 on the back of the NSW curriculum review.

Not surprisingly, several respondents felt regulatory changes are out of touch with dayto-day realities. “Government changes are not reflective of what is really needed,” one respondent said, adding that “governments need to listen to the coalface. Put a learning assistant in each classroom instead of introducing new changes.” Another respondent believes government changes are “getting more hostile to Christian schools”.

Another common theme is that school leaders don’t have adequate time or resources to adjust to changes. “I love change, but too often we have change imposed without adequate thought being given to the impact the extra workload has on staff at all levels,” a respondent said. Another school leader echoed that sentiment, noting that implementing change “takes a lot of time and distracts

THE CHALLENGE OF ATTRACTING STAFF

“It has been difficult getting staff and holding onto them over the last few years. The lack of understanding and support they receive really takes a toll. Many staff are injured and emotionally drained, but they don’t feel safe to seek help.”

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“I work in a very attractive location, often meaning we get transfers who are essentially out to pasture, waiting for retirement. We also get dumped with ‘diverse’ staff; diversity is prioritised over competency.”

“Staff come to our school in order to try to obtain permanency in metropolitan areas. They work in a rural/regional location first and move on once a year or two has passed.”

“The administrative and irrelevant bureaucracy surrounding the teacher role has escalated stress levels and deterred teachers from doing the things that attracted them to teaching in the first place.”

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teachers from other important areas of focus”.

Introducing or improving new facilities was the second most challenging issue educators expect to confront in 2019, garnering an average score of 3.84 out of 5. While staff are often willing to bear the short-term inconveniences of improvements to enjoy the long-term benefits, “most of the schools I am working with are growing so quickly that the challenge is to find working spaces,” a respondent said. Another noted that their school, despite being very well-resourced, finds it challenging to implement improvements because the students have difficulty embracing change.

Keeping pace with new technology and teaching methods rounded out schools’ top three major challenges with an average score of 3.51 out of 5 – although many school leaders elaborated that the challenge isn’t so much keeping up with technology as it is acquiring the funds to carry out upgrades.

“As a government school, we are disadvantaged by a lack of appropriate funding to upgrade facilities to the highest standard. We are expected to be grateful for any improvement,” a respondent said. Another school leader said that while their school had received significant funding commitments from both sides of the government, they’re not keeping their hopes up because they’re well aware that election promises don’t always materialise.

One the other end of the spectrum, a respondent reported that their tech department is “making excellent progress” in keeping their school at par with the latest advancements. Another educator said their school has invested $400,000 over 2018–19 for new technologies, while a third mentioned STEMShare kits as the latest in a long line of technology investments at their school.

However, many educators pointed out that tech investment and tech implementation are two very different things. One respondent said that despite launching a new

COMMUNICATION HITS AND MISSES “We are managing communication with increasing focus on negative feedback from parents appearing in social media backchannels.”

“We consist of four campuses, and communication continues to be a big issue among them. Too much micromanaging doesn’t let communication flow among staff and across campuses.”

“We use all forms of technology, including traditional forms of communication and face-to-face interaction. Families still struggle to respond, though.”

“This is gradually improving due to the use of systems such as Sentral for staff communication and social media and e-news information alerts to parents, along with the strengthening of the school website and its information.”

technology, their school is finding it “very challenging” to incorporate into their curriculum. A different school launched a new LMS, but noted that their teachers lack the training to implement it in class.

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SPECIAL REPORT

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

KEY CHALLENGES: THE LEADERS When asked about the biggest challenges they currently face, education leaders gave diverse responses, ranging from adapting new curriculum and technology and providing professional development to maintaining work-life balance and retaining quality staff.

IN ADDITION to the major issues facing their schools in 2019, The Educator wanted to know what respondents consider to be their greatest obstacles as leaders. Their answers centred around four major themes: curriculum, time management, staff development and wellbeing.

Many respondents said keeping pace with and implementing the new Australian curriculum, including digital curriculum, takes much of their time and effort. One school leader wished for a less complex curriculum that would allow time-poor staff

gating a growing amount of paperwork.”

When asked about the unnecessary activities that take up the most of their time, respondents were united in their dislike of paperwork. One said paperwork often feels like it has no purpose, while another blamed increasing paperwork as the reason why teachers’ attention is diverted away from the classroom.

As the workload of teachers has increased, supporting their wellbeing is a top priority for many school leaders, who recognize that the pressure on teachers is often exacerbated by

As the workload of teachers has increased, supporting their wellbeing is a top priority to engage outside the class with more collaborative activities.

Another curriculum challenge is the changing nature of the way learning is delivered and the need to increase focus on future learning skills. “This has resource implications as well as teacher expertise challenges,” a respondent said. “It also needs a curriculum structure which is not so prescriptive.”

When it comes to the challenge of time management, one respondent bemoaned the difficulty finding time to unpack and use new syllabi, engage in professional learning, differentiate the curriculum to their students, and develop community partnerships – all while ensuring they attend to their teaching responsibilities. Another respondent noted that it’s a struggle make time “to create interesting lessons and to learn new technologies, while catering to individual student needs and navi-

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the unrealistic expectations placed on them.

Student and staff wellbeing are equally important to school leaders: one respondent noted that providing wellbeing support to students, especially in high-pressure Years 11 and 12, is just as important as focusing on strategic direction and school growth. Another expressed concern about maintaining resilience and mental health among staff and community members. To address this issue, one respondent plans to allocate a budget that would allow staff members to enjoy enough time off so they don’t get overworked.

On the issue of staff development, a respondent stressed the need for teachers to accept best-practice improvements, including high-impact teaching strategies, to improve student outcomes. Another respondent mentioned the importance of supporting school leadership teams that will

IS NEW TECHNOLOGY WORTH IMPLEMENTING? “It comes down to money. We would love to have [it], but we have very limited funds, as we are a small school.”

“The question should not really be about keeping up with new technology, but how to judge the value of it in education.

Is it going to be useful? Is it going to improve student learning outcomes?” “[New technology] should only be introduced as optional activities. Trying to implement these skills at primary school level detracts teaching the necessary skills of reading, writing and math.”

“Most of our students will not benefit from this technology. They benefit from learning basic life skills, and they need full assistance to complete almost all activities.”

initiate, monitor and sustain improvement processes in pedagogy and student learning outcomes, noting that many executive staff these days are promoted because of their managerial skills rather than their leadership or pedagogical skills.

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2019-20 OBJECTIVES As it was last year, staff training and development is the number-one focus for school leaders over the next 12 months. Collaborative partnerships – whether designed to improve operations or open up new learning opportunities for students – were also high on the list.

LOOKING AT the year ahead, 18% of school leaders said investing in training and development is their top priority over the next 12 months. A slightly smaller percentage (14%) said their top priority will be working with other education providers to improve their operations and the quality of education, while

13% will be looking to develop partnerships with other schools, universities or local artists to create collaborative learning opportunities for students.

As technology advances at warp speed, school leaders also find themselves needing to update their school’s facilities and systems;

10% of respondents said improving or acquiring new facilities and equipment was their top priority for the year ahead, while 9% planned to invest in new ICT infrastructure.

Just 5% of respondents said they planned to focus primarily on making people aware of their school’s offerings via expanded marketing and communication efforts.

Realising they can’t carry out their plans on their own, a quarter of school leaders said they’ll turn to teachers and staff for guidance, while 18% said they would consider engaging external consultants for specialist advice on achieving their business objectives.

WHAT SOURCES WILL YOU TURN TO FOR GUIDANCE OR ADVICE ON ACHIEVING YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES? 25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

25%

20%

18%

15%

12%

Teachers and staff

Parents

External consultants

Students

Industry groups/associations

0%

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SPECIAL REPORT

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

2019-20 OBJECTIVES WHAT WILL YOUR SCHOOL DO IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS TO ACHIEVE YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES? Invest in staff training and development 18%

Collaborate with other education providers to improve school operations/quality of education 14%

Develop partnerships with universities, other schools or artists in residence to create opportunities for students 14%

Review the structure of school operations to improve efficiency 13%

Improve or acquire new facilities or equipment 10%

WHAT SKILLS ARE MOST CRUCIAL FOR EDUCATION LEADERS? “How to be compliant with relevant legislation in the least intrusive manner possible and to lead teaching and learning based on sound researched principles, even if they are not marketable.” ”Communicating effectively with parents and understanding the impact of mental health issues and how to overcome or prevent them in schools.”

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“How to implement, monitor and sustain differentiated, enquirybased learning based on ongoing formative assessments to keep students engaged and curious so they can achieve high standards of achievement, both academically and socially.”

“Stress management – learning how to separate self from work and to deal with difficult parents and situations.”

“Creativity and resource management – being able to make improvements in student results with fewer human and financial resources.”

“Ability to be flexible; educators need to be encouraged and willing to challenge outdated processes and policies that stifle the creativity of students and colleagues.”

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STUDENT WELLBEING WHAT ARE Australian schools doing to look after the wellbeing of their students?

There are many different programs and activities available for schools to use to further their efforts on this front, and survey participants were forthcoming in sharing details of their own work.

Bounce Back!

Touted as the first positive education program in the world, Bounce Back! takes a positive education approach to developing

the wellbeing, resilience and social-emotional learning of primary school children, focusing on helping young people respond positively to life’s many complexities.

The Resilience Doughnut This research-validated model helps strengthen the human spirit of young people and build their sense of hope and optimism with a simple and practical resilience-building tool developed by clinical psychologist Lyn Worsley.

Brave, Shine and Seasons camps The camps promote relationships among students and help to build their confidence through sports.

When needed, students can access two fulltime chaplains.

Learner mentor system Students work with an individual learner mentor to ensure they are achieving the best possible learning and wellbeing outcomes.

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SPECIAL REPORT

EDUCATION REPORT 2019

WHAT AN OPTIMAL Positive Behaviour for Learning [PBL] A comprehensive, evidencebased approach that brings the whole school community together to improve learning outcomes, the PBL process supports school leaders to develop positive, safe and supportive learning environments that foster the wellbeing of students.

Rock and Water Providing learners a pathway to self-awareness and increased self-confidence and social functioning, the program takes participants on a journey where they learn about responding to life with either a ‘rock’ or ‘water’ attitude.

School improvement team The function of the school improvement team is to oversee student wellbeing and engagement, ensuring that restorative practices are consistently implemented throughout the school and that opportunities for student voices and teacher training continuously increase.

Staffing hubs To improve teacher-student engagement, the staffing hubs – located in North, South and West Sydney where students reside – aim to attract and engage students who are falling behind in their lessons.

Student wellbeing officer The wellbeing officer’s main job is to interact with students, teachers and families; he or she is particularly important during family activities such as science night, music festivals and arts night.

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RESPONDENTS TO the 2019 Education Report shared their vision for how to build the best education system for Australia’s children.

AND THE WINNER IS …

The Educator offered a Nespresso Inissia DeLonghi Black coffee machine to the person who provided the most thoughtful response on how to create an optimal education system in Australia. The winning response: “An optimal education system would be one that performs with a very efficient business system with efficient and knowledgeable admin and teaching staff and senior executives who know how the system works. This requires ongoing professional development. The system must support teachers and the curriculum and associated programs efficiently and economically to ensure that the students are achieving optimal outcomes academically, balanced by appropriate arts and sports programs that benefit the student’s overall development. The system must provide accessible support for staff wellbeing.”

As the survey is anonymous, we are unable to publish the name of the respondent. However, The Educator would like to thank all of the survey respondents for their comments.

“An optimal education system helps students become critical thinkers who are curious about how the world works and can show compassion and empathy towards those in need” “Education needs to provide opportunities to develop young people into caring individuals who contribute in positive ways to building inclusive communities”

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EDUCATION SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE ASSISTING THE PROFESSION “There should be a learning assistant in each room rather than new programs, and a chance for them to choose, learn and teach excellent programs.

Limit the curriculum to needs, not fads, and extra-curricular activities should be optional. Principals should constantly monitor to prevent workplace bullying.”

“Respect for teachers.

Schools, families and communities should work together, and parents should be on board and supporting school decisions. Families should seek improvement for all school children, not just their child.”

“A system that is responsive to the current needs of students and all sectors of the community, including employers and other education providers. Education needs to provide opportunities to develop young people into caring individuals who contribute in positive ways to building inclusive communities.”

INFORMING THE CONTENT “An optimal education system in 2019 is one where there’s genuine forward momentum with identifying and implementing metrics to measure and describe learning progress of students, as opposed to only describing achievement as measured on a limited five-point scale.”

“Technology is integrated across the curriculum as a tool to help students find their gifts and passions, whilst developing them to become well-rounded young people.”

“Focuses on teaching pro-social and personal growth skills, which enable students to learn through developing mindful awareness of the paths and obstacles.”

“Engages students and develops their curiosity, creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration skills; it also supports staff in effective teaching practice through collaborative professional development in targeted areas.”

“Caters to a wide variety of student needs, equipping them with skills and knowledge suitable to become employable adults. It also engages the whole school community – students, parents, and staff – in the educational process.”

“A greater focus on the core practice of actual teaching and supporting key learning areas for each teacher, rather than a continued push on data collection, which is not passed on in any useful or

appropriate way. This could be done by supporting teachers not with new initiatives, but with materials, ideas and resources on the current curriculums.”

“Education should be a sign of a social program aimed at uniting communities, not dividing them up.

We need a simpler curriculum based on respect for Indigenous culture, big ideas and compe­ tencies, placing greater faith in teacher expertise and less prescriptive.”

“An optimal education system helps students to become critical thinkers who are curious about how the world works and can show compassion and empathy towards those in need. They also seek out creative ways to improve the world.”

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EDUCATION REPORT 2019

WHAT AN OPTIMAL EDUCATION SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE INCREASING FUNDING

LISTENING TO THOSE ON THE GROUND

“With much more government financial support comes more buildings to house smaller classes and refreshed teachers excited about changing educational technology and prepared to allow students more autonomy.”

“Increased funding to cater to children and families with diverse needs, as well as to have smaller class sizes, up-to-date buildings with no asbestos, and to separate science labs and art rooms rather than just having add-ons within a classroom.”

“Acknowledging that valuing and investing in staff is crucial to all aspects of school success.”

“An even playing field for all sectors. All city schools should get the same funding that’s based on population, not on sector. If parents choose to pay for a private education, they should get more for their dollar. Schools in regional areas should be allocated funding based on needs, which are assessed by real practising teachers, not only by administrators and ministers who don’t have a clue.”

“School principals and region directors need to have more power over staffing. If we build a quality workforce, we deliver quality education.”

“A system where principals are given the trust to truly make local decisions and where directors really work alongside them from the ground up. A system where principals can and do appoint staff who clearly fit the needs of the school, [rather than] remaining with an archaic transfer and appointments system.”

“Clarity of vision, with a well-tuned, corralled voice which functions to ensure student progression is at the centre of every decision.”

“A decentralised system where there is autonomy for the school and its principal to adapt to the local community and become a beacon for families.”

“Look up to Nordic countries. They have the best results ... in the world, but still we persist with a worn-out system that is clearly burning out staff and not working for students.”

TAKING CARE OF WELLBEING “Not losing sight of our core ‘students are the centre of all decision-making’ when implementing social and emotional programs in class or the whole community.”

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“Implementing a system in which students’ mental health issues are not exacerbated by the pressures of the ATAR.”

“Parents, teachers and non-teaching staff focus on the wellbeing and personalised needs of students, while looking to create engaging classrooms and programs.”

“Looking at the whole child and preparing them for a future that has its unique and unprecedented challenges.”

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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

SCHOOL EXCURSIONS

Getting school excursions right Richard McFadden of Consent2Go tells The Educator how his company is helping schools ensure a compliant and consistent process when managing events and excursions TE: What was your vision in launching Consent2Go? Richard McFadden: The vision for launching C2G was to provide an easy-to-use one-stop shop for schools to streamline the way they manage school events and excursions. We ensure that information is at the heart of schools’ decision-making so that individuals can be empowered to take control of the permissions and information relating to their child.

This also means that privacy is at the forefront of the use of this information. We wanted to enable the seamless sharing of electronic information to make the process of planning and conducting excursions and other events simple for schools and parents alike. We also wanted to assist schools to comply with the many applicable laws and policies regarding privacy and risk when conducting school excursions, helping principals mitigate potential legal issues that can arise in the instance that something goes wrong.

TE: What are some of the unique ways C2G fulfils this vision?

RM: We use a technology architecture that is unique to the education sector for these types of systems, enabling us to present accurate information to the right person at

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the right time. Our platform can be expanded horizontally and vertically to provide services across the spectrum of school requirements to ensure our vision as a one-stop shop in this space.

Rather than being a barrier or time-waster in achieving compliance, C2G improves efficiency. It’s easy for parents to update and see current information, and it works very well for parents who did not like filling in forms and failed to return paper-based forms.

Additionally, real-time information is available to the teacher via the app whilst they’re on the excursion. The risk framework also supports a teacher who may not have a full understanding of risk and the considerations and planning required to undertake an activity.

TE: What tangible benefits will school leaders receive from implementing Consent2Go? RM: C2G supports staff through our unique risk framework, which is tailored for the education sector and includes guidelines and mitigations to ensure activities are conducted safely. This ensures that a healthy risk appetite is applied to conducting all types of activities. School staff will be guided by a structured, customisable workflow and approval

BENEFITS OF CONSENT2GO

Improves school and parent communication by sharing electronic information

Ensures compliance with laws and policies regarding privacy and risk during school excursions

Sends automated reminders for all activities

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processes, ensuring that events and excursions are done the same way each time, whilst being supported to plan and conduct events and activities in a compliant manner without the need for extensive training.

Consent2Go easily enables parents to provide up-to-date and accurate information that is immediately available to the school in real time. An important benefit for schools in terms of cost-effectiveness is that they don’t have to use paper and printing, which reduces administrative costs and time.

TE: As the company grows, how do you hope to expand and/or improve the services Consent2Go provides?

“We ensure that information is at the heart of schools’ decision-making so that individuals can be empowered to take control of the permissions and information relating to their child” Richard McFadden, Consent2Go RM: As an established provider of services to the education sector, serving both public and private schools in Australia and New Zealand, we work with schools in every state in Australia, with small and large schools utilizing our services. We have a strategic

roadmap that has been developed by engaging with our schools. We also have a clearly defined roadmap with new products; some of these include assisting schools in managing enrolments and waitlist services, and advanced incident management.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION FEATURES

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

Grit and growth Haileybury was named Australia’s School of the Year in 2018, but that doesn’t mean it’s resting on its laurels in 2019

IN 1882, at age 26, Charles Rendall, a graduate of Haileybury College in Hertfordshire, England, migrated to Australia for health reasons. There, Rendall took up a role as a lecturer at Melbourne University and soon established a reputation as an outstanding teacher of Latin and Ancient Greek. In 1892,

Haileybury started out with just five staff and 17 students, but over the next 127 years, it would grow to become one of Australia’s leading private schools, spread across five campuses in Australia and one in Beijing, China. While each campus might appear to be different, Haileybury makes sure that every-

‘‘We don’t want to tell students, ‘You must be enterprising’ – we want our institution to model this by looking for opportunities, taking a measured risk and being prepared to fail as well as succeed” Derek Scott, Haileybury he opened his own Haileybury in a 22-room mansion in Brighton, Victoria, basing the school on the traditional English public model with a strong emphasis on the classical texts of Ancient Greece and Rome.

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thing, from its culture to its teaching and learning framework, is run uniformly across the entire network.

Today, Haileybury is Australia’s largest school, and it uses the full weight of its

resources, both digital and human, to ensure that its staff and students are given the support that allows them to do their best. And it certainly shows. The school’s 2018 VCE achievements are impressive: 28% of students placed in the top 5% of Australia with an ATAR of 95 or above, 49% of girls placed in the top 10% of Australia with an ATAR of 90 or above, and 40% of boys placed in the top 10% of Australia with an ATAR of 90 or above.

Haileybury students also achieved 25 perfect study scores in 11 different subjects.

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on the great work it has been doing.

“In 2019, Haileybury will launch Learning Pods, a collection of activities that develop 21st-century learning and enterprise skills through different lenses,” Scott says. “The first of these will be Haileybury in Flight, a pod in which students will learn to fly drones, obtain their drone pilot licence and even send projects to space in partnership with NASA.” The school has also begun work on a core middle-school subject that will see students use design thinking and the Lean Startup model to try to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

“We will permeate each opportunity for our students with financial capabilities – a scaffolded approach from K-12 in order to assist them in their future endeavours,” Scott says.

“We have also invested in a data analytics program to understand our students on a holistic level more than we ever have been able to before.”

Cultivating performance

Building on excellence Derek Scott has been Haileybury’s principal and CEO since 2007. He says his role is not unlike that of a traditional corporate CEO, overseeing a large organisation with multiple stakeholders.

“The principal/CEO role is about setting the education direction, developing the strategic plan, looking for new opportunities and supporting the school’s executive team on the day-to-day implementation,” Scott says, adding that this includes evaluating the key risks and

opportunities for the school in the year ahead.

“Every opportunity has risk attached to it,” he says. “We are expecting our students to move out into a world that is fast-paced and where they will need to be enterprising and flexible in the world of work. We don’t want to tell students, ‘You must be enterprising’ – we want our institution to model this by looking for opportunities, taking a measured risk and being prepared to fail as well as succeed.”

To that end, Haileybury has a range of innovative programs planned for 2019 to carry

Craig Glass, formerly senior vice-principal at Haileybury Melbourne and currently principal of Haileybury’s Rendall School in Darwin, says that over a period of 10 years, Haileybury has carefully studied and researched best practice to establish the defining characteristics of a high-performing school.

“We have then developed strategies to ensure our programs deliver outstanding outcomes for our students,” Glass says. “The best measures of success have been our exceptional NAPLAN and VCE results.”

He says Haileybury’s strategies have focused on two major areas: teacher quality and student effort. “Teacher variables are known to contribute approximately 30% of a student’s achievement,” Glass says. “Teacherquality-related initiatives that Haileybury has adopted include rigorous recruitment strategies, including all preferred candidates

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION FEATURES

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

conducting demonstration lessons; adopting an innovative coaching program that provides confidential guidance to teachers; observation of lessons by both peers and leadership; and a thorough performance feedback process that focuses on teacher growth.”

Haileybury also has a clear teaching approach to its lower junior school literacy and numeracy program. Driven by the school’s deputy principal, John Fleming, this has ensured that the core skills of students are at the very highest level.

has been to determine what’s important to the school community and develop that into a vision with clear strategies and goals. He says a feature of Haileybury’s success has been the clarity of the school’s priorities, which Scott has been passionate in emphasising.

“You could visit many schools where this clarity is totally absent,” Glass says. “In leading innovation and cultural change, teachers need to understand the need for change and the rationale behind the change. They are unlikely to embrace the change if these factors are not

“To emphasise student effort, we have focused on students developing a growth mindset … [This] encourages students to keep persisting when they experience failure rather than giving up, believing they have reached the limits of their ability”

HAILEYBURY AT A GLANCE

Haileybury was founded in 1892 in Brighton, Victoria

In the 2018 VCE, 28% of Haileybury students placed in the top 5% in Australia with an ATAR of 95 or above

Craig Glass, Haileybury Rendall School In addition, “to emphasise student effort, we have focused on students developing a growth mindset – that is, helping them believe that their achievement is a product of their effort rather than their ability,” Glass says.

“This growth mindset encourages students to keep persisting when they experience failure rather than giving up, believing they have reached the limits of their ability.

“Alongside a growth mindset, we have introduced the concept of ‘grit’,” he adds. “The gritty student is one who is passionate about their work and is persistent in their efforts to succeed.”

Clear priorities Glass says his biggest challenge as a principal

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explained. In most cases, even if they don’t agree with the change, they will support change if they feel they have had an opportunity to contribute.”

Glass says that while most school principals would lament the lack of staff support for innovation, Haileybury has a culture of innovation that has been fostered by current and previous principals.

“It has attracted staff who want to be part of an innovative and successful school,” he says. “Therefore, one of the challenges that most schools face when making cultural change – namely, staff resistance – was less of a factor. The momentum of change and the obvious success seemed to inspire even those who were initially resistant.”

Haileybury has five campuses across Australia (Keysborough, Brighton, Berwick, Melbourne and Darwin) and one in Beijing, China

The school enrols 4,381 students across its Victorian campuses, and another 565 at the Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin

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12/03/2019 10:32:16 AM

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

TIMETABLING

Timetabling for success Between time-poor staff, logistical obstacles and conflicting student needs, primary school timetabling presents numerous challenges.

The Educator sat down with Debra Allan of Edval to find out how it’s addressing these common issues

TIMETABLING

IS an essential but frequently challenging part of a school administrator’s role. Competing teacher needs, scheduled non-contact times, parttime employees and outdated procedures can all conspire to create considerable difficulties.

While software exists to relieve this burden, much of it is designed for secondary schools.

Primary schools present their own distinct challenges and nuances, which may not be effectively catered for under existing secondary

logical path forward. But rather than trying to bolt on new functionality to the existing Edval program, the decision was made to create new, custom-designed software.

“While many primary schools currently use Edval for their timetabling requirements, we realised we could better meet their needs and provide a product for all those schools still timetabling manually,” Allan says.

In practical terms, this meant producing a program that would be able to factor in the

“Ultimately, we wanted to provide something that allowed schools to make the most of their limited resources, while also producing better timetables for students” Debra Allan, Edval systems. Additionally, primary school leadership teams are often time-poor, frequently juggling classroom time with admin duty, and don’t have the resources to grapple with complex tools.

For Debra Allan, SA state manager at Edval, this realisation represented a key business opportunity. Edval was already an established force in the timetabling field, so creating a product aimed at primary schools was a

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variable working hours of part-time and jobshare staff, enable automation of non-contact and specialist lessons and duty rosters, and identify students with specific needs. It also needed to provide access and visibility for admin staff and teachers and be easy to use without training.

“Additionally, we wanted to make sure we provided the prompt after-sales support we are known for,” Allan says. “We provide links

to comprehensive knowledge-based documents which are regularly updated, and we’re very accessible for any specific issues that might arise.”

The end result was Edval Primary, a cloudbased program that gives school admin staff and teachers alike access to a comprehensive, easy-to-use timetabling program. A closed beta test began in mid-2018, and several primary schools participated to both provide feedback and see how the program would suit their unique needs.

Edval Primary in action One of those beta schools was Christian Brothers College [CBC] in Adelaide. “The secondary campus have been making use of Edval for a number of years, so it seemed like a logical fit to try Edval Primary on the junior

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ABOUT EDVAL campus,” says Alison Ronoastro, assistant principal of the junior campus.

Previously, timetable management at the junior campus had been heavily reliant on spreadsheets, which needed to be manually adjusted on-site. The cloud-based drag-anddrop functionality of Edval Primary enabled a substantially smoother process than had been possible previously.

“I was very impressed with how simple it was to use,” Ronoastro says. “We’ve got a few unique challenges around organising yard duty at CBC because our ‘playground’ is actually off-site. Teachers who are on yard duty are actually off the school grounds for 40 minutes or more, so we needed to make sure we had a system that allowed for that.”

Functionality was able to expand beyond these needs while also significantly increasing

Edval Education is a leader in school timetabling and daily management systems. We are an Australian-owned company that has been working with schools for more than 20 years in Australia, Asia, Ireland, the US and the UK. Our timetabling software easily integrates with more than 35 school information systems and learning management software programs. For more information, visit edval.education.

efficiency. By the middle of Term 4 of 2018, Ronoastro had used Edval Primary to create complete timetables for 2019.

“Teachers already knew what was happening; they could do pre-planning and send out timetables to parents ahead of the school holidays,” Ronoastro says. “Everyone liked that aspect; it allowed for a lot more preparation time, both at the school and at home.”

Indeed, Ronoastro is already preparing timetables for 2020, with plans to at least partially generate the class lists through the program. Edval Primary has allowed for

numerous additional functions that would have difficult under the older system, such as highlighting students who don’t work well together. Class lists can then be generated with this data in mind.

“We’ve also used it as a tool to highlight at-risk kids who may be in need of inclusive ed classes,” Ronoastro says. “Eventually, we want Edval Primary to be a one-stop shop for the junior campus.”

Rowellyn Park Public School in Victoria was similarly burdened by a manual system before participating in the Edval Primary trial.

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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

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TIMETABLING

M o

EDVAL PRIMARY AT A GLANCE

Automated timetabling of specialist lessons

Consideration given to part-timer requirements

“Before Edval, we’d been very reliant on paperbased timetables, based around Word documents and spreadsheets,” says Alistair Sproal, the school’s assistant principal. “That meant a lot of manual checking and double-handling.”

The limitations of this old-fashioned approach are even more staggering considering that Rowellyn Park PS has almost 750 students, 33 regular classes and seven specialist classes. Not only was manual timetabling inconvenient, it was increasingly unsustainable. So when Sproal came across an ad for the closed beta of Edval Primary, it seemed like it would be a logical fit.

“This primary school is the equivalent of a small secondary school,” Sproal says. “Autotimetabling was a very appealing option – under the old method, we’d need to circulate draft timetables for everyone to check, and things would inevitably get missed.”

Now, Sproal says, the timetable is centralised. Everyone can see it easily, and Edval Primary picks up clashes during the drafting process before they become an issue. It’s part of a wider digital transformation throughout the school – one that Sproal is particularly excited about.

With plans to expand the use of the platform in the coming months, Sproal sees Edval Primary as a crucial tool in his mission to increase administrative efficiency throughout the school. “A builder doesn’t build a house just with a hammer; it’s all about finding the right tool for the job,” he says. “It’s early days yet, but the big takeaway has been improved efficiency.”

Pencilling in future changes As primary schools’ needs evolve, Edval Primary plans to implement additional updates in order to meet them. Allan notes that a number of new features are planned for Edval Primary in the coming months.

“First and foremost, we’re working on getting it linked in to Edval Daily, which is our management tool for absences and relief teachers,” she says. “It’ll also give staff increased functionality around incorporating schoolwide events, such as athletics carnivals, parent/ teacher interviews and awards nights.”

Another major feature on the roadmap is SIS integration, which will provide an easier linkup with the school’s specific SIS, enabling further functionality such as more efficient class list creation and a greater sharing of information between the relevant programs.

Edval is also currently developing the ability to allow reporting on key learning areas and ACARA requirements after classroom teachers have created their core teaching timetable in Edval Primary.

Accordingly, Allan is optimistic about the future of Edval Primary. The product has already enabled numerous schools to overhaul their timetabling process, and it’s one that Allan is proud to have contributed to.

“Ultimately, we wanted to provide something that allowed schools to make the most of their limited resources while also producing better timetables for students,” she says.

“There’s still more to come, but I certainly think we’ve succeeded with our initial goals.”

Efficient use of school resources with improved timetables for students and staff

Colour-coded timetable views for teachers, student groups, year levels and rooms

Accurate tracking of teaching minutes for each subject and student group

Equitable allocation of non-contact (RFF, NIT, DOTT) time for core teachers

All data contained in one place for easy reference

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Yard duty roster completed automatically

Automatically assigns students to classes using parameters for pairings/separation For more information about Edval Primary, please visit edval.education/what-we-do/edval-primary.

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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

ASSESSMENTS

The benefits of thoughtful assessments AutoMarque explains how it’s helping schools achieve better student outcomes by facilitating more meaningful classroom assessments DESIGNED

PROPERLY, assessments can help build student skills and provide the vital feedback teachers and students need.

Classroom assessments should be frequent, as they’re crucial for teachers to monitor student

performance. Timely feedback is critical to identify gaps in teaching and learning and enable prompt remediation.

Aren’t we as a profession meant to be getting better at our core business – improving student

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outcomes? Why, then, have our PISA numeracy results been getting progressively worse? Will our 2018 results, when released in December this year, continue this downward trend?

For too long, teachers have seen assessments as an end-of-term event, rather than a frequent monitoring of intended outcomes, which would potentially ensure that progress of students improves each year. A sound teaching program requires stage-by-stage assessments, which are used to confirm student progress.

There is a movement afoot to explore new ways of obtaining feedback from students without requiring students to use electronic devices, as these are potentially very distracting. After all, the role of the teacher is to ensure students stay focused, thus maximising their learning.

Schools using AutoMarque have their marking and data collection carried out by their school photocopier (marking 30 students’ work in less than two minutes), which provides them with exceptionally powerful data. This saves teachers considerable marking time and gives them tools for easy, frequent assessments, which provide powerful new insights into the learning of students.

The most impactful assessment for learning is the real-time assessment of classroom learning, integrated with instruction and the curriculum. Schools that regularly conduct pre-test/post-test analysis, along with learning needs analysis, have found that their NAPLAN scores improve, on average, by 10 points per year, every year. In effect, the teachers in such schools are improving the quality and effectiveness of their teaching. Are your school’s NAPLAN results improving year after year, or are they flatlining like so many schools that are drifting?

Professor John Hattie’s work emphasises the importance of teachers knowing their impact. AutoMarque provides you with a measure of your impact when you conduct pre-test/post-test analysis.

Would you like to see your school’s results consistently improve year after year? We would be pleased to provide you with a briefing via Skype, Zoom or the like to explain how you and your team can easily achieve improved outcomes for your students.

Contact us at sales@automarque.biz or phone 0402 260 298.

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FEATURES

FEEDBACK

How to give feedback effectively Are your teachers and staff too sensitive to negative feedback, or have you just been delivering it poorly? Aytekin Tank outlines five ways to ensure feedback is well received

PAUL GREEN and his colleagues at Harvard Business School believe negative feedback – on its own – rarely leads to improvement. Instead, it spurs us to remove ourselves from the partner or group where we’ve received the feedback and ‘shop’ for confirmation among new social circles.

In a professional context, that means we will seek out a new arrangement for our next project. If stuck with a certain partner or in a specific department, we might feel the urge to form relationships with people in other departments – anything to confirm the positive view of our actions and values.

When we can’t maintain that positive confirmation, it isn’t pretty. Physical consequences like anxiety and depression can threaten to pull us deeper into a spiral of poor behaviour and, in turn, negative feedback. This need to protect our psyche is how and why we end up creating – and subconsciously locking ourselves into – our own echo chambers.

Yes, feedback is a necessary evil – and

there aren’t many things I’d say that about.

Feedback is a multi-faceted concept that’s vital to the way many of us work and live. So I thought I’d dig into just why feedback is such a hard pill to swallow and a few ways I’ve learned to deliver it effectively over the years.

Setting the stage for feedback delivery Delivering feedback, especially negative, is far more complex than telling an employee what they need to fix and expecting them to scamper off and focus on those items in a vacuum devoid of their own emotions. The tactical tricks that I’ll get into here won’t prove effective without setting the stage with an affirmative work environment in which opportunities for positive confirmation and supportive relationships flourish.

Think of your relationship with your partner or a long-time friend. A single discomfiting remark from one of them certainly wouldn’t send you running for the hills, would it? Negative feedback can lead

to improvement when given in a confirming environment where the receiver feels supported and valued.

When it comes to the workplace, there are many systems in place that erode the sense of value employees feel they offer the organisation. Competition for promotions and poorly executed peer reviews can certainly degrade any positive confirmation and lead to feedback falling on deaf ears.

Once you’re able to create an environment in which employees feel valued and confirmed in their positive attributes, you can try these five methods I’ve used to deliver feedback they can actually act on.

1. Encourage continued conversation with subjective feedback It’s tough to give feedback that people don’t want to run screaming from.

And it can be even more challenging when it comes to giving feedback for creative work.

On JotForm, our users use our online form

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FEATURES

FEEDBACK

Unless your comments can be tied directly to organisational goals, they really are just personal judgements, which have a way of putting their receiver into a defensive and combative mood – and rightly so builder to collect feedback, and a big part of that feedback involves creative input.

One thing I’ve noticed is that, much like creativity itself, feedback about creativity is highly subjective. If you’re able to frame it as such, you’re much more likely to start a discussion about where the design or feature

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can go next instead of shaming and shutting down its creator.

For example, I might say, “Personally, I gravitate towards this bigger, brighter button than towards the main action you want me to take on the page” instead of a definitive, objective statement like “This design is wrong”.

It’s not about control. It’s not even about being right. It’s about providing constructive feedback in a way that encourages the creative process to continue.

2. Speak in patterns rather than specifics Duration neglect dictates that we’re more likely to remember peak moments (good or bad) and the most recent moments in any event. It is this, along with tons of other fascinating and confusing tricks the brain plays with memory, that makes it all too easy to provide biased feedback. And people who sense unfairness aren’t likely to take positive action.

Instead of relying on one particular recent

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example, it’s important to collect data from different sources over time to find patterns in behaviour. I personally like to use a simple evaluation form template to collect anonymous feedback on how my team feels a certain design or feature came out. By combining this information with my own observations of specific examples, I’m able to provide unbiased feedback on areas where a certain design is excelling, as well as areas where it could improve.

The knowledge that I’ve taken the time to identify real patterns goes a long way in negative feedback being received as supportive rather than a threat to the employee’s wellbeing and job security.

create a workplace in which feedback isn’t perceived as a threat and employees don’t feel the need to shop for confirmation. But this method is effective for times when you haven’t had a chance to establish good rapport with the receiver or have to deliver quick feedback.

4. Tie feedback directly to organisational goals We often hear the phrase “it’s nothing personal” when it comes to giving and receiving feedback.

However, unless your comments can be tied directly to organisational goals, they really are just personal judgements, which have a

The knowledge that I’ve taken the time to identify real patterns goes a long way toward negative feedback being received as supportive rather than a threat to the employee’s wellbeing and job security 3. Whip up a delicious feedback sandwich A quick way to help create an environment that confirms an employee’s value before delivering negative feedback is to deliver it stacked like a sandwich – otherwise known as the PIP (praiseimprove-praise) method.

The process is as easy, and tasty, as it sounds: First, deliver praise that confirms the positive values a person has about themselves and their place in the organisation. Sandwich feedback that could be taken as negative in the middle. Top it off by reiterating the earlier praise or by explaining how acting on this feedback will reinforce their positive values.

It will take more than a sandwich to

way of putting their receiver into a defensive and combative mood – and rightly so.

In order to deliver effective feedback that helps an employee better align with organisational goals, you’ve got to make sure those goals are clear to begin with. It wouldn’t be fair for me to deliver negative feedback solely because I don’t personally align with someone’s management style. In the same vein, it also wouldn’t be fair to critique an employee for not hitting certain organisational goals if they’ve never been told what those are.

That’s why I strive to make sure my leadership team, as well as every single employee, is on the same page when it comes to organisational goals. And when it comes time for me personally to deliver feedback, I always

make sure to first revisit our organisational goals right there in the meeting to make sure my comments are aligned and actionable — not emotional.

5. Encourage the employee to walk a mile in your shoes Feedback can be especially frustrating to hear when you don’t understand what’s motivating it. So it can really help an employee by inviting them to walk a mile in your shoes, as the saying goes.

Right there in the feedback session, encourage them to role-play as if they were in your position. After describing the situation, you can tell your employee that you find it challenging to address the issue, and ask how she would handle the matter if she were managing the group.

By stepping away from the threatening feelings for a second and viewing things from your perspective, your colleague can better understand that negative feedback is not meant as a personal attack, but as a way to help them better serve their team and grow their own development. This tactic can also help you see how team members personally process feedback and provide great insight into the management strategies they respond well to. Employees who understand your motivation are more likely to view negative feedback as a tool for growing their professional development rather than a threat.

Aytekin Tank is founder and CEO of JotForm, an online form creation software with four million users worldwide and more than 100 employees. A developer by trade but a writer by heart, Tank shares stories about how he exponentially grew his company without any outside funding. For more information, visit jotform.com

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12/03/2019 10:14:05 AM

FEATURES

MENTAL HEALTH

Building resilience for a life less stressed Everyone experiences stress, but controlling and reducing requires identifying where it comes from and then committing to the five pillars of good health, writes Dr Ron Ehrlich

LIFE IS stressful. According to the latest Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey, principals experience stress symptoms at a rate that’s 1.7 times higher than the general population.

They are also 1.6 times more likely to experience burnout and 1.5 times more likely to experience cognitive stress.

Across Australia, there is a growing epidemic of preventable chronic health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, obesity and over 80 different autoimmune diseases, not to mention mental

44

health issues such as depression and anxiety – and it’s not just because a large percentage of the population is getting older.

Children are not faring well, either.

One-third have allergies, one in four have asthma, one in 10 have ADHD, and one in 100 have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder [ASD]. To put that in perspective, in the 1970s, the number diagnosed with ASD was one in 5,000. Childhood cancer and depression have doubled in the last 30 years.

To expect to have no stress is unrealistic. A more realistic goal is to live a life less

stressed, to build resilience and enjoy health and wellness. But there are many stresses that go unrecognised and yet also challenge our health.

Today we require a broader definition of stress, which includes any factor that compromises the immune system and promotes chronic inflammation, the common denominator in all chronic disease.

Recognising these stresses means people can make informed decisions, build resilience and take control of their own health.

In order to deal with the stresses of modern

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The key to dealing with these stress challenges is to minimise them and then to build resilience life, individuals and organisations need to understand what those stresses are. A useful model is to identify the five stresses: emotional, environmental, nutritional, postural and dental. The final stress may surprise people, but it is the story of a hidden epidemic going on right underneath our noses.

The key to dealing with these stress challenges is to minimise them and then to build resilience. As today’s world becomes more complicated, the solutions are actually remarkably simple. There are five pillars of good health that give an individual a model for taking control of their health. These

include breathing, sleeping, nourishing, moving and thinking.

Let’s just take two of those. Sleeping and breathing are key pillars. Sleep is an individual’s non-negotiable, built-in life-support system. It’s cheap, accessible and profound.

Put simply, use it or lose it.

A consistently good night’s sleep boosts a person’s immune system, memory and ability to think logically. It improves blood sugar levels, which are important in all diseases; decreases the likelihood of a heart attack; and positively affects almost every measure of physical and mental health and wellbeing, including a person’s sex life.

A consistently good night’s sleep is a function of quantity (getting enough) and quality (breathing well). Poor sleep and breathing habits affect the young and old alike, yet the return on investment is well worth it.

If you have one goal in life, it should be to fulfil your potential. Whether we’re talking about the potential of an individual, a family, a community or, for that matter, an organisation, enjoying good health is central to that goal. Healthy individuals make for a healthy workforce and a healthy society. This is the type of society people will want to live in and the kind of organisation that people will want to work for.

Taking control, recognising the stresses in life that break us down, and focusing on the pillars of health so we build mental, physical and emotional resilience to deal with the modern world are a good start toward fulfilling that potential.

Dr Ron Ehrlich is a leading holistic health advocate with more than 35 years of clinical experience. He is the author of A Life Less Stressed: The 5 Pillars of Health and Wellness and hosts the podcast Unstress with Dr Ron Ehrlich. For more information, visit drronehrlich.com.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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12/03/2019 10:14:32 AM

FEATURES

LEADERSHIP

Why optimistic realists make the best leaders Brian de Haaff explains why effective leadership is all about finding a balance between idealism and practicality

I ONCE worked for a guy who always had a smile on this face. He was a friend to everyone and always thought it was a beautiful day. But he wasn’t fully respected by his peers because he never prioritised work that had the best chance of being successful. Instead, he wasted a lot of time and money by blindly assuming everything would work out. A lot of times he was wrong. He only looked ahead at sunshine.

I also once worked for a woman who was so mired in the dysfunction of the organisational reality that she never pressed for what was ambitious and right. What was new and exciting could never be pursued because it had never been done before. The weight of the organisation and its plodding pace crushed her. She had no hope. So she only looked behind at clouds.

Both leaders had meaningful skills and were well intentioned, but both were limited in their success by their single-focus worldview.

The most successful leaders function

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with a healthy dose of forward-thinking optimism and down-to-earth realism. They look forward and behind. In fact, one study found that people with an optimistic realist personality type are often happier and more successful. That’s because these pragmatic minds know how to combine the positive outlook of an optimist with the sharp-eyed

and finding a way forward. In fact, I believe being an optimistic realist will do more than help you move forward – it will make you a great leader. Here are four reasons why.

You know the power of a plan Leaders are the ones setting the course and adjusting the sails.

Optimistic realists know that you can be transparent about the issues at hand while also being the encouraging force that gets your team back on track view of a realist.

Although the two leaders I worked with were uniquely single-minded, most of us are capable of seeing both sides of a situation

When your team hits rough waters, you don’t expect that they’ll magically turn things around. And you don’t waste time grumbling about what they did wrong. Instead, you

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identify clear action steps to tackle the problem and move forward together.

You’re transparent with your team One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to shelter your team from looming problems. Optimistic realists know that you can be transparent about the issues at hand while also being the encouraging force that gets your team back on track. That’s because transparency leads to trust. Your honesty builds a better work environment.

You understand your limitations Optimistic realists know that they

can’t do it all, but they also know that the team around them can help them accomplish so much more. Your greatest resources as a leader are the people you work with every day. Be honest with them that you need help and remain positive that they will help you come up with the solution.

You sense when it’s time to reset Times of crisis are opportunities to reflect on the big picture. But as a leader, it’s on you to make the final call when it’s time to push the ‘reset’ button. Always go back to your goals and ask yourself the tough questions: Are we still on track? Have we lost sight of our vision?

Great teams build great organisations. So the next time a crisis hits, reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses – then rally and pull from the people around you. When your team sees you as an optimistic realist, they will likely adopt the attitude for themselves. You will encourage a workplace of critical thinkers who know there’s a solution to every problem and who will work tirelessly until they find it.

Brian de Haaff is the co-founder and CEO of Aha! and the author of Lovability. His two previous companies were acquired by well-known public corporations. De Haaff writes and speaks about product and company growth and the adventure of living a meaningful life. For more information, visit aha.io.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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12/03/2019 10:15:07 AM

PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

AGENT OF CHANGE

Greg Whitby’s career has evolved to a point where he is shaping the dynamic landscape of modern education While at university, Whitby was able to complete more subjects than required in the first half of his undergraduate degree, allowing him to teach part-time in primary schools.

“Even though I was training to become a secondary teacher, it was great grounding for teaching in high schools because I realised that my role was to teach students, not subjects.”

1974

GETS GOOD GROUNDING

1981

SWITCHES SECTORS Whitby thought he was settled in the government school sector until an accidental meeting on a rugby field led him to accept a new role in a non-government school that was about to be built.

“I have been in the non-government sector for more than three decades. It’s interesting how one person inspired me to make such a leap.”

1992

BECOMES PRINCIPAL After 12 years in the central education office, Whitby was offered the opportunity to take up an acting principalship position at a large co-educational school in Western Sydney.

“I still believe the knowledge and experience gained by working at a system level had a positive impact on how I led the school community, addressed challenges, and communicated with students, staff and parents.”

2015

MAKES A GLOBAL IMPACT Whitby was invited to speak at the Congregation for Catholic Education’s World Congress in Rome during its 50th anniversary celebrations.

“It was a great privilege to be able to contribute to a global dialogue on the role and goals of Catholic schools in today’s world and to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of providing quality Catholic schooling to today’s learners.”

48

1976 STRETCHES HIS PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Whitby began his teaching career at a growing, dynamic and multicultural boys’ high school in South Western Sydney.

“Being responsible for teaching a diverse group of individuals each day challenged me to think about new ways in which I could better meet the needs of all my learners.”

1990

EMBRACES LIFELONG LEARNING After moving into the central education office and completing a masters degree in management and business, Whitby took on a role as a part-time lecturer and tutor in the Graduate School of Business at Western Sydney University.

“It was an extraordinary learning experience for me to be able to teach adults who were from different sectors and industries. I still believe that schools and systems can learn from innovative businesses and organisations” 2006

STARTS A BLOG At the suggestion of a colleague, Whitby began writing a blog, Bluyonder, as a way to connect more directly with the education community.

“The blog is still going strong after more than 570 posts and has been fertile ground for helping shape my thinking and sharpen my focus. I hope it challenges thinking at school, system and policy level.”

www.educatoronline.com.au

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f n

Summit M E L B O U R N E

25 July • Crown Melbourne

The industry event for professional development of school leaders and decision makers is coming to Melbourne

MATTHEW JOHNSON National Board Vice Chairperson & Executive Officer Australian Special Education Principals Association

EDMUND MISSON Acting Chief Executive Officer Australian Institute for Teaching and Social Leadership Limited

MARY-LOUISE O’BRIEN

STEVE FRANCIS

Chief Digital Officer Melbourne Girls Grammar

Author & Former Principal Kowloon Junior School & Jindalee State School

This unique event will comprise two separately-bookable conference streams focused on the themes of leadership and technology.

WHY ATTEND? Leadership Stream

Technology Stream

• How to lead your school to success

• How to prepare school leaders to excel through digital technologies

• Build positive relationships with school communities and beyond • How to steer your school through curriculum changes

• Develop and design modern learning spaces for future focussed learning

• How to attract, engage and retain young teachers

• How to embed cutting-edge STEM programs

• Different approaches to instructional leadership

• Equip teachers with future-ready skills

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