The Educator issue 2.02

EDUCATORONLINE.COM.AU ISSUE 2.2

HOW TO CONFRONT ‘OVERWHELM’ Successful change management STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD Marketing your school in the digital age THE BIG INTERVIEW Paul Browning, St Paul’s School, Brisbane

2016

EDUCATION REPORT THE BIG INTERVIEW Roger Herbert, Timbertop – Geelong Grammar School

Priorities, challenges, opportunities

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EDITORIAL www.educatoronline.com.au JUNE/JULY 2016 EDITORIAL

SALES & MARKETING

Editor Iain Hopkins

Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Narroway

Journalists Brett Henebery Ben Abbott Production Editors Roslyn Meredith Hayley Barnett

Business Development Manager Dominic Tusa

CORPORATE

ART & PRODUCTION

Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley

Design Manager Daniel Williams

Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley

Designer Loiza Caguiat Traffic Coordinator Lou Gonzales

Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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NAVIGATING STORMY SEAS THE EDUCATOR’S 2016 Education Report asked respondents a thought-provoking question: if you were the federal education minister for a week, what would you change?

Who better to get a sense of the future direction of education in Australia from than those on the front line – the principals, deputies and department heads leading our schools? A number of innovative, provocative ideas were put forward; among them a request to create a business manager role in schools to ensure teaching staff and principals do not get bogged down in administrative burden; a suggestion to launch an advertising campaign to highlight the critical role teachers play

Who better to get a sense of the future direction of education in Australia from than those on the front line – the principals, deputies and department heads leading our schools? in building the leaders of tomorrow; even an idea to shake up principals who are “locked in the job for years on end” by forcing them to reapply for their position after several years.

The challenges facing our schools have never been greater. Not only are they facing immense technological, pedagogical and social upheaval, but the political game of ‘pass the funding parcel’ continues, with no firm commitments from either side of the political spectrum.

This uncertainty is having an impact on the confidence and also the health of teaching staff. The Australian Education Union’s 2015 State of Our Schools report found that teachers are under greater levels of stress in the classroom due to mounting work pressures. The same applies to principals, as shown in Philip Riley’s damning Australian Principal Occupational, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey.

There are no easy fixes to these problems, but the team at The Educator will continue to do their best to provide you with information, insight and knowledge to help navigate stormy seas. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Iain Hopkins, editor

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 Educator magazine can accept no responsibility for loss

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JUNE/JULY 2016

CONNECT WITH US

CONTENTS 32

Got a story, suggestion, or just want to find out some more information? twitter.com/TheEducatorAU www.facebook.com/TheEducatorAU

UPFRONT 01 Editorial

If you were the federal education minister for a week, what would you change?

04 The data

A snapshot of school funding

06 News analysis FEATURES

16 COVER STORY

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

PEOPLE

BORN TO LEAD

Paul Browning, principal of Brisbane’s St Paul’s School, is pushing the boundaries of innovative education and sharing his experiences with others

10 Head to head

With burnout rife, Ben Abbott asks if there’s a better way to handle change fatigue

Do principals have sufficient legal training in departmental policy and compliance?

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FEATURES

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

The education sector has spoken. In The Educator’s inaugural Education Report, we asked educators all over Australia to share the goals and aspirations they have for their schools, how they plan to achieve them, and the challenges that stand in the way

Are schools making the most of digital devices? Brett Henebery investigates

28 Mitigate and manage

The Educator outlines six legal risks you need to be managing at your school

44 When is a team not a team?

FEATURES

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD Is it time to revamp your school’s approach to marketing in the digital age?

46

Unfortunately, simply naming a group of people a ‘team’ does not cut it – let alone when your objective is to create a high-performing senior leadership team. Justin Peckett explains

48 School spotlight

The recent opening of Australia’s first Pathways to Technology (P-TECH) school in Victoria brings with it an opportunity to energise students’ interest in STEM education – a crucial part of the prime minister’s science and innovation agenda

PEOPLE 54 Career path

Henry Grossek outlines his road to now

56 Other life FEATURES

MENTAL HEALTH IN OUR SCHOOLS How can principals support students struggling with psychological wellness issues?

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Geoff Hastings has cycled some of the most spectacular regions in the world.

He shares his ‘other life’

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FEATURE THE DATA / BROKER EDUCATION

JUNE 2016

MIND THE GAP, IT’S GETTING WIDER A new report warns that a “socio-educational hierarchy of schools” is serving some people more than others – and not serving the nation well

2013-14 COMMONWEALTH RECURRENT PER STUDENT EXPENDITURE ON SCHOOLS Australia

ACCORDING TO a 2015 report by ACARA, Federal Government funding for public schools increased by $133 per student compared to $621 for Catholic schools and $521 for independent schools from 2009 to 2013. Public schools received an average $11,864 government funding per student in 2013 compared to $9,547 for Catholic schools and $7,790 for independent schools.

When fees and other income sources were

included, public schools had a net recurrent income of $12,548 per student compared to $12,117 for Catholic schools and $16,601 for independent schools. A spokesman for the Education Minister said Federal Government funding for public schools will grow by $1.9bn from 2014-15 to 2018-19, a 36% increase. This compares to a 23% increase over the same period for private schools. Here’s a snapshot of the complicated business of school funding.

Government schools

Non-Government schools

Average

2,059

6,898

3,750

Western Australia Gov

1,934 Non-Gov

2x

rate at which funding to private schools rose versus public school funding between 2009-2014

$17,604

amount of funding granted per student to private schools. Catholic schools received $12,998 and public schools received $12,779

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percentage of students classified as low socio-economic status (SES) in public schools. In private schools it’s 9% and in Catholic schools it’s 14%

$13,924

amount (per student) of combined government funding given to Victorian public schools – the lowest amount in Australia

6,736 Average

3,569

Source: An analysis of the most recent My School funding data by the Australian Education Union

2016 FEDERAL ELECTION: EDUCATION PROMISES The Coalition is promising $1.2bn for schools, including $18m to improve education for disadvantaged students The Coalition’s funding is conditional on literacy and numeracy checks, as well as paying teachers based on competency rather than length of service

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DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS Labor is promising $4.5bn for schools, which will fully fund the needs-based Gonski agreement Labor’s funding is conditional on the outcomes of evidence-based learning programs and targeted teaching

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows there are 290,000 children with a disability, nearly three times higher than union estimates Eighty-four per cent of principals say they want more assistance for teachers in class while 60% say they require specialist support (2015 State of Our Schools survey) While 13% of students need better disability support, government funds are only reaching about 6.2% (Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Disability 2015 report) The Federal Government has allocated $118m towards disadvantaged students as part of its pre-election funding pledge

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Northern Territory

Queensland Gov

Gov

2,013

4,691

Non-Gov

Non-Gov

10,745 Average

NSW

6,353

Gov

1,947

3,681

3,683

Average

3,690

Non-Gov

Average

Average

6,840

2,214

Gov

6,044

Non-Gov

Gov

7,025

Non-Gov

2,024 South Australia

ACT

Victoria Gov

7,193

Tasmania

1,998

Average

Gov

Non-Gov

4,017

2,376

6,752

Non-Gov

Average

2013-14 STATE AND TERRITORY RECURRENT PER STUDENT EXPENDITURE ON SCHOOLS

7,423

3,764

Average

3,879

State/territory

Gov1

Non-Gov

Average1

ACT

15,481

2,119

9,818

NSW

12,253

2,435

8,856

MEASURING SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

NT

16,297

5,460

13,322

QLD

11,117

2,765

8,338

My School is an online resource for parents, educators and the community to give readily accessible information about each of Australia’s 10,000 schools and campuses

SA

12,802

1,842

8,833

TAS

12,554

2,455

9,546

VIC

9,826

1,945

6,899

WA

13,639

3,200

10,084

Australia

11,732

2,430

8,481

Notes: User cost of capital only applies to state government expenditure on government schools.

The user cost of capital is the unit cost for the use of a capital asset for one period. The Productivity Commission imputes government school user cost of capital as eight per cent of the written down value of assets. The User Cost of Capital has been removed from government expenditure figures in order to get back to the core figures for the amount of funding related to the provision of education. This allows a more consistent comparison with non-government growth rates and between states themselves. The process is the same for per student or for total recurrent spending.

(1) User cost of capital has been removed from state government funding to state schools.

Source: Productivity Commission Report on Government Services, 2016

Outcomes from the 2015 round of NAPLAN testing

Student enrolments

2

Attendance 3

1

Financial figures on each school, including capital expenditure and sources of 4 funding

This year the website added data on:

Source: Productivity Commission Report on Government Services, 2016

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

ARE SCHOOLS MAKING THE MOST OF DIGITAL DEVICES? With digital devices flooding into schools around the country, some are asking what impact they are having as student grades decline. Brett Henebery investigates

THE ACCOLADES ‘Apple distinguished school’ and ‘Microsoft showcase school’ might not have had a lot of resonance with the average teacher or principal when they were first awarded to schools in 2008 and 2014 respectively, but today they are synonymous with educational excellence and innovation.

The participating schools in these two programs adopt and use iPads, Surface Pro’s and a range of other digital devices, which the two technology giants say are delivering better learning outcomes for students and a significant competitive edge for schools.

But according to the OECD, Australian students’ learning outcomes have declined steadily in recent years, despite our schools being the earliest adopters of technology in the world. It leads to the question: are these devices being properly aligned with the various and sometimes complex learning needs of students?

“The reality is that technology is doing more harm than good in our schools today,” the

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OECD’s education chief, Andreas Schleicher, told world leaders at a global education forum in April. Some principals agree.

A ‘scandalous waste of money’ Sydney Grammar School headmaster John Vallance has made a point of taking a step back from laptops in his school.

Vallance says the billions of dollars being spent on providing students with laptops is a “scandalous waste of money” as grades gradually drop across the country, despite the investment.

By the end of 2016, the e-learning industry is expected to be worth more than $51bn, but Vallance says he has seen many schools with limited budgets spending a disproportionate amount of their money on “technology that doesn’t really bring any measurable, or nonmeasurable, benefits”.

“The history of technology in education too often has been a history of finding improved

means to unimproved ends,” Vallance says.

“We need to think and reflect much more critically than we have done about exactly what we are trying to achieve with class-based teaching.”

St Paul’s Catholic College principal Mark Baker agrees. He told the Sydney Morning Herald in April that the benefits of digital devices have been oversold and there is “no evidence” that they improve outcomes.

“Giving out laptops was the educational equivalent of putting Pink Batts in people’s roofs,” he says, adding that every school in NSW has become a Google or an Apple school.

“If I put McDonald’s signs all over the school saying McDonald’s was bringing you education, there would be an outcry.”

It’s not what you use, it’s how you use it While some principals have a cautious approach to the role of digital devices in the classroom, others are embracing them.

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STUDENT PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT

94% of Australian students use computers at school, yet students’ digital skills are at their lowest point in four years (OECD and ACARA data)

NAPLAN tests show the writing ability of Australia’s students has not improved since 2008

55% Only 55% of 10,000 students tested by ACARA are considered IT proficient

Indeed, some schools are seeing promising improvements in student learning as a direct result of implementing technology.

The trick, they say, is making sure it’s implemented in a practical and considered way.

while tracking the results. And while he admits his school is yet to see academic lift as a result of its strategy, the mindset – which he says is the hardest part to achieve – is firmly in place.

“If we don’t have the infrastructure right,

“We need to stop looking for the quick fix and start creating environments for long-term change” Peter West, Saint Stephen’s College One school in the process of doing just that is Saint Stephen’s College, located on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Its head of e-learning, Peter West, tells The Educator that too many schools rush to introduce “new shiny toys” without proper consideration as to how they can help student learning.

West says his school’s strategy is more focused on identifying what works, trialling it, and then carefully implementing it over time

we have to give up on everything else. That’s why we’re working in a sequential and structured way. You can’t overcome 150 years of traditional education in a year or two; you’ve got to move the boundaries slowly,” West says.

“Some people might say, ‘Well, that’s a bit slow’, but we’re actually getting there much faster.”

He adds that the issue of schools adopting technology without having a cohesive plan

The e-learning industry is worth $51bn as of 2016 to improve student learning is both under-discussed and carries with it huge consequences.

“We need to stop looking for the quick fix and start creating environments for long-term change. This requires a lot of time, effort and expertise. However, to not do it – to lock students into the past – would be a crime against their future,” he says.

“You can’t just throw laptops into a classroom and expect change.”

West says the combination of undergoing organisational change and having the right ICT infrastructure in place is paramount if students are to benefit from the use of digital devices like laptops and iPads in classrooms.

“It’s a gradual process, but it’s the biggest disruption in education for over 100 years, so

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS we have to ask, ‘What we are preparing kids for?’” he says, adding that just because a device might be distracting to certain students doesn’t mean it should be prohibited.

“Are we just preparing them for a good ATAR? In that case, let’s get rid of all the distractions, and board classroom windows up so kids can’t look outside and daydream.”

Teaching the teacher

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)

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Content Knowledge (CK)

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

• TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge

• The model was created by researchers Punya Mishra and Matthew J Koehler in 2006

• TPACK is a framework for understanding technology integration for education

• TPACK goes beyond seeing content, pedagogy and technology in isolation Source: www.tpack.org

“Let’s get serious and implement something that will actually effect change in education” Louise Lewis, CloudEd ways with little choice or engagement.”

In 2010, Lewis undertook further study and realised that this problem was one that existed not only in Australia but around the world.

While a lot has been said, and attempted, by various schools in terms of trying to improve digital literacy, Lewis thinks one particular formula could be the answer to lifting Australia out of its digital literacy slump: TPACK. “A study that really inspired me was conducted by two researchers, Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler, who formulated an education framework called Technological

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)

Technological Knowledge (TK)

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

ts tex Con

This need for schools to improve how they deliver effective blended learning has led one educational technologist to create a resource aimed at improving teachers’ – and in turn students’ – digital literacy.

Louise Lewis is the founder of CloudEd, an initiative to improve digital teaching and learning through applying internationally recognised frameworks and techniques tailored to educators.

Lewis tells The Educator that a core part of the courses she runs is a “change management methodology”. She suggests this methodology can greatly improve how schools approach digital teaching and learning.

“What I found in the early days was that something big was missing from the results to engage learners using technology,” Lewis says.

“We found that the early online learning involved content being uploaded in bland

TPACK MODEL

Pedagogical and Content Knowledge [TPACK],” she says.

TPACK is a framework that identifies the knowledge teachers need to teach effectively with technology. At the heart of this is the interplay of content, pedagogy and technology.

Rather than treating each component separately, this approach demonstrates how teachers can blend these three components together in order to improve digital teaching and learning.

Despite being “extremely effective”, Lewis says the TPACK framework has not received the mainstream attention it deserves.

“The general media don’t want to hear

about this because it isn’t sexy – and that’s the problem. They only want to know about the shiny toys such as Google apps for education.”

Bland or not, Lewis says the TPACK framework is “the bread and butter of education”.

“Let’s get serious and implement something that will actually effect change in education.

Some people say ‘organisations don’t change – the people within them do’, and that’s something worth thinking about,” she says.

Lewis argues that diving straight into using technology without going through the appropriate preparation is “a short-sighted shortcut” in which educators are going around in circles without really getting anywhere.

“It’s a simple model of putting these two things together for teachers and schools. If you can do this and implement a change management process alongside it, you will finally get somewhere,” she says.

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UPFRONT

HEAD TO HEAD

Do principals have sufficient legal training in departmental policy and compliance?

Ron Bamford

Principal Canning Vale College, Perth

Vincent Shin School lawyer Westjustice

Paul Geyer

CEO Principals Australia Institute

(formerly Western Community Legal Centre Ltd)

Do principals have sufficient legal training in departmental policy and compliance?

The answer is basically no. Principals, particularly in their formative years, need to be aware of the possible legal issues they might face, and training would help.

The training should not just inform – and scare – principals but more importantly provide them with support to put in place mitigation strategies that are achievable in day-to-day practice. Mitigation against legal action for each aspect of the role must be practical enough to be achievable in the context of all the other things principals are required to do. To allow our principals to do their prime job of schooling, extra resources are required to employ suitable staff to take some of the logistical and legal load.

I believe that legal education sessions for school staff are extremely important because they need to be aware of their legal obligations. They are in a position of trust and owe a duty of care to their students. There are some recent legislative amendments that have now criminalised the failure to disclose to police the sexual abuse of a child under 16, as well as other related offences. There are obviously other factors involved, but that is the crux of it.

Formerly, this was a reporting requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services, but now it is a requirement to contact the police. In a situation where a person with such knowledge fails to report this to the police, they may be consequently charged and potentially face court.

Compliance and an increasing focus on accountability are two of the biggest issues that principals discuss in professional conversations. Access to legal training and advice must be part of principals’ ongoing professional learning to address the ever-changing environment as laws change, and new issues, such as the impact of social media, arise in schools. We cannot teach principals to be lawyers, and nor should we. A basic level of knowledge is required to ensure principals know when to seek external advice on a matter.

School leaders will not solve issues within their schools by ‘tick box’ compliance but will have a greater impact on developing a school culture based on integrity, transparency and ethical decision-making.

BURIED IN COMPLIANCE In February, Stephen Breen, president of the Western Australian Primary Principals Association, warned that the amount of red tape involved in principals’ day-to-day work could have serious legal implications – both for themselves and their schools. Australia remains the only country in the industrialised world that does not have a mandated professional learning qualification to become a school leader, a factor Breen sees contributing towards the inability of many principals to handle sometimes complex business administrative decisions. He said school leaders were running “million-dollar businesses” with a myriad of separate yet intersecting responsibilities – all of which were being run by one individual. “Most milliondollar businesses would have a compliance officer, an accountant, access to legal help and other support, but the principal doesn’t,” he explained. What do other experts believe?

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

PAUL BROWNING

BORN TO LEAD Paul Browning has made being a better leader a central goal of his career.

Now, as principal at St Paul’s School in Brisbane, he’s testing what he’s learned by leading the school in innovative directions, and is sharing his experiences with other educators

PAUL BROWNING knew he wanted to be a school principal from early on in his career.

And, as a highly aspirational person, he didn’t really want to wait too long for it.

“I was aspiring to be a principal, so I set myself a couple of goals, and one of those was to become the head of a school by the age of 30,” Browning says. “That was fairly idealistic and unrealistic as a young person, but nevertheless I think setting goals is really important, though I obviously knew age was going to be against me.”

From his early roles as a primary teacher, to realising his dream at Burgmann Anglican School and on to his current role at St Paul’s, Browning has continued to seek to grow his potential as a leader. And as The Educator finds, that means pioneering innovation in teaching and learning, and sharing his knowledge more widely.

THE EDUCATOR: Where did you start your career?

PAUL BROWNING: I trained as a primary teacher at Wollongong University and was offered a full-time job as a kindergarten teacher at an independent school in Mittagong in NSW, called Gib Gate. I had 28 kindergarten kids, and for a male teacher starting out on a career that was an interesting experience, drinking nine cups of coffee a day just to try and keep on top of it.

I worked out pretty fast that I couldn’t continue to survive like that; I needed to develop the skills to survive it a bit better. I was actually teaching some kids from interesting backgrounds at the time: I taught the kids of

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Jimmy Barnes and Billy Birmingham of The Twelfth Man fame.

went along to become a reasonable principal, hopefully.

ED: Tell us about your first experience as

ED: What was your approach when you a principal. joined St Paul’s?

PB: I headed up a new school in Canberra – PB: When you arrive in an established Burgmann Anglican School – which was school it’s a very different kettle of fish to planning to open with Kindergarten to Year 3 starting a new school. St Paul’s provided classes and build from there. I worked fullme with an interesting challenge – it was time for a year for Gib nearly 50 years old at the FUTURE GAZING Gate while working fulltime, with a very estab­ time for the new school, lished culture and a very because it needed to be estab­lished identity, and I ED: Do you think we need to do more to registered, it needed a wanted to learn as a leader prepare students for the future? new building so we could how I could effectively set actually house the kids in a a vision and move an As a school, we’ve recently classroom, and I was also existing culture towards released a vision for 2028 working to enrol kids, get achieving that vision.

– when our youngest the curriculum written I believe the principal is students will be in Year 12 – based on a and to appoint the first the leader of the school. fairly large scenario-planning project. We staff members.

They are responsible for interviewed 30 global leaders in different We opened in 1999 with setting the tone, culture areas to create full scenarios of what the 24 students, and the school and direction of the school. future could look like. Our goal as a school added a year level each For me, I think transfornow is to reshape education to better year. By the time I left mational leadership, as prepare our young people for a world that there in the middle of well as servant leadership, will be vastly different to what it is today.

2008, we had an enrolment best describe my style of One of the key notions in that project is a lot of nearly 1,000 students, leadership. My job was of people are predicting that 50% of the we had a waiting list of jobs we know of today will be gone within a really to serve the commuover 2,000 and we were in nity, but also to set a vision decade, replaced by AI and robotics. We are preparations to open a and to develop a strategy already starting to see that now with second campus. It was a for attaining that vision. technology like Uber. They are saying even really great experience for doctors, lawyers, journalists, architects, and ED: How did you go me, because I kind of grew other professional jobs could be gone, with the role. Each year it replaced by new emerging jobs. So how are about achieving that school vision? grew in complexity and we preparing young people?

PB: I did a lot of listening I developed the skills as I

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“I think the really important thing for principals when they go into an existing school is to spend a lot of time listening�

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

PAUL BROWNING

– I spent the first three to six months listening to people. I think that a really important thing for principals when they go into an existing school is to spend a lot of time listening. I listened to everyone. The students, the teachers, the cleaners, the executive staff, alumni, the parents – I just listened to their stories of what they see the school as being like and where they would like to see the school head as well.

I developed a vision for the school, and our vision is to be leaders in educational thinking and practice. From there it was about filtering that vision down into a strategy. So our vision implies we needed to be different to other schools, we needed to be innovative, we needed to look at new ways of educating children and engaging them in meaningful learning.

It’s led to the opening of our Centre for Research, Innovation and Future Development, to linkages with a number of universities to do research projects, and to quite a number of the initiatives we have launched and consequently the recognition we have received.

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ED: You must be proud. Is the Centre itself particularly innovative?

PB: I am proud, but it’s not so much the Centre itself but the Centre as an illustration or a vehicle for us to achieve our vision. The

vehicle to help us to achieve our vision and it’s something I’m really proud of.

ED: What’s been the main achievement at the Centre?

“Resilience is an important attribute any leader needs to have. You need to be resilient, and you need to have an open mindset, and you need to be able to reflect on your own leadership” opening of the Centre changed the school’s focus from stock-standard teaching in the classroom, day-to-day running of the school, to a school that is focused on research into best practice, into next practice, and the desire to have teaching pedagogies that better engage young people and equip them with skills for the jobs of tomorrow, for the employment landscape that will come out of the changes we are seeing in our world at the moment. So it’s a

PB: The staff there have worked hard to define what good teaching actually looks like, and from that we wrote position descriptions for every teacher to help articulate what the school’s expectations were. Then we developed a feedback tool to give feedback to teachers, and on the back of that we developed professional development to support teachers to reach exemplary status. For me, that is probably the most important piece of work that we actually

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do: having programs to give teachers the opportunity to grow in their practice and be the very best that they can be. The research shows the biggest impact in a classroom is the teaching that is occurring there, and if we can support teachers to deliver programs to better engage kids in learning then we are doing them a much better service than if we hadn’t developed them.

ED: You’ve also been innovative in restructuring your departments. Can you tell us about that?

PB: Yes, we did restructure our heads of department, to create five heads of learning.

The structure looks at the dispositions young people will need to equip them with the skills that they need to be successful moving into the future. For example, we have a head of entrepreneurial learning, a head of innovation or design thinking, and a head of creativity. Those people are learning coaches, and they’ve then moved into the space of deciding pedagogies that align with those dispositions and supporting teachers with their practice in the classroom. It’s incredibly exciting work.

ED: Do you think educators in Australia are heading in the right direction?

PB: My suspicion is that there are a lot of schools doing some really, really good things, some really innovative work. And then there are a lot of schools that are very much bogged down with meeting expectations in terms of standardised testing and the national agenda to lift literacy and numeracy. Not that there is any problem with lifting literacy and numeracy standards, but we have a very different culture to Poland or Korea, for example.

What our country should be doing is capitalising on its differences, and what I believe we have in Australia is a nation of creatives. So we really should be looking at the ideas boom and how we support and equip young people to create their own jobs or innovate in areas that haven’t been innovated in before to make sure our country is moving forward and our economy is growing.

ED: What about funding? Do we need more money to support that idea?

PB: Obviously nobody is ever going to say no

to more money, and I would argue that there are a lot of disadvantaged schools around the country that definitely do need more money.

But if you look at the trend over the last two decades, the federal government has put more money into schools, but at the same time our results have declined, so there is no correlation between more money and better student outcomes. The government would also argue that is the same for places like Poland and Korea, where they spend less money per capita on each child’s education but they have better academic results as measured by standardised testing – not necessarily if you are looking at notions of resilience or the dispositions they need for the 21st century. So I don’t think money is necessarily the whole answer.

ED: What has been one of your more challenging experiences as principal?

PB: One of the biggest challenges I have faced, and it was a very different challenge, was the Royal Commission into Institution Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, because St Paul’s was the focus of a case study as a result of cases that occurred here in the 1980s and the early 1990s. For me as the current head of the school leading and supporting the current community, while hearing the stories and supporting the survivors of crimes that should never ever have occurred in a school, it was a terrible and incredibly humbling experience and also incredibly challenging and difficult.

ED: How do you normally overcome leadership challenges like that?

PB: Resilience is an important attribute any leader needs to have. You need to be resilient, and you need to have an open mindset, and you need to be able to reflect on your own leadership. Having trusted people around you that can support you and bounce ideas around and give you feedback about what you are doing and how you are managing it is important, and you really need good people to debrief with when you are going through a difficult situation. It’s important to have those relationships around you to support you, and that open mindset and then the resilience to bounce back.

3 LESSONS FOR ASPIRING LEADERS Growing his own leadership capacity has been one of Paul Browning’s goals since he started his career. Here are three key self-discoveries he’s made that may help other leaders.

Set goals and make plans Browning says goals – and a clear strategy to achieve them – have been critical to his career and personal progress. “You have to ask where you actually see yourself in five years’ time. You need goals, and a strategy of what you need to do to get to that point. It’s no different to an athlete saying, ‘Look, I really want to compete in the Olympic Games’. You need to back it up with the training and the commitment.”

Cultivate a growth mindset From early in his career, Browning created a culture in his school that allowed any of his staff to provide feedback on his leadership. Why? Because of his strong belief in maintaining a growth mindset. “You run into all sorts of bother if you know all the answers straight away or believe you have to know all the answers and therefore are relying on your own wisdom,” he says. “To achieve a growth mindset, I think you need to be consistently asking for feedback from people you trust.”

Learn from the best Browning also suggests learning from other leaders around you, and reading widely. “I was learning from the principals I worked under. In a sense I was watching what they did, analysing what they did, seeing what worked well, and what didn’t.

In fact, you probably learn more from people’s mistakes than you do from the good things that they do. I also do a lot of reading about leadership, and that helps me to reflect further on my own leadership skills and helps me to grow as well.”

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION COVER STORY

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

2016

EDUCATION REPORT The education sector has spoken. In The Educator’s inaugural Education Report, we asked educators all over Australia to share the goals and aspirations they have for their schools, how they plan to achieve them, and the challenges that stand in the way. The result is a revealing portrait of a sector striving for excellence

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GOVERNMENT

WHERE ARE RESPONDENTS BASED?

REGULATION

and funding, technology and student welfare are just a few of the key issues that will dominate the agenda of educators over the next 12 months.

In The Educator’s inaugural Education Report, senior educators from all over Australia were asked to detail the core problems they are facing in their schools, as well as the ways they will overcome them as custodians of their schools’ future.

In the shadow of a federal election, educators named managing regulatory change at federal and state levels as their core area of focus this year, and declared student welfare initiatives to be the most challenging problem they will have to face.

Meanwhile, evolving pedagogy, professional development for teachers, technology, and the budget bottom line will all be core considerations. Existing school staff will be the main resource called upon to do more to help schools keep up, and stand out.

The 2016 Education Report illuminates the priorities of a sector undergoing radical change, and details how educators will move to meet the challenge. It shows that, in the pursuit of excellence, school leaders are using their heads, and their hearts.

WHAT TYPES OF SCHOOLS DO THEY TEACH IN?

Respondents came from a variety of metropolitan, regional, and rural locations around the nation, with a strong representation from Australia’s eastern states.

Independent 24%

STATE WA

NT

3%

1%

QLD

11% NSW

3%

LOCATION

59%

Single-sex education

6%

TAS

26%

50%

female

94% Co-education

22%

Metropolitan area

Catholic

1%

VIC

8%

Government

ACT

47% SA

12%

64%

Regional area

19% Rural area

SURVEY PARTICIPANTS A total of 710 respondents from all states in Australia took part in the 2016 Education Report. All respondents were principals, deputy principals or department heads, with the majority of respondents (over 80%) earning over $100,000 per year.

SALARY

46% 35%

GENDER

50% male

50%

Kindergarten–Year 6 (44%)

female

AGE Under 25 25–34

Kindergarten–Year 12 (28%)

35–44 12% 3%

4%

$0– $60,000– $80,000– $100,000– $120,000+ $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000

45–54 55–64

Year 7–Year 12 (28%)

65 or over

FEBRUARY 2015 | 17 www.educatoronline.com.au 17

FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION COVER STORY

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

KEY FOCUS AREAS Managing the impact of government changes to curriculums and funding is rated as the most critical focus for schools over the next 12 months. Thanks to the fast pace of change in technology, introducing and upgrading technology is not far behind.

WHAT ARE PRINCIPALS FOCUSING ON IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS? Respondents were asked to score a list of priorities in terms of importance. Here are the overall results, from 1 (least important focus) to 5 (most important focus)..

Least important

Most important

Average score 3.871

Managing the impact of government and regulatory changes to curriculum and funding

3.718

Introducing or upgrading technology used as tools for learning

3.582

Introducing or upgrading technology used to facilitate communication between teachers, parents and students

3.429

Introducing new extra-curricular activities or improving existing activities

3.076

Marketing and communication initiatives to increase enrolment numbers

2.894

Investing in new school facilities

AHEAD OF a looming federal election, school leaders have delivered a clear message to all politicians: managing the impact of changes to both curriculums and school funding must be their primary focus during the next 12 months.

Out of a possible score of 5, respondents to the 2016 Education Report scored managing regulatory change at federal and state levels an average of 3.87, indicating it was a very strong focus for both themselves and their staff. The result should come as no surprise.

Funding uncertainty, regular curriculum changes at federal and state levels and other regulatory initiatives to improve educational standards have required constant adjustment by schools. It appears that this is taking a toll as schools react with already-limited time and resources.

This has created a fair amount of reproach and cynicism. “Balancing the demands of the different tiers of government is always tricky. The latest political thought bubble is often the next curriculum initiative,” one respondent said.

Others profess to have genuine difficulties “trying to keep abreast of the rate of change”, with some schools doing this “not by choice but by necessity”. “Changes again to the

GOING TO MARKET Marketing and communication activities to increase enrolment numbers were not at the top of the list of priorities for schools over the next 12 months. However, schools are still busy getting their messages and brand to the market using techniques like:

Getting active on Facebook, social media and websites

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Promoting differentiators like 21st century learning capabilities

Maintaining relationships with feeder schools

Rebranding, including logos, image and uniforms

Maintaining visibility and relationship with communities

Free TV and radio exposure thanks to innovative news

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curriculum mean more teacher time wasted revising the need to meet all new outcomes and professional learning to ensure they are up to date,” one respondent said. “Building the capacity and confidence of staff to meet the reform agenda within an environment of greater school accountability takes up a great deal of energy and time – is this time best spent on redesigning an already overcrowded curriculum?” said another.

Of course, future funding plans remains a central concern, particularly the prospects for the Gonski plan. “Full Gonski funding will be vital for our school to be able to expand on programs to meet individual student needs. At present, we don’t qualify for a great deal, but that will change if the Government commits to Gonski.”

Introducing or upgrading technology will be the second major focus for schools over the next 12 months, either as new tools for learning in the classroom or as communication platforms between school stakeholders. Schools rated their focus on learning technology at 3.72 out of 5, as they come under pressure to modernise pedagogy, improve learning outcomes, or just to remain “relevant, not boring”.

From iPads to Chromebooks, and from learning management systems to new apps,

schools say they are continuing to invest in upgrades to programs such as BYOD, or have already done so and are focusing more on professional development. Some are pushing the boundaries of what is possible, by giving their students exposure to the likes of 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, and robotics technology.

However, more than a few are taking a cautious approach. “Technology is a means only, not the main game, which remains teaching and learning,” one respondent said.

The Building the Education Revolution program appears to have been successful in addressing the more urgent need for infrastructure at schools, with respondents rating this as the lowest priority of all next year, or 2.89 out of 5. Some continue to take on new projects, such as a sensory garden to support special education classes, outdoor learning facilities, or some more basic infrastructure like playground equipment or beautification plans. However, many government schools indicate they have either limited or non-existent funding to improve their schools, and some are having to rely on doing the best they can through student families and fundraising, or smart use of community facilities.

WHAT YOU SAID… ABOUT EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES “We have a strong culture of extra-curricular sport and agriculture-related activities. We are building on creative arts programs and existing student leadership initiatives.”

“We are exploring nature play, loose parts theory and sustainability practices.”

“We are looking at integrating the concept of genius hour into our Year 8 curriculum, and have introduced a nationally accredited, CASA-certified ‘Cert III Aviation – Remote Pilot’ drones program into Year 11 that we may extend to Year 10.”

“We have no swimming pool, state of the art performance space or rifle range, nor any plans in this direction. A new hall that was able to accommodate the whole K-6 school would be wonderful,” said one.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION COVER STORY

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

KEY CHALLENGES Managing student welfare initiatives is rated by schools as the most significant challenge they face right now. This is followed by the need to stay at the evolving pedagogical frontier, and do it all while responsibly managing the bottom line.

WHAT DO PRINCIPALS SEE AS THE GREATEST CHALLENGES OF THE NEXT YEAR? Respondents were asked to score a list of priorities in terms of importance. Here are the overall results, from 1 (least important challenge) to 5 (most important challenge).

Least important

Most important

Average score 4 3.8

Managing student welfare initiatives Keeping up with new methods of teaching and learning

3.618

Managing school operating costs

3.547

Adapting to government and regulatory changes to curriculum and funding

3.541

Maintaining school facilities and extra-curricular programs

3.441

Keeping up with new technology

3.329

Maintaining student enrolment numbers

3.306

Attracting and retaining high-quality teaching and aid staff

3.148

Keeping up with new marketing and communications trends

FIRING UP HIRING Schools have different experiences of hiring new teachers, depending on where they are, and how desirable a school they are to work for. For example, schools based in rural and remote areas complain of having particular trouble hiring new teachers.

Many schools also find it hard to maintain a balance between early-career teachers and more experienced teaching staff, with one saying the “time taken to retrain novice teachers puts additional pressure at the middle management level”.

Other challenges in this area include not having enough male teachers, meaning a lack of male role models; restrictive staffing agreements that limit some school hiring options; and difficulty hiring quality staff in specialist areas, such as STEM.

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STUDENT WELFARE has become a core challenge for today’s principals as society at large becomes increasingly conscious of the issues at stake and schools are tasked with integrating this into how they manage their schools on a daily basis. “Today’s classrooms are about the ‘whole student’ in the context of their lives, so teaching and learning needs to be as mindful of their students’ lives outside school as learning at school,” one respondent said in summarising the situation.

Respondents rated student welfare as the most important challenge facing their school at the moment, with an average overall significance of 4 out of 5. Issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, mental illness, poverty and gender identity were all mentioned by respondents, as were more standard wellbeing issues. “Student welfare is becoming equal to curriculum components,” one respondent said. Another termed it a “major focus”. “The complexity of student wellbeing issues puts extraordinary pressure on staff tasked with responsibility in this area,” said another.

However, it is not the only challenge.

Keeping up with new methods of teaching and learning – e-learning, flipped classrooms, and STEM education, for example – were given a score of 3.8 out of 5, as schools try to implement and support best practice.

Some are comfortable at the cutting edge.

“Teacher teams teach large classes of multi-age students, the curriculum and assessment is online, and learning programs are 24/7,” one respondent said. “We like to stay up with current research and trends. I find it interesting and rewarding, and so do the teachers, so while it is a challenge it is a good one,” said another.

Others are sceptical. “Keeping up with the latest trendy method of teaching such as flipped learning is less important than teaching well.”

It seems most schools are hoping to strike a balance – something that’s hard to execute.

“We have a specific, progressive approach to education that underpins all that we do.

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2016-17 OBJECTIVES Therefore, being at the top of the game in terms of teaching is always our priority; however, we aren’t specifically trying to do things just because they are new.”

The challenge of managing costs continues to demand that schools get creative with their budgets as they attempt to maximise student benefits with responsible investment.

“You just have to work to your budget,” one respondent said. “I try my utmost to do the best we can,” said another.

Budget challenges identified included everything from maintaining basic utilities like power and water, to upgrading aging facilities, or keeping wages competitive in an increasingly dynamic education market.

“Things are much better and easier now with Gonski funding,” one respondent said.

WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT… KEEPING UP WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY “It’s the use of technology in learning that is the critical issue, not so much having the technology.”

“Keeping up with this is difficult as it is expensive to buy and maintain.

Also, new technology becomes outdated and obsolete very quickly.”

“We have made significant investments and plans going forward to refresh our equipment. It’s far less of a challenge now processes are in place for constant renewal. This also allows for a staged shift in technology if required in future.”

“Funding is a big problem as our families are low socio-economic and can’t afford BYOD. Only about half of our students have a device.”

TO MEET their business objectives, schools are planning to significantly prioritise their investment into staff training and development during the next 12 months.

In an educational context that includes changing pedagogies, new technology, and pressure to enhance the educational outcomes of students, a full 92% of schools have said training and development will play a key role in meeting objectives.

It appears that teacher training and development is now rightly being seen by schools as an essential element in their strategies for success, both in the near and long term. Rather than seeing this as a drain on time and resources, schools are seeing proper integration of training as a way to proactively keep their schools at the cutting

Training and development will be at the forefront of school strategies to achieve their business objectives in the next 12 months, and it will be their school community, rather than external help, that will provide the most assistance in reaching goals.

edge, as well as ensure that none of their staff are left behind by a changing landscape.

This is fortuitous, because most schools (95%) will be turning to teachers and staff to be the key players assisting them in reaching their objectives over the next 12 months, closely followed by the parents in their community, who will help 85% of schools.

WHAT WILL YOUR SCHOOL DO OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES? Invest in staff training and development 92% Collaborate with other education providers to improve school operations/quality of education 64% Develop partnerships to create opportunities for students, eg universities, other schools, artists in residence 61% Review the structure of school operations to improve efficiency 52% Improve or acquire new facilities or equipment 52%

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION COVER STORY

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

2016-17 OBJECTIVES WHAT SOURCES WILL YOU TURN TO FOR GUIDANCE OR ADVICE ON ACHIEVING YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES? 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Teachers and staff

Parents

Students

External consultants

WHAT YOU SAID… ABOUT TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT “We are focusing on funding for additional aides and their professional learning to continue to meet the additional needs of so many students requiring assistance.”

“Professional development of staff in a very restrictive enterprise agreement structure can be a massive challenge for our school at times.”

“There is a strong emphasis for our staff to review, refine and update their teaching practice and planning processes on a regular basis.”

“It is easy to have technology at your fingertips, but being able to use it well with no training for staff is a very unrealistic expectation.”

“Our entire focus is on high-quality teaching, leadership and professional learning to support continuous improvement of classroom pedagogy.”

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Industry groups/ associations

It’s clear that schools realise they can no longer achieve their objectives in isolation.

To help them along, 64% of schools plan to partner with other education providers to improve school operations or education quality, while 61% will specifically look to partnerships to create new and engaging learning opportunities for students. Likewise, 58% of schools will be calling on external consultants to help them with knowledge, and 41% will be leaning on the expertise they can tap through industry groups or association networks, which are supporting schools through change.

In addition, almost half of schools will review the structure of their school operations in an effort to improve operational efficiency.

Any funds freed up may go back into investment in staff training and development, or the improvement or acquisition of new facilities and equipment, which is desired by 52% of schools.

A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED Only 11% of schools will try to increase private funding – such as donations from alumni – to meet their business objectives over the next 12 months. Likewise, only 11% plan to expand their offering by providing education at different levels, such as adding a preschool class, or a new specialisation, like international students. However, over a quarter (27%) plan to hire more teaching and aid staff to meet their objectives, while 35% will invest in marketing and communications initiatives.

When schools look for advice, there are also a few places they are less likely to turn to. These include industry groups and associations, which will only be tapped by 41% of schools, and advisers like accountants, lawyers and banks, which will be consulted by 13%, 9% and 8% of school leaders respectively. School supplier advice is slightly more in demand, with 14% of schools expecting to take their advice.

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STUDENT WELLBEING MANAGING STUDENT welfare initiatives may be the most significant challenge faced by schools today, but it also seems to be the issue school leaders care most about.

While the significance of the challenge was scored an average of 4 out of 5 by schools, they are meeting this with a variety of initiatives, covering areas ranging from mental illness, self-harm, domestic violence, bullying, and gender identity to ice use. Managing student welfare has become both a necessity and a passion.

“Every child needs a champion,” one respondent said. “This is my motto. I hope that I can be the champion of every child that comes through my school.”

Schools recognise that student welfare has become almost as important as delivering the curriculum in today’s society, and that the wellbeing of students both outside school and within school is reflected in a unique way in the grounds of a typical school.

However, they face difficulties in coping with the sheer variety of problems students face at school and at home. Where one school is dealing with issues of gender (“At the moment, gender identity politics is a major issue. Attempting to take the ‘middle ground’ pleases no one, and coming down definitively on one side or the other disenfranchises either conservatives or progressives”), another is dealing with issues that are completely different (“We are in a regional area with over representation of child abuse and domestic violence, so ensuring adequate support and resourcing for vulnerable students is a challenge”). They may care deeply, but often they are not equipped to meet the demands of these problems. (“There is a clear increase in student mental health issues statewide and we are reflective of this, yet we cannot attract sufficient school counsellors. We rely heavily on external agencies”).

With so many different issues, many admit to being confused by the range of assistance on offer. Schools are responding by using a variety

If managing student welfare initiatives is the biggest challenge facing schools, then what are schools doing to meet it? The answers are many, and highlight the depth of focus and innovative approach they are taking in dealing with this pressing issue.

WHAT WELLBEING PROGRAMS ARE BEING USED? Bullying. No Way! Aims to create learning environments that are bullying-free, where every student and school community member is safe, supported, respected and valued.

Circle of Security A relationship-based early intervention program designed to enhance attachment security between parents and children, based on findings that show children with secure families do better in a range of learning and social areas.

KidsMatter An Australian mental health and wellbeing initiative set in primary schools and early childhood education and care services that creates positive school and early childhood communities, teaches children skills for good social and emotional development, works with families, and recognises and gets help for children with mental health problems.

Marte Meo A suite of programs focused on the area of human interaction. Of German origin, it contains practical knowledge on how to identify opportunities for development, natural supportive behaviours for this, and ways this can be incorporated into the natural system of individuals so they can learn the new skills efficiently.

of programs to address student welfare and wellbeing. One of the most popular among our Education Report respondents, for example, was KidsMatter, which is a program designed to help students enhance and safeguard mental health and wellbeing. Other schools are linking

Mindfulness Thought training designed to bring attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, often developed through the practice of meditation.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) An evidence-based whole-school process aimed at improving learning outcomes for all students by building concepts such as a continuum of supports that can be intensified to meet the varied needs of individual students.

Rock and Water A psycho-physical training program developed by Dutch educationalist Freerk Ykema, which helps boys and girls raise self-awareness of personal strengths and abilities and helps them learn how to play, work and live together with others in changing, multicultural societies around the world.

RULER A Yale program that helps recognise, understand, label, express and regulate emotions (RULER), based on the belief that emotional intelligence can improve and drive learning, decision-making, creativity, relationships, and health.

with external providers like Headspace to help with similar issues.

The diversity of programs shows the range of issues schools are dealing with at a local level, as well as how each is taking its own individual approach to dealing with these problems.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION COVER STORY

2016 EDUCATION REPORT

A MINISTER’S MANIFESTO MOVE OVER Simon Birmingham. As part of the 2016 Education Report, principals were given the chance to say what they would do if they were Federal Education and Training Minister for a week. Here’s where our education system should be headed.

AND THE WINNER IS… The Educator offered a $200 Coles Group & Myer Gift Card as an incentive for some creative suggestions for the Minister for Education. And the winner is…

“My top priority would be to provide the means for teachers to engage in pockets of practice each week. It might be making time for them to visit each other’s classrooms or designating time for the sharing of professional reading, learning or sharing of practice. The difference between high performing and lower performing students (and schools) is not structural (physical or organisational). Instead, the difference is a result of focusing on the fundamental conditions of learning, such as a culture of respect and trust, instructional strategies, leadership, teacher quality and ongoing professional learning (coming from a position of support rather than finger-pointing or blame), as well as the use (and guidance with the interpretation) of data.”

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

21ST CENTURY LEARNING “I would promote the features of 21st Century Learning, as well as the opportunities for young people in this connected world and the school design features that would promote these ideas.”

“International education perspectives should be mandated as a subject in all schools, and I would partner state and independent schools to develop innovation and entrepreneurship through STEM.”

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THE PRINCIPAL ROLE “Dual principal roles should be created. One principal within the school would focus on teacher professional development, curriculum and student support, and the other would look at strategic directions, facilities upgrade, maintenance and finance. Both would work together to look after school planning and direction.”

“All deputies would be converted into non-teaching staff.

Because they are busy running the high school and dealing with and manage all of the issues and management, their teaching is frequently interrupted and below standard.”

“Resources should be allocated to put a business manager in schools to ensure school leaders put their effort and energy into teaching, families and communities. In small schools this allocation may only be equivalent to one day a week.

I would begin with schools with less funding as they have less opportunity to resource this role.”

EDUCATION PRIORITIES “Invest in early childhood education as this has been shown to have the greatest impact in improving educational and life outcomes for children/students. Also promote environmental sustainability and a closer connection to nature in schools.”

“Put a stop to white anting of school funding by exposing the limitations of PISA testing and the craziness of comparing our complex education system with single state systems throughout the world.”

“Ensure all curriculum documentation was consistent, easily read and in sequential order and keep it the same for several years. This would improve teaching and stop the confusion for schools caused by the ridiculous, vague, ambiguous, irrelevant garbage that is constantly changing but continues to provide no support, ideas, samples for schools and teachers now. Guidance, not greater funding.”

“Teachers would not be required to ‘weigh the chickens’ more than they are ‘feeding them’.

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THANKING TEACHERS “I would work to bring back parent confidence in teachers and return to the days when parents worked with, not against, the teachers.”

“I would thank staff for the huge amount of commitment – time, emotion and energy – they put in to help students become the best person they can be, often playing the role of the parent due to parents not being parents.”

“My priority would be to create an advertising campaign that would improve the profile of teachers and highlight the role they play in shaping the future of our nation.”

“I would take the policymakers into a school and have them live the life of a teacher for one day!”

“There should be positive action to promote teachers and their contribution to student achievements. Teachers and educators should be applauded for the job they do in working with and for the future of our country.”

FUNDING AND POLITICS “Equality of funding for all students and schools as per the Gonski review regardless of the system, Government, Independent or Catholic. Take the waste of partisan energy from the funding debate and focus on all students regardless of system.”

“My top priority would be to ensure that every Australian student has an equal, fair and unhindered opportunity to succeed in their schooling (and later in their career) and a genuine sense of belonging – first within their school community and more broadly, within the wonderfully diverse, multicultural Australian society.”

“I would firstly commit to ‘Gonski’, then take education out of the political arena and put it in the hands of educational experts around the country, people who really know and understand what our education system needs.”

OUT OF THE BOX “Create an innovation fund of one million dollars and offer grants of $20,000 for clusters of schools who are looking to create interschool staff development and capacity building programs.”

“Attracting the highest possible teaching candidates by fully subsidising Bachelors degrees, significantly subsidising Masters degrees and keeping the entry scores for teacher training high.

Candidates should be in the 10% of high school graduates.”

“I would make special education studies a specialisation in undergraduate teacher training. If the graduate does not have it as a specialisation, then I would make this area at least 25% of undergraduate training mandatory.”

“I’d also promote research into techniques for differentiating learning to extend the top 30% of students, and fund partnerships between schools and universities to do action research on this.”

“I would go into every public school and shake each principal.

Any principal sitting comfortably in their chair for more than 10 years would be asked to reapply for the position.”

“Audit the skill and knowledge base of teachers and make it available to all schools, so that the country can provide equity in a quality education system by spreading resources around all schools.”

“Attempt to de-politicise education (Good luck).”

“Invest in early childhood education as this has been shown to have the greatest impact in improving educational and life outcomes for children/students. I’d also promote environmental sustainability and a closer connection to nature in schools.”

“Introduce new ways to implement brain training activities for all students from pre- to university level at minimum cost to parents and schools.”

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FEATURES

DIGITAL LEARNING

IMPROVING CHILD LITERACY THROUGH A FUN COMPETITION Learning outcomes are often enhanced when kids have fun and enjoy themselves. Adam McArthur outlines how digital learning can provide that creative classroom spark DIGITAL RESOURCES are an increasingly important aspect of today’s classrooms. Of the many unique benefits for both teachers and students to using the right digital resources for learning, student engagement is top of the list.

Put simply, students find using digital technologies more fun, and when students are enjoying themselves, they learn better.

This is particularly evident with gamification, a key trend in e-learning, and the use of games-based education programs. These programs provide instant feedback and rewards to motivate students, within a safe and controlled environment, to encourage healthy competition and collaboration.

They can be tailored to suit students of varying abilities, and have been shown to help struggling and reluctant learners by improving their enthusiasm and confidence.

Because these programs allow students to work independently, at a pace and level that suits them, it makes them feel they are achieving as well as their peers.

With all of this in mind, LiteracyPlanet created Word Mania, a national competition to unite schools around Australia in an event that would excite students of all abilities into practising and developing key literacy skills.

The competition is based on one of LiteracyPlanet’s most popular online exercises, the Word Mania word-building game. Students are given a board of 15

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randomly generated letter tiles and three minutes to create as many words as they can. It is a race against the countdown that involves phonemes, morphemes, spelling, word recognition, vocabulary and word knowledge. The more students play, the better they get, and their literacy skills improve.

In Term 3 last year, 105,000 students in Years 1 to 6 from 1,300 schools around Australia participated in LiteracyPlanet Word Mania 2015, and built more than 43 million words. The company received a huge amount of positive feedback from both educators and students on how much students loved the challenge, and how it was genuinely improving their literacy skills.

This was also evident in the data over the course of the competition, with game scores from the same students and schools steadily improving the more students played.

Based on the success of Word Mania 2015, this year the competition is open to students from Years 1 to 9, and the competition is by year level with rewards for both participation and skill.

Adam McArthur is CEO of LiteracyPlanet. Developed in Australia and aligned to the National Curriculum for F-9+, LiteracyPlanet is a comprehensive and interactive online resource that brings together best practice in English literacy education with cutting-edge digital game design. It covers phonics, sight words, reading, spelling, comprehension, grammar and punctuation. www.literacyplanet.com

HOW SCHOOLS CAN PARTICIPATE IN WORD MANIA 2016 Word Mania 2016 is free for schools and open to students in Years 1 to 9 Schools that already use LiteracyPlanet have automatic access to the Word Mania competition, and can arrange additional logins for students who don’t have them Schools that don’t use LiteracyPlanet can register at wordmania.com.au/educator Word Mania is available on mobile, tablet and web The practice game is available now, and the competition starts in Term 3, on 1 August 2016

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IS YOUR SCHOOL LEADING CHANGE IN EDUCATION? The 2nd annual Innovative Schools report will once again showcase the schools around Australia that are at the forefront of change and innovation.

Entries are open to all education professionals who believe their school is using creativity to pioneer a new direction in education. From teaching approaches to learning spaces and curriculum design, the August issue of The Educator will profile the schools that are shaping the educational landscape of the future.

Nominate online from Monday 6 June at www.educatoronline.com.au Entries close Friday 22 July.

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FEATURES

LEGAL

MITIGATE AND MANAGE Principals face an evolving range of legal risks that threaten their schools with financial and reputational damage. The experts reveal a few of the risks they need to watch out for

AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY is becoming ever more litigious – and that includes the education sector.

Though principals in the past did not have to worry as much about an angry parent, a child bullied outside of school hours, or even the sexual identity of a confused student, today these issues could land a school in costly legal proceedings, or hurt their reputation.

The Educator asked two experts – David Ford of Emil Ford Lawyers and Alex Kohn of Makinson d’Apice Lawyers – to identify some of the most important emerging legal risks.

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Sexual misconduct

Continuing publicity surrounding the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is likely to result in more former school students coming forward with claims of past abuse by teachers, aside from those schools already named and shamed. Emil Ford Lawyers’ David Ford says that, at the same time as more students are likely to remember their own circumstances at school, state laws are progressively being changed to remove previous time limits that had barred abuse victims from lodging civil claims. For example, NSW removed time limits for historical claims this year, following Victoria in 2015.

Sexual misconduct claims usually come down to a claim of negligence, either because a school did not supervise a teacher properly, or when they found out about something they did not do anything about it, which allowed it

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to continue or become more aggravated.

Ford says many schools have already been through their existing records in respect of potential historical claims, so that, within the context of the Royal Commission, they are able to know where they stand or to defend claims if they do come forward. To protect against possible future incidents, Ford says schools need to continually educate their teachers on child protection laws and school policies, so they can be observant and report anything untoward within the school and inform the appropriate authorities.

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Cyber bullying

Makinson d’Apice partner Alex Kohn says any cyber bullying between students offsite with no connection to a school does not result in liability. However, there are an increasing number of grey areas on that spectrum, with many student cyber bullying situations tying into schools in some manner, or blatantly spilling over into playgrounds, classrooms, or sports fields.

While most claims are covered by insurance, they do reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They also have the added risk of causing psychological injury or the resignation of a teacher or staff member, who might be accused of failing a student. “In extreme cases I’ve seen teachers subject to such criticism take it so badly they’ve quit the profession,” Kohn says.

Schools are urged to set up a system that makes it easy for victims to come forward and

“There are more of those cases as people start to become more conscious that there might be bullying in the workplace and that they can do something about it” David Ford

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report, even anonymously. This should be communicated at assemblies, in newsletters and on their websites, to ensure there is the highest chance of mitigating cyber-bullying problems.

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LGBTI

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Parental complaints

Issues surrounding LGBTI students or employees are likely to become a growing problem for management at schools, as school cultures – for example, faith-based schools – intersect with a matrix of Commonwealth and state and territory anti-discrimination legislation.

In the case of students, Ford says the issue is often working out how to deal with them when they’ve already been enrolled. “It’s a live issue, for example when a boy begins identifying as female gender and wants to use female toilet facilities. Or in a co-educational school, if a student identified as ‘Tom’ last year and this year it’s ‘Tonya’, and there is a school camp with a bunk room, does Tonya go in the boys’ rooms or the girls’ rooms? There are child protection and duty-of-care issues to grapple with,” he says.

For employees, schools need to watch the variety of anti-discrimination laws at different levels of government, which could trip up a faith-based school during the hiring process.

Ford says that while schools are playing ‘catch-up’ to an extent in this area, they need to think through the issues and come up with policies that ensure they know what their approach is going to be before it happens.

They also need to educate the right people – enrolment staff, or HR staff – and ensure they know what the law is in their own state or territory.

Principals are seeing more discrimination claims arising out of unrealistic parental expectations, but they can still hit a school’s bottom line to the tune of $10,000 to $20,000 per claim.

In the ‘age of entitlement’ we live in, Kohn says parents are increasingly blaming a school directly if anything goes amiss with their child’s education, whether that’s poorer-than-expected results in the classroom or the inability to make a school’s top sporting team. This can sometimes be exacerbated by ‘flowery language’

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FEATURES

LEGAL IS LEGAL ADVICE NECESSARY? Emil Ford Lawyers’ David Ford argues schools should write most policies themselves, to ensure they fully think through what they want them to say and how the policies fit with their own culture.

“If I impose a document upon them – a harassment policy or a bullying policy – chances are they won’t have thought it through and they won’t follow through in the education of staff,” Ford says. “I encourage schools to think it through and write it down for themselves, then they can come to me at far less cost to make sure they have not somehow offended the law.”

There is one exception to this rule: child protection policies.

“In NSW, for example, it is highly regulated by statue. Many child protection policies I see written by teachers get it wrong, so I prefer to give schools a policy to read through and make sure it fits their culture. If they do come back to me with some nice words they want to put at the beginning that’s fine, but if they change something so it doesn’t read like the law, I can tell them not to change it.”

Lawyers like Ford are also able to come out to schools to speak to staff at meetings to explain policies and communicate the need to read and refer to them regularly.

“I would much rather be getting involved at the preventative stage than fighting things in court later.”

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on a school’s website, he says, which can open a gulf between what is being promised and what ends up being delivered.

“What parents don’t often realise is that schoolwork gets harder in high school, there is more competition for places in sporting teams, or that sometimes it’s just normal teenage growing issues, where a child may not be as focused on schoolwork as they were,” he says.

Kohn recommends good communication at the coalface as early as possible to ensure expectations remain realistic. This includes proper teacher feedback on parent-teacher

from any of the legal consequences.

Schools should respond with clear policies, staff education, and a willingness to talk about these situations to “nip them in the bud”. Ford says the appropriate procedures should always be followed.

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Enrolment contracts

Private schools are not doing enough to ascertain whether potential students have any existing special needs before accepting their enrolment, Kohn says. Ranging from particularly gifted students, to those with conditions

“What often happens is a school thinks there’s nothing wrong with a child, the enrolment is accepted, and then parents fully disclose for the first time or elaborate on something they hadn’t properly disclosed earlier” Alex Kohn nights, which he says should be more direct, rather than vague, to ensure parents get the message. This can then be followed up the chain if necessary to avoid legal risks.

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Workplace bullying

Previous amendments to the Fair Work Act have allowed employees who feel they are being bullied to bring an application to the Fair Work Commission, which is able to determine if bullying has occurred and give orders to try to deal with it.

“I’m finding there are more of those cases as people start to become more conscious that there might be bullying in the workplace and that they can do something about it,” Ford says.

These incidents can see employees bringing complaints within schools using their own internal policies and grievance procedures, as well as externally, and can involve claims against peers, supervisors, or even supervisors accusing someone under them of bullying.

While there are no actual monetary damages at stake, Ford says schools risk departments being either dysfunctional or less functional than they should be, and can end up losing good teachers who go somewhere else, apart

and disabilities like ADHD, autism or even physical disabilities, schools are often failing to effectively source and check this information during the pre-enrolment period, leading to challenges in accommodating these students, or indeed letting them go, which can lead to discrimination claims.

“What often happens is a school thinks there’s nothing wrong with a child, the enrolment is accepted, and then parents fully disclose for the first time or elaborate on something they hadn’t properly disclosed earlier,” Kohn explains. “Sometimes schools are unable to accommodate that – they might not have a special needs unit, or enough special education teachers to deal with it, or the playground hasn’t been set up for a child with massive physical disabilities – and after a few months the child is lagging well behind.”

Schools should insist on full and frank disclosure in their enrolment application material, Kohn says, in a way that makes clear to parents that the school is relying on information provided by them for all relevant issues concerning the child’s special needs. “It’s hard to offload them a few months into an enrolment if they’ve already been accepted.”

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FEATURES

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

CONFRONTING ‘OVERWHELM’ – AND MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN Burnout, stress and high turnover are just a few of the symptoms of ‘overwhelm’ confronting change-weary principals. Ben Abbott asks if there’s a way to ease this change burden, while still ensuring schools keep up with the times

WHEN THE Australian Catholic University’s Philip Riley was asked to explain the “damning” results of a four-year Australian Principal Occupational, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey that he authored last year, his response came down to a word that is now very familiar to principals in all schools. Change.

“There is far more administrative work than, say, 15 years ago,” Riley said. “The job has really changed out of sight in the last decade and principals have had no particular training in dealing with these kinds of management issues.”

Documenting sleeping problems at more than twice the rate of the general population, as well as higher rates of burnout, stress, and even physical aches and pains, Riley said the figures were a radical reverse of what they should be.

“Principals tick all the boxes for mental health: they come from stable family back­ grounds; they’re in stable families; they’ve got good, stable jobs,” Riley explained. “They’re well paid relatively speaking, and yet they don’t come up to the average in terms of mental health, so that’s a pretty damning statistic.”

Principals know the results are no coincidence. Busy managing a period of

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unprecedented change at a local level, they are the individuals called on day in and day out by their school communities to offer both a compelling vision for change and the effective leadership to manage the process successfully. The question is whether there is

is mixed. “You really get both ends of the spectrum.”

As a former employee of the Department of Education, she helped project manage a major two-and-a-half-year, $2.3m federally funded program to develop innovation in digital

“Principals tick all the boxes for mental health: they come from stable family backgrounds; they’re in stable families; they’ve got good, stable jobs” Philip Riley, Australian Catholic University a better way to manage that change in order to safeguard their schools’ future and their own health and wellbeing at the same time.

A new normal CloudEd founder Louise Lewis has seen a lot of change during her career in the education sector, and has a good view of how principals are coping nationally. She says the scorecard

learning. The ability of schools to adapt, she says, depends on a variety of factors.

“In the schools that have adopted it and gone ahead, you usually find it’s about the leadership in those schools,” she says. “But it’s also about the opportunities available to them.

For example, in terms of digital teaching and learning, some schools have the willingness but they don’t have the resources.”

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The result is national inconsistency. While some schools are moving forward by actively embracing change and adapting to it on a local level, others are being reactive, and are more likely to defer to decision-makers above them.

“In one typical example, I was talking to a local principal about change, and I could see the terror in his eyes,” Lewis says.

“He was comforted that he had the support of those above him, that they knew what they were doing. He was going to follow that whether it was appropriate for his own school’s situation or not.”

On an individual level, the role of a principal is getting more demanding. Trained in education rather than management, principals now have an expanded remit extending to a range of business areas like budgeting, marketing and HR, leaving them “grappling big-time” with new skills, says Lewis. This has led to calls for a new CEO-style role, with Ron Bamford of the Australian Principals Federation saying this would help principals focus on what they do best.

Then there is organisational change fatigue. “I was talking to a leader in a school in

ARE YOU CUT OUT FOR CHANGE? It’s the question principals are being forced to ask of both themselves and their schools as they face the intimidating task of meeting the multiplying demands of the education sector, their school communities, and their students. But they’re not alone. Years of research have helped consulting firm Aon Hewitt uncover important experiences from the private sector that can help educational leaders manage change, according to head of talent consulting Stephen Hickey.

The four key stages of behaviour change Hickey says good school leaders need to be aware of the stages of behaviour change that individuals and organisations both go through as they instigate and react both internally and externally to change in their workplaces: Understanding At the beginning, understanding the context for change starts the process. At an individual level, this might be understanding a school’s goals and objectives, the intended outcomes of change, and the intended scope of that change.

Ability Skills and abilities need to be developed to enable change. Leaders can play a role in building confidence by helping teams – and themselves – acquire the skills they will need in the future, and by removing any barriers to this progress.

Response The emotional response follows understanding, as stakeholders begin to internalise what change means for them. Fears and concerns are addressed, to the point where change feels manageable and is seen as a better way forward.

Intent The final stage involves the demonstration of positive intent for change. It can involve recognition and celebration of new ways of working, as well as the management of any resistance or desire to hold on to old ways of working.

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FEATURES

CHANGE MANAGEMENT THE 5 KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGAGING LEADERS To enable these behaviour changes to take place, organisations need engaging leaders.

Hickey says engaging leaders usually share a number of key characteristics, which help them greatly in implementing change programs: Take the lead Leaders need to take clear ownership of all the things that are required to lead people through times of change and disruption, and be willing to take a proactive response rather than a passive response to change.

Energise your team Leaders that can create highly engaged teams bind those cohorts of connected individuals to an exciting future of that organisation, gaining allies in their efforts to steer and effect change.

Be a rock Leaders need to bring a sense of stability to their teams to enable them to connect. Even in periods of discomfort through periods of change, they need to be available and accessible to bring stability during flux.

Serve your team Leaders can better engage their team by ensuring they are serving them throughout change by helping them grow. As employers, leaders need to enable the development of their people.

Stay grounded Being humble matters for a leader in times of change. Leaders who are open and can take candid feedback and be authentic in the way they communicate and conduct themselves will gain an edge.

Newcastle about digital teaching, about where they needed to get to, and I was told, ‘Look, I just don’t want to talk to my teachers about yet another change; they are doing so much and they just can’t handle any more’,” she says.

However, Lewis thinks principals need to come to terms with change now, because “it’s only going to get worse”.

“It’s only the beginning, so these principals need to be positioning themselves now or they are going to go under,” she says.

Aon Hewitt’s head of talent consulting Stephen Hickey has some words of comfort for principals who may be wavering in the face of change.

“Firstly, any leaders need to acknowledge that we are all experiencing change in different

“In this era of change across all sorts of areas where principals are just pulling their hair out, they need to use their biggest resource – the people in their schools – because they just can’t do everything alone” Louise Lewis, CloudEd ways and at different speeds of adoption – it depends on the nature of change and how directly the individual is impacted by that change. It’s very normal and expected that individuals will go through a process of understanding what is changing, internalising that to determine how it personally impacts them, and then a process of adjustment to new ways of working,” Hickey says.

Calling it a “normal process”, it is a critical part of effective change management and effective leadership.

“You must firstly go through that process yourself as a leader, and then you are in a position to lead people through this process as quickly as possible in a way that brings as little disruption as possible,” he says.

Distributing leadership The first step in managing change is knowing yourself.

“I think for any leader what is absolutely critical is that, before they can lead any sort of

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change through their organisations, they themselves must first understand and manage their own reactions to that change and close the gaps in their own understanding and readiness,” Hickey explains.

“Once they under­stand what is changing and how it impacts them, and what people expect of them to be able to lead them through that change, they are in a much better position to lead people more effectively.”

But then principals need to do something even more difficult: go beyond themselves.

Rather than relying on the top-down management style of the past, principals need a distributed leadership model that will make life easier for them through change, while engaging the stakeholders they will need.

“Culturally, the principal has always been the central actor, where whatever he or she has said usually goes,” Lewis says.

“In this era of change across all sorts of areas where principals are pulling their hair out, they need to use their biggest resource – the people in their schools – because they just can’t do everything alone. If they don’t call on their collective brains trust to form teams, they are going to burn out.”

This means calling on their own community of practice: other principals. By connecting with other leaders, they are able to share their burden with others, and learn from other practitioners who have solutions to the same problems.

“The New South Wales government, for example, is trying to get principals to link in with video conferencing sessions and frequently share learning. They need to work as a team at their level and within their schools,” Lewis says.

Within schools, she says principals may have to “wipe the slate clean” and start

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consulting. “Principals need to get all the information they can from staff and the community that supports the school – anybody who will listen. Business people, for example, often have wonderful ideas, and opening the door to those ideas is step one. Ask what they have at their fingertips,” Lewis says.

“Step two is forming a community of leaders, a more distributed leadership format.

That doesn’t mean giving up all your responsibility, but listening to something and having the option to give feedback is much easier than doing each little thing.”

Hickey says involving other team members in leadership decision-making is a powerful technique that can help empower and enable teams. “Sometimes people who are experiencing change to the greatest extent will have the best ideas for how they or the team can be effectively led through change. Good leaders will always be listening to the needs and wants of their team.”

Being significant There is a difference between significant, transformational change and developmental change, and sometimes schools need a stronger approach to succeed at the former, according to senior education strategist Chris Faisandier.

“Some subscribe to the view that school improvement is a developmental process that requires people to be brought on board, that it requires teamwork and broad agreement. But I don’t always agree with that,” he says.

As a young principal in New Zealand and Australia, Faisandier was given the formidable task of spearheading the transition to lay leadership foundations down at two Catholic schools, the second of which was Kincoppel in Rose Bay. With long histories, strong cultures and staff, and communities with a collective sense of ownership, Faisandier was an outsider catapulted in to oversee great change, putting him into a position of direct confrontation and stirring up issues like credibility and acceptance.

“In my experience, developmental improve­ ­­ment is a luxury, and most principals appointed to schools where their predecessors were very different to them don’t always have that luxury,” he says. “Once things are established after a certain number of years, then the develop­

mental model is the obvious way to go – and it ought to be highly collaborative, engaging and consultative to be effective.

“However, there’s actually a short timeframe for a new head to achieve significant change – I think it’s between the

of the positive outcomes on offer for their communities, Faisandier says.

“Leaders are endlessly having to straddle those two realities, in order to balance the negativity associated with change and the positives associated with that same change.”

“I think for any leader what is absolutely critical is that, before they can lead any sort of change through their organisations, they themselves must first understand and manage their own reactions to that change and close the gaps in their own understanding and readiness” Stephen Hickey, Aon Hewitt second and fourth year – and in both schools that’s what happened. It was almost a model of positive change.”

Faisandier says principals should look to the “joy and recharging capacity of a happy family life” to help support them through change, and that it was his wife and family who eased his own “rather traumatic” years as a change agent. He argues that key relationships also played their part – in his case, with the board chair.

“At the time I instinctively knew – but now, I absolutely know – the most important relationship is between the principal and the board chair,” he says.

Based in Washington, DC, Faisandier is now the executive principal of the state-ofthe-art King Abdullah Academy, an Islamic school funded by the Saudi Arabian government. In a challenging time for the Muslim community in the US and around the world, Faisandier has continued to see the value of other leadership attributes when it comes to achieving change. “Simply be yourself. Say things how they are, keep it nice and simple, be consistent and be patient.”

Faisandier says a willingness to be authentic and clear can win over school communities.

At times, change can be a ‘carrot and stick’ process, in which school communities accept the uncomfortable elements of change because

All aboard Principals should be mindful of leaving the stragglers behind, while burning out the ‘doers’ that are quick to embrace change.

Lewis says that either outcome risks causing problems for the eventual success of a change management process.

“You always get a couple of people that are the doers, but nobody takes care of them. You don’t want to be relying on the same people all the time; you don’t want to burn the doers out,” she says. “Also, the more you don’t use other people, the more they’ll feel disenfranchised and left out. Principals need to distribute the load – people like to feel important and valued.

They don’t want to feel like no one’s interested in them or things are forging ahead without them.”

Lewis also recommends principals put together a plan or map that will help combat change fatigue within a school. By involving a distributed leadership team in the school’s growing list of change priorities, she says they will feel more in control of the process, and are less likely to feel overwhelmed themselves.

“You need to scaffold it for them. While you might acknowledge that there are six things you need to achieve, knowing that you are just focusing on the first one or two now, the dates you are hoping to achieve that, and mapping the whole thing out in an open and visual way can help with change fatigue,” she says.

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FEATURES

TECHNOLOGY

SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF When schools choose a learning management system, it is primarily designed to manage and enhance all areas of a student’s learning journey. The Educator looks at one company taking that journey to the next level IN 1999, the learning management system (LMS) now known as ‘Moodle’ was still a work in progress, but given the direction learning technology was headed in, the seeds being planted were on very fertile ground.

The idea behind the project, pieced together by its creator Martin Dougiamas – a Perth educator and computer scientist – was to demonstrate how teachers and students could benefit from using open-source software.

The term ‘open source’ refers to something that can be modified and shared because its design is publicly accessible.

One obvious way this helps educators is by allowing them to collaborate with their students and with one another. From this, schools can enhance their blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other e-learning projects – all cornerstones of 21st century learning.

Today, Moodle is one of the most widely used LMSs in the world, having been translated into over 100 different languages and reaching more than 70,136 users in 222 territories.

The acronym Moodle stands for modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment.

Originally, the ‘M’ stood for ‘Martin’s’, after its creator, someone who open-source software advocate Brent Simpson characterised as “the right person with the right personality appearing at the exactly the right time”.

Also appearing at the right time is Moodle’s latest update, which – on the back of the federal

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government’s push to improve youth employment opportunities – provides a shot in the arm for vocational skills-based education.

New update, new opportunities In May, Moodle released its 3.1 update, which includes a new feature to support competencybased learning.

Moodle’s community educator, Mary Cooch, tells The Educator that this allows educators to assess learners’ progress against specific competencies that learners access via personalised learning plans.

“This opens up many possibilities for extending the use of Moodle into vocational, skills-based subjects,” she says.

“Grading has become more efficient too: on one single screen teachers can annotate submitted assignments in docx, odt or pdf format, give a grade and feedback, and move swiftly on to the next in the class.”

Cooch says in this way courses and course activities can be shared between sites with the new Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) feature, making global collaboration one step nearer.

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Brought to you by

TOP TIPS TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR LMS

Think beyond simply using your LMS as a document repository for lecture notes or reading materials – learners are motivated more when they are actively engaged in learning rather than passively acquiring knowledge.

Use the collaborative features of your LMS to get students working together, developing their understanding alongside their peers. This social constructionist approach underlies the whole development of Moodle and is exemplified in its powerful peer assessment activity, the workshop.

Ensure your learners are always very aware of where they are and how much further they need to go to meet their targets. Use any visual progress-tracking features your LMS has, such as completion checkboxes and learning plans.

Make full use of assignment feedback to give detailed and constructive comments to learners so they may build on their current achievement.

Combine this feedback with frequent rewards, using digital badges, experience points or certificates awarded automatically upon reaching certain stages in the modules of study.

consider the most efficient way of transferring them to an LMS. “Do you need a consistent approach throughout or can you allow for some individuality amongst the teaching staff?” she says.

“Whichever LMS you decide on, it’s essential to ensure there is reliable long-term support.”

As the world’s largest open-source LMS, Moodle benefits from a huge online community

“As for those panic moments when you forget where you put a resource, or worse, accidentally trash it, Moodle now lets you search the whole site to locate your file,” she explains.

“Activities and resources can be tagged now, making them much easier to locate – and if you did delete that important file in error, you can simply restore it from the new Recycle Bin.”

between separate sites in Moodle saves teachers valuable preparation time.

A versatile time-saver

“How much of a budget do you have for setting up the LMS, how will you train staff to use it, and how will you manage the accounts and admin side?”

Cooch explains some ways in which an LMS can save time, resources and money for principals – who, while being the biggest multitaskers, are often the most time-poor.

“A key feature of an LMS such as Moodle is that it provides a safe, secure and central area for teachers and students to share resources such as course materials and submitted assignments,” she says.

“While there are many separate, standalone online options that aid learning, combining all your teaching requirements into one single learning platform such as Moodle makes sound pedagogic and economic sense. As an open-source LMS, Moodle is entirely free to set up.”

She adds that the use of multimedia, varied assessment and collaborative activities tied in with visual progress checks helps keep learners motivated, and the ability to share resources across groups, courses and even

Navigating the ‘teething problems’ of a new LMS As with implementing any new technology, there can be challenges involved. Cooch outlines some of the common ‘teething problems’ experienced when setting up an LMS – and how they can best be navigated.

“It’s important before setting up any LMS to have a clear plan of what you want the LMS for and how you will implement it throughout your organisation,” she says.

“How much of a budget do you have for setting up the LMS, how will you train staff to use it, and how will you manage the accounts and admin side? Looking further ahead, how will you keep it up to date with every new version and any security fixes?”

offering free help on both the administration and teaching sides, along with many freely shared resources and courses.

However, for those who aren’t so confident about implementing Moodle themselves, support is available from Moodle partners, a global network of certified providers who shoulder the burden of installation, customi­ sation and training. This leaves educators free to focus on what they do best: learning and teaching.

A consistent approach Cooch recommends that educators research how their teaching modules are delivered and

For more information, visit Moodle’s website at moodle.com

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FEATURES

MARKETING

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD While marketing and public relations is a relatively new concept for schools, an increasing number of principals are beginning to recognise the benefits that come from shining up their school’s image

IN THE digital age, how you market your school online is more important than ever, yet many schools are falling behind in the areas that matter most.

Research released in February warned that Australian principals are almost entirely unprepared to confront the challenges of what has become an increasingly competitive school environment. The research was conducted by imageseven, a marketing communications firm that helps private-school principals improve their schools’ brand and communications.

The firm’s managing director, Brad Entwistle, says this lack of preparedness is mostly due to the changing expectations of school boards.

“Once it was enough to be a competent ‘people person’ and represent the school well.

Now school heads need to be experts in a whole suite of marketing and communication skills that didn’t even exist just a few years ago,” Entwistle says.

It was for this reason that his firm decided to time the release of the report with the launch of the School Marketing Institute (SMI), a resource for principals to help them keep up with advances in marketing and how to apply them to their schools.

The institute aims to provide the tools, systems, services, training and ongoing

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mentoring support to enable schools to take their marketing to the next level.

“The SMI is the result of over 25 years of frustration, development and ultimately an unshakable conviction that schools can do better, deserve to do better and need to do better to survive and thrive,” Entwistle says.

The research done by imageseven showed that the last decade has seen a number of fundamental changes in how parents select the

“The marketplace is filled with ‘sameness’, or a ‘me too’ mentality. There is little that differentiates one school from the next when it comes to marketing rhetoric” Paul Browning best schools for their children. The rise of the internet and the commoditisation of education have led to a scenario in which parents are very informed and ready to exercise their ability to select, and swap, schools.

Entwistle says that while most principals are responsible for managing a small marketing team and making strategic decisions, usually they have never had any

professional exposure to either.

“It’s learn on the job and hope that you are learning the right skills and leading your marketing team effectively. Principals are professional educators – not marketers – which leaves them at a big disadvantage,” he says.

“On top of all that, schools are usually chronically under-resourced when it comes to marketing. That is why we developed the SMI.”

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Traditional forms of marketing fall flat Marketing strategies that might have once worked for a school are now largely redundant, cautions principal Paul Browning of St Paul’s School in Brisbane. He tells The Educator that principals now have to possess a huge suite of skills, many of which “are learnt on the job out of necessity”.

“The GFC and the rise of social media have shifted the landscape significantly and, as a result, education has become far more competitive,” he says.

“The traditional forms of marketing are no longer effective, or efficient. If a principal had a handle on traditional forms of marketing, they now have to forget, or unlearn those, and learn new ones.”

Browning says that with the rise of the digital age, along with a suppressed economy,

parents have become far more savvy when it comes to selecting a school for their child.

“The marketplace is filled with ‘sameness’, or a ‘me too’ mentality. There is little that differentiates one school from the next when it comes to marketing rhetoric,” he says.

“Principals need to find a niche and market that brand to the community in ways that didn’t exist five years ago; social media being one tactic that has become far more relevant.”

IS YOUR WEBSITE MOBILE-FRIENDLY? Not mobile-friendly

46%

School websites not up to scratch The majority of school websites analysed would have received high marks five years ago, but new research shows that websites today are clearly behind the curve. Website design, and its corresponding user experience, operates on a sliding scale that evolves over time.

Of the top 100 schools surveyed by imageseven, all had areas needing significant improvement. Perhaps most damningly, 46% of parents said their schools’ website home pages were not mobile-friendly.

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FEATURES

MARKETING SCHOOL MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Yes

No 27%

Does your school have a blog?

73%

15.5% Is there a welcome/ information on the current principal on the website?

prospective parents at those same schools having changed rapidly.

Time spent viewing websites on mobile devices surpassed time viewing them on desktop and laptop devices in early 2015.

Sculthorpe says advancement in technology has enabled a shift in power.

“Consumers call the shots, yet many schools continue to operate with a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude, and their website design reflects this,” he says.

He adds that most of imageseven’s client engagements centre on building great communication, optimising mobile apps, and enhancing Google rankings so that parents can easily find school websites.

“It’s worthless if prospective parents do find you but then leave your site because they can’t read it easily on their device,” Sculthorpe says.

“Feedback should be given from families to school leaders about how to improve the delivery of the education service to the community without compromising standards”

84.5%

40.6%

Wendy Johnson

Is the phone number of the school on the home page?

59.4% How high does your school rank on a Google search?

32.5%

First Google result

17.6%

Second Google result

11.4%

Third Google result Source: imageseven

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A report released in March, also from imageseven and titled How Does Your School Website Measure Up?, shows that Australia’s top schools are missing out on valuable enrolments because their websites have not kept pace with the online habits of prospective parents.

The firm examined the websites of Australia’s top 100 non-government schools with student populations of over 1,000. The aim was to identify where schools performed well, where there was room for improvement, and what the overall prospective parent experience was.

Each website was graded to benchmark how it performed, and the report found the average school website scored a D minus.

Granted, mobile responsiveness and many aspects of SEO and performance covered in

the report were not deemed as important in the past – but technology has now changed so much that what didn’t matter yesterday makes all the difference today.

So, what does this mean for school marketers now?

“Never before have schools faced such competition in the pursuit of enrolments, where one click is all it takes for your prospective parents to choose the next best alternative,” says imageseven’s business director, Andrew Sculthorpe.

“We live in a world that demands instant gratification. Prospective parents want service and information ‘yesterday’, and if we can’t meet their needs immediately, they can choose to look elsewhere.”

The report also found that nearly half of all schools studied used websites that were not optimised for viewing on mobile devices despite browsing habits of parents and

Schools must learn to walk their talk The issue of how to be competitive in a rapidly shifting educational landscape is not lost on public school principals either, says Glenunga International High School principal Wendy Johnson.

Johnson tells The Educator that families often look for schools that ‘walk the talk’.

Principals therefore need to concentrate on getting the best outcomes possible for their students.

“Students need to be mentally stretched and challenged while feeling physically and emotionally safe,” Johnson says.

“Principals must ensure that their school operates in a values-based environment and that all adults and students practise these values.”

Johnson adds that principals should be open with families about what their schools can offer, and encourage feedback from

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“We live in a world that demands instant gratification. Prospective parents want service and information ‘yesterday’, and if we can’t meet their needs immediately, they can choose to look elsewhere” Andrew Sculthorpe learners to teachers about how to improve the learning experience of students.

“Feedback should be given from families to school leaders about how to improve the delivery of the education service to the community without compromising standards,” she says.

Don’t attempt to be ‘a poor man’s private school’ Australian media personality Jane Caro has appeared on Channel Seven’s Sunrise, ABC television’s Q&A, and as a regular panellist on The Gruen Transfer. She also sits on the board of the NSW Public Education Foundation.

Caro tells The Educator that public schools cannot compete with private schools over “the obvious things that soothe parental anxiety”, such as smart uniforms, and salubrious and well-cared-for surroundings.

“Public-school principals can’t offer these superficial cues as easily so they must do it differently. Emphasise creativity and studentinitiated projects. Take a deeper and more intelligent approach to showcasing student achievement,” she says.

Caro suggests that public-school principals should emphasise humour, warmth and inclusivity rather than “attempt to be a poor man’s private school”.

“Be open, approachable and friendly and demonstrate the school is student-centred.

Emphasise the relationships between students and teachers; be more about substance and not about style,” she says.

“Remember, parents with choice who are considering a public secondary school are more hopeful, while still anxious, so build on that.”

Caro adds that while principals are educators and not marketers, they must

understand the emotions that are driving parents if they wish to keep their schools competitive.

“The way to do this is generally what happens in primary schools already – lots of kids doing lots of great, creative, colourful, fun stuff; choirs, art, bands, performances, student gardens – all this is catnip to parents,” she says.

“Secondary-school principals need to be aware that they need to soothe anxiety in their marketing messages. This is why perfectly fine public schools are automatically behind the eight ball.”

WEBSITE DESIGN: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY Do you believe your school website works in your school’s favour?

1% 12.2%

25.3%

NT QLD WA

19.2% SA NSW

5%

6% ACT

31.3%

VIC Source: imageseven

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FEATURES

EDUCATION THEORY

“THAT’S A LOAD OFF MY MIND” José Hanham outlines why some teaching techniques are simply not effective – and why it all comes down to ‘cognitive load’

WHAT DO you know about cognitive load and its impact on student learning? If the answer is somewhere in the spectrum of ‘not much’ to ‘nothing at all’, then this article is for you.

First, what is cognitive load? In general terms, cognitive load refers to the number of interacting elements of information that learners need to process when solving problems. Second, why is it important?

Cognitive load is important because there are limits to the number of interacting elements of information that human memory, specifically, working memory, is capable of handling.

Working memory and long-term memory Our capacity to problem solve relies on a cognitive architecture comprised of a working memory and long-term memory.

Working memory is the information processing centre of this architecture and is subject to severe processing limitations.

Working memory can only deal with two to four elements of new information at a time (Cowan, 2001).

Long-term memory represents the knowledge base (information store) of our cognitive architecture and has no apparent limitations. Contained within long-term memory are organised knowledge structures known as schemas, which are comprised of multiple elements of information representing concepts, procedures, and problem-solving solutions.

Some problem-solving tasks impose minimal cognitive load because students only need to process one element at time. For

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example, learning the vocabulary of foreign language. To illustrate, the Spanish greeting ‘Hola’ can be learnt independently of the word, ‘Adios’. Learning vocabulary is considered difficult because of the sheer number of vocabulary elements that must be acquired in order to be fluent in a foreign language, though the difficulty is not related to cognitive load. Other tasks, for instance, learning the grammar of a foreign language requires students to process interacting elements of information relating to syntax, grammar, vocabulary, and discourse.

Processing numerous interacting elements places a tremendous strain on the limited working memory resources of learners and

explains why students often struggle with tasks such as learning the grammar of foreign language.

There are two sources of cognitive load (Sweller, 2010). One source, intrinsic load, is related to the inherent complexity of a task.

The other source, extraneous load, is related to how teachers design and present instructional materials. Extraneous load is usually the result of poorly designed instructional procedures, and as such, is considered to be wasteful load (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011). Because extraneous load is under the direct control of teachers, the remainder of this article will focus on extraneous load.

The table opposite lists examples of

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SOURCES OF EXTRANEOUS LOAD – AND HOW TO REDUCE OR ELIMINATE THEM Extraneous load effect

Cognitive load requirements

Solution

Redundancy effect: Presenter reading information to an audience, word-for-word, from a visual source (eg PowerPoint slide).

In this example, the audience members have to process two streams of data conveying essentially the same information. This causes overload of working memory.

Eliminate one of the two sources of information.

Split-attention effect: Two mutually referring sources of information which need to be mentally integrated in order to be understood (eg diagram and explanatory text).

Instructional manuals often contain diagrams, which are in physically separate locations from the explanatory texts. A remote control is a common example. To understand what the different buttons of remote control are for, the reader must refer to the explanatory text.

The search and match process of referring to the diagram and explanatory text results in cognitive overload.

Physically integrate the explanatory text within the diagram, which reduces the search and match process required by those studying the instructional materials.

Transient information effect: Animations and spoken information are examples where elements of information disappear and are replaced by new elements of information.

Animations and spoken word presentations require viewers to process elements of information which disappear from view and are replaced by new elements of information. In situations wherein old and new elements interact, viewers must hold in working memory both new and old elements, leading to cognitive overload.

Long and complex animations and spoken word presentations should be presented in smaller segments. Also, teachers may opt to use written material when presenting long, complex, technical information.

Minimal guidance effect: Providing novices (low knowledge learners) with minimal guidance when solving problems.

Providing learners with minimal guidance requires them to adopt general problem-solving approaches such as trial and error. A general problem-solving strategy is heavily taxing on working memory. Learners are forced to generate and consider a range of potential problem-solutions and paths to those solutions, which may or may not work.

When introducing new ideas, concepts, or procedures, low knowledge teachers should employ guided instruction, with a heavy emphasis on worked examples. Within worked examples are step-by-step instructions for solving particular classes of problems.

Expertise-reversal effect: Providing experts (high knowledge learners) with guided instruction can lead to negative cognitive load effects.

High knowledge learners have schemas in long-term memory to guide them when solving familiar problems.

When presented with external guidance, these learners are forced to mentally integrate the information provided by the instructor and cross-reference this with their own knowledge. This results in cognitive overload of working memory.

Provide high knowledge learners with a range of problems to solve, with minimal to no instructional guidance. These learners can also engage in mental practice, such as imagining the steps required to solve a particular class of problems before actually solving those problems.

instructional procedures known to cause extraneous load and how teachers can reduce or eliminate the extraneous load.

Taking a load off the learner’s mind Effective instruction requires that teachers are aware of the limitations of working memory and instructional procedures that may overload this memory structure. Importantly, teachers should seek to reduce or eliminate sources of extraneous, wasteful load. This can

be achieved by developing knowledge of instructional design procedures known to generate extraneous load and strategies that can be adopted to deal with extraneous load.

In essence, there are numerous circumstances in which teachers should take the load off the learner’s mind. Hopefully, this article has provided readers with an accessible introduction into the impact of working memory and cognitive load on learning in the classroom.

References Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 24, 87–114.

Sweller, J. (2010). Element interactivity and intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 22, 123-138.

Sweller J, Ayres P, & Kalyuga S (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York: Springer.

Dr José Hanham is the academic course advisor in the Master of Teaching (Secondary) program at Western Sydney University. Dr Hanham is a trained history teacher and researcher in educational psychology.

His research areas are group-based learning with adolescents, instructional design, and mentoring in vulnerable populations

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FEATURES

HIGH PERFORMANCE

WHEN IS A TEAM NOT A TEAM? It’s the goal of just about every principal, but unfortunately simply naming a group of people a ‘team’ does not cut it – let alone when your objective is to create a high-performing team.

Justin Peckett explains

IN EVERY organisation you will find that work functions require teams. We have sales teams, marketing teams, IT teams – the list goes on.

The leaders at the top are usually referred to as the executive or leadership team.

Should we consider them a team just because they work together?

On the surface level perhaps. They may have shared objectives, such as market dominance and profit margin. When these KPIs are met does that mean we have a highperforming team in the room, or even a team to begin with?

While being on target for bottom-line business results gives reason to believe everyone is working well towards a common goal, the reality can be very different. Key executives typically lead a particular function within the company and therefore might not have the same views on the strategic purpose of the firm as the next member of the team.

In our experience, high-performing teams at any level share three common traits: high expectations, high accountability and high-demand leadership. Most functional executive teams demonstrate facets of these traits. High expectations translate to having a clear understanding of individual roles and

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responsibilities, as well as living up to the culture and expected behaviours within the company. High accountability occurs when everyone is and can be held to account for individual performance and conduct.

High-demand leadership is recognised as leaders stepping up to the challenge, initiating genuine conversations and a healthy demand that people meet expectations. It

want to be described as a team?) and agreed behaviours (how should we behave to achieve our trademark?). A clear mandate on a shared purpose and interdependencies will prompt teamwork. Accepting differences and diversity is encouraged and should not hinder the process.

It is crucial that every member knows what the team stands for and is aligned in terms of their framework and code of conduct.

When trust is built, healthy conflict – conflict with a commitment to action and resolution – is accepted, expected and embraced is only when these qualities are manifested at an outstanding level that the executive team become role models for the expected behaviours within the organisation.

Diagnosis is the first step Executive teams should begin with selfreflection and review collective and individual performance as an initial health check. We encourage teams we work with to agree and define their collective purpose (why do we exist as a team?), their team ‘trademark’ (how do we

When guiding principles are set the team is then able to make decisions and choices based on their understanding of both expected individual and group behaviour.

With a coordinated and structured action plan, alongside metrics to determine buy-in, progress can be measured and evaluated over a period of time and an environment for genuine conversations is created. Recognition of the framework against which the team will be measured allows for high levels of accountability.

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HIGH-PERFORMANCE HURDLES What do you need to watch out for when attempting to create a high-performing team?

Leaders who don’t believe in the value of instituting cultural change – and the investment required to achieve it Leaders who fear that added rigour and accountability will expose them to scrutiny of their own performance The team has a deep-seated lack of self-belief that they can become high performing Leaders are unwilling or unable to exit team members that don’t meet cultural expectations The team fails to own the new direction and doesn’t self-regulate their agreed behaviours Secret to high performance One of the key differences we notice between high-performing and lesser teams is the presence of strong professional relationships.

This goes beyond footy talk or Friday evening drinks. A strong professional relationship translates to knowing your work environment is safe enough to allow sincere conversations and dialogue. We see this as the ability to provide ongoing support to colleagues, to offer feedback, and to challenge poor behaviour and reward positive outcomes with the desire for both executive-level and individual improvement.

Strong professional relationships lead to a higher tendency to collaborate, share information and come together to find ways to overcome setbacks. They allow teams to address individual or shared challenges and display empathy, developing a mature understanding of colleagues. As a leader, a higher level of awareness and a commitment to seeking resolutions will also propel your team towards high performance.

Carrying it with candour Voicing professional opinions sounds extremely straightforward, but we often find when we start working with an organisation that the office

culture is in fact not a safe environment for open and honest professional dialogue. Often, people are engaged only in self-centred monologues: voicing opinions with no consideration for others and no interest in solutions or compromise. Either that, or they choose to vent and complain outside office walls. This lack of resolve for problem-solving is counterproductive to high performance.

When trust is built, healthy conflict – conflict with a commitment to action and resolution – is accepted, expected and embraced. For the executive team, where decision-making can involve higher risks or uncertainty, productive conflict and debate underpinned by strong professional relationships and using the agreed behaviours as a reference point can reveal more possibilities and lead to better outcomes for the team, the individual and the organisation.

High-performance elements In today’s business environment, a highperforming team is more important than ever to shape business performance. Dealing with ever-changing customer demands, disruptive digital technology and economic uncertainty, an organisation requires a nimble and flexible executive team comprised of complementary

Leaders don’t believe in the value of instituting cultural change – and the investment required to achieve it skill sets and personalities to jointly solve and overcome business challenges.

Diagnosing the underlying reasons for underperformance or wanting to bring the team to the next level requires a systematic approach to evaluate what is hindering and supports team performance.

To drive impactful change, there is a need to ensure that the team’s mandate, processes and culture are aligned. No one factor is the sole reason for dysfunction.

Recognising the factors that shape team performance, including influences within the organisation and the broader business landscape, will help leaders make adjustments and constantly fine-tune their management approach to maintain a high-performing team.

Justin Peckett is a facilitator at Leading Teams. Since joining Leading Teams in 1996 as an athlete facilitator, Justin has worked with clients including Nike, Mercedes Benz and Mattel.

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26/05/2016 2:24:42 PM

FEATURES

MENTAL HEALTH

ADDRESSING THE ‘BLACK DOG’ IN OUR CLASSROOMS When a student’s mental health issues intersect with their education, it can be a tricky situation to navigate. The Educator investigates the proactive approach being taken by some principals to improve how their schools are dealing with this issue

AS SCHOOLS struggle with the increasing prevalence of students suffering from psycho­ logical ailments, including depression, anxiety and stress-related issues, they are taking proactive steps. Several organisations are now rolling out programs designed to improve the mental and emotional wellbeing of Australian students.

One such organisation is the Principals Australia Institute (PAI), which delivers KidsMatter Primary and MindMatters profes­ sional learning events to schools and supports them on the journey of implementation.

KidsMatter Primary and MindMatters are funded by the Australian Department of Health and beyondblue, making them a leader in sustaining effective mental health programs in Australian schools.

A ‘whole-school approach’ The Educator asked Suzanne Curyer, the PAI’s executive director of programs, how KidsMatter and MindMatters are currently helping school­ children deal with emotions, build resilience and cope with mental health issues.

“The frameworks support schools to develop a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing through the implementation of four key components,” Curyer says.

“In particular, Component One supports schools to create a positive school community where respectful relationships are modelled.

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At their core, the frameworks aim to ensure that students feel included and safe to encourage a sense of belonging within their school community.”

Curyer says the second component particularly assists schools in building resilience and has an explicit focus on the social and emotional learning needs of students to support their development in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.

“The significant role that parents and carers play in the wellbeing of children is emphasised in the third component, which encourages schools to develop policies and practices that promote engagement with families and carers,” she explains.

Creating a deeper understanding To assist teachers and principals in supporting such children, Curyer says the frameworks are evidence-based and informed by major international models, including the WHO’s Health Promoting Schools approach.

“Through the implementation of these initiatives teachers and principals gain a deeper understanding of the importance of mental health and wellbeing, including its

impact on learning,” she says. “Component Four of the Frameworks particularly focuses on supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties.

“Specifically, schools are able to better respond to students experiencing mental health issues by improving the understanding of their own boundaries, implementing sound policies and protocols, and providing an inclusive and accepting environment

“Principals need to understand that the usefulness of these programs is beyond the child’s mental health; they also have a benefit for teacher satisfaction” Brett McDermott for students and their families.”

Curyer also explains how this program helps principals build psychologically positive environments within their schools.

“Promotion, prevention and early inter­ vention are at the heart of both frameworks,” Curyer says, adding that when a school implements the frameworks they see mental health benefits for the entire school community.

CHILDREN AND MENTAL HEALTH

14% of Australian children aged 4–17 have mental health or behavioural issues

Children with mental health problems report a high rate of suicidal thoughts and substance abuse

There is a higher prevalence of child and adolescent mental health problems among those living in low-income, step/blended and sole-parent families

“Schools have access to survey tools to establish benchmarks on how their school community is faring in the mental health and wellbeing space, and can collect data over time to see the improvements they make by engaging with the frameworks.

“Both the KidsMatter Primary and MindMatters initiatives provide structure, guidance and support to enable principals and their action teams to build their own

Boys are more likely to experience mental health problems than girls

Only 50% receive professional help.

Parents reported that help was too expensive or they didn’t know where to get it, and that they thought they could manage on their own Source: mindframe-media.info

mental health strategy to suit their unique circumstances.”

Thousands of schools already better off Brett McDermott, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Queensland, sits on the board of beyondblue.

He agrees that principals can benefit from the use of the KidsMatter program, which he says “thousands of other schools are already using”.

“This is a program that looks at how schools can be mental health-friendly and aware. I would encourage them to look very holistically at this because there is an incredible suite of resources including actual providers and coordinators who can help principals decide what to pick,” he tells The Educator.

He adds that while Australia is “very rich” in terms of these resources, every school in Australia should use them to provide better help to students and also staff, who he said can benefit from their use.

“Principals need to understand that the usefulness of these programs is beyond the child’s mental health; they also have a benefit for teacher satisfaction,” McDermott says.

“If you’re a teacher and you feel more competent dealing with these issues, and if you have a more compliant classroom, you’re going to be a happier employee.”

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26/05/2016 2:34:28 PM

FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

P-TECH

BRIDGING A PATHWAY TO SUCCESS The recent opening of Australia’s first Pathways to Technology school in Victoria brings with it an opportunity to energise students’ interest in STEM education – a crucial part of the prime minister’s science and innovation agenda

GLOBALISATION, ECONOMIC reforms and technological improvements are changing the nature of work and the types of jobs that will be available in the future – and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills are playing a major role.

It is for this reason that in June 2015 former prime minister Tony Abbott travelled to Brooklyn in New York City, where he visited its Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) school.

The intention was to explore the viability of establishing similar schools within the Australian education landscape.

In the US, high school includes Grades 9 or 10 through 12, with students having the option to attend college afterwards. However, the P-TECH model allows private sector employers to partner with a school to provide STEM skills to students from Grades 9 to 14. This six-year program ends with a degree-level qualification and a guaranteed job interview, facilitated by technology behemoth IBM.

Davis, who helped facilitate the program through a partnership between the City University of New York (CUNY) and IBM. The schools’ model is made up of five key components: an innovative curriculum; innovative approaches to learning; industry mentoring and support; a post-school qualification; and links to employment.

When put to use in the right way, these essential facets of 21st century education have proven extraordinarily successful in schools – a fact not lost on the former PM who, upon returning to Australia, announced $500,000 in funding to develop the schools.

Six months on, as the Turnbull Government moves ahead with its national innovation and science agenda in a push to make Australia a more competitive 21st century economy, two P-TECH schools will open their doors in Victoria. Today, IBM is running a pilot P-TECH school in Ballarat and supporting another in Geelong.

Built on solid foundations An innovative model The first of the now 27 schools was founded in 2011 by acclaimed US principal Rashid

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Davis opened P-TECH after 15 years of experience in New York public schools as a teacher, assistant principal and, most

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan (second from left) with US President Barack Obama at a P-TECH school in the US

recently, the principal of Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy (BETA).

Under Davis’s leadership, BETA rose to number 143 on the Newsweek list of 1,500 Top American High Schools, and also received accolades from US News and Good Morning America.

After a rigorous interview process, Davis was selected for this position by consensus of a steering committee made up of the NYC Department of Education, the CUNY Early College Initiative, the NYC College of Technology and the Corporate Citizenship office of IBM. He tells The Educator that the initial process evolved from a conversation at the

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The Sarah E. Goode Academy in Chicago

for all students. Thus, it became even more important to partner with New York City College of Technology, who would serve as the college partner,” he says.

“I was identified a few months into the process to work with the partners in designing the academic program to include the workforce skills and qualifications in the day-to-day operations so that students could graduate with both their high-school diplomas and associate in applied science degrees.”

Currently, the P-TECH model spans Grades 9 to 14, but with many schools providing STEM labs and makerspaces for elementary US Open tennis event in New York.

“The conversation was about the skills gap and not graduating enough students with the skills needed in industry. The conversation was between Sam Palmisano, then president and CEO of IBM, and Joel Klein, then New York City schools chancellor,” he says.

“We were very fortunate to have Stan Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs and president of the IBM Corporation, to be the lead champion in getting the initial P-TECH process off the ground.”

Litow had been deputy chancellor of NYC schools and knew very well the importance of collaborative efforts between public and

“If a student ends up finishing in a P-TECH school and goes to university, that’s a great outcome, because we’re talking about students who might not have had the aspiration to go to university” Nicholas Wyman private partnerships. Therefore, with IBM as the industry partner, Litow knew that CUNY would need to be the intermediary for the New York City Department of Education.

“It was important that the school be nonselective, with an open-enrolment opportunity

students, The Educator asked Davis whether there were any plans to expand the P-TECH model to younger students in the future.

“It’s through distributive leadership that we think about how we expand the P-TECH model to younger students. I have a mentee,

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

P-TECH Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham at the Ballarat P-TECH launch

P-TECH AT A GLANCE

The first P-TECH school was founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NYC

There are currently 27 P-TECH schools throughout the US

P-TECH is a partnership between education, industry and community

“I do hope that we see more distributive leadership efforts like we have started, and an organised leadership training school for P-TECH practices” Rashid Davis who was a founding P-TECH math teacher and is now a middle-school principal,” he says.

“Jamilah Seifullah, the founding principal of Highland Park Community School, currently teaches Grades 6 and 7 where she is imple­ menting and expanding beyond many ideas that P-TECH does in Grades 9–14.

“I do hope that we see more distributive leadership efforts like we have started, and an organised leadership training school for P-TECH practices.”

Streamlining success

The school offers Grade 9–14 students a college degree and guaranteed job interview, facilitated by IBM

50

streamlined and exciting way that negates the need for lengthy apprenticeships.

He points out that the majority of apprentices often complain that four years of study is too long, and they sometimes lose motivation as a result of what they perceive to be a frustrating and drawn-out process.

“If a student ends up finishing in a P-TECH school and goes to university, that’s a great outcome, because we’re talking about students who might not have had the aspiration to go to university,” Wyman explains.

“This learning program allows students to learn at their own rate, which is very attractive to young students. In Geelong, youth unemployment is pushing towards 20%, so it’s absolutely critical for the students of the region to be prepared well beyond school.”

As part of the pilot, all of the Year 9 students are enrolled in the learning experiences over the next 12 months, and

Nicholas Wyman, CEO of Skilling Australia Foundation, worked extensively on the establish­ment of the P-TECH model in the US, and facilitated Abbott’s visit to the first P-TECH school in New York.

Wyman tells The Educator that the two new Australian-based schools will provide students with the skills they need but in a

this will be an opportunity for them to meet the employers and get involved in some hands-on, project-based activity.

“In quite a few schools in the region, a lot of kids aren’t even getting to the end of high school, and when they are they’re not doing very well at it. So we need to ask, ‘Whose fault is that?’” Wyman says.

He adds that schools should look at the way they deliver their curriculums and ask whether it is engaging and suitable for all students.

In March, Wyman travelled to the US where he visited six schools in four states. He says many employers in Australia and the US share a common problem: they can’t find people with the skills they need to fill modern, technical jobs.

“These are jobs that require academic and technical training in specific fields – such as healthcare, IT, mechatronics and even finance

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– but also require workplace skills such as problem-solving, creativity, commitment, reliability, communication and teamwork,” he says.

“In the US, it’s clear that there is a gap between the worlds of education and work.

Both high-school and college graduates are floundering, while critical jobs – skilled, wellpaid, challenging jobs – go unfilled.”

He says most of the coursework and lessons he saw were wrapped in real-life situations designed to enhance students’ job-readiness. Teamwork was emphasised throughout, with students working on semester-long class projects that simulated projects they might some day encounter in the real-world workplace.

“As just one example, a class called Virtual Enterprise has teams apply for positions like CEO and CFO and other key roles you’d find in a real-world business.

They then work together in those roles to set project goals, craft plans and strategies for reaching those goals, and then present their results,” he says.

Interest is growing Since the P-TECH model arrived in Victoria, it has received a high degree of interest from other states around the nation, Wyman says.

“We’ve fielded a lot of questions about the P-TECH school model from educators in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. At the end of the day, I think it would be a great idea to roll out this model further,” he says.

“With the P-TECH model, educators are at the forefront but industry and community are very much involved as well. Both of these schools [in Geelong and Ballarat] have a steering committee comprising of principals, employer partners and government employees, who are serious about making a change.”

Wyman, who has travelled overseas extensively, says the world is rapidly changing, and this alone calls for a new approach to how schools motivate and link students with promising career opportunities.

“Australia has definitely dropped the ball in terms of manufacturing because we’re not focusing in the right place … on the right

kind of manufacturing,” he explains.

Wyman refers to Andrew Liveris, the Australia-born CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, who told the federal government five years ago that Australia must become more involved in high-tech manufacturing due to high labour costs.

“In Australia, we need to ask ‘what is our thing?’ There are 1.1 million people employed in service industries, but we need to seek out other industries that will be in demand once kids leave school,” he says.

US President Barack Obama has hailed P-TECH as a way to reduce the burden of student loans on young people and give them “a ticket into the middle class”.

Given the school’s success thus far, as well as its enormous potential to be an enduring game changer in education, what end goal is P-TECH working towards?

“We’ve shown that a non-selective, openenrolled student population can complete a rigorous, specialised program,” Davis says.

“If I were to imagine the final result, I would see a P-TECH leadership university that prepares leaders to develop and lead schools that have collaborative partnerships for the future.”

“Since the P-TECH model arrived in Victoria, it has received a high degree of interest from other states around the nation” Nicholas Wyman

Skilling Australia CEO Nicholas Wyman (left) with Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham (second from right) at the launch of the P-TECH pilot school, Federation College

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PEOPLE

CAUGHT ON CAMERA GLOBAL EDUCATION PRIZE

On screen: Hanan Al Hroub, winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2016

Palestinian school teacher Hanan al-Hroub was the winner of this year’s Global Teacher Prize, also known as the ‘Nobel prize of teaching’. Al-Hroub, who beat nominees from the US, UK, Japan, Canada and Kenya, was presented with the Global Teacher Prize in the United Arab Emirates for helping children to learn through play.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai (second from right)

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli

TARGETED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLASSES In March, NSW schools began teaching students how to recognise and respond to domestic violence. The state government announced last year that the targeted classes would be introduced to improve community awareness of the issue and its devastating impact.

Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Pru Goward

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AEU GONSKI CAMPAIGN In February, the Australian Education Union (AEU) announced a $2m Gonski funding advertising campaign. In a speech to the AEU federal conference in Melbourne, the union’s federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said schools could be circuit-breakers, life-changers, or even life-savers for disadvantaged children.

OECD REPORTS ON AUSTRALIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, the education director of the OECD, Andreas Schleicher, warned that Australia’s teachers were treated as “interchangeable widgets on the front line who are just there to implement prefabricated knowledge”.

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PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

PRINCIPAL, ADVOCATE, AUTHOR

From head of a school with just 14 students to book author and principal of a brand-new school, Henry Grossek shares his road to now

1970 HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

1977–78

EARLY PROMOTION AFFORDS NEW OPPORTUNITIES Despite most teachers viewing such roles as ‘‘unattractive”, Grossek describes the two years he spent as a metropolitan relieving teacher as “the best two years of professional development I ever encountered”.

“In my two years in this role, I taught at over 50 primary schools in Melbourne, and did I learn a lot!”

1990

BECOMES FOUNDING PRINCIPAL OF BERWICK LODGE PRIMARY SCHOOL

There’s nothing quite like opening a new school – and Grossek describes this experience as “a roller-coaster ride of excitement, idealism and sheer hard work”.

“Now in my 27th year as principal at Berwick Lodge, I’ve learnt that to be successful in school leadership you have to be as amenable to change yourself as being a change agent for others. You are only as good as the team of which you are also a member, and the buck, as the saying goes, always stops with you.”

2015–2016

SEEKS UNITY BETWEEN PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND KINDERGARTENS

“I’m developing a learning app that delivers the basis of a bridging curriculum between kindergartens and primary schools and is nearing completion – this fills me with excitement as for too long the relationship between primary schools and kindergartens has lacked such unity.”

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Grossek’s entry into education came when he was appointed principal of a school with just 14 kids: Neerim North Primary School.

“Back then it was not uncommon to start your teaching career with the Victorian Education Department in a one-teacher rural school, and it was a great introduction to the politics of small country towns. You made it your business to integrate with the local community, or you left disenchanted.”

1986

COMPLETION OF STUDIES PRESENTS NEW HORIZONS Grossek completed his Master’s in Educational Administration, with his research topic being ‘Stability and Change in Educational Policy’.

“I was privileged to have as my supervisor at Deakin University, Fazal Rizvi, who is currently Professor in Global Studies in Education, University of Melbourne. I learnt that there was no shortage of good ideas in education; the shortage lay in the implementation of change, and with that too often the demise of promising initiatives.”

2009-2012

LEADS A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR SCHOOLS Grossek led a four-year national campaign, highlighting the poor deal that many government schools were given under the Building the Education Revolution.

“The stand I took polarised opinion, and with the many accolades I received came many hurtful barbs. My book, Game On: Building the Education Revolution, bears testimony to the challenging times that were those years”

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the educ

The business of education The Educator is Australia’s only magazine for the most senior educational professionals and decision makers.

The Educator works with some of the world’s most highprofile business schools and speaks to leading education executives from around the globe to publish content that supports both the businesses and best-practice functional requirements placed on the executives that run them.

Every issue of The Educator contains aspirational cover stories and high-level case studies providing a global and national perspective on education leadership and management best practice, as well as interviews with the finest minds in education.

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

GOING THE DISTANCE Geoff Hastings, principal of Denison College Bathurst High Campus, has cycled through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world PRINCIPALS ARE known for having an often-gruelling uphill task ahead of them each day, but Geoff Hastings takes this on with gusto – on a bike, that is. Whether it’s scaling the highest pass in Europe or cycling 1,000km from Italy to France, this is a principal who doesn’t let the burden of his professional work weigh on his personal life.

“The picture shows me at the top of the Stelvio Pass, the highest pass in Europe, after I had ridden up to the top, a nearly 25km climb.

This was part of a tourism trip on a bike through Tuscany, Croatia and Northern Italy,” Hastings says.

“I love the connection with the countryside that you get on a bike, and the ability to stop everywhere and anywhere to eat lunch and take photographs. Over the next 12 months I plan to ride across Victoria and the Italian islands – Sicily, Crete, etc.”

Hastings, who says he has a real interest in cycling tourism, rides his bike over varying distances three times a week and whenever else he can fit it in.

25km

The length of Hastings’ ascent up Stelvio Pass, Europe’s highest pass

1,000km

The distance Hastings endured during his Italy-to-France ride

PR

D

3

The number of times per week Hastings rides his bike

E

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