The Educator issue 3.02

EDUCATORONLINE.COM.AU ISSUE 3.02

Finding the next generation of leaders in education

TEACHING FOR TOMORROW Creating leaders in STEM education

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SIMON BIRMINGHAM Federal education minister talks about making the system better for all

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT Sydney’s Trinity Grammar School

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JUNE/JULY 2017

CONNECT WITH US

CONTENTS

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UPFRONT 02 Editorial

Leading the next generation of educators

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38

04 The data

TEACHING FOR TOMORROW

Should teachers and principals have to pay for basic school resources out of their own pockets?

FEATURES

06 Head to head

Australian schools need teachers specially qualified to lead STEM education initiatives

08 News analysis

Is there a link between a lack of female CEOs and the prevalence of single-sex schools in Australia?

RISING STARS 2017

46 FEATURES

THE BIG INTERVIEW

SIMON BIRMINGHAM

The Educator speaks to federal education minister Simon Birmingham about efforts to make the Australian education system fairer for all

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Takeaways from the OECD’s Students’ Well-Being: PISA 2015 Results

10 L&D update

COVER STORY

The Educator profiles some of the bright young education professionals across Australia who are on track to be the industry leaders of tomorrow

How teachers and principals are feeling the impact of resource shortages in schools

ELEVATING THE EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATION

Trinity Grammar’s Milton Cujes on how the school is responding to students’ learning and wellbeing needs

12 Technology update

What Sydney’s new STEM school is expected to deliver

14 Opinion

The case for broadening assessment avenues for Year 12 students

PEOPLE 56 Other life

A trip to Shanghai to present on Minecraft for the UN was definitely not what Aspect Hunter School’s Craig Smith thought he’d be doing one week before Christmas

54 FEATURES

IS WORKPLACE BULLYING ON THE RISE? Separating fact from fiction

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UPFRONT

EDITORIAL

LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION OF EDUCATORS

I

n January, delivering her final speech as First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama took time to address the younger members of the country.

“Empower yourself with a good education,” she said. “Then get out there and use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise.”

It’s hardly a secret that education is an integral component of unlocking the potential of an individual. But just as it is essential for younger persons to equip themselves with a good education in order to take the world forward, it is also paramount that many task themselves with arming the future generations with the necessary tools to achieve their potential.

In this issue of The Educator, we acknowledge 30 education professionals across Australia who are making their own mark in the space. From principals to department heads, our Rising Stars are all in the early years of their careers

The education sector in Australia remains rich in committed, talented leaders who eschew acceptance of the status quo and are already demonstrating effective leadership and innovation and racking up impressive achievements. Theirs are crucial contributions and indicative of educators working hard to better the educational experiences of students – both of today and tomorrow.

Sifting through the many entries we received for Rising Stars in 2017, one thing was clear: the education sector in Australia remains rich in committed, talented leaders who eschew acceptance of the status quo and spend considerable time and energy on efforts to innovate and to improve their students’ learning outcomes by exploring new concepts.

It is not only encouraging that the talent is there, but also to know that it is being recognised and encouraged by colleagues – those who have taken the time to let the team at The Educator know precisely what work is going on and the often-profound impact it is having on students.

The world continues to evolve at a remarkable pace, and while speculation and theorising about what lies ahead makes for interesting conversation, no one knows exactly what shape the world will take 10, 20 or 50 years from now.

But one thing is certain: education will never lose its importance in our society; it will only ever change form. Consistently having those up front to confidently educate the young means that a significant step in ensuring all remains on track has already been taken.

www.educatoronline.com.au JUNE/JULY 2017 EDITORIAL Managing Editor Iain Hopkins Editor Tim Garratt Journalist Brett Henebery Contributors Henry Grossek Alice DeBoos Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

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Tim Garratt, editor

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

STATISTICS

BRIDGING THE GAP

THE NEED TO FUNDRAISE

A recently released report reveals the extent to which teachers and principals are feeling the pinch of resource shortages in our public schools TEACHERS ARE reaching into their own pockets to ensure students have the essentials.

It’s a concerning finding that has emerged from the Australian Education Union’s (AEU’s) State of Our Schools (SoS) survey for 2017. This found that 94% of teachers had spent their own money to purchase supplies and equipment for their schools, with 10% of teachers spending over $2,000 per year.

The survey showed that 83% of schools had engaged in fundraising over the past year to add to their budgets, and 91% of those

Over the past year, 83% of schools have engaged in fundraising activities, according to the SoS survey. It found that, in South Australia, there was a significant increase in the number of schools engaged in fundraising, when compared to the previous year.

National

principals that fundraised described those activities as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to their budget.

“Reliance on fundraising and teacher contributions for essentials shows our public schools are not getting the support they need,” said AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

“Teachers and principals should be spending all their time on the education of their students, not working out how many barbeques they need to organise and run to pay for a literacy and numeracy program.”

2017 2016

Western Australia 2017 2016

9,741

1,428

respondents took part in the 2017 SoS survey

of those respondents were principals

50%

of respondents worked at a primary school

83% 83%

86% 77%

36%

of respondents worked at a secondary school Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

TEACHER WORKLOADS

HOURS ON THE RISE

Teachers who participated in the SoS survey were asked how many hours they spent in a typical week on all school-related activities. More than half of those teachers indicated the figure was higher than 50 hours.

Teachers who participated in the survey were asked whether the number of hours spent on school-related activities had increased, decreased or stayed the same in 2017. Nationally, 75% of surveyed teachers reported an increase in hours worked.

30%

20%

22% 23%

15% 14% 14%

10% 5% 0%

5% 6% 30–40 hours

41–45 hours

46–50 hours

51–55 hours

55+ hours

Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

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Increased

Decreased

Stayed about the same

New South Wales

79%

2%

19%

Queensland

73%

2%

25%

South Australia

71%

1%

28%

Victoria

77%

1%

21%

Tasmania

68%

1%

31%

30% 29%

28% 28%

2016 2017

25%

Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

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FUNDING SHORTFALL

Northern Territory

Queensland

77% 67%

2017 2016

Four out of five principals felt that the Gonski funding they had received so far was not enough to fully address student needs at their school. Notably, in South Australia, 90% of surveyed principals said the funding did not suffice.

2017 2016

79% 81%

YES

NO

NATIONAL 19%

New South Wales 2017 2016

83% 82%

South Australia 2017 2016

81% Australian Capital Territory

93% 82%

2017 2016

Victoria 2017 2016

New South Wales

86% 85%

17% 83%

Tasmania

87% 90%

2017 2016

85% 90%

Queensland 26% Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

74%

OUT OF POCKET When asked whether they had used their own money to purchase supplies and equipment for their schools or students, 94% of surveyed teachers indicated having used at least some of their own funds for those purposes.

44%

South Australia 10% 90%

25% Victoria

15% 10%

6% No

Yes, less than $500 per year

Yes, between $500 and $999 per year

Yes, between $1,000 and $2,000 per year

Yes, more than $2,000 per year Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

15% 85%

Source: AEU State of Our Schools 2017 Report

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UPFRONT

HEAD TO HEAD

Should teachers have to pay for basic school resources?

The State of Our Schools Survey shows teachers and principals are reaching into their own pockets to cover resource shortages

Glen Carter

Stacey King

David Roy

Principal Miranda Public School, NSW

Mathematics teacher Mabel Park High School, Qld

Lecturer in Education and Creative Arts University of Newcastle, NSW

I asked quite a few of my staff the question, “Should teachers and principals pay for basic resources?” The response was resoundingly “No!” Then, as they listed the different items that they’ve purchased to support their students, their question in reply was, “What defines a basic resource?” I think public schools have been so under-resourced for so long, that, as caring educators who want to provide the best resources for their students, we have just got into the habit of buying things out of our own pocket.

We shouldn’t have to, but we care about our students and don’t want them to miss out on the best education we can provide. Do ambulance officers or nurses pay for medical supplies? Do librarians supply their own books?

In my experience, there has never been an expectation for staff to pay for basic school resources, but in the first 10 years or so of my teaching career, it was a necessity for staff to purchase many of the classroom resources as the schools were severely under-resourced.

However, a real issue I have noticed in the years that I have worked with primary schools, mainly in the area of science, is the amount of teachers who spend their time and money hunting for consumables so that they can conduct science experiments. It would be worth studying how the resourcing of science in primary schools is impacting the engagement in STEM at this critical time in a students’ education.

The reality is that whilst employers should provide resources, teachers have provided materials since time immemorial. Too often a resource is suddenly recognised as being needed, and the procurement process is not speedy enough for immediate need. If purchasing items for class, teachers should keep receipts and claim it back, having already received a manager’s approval.

Of course, if managers don’t approve a purchase, what is a teacher to do? That is an individual choice, but at the current low wage I’d argue no. Is this therefore an argument for Gonski? No. Gonski is a much more complicated situation. Schools should be better resourced, and education systems more flexible in their usage of money – but it should all be accountable, which sadly it doesn’t always appear to be.

EDUCATORS DIG DEEP FOR THE BASICS April’s State of Our Schools report by the Australian Education Union showed that 83% of schools are resorting to fundraising to boost their budgets, and 90% of principals who fundraise describe it as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

CREATING HAPPY SCHOOLS A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development demonstrates just how important it is for teachers to create supportive classroom environments for their students STUDENTS’ ANXIETY about school assessments is related to how supported they feel by teachers and schools. That’s a key finding to emerge from a recently released OECD report.

For the first time, the OECD’s Students’ Well-Being: PISA 2015 Results examined students’ motivation to perform well at school, their relationships with other students and teachers, and their home life. Its findings are based on a survey of 540,000 students in 72 countries and economies, which also completed the main OECD PISA 2015 test on science, mathematics and reading.

According to the report, on average across OECD countries, 59% of students reported

afraid to make,” says the OECD’s Mario Piacentini, the principal author of the report.

The impact of supportive staff Piacentini tells The Educator that when students feel that their teachers are supportive – be it because they can easily seek help when they need it or they perceive that their teachers pay attention to individual students and adapt instruction to a class’s capacities – they also report lower levels of anxiety about tests and assignments.

“For example, students were, on average, 17% less likely to report that they get very tense when they study for a test if they perceive that their teacher provides individual help when a

“Classroom management is a complex issue and consists of far more than establishing and imposing rules, rewards and incentives to manage behaviour” Mario Piacentini, OECD often worrying that taking a test would be difficult, and 66% reported feeling stressed about poor grades. On top of that, 55% of students said they were very anxious about a test even if they were well prepared.

“Students’ anxiety about schoolwork is not so much related to the frequency of tests, but rather [to] students’ perceptions about the consequences of the mistakes they make or are

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student has difficulties,” Piacentini explains.

A possible reason, he says, is that students with supportive teachers are more likely to realise that everybody makes mistakes, that one mistake rarely impacts on a student’s career, and that there is much a student can learn from mistakes.

“Given the very strong link between school anxiety and overall life satisfaction, we also

observe that schools where students perceive that teachers are supportive are also ‘happy schools’ – schools where students have high levels of life satisfaction,” says Piacentini.

Training and professional development The report says that because teachers play such a vital role in creating the conditions for students’ wellbeing at school, governments should not define their role solely by number of instruction hours.

“The report shows that teachers are central figures for students’ feelings of psychological and social wellbeing,” Piacentini says.

“Teachers’ work is more effective if they can establish rewarding relationships with students. Most teachers care about having positive relationships with their students, but some teachers might be less prepared to deal with difficult students and classroom environments.”

Piacentini says this is why targeted training and professional development might be particularly effective.

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PARENTS’ IMPACT ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE The OECD’s report showed a strong link between positive parent-student relationships outside of school and students’ academic outcomes and feelings of social integration within school.

“On average, students whose parents reported ‘spending time just talking to my child’, ‘eating the main meal with my child around a table’, or ‘discussing how well my child is doing at school’ every week were between 22% and 62% more likely to report higher levels of life satisfaction – reporting a 9 or 10 [on] a scale of one to 10 – compared to those students whose families did those things less frequently,” says the OECD’s Mario Piacentini.

“Schools and teachers can help raise awareness among parents about the importance and benefits of the time they spend with their children and suggest ways in which they can get positively involved in their children’s learning and school life.”

“For example, specific training can be offered to teachers so that they can identify those students who suffer from anxiety and teach these students how to learn from mistakes,” he says.

“Such training should provide teachers with practical tools they can use in their daily teaching, such as taking the most common mistakes that the class made on a test or quiz and letting the students analyse them together. Targeted training can also improve teachers’ bullying-intervention skills and their self-efficacy in working with students to prevent bullying.”

In general, Piacentini says, a heightened focus on classroom and relationship management in teacher training and professional development can provide teachers with the means to better connect with students and support their engagement at school.

“Classroom management is a complex issue and consists of far more than establishing and imposing rules, rewards and incentives to

manage behaviour. Effective classroom management involves practices and instructional techniques to create a learning environment that supports active engagement in learning, and encourages cooperation and respectful behaviour.

“In most contexts, such training should teach educators how to take into account diverse learners’ needs – especially those of minority groups – and give teachers a command of basic methods of observation, listening and intercultural communication.”

And, as Piacentini says, not all training in classroom management must occur in a classroom.

“Carefully developed online learning resources can, in fact, offer dynamic and flexible opportunities for teachers’ professional development,” he says.

Effective anti-bullying programs The OECD’s report also revealed that bullying is a major issue in schools across OECD countries and therefore requires the

implementation of effective anti-bullying programs.

So, what precisely constitutes an effective anti-bullying program?

“Effective anti-bullying programs involve a whole-school approach, with coordinated engagement among teachers, students and parents,” Piacentini says.

“Several of the anti-bullying programs that have proved to be successful – such as the KiVA initiative in Finland or the School Learning Environment Plan in the Spanish province of Castilla y León – include training for teachers on how to handle bullying behaviour and its associated group processes, anonymous surveys of students to monitor the prevalence of bullying, and strategies to provide information to and engage with parents.”

Piacentini also says programs need to be long-term, and frequently monitored and evaluated, in order to be effective.

“They need to communicate to students that they will not tolerate any form of bullying, and act as role models in the classroom.”

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS AND THE GLASS CEILING One banking leader has suggested a link between single-sex schools and the lack of female CEOs

chosen field,” she said. “And there is no lack of female students in Australian universities: 57.8% of domestic undergraduates are female, and women outnumber male students at postgraduate level, too.”

According to Spiller’s research, women themselves may choose to ‘off-ramp’ from career progression for several reasons, including the difficulty of juggling work and home responsibilities.

“To help plug the leaky pipeline, senior leaders in all sectors must accept their

“Girls’ schools have an outstanding record of preparing young women to lead in their chosen field” A high-profile CEO recently suggested that single-sex schools could be contributing to the lack of women in senior executive roles.

Westpac’s American-born chief, Brian Hartzer, told The Australian that when he moved to Australia in the 1990s, he was surprised by the lack of women in senior leadership positions in business.

“Growing up in the US, education is almost completely co-ed,” he said.

“There are very few same-sex schools left. As a result, I was constantly competing against and learning from women.”

Hartzer noted that Australia’s business culture

NEWS BRIEFS

is much closer to that of Britain, where elite schools also remain mainly single-sex.

But Karen Spiller, national chair of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools Australia, told The Educator that blaming single-sex schools for a lack of gender diversity at the top is “not only inaccurate but a poor excuse for a failure to act”.

Spiller said that, while Hartzer was correct about the lack of female representation in the C-suites of Australian companies, single-sex schools were not to blame.

“Girls’ schools have an outstanding record of preparing young women to lead in their

Maths resource expands nationally An online resource to help maths teachers improve student performance has been launched nationally. The SmarterMaths NAPLAN Teacher Edition is an online portal allowing teachers to immediately identify areas of underperformance, save time when preparing maths lessons, and access strategy tips to approach different maths problems. The launch follows the successful implementation of a similar program for Higher School Certificate maths teachers in NSW, which is currently subscribed to by more than a quarter of the state’s high schools.

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responsibility to help women with career planning well before leadership positions are on the radar,” Spiller said.

“Women need opportunities to ‘front-load’ and make heavy-duty professional progress prior to ‘off-ramping’.”

In the schools sector, Spiller said, this means principals need to identify leadership talent early and provide opportunities for developing those individuals.

Spiller also said principals had an integral role to play in the raising of future school leaders and, particularly, in creating pathways that support women in taking on principalships.

States and territories abandon NAPLAN online trials

Students will now sit pen-and-paper NAPLAN tests next year after all states and territories abandoned the online trials after technical glitches were discovered.

In April, Victoria, WA and the ACT followed Queensland, SA, Tasmania and NSW out of the trials. Despite the setback, ACARA’s CEO, Robert Randall, said he respected the decision of the states and territories to delay the transition. “Moving NAPLAN online by 2019 has been a goal of all states and territories for several years now, and that shared commitment continues,” Randall said.

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Q&A

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING PAUL GEYER CEO PRINCIPALS AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE

Fast fact In March, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released its report, PISA 2015: Reporting Australia's Results, which surveyed more than 14,000 students in 758 Australian schools.

In a chapter on the school learning environment, it said: “About one-third of the students in advantaged schools, and about half of those in disadvantaged schools, reported that in most or every class there was noise and disorder, students didn’t listen to what the teacher said, and that students found it difficult to learn.”

Can you explain the concept of SEL? Social and emotional learning (SEL) is increasingly being recognised as an important part of education, teaching children and young people essential life skills that support their wellbeing and mental health.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, the five main focus areas are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

So in SEL in schools, students might learn about identifying, expressing and managing feelings; establishing and managing relationships; setting and achieving positive goals; making good decisions; and solving problems.

SEL programs are being implemented at a growing number of schools across Australia and around the world. (Search for the hashtag #SEL on Twitter to see some of the fascinating conversations and compelling insights about SEL being shared on social media.)

How significant an impact can incorporating SEL in the classroom potentially have on a student’s educational outcomes?

Research points to wellbeing-focused programs as being an important part of the solution to student discipline problems, improving students’ mental health, and creating better behavioural outcomes for schools.

Students experiencing mental health problems are less likely to engage with schoolwork, and more likely to behave antisocially. Conversely, students who are mentally healthy experience fewer emotional, social or behavioural difficulties, and this has positive effects on their schoolwork. A meta-analysis of research shows that the positive effect translates to ~11% increase in

Principals to get nationally recognised certification

The Principals Australia Institute (PAI) has developed the Australian Principal Certification Program based on the Australian Professional Standard for Principals. The model for assessment will be launched in the coming months for practising and aspiring principals. PAI’s recent independent market research affirms principals’ support for certification, with 70% of principals supporting the model. “We believe that certification will provide peer and public recognition of the outstanding work undertaken by principals,” said Paul Geyer, CEO of PAI.

student academic outcomes. In a nutshell, good mental health is a prerequisite for good learning.

At what age/year level should SEL ideally occur?

SEL is vital for children and young people of all ages … Obviously the social and emotional needs of preschoolers will differ significantly to those of teenagers, but it remains an important type of learning as feelings, life stages and relationships become more complex.

It’s wonderful to see students build on their social and emotional learning from one year to the next.

What kind of professional development activities should teachers and school leaders engage in, to be able to effectively implement SEL in the classroom?

There are some fantastic professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders to learn more about SEL, starting with tapping into educational networks on social media to find out about SEL, positive psychology and positive education. The KidsMatter Primary and MindMatters flexible frameworks are available for all Australian schools to implement, so I encourage you to contact the Principals Australia Institute (PAI) if your school has not yet signed up.

PAI also offers a Youth Mental Health First Aid course for teachers and school leaders to learn strategies to support students experiencing difficulties.

We adults should continue our own social and emotional learning too – and that includes looking after our own wellbeing and mental health, and that of our colleagues. PAI holds Teacher Wellbeing workshops, plus Graduate and Grow workshops for school leaders to best support their teachers new to the profession. Visit our event calendar at pai.edu.au to find a session near you.

Neither gender has overall edge, says report New research, by Julie Moschion from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research and Deborah Cobb-Clark from the University of Sydney, has dispelled the myth that “boys are just better at school than girls or vice versa”. Moschion said that, consistent with international evidence, Australian girls in low- and middle-SES families scored better in reading, while boys in high-SES families scored better in numeracy. “This supports the notion that skill advantages are not naturally gendered but are the result of complex human capital formation processes,” she said.

Leader warns against ‘myths and distractions’ Professor John Hattie, chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, says many myths and distractions must be avoided so that Australian education can refocus on what matters most. He cited the ongoing debates around parent choice and the nature of schooling which, he warned, were overshadowing the great work being done by high-performing teachers and school leaders. “What truly matters is not the choice of school, but the teacher and the competency that teacher has,” Hattie told The Educator.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION UPFRONT

TECHNOLOGY NEWS BRIEFS Making NAPLAN a game?

A former high school teacher has suggested that a potential solution to teachers’ problems with NAPLAN could be to gamify the test. “The ‘game’ would be played by kids, perhaps over a long period of time, and the purpose of the game would be to support learning; one output of the game would be data relating to literacy and numeracy,” says Matt Esterman, an associate at Six Ideas. “Teachers have used games to engage students forever, but we haven’t fully explored their potential to completely turn around students’ engagement with school.”

Lights can help schools reduce carbon footprint Industrial company Legrand Australia has come up with a way principals can reduce their schools’ carbon footprint and save money at the same time. Legrand’s Vortex LED Highbay and Luminess LED lights have been designed to replace conventional metal halide or fluorescent lights respectively in schools, factories and warehouses. “By switching to LED, principals can halve the power their schools use, saving money and being environmentally friendly,” said Mahmoud Kebbi, Legrand’s category manager of commercial and emergency lighting. “When Legrand Australia upgraded its warehouse, our calculated savings were up to 58%.”

Tech must enhance learning through improving pedagogy In a recent speech, Michael Cowling of CQUniversity stressed the importance of ensuring the use of digital devices in the classroom was purposeful and backed by effective pedagogy.

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Speaking at the FutureSchools 2017 conference, Cowling said that while his own students loved using technology, he had realised that technology for technology’s sake was “a waste of time”. For examples of technologyenhancing learning, he pointed to one project, developed in collaboration with Bond University, which uses augmented reality and 3D-printed components to simulate foreign body removal for distance-education paramedic students.

Staff need support when new tech introduced Principals need a set, clear plan for the technology they wish to implement across their schools, according to Eleni Kyritsis, a Year 3 teacher and founder of the TeachTechPlay conference. Speaking to The Educator, Kyritsis said, “It … involves developing a plan over time and supporting staff with professional development. You can always say, ‘We’ve spent all this money on, say, iPads or spheros in the classroom’, but if you haven’t trained the teachers or given them some ideas, they’re not going to know how to do it.”

Study challenges popular beliefs on e-reading Research has indicated that children prefer traditional paperback books over screens when it comes to reading.

The research, released by Murdoch University lecturer Margaret Merga in the Computers & Education journal, found that reading frequency was less when children had access to a greater range of digital devices. “There has been a knee-jerk reaction that all children prefer to read on screens, and that has led to school libraries removing all paper books,” Merga said. “However, this is not necessarily the case.”

SCIENCEFOCUSED SCHOOL ANNOUNCED New STEM school in NSW set to offer students “a unique learning community” The NSW Government announced in March that Australia’s first science-focused school would open in 2019, offering a host of new opportunities to students.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school will include students from preschool to Year 12 and will be part of Sydney Science Park, a development being planned for the Western Sydney suburb of Luddenham. The $5bn, 280-hectare park is a joint project of developers Celestino, the NSW Government and the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP), which will run the school.

Greg Whitby, CEDP executive director, told The Educator the school would be “a unique learning community” in which students would study, among other things, how to code robots, liaise with NASA space stations, and discover the latest in IT programming.

“This is the first school of its kind in Australia … drawing on the collaboration and resources of businesses, research organisations, educational institutions and community groups within the park,” Whitby said.

He also said that students and teachers would have the opportunity to give back to the community through real-world learning projects.

“Through local and global networks,” Whitby said, “this Catholic school will make a positive and real contribution to our changing and challenging

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world. This school will also work with post-school institutions to provide direct enrolment to their courses, rather than access via the traditional HSC/ATAR pathway.

“And the arts will not be forgotten. They will be embedded into the curriculum and in the everyday life of the school.”

“The young people of Western Sydney deserve this opportunity – we owe these young people the best” Whitby talked about the need for schools to keep up with the dramatic changes occurring in society.

“Unfortunately our education systems have struggled to keep pace with these changes. We realise that we need to look ahead with new eyes,” he said.

“The young people of Western Sydney deserve this opportunity – we owe these young people the best.”

Whitby also said young people needed to be taught to develop a broad skill set encompassing collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity that could be applied across any discipline and could take advantage of any technology developed now and in the future.

“The ability of all students to learn and relearn will be the best skill we can teach our young people in an ever-changing world. Let’s focus on the long game of learning for life, not the short-term ‘skilling up’ of students.”

Q&A

James Leckie Co-founder and product director

ASSESSMENT PRACTICE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOLBOX

Fast fact Schoolbox is an integrated all-in-one virtual learning environment; it’s an LMS, an intranet and a portal.

Schoolbox is a mature, robust and sustainable platform that connects your entire school community and powers innovative teaching and learning.

How can technology enable/contribute to good assessment practice in schools?

Technology provides that platform to ensure consistency of your assessment delivery across the entire cohort … It also should enable teachers to collaborate around the assessment, and continually improve and refine that assessment as a faculty …

The other thing that technology helps out with is collecting the assessment data. Allowing that data to be collected, analysed, reported on and shared is really important, and sharing that information with other teachers, students and parents so that everyone has oversight and insight into that assessment data …

If that assessment feedback doesn’t come through until the end of semester or the end of the year, you can’t have those learning experiences and discussions about what you could and couldn’t do better.

How well would you say Australian schools utilise technology in their efforts to embrace good assessment practice?

I think, in general, technology has been adapted well in Australian schools. We definitely utilise a range of devices, internet services and tools. They’ve all become indispensable in modern education in Australia. But assessment, in particular, is one area that I think does lag a little bit behind in adapting to new technology. I think this is generally down to a skepticism towards the use of technology in what is seen as a pretty critical area of education … When you think of things like exams and essays, typically they’re done in a way that meets with traditional compliance requirements. We’ve done them on pen and paper, and we’ve done them in ways that haven’t allowed technology to support and inform. So there has been a slow reluctance in using technology for assessment, but those things are changing, and definitely the leading schools are now finding new ways to integrate both traditional tools, such as pen and paper, and technology together to get the best of both worlds.

Are there any mistakes that schools commonly make in their efforts to use technology to help facilitate good assessment practice?

Sometimes there can be an assumption that one assessment practice will work in all contexts, and this just isn’t the case. From our experience, assessment practice should be reviewed by faculty [and] by year level, and should be looked at on a subject-by-subject basis because not all assessment practices will work in all contexts …

There also seems to be an overemphasis on summative assessment, from our experience … We always recommend, when focusing on improving assessment practice, that schools look to roll back some of their summative reporting and put more time and effort into their formative assessment practice … looking more at what they can provide to the student and parent in real time and less at what they can provide to them at the end of the semester or year.

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UPFRONT

OPINION

DREAMING THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM Principal and radio host Henry Grossek considers the case for broadening the assessment avenues available to Year 12 students

MY FATHER and I sat in a small office, nondescript in many ways, save for the clutter and sense of urgency that pervaded the atmosphere on that hot and humid January day as the teacher hustled about the room, shuffling papers and wiping the sweat from his brow.

This was a big day for me. The following week I was about to start secondary school, and my father was enrolling me at the local high school – at the time a prestigious country high school, affectionately known as ‘The School on the Hill’. The hilltop address of

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the high school was shared with the local technical school, though it was never referred to as such; that title belonged exclusively to the high school.

Despite sharing a geographical site, not much else was shared between the schools as far as I can recollect. Oh, from time to time, on occasions when our attention wandered from our studies, we were curtly reminded that it was a privilege to be attending the school on the hill, and that privilege could easily be forfeited were we not to refocus on our studies. The consequence? We would

complete our studies at the technical school, with the clear inference being that any plans we may have had for attending university would be dashed. That was the ’60s!

Fast-forward to the ’80s, by which time I was at the beginning of my career in senior leadership roles at a medium-sized suburban primary school in Melbourne. Our school council president – a former AFL champion player and, in retirement, a sports teacher at a prestigious private school – introduced me to the brutality with which such schools massaged their reputations. Back then, he revealed, Year 12 students at that school did not only complete their studies at that school but in addition had to “earn the right” to sit their Year 12 exams as students of that school.

Those that didn’t? Well, they were off to the Exhibition Building in the city, where they most certainly sat their Year 12 exams, but just as certainly not as students of that particular private school. They sat as public students, belonging to no one as it were – and they would have known it.

Thirty years have passed and what’s changed? If the current debates that swirl around us in the media are any indication, very little that is good has occurred.

Newspaper headlines such as “The reason schools lock students out of the VCE”’, “‘I deserve another chance’: the student no school wants”, and “‘They thought I’d become a tradie’: Why schools lock students out of VCE” paint an alarming picture of current secondary school practice in some schools.

What is driving this problematic trend in education? Back in the ’60s, as far as I can recollect, headlines such as those that have appeared in our newspapers in recent times were non-existent. It would seem that the practice of ‘dissuading’ students from sitting their VCE exams and encouraging them to seek the vocational alternative, the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, is a more recent strategy. Then there’s the ‘option’ provided by some schools to have students opt for an unscored VCE; that is, they would complete their VCE without receiving an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), meaning that in effect they would not sit the end-of-year VCE exams.

Judging by the commentary, several

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

possibilities could be at play in this trend.

Advocates for broadening the types of assessment options available to Year 12 students vehemently dismiss claims that the intent of the exercise is to embellish schools’ VCE results. Rather, they argue, it is aimed at ensuring that students for whom a tertiary course at university is not a realistic option stay at school longer, suffer less pointless stress in their final years of secondary schooling, and undertake courses better suited to their talents and interests. This makes eminent sense.

After all, most jobs in the workforce do not require a university degree. There’s plenty of evidence indicating that early school leavers – and by that I mean those students who drop out of secondary school as soon as it is legally appropriate to do so – too often slip through the workforce gaps, remaining unemployed for far too long for anyone’s good.

Then there’s the not-inconsiderable issue

of aspiration and hope – while at school, students still have hope; more hope, I daresay, of completing some sort of qualification that will lead to a worthwhile career.

that students who complete their mandatory school years will by definition do well in life.

That can’t even be said of all students who successfully complete a university degree.

Hanging in there at school would be a better option for more rather than less students. From this perspective, providing students with an incentive to stay at school longer is highly desirable The contemporary film Moonlight, which incidentally was awarded the Oscar for Best Film, is a gut-wrenching reminder of the hopelessness into which students can disappear following the early curtailment of their secondary schooling. That’s not to say

The twists and turns in our lives are far more complex than that. It’s also fair to say that school for some students is an exercise in trauma and disappointment. Nonetheless, hanging in there at school would be a better option for more rather than less students.

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UPFRONT

OPINION From this perspective, providing students with an incentive to stay at school longer is highly desirable.

One school that has boldly come out and stated its case for requiring students to ‘opt in’ if they want an ATAR is Templestowe College in Melbourne’s northeast. As was reported in The Age newspaper recently, the school has embarked on a revolutionary approach. As principal Peter Hutton explains, “Finishing their schooling at Templestowe College without an ATAR would become the default option for students”.

In arguing this strategy, Hutton says, “If one of our aims is to encourage a love of learning, why would you make their final

It’s important to remember that not all learning is assigned an economic value.

Indeed, it is the very measurable, tangible learning undertaken in our schools that is assigned such value. Little wonder then that our NAPLAN tests, the international tests – Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – and of course VCE with its attached ATARscaled scores rule supreme.

No irony intended, but Einstein, himself an unremarkable school student, would make the connection between an increasingly commodified education system and the appeal for some fee-paying private schools, and, sadly,

Maybe … the move towards a broader basis for student engagement and success in senior secondary schools … will be the dawn of a new era in our school system years of learning a hell?” He adds, “We don’t want this to be a dirty little secret where kids are meant to feel ashamed. I want to bring it out into the light and present it as a really viable option.”

Templestowe College is to be commended for its transparency and frankness. Sadly, that does not apply to all others. I can’t help but think of the ’80s case of some students being made to sit their Year 12 exams as if they belonged to no school. I have no doubt that this was not an isolated case at the time, and from the stories told today it would seem that the ‘market forces’ approach which has gained momentum in our education system has much to answer for.

Central to the market approach to education is what is commonly termed the commodification of education. Put simply, this means that learning becomes a process in which an economic value is attached to its outcomes; that is – good marks for subjects studied, with the eventual pay dirt being a quality job. The better the marks the better the options for desirable courses at, of course, the more prestigious tertiary institutions; read our sandstone universities.

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some of our own government schools, of pushing boundaries to outperform each other in their VCE results – this at the potential expense of their students, it could be argued.

There should be more to education than that, and indeed there is.

One of the more frustrating features of our spiral down the path of high-stakes testing regimes in our schools is that we have no way of comparing school performance beyond the narrow confines of, predominantly, tests in literacy and numeracy through NAPLAN, and in science through the TIMSS and PISA tests.

Then there’s the VCE with its ATAR scores, all designed primarily for entrance to university.

Sadly, the language of our day speaks of highperforming and underperforming schools on the basis of these narrow indicators. This is quite apart from the fact that, firstly, schools don’t operate on a level playing field of resourcing, and, secondly, students are ‘enticed’ from government schools based simply on their academic or sporting prowess by some private schools.

The free enterprise model of education explains this all very neatly: schools with the best VCE results command the most clout

for enrolments and, in the case of private schools, the highest fees. Student segregation based on social and academic advantage logically follows. Little wonder then that the gap in educational performance between students from more affluent backgrounds and those from poorer families is the highest of all OECD countries in international tests such as PISA. So many schools do wonderfully well, both on shoestring budgets and in the most challenging of circumstances, in ways that matter so much – student and family wellbeing being a prime example. Unfairly, however, they are left behind in the public wake of others that also, it should be acknowledged, do well, but for which these free market times in education are a boon.

A final point should be made for those among us who are obsessed with having Australia follow the path of Asian countries and cities that outperform our students on the TIMSS and PISA tests. Education systems cannot be divorced from the broader cultural context of their host nations. By definition, education systems are integrally woven within the tapestries of each nation’s culture. We should be mindful of that.

Simply cherry-picking one aspect of a country’s culture to import is fraught with the possibility of failure and disappointment.

It should not go unnoticed that more than a few Asian nations value our existing education system with its flexibility and emphasis on creativity.

Maybe, just maybe, the move towards a broader basis for student engagement and success in senior secondary schools such as Templestowe College will be the dawn of a new era in our school system. If it proves to be so, then that will be truly revolutionary and will rewrite the rules of engagement for all schools. If not, then tilting at windmills is no bad thing. If it were, there would be no place for Don Quixote and the Impossible Dream.

Henry Grossek, principal of Berwick Lodge Primary School in Victoria, hosts Viewpoints on Casey Radio 97.7FM on Fridays between 9am and 11am: www.caseyradio.com.au.

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PEOPLE

THE BIG INTERVIEW

TOWARDS A FAIRER EDUCATION SYSTEM Federal education minister Simon Birmingham is working with his state and territory counterparts to create a more equitable education system in Australia. Brett Henebery sits down with the minister to find out who stands to gain, and how THE EDUCATOR: Growing up, you attended Gawler High School, a public school in South Australia. In what ways did your experiences in public schooling shape your views on education?

SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Like anybody, it doesn’t matter which school you go to. You have teachers who you remember as having had a significant impact on you. I think that’s probably the most essential factor for most of us out of our schooling experience.

My school was a very diverse one; it had mixtures of first and second generation migrants, people from semi-rural areas as well as the northern suburbs of Adelaide, and low progression through to university.

This certainly leaves me with a strong appreciation that schools have to deal with multiple challenges simultaneously, including

students with vastly different aspirations and backgrounds. That is a major challenge that our education system faces, and it’s why we need to recognise the different needs of different schools and support them. But also, importantly, we need to stick to clear, evidence-based approaches to teaching that give every child the best possible chance at developing the basic skills that enable them to succeed through their later years of schooling.

TE: School funding remains a contentious topic as the Council of Australian Governments meeting approaches.

Can you provide an outline of the government’s plan for a fairer funding model, and what you hope the ideal outcome might look like?

SB: We’re working to finalise distribution

ONE MODEL, TWO INTERPRETATIONS While both major parties have promised to implement the needs-based Gonski reforms, they differ on how these should be implemented.

The Coalition says it will fund the first four years of Gonski and has committed another $1.2bn from 2018 to 2020.

The money will be tied to programs to improve student performance and results.

Labor has committed to funding the full six-year Gonski plan, including the final two years at a cost of $4.5bn over 2018–19. Labor’s total package will cost $37bn over a decade, and includes a focus on more individual attention for students, better training for teachers, and more funding for students with disabilities.

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arrangements for school funding ahead of the Council of Australian Governments meeting in June. What we want to do is take what is a record level of federal funding that grows each and every year into the future, and ensure that it is distributed according to the needs-based principles that were spoken about in the Gonski report. This includes recognition of students who might come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, students with a disability, Indigenous students, and small rural, regional and remote schools. It’s about recognising all of the factors that impact on the cost of – and successful operation of – a school, and providing equal opportunity to students to be able to succeed.

My view is that, as a federal government, we need to treat the states and territories in an equitable manner, just as we treat – and ought to treat – the different parts of the non-government school system in a similarly equitable manner to each other.

Unfortunately, we have around 27 different funding models that have transition periods that extend out to 100 years in some instances. This clearly doesn’t provide that sense of equity, and distorts the needs-based principles that the Gonski report talked about. I hope that we can work sensibly through those distortions and issues to ultimately come up with a model that better meets the objectives of that report.

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PEOPLE

THE BIG INTERVIEW

“We need to stick to clear, evidence-based approaches to teaching that give every child the best possible chance at developing the basic skills that enable them to succeed through their later years of schooling” TE: How do you feel the reforms to teaching standards are progressing at this stage, and what is the next step in ensuring that these standards become uniform across K-12 education?

SB: We have made good progress in terms of our reforms to initial teacher education and training, and that’s evidenced by the significant take-up now of the new literacy and numeracy standards test for university students before they graduate. There is active work under­way, led by AITSL, in reaccrediting initial teacher education programs across

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different universities to ensure that they are delivering the type of quality we expect; the relevancy of pedagogy and the reforms that require, for example, all future primary education graduates to have undertaken a speciality as part of their studies, so that we really lift some of the in-depth knowledge and skills across schools into the future.

With those types of reforms underway in initial teacher education, the focus rightly shifts at the next stage to how we work to effectively support the existing teacher workforce in their ongoing skills and professional development. I was very pleased at the last education council meeting that we won agreement for work that’s being led jointly by the Commonwealth and the South Australian Government around how we might best develop future professional development activity. This activity is subject to higher scrutiny and guaranteed levels of competency in terms of the skills that they will help deliver to teachers to keep people up to date in terms of their classroom practices and approaches.

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TE: Principals play an overarching role in driving an improved education system in Australia. In what ways are the federal government’s reforms benefiting principals in their roles?

SB: After classroom teachers, principals are the single-largest in-school factor around school performance. This is because of the critical role they play in setting standards and approaches across the teaching workforce. This is why principal certification plays a really critical role. The work that AITSL has done to develop standards for principals is important, but we want to – through the Quality Schools Quality Outcomes agenda – take that to the next step of looking at how we can guarantee widespread uptake of principal certification.

Ideally, this will be undertaken in a way that is preparatory for people before they step into the role of principal – not something that they try to catch up on after they’ve undertaken that very important role. It’s an important discussion that we want to have with the states to really help build the next generation of skilled and able principals.

There are certain workforce and generational issues in principal leadership, and we need to make sure that it is seen as a valued and essential part of the education systems across our country.

TE: A significant milestone in early childhood education recently occurred when the federal government passed its Family Assistance Legislation Bill 2016 in March. In what ways do you see early childhood education crafting highperforming students in primary and secondary schooling?

SB: Early childhood education has been playing an increasing role and will continue to do so. The steps that have been made towards universal participation in preschool, as well as much higher levels of participation in early education settings, really do provide a good leap forward by Australia in terms of preparing students for their schooling life.

That preparation is not just about the curriculum-type preparation that relates to

the learning of basic literacy skills or the holding of a pencil, but also is very much aligned to the behavioural skills that help to prepare children in the earliest years.

This includes the successful transition into school-based settings and successfully understanding how to behave and learn in those types of settings.

Our new childcare subsidies model will make a big difference because of the significantly increased level of subsidies that are available for low-income families. These subsidies will remove, in some ways, the element of financial stress from many families who are juggling work obligations with childcare requirements. But it also will better enable – through some of the reform’s lesser-known aspects, such as the removal of a number of the regulatory requirements around hours of operation and weeks of operation for long day care services – them to be able to better tailor targeted services, especially in regional services that are really focused on short sessions of early education rather than purely being boxed into having to provide long sessions on childcare.

TE: Are there any other important ways, further to the reforms discussed, in which the federal government is working to improve K-12 education across Australia?

SB: We view the Australian education system as being a high-quality, highperforming system, but one where we have some warning signs in terms of some of our performance. This applies to domestic assessments as well as international assessments. The policy work that we’re undertaking is really to look as closely as we can at how we take record levels of federal funding and ensure that they are used as effectively as possible for the wellbeing of students. This can be done by addressing both fundamentals, such as literacy and numeracy skills, which are then so essential to being able to build and succeed with the more complex skills of collaboration, resilience and the like that we hope can be advanced through the latter years of schooling.

REFORMS TO SUPPORT QUALITY TEACHING

The Coalition’s reforms to teacher quality aim to introduce minimum quotas for trainee teachers specialising in literacy and numeracy

Recruitment targets will be set for teachers qualified in science, technology, engineering or mathematics subjects

All principals will be certified before their appointment

Graduate teachers will be required to achieve registration at the Proficient Level of the Professional Standards within three years

High-performing teachers will be incentivised to work in disadvantaged schools

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017

Following the success of our inaugural report, we present The Educator’s second annual Rising Stars list. Thanks to your help, we’ve identified some of the bright young education professionals across Australia who are on track to become the industry leaders of tomorrow WELCOME TO The Educator’s second annual Rising Stars list.

Once again this year, we asked the market to name the up-and-coming leaders under 35 who are making their mark in the fast-changing business and vocation of education.

We are now pleased to report that, based on the feedback we received, we are able to present you with a list of genuinely inspiring young principals, deputy principals and department heads who are working across Australia and demonstrating that the future of education lies in safe hands.

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The Educator’s Rising Stars have been nominated by colleagues for their expertise, strength of character, willingness to innovate, passion, and vision. In addition to those attributes, each of the educators profiled shares an ability to lead. And for these leaders, it’s not just about showing a way forward but about engaging their school communities to effect real change.

The Educator is proud to take this opportunity to bring into the spotlight the achievements of 30 Rising Stars on the pages that follow.

Tim Garratt, editor

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Sponsored by

SCHOOL INDEX

A WORD FROM OUR PARTNER The team at Educator Impact (EI) would like to congratulate The Educator’s Rising Stars of 2017. As a leader in education I know teachers and school leaders operate in a challenging landscape with many demands. This makes the stories of achievement shared in this year’s nominations all the more impressive and inspiring.

EI is thrilled to partner with The Educator to support the 2017 Rising Stars report, which aligns with EI’s focus on giving leaders the tools to become even stronger at leadership. There has been a significant industry focus on student outcomes and teacher effectiveness, and part of that story has morphed into the impact that leadership has, not only on school culture but on the commitment to developing best practice.

We’ve spent the last couple of years working with leadership teams in schools, analysing the literature and theories of leadership and of course standards of best practice all through the lens of how we can build a leadership feedback model that helps leaders get feedback in a safe, simple, and supportive way.

I’d like to congratulate the 2017 winners again, and look forward to watching these Rising Stars in the future.

Ken Wallace Chief executive officer, Educator Impact

RISING STARS INDEX NAME

SCHOOL

PAGE

Anderson, Rynn

Tarneit P-9 College

37

Anstee, Dehne

Kalianna School

24

Barnes, Marinda

Macquarie Fields High School

24

Bramall, Bianca

Fowler Road School

24

Brien, Carly and Hawke, Tarley Henry Kendall High School

28

Clements, Chris

Pulteney Grammar School

26

Cowie, Erin

Giant Steps

36

Cross, Hayley

Lawson Public School

26

Floriano, Julian

The Forest High School

28

Fowler, Rebecca

Templestowe Valley Primary School

34

Glenton, Rebecca

Melbourne Girls Grammar

25

Hashimoto, Taku

Wellers Hill State School

29

Hehir, Emily

Kingswood College

31

Holmberg, Britt

Kalianna School

34

Johansen, Allison

Brigidine College

28

LeCornu, Jeremy

Seaview High School

33

Maddison, Oliver

Kingswood College

31

May, Kit

Prairiewood High School

32

McVey, Angus

Knox Grammar School

32

Murray, Kirsten

Alamanda College

36

Nelson, Jennifer

St. Andrew's Cathedral School

32

Parker, Nathan

Caringbah High School

35

Pevy-Buenen, Chris

Nicholson Street Public School

37

Sanders, Patrick

Brighton Grammar School

36

Schnetker, Sarah

Bethania Lutheran School

30

Selvakumaran, Yasodai

Rooty Hill High School

37

Tyrrell, Bradley

Scotch College

34

Verdon, Dr Matthew

Australian Science and Mathematics School

31

Watts, Rebecca

St Mary's Anglican Girls' School

26

Williams, Nichole

Batemans Bay Public School

35

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 DEHNE ANSTEE Leading teacher – ICT/primary school leader Kalianna School (Vic)

He’s passionate, committed and hard-working, and continually strives to improve his own skills in the name of ensuring the success of staff and students. Dehne Anstee is our first Rising Star.

Since last year, Anstee has led the Primary Learning Centre at Kalianna School in Bendigo and has been its leader of ICT implementation and development. In his endeavours to ensure the school is a leader in education technology, Anstee has delivered whole-school professional development to enhance teachers’ skills with multiple digital technologies, including iPads, Google Classrooms and Google Drive, interactive whiteboards, BeeBots, and Makey Makey devices. He’s also recently started Kalianna’s ICT Committee with a view to engaging staff across the school in developing ICT within the classrooms.

Anstee has been responsible for another major initiative – ‘KaBee TV’. It’s a weekly student-run TV program, organised by students and played at assembly, comprising different segments devised by Anstee himself. He has also led the implementation of a whole-school student and staff management system, Sentral, which facilitates effective and efficient student individual education plans, incident reporting, timetabling, and student information and documentation.

Anstee is now sharing his skills and knowledge with schools throughout Bendigo, helping to upskill these schools for the purpose of implementing Sentral.

BIANCA BRAMALL Relieving assistant principal Fowler Road School (NSW)

Bianca Bramall began her career in education in 2006 at Fowler Road School, a school for specific purposes, as a school learning supporting officer.

In 2016, she became part of the leadership team as assistant principal and has filled the role of relieving principal when required this year.

In 2017, Bramall has worked alongside the principal to examine the elements of the school excellence framework; to identify the direction of the school in relation to the three domains of learning, teaching and leading; and to involve herself in school budget planning and the annual school reporting process. Her professional relationships are said to have resulted in strong networking links and a customer focus that has positively impacted on student learning and wellbeing.

Bramall provides support to early-career teachers at Fowler Road School as well as other local schools, mentoring those teachers to develop a clear direction and set meaningful and appropriate professional goals. She has worked diligently to improve the school’s induction support for beginning teachers by implementing the ‘Strong Start Great Teachers’ resource.

According to a colleague, Bramall has created a culture in which staff members are receptive to new ideas, adaptive to change, results-driven, and have a clear, defined direction. Additionally, she engages in professional development herself in order to stay up to date with her pedagogy.

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MARINDA BARNES Relieving head teacher welfare Macquarie Fields High School (NSW)

Now in her sixth year of teaching, Marinda Barnes has demonstrated herself to be a leader in learning and wellbeing.

“For every child to learn and develop a love of learning, they need a safe, positive environment at home and at school,” Barnes has said. “Every day I work with children who are seeking adult help to make this ideal a reality.”

Barnes has implemented a transition support program at Macquarie Fields High School that teaches senior students the skills needed to deliver an engaging program for incoming students in Year 7. It’s a program that is said to have produced excellent learning outcomes. Barnes also leads the school’s new student mentoring program, in which students are teamed with other students who have been identified as at risk of disengagement. For that program, senior students have undergone training in a mentoring methodology, in order to assist junior students in developing their own educational goals.

Currently, Barnes is developing a new citizenship program to facilitate students working with disadvantaged groups in the local community. It will involve students using design thinking to develop programs of real change. She’s also seeking to develop the leadership skills of other teachers specifically to enable them to support the wellbeing of the school’s most vulnerable students.

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Sponsored by

REBECCA GLENTON Assistant director – Junior Years Melbourne Girls Grammar (VIC)

Rebecca Glenton is described as an “exemplary” teacher, highly regarded among students, parents and peers. Passionate about 21st century skills and the importance of innovation in schools, Glenton has a strong online presence and regularly participates in online learning through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and Twitter, and regularly writes an educational blog.

Heading up the school’s Creativity and Innovation team, Glenton strives to

develop exciting and creative initiatives for students, with a view to developing and enhancing their 21st century skills. She’s especially passionate about facilitating opportunities to explore the STEM disciplines. Additionally, in her efforts to ensure the curriculum actively promotes creativity and innovation, Glenton works to include digital technologies across that curriculum. She also coordinates the students’ extracurricular activities so that

whatever passion a student has, they’re afforded an opportunity to explore it.

This year, Glenton became assistant director of the school’s Junior Years campus and oversees all curriculum areas.

She works closely with other teachers at the planning table, mentoring and guiding them; and, because of the deep respect they have for her, she is able to encourage and support them to try new ideas, and inspires their teaching practice.

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 CHRIS CLEMENTS School psychologist/counsellor Pulteney Grammar School (SA)

Chris Clements has shown outstanding leadership, commitment and effort in his review of student wellbeing programs right across Pulteney Grammar School, and in his consequent proposal of a psychological model and wellbeing curriculum delivery structure.

Based on his review, Clements concluded that the school should move away from its ‘acute care’ reactive and eclectic wellbeing model towards a proactive, well-conceptualised and consistent model that would equip students with the capabilities and skills necessary to promote health and wellbeing. The proposed model provides the framework to teach specific mindfulness skills to deal with painful thoughts and negative feelings effectively. It’s an approach that can be applied practically within the school setting to build resilience and psychological flexibility by empowering teachers to have challenging discussions with students and parents in a supportive way.

Additionally, Clements proposed that a Reception to Year 12 wellbeing faculty be created, as opposed to expecting all teachers in the school to have the expertise and desire to teach wellbeing. It’s proposed that the faculty will consist of trained wellbeing teachers to deliver the curriculum right through R to 12.

Clements’ proposal has been presented to the school executive, and an implementation plan is being developed. His leadership and work on the project have been regarded by the school as “exceptional”, enabling it to proactively address future wellbeing concerns.

REBECCA WATTS Head of Year 12 St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School (WA)

Rebecca Watts is a true all-rounder, with all the qualities essential to leading a school in the future, according to her nominating colleague.

Watts joined St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in 2012 as head of media studies. Her innovation is said to have put media studies on the map at the school. Under Watts’ leadership, the department has become high performing, including having the top WACE student in the state and strong results achieved across the group.

In 2014, Watts was appointed head of Year 12 and is admired greatly by her students. She has introduced many initiatives to build a community within the Year 12 group, including to release some of the pressure felt by students and to help those students have fun. Watts has also built great relationships with other staff members, who view her as an impressive leader. Similarly, parents have responded very positively to how she approaches and encourages students.

Whatever it is she’s doing within the school, Watts does it with great enthusiasm and a commitment to the students’ education, and is invariably inclusive and forward-looking.

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HAYLEY CROSS Assistant principal Lawson Public School (NSW)

She’s a teacher who loves to inspire and support everyone around her, and a leader who names solutions rather than problems.

And in the words of her nominating colleague, “There is a great hope for education in Australia when we are fortunate enough to have future leaders, like Hayley, serving our community.”

Highly regarded by her community, Hayley Cross has taken her team on a continuous journey of school improvement, Specifically, she’s played an integral role in the development of Lawson Public School’s own Quality School, Successful Students (QTSS) initiative. This was instrumental in Cross’s team members developing rich and meaningful professional development plans that, in turn, were directly tied to the school’s strategic plan and will continue having a strong impact on student growth in literacy and numeracy.

Cross also played a crucial part in the successful introduction of STEM education at Lawson Public School. While the initiative was initially met with resistance, she persevered and set an example for colleagues by completing smaller, classroom-based projects, which ultimately led to an important wider, whole-school project. Cross was recommended to present at the Future Schools Expo this year on her achievements in STEM and, in particular, on how she was able to inspire teachers to embrace the initiative.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:37:34 PM

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4/05/2017 2:37:53 PM

COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 CARLY BRIEN AND TARLEY HAWKE Teachers Henry Kendall High School (NSW)

The ‘dynamic duo’ of Carly Brien and Tarley Hawke have effected significant improvement in student outcomes and engagement, and improved pedagogical practice at Henry Kendall High School.

One colleague describes their “passion to ignite learning for students” as “exemplary on all levels”.

They might be early-career teachers, but Brien and Hawke have earned the respect and admiration of their school community as a result of their holistic approach and initiative in teaching and learning, combined with their passion for student achievement. The pair has implemented 21st century learning in a collaborative learning environment for students, and restructured the Henry Kendall middle school curriculum, introducing a central focus on project-based learning with a cross-KLA focus. The two teachers saw a need to review pre-existing structures, and subsequently led a restructure of programming to support a cross-KLA curriculum.

Brien and Hawke have also restructured their own learning spaces within the school, transforming them from traditional classrooms into one collaborative learning space in which they team-teach periodically to student groups of up to 50 at a time. The pair also succeeded in obtaining a grant to support the refurbishment of that space – a space that has been enthusiastically embraced by students and effectively supports the teaching of the curriculum.

ALLISON JOHANSEN Curriculum middle leader – social science Brigidine College (Qld)

Allison Johansen leads her department with expertise, energy and enthusiasm. It’s that leadership that has meant improved learning opportunities and outcomes for students in social sciences at Brigidine College near Brisbane.

Johansen is a role model for other teachers and sets clear goals and strategies to ensure that her department continues to progress. She’s also a believer in team effort – that all staff must collectively contribute to enhancing learning for students’ benefit. By encouraging staff members to learn from one another, she’s said to be building a cohesive and collegial team.

Johansen demonstrates an innovative approach to teaching and learning, and her ongoing reflection on best practice has resulted in the successful integration of information and communication technologies, including OneNote, into her department. A keen awareness of student learning has prompted her to explore differentiation, particularly with the inclusion of rising complexity for capable students.

Johansen has high expectations of her students to achieve their best. She persists with her endeavours to deliver an engaging curriculum and pedagogy that motivates her students to learn.

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JULIAN FLORIANO HSIE teacher and year adviser The Forest High School (NSW)

Julian Floriano is not only an excellent teacher and year adviser but is also currently leading a whole-school initiative to design flexible, future-focused learning spaces.

Floriano approached his principal seeking a grant to redesign his own classroom, purchase flexible furniture, and engage in professional learning in learning space design and future-focused pedagogy. Collaborating with his students, he’s redesigned his classroom and created a flexible learning space catering to diverse learners and utilising innovative technologies. He’s now working with a team across the school to design other future-focused learning spaces.

Floriano is using the expertise he’s acquired in future-focused learning and 21st century fluencies to model effective pedagogy and lead professional learning for teachers throughout the school and in the community.

Floriano is creative in his role as year adviser and inventive in the approach he takes to pastoral care. He’s open to new programs and opportunities for community involvement to enhance student engagement, and he actively engages with students, parents and teachers to support the individual needs of his students.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:38:54 PM

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TAKU HASHIMOTO Deputy principal Wellers Hill State School (Qld)

Taku Hashimoto was a foundation teacher in the Japanese Bilingual Program at Wellers Hill State School. The program began in 2014 and today encompasses around 400 students from Years 1 through to 4. Next year, the school will move to full implementation of the program as students move from prep/ kindergarten to Year 1.

As part of the program, students study the Australian curriculum in Japanese with a native Japanese-speaking teacher for half of each day. Subjects that are studied in Japanese and English – with no overlap of content – include maths, geography, health, science and technology. Japanese literacy and numeracy are also studied as a separate subject. An external review of the program conducted last year revealed that students were well advanced in Japanese reading, writing and speaking.

Hashimoto has played an instrumental role in the program’s ongoing success, and is believed to be the first Japanese administrator in an Australian public school.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017

SARAH SCHNETKER Deputy principal Bethania Lutheran School (Qld)

It’s because of Sarah Schnetker’s leadership that Bethania Lutheran School today has 100% of its teaching team applying contemporary teaching practices in agile learning spaces. She has assisted the teaching team with targeted professional learning that has enabled them to work alongside students, rather than delivering content from the front of the room, and has inspired them to take risks and to innovate. As a result, her nominating colleague says, teachers

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are now driving change themselves as they ascertain what their students need. Students, in turn, are engaged and empowered, achieving success and developing positive images of themselves as learners.

Many of the school’s new and developing activities have been initiated or supported

by Schnetker, including a coding and robotics program, a 1:1 iPad program, and makerspaces in every learning space,

from Prep through to Year 6.

Last year, Schnetker visited schools in Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to inform her professional understanding of global innovation and as part of her efforts to bring world best practice to Bethania Lutheran School. As a result of that trip, the school now has professional relationships with educators around the world.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:39:33 PM

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OLIVER MADDISON Year 9 coordinator Kingswood College (Vic)

It’s been only three years since Oliver Maddison began his teaching career at Kingswood College in Box Hill near Melbourne. When he first arrived as a pre-service teacher in the school’s physical education department, Maddison showed all the hallmarks of a dedicated and personable professional, and his capacity to work with a diverse range of learners and age groups left his Kingswood superiors in no doubt as to the extent of his potential to be a fine educator.

This year, Maddison has taken on the responsibility of Year 9 coordinator, as well as continuing to teach his middle school and senior classes. Since joining Kingswood College’s staff, Maddison has impressed with his organisational aptitude and his application of pedagogy to bring out the best in his students.

He’s keenly taken on a number of opportunities for professional growth, and his work with students in a number of age ranges is said to have won him the admiration and respect of the student body – accolades he’s received with humility and gratitude.

EMILY HEHIR Precinct leader: cultures Kingswood College (Vic)

Emily Hehir is a highly motivated educator, keen to enrich her teaching and learning environment by collaborating in a purposeful and innovative way with her peers. Her nominating colleague tells The Educator that Hehir possesses the qualities and attributes necessary to take all her students and colleagues on an authentic learning journey, where personal best underpins the achievements and successes of both the individual and the team.

As precinct leader: cultures, Hehir leads a diverse teaching team specialising in languages, humanities and English. Her leadership within Kingswood College’s LATTICE (Learning and Teaching Through Innovation, Collaboration and Engagement) model has meant those in her precinct have been able to embrace the 21st century learning environment with confident authorship and team ownership. A strong advocate of blended learning, Hehir is proficient in modelling, designing and delivering a rich and expanding curriculum.

On top of that, Hehir is an experienced practising lawyer and regularly volunteers for the Women’s Legal Service.

DR MATTHEW VERDON Central studies leader Australian Science and Mathematics School (SA)

Dr Matt Verdon has a PhD in plasma and astrophysics. He joined the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS) in 2014 and is also director of the Physics Olympiad.

According to his nominating colleague, Verdon has inspired students through his ability to co-design learning programs with students who explore the ‘choose your own adventure’ program at the ASMS. When it comes to students, Matt is considered the ‘go to’ person for concise, gentle and encouraging explanation of the most difficult maths and physics concepts in the curriculum.

His nominating colleague also tells The Educator that what Verdon doesn’t know about how to collect and correlate data cannot be written down. “His amazing correlations help us understand how different factors influence the development and achievement of our students,” that colleague says.

In his fourth year as a school teacher, Verdon is co-leading the development of the ASMS interdisciplinary curriculum.

This encompasses managing the various interdisciplinary teaching teams that design and deliver the bespoke central studies for students in Years 10 and 11. In particular, he has designed the latest central study, a semester-length study called ‘The Internet of Things’.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 KIT MAY Head teacher, administration Prairiewood High School (NSW)

A person with exceptional communication skills, Kit May has brought innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, collaboration and creativity to the role of head teacher, administration. According to his nominating colleague, it’s thanks to May’s work that the school of 1,200 students and over 100 staff members is today a “smooth running, well-organised mechanism”.

From his daily organisation of casual staff, to initiating and setting up systems for parent communication, to creating exam timetables that are mindful of student study loads, to creating a staff manual that places vital information at the fingertips of new staff members, May has created and tailored systems and structures that ensure the smooth running of a diverse and complex school. This enables the focus on teaching and learning by staff and students respectively to be maximised.

May is also a central figure on a range of school committees, including its Strategic Directions Committee. With his combination of a pragmatic, procedural mindset, an intuitive understanding of people, an unflappable demeanour and an indefatigable work ethic, May is yet another worthy 2017 Rising Star.

JENNIFER NELSON Deputy leader of learning (music – academic) St Andrew’s Cathedral School (NSW)

Jennifer Nelson joined the staff of St Andrew’s Cathedral School in 2013 as a specialist music teacher. During her time in that role, she noted new, innovative ways to encourage collaboration between music staff members when designing curriculum sequences, tasks and content. Nelson offered her learning to the music department and led the team through a redevelopment of the learning curriculum for music.

In recognition of her work and skill in redeveloping the curriculum program to great success, Nelson was promoted to her current role, deputy leader of learning (music – academic), in 2015. Last year, the school’s HSC and IB results included some outstanding successes for music students.

Nelson uses her technology expertise to mentor and develop the technology knowledge of other teachers in the school, and has volunteered to trial new teaching technology, after which trials she reports back to the whole school. She’s also a talented and versatile musician, using her skills and talents to support the St Andrew’s Cathedral School community.

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ANGUS MCVEY Assistant head of PDHPE Knox Grammar School (NSW)

A well-respected teacher, Angus McVey is described as “innovative, passionate and committed”, and as someone determined “to enrich his own pedagogical skills and contribute to the learning of others”.

McVey has been driving the evidencebased targeted teaching approach of Knox Grammar’s Personal Development, Health and PE department (PDHPE), He is said to have embraced data analysis to inform teaching and learning programs.

One approach that’s been very successful has been the tracking of Year 12 students’ performance in PDHPE according to the verbs used in their written work. That data is then made available to all Year 12 teachers so that they’re aware of what skills students need to further develop. This has led to personalised work and home learning for students.

With the support of his department head, McVey has also led a focus on improving students’ literacy skills, particularly their writing, and created excellent literacy resources for the PDHPE team.

McVey is co-leading the school’s new, innovative approach to professional learning.

Known for embracing innovative practices, he has been described by his nominating colleague as someone with whom it’s “a privilege and honour to work”.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:40:01 PM

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JEREMY LECORNU Assistant principal – innovation, teaching and learning Seaview High School (SA)

Jeremy LeCornu is a pioneer and seasoned user of the ‘flipped classroom’ methodology. He has organised several conferences and training sessions, both in South Australia and interstate, and that work has led to hundreds of teachers incorporating flipped classroom teaching into their own classrooms.

LeCornu is passionate about encouraging teachers to explore new methods of teaching and about giving students a voice in the classroom. The Educator understands that teachers regularly observe his classroom to witness flipped learning in action, and his YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/ jeremylecornu) has an impressive 8,000 subscribers!

At Seaview High School, LeCornu is currently spearheading an entirely new and modern school network that supports innovative teaching and learning. His focus is not on the use of technology for technology’s sake but on enhancing the use of time in the classroom through utilisation of technology.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 BRADLEY TYRRELL Dean of information and learning technologies Scotch College (WA)

Constantly evolving, looking for the best solution at any given time, and using technology to support efficiencies are said to be the things that Brad Tyrrell does best.

Tyrrell arrived at Scotch College in March 2013 and has made a significant impact in a number of areas of the school since that time.

He took what was a dysfunctional library model and transformed it into a lighthouse space, both physically and virtually, for students, staff, the school and library communities.

Physical spaces have evolved in response to student, staff and parent feedback, with the new junior middle library being nominated for an award in 2015. Meanwhile, virtual spaces have advanced at an even faster rate than the physical.

Tyrrell also took over the curriculum side of IT as well as reprographics in 2015. This year, he’s restructured the reprographics department to incorporate web and print design.

Tyrrell works closely with all Scotch executives, including the headmaster, in his efforts to make Scotch College a leader in all areas.

REBECCA FOWLER Year 5 and 6 coordinator Templestowe Valley Primary School (Vic)

Rebecca Fowler’s recommendation for inclusion in the Rising Stars list was accompanied by praise in the highest terms.

“In my 43 years in education, I cannot think of a more worthy recipient than Rebecca Fowler for this Rising Star award,” her nominating colleague said.

Fowler has been teaching for six years and quickly ascended to a vital leadership role because of her dynamic style, outstanding work ethic and leadership ability. A highly talented and innovative teacher, she takes great care to ensure every student she teaches has their educational needs catered for and is challenged. She divides her students into ability groups in literacy and numeracy sessions, giving them four different sets of work pitched at their ability levels. It’s also common for her to sit with students and provide one-on-one feedback or small group tuition.

As Year 5 and 6 coordinator, one of Fowler’s key innovations has been ‘Sweet Valley High’, which involves turning the school into a secondary college for a week for Year 5 and 6 students.

Those students are taught secondary school subjects by various teachers, and students are treated as young teenagers. It’s said the program has been highly successful in preparing students for their transition to secondary education.

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BRITT HOLMBERG Leading teacher Kalianna School (Vic)

Britt Holmberg is a hard worker who shows the utmost dedication to special education and is described by her nominating colleague as “absolutely extraordinary” and a leader many of her peers believe is “a gift to our profession”.

Last year, Holmberg completed her Master’s in Special Education, and this year she took on the role of ‘inclusion leading teacher’ at Kalianna School. She has a particular interest in supporting students with autism spectrum disorder, and heads the Bendigo region’s Autism Connect program, working with other leaders across the region to assist them in supporting students on the spectrum as well as those that demonstrate behaviours of concern.

Holmberg is also often called upon to provide professional development in the area of autism to other schools. Recently, she presented at two national conferences and has built a strong reputation in the field. She’s also been the key driver for the implementation of the Positive Behaviour Intervention and Supports framework at Kalianna, enabling the school to collect data, improve teacher practice, and develop systems to improve outcomes for all students.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:41:26 PM

Sponsored by

NATHAN PARKER

NICHOLE WILLIAMS

Teacher, technological and applied studies

Deputy principal

Caringbah High School (NSW)

Nathan Parker not only demands achievement but facilitates opportunities to achieve.

Recently, a group of Parker’s students took part in the F1 in Schools national championship in Adelaide, with their impressive work (including the development of a 3D CAD design car) ultimately rewarded with the Innovation Award, as well as awards for Fastest Car in the pressure challenge and Outstanding Industry Collaboration. According to his nominating colleague, Parker not only gets students involved in activities but sacrifices his personal time to motivate and engage students.

Parker is determined to educate future-focused learners, progressively increasing academic performance in design and technology to “exemplary levels”. Working to ensure every student achieves successful education outcomes, Parker designed and delivered intensive essay writing workshops using explicit instruction and a learning and responding matrix scaffold to support structured extended responses and higher-order thinking skills in design and technology.

Parker has created an optimal classroom environment for learning in which error is welcomed, student questions are frequent, engagement is the norm, and students have the reputation of being effective learners.

Batemans Bay Public School (NSW)

Nichole Williams has shown great initiative and leadership in various ways at Batemans Bay Public School, and continues to strive for improvement.

Williams became a support unit assistant principal at the school in 2011 and has since grown the support unit, which serves 36 students with high and complex needs. It’s a support unit that has a strong reputation across the region, with placements highly sought after. Students are integrated into mainstream classes each week, and then other children are reverse integrated into these classes. This approach has proved to be highly successful.

As deputy principal, Williams remains passionate about the wellbeing of students and staff and has led the school to become a ‘KidsMatter’ school. She has organised ‘Sorry Day’ events in support of the Aboriginal community, and her ideas, respect for culture and planned activities have earned her high respect within the school community.

Currently, Williams is relieving principal two days a week and has begun studying for her Master’s in Educational Leadership.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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COVER STORY

RISING STARS 2017 PATRICK SANDERS Head of science faculty Brighton Grammar School (Vic)

Since becoming head of secondary science at Brighton Grammar School, Patrick Sanders has been a man on a mission.

Sanders was committed to finding a way to lift standards in science education at Brighton Grammar. He worked with subject leaders to drive a full-scale rewrite of the science curriculum. But, according to his nominating colleague, the “real magic” is the fact that Sanders influenced a shift in focus from delivering content, to how to deliver that content. Teaching practice, that colleague says, has changed for the better.

After completing an analysis of the school’s Year 12 science results for the last three years, Sanders determined that, by improving academic literacy in science, ATAR scores would also improve. Collaborating with the school’s P-8 literacy coach, he trialled and implemented literacy enhancement tactics from Robert J Marzano’s ‘Six Step Process for Teaching Academic Vocabulary’ model. And then, to empower other members of staff to use this method, Sanders created an instructional video to teach staff how to apply Marzano’s method in their classes, regardless of subject.

Sanders has also driven a project to lift academic outcomes by producing a Year 7–12 rubric to achieve consistent marking and language for science practical reports. This involved his collaboration with university experts, teachers from other schools, and his own team. The result – after an investment of more than 150 hours of work – was the development of a Year 7–12 unit-by-unit assessment rubric.

Sanders has written several chapters for the new VCE chemistry textbook and digital platforms for Pearson, and has presented at several conferences.

KIRSTEN MURRAY Leading teacher, curriculum and MYP programming Alamanda College (Vic)

Kirsten Murray is a founding member of Alamanda College, a prep/kindergarten to Year 9 school in Victoria’s Point Cook. The school opened in 2013 with 330 students and today educates 2,040 students. Murray arrived at the school just out of the graduate teacher range and, having held a number of leadership roles since that time, is now leading its newly formed middle school curriculum team and is head of curriculum development.

As a key member of staff, Murray has supported both primary and secondary staff in their curriculum development and implementation strategies, working tirelessly for the benefit of both peers and students. Her nominating colleague says that Murray’s IT skills have enabled Alamanda College’s 1:1 device program to flourish across the school, with a 98% uptake. Described as a highly capable and distinguished Apple educator, Murray was invited to present at the prestigious 2016 EduTech Conference.

As a leader, it’s said Murray has demonstrated adaptive leading skills and high levels of curriculum knowledge supported by creativity and flexible thinking.

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ERIN COWIE Head, K – 6 Giant Steps (NSW and Vic)

Our next Rising Star, Erin Cowie, is described by her nominating colleague as “an outstanding young teacher”.

As head teacher at Giant Steps, an independent school for children with autism, Cowie is responsible for working with some of the school’s most challenging students.

The groups that she has taught all have complex needs.

Cowie’s work in developing, implementing and analysing data on her students details levels of both dysregulation and engagement.

The refinement of teaching and learning programs and the addition of a range of further adjustments results in improved outcomes for both students and their families, allowing greater participation across all facets of the child’s life.

In addition to her daily work at Giant Steps, Cowie has undertaken the Association of Independent Schools Middle Leaders Program, has recently completed Harvard University’s Instructional Rounds course, and is currently completing her Experienced Teacher qualification. She will also be presenting at the IABA conference in July, and is studying for her Master’s in Autism Studies at Griffith University. On top of all of that, Cowie now finds herself one of The Educator’s 2017 Rising Stars.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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4/05/2017 2:45:55 PM

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RYNN ANDERSON Principal Tarneit P-9 College (Vic)

Described as “an outstanding young school leader”, Rynn Anderson is the principal of Tarneit P-9 College west of Melbourne. It’s a rapidly growing school, with around 1,800 students enrolled from Foundation through to Year 9. The school’s population includes a high number of refugees and English as an Additional Language (EAL) students.

The Educator understands that Anderson has been responsible for building a strong learning culture within Tarneit P-9 College. That’s been the result of the effective use of professional learning teams, based on the DuFour model, as well as highly effective teacher capacity building using structured coaching approaches that have been founded upon the student-centred coaching model.

Additionally, Anderson has provided leadership to her local network of schools by delivering professional learning on successful coaching and providing effective feedback.

YASODAI SELVAKUMARAN Teacher and professional practice mentor

CHRIS PEVY-BUENEN Principal Nicholson Street Public School (NSW)

Rooty Hill High School (NSW)

Yasodai Selvakumaran is an outstanding teacher. Her students have consistently achieved above-average results in the HSC, in a school where the cohort generally performs just below state average in most subjects.

In 2014, Selvakumaran received the Australian Council of Educational Leadership NSW Mary Armstrong Young Educational Leader Award recognising inspiring classroom practice and her leadership of the school’s Aboriginal programs. Last year, she and another teacher developed a professional learning program that drew on concepts such as song lines, stories, non-verbal communication, symbols and images, community links and land links to introduce ‘8Ways of Learning’ in the school’s professional practice. Aboriginal elders, students and community leaders – including the staff from AFL NSW – conveyed deep messages about the way teachers can connect with the community and use their pedagogy to embed Aboriginal perspectives. The result was the adoption of 8Ways of Learning across the school.

As a professional practice mentor, Selvakumaran has developed professional learning for practicum supervisors and coached and mentored practicum, early-career and new teachers appointed to the school. Over 50 practicum students were offered places at the school in 2016, and it embedded a strategic partnership with UNSW to offer an APST Lead level course for classroom observers.

As a result of the action research project on which Selvakumaran collaborated with another teacher, the school’s work on creativity was translated into a Creative Inquiry Cycle, which was trialled with over 500 students studying history and geography across the school. Selvakumaran’s implementation of that work will be featured in the Australian Learning Lecture series this year.

Chris Pevy-Buenen inspires students, staff and members of his community to continuously enhance learning for all. At 31 years of age, he became principal of Nicholson Street Public School after highly successful tenures as both a classroom teacher and assistant principal.

Since being appointed principal, Pevy-Buenen has worked to foster high-quality teacher and learning experiences for all children by promoting targeted funding and aligning the school community behind the school vision.

He’s promoted a culture of distributive leadership, empowering staff at all levels to lead key projects, established coaching and mentoring programs across the school, and innovative practices that embed information and communication technology in all learning areas.

Pevy-Buenen has also initiated and led an early-career principals’ network, which provides an opportunity for newly appointed principals to network and build collegial relationships with each other via a series of workshops led by senior education officials. He works with principal colleagues to facilitate professional connections for all staff members that extend beyond the school gate.

www.educatoronline.com.au

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FEATURES

STEM LEADERSHIP

Teaching for tomorrow It’s no secret that STEM education will become increasingly critical. But teaching STEM requires appropriately educated teachers and school leaders ready and willing to drive change

IT WAS the Office of the Chief Scientist’s 2013 position paper – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the National Interest: A Strategic Approach – that became the catalyst for the creation of a substantial volume of today’s STEM-structured curricula in Australia.

“In this report, [the Chief Scientist] linked the nation’s future productivity to the prediction that 75% of the fastest-growing jobs in the future will be in STEM fields,” says Professor Kathryn Holmes of Western Sydney University’s (WSU’s) School of Education.

To use the words of the report, “STEM has and will continue to provide for everyone – to make available the new knowledge and technologies that are needed to address challenges, and to underpin new goods and services.”

Holmes adds that the report also pointed to “the consistent decline in student interest in choosing STEM subjects in secondary school, particularly in advanced mathematics, which underpins other STEM subjects”.

That report, she says, began a groundswell of interest in STEM in both industry and education sectors. In December 2015, all state and territory education ministers

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cooperated to produce the national STEM education strategy.

“This strategy emphasises the value in teaching STEM subjects in interdisciplinary ways, getting students to work on real-world problems which don’t sit neatly within

There’s an integral need to work towards higher numbers of students completing STEM studies at tertiary level, as well as an elevated number of students studying STEM subjects in Year 12. There’s also a gender imbalance to be addressed. According to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, women make up less than one fifth of Australians qualified in STEM. A report released last March by PwC, entitled Making STEM a Primary Priority, observed that when it came to students receiving university offers to study teaching, between 2001 and 2013 the volume that had not studied mathematics at HSC level had tripled – from 4.8% to 15.6%.

It is imperative that students be educated as to the advantage of electing to study STEM subjects, including the heightened career opportunities in the workforce of tomorrow.

When students are exposed to STEM education early on, the likelihood increases that they will then develop a genuine interest in the subject matter and choose to continue

“It is important for STEM education leaders to have STEM-specific qualifications so that they have sound knowledge of curriculum integration and effective STEM practices” Professor Kathryn Holmes, Western Sydney University traditional school subjects,” Holmes says. “It is thought that this approach may engage more students and therefore increase interest in STEM subjects in the upper years of schooling.”

The status quo The unfortunate reality is that there remains significant work to be done in Australia, in order for our community to be able to reap the full range of benefits that STEM can offer.

STEM-focused studies down the track, potentially opting to pursue a career path that makes use of that education. And as has already been said, it’s essential that a very significant number of tomorrow’s students make such a vocational choice.

Starting early The PwC report made the case for the importance of high-quality science and

www.educatoronline.com.au

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WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY Western Sydney University believes that for the university, the region, our alumni and our students, there exists an unlimited world of opportunity.

In this year’s QS World University Rankings by Subject, Western Sydney University has been ranked in the Top 150 Universities for Education. The programs offered within our School of Education prepare teachers and educators for 21st century schools, preschools and adult learning environments. We believe that the future of education is based on effectively engaging students and teachers in challenging and relevant learning through invigorating and networked communities of learners.

mathematics education in Australian primary schools. Arguing that the foundations of STEM competence are laid in early childhood, with children’s engagement in science before the ages of 11–14 critical to their development of a long-term interest in STEM, the report said that not enough STEM was being taught in primary schools and that many primary teachers lacked the expertise to adequately teach STEM. And, noting widely reported deficiencies in knowledge and qualifications of some Australian secondary STEM teachers, it said it could safely be assumed that STEMtrained teachers at primary level were even fewer and farer between.

“It is important for STEM education leaders to have STEM-specific qualifications

so that they have sound knowledge of curriculum integration and effective STEM practices,” Holmes explains.

“Most teachers have been trained in separate subject areas, without the opportunity to closely examine and learn about the benefits and difficulties of integrating subject areas through the use of project-based learning or authentic inquiry.”

She adds: “Also, new areas have arisen recently, such as computational thinking, which can be applied across all STEM curriculum areas.”

Skilling up It’s been well established by research, as the PwC report notes, that quality of teaching is

the greatest in-school influence on student learning and achievement. It cited Grattan Institute research that concluded that improving teacher effectiveness by between 20% and 30% would raise the nation’s longrun GDP growth by approximately 0.4% per annum, meaning $240bn would be added to our GDP by 2050. And, according to the firm’s own analysis, reforming Australia’s school education system consistently with best practice internationally would mean $3.2trn in benefits over the lifetime of the generation born in 2012.

Holmes discusses what WSU’s School of Education is doing in order to skill up educators with the capabilities they will require to become STEM leaders within their

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FEATURES

STEM LEADERSHIP Brought to you by

own school communities. Beginning in July, its Master of Education (STEM) degree, catering for primary and lower secondary teachers, aims to attract teachers who are seeking to gain skills in planning, delivering and evaluating effectively integrated STEM learning experiences.

“Teachers will learn about integrated approaches to the STEM curriculum, computational thinking across the STEM curriculum, [and a] deeper understanding of mathematics and science, leadership and research,” Holmes says.

Because the course is delivered entirely online, the Master of Education (STEM) at WSU will be available nationally.

Additionally, from Autumn 2018, WSU will be offering a Master of Teaching (Secondary) STEM degree, which will seek to prepare students for secondary school careers in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics, both within Australia and around the world. The university says the new degree will be taught both on campus and in schools, through innovative blended teaching and learning approaches.

Holmes expects STEM leadership qualifications to become increasingly sought after by educators.

“I presented information about the degree at a recent conference for 350 NSW Department of Education teachers, and there

THE CYCLE OF STEM UNDERACHIEVEMENT

Decline

Disengagement

Lack of STEM-qualified teachers, especially in the primary years, lowers the quality of STEM instruction

Students start to disengage and underachieve in STEM from a very early stage in their education

Disincentives

Attrition

STEM graduates are in high demand in other sectors. Not enough choose to teach, because of uncompetitive salaries and perceived low status

Fewer students study STEM subjects in the senior high school years and university

Scarcity Smaller number of STEM graduates shrinks the pool of potential STEM teachers

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Source: PwC, Making STEM a Primary Priority, March 2016

was considerable interest,” she says. “Teachers seem to be looking for further qualifications, and STEM is an area in strong demand at the moment.”

STEM leadership So, who specifically should contemplate undertaking WSU’s Master of Education (STEM)?

“Teachers who teach Kindergarten to Year 8 and who are interested in deepening their discipline knowledge in mathematics and science,” Holmes says. “Also, [those who] are interested in learning about integrating STEM subject areas to engage more students in real-world problem solving.”

Of course, it’s not purely on the shoulders of classroom teachers to be readying their students for the future. In a subsequent paper of the Office of the Chief Scientist, Transforming STEM Teaching in Australian Primary Schools: Everybody’s Business, there’s a salient reminder of the broadly applicable statement that change begins at the top. And that means it’s important for principals to understand the link between STEM education and a prosperous future economy.

To use the words of the report: “We know that principals create the environments in which teachers succeed or fail in improving STEM education. They signal to teachers where the school’s priorities lie and what standards are expected, as well as controlling access to the available resources and support.”

The onus is on principals to create a culture within their schools that is conducive to fostering STEM leaders. Leaders should identify appropriate talent, encourage the pursuit of STEM leadership qualifications, and create opportunities for skilled leaders to drive STEM education. Those that succeed on this front will likely have students more equipped to take on the world that they’ll be tasked to lead.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

TRINITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL

ELEVATING THE EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATION The Educator talks to Trinity Grammar School headmaster Milton Cujes about a school that is determined not to rest on its laurels, but to work creatively to meet the diverse needs of its students

SYDNEY’S TRINITY Grammar School, a non-selective boys’ school, has been educating young men for over 100 years.

“As a school community, we are committed to an environment where every boy has his best chance of realising his potential, passions and purpose in life,” says headmaster Milton Cujes, who has led Trinity since 1996.

“The school’s breadth of offerings, not only in sport and co-curricular activities but also in terms of differentiated academic pathways beyond the standard HSC curriculum, testifies to our determination to not rest on our laurels, but to continue to work creatively and effectively to meet the diverse educational needs of our boys so as to enhance their learning experiences at Trinity.”

As well as the HSC, the school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme and the Trinity Vocational Academic Course (offering VET courses to Year 11 and 12 students and encompassing school-based traineeships), which it provides as a registered training organisation.

“There is no doubt in my mind that our school community is formed and developed not so much by official pronouncements or major building works, rather it is really formed through the growing awareness of those who are part of our community, realising it is not

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so much the proverbial three Rs of reading, ’riting and ’rithmatic that sets a Trinity education apart, but the three Rs of human relationships, namely recognising the needs of others; respecting one another; and responding to the needs of others. That gives our school a heart and purpose worthy of its Christian founding principles.”

New opportunities Cujes tells The Educator about the school’s development of its unique Field Studies Centre, located at Woollamia in the Shoalhaven region on NSW’s South Coast.

involving hands-on activities and physical interaction with the natural environment, with relevant, meaningful and challenging learning experiences, significantly supports the boys’ classroom learning at Summer

“We are committed to an environment where every boy has his best chance of realising his potential, passions and purpose in life” He says this has facilitated new learning opportunities for Trinity students across many subject areas, particularly in the Human Society and Its Environment domain, which are “conducive to their cognitive, social and emotional needs”.

“The activity-based nature of fieldwork,

Hill and their overall learning outcomes,” says Cujes.

He says the school seeks to enable its students to develop their potential in terms of mind, body and spirit.

“This allows for integration of skills such as problem-solving, organisation, teamwork,

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Headmaster Milton Cujes with Year 12 school officers

THE SCHOOL AT A GLANCE

In 1913, George Chambers founded the school at Dulwich Hill (it later moved to Summer Hill in 1926)

Today, the school has more than 2,000 students from pre-K through to Year 12, studying at three campuses (at Strathfield and Summer Hill)

The school delivers the widest range of Higher School Certificate and International Baccalaureate subject choices in NSW

In 2016, three of the school’s IB students achieved a perfect score of 45 (equivalent to an ATAR maximum of 99.95)

leadership and judgment, as well as academic and physical pursuits.”

Cujes says Trinity’s Woollamia campus offers something “over and above” that which is offered at its urban campuses.

“It affords our boys the life-forming opportunities of living in community, and learning about oneself and others from the experience as well as the time and space for reflection,” he says.

Cujes describes the Field Studies Centre as an ideal setting for Trinity’s students to be nurtured and challenged.

“The Centre provides the opportunity for growth and innovation in various academic disciplines, including geography, science, visual arts, history and sport, with the potential for research partnerships and projects with leading education providers and businesses, as well as interaction with the local Indigenous community,” he says.

Learning and wellbeing For many years, Cujes says, the school has been committed to utilising a number of survey tools for the purpose of better understanding, and responding to, the learning and wellbeing needs of its students.

“These … form part of our holistic emphasis on learning and wellbeing,” he says.

“The school also recently introduced the Motivation and Engagement Wheel concept, developed by Professor Andrew Martin, for boys in Years 5, 7 and 10,” says Cujes. “This analysis helps to show boys the many ways they can reach their potential, achieve their personal bests, and feel good about learning by increasing their positive and reducing their negative motivation and engagement factors. An important message from the Motivation and Engagement Wheel analysis is that all the positive motivation and engagement factors are able to be developed or learned, and the negative

motivation and engagement factors can be remediated. The Wheel also promotes factors that are pivotal to boys’ success beyond school.”

Another initiative Trinity has introduced is the concept of Year 7 Swap Days.

“Each year, Year 7 parents are invited to take their sons’ places and attend class for a day, whilst their sons participate in an alternative in-school activity,” Cujes says.

As a result of their involvement, parents discover first-hand what modern student life is like and are therefore better prepared to appreciate some of the pressures confronting their children.

“Communication between parents and the school is also enhanced by this contact at a time when education is experiencing rapid change and development,” Cujes says.

Different pathways For the past 20 years, Trinity has been an

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

TRINITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL Trinity Grammar School’s Field Studies Centre at Woollamia

THINKING AHEAD TE: How do you think schools need to go about preparing their students to be adults in tomorrow’s world?

Milton Cujes: Developing students as successful learners is one of the key goals of a Trinity education.

An important aspect of this process is developing resilience and a growth mindset.

This has a large focus at Trinity across the various campuses. In the current climate of high-stakes testing and comparison, the idea of failing and learning from mistakes is quite countercultural. The expectation that students should be pushed to the edge of their abilities, experience failure and learn from their mistakes is becoming the norm. This attitude, otherwise known as a growth mindset, is beginning to make a significant difference in the way students approach their learning and the level of reflection that is present throughout the learning process.

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IB Authorised school. Currently, about 50% of its senior students choose the IB Diploma option, as opposed to the HSC, according to Cujes.

“In 2016, Trinity students averaged an incredible 37/45, which far outstripped the world average of 29/45,” he says.

“In 2015, Trinity also became the first school in Australasia to be accredited as a World Academy of Sport Athlete Friendly Education Centre.”

The school is only one of nine in the world to receive that accreditation.

“The World Academy of Sport was launched as a global initiative to provide flexibility and support to exceptional student athletes, enabling them to combine challenging training schedules with their academic commitments,” says Cujes.

“We have seen several of these elite student athletes receive scholarships to American and Canadian universities.”

Cujes adds that Trinity has been an authorised IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) School for several years.

“The PYP has a strong focus on studentcentred, enquiry-based, concept-driven learning and teaching,” he says.

“Over the last few years it has been exciting to continue to develop the PYP framework at Trinity with a more deliberate focus on developing the conceptual nature of the units of enquiry. This has helped students to move beyond superficial learning and the memorisation of factual information, to exploring ideas in greater depth and complexity.

“A greater focus on conceptual learning has also resulted in further opportunity to consider the relevance and transferability of their learning to different domains and areas of life.”

In conference Cujes also discusses the introduction of Student-led Conferences at Trinity.

“Over the last couple of years the teachers at the Preparatory School have been working with the boys to develop a strong sense of ownership of their learning and to deepen

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their level of reflection about their learning,” he says. “To support this process, last year we embarked on an exciting new learning initiative with the introduction of Studentled Conferences. These conferences provide boys with the opportunity to share their learning with their parents within the context of their classrooms.”

During the conferences, students highlight their areas of growth and development and share their future learning goals. Cujes says the first iteration of the conferences was “a tremendous success”.

“Listening to the conversations between students and parents highlighted the growth in the boys as reflective learners, their ability to describe their role in the learning process, and their awareness of their strengths and areas for future growth,” he says.

“It also acted as a powerful vehicle for strengthening the partnership between home and school.”

“By forging strategic partnerships with industry to adopt new approaches to realising the highest potential for all of the school’s students, Trinity aims to develop future visionary and strategic leaders and industry innovators” On the horizon As the topic turns to times ahead, Cujes mentions Trinity’s involvement in the Association of Independent Schools of NSW’s ELEVATE (Agile Design for High Potential Learners) project. It’s one of only 15 schools selected from the independent, Catholic and government sectors to be part of the first round of this project.

“ELEVATE is a multi-year program of

work focusing on designing and implementing educational best practices to address the learning needs of high-potential learners, including gifted learners,” Cujes says.

“The impetus for the project stems from growing concerns about the under­performance of the top 40% of Australian learners, substantiated by national and international research and assessment.”

Using robust design thinking, methods

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

TRINITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL and processes, in combination with research evidence, practitioner knowledge and the experience of teachers, Cujes says ELEVATE provides an exciting opportunity for the growth and refinement of Trinity’s learning and teaching models.

“An important element of this project is its focus on individual school context, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach,” he says.

“Trinity is committed to creating the best possible learning environment to foster innovation, creativity and higher-level thinking. These skills are recognised as being critical to thriving in the modern global economy.

“Trinity’s involvement in the ELEVATE project assists the school to draw on the best examples from around the world, collaborate with other schools in the core development group, and design classroom learning approaches that respond and adapt to the needs of its boys.”

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Cujes says the project has received strong support from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and that, at the launch event, Kate Carnell AO, Ombudsman for Family Enterprise and Small Business and former CEO of ACCI, said it was crucial for Australian businesses to play a role in preparing young people to “become the innovators, job creators and social change agents of the future”.

“By forging strategic partnerships with industry to adopt new approaches to realising the highest potential for all of the school’s students, Trinity aims to develop future visionary and strategic leaders and industry innovators.”

Adding it up There’s also a significant project underway on the mathematics front.

“This year we embarked on a new teaching and learning initiative in the area of

mathematics designed to develop students as mathematicians; mathematical skills; and a growth-minded disposition,” Cujes says.

“Recent literature highlights the significant impact that attitude and mindset have on a student’s success. So many primary-aged students approach mathematics with a fixed mindset, assuming that it is too hard or that they lack the potential to be successful.”

This, he says, often results in students encountering early setbacks in their learning and acquisition of mathematical skills and understanding.

“To counteract this, we are adopting an approach to mathematics that encourages risk-taking, collaboration and reflection based on rich, real-life mathematical problems. We look forward to celebrating the students’ mathematical problem-solving proficiency and reasoning as they make connections between their existing thinking and mathematical concepts and skills.”

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PEOPLE

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

AUSTRALIAN TEACHERS

z RECOGNISED AT SYDNEY

AWARDS CEREMONY

In March, it was announced that 12 Australian educators were recipients of the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards for 2017.

Launched last October, the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards is run in partnership with the not-for-profit organisation Schools Plus, and seeks to recognise great teachers and principals, particularly those working in challenging and socially diverse communities.

The awards were open to education professionals from all sectors of the Australian school system (government, Catholic and independent) and applications were received from 443 teachers and school leaders.

The 12 award recipients were selected by a panel made up of respected business and education leaders.

“Every day, in schools across Australia, teachers and principals are working hard to change their students’ lives,” said Rosemary Conn, CEO of Schools Plus, in a statement.

“These 12 outstanding educators go to inspiring lengths to provide the sort of teaching that opens up new possibilities for their students, no matter their backgrounds.”

Each recipient will take part in a 12-month teaching fellowship, worth $45,000, during which time they’ll pursue their own choice of individual professional development. They will each receive funding to develop a significant project for their schools, and will visit Singapore to observe its education system.

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TEACHERS GATHER TO CONTEMPLATE FUTURE OF EDUCATION March was also the month in which educators from across Australia descended on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for the National FutureSchools Expo, an annual three-day K-12 schools event that combines masterclasses and conference sessions themed around the different aspects of the future school.

Among those who spoke at this year’s event was Milton Chen (pictured below), senior fellow and executive director emeritus of the George Lucas Educational Foundation (Edutopia). His address, entitled “Educating the Whole Child: The Role of the Arts, Nature and Place-Based Learning”, focused on global trends and challenges in education.

Another speaker on the 2017 program was Michael Cowling, senior lecturer in educational technology at Central Queensland University, who gave a presentation on “The Future for Technologies in Schools”, discussing the importance of ensuring that the use of digital devices in classrooms serves the purpose of actually enhancing learning.

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FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION FEATURES

BULLYING

IS WORKPLACE BULLYING ON THE RISE? Alice DeBoos says it’s time to separate facts from fiction when it comes to instances of workplace bullying A REPORT released late last year created headlines when it concluded that workplace bullying was steadily increasing in Australia, with 9.7% of workers experiencing bullying and 32.6% of those being bullied on a weekly basis.1 But is this more perception than reality?

Bullying has been a widely reported taboo at work for many years now, and it seems incongruous that, with all the awareness training, policy work and organisational attention unlawful behaviours would be on the rise. Without diminishing the devastating effect that bullying can have, is it not the reality that employees are more likely to attach the label to behaviours rather than there being any actual increase in true workplace bullying?

My experience is that the most common grievances dealt with by organisations are allegations of bullying made by employees against their supervisors or managers.

However, once investigated, it is unusual for such allegations to be substantiated. Leaving aside those complaints that can be readily dismissed, more usually a finding that there has been a communication breakdown or less than ideal management techniques is the outcome. This mismanagement or communication failure creates frustration, tension and often distress, but it is not unlawful bullying.

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A definition of bullying Nobody likes to be performance managed.

Nobody likes to have a manager whose style and approach clashes with their own, and nobody likes to have a difficult relationship with their manager. When any of these issues arise, work can become stressful and riddled with tension. In those circumstances, it is not surprising that an employee answers in the affirmative when they are asked if they have experienced bullying – defined as the following: “offensive behaviour has to occur repeatedly over a period of time and the person confronted has to experience difficulties defending him or herself ”.2

A ‘REASONABLENESS’ TEST Whether or not someone finds the behaviour of another offensive is entirely subjective.

The legal test applied, however, is one that is objective in nature and based upon a test of reasonableness. This is the reason for the divergence between perception and reality. It is absolutely the case that a difficult working relationship can cause distress and anxiety, but this effect should not automatically lead to the conclusion that the behaviour causing the problem was unlawful or even unreasonable.

The anti-bullying jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission has borne out this conclusion. If workplace bullying was as prevalent and increasing as reported, then surely there would have been numerous orders being issued by the Commission to curb such behaviour. Instead, in three years, only a small handful of successful applications have been made, and those orders have almost entirely involved small businesses that lack the policies, training and systems that more sophisticated employers accept as the norm.

Instead, the Commission has routinely rejected applications in a series of decisions

which have taken a sensible approach to the issue, highlighting that performance management, workplace tension and conflict are all normal hallmarks of the workplace and not to be mistaken for unlawful bullying, regardless of how the employee feels about their treatment.

Bringing it back to reality This does not mean that bullying does not occur, but it does in my view mean that the emphasis should be on two key aspects of workplace interaction.

Firstly, employees need to understand that workplace tension, difficult situations and relationships do not necessarily create bullying and instead are circumstances that

employer feels it is mitigating legal risk, but in reality a standard formal approach, when the allegations are not of a serious legal nature, can instead enable a culture of complaint, rather than teaching employees that difficult relationships need to be resolved through other means. A good policy is drafted to enable a flexible and discretionary approach to dealing with complaints, which can then free up valuable HR resources to manage the relationship issues at the heart of the problem.

Time to refocus While employers always need to reinforce a zero tolerance approach to bullying within the workplace and discharge this fundamentally

I often see employers automatically launch into formal investigations of bullying complaints when an informal approach would have been more appropriate need to be addressed through training, discussion and mediation, rather than resorting to bullying complaints.

Secondly, focusing on managers’ skills is vital in reducing tension to begin with.

Managers need to be confident about giving performance feedback and having difficult conversations. They need to understand and appreciate that employees have to be managed in different ways, and be aware of perceptions and personality types. Not everyone responds to the same management style, and managers need to be adaptive and responsive.

Cultural change can also be assisted by organisations taking a less formal approach to workplace complaints when any reasonable assessment of the complaint concludes that the behaviour is not bullying as defined by the law. I often see employers automatically launch into formal investigations of bullying complaints when an informal approach would have been more appropriate. The

important legal duty of care towards employees, it is also the case that employees need to understand that resilience is a vital quality. My view is that employers have a very good understanding of their obligations with respect to workplace bullying, and all that I deal with have the required systems, training and policies in place. Rather than an increase in unlawful behaviour, we are experiencing an increase in the labelling of difficulties as bullying. We need to change the dialogue on this issue and focus instead on ensuring that everyone in the workplace understands how to manage difficult situations and relationships within teams.

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References: Bullying & Harassment in Australian Workplaces: Results from the Australian Workplace Barometer Project 2014/2015 – November 2016, Potter, Dollard, Tuckey 2 Ibid pp17

Alice DeBoos is a partner and global practice area leader of the Labour, Employment & Workplace Safety team at K&L Gates.

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

TELL US WHAT YOU GET UP TO Email brett.henebery@keymedia.com.au

300

Number of workshops and conferences on autism education at which Craig Smith has presented

500

Number of children with autism with whom Craig Smith has worked

20,000

Number of times Craig Smith’s free iBooks on creative autism education practices have been downloaded

FROM NEWCASTLE TO THE UNITED NATIONS Aspect Hunter School’s Craig Smith didn’t expect to end up presenting on Minecraft for the UN

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RENOWNED AUTISM educator Craig Smith recently travelled to China to share his unique strategies for teaching students on the autism spectrum.

A workshop hosted by the United Nations, on disability-inclusive development initiatives across the Asia-Pacific, was held there last December to discuss innovative methods for supporting social and educational access for students with additional needs.

Smith was the Asia-Pacific representative for sharing autism education initiatives. In his presentation he explained how creatively connecting the education of his students to

their special interests – such as Minecraft and Pokémon Go – had achieved great results in helping them reach their personal and academic goals.

“The old adage that ‘what you learn with pleasure you never forget’ is never truer than for our students on the autism spectrum, who can find it difficult to understand the point of many parts of their school journey,” Smith says.

He continues to work with national and international stakeholders to ensure further understanding and success in this critical accessibility space.

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