Education Matters (Primary) September 2019

A content rich, comprehensive, buyer’s guide for schools. www.educationmattersmag.com.au

2019 TEMBER

SEP

Y 2020 FEBRUAR

CATERING TO EVERY STUDENT’S NEEDS Principally Speaking: Mannum Community College Boosting STEM learning Robotics in the modern classroom

With Epson, 100% of your class can focus on your lessons.

ON A 70” DISPLAY ONLY 42% SEE IT ALL – GO BIG WITH EPSON When you are looking to inspire the next generation, ensure you engage your audience right to the back of the room. Research confirms that audiences are missing out when viewing content on a 70-inch flat panel TV versus a 100-inch projector screen*.

You put too much hard work in to your lessons to fall down in the last mile.

Influence starts with you and ends with a screen size that matters.

For more information visit: www.epson.com.au/gobigwithepson *Leading 70-inch class 4k resolution flat panel in a 22’ (width) by 27’ (depth) classroom-style arrangement. When asked to copy down six short items of information from slides being displayed, 58% of students ages 12-22 copied at least one item incorrectly. Based on an independent, quantitative study conducted by Radius Research in multiple U.S. markets.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Today’s students are growing up in a digital world. One that is so different to what we once knew. Technology is evolving at a rapid rate and its uses extending far beyond what some ever thought possible.

The future workforce and how schools can prepare their students for it are topics that continue to make regular headlines. Over time, numerous jobs have been replaced by technology. In the future, this trend is likely to continue. But as particular jobs get replaced, there are sure to be new ones that will take their place. So how do schools prepare their students for the future when no one knows for certain what the future will bring?

In this edition of Education Matters, we examine the potential of robotics for the modern classroom and chat with several experts about why robotics has become an important learning tool (see page 20). Peter Corke, Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision; Rod Bassi, Acer Sales Director Oceania; globally renowned robotics and computer programming expert, Dr Gary Stager; and Associate Professor of Educational Technology at CQUniversity, Dr Michael A. Cowling; all share their thoughts.

Also in this issue, global tech giant Acer discusses how technology can be used to drive enhanced levels of personalised learning (see page 24); a Brisbane school talks about its recent technology upgrade to Epson’s interactive ultra short throw projectors (see page 30); globally renowned Finnish education expert, Dr Pasi Sahlberg reveals how smartphone use can impact student health and why banning them isn’t the best solution (see page 36); and Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL in London, Rosemary Luckin, provides tips on choosing the right technology for your school (see page 26).

In the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) space, STEM expert Dr Kathy Smith from Monash looks at the great work already being done by primary teachers (see page 50); Professor Chris Walsh from Victoria University and Dr Leicha A. Bragg of Deakin University unveil a new numeracy and mathematics resource for teachers (see page 46); and Russell Tytler of Deakin University weighs in on the direct teaching versus inquiry debate in Science and Mathematics (see page 44).

Publisher: Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au Chief Operating Officer: Zelda Tupicoff zelda.tupicoff@primecreative.com.au Managing Editor: Toli Papadopoulos toli.papadopoulos@primecreative.com.au Editor: Danielle Gullaci danielle.gullaci@primecreative.com.au Design Production Manager: Michelle Weston Art Director: Blake Storey Designers: Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty General Manager (Syd): Terry Wogan terry.wogan@primecreative.com.au

Advertising: Andrew Morrison andrew.morrison@primecreative.com.au 0411 755 432 Sarah Leptos sarah.leptos@primecreative.com.au 0403 485 140 Client Success Manager: Justine Nardone

In addition, education expert Professor John Fischetti of the University of Newcastle discusses the drivers of instructional leadership (see page 40) and CEO of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Mark Grant, talks about the professional learning resources available to support teachers and school leaders (see page 38).

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It’s an honour to join you for this edition of Education Matters – Primary. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to email me at danielle.gullaci@primecreative.com.au. You can also sign up to our fortnightly email newsletter, The Whiteboard, by visiting our all-new website educationmattersmag.com.au.

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Copyright Education Matters is owned by Prime Creative Media Pty. Ltd. and published by John Murphy. All material in Education Matters is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical including information retrieval systems) without the written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequenses arising from information published. The opinions of the magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated. All photographs of schools (including students) depicted in feature articles and advertisements throughout this magazine have been supplied to the publisher (and approved) by the contributing school. All material supplied by schools is done so with the understanding that such images will be published in Education Matters and may also appear on the our website: www.edumatters.com.au.

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contents

PRIMARY September 2019 - February 2020

REGULARS

FEATURES 26

Editor’s note

3

Buyer’s Guide

6

UCL Professor Rosemary Luckin offers her advice on deciding which technology is the best option for your school.

News

8

34 Educators call for greater support

A snapshot of some of the latest news and developments in the education sector.

APPA column

14

In this edition’s Australian Primary Principals Association column, President Malcolm Elliott discusses the importance of building global competence, and how this can benefit students in the future.

Principally Speaking

16

Kylie Egger, Principal at Mannum Community College in South Australia, speaks about the importance of catering to the diverse needs of every student.

Hot Topic: Robotics

20

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid rate, more and more technology is being introduced into schools. Education Matters speaks with various experts about the potential for robotics in the modern classroom.

The Last Word

58

Events

62

Minister for Education, Dan Tehan; CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, David de Carvalho; President of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association, Brad Gaynor; and Federal President of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe; offer opinion pieces on a variety of topical subjects.

Choosing the right fit

Associate Professor Elspeth McInnes and Dr Lesley-anne Ey of the University of South Australia break down the findings of a national survey about problematic sexual behaviours in young children.

36

Smartphone ban isn’t smart after all

Finnish education expert Dr Pasi Sahlberg considers the issue of smartphones in schools and why banning them isn’t the answer.

40 The multiple drivers of instructional leadership

Professor John Fischetti of the University of Newcastle explains instructional leadership and the numerous factors within a school that affect how it is implemented.

44

New pedagogies for interdisciplinary STEM skills

46

Building confidence in teaching numeracy

50

The reality of STEM education

Russell Tytler of Deakin University discusses the direct teaching versus inquiry debate in the STEM space.

Professor Chris Walsh from Victoria University and Dr Leicha A. Bragg of Deakin University have co-developed a free new teaching resource that focuses on numeracy and mathematics.

STEM expert Dr Kathy Smith from Monash University sheds light on the challenges of STEM education in primary schools and how we can learn from the work of primary teachers.

A calendar of upcoming education events happening around Australia.

4

education matters primary

8 Keys to Inclusive Play The school playground should be a space for all children to play together. Learn how you can make your space entertaining for kids of all abilities.

5. The ‘Coolest Thing’ Identify the piece of equipment that you think children will be most excited about. Make sure that this activity is usable by everyone.

1. Physical, Sensory and Social Activities Create a rich play environment by offering a diverse range of activities across all three categories.

6. Pods, Rooms and Zones Develop specialised areas of play. This allows choices by a child who may be overstimulated by a noisy or very active area.

2. Mulitple Levels of Challenge Choose equipment with a wide variety of challenge levels to provide appropriate involvement for everyone.

3. Grouping of Activities Invite engagement between children of different abilities by locating similar activities close to one another.

4. Elevated Play Make high decks a destination point with engaging play so everyone wants to climb or wheel themselves up there.

7. Unitary Surfacing Surfacing can be divided into two groups: loose and unitary.

Unitary surfacing allows people in wheelchairs to get to the play activities easily.

8. Routes and Maneuvarability Routes through the play area should be wide enough for people in wheelchairs to pass one another. Also to enter, turn and exit without difficulty.

Climbing Challenge Level 3

Climbing Challenge Level 2

Social Interaction

Climbing Challenge Level 1

Upper Body Challenge Level 1

Tactile & Auditory Sensory Experience

Tactile & Auditory Sensory Experience

Unity Dome by Playworld When the budget or the space is tight, think about equipment that has multiple challenge levels and inclusive intents.

We design school play spaces for all abilities.

For more information visit playrope.com.au/schools

BUYER’S GUIDE

TECHNOLOGY

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

43 FutureSchools: Education event

24 Acer: Personalised learning technology

An interactive and immersive experience for the K-12 sector, FutureSchools has been completely revamped for 2020, allowing visitors to create their own agenda from 110 learning hours that are jam-packed with knowledge.

Oceanic Managing Director at Acer, Darren Simmons, discusses the potential of personalised learning, highlighting a major research project being conducted with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

CURRICULUM

28 EduTech: Education event Bringing together the entire lifecycle of education under the one roof, EduTECH 2020 will feature over 300 exhibitors hosting seminars, launching new products and offering demonstrations.

30 Epson: Projectors To encourage greater collaboration and enhanced functionality, Ashgrove State School in Brisbane is replacing its existing technology with Epson’s interactive ultra short throw projectors.

49 Barbara Murray: Classroom resources Phonics authority and co-author of Sound Waves, Barbara Murray, explains why students need to develop an awareness of the 43 sounds (phonemes) used in Australian spoken English.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

32 Edval: Timetabling software Edval has launched an all-new cloud-based software solution called Edval Primary, which has been designed to cater to the specific timetabling needs of primary schools.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

38 AITSL: Professional learning resources CEO of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Mark Grant, discusses the resources the organisation provides to teachers and school leaders at all stages of their career.

42 Monash: Literacy research Monash Education reveals some of the ideas that have emerged from its five-year research project into the use of graphic novels.

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education matters primary

52 PlayRope: Playgrounds Before planning a new school playground, PlayRope says it’s important for schools to do their research and seek guidance from a team of experts. PlayRope offers some tips on how to get started.

54 WillPlay: Playgrounds The Urban Warrior range of play equipment by WillPlay promotes greater core strength and encourages physical activity for students of all ages.

56 Sherpa Kids: Out of school hours care In this issue, we speak with Sherpa Kids’ franchisees William and Sophia Wong, who have been recognised for their significant contribution to the small regional town of Uralla in NSW.

Make the most of new professional learning resources VIDEO CASE STUDIES

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NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS

NAPLAN summary results show some positive signs NAPLAN 2019 summary information has revealed positive improvements in student

In 2019, 50 per cent of schools completed NAPLAN testing online, with all schools

writing, particularly in Year 3, when compared to last year. For other test domains,

due to make the online transition in 2020. However, the Education Council, comprising

results were similar to 2018.

all of Australia’s education ministers, agreed to postpone the national rollout of NAPLAN

The summary information, released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) at the end of August provides preliminary results at the national, and state and territory level for each school year assessed and for all domains in NAPLAN.

Online until 2021, following connectivity issues that affected numerous schools, with some students having to resit the test.

Though NAPLAN Online has come under a great deal of scrutiny due to these connectivity problems and questions around the comparability of online data versus

This data provides comparisons of the 2019 results with 2018 and with base years (2008 for numeracy, reading and conventions of language; and 2011 for writing).

The performance of Australian students in Year 5 numeracy, Years 3 and 5 reading,

pen and paper, ACARA affirms that student results continue to be measured against the one NAPLAN assessment scale, meaning results of both formats are comparable.

According to ACARA, regardless of whether students complete the test online or on

Years 3 and 5 spelling, and Year 3 grammar were above the NAPLAN 2008 average.

paper, they are assessed on the same underlying literacy and numeracy skills taught

In Years 7 and 9, results in writing were found to be below the 2011 average. Year 7

through the curriculum content.

writing did however show a marked improvement from 2018; while in Year 9, students

“Prior to release, NAPLAN results are reviewed and endorsed by independent

in South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory also showed an improvement from

measurement advisory experts. These measurement experts have confirmed that the

the previous year.

results for online and paper NAPLAN have assessed the same content and can be

ACARA CEO David de Carvalho, said that the overall preliminary results were a good sign. “NAPLAN results for 2019 in writing have shown a pleasing improvement

placed on the same NAPLAN assessment scale this year,” said Mr de Carvalho.

“This includes the results for some students whose tests were disrupted due to

from last year, and it is a trend we would like to see continue, given the decline in

connectivity issues and who were offered the opportunity to resit the tests, either online

recent years across all year levels. Schools have been making focused efforts for

or on paper. Considering those connectivity issues, ministers have agreed that the

some time to address concerns about their students’ writing. Students are to be

NAPLAN Summary information will include wording that acknowledges the disruptions,

congratulated for this year’s improvement, especially Year 3 students, where the results

as well as an emphasis that, as always, results should be interpreted with care.”

are particularly encouraging.”

Mr de Carvalho added that while this is only the second year of the transition

Since NAPLAN began in 2008, Mr de Carvalho said there had been gains in most test areas, particularly in the primary years.

into NAPLAN Online, ACARA had learnt lessons from last year’s disruptions and has implemented a range of improved processes going forward. EM

Primary schools awarded for going green Seven primary schools across Australia have won their share of cash and prizes as part of a nationwide competition encouraging students to get crafty, while focussing on this year’s environmental theme.

Runner’s up in each category also received a $1000 product pack and the People’s Choice Award collected $3000.

Bostik’s Category Manager Mellissa Coulter said that introducing grants like

The winning schools are Pascoe Vale North Primary School (Victoria), Belmore South Public School, (NSW) and Leschenault Catholic Primary School (Western Australia); and the runners up are Bellerive Primary School (Tasmania), St Bernard’s

this was a great way to help schools raise much needed funds while allowing children to participate and lead in the process.

“The aim of the Smart Schools program is to support learning outcomes within

Primary School (Victoria) and Drouin Primary School (Victoria). A People’s Choice

school curriculums and help stimulate creative thinking and problem solving in

prize was also awarded to School of the Good Shepherd (Victoria).

the classroom,” she said. “By asking our future leaders to create these projects, it

In collaboration with Winc and OfficeMax, the Bostik Smart Schools program was open to primary school students nationwide. Students were asked to enter a unique craft project for a chance to win one of three first prizes of $5000 for their school, courtesy of Bostik.

encourages discussion around the importance of caring for the environment.

Ms Coulter added it was fantastic to see so many schools submit standout projects that showcased creativity and inventiveness.

“Creative projects around the environment, climate change and sustainability,

This year’s competition was open from 22 April until 14 July 2019, with a

allows kids to understand how our eco-system works and helps them become

winner chosen in each age group category: 5-8 years, 9-10 years and 11-13 years,

more conscious of their everyday actions. This competition is just one of the ways

each receiving $5000.

we hope to give back to our school community,” she said. EM

8

education matters primary

Students say no to bullying Finalists in Interrelate’s 2019 Say No To Bullying Poster Competition were honoured

subjects like this at an early age. By opening up the discussion sooner rather

during a ceremony at Government House, with an 11-year-old student from Lennox

than later in a way that is supportive rather than judgemental, and involving the

Head Public School named the winner for her artwork depicting this year’s theme

whole community, including parents, children have a much better chance of

Be Kind, Lend a Hand.

understanding each other’s differences rather than highlighting them,” Ms Occelli

Now in its sixth year, the 2019 competition featured 41 primary school finalists

added.

Isabella made the trip to Sydney especially for the event and was excited to be

from across Australia, which were chosen from 4000 entrants.

The awards ceremony was attended by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, Governor of New South Wales, who announced Isabella

named the overall winner. “It was amazing to walk in and see all the other posters.

I never expected that I could be picked as first place,” she said.

Isabella, who has experienced bullying herself, had a very positive message.

Sinanovski as this year’s winner.

“Bullying and cyberbullying is a national concern. It can affect confidence,

“We’re all unique and we should celebrate our differences to learn from each other,

create social anxiety and low self-esteem, and can roll into adulthood. Having

and not be nasty if someone is different,” she said. “If you’re being bullied, there

a whole of community approach to developing respectful and supportive

will always be someone there to help you, whether it’s your parents, your teachers

relationships; and being an upstander rather than a bystander is the best way to

or even new friends you didn’t know would support you.”

NSW Education Minister, the Hon Sarah Mitchell, announced at the ceremony

help our children develop for the future. Our poster competition helps children express themselves through art, which can get them to start talking and open the

that the NSW Government will be supporting two mental health experts at every

door for further conversations,” said Patricia Occelli, CEO of Interrelate.

public high school to help students struggling with stress and bullying in an $88

“We work closely with many schools through our Bullying Awareness Program and the poster competition helps them start the conversation around difficult

million package, which will fund 350 student support officers and up to 100 additional full-time counsellors or qualified psychologists. EM

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If you are a teacher in Victoria you may be eligible for a Victorian Government scholarship. monash.edu/education/appliedba Produced by SMC Monash: 19P-0427. August 2019. CRICOS provider: Monash University 00008C.

education matters primary

9

NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS

Using emojis to monitor student wellbeing In response to growing concerns about student wellbeing and its link to academic

CEO of Vivi, Natalie Mactier, said that the new tool builds on Vivi’s existing

performance, a new classroom tool uses emojis, customisable polls and screen

screen mirroring solution, which is already used by teachers in 23 per cent of

mirroring to measure student engagement and wellbeing in real-time.

Australian private schools to engage students via a more visual and collaborative

Launched by education technology company Vivi, the Student Feedback Tool was developed in partnership with teachers. It aims to provides an intuitive way to gather real-time feedback from students about how they are feeling, and whether they are keeping up or need more help during classes.

style of learning.

“It has never been more challenging to be a teacher. Meanwhile, students have never had so many distractions, nor so much pressure to succeed,” she said.

“We know that student wellbeing, engagement and performance are inextricably

The tool allows teachers to:

linked. Until now, teachers have had to read the room using their professional

• Provide students with a safe, discrete way to communicate their emotional state and general wellbeing (through a series of emojis tailored to school requirements).

• Monitor student engagement to identify disengaged, bored or challenged students, and help personalise the learning environment.

experience and intuition, or clunky manual tools, and it’s been hard for them to build a case for resourcing support when they need it.

Ms Mactier added that the Student Feedback Tool makes student engagement and wellbeing visible and measurable, allowing teachers to change their approach

• Share instant results related to lessons with the class (or keep them private).

during lessons, and better personalise learning for students who are struggling

• Set up alerts for school staff triggered by results of wellbeing polls.

emotionally or academically. EM

How does attendance impact student achievement?

A new report from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

The report also highlights the important role families, schools, policy makers and

(AITSL) reinforces the strong correlation between school attendance and student

the community have to play in the complex task of addressing student absenteeism

achievement, and highlights the importance of forming good attendance habits early.

and enabling students to reach their potential in the classroom.

The Attendance Matters Spotlight report also reinforces how crucial it is to ensure students feel welcome, safe and supported at school, and encouraged to attend.

The evidence summary indicates that the overall school attendance picture in Australia is good, with Year 1-10 students attending, on average, 92 per cent of available school days in Australia – a rate comparable to other countries with high

AITSL CEO Mark Grant said while the issues contributing to absenteeism are complex and challenging, it is important that systems, sectors and jurisdictions across Australia continue working together to ensure schools are welcoming places that students want to attend.

“I’m proud to release this report to provide a summary of evidence the teaching

performing education systems. Areas of concern include that 25 per cent of Australian

profession and decision makers across the education sector can use to reflect on

school students attend less than 90 per cent of school days, and that school

their approach to the critical issue of ensuring Australian school students attend and

attendance decreases as remoteness increases.

truly engage with their learning,” Mr Grant said.

The report also identifies that there remains a notable difference in attendance

“The findings reinforce that there remain particular challenges to address when

rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and non-Indigenous

it comes to attendance and that understanding the relationship between attendance

students. In 2018, the overall national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attendance

and achievement can help teachers, school leaders, parents, and school communities

rate was 82.3 per cent compared to 92.5 per cent for non-Indigenous students. This

promote positive attendance habits and tailor early and individualised interventions,

shows that there is still much more work to do to lift attendance rates for Aboriginal

to address problematic absenteeism and lift outcomes for students.

and Torres Strait Islander students.

Mr Grant highlighted that policies and responses at a school level are the

Highlighting that ‘every day counts’ when it comes to attendance, the report

most effective when they simultaneously target factors both within and outside

reinforces the negative correlation between absence from school and achievement,

the school gates. “We all have a part to play when it comes to school attendance,”

which is cumulative and can affect academic outcomes in future years of schooling.

he said.

Given the importance of early learning experiences on academic and social

“While there are many complex issues at play when it comes to school

achievement, the report identifies school attendance should be prioritised in the

attendance, we shouldn’t shy away from the challenges. Clearly it is crucially

formative years, and that strategies for addressing chronic absenteeism must take a

important to involve families and communities in purposeful, authentic and ethical

holistic approach.

ways to provide students with every opportunity to reach their potential.” EM

10

education matters primary

Used toothbrushes see new life in recycling challenge Australian students are recycling used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and floss containers through a nationwide competition diverting thousands of oral care items from landfill.

Looking for a solution to your OOSH/OSHC challenges?

Australian families are desperate for good quality, affordable outside school hours care

As part of the Colgate Community Garden Challenge, over 1000 schools from across Australia are competing to win one of five recycled community garden sets.

Run by Colgate, Chemist Warehouse and global recycling business TerraCycle, the competition is open to all pre, primary, intermediate, special and secondary schools in Australia. Students can collect and ship all their oral care waste to TerraCycle so it can be turned into new products.

Five schools will win a community garden set – three schools who collect the most waste and earn the most votes online and the other two winning schools will be selected from a prize draw. Entries are open until 30 September 2019. Schools that sign up late still have a chance to win as long as they send in at least one shipment before the closing date.

Each recycled community garden set includes three garden beds, two custommade benches, three customised garden plaques made from recycled oral care waste, plus a $500 Bunnings Warehouse voucher that can be used to buy seeds and plants.

In addition to demonstrating how recycled materials can be used as a sustainable alternative to virgin plastic, Colgate, Chemist Warehouse and TerraCycle are hoping the community garden sets will promote gardening and healthy eating among schools.

So far in the competition, 30,000 votes have been cast online and more than 40,000 pieces of oral care waste have been shipped to TerraCycle. This waste will be sorted, shred, washed and melted down into plastic pellets to be used in the manufacture of new products such as garden beds, park benches and playgrounds.

“So far in the competition, Colgate has been very encouraged to see the students’ recycling efforts and enthusiasm to promote sustainability within their community. We would like to thank all the participants and wish them the very best of luck,” said Julie Dillon, Colgate Vice President and General Manager of South Pacific.

“At TerraCycle, we love promoting ways to keep ‘non-recyclable’ items out of landfill,” added Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand. “By giving Australian kids the chance to take the lead in recycling on behalf of their school and community, we’re getting them to think outside the box and, at the same time, encouraging sustainability for the future.”

The results achieved from last years’ Colgate Community Garden Challenge saw approximately 200,000 pieces of oral care waste diverted from landfill, collected from 813 schools that took part in the program. EM

These days both parents are likely to be employed and working longer hours than ever.

This, combined with transport issues, can make the issue of after school care a stressful one for parents and children alike.

AND IT’S BECOMING A MAJOR ISSUE ACROSS THE EDUCATION SECTOR. Volunteer-managed OOSH or OSHC committees are struggling with the issue of out of school care in the face of new regulatory reforms that increase quality expectations but also increase administrative burdens.

You’ll be well aware of the difference it makes to you and your school community when you have high quality, well managed outside school hours care on your site. At Sherpa Kids we deliver exactly that – but with a difference that other after school care and OOSH service providers cannot match.

Our business is built on the local franchise model you get the best of both worlds; the care and concern of a local decision maker based in your community, combined with the confidence and authority of stable, professional central management.

The franchisees are all part of a highly professional group with centralised resources geared to ensuring State and Federal regulatory compliance.

We’ve developed a fun and flexible, engaging programme of before and after school activities that is syllabus-led and can be tailored to fit the individual requirements of schools and their curriculums.

Sherpa Kids Australia are currently working with local schools in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra areas. Sherpa Kids presents your school with the opportunity to make real a difference for your local community by providing out of school care.

Please contact the team at Sherpa Kids to find out more.

CALL US TODAY +61 2 4647 5294 www.sherpa-kids.com.au

NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS

Victoria to ban mobile phones in schools Mobile phones will be banned in all Victorian state primary and secondary schools

Psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, welcomed the new mobile phone ban. “All

from 2020, in a bid to tackle cyberbullying and reduce distraction in the classroom.

schools have a legal obligation to provide a safe environment in which to learn. This

Students will be required to switch off their phones and store them securely in

significant policy initiative is designed to ensure the wellbeing of young people while

lockers from the start of the school day until the final bell. When emergencies occur, parents or guardians can reach their child by calling the school.

at school, free of distraction and potentially cyberbullying,” he said.

But not all have shared the same level of enthusiasm. Professor Neil Selwyn from

The only exceptions to the ban will be where students use phones to monitor

the Faculty of Education at Monash University said an overall ban on mobile phones

health conditions, or where teachers instruct students to bring their phone for a

would be a shame. “There are many instances where having smartphones in class

particular classroom activity. At all other times phones must be in lockers.

can be educationally beneficial,” he said. “Ideally, we should be leaving this down to

“This will remove a major distraction from our classrooms, so that teachers can teach, and students can learn in a more focused, positive and supported environment,” said Victorian Minister for Education James Merlino.

individual teachers and schools to solve for themselves. It is a shame to reduce the opportunities for appropriate use of phones in class.

“If nothing else, on a practical note, we can expect students to be bringing their

“Half of all young people have experienced cyberbullying. By banning mobiles we can stop it at the school gate.”

mobiles into class regardless of any ban. The realities of policing this ban at the beginning of each lesson could be more trouble than it is worth.”

According to Minister Merlino, rolling out a state-wide policy will provide consistency and certainty for parents, students and school communities.

Online safety group, Family Zone Cyber Safety, also voiced its concerns over the ban. “Our research shows that phone bans are often resisted and easily ignored by

He announced these tough new rules on 26 June 2019 at McKinnon Secondary

parents and students. And we know that many teachers, schools and experts worry

College, which has already placed a ban on mobile phones. Teachers at the school

about robbing children of important learning opportunities,” said Tim Levy, Managing

have reported more focused students during class and greater communication among

Director of Family Zone.

students in the school yard.

“It is naive to think that banning mobile phones will be the panacea to issues

“Our students are more focussed learners in the classroom without this

relating to personal device use at school. The answer is to provide parents, teachers

distraction and we have observed improved social connections, relationships and

and schools with the policy choices and tools they need to manage the risks and take

interactions in the school during lunchtime,” said Principal of McKinnon Secondary

advantage of the opportunities of mobility,” he added.

School, Pitsa Binnion.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training will work with principals in

According to the latest research from Headspace, around 53 per cent of young Australians have experienced cyberbullying.

Term 3 2019 to develop detailed advice and resources as schools prepare to introduce this policy next year. A review will be conducted at the end of 2020. EM

Teacher exchange program hits Australia A US based teacher exchange program will carry out its first recruitment in

applicants in the process to fulfil all visa requirements as well as logistics related

Australia and New Zealand in several years, giving local teachers the opportunity

to the move, including any family members travelling with the educator,” explained

to share experiences from their home nation with students on the other side of

Jeff Seaby, International Recruitment Director at Participate Learning.

the globe.

Australian teacher and Participate Learning recruit, Daniel Felsman, described

Over the past 30 years, almost 10,000 educators from 84 countries have taken part in Participate Learning’s cultural exchange programs.

his experience with Participate Learning as an opportunity to achieve personal and professional development while being immersed in another culture. “The

The program is now accepting applications for educators from Australia and

opportunity to collaborate and learn from US teachers has helped me adapt my

New Zealand, with successful applicants set to start their experiences in the US by

teaching style to become more flexible and, in turn, better positioned to stay

August 2020. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work in one of 388

ahead of the challenges Australian teachers are facing. I am very much looking to

schools in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

embedding this new way of working with my students in Australia,” he said.

The period of exchange in Participate Learning’s program is set up to last three years, but can be extended to five years.

“During this time, the chosen teachers will receive a salary equal to a US teacher, as well as life insurance and airline tickets. We will support all successful

12

Requirements include a university degree in education and at least two years of full-time teaching experience with students between the ages of 5-18 in public or private primary or secondary schools.

For more information, please visit www.participatelearning.com. EM

education matters primary

Promoting respectful relationships During the Western Australian Primary Principals’ Association

normal working hours and are not expected to respond to

(WAPPA) Annual Conference, WA Education and Training

communication that is offensive, threatening or unacceptable

Minister, Sue Ellery, announced a new set of protocols to

in any way.

“Every student, staff member and parent has the right to

encourage open and respectful communication between

feel safe and be safe at school,” said Minister Ellery. “These

schools, students and parents across the state.

The WAPPA Annual Conference was held on 21 August

new protocols reflect the complex and at times challenging

2019. These new protocols are part of a range of resources

world in which we live and will help ensure all school staff are

provided by the WA Department of Education to support the

supported in carrying out their duties.

“It is unacceptable aggressive or intimidating emails are

mental health and wellbeing of staff.

Created in collaboration with WAPPA, WA Council of

being sent to principals or teachers. School staff can now

State School Organisations and other associations and

feel confident in the expectations and responsibilities when

unions, the guidelines define the roles of school staff and the

responding to parent communications.”

There is also an expectation that communication and

expectations of parents, carers and students, so all parties have opportunities to share good news and discuss issues in a

all interactions between school staff and parents is mutually

respectful way.

respectful.

The protocols state that principals and teaching staff

The Communication Protocols are being released to WA

are not required to respond to communications outside their

government schools and parents before the end of Term 3. EM

“All schools have a legal obligation to provide a safe environment in which to learn. This significant policy initiative is designed to ensure the wellbeing of young people while at school, free of distraction and potentially cyberbullying.”

Psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

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13

APPA COLUMN // MALCOLM ELLIOTT

A world of opportunity MALCOLM ELLIOTT, PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY PRINCIPALS ASSOCIATION (APPA) DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING GLOBAL COMPETENCE, AND HOW THIS CAN BENEFIT STUDENTS IN THE FUTURE.

Malcolm Elliott has been a teacher for 40 years. From 2015-2018 he was president of the Tasmanian Principals Association, representing government primary and secondary school principals. He is now president of the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA).

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Australia’s relationship with neighbouring Asian nations presents a range of outstanding educational opportunities for students, teachers and families right across Australia. The Asia Education Foundation (AEF) has been forging links and intercultural understanding as part of Asialink, Australia’s leading centre for the promotion of public understanding of the countries of Asia and of Australia’s role in the region, and an affiliate of Melbourne University.

Many readers will be familiar with the work of the AEF and have participated in the programmes offered. As a member of the AEF Board I have been privileged to see the excellent work of the Foundation first hand. As Andreas Schleicher, Director of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills said in 2016, “Schools need to prepare students for a world in which people’s lives will be affected by issues that transcend national boundaries.” This is something we know, but I was genuinely inspired by a presentation from Asialink Business which pointed out the very serious and sustained effort that is occurring in developing international relationships – something in which education plays a very important role.

More about that later.

AEF Executive Director Hamish Curry says, “Our goal is to develop a global mindset and skillset for all young Australians.” This is being achieved through an action model based on equipping school leaders to support teachers through evidence-based strategies to establish partnerships which engage students on the pathway to global competence and ever-deepening intercultural understanding.

If you’re an already over-worked school leader trying to manage an already overcrowded

education matters primary

curriculum, don’t despair. The AEF has highly developed resources and support with which to assist schools, and of course, long established, solid working connections (and friendships) with international colleagues, schools and systems.

The OECD says, “Young people who develop global competence are better equipped to build more just, peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies” – and a great deal is happening, including rapidly expanding employment opportunities. In 2016 the Foundation for Young Australians said that employer demand for bilingual skills in Australia grew by 181 per cent, second only to digital literacy.

In his paper ‘Beyond Certainty’, Professor Alan Reid writes about the individual, democratic, socio-

The OECD says, “Young people who develop global competence are better equipped to build more just, peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies” – and a great deal is happening, including rapidly expanding employment opportunities. In 2016 the Foundation for Young Australians said that employer demand for bilingual skills in Australia grew by 181 per cent, second only to digital literacy.

The Asia Education Foundation highlights the importance of developing a global mindset in all students.

cultural and economic purposes of education. While all four purposes are intertwined, it is the economic purpose that is an important focus for Asialink Business. In 2012 the Asialink Taskforce for an Asia Capable Workforce released a strategy paper which, among four major planks, included, “More effectively educate Australia’s future workforce for the Asian Century.”

The strategy paper goes on to say that “government must support the evolution of school, university and TAFE curricula towards Asia capability through funding and policy.” The evolution mentioned is of great interest – one of the main challenges for teachers, schools and other institutional leaders is how to decide exactly what fits into the five-day school week, 10-week term, and 40-week year. There remains a question about equity of opportunity for rural and remote students regarding the availability of

Asian language teachers, although this is somewhat offset by developments in digital classrooms in those areas where connectivity is suitable.

Another element of the Asialink Business presentation which really got my attention was its partnership with the mayors and local communities of various rural and remote local councils. Recognising the economic benefit of developed relationships with neighbour countries, for example, mayors and local councils from all across Queensland have been engaging with Asialink Business to develop the cultural skills to engage with Asian businesses, investors, international students and tourist visitors. This has immediate spin-offs for schools – Australia’s mayors have a tremendous record of interest and support for education. Included in this is the growing opportunity for teachers and school leaders to become involved in engagement

education matters primary

and enrichment activities. This not only benefits the students – it provides another personal/professional type of engagement and attraction for teachers working in regional areas. This is where Asialink Business and the AEF most obviously intersect – and it is this intersection which has provided so well for Australia and its neighbours and which holds so much potential for the future.

High quality work in intercultural understanding has been going on in Australian schools for many, many years. It is very important to recognise this.

As the Asian Century progresses, so too does our engagement deepen – with education clearly a leading element in that engagement. I can strongly recommend connection with the Asia Education Foundation and exploration of the many exciting, high quality opportunities for students and staff the Foundation makes available. EM

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PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING // MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Encouraging student success KYLIE EGGERS, PRINCIPAL OF MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN REGIONAL SOUTH AUSTRALIA SPEAKS WITH EDUCATION MATTERS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF CATERING TO THE DIVERSE NEEDS OF EVERY STUDENT.

WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND HOW DOES IT GUIDE YOU AND YOUR STAFF? Being a community college, we really want to try and be everything to everyone. The main thing we hope for is to be able to develop well-rounded citizens that have a pathway for whatever it is they want to do after school.

The school caters to students from Reception to Year 12 and we help make sure that every student is successful with whatever they want to do. We also have a high proportion of students with disabilities and we try and help them achieve their best, however we can.

In the senior years, we have an Independent Learning Centre for students who are disengaged with mainstream learning. Rather than forcing those students down the track of fitting in with what we are doing, those that need a flexible way of achieving their certificate can do so.

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We also run a program called The Mannum Way, with three waves of intervention: Play is the Way (Reception to Year 12) as our Wave 1, Drumbeat (Year 2 to 8), Seasons for Growth (Reception to Year 12) and individual mentors for Wave 2 and a range of targeted services (eg. Headspace) for highly complex cases in Wave 3.

The school is available to assist parents with whatever they need. Rather than an old school approach to service, we look at proactive ways of trying to help everyone.

For all of our students, it’s about providing a safe but challenging program that helps develop everyone to their capacity so they have respect for themselves, others and the environment.

HOW DOES MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE DIFFER FROM OTHER SCHOOLS? Mannum is an area school, meaning we cater to students from Reception to Year 12 and there aren’t

education matters primary

many area schools where we are located. For our younger students, the role modelling from our older students really helps them to see something they can strive for and connect with. Our students are part of a community that genuinely cares for them.

We try to offer as much help and support as we can, to cater to what each student needs at the time.

IN WHAT WAYS HAS THE SCHOOL EVOLVED SINCE YOU JOINED THE SCHOOL IN 2017?

Putting The Mannum Way into practice means we have three clear waves of intervention. It is very clear in how we can help all of our students across all of the different sub-schools. This has also clearly helped teachers to collaborate with each other.

There is an expectation that teachers will continue to collaborate and work together rather than in silos of practice. Our staff and leadership team need to use all of the support and advice we can get, from the experts we employ internally and externally.

Since joining the school, we have also been working to align the curriculum with assessment, making sure there is a common understanding of the standards, and making sure this is aligned to teacher performance planning.

HOW DO YOU PROVIDE SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP TO YOUR STAFF? There’s an old cliché of always having an open door.

I provide leadership by being approachable, visible, making sure I see staff and take an interest in them. I also work closely with the leadership team to see how they’re supporting and developing staff. It’s important to have professional trust by allowing staff to have the same accountability as leadership staff.

I need to make sure my leadership team has clear expectations of their aims and the school’s aims so they can follow that when talking to their staff.

HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE WELLBEING AMONG STAFF AND STUDENTS? With our students it’s about The Mannum Way and encouraging them to understand the language of Play is The Way. We teach them to treat others as they want to be treated, and encourage wellbeing so students feel happy, healthy and safe.

The school runs a breakfast club every day. The leadership team are the adults involved. This provides

a chance to interact with students and provide them with a service, so they know we are human as well.

We encourage student wellbeing through Play is The Way, Drumbeat and Seasons for Growth.

For staff, it’s about ensuring they have the tools and facilities to do their job, so they don’t feel added pressure to do it all themselves.

The school also has a wellbeing leader, who works with staff as well as students, and is proactive in helping staff at whatever stage of life they are at.

If they are closer to retirement and want to move through to part time work, our wellbeing leader can assist them through that process. For early career teachers, we are there to support them and ensure they have the training they need when they come out of university. At Mannum, we encourage openness and honesty.

WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY IN THE DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES OF THE STUDENTS? This year, I’m teaching Year 10 Science. That has enabled me to develop a closer relationship with those students. I take part in the breakfast clubs, do yard duty, walk-throughs (particularly when a subschool leader is away), and hold informal observations so I know what’s happening in classrooms. Day-to-day, I also sign off on budgets and any excursions, so I know all of the programs we offer and where students are.

Recently, we’ve increased our agriculture program and our robotics program.

I also try to learn every student’s name. I live locally, so I see the older students in their workplaces, and see many of the younger students at the footy ground when my kids are playing football on the weekend, so the students see me outside of the school too.

WHAT SORT OF AN EMPHASIS DOES THE SCHOOL PLACE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM)?

Mannum Community College was a STEM Works School so we were really fortunate as we received funding for a new STEM building which was opened earlier this year.

We are trying to increase our emphasis around STEM. The employment prospects in our area are racing ahead in the STEM fields. Many of the traditional sorts of jobs won’t be around when our younger students finish school. Rather than placing a focus on developing only the skills, we are also teaching our students to focus on the problem and an understanding of the problem, so they can determine how to fix it.

They can then develop a prototype and see how it went. It’s that sort of thinking that will be needed later on, for those jobs that don’t yet exist. It’s being able to think about how to do things that will be really important.

Our primary students have full access to the new STEM building, including a laser cutter and 3D printer.

That’s the beauty of being an area school – whatever tools the older students have, the younger ones get to use too.

Primary students can also use the full range of coding equipment. Younger students are learning to program their robots to move forwards and backwards, and left and right. Students in our Gifted and Talented program are also creating prototypes and problemsolving using algorithmic thinking. Coding can be used across all learning areas, not just robotics. It’s amazing to see the excitement in their faces when they see something they’ve programmed doing something they’ve ordered it do.

HOW IS THE NEWLY OPENED STEM BUILDING BEING USED TO SUPPORT AND ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING? For our primary students, part of the STEM building is being used as a makerspace, which encourages problem solving. The main STEM area is made up of three STEM classrooms with concertinas, but they can

Ms Eggers is very involved in students’ day-to-day activities and tries to learn each student by name.

education matters primary

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PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING // MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Ms Eggers believes that building relational trust with staff and students is key to successful school leadership.

be opened into one big space. Students can come into the space that’s been booked and move around freely. It’s quite a flexible space. Some of the older students are teaching younger students how to use and discover the equipment. The flexibility of the new STEM building has been amazing.

WHAT DO YOU IDENTIFY AS SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES CURRENTLY FACING THE PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR? Within the STEM space, there are two major challenges. The first is that traditionally technology has been discreet or a side component, and there were specialist teachers to teach it. Now we are expecting technology to be integrated into classroom learning, while still teaching the Australian Curriculum.

The second challenge is, how do we know what to prepare our students for, when we don’t know what the outcome is going to be? We don’t know what sorts of jobs will exist in the future. That’s why we are trying to teach our students about the processes. Technology is not just for play, it’s about learning and applying our knowledge.

Being in a rural area, sometimes students aren’t exposed to the same localities and facilities as metro students. In relation to STEM, it’s about creating knowledge and ensuring they have access to the right sorts of tools and facilities.

As well as the challenges of STEM, the strong focus on data is another challenge. Teaching has become quite data driven and there are a lot of teachers who see this as not having as much trust

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put into their judgement. However, I’m confident my teachers use the data they are given to inform where their students’ learning is, and that’s all we can ask of them.

WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT NAPLAN AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS? NAPLAN is a snapshot of how students are going.

I use it to look at broadscale trends about how students are going firstly against national average, and then we narrow it down right into the questions.

We know that if it’s on the page, students can extract it from the text and tell you the answer, but they have to be able to read between the lines too.

Sometimes it seems that it’s almost the only dataset our system uses to judge our progress and that’s not ideal. It needs to be looked at as a dataset, and it’s probably more effective for our students when it is used as intended.

We were among the schools that undertook NAPLAN online this year. We had some issues on the first day, but our students were patient and waited.

Students do the test in May but we don’t get the results until September and by then teachers have generally moved on from what they were teaching when the testing took place.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT EITHER AS A TEACHER OR SPECIFICALLY IN THE ROLE OF PRINCIPAL? As a teacher, one of my students got the highest grade they can get for their subject, a merit. It was all through their own hard work. I was there as a

education matters primary

teacher and facilitator, but they did the work and got there, and that was really great to see.

At our recent SACE information night it was a very proud moment where every student present had a pathway – whether they were going on to pursue a career in engineering or an apprenticeship or a construction course. There is so much diversity at Mannum Community College and it’s fulfilling to know that we can provide for every student. This is achieved through creating relationships to better understand where students are and where they want to go. It’s not about saying these are the options you’ve got, so you have to pick one. We have to be everything to everyone, depending on what they want to achieve.

WHAT TRAITS MAKE FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL LEADER IN EDUCATION TODAY? The leaders I respect the most are those that can talk efficiently and build relationships, not those who take a ‘softly softly’ approach or dictate this is how it’s going to be. By building a relational trust, successful leaders can use that when they need to. A principal needs to know education and the curriculum, and have done some time teaching. The teachers they directly report to need to know that their principal knows the curriculum and pedagogical directions.

Unfortunately, a lot of what we do is about managing the organisational and logistical components, but the relationships are what gets me through. It’s important to be open and honest and act on feedback. EM

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HOT TOPIC // ROBOTICS

The rise of the robot TECHNOLOGY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY SOPHISTICATED AND ITS CAPABILITIES MORE DIVERSE. WITH THE ONGOING DESIRE TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE FUTURE WORKFORCE, EDUCATION MATTERS DISCUSSES ROBOTICS AND ITS PLACE IN THE MODERN CLASSROOM.

As robotic technology evolves so too does its ability to impact the way we live and work. The concept of machines replacing work previously done by humans isn’t new. Switchboard operators and knocker uppers (i.e. human alarm clocks) have long been replaced by technology; and ATMs and self-checkouts are performing tasks previously done by staff. In recent times, fully automated factories have resulted in factory workers being replaced in favour of machines, with robots capable of undertaking tasks with absolute precision and enhanced speed.

Rod Bassi, Acer Sales Director Oceania, says robotics has become an essential tool for preparing students for the jobs of the future.

“Automation of the world through IoT (Internet of Things) is happening all over the world today, via our smart phones, vehicles and the other modes of transportation we use, and in our households and appliances. The world has changed dramatically in the last 15 to 20 years and will continue to do so.

Today’s students are our future. By understanding robotics, how it works and impacts the world, students can continue to innovate and build on the transformation that the workforce of today has begun,” he says.

“Teaching the fundamentals of robotics has clear pathways immediately in today’s world, however moving forward within the next five to 10 years, this will increase exponentially as technology continues to expand and be embraced in everyday life.”

According to a recent report released

by Oxford Economics in June 2019 – ‘How

20

According to Acer, bringing robotics into classrooms of all ages will not only develop their understanding of STEM, but also give them the basic tools they need for the future workforce.

robots change the world’ – up to 20 million manufacturing jobs globally could be replaced by robots as early as 2030. In Australia, the report identifies South Australia as likely to be the most affected by manufacturing automation, followed

by Victoria.

And, in a major report released by the Centre for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), ‘Australia’s future workforce?’ (June 2015), it was predicted that over five million jobs – almost 40 per cent of Australian jobs that exist today – had a moderate to high likelihood of disappearing by 2030 due to technological advancements.

But as some jobs become obsolete, various new jobs are being created, some of which don’t even yet exist. So with this in mind, how do we prepare today’s students for the world of the future when we don’t know for certain what the future will bring?

education matters primary

Information Technologist and Associate Professor of Educational Technology at CQUniversity, Dr Michael A. Cowling, labels robotics as an important tool in preparing students for the jobs of the future. “More than teaching students how to code, robotics teaches students a set of new digital skills that they will need in the future workplace. Skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, functional decomposition and algorithmic thinking are all important components of working with robots that students can learn.”

He says robotics is an excellent way to get students involved in hands-on learning and enhance student engagement. “Robotics makes STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning more physical.

Rather than just working with lines of code to make a control on a screen change, robotics allows students to complete coding they can

see reflected in the real world. Robotics can also be used as a tool to teach more theoretical concepts in Science and Maths, such as incident angles, distances, measurements, etc.”

Global advanced electronics business Acer adds that the potential for robotics in the classroom is huge. “We see robotics as a necessity to correctly skill up today’s students for our evolving technological world. It is important to teach robotics today but it is also very important for the total learning eco-system to be sufficiently skilled so that the teachers of today and tomorrow can appropriately teach and keep up with students. We also want to see the tertiary sector be sufficiently ready and capable to receive students that have gone through secondary schooling acquiring years of STEAM, coding and robotics learning to arrive at university and take this learning to the next highest level,” explains Mr Bassi.

Acer continues to push the envelope in innovative classroom technology. Its Mixed Reality Headset for example, is designed to bring classroom experiences to life and create engaging, informative and memorable experiences for students. Acer is also actively working with schools in the mixed reality field, where students can create their own models in a mixed reality world.

When it comes to robotics, Mr Bassi says the fundamentals begin with coding. “It is incredible that today’s generation are learning the basic skills of coding in early primary across many schools in Australia. It is quite typical for beginner coding principles to be applied to classroom robot kits to

demonstrate the application of coding. Acer believes this early onset of coding and robotics learning will increase students’ natural desire for expanding their learning in this field. If you fast forward to when this generation enters university and the workforce, robotics will be an essential skill which will give them the correct platform for future career pathways and at the very least an understanding of how the world of today and certainly the future will operate.”

As robotics continues to disrupt the workforce and its capabilities become more widely understood, the reasons businesses are choosing to implement this technology is changing.

In the fourth edition of Deloitte’s Global Robotics Report, ‘The robots are waiting: Are you ready to reap the benefits?’ (June 2018), organisations from around the world took part in a survey, with responses coming from various industries. While Deloitte’s 2016 and 2017 research indicated that cost reduction was a key influence in the decision to implement robotics, 2018 data showed the top three priorities as: • Increasing productivity (38 per cent) • Improving customer experience (18 per cent) • Delivering automation at significant scale (16 per cent) While we hear a great deal about the importance of preparing students for the future workforce, Dr Gary Stager, a globally renowned expert in robotics and computer programming, warns that schools should ensure they understand the bigger picture.

“In a learner-centered context, robotics adds colours to the crayon box. If in the recent past, seven-

Distinguished Professor Dr Peter Corke is the Director of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.

education matters primary

“More than teaching students how to code, robotics teaches students a set of new digital skills that they will need in the future workplace. Skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, functional decomposition and algorithmic thinking are all important components of working with robots that students can learn.” year-olds made dinosaurs out of cereal boxes, now their cereal box dinosaurs can sing, dance or send a text message to their grandmother. While it’s surely the case that any new idea introduced in schools runs the risk of stealing time and attention from something else, robotics is an interdisciplinary medium for expression – like drawing, painting, writing, composing. Schools need to embrace project-based learning, not as the pudding you get after suffering through a semester of instruction, but as the primary educational diet. Once that occurs, the power of robotics/physical computing as a vehicle for personal expression becomes self-evident.

“Schools make a terrible mistake when they see their purpose as vocational in nature. The sorting of kids into winners and losers with career pathways determined by some artificial school assessment should be relegated to the dustbin of history. Schools should prepare children to solve problems that none of their teachers ever anticipated. Schools should do everything possible to create the conditions in which children can become good at something, while gaining a sense of what greatness in that domain might look like. The ‘something’ is irrelevant.

Currently, academic success has little to do with the development of expertise,” he says, applauding Australia for having the first schools in the world to pioneer 1:1 personal computers for every student.

According to Dr Stager, in a wealthy nation like Australia, every student should have their own personal multimedia laptop computer; and they should learn to program that computer and control external devices. “Not because it might lead to a job someday, but because programming and physical

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HOT TOPIC // ROBOTICS

Dr Peter Corke with some of the team who developed the CartMan robot (pictured) that won the Amazon Robotics Challenge in 2017.

computing (a term preferable to robotics) are ways of gaining agency over an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated world.

“Programming and robotics answer the question Seymour Papert began asking more than 50 years ago, ‘Does the computer program the child, or the child program the computer?’ In an age of rising authoritarianism and ‘fake news’, learner agency is of paramount importance.”

With the speed at which technology evolves happening so quickly, how can students – and their teachers – be expected to keep up? “It’s likely that any language taught to students during their schooling will be superseded by the time they move into the workforce,” says Dr Cowling. “Coupled with the use of education specific languages such as Haskel, and block programming tools such as Scratch or Sphero, it’s clear that the value in teaching students to code is not the language syntax, but rather the skills that learning the language gives students in solving problems and learning from their mistakes. The Digital Technologies Curriculum reflects this with a focus on iterative practice. Working out how best to invest in modern technologies for the classroom, such as robotics can be a challenge for many schools.

“Couple this with a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of the digital competencies students need, as well as the need to reskill teachers so often

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able to see, learn or understand means that robots on a changing technology landscape, and it’s often www.edval.education are limited in their applications. hard to work out what technology is best to embrace.

“We don’t see robots in many other places But having said this, many schools are trailblazing in besides factories because the rest of the world is this area, moving beyond the technology to the skills quite chaotic, and this hinders the introduction of and taking the risk to put a stake in the sand and try robotics into other areas. Robots are fast, accurate, out various new types of technology, even if there is a relentless and never get tired. Our idea is about risk it will become outdated,” Dr Cowling adds. creating robots that can see. We are working on Organisations such as the Australian Centre for problems that relate to how a robot understands what Robotic Vision are working to take robotic technology is in its world. Once a robot sees and understands to an entirely new level, moving beyond programming what is in the picture, it can plan what it needs to do,” by humans, and researching the possibilities of explains Dr Corke. creating intelligent robots that can learn, see and He believes that robotics and coding are understand the world around them – which would important skills for students to have, because in the create a whole new range of possibilities. “When future, coding won’t only be required for robotics, but most people think of robots, they have this vision in for many other jobs too. their head that comes from what they’ve seen on television and films,” says Dr Peter Corke, Director “In factories we don’t need robots to interact of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision. “Robotic with people, but the robots we want in our houses machines capable of doing useful work came around and around our workplaces in the future will need to in the late 1950s, when an American company began be able to interact, so an understanding of human shipping robot arms that could unload items from centred design is also important. If you look at the manufacturing machines. Technology has evolved trends in technology today, everything is getting greatly since then but robots still can’t see what’s smarter. Once upon a time a car was made largely of going on. Instead they rely on the fact that they are metal, but a modern car has upwards of 20 computers inherently accurate. Robots are completely blind and in it. Smart phones, toasters and air conditioners are don’t actually know where anything is.” simple mechanical machines but the computer-based If a robot is used in assembling a car, for intelligence improves it in many ways. This is a trend example, the robotic equipment is programmed to that has been going on for a while now and it’s getting move the components to a specific place. Not being stronger,” Dr Corke adds.

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“Schools need to embrace project-based learning, not as the pudding you get after suffering through a semester of instruction, but as the primary educational diet. Once that occurs, the power of robotics/physical computing as a vehicle for personal expression becomes self-evident.”

Robotic vacuum cleaners and self-driving cars are examples of how robotics can impact on the way we live and work. Dr Corke says in coming years, we can expect to see more service robots or concierge robots created using technology that already exists.

Pepper the humanoid robot, created by SoftBank Robotics and unveiled in 2014, is one example of a

social robot. It has been programmed to recognise faces and basic human emotions; and can interact with people via its touchscreen and through conversation.

“School systems around Australia are wrestling with the question of: What does the future look like?

And, what will future jobs look like? No one really knows what the future will bring. We know there is rapid change and we have a hunch that maths and coding will be important skills going forward,” Dr Corke adds.

But coding, he says, is boring unless you are doing it for a particular purpose. “So robots are used as a means to motivate coding. Lots of schools are doing robotics activities but it’s not standardised in any way. How robotics is taught depends on the motivation and confidence of teachers and the funding available to support it. It really relies on teachers going the extra mile and having the passion and knowledge to teach it.”

In the STEAM space, Dr Cowling says Australia is very well placed. “We are at the forefront and recent work with the Digital Technologies Curriculum puts us in a good place. The biggest risk is that

the message on what teachers should focus on can sometimes become muddled. With campaigns focused on teaching every student code, or putting robots in every school, teachers can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the rapid movement of technology.

But if we can instead put pedagogy first, remind teachers that knowledge and skills are important here, then we can remove this fear and make the message clearer – pedagogy should come before technology, teachers should focus on teaching the knowledge and skills, and remember that the technology is only a tool.

“Robotics and the Digital Technologies Curriculum go together very well because robotics is often about problem solving and breaking large problems into smaller parts, and the Digital Technologies Curriculum focuses on iterative development. So students can be presented with a large problem to solve with robotics, and then encouraged to use a design science approach to break that problem down into smaller parts, solve each part individually and then iterate through the solutions to come up with the final larger solution to the whole problem.” EM

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TECHNOLOGY // ACER

Personalised classroom learning: Are we there yet?

DARREN SIMMONS, OCEANIC MANAGING DIRECTOR AT ACER, DISCUSSES HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ENABLE GREATER LEVELS OF PERSONALISED LEARNING, ASSISTING EDUCATORS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF EACH STUDENT.

Every child is different, yet in many ways the traditional classroom environment treats them largely the same. This is by no means the fault of educators themselves but rather is a by-product of the modern education system: one-to-many teacher-student ratios, broad-based curricula, and so on. Educators know that the more they can personalise the learning experience for those they teach, the more they’ll learn and grow – it’s just not easy doing so.

Technology promises to enable far more personalised learning in the classroom, giving teachers the capacity and capability to understand each student’s strengths, pain points and learning

The student engagement dashboard helps educators streamline classroom management and identify where students need additional support.

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behaviours more than ever before. For that to happen, however, educators need to develop their own understanding and proficiency in these technologies – and be ready to not only deploy them into their classrooms, but also translate what the technology says about each student into a more personal, empathetic level of care.

DRAWING ATTENTION IN THE CLASSROOM Technology can reveal a lot about how humans behave and conduct themselves – including many things that may not be observed otherwise. When applied to students, those observations help both them and their teachers to more clearly identify what learning strategies resonate the most, potentially leading to much more effective study plans and classroom participation. It’s worth stressing that none of this is new to experienced educators: they observe and guide their students all the time.

However, technology allows them to cover far more students, with far more attention, than they ever could before.

Right now, Acer is supporting a major research project being conducted by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), which involves collecting and analysing biometric data from student devices – tracking their eye movements, gestures, keystrokes and other physical indicators of attentiveness during lessons. Our hope is that by analysing this data with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, we’ll be able to derive correlations between behavioural patterns and learning outcomes. That should then inform how educators engage with and personalise learning plans for different students – both primary and secondary – as well as improving the effectiveness of curriculum materials more broadly.

Personalised education programs will boost student engagement, improve efficiencies and foster positive learning environments.

The insights from technologies like the ones we’re trialling with UTS will not, in themselves, solve the learning issues that different students might face. Nor do they necessarily give us definitive answers into what causes a student’s attention to waver – from family or financial difficulties to bullying or learning difficulties. But these insights act as a solid starting point which educators can use to identify when a student may need help, or where certain parts of a lesson may not be working as well as it should. From there, educators can talk to and work with students

to better understand and address any potential issues – and, in the process, give AI and machine learning technologies greater context to help in picking up similar issues in the future.

WE’RE NOT THERE JUST YET As we embed digital technology more into our lessons and classrooms, we’ll gain more data with which to understand our students and potentially personalise their learning experience. Analysing eye movements and gestures like we’re doing with UTS

may be relatively new ground, but many schools are already analysing digitised test scores, assignment responses, and even how students collaborate online to gain deeper appreciation of students’ unique learning patterns. Yet for personalised learning to really take hold in Australia, we’ll need to radically rethink how classrooms function; tackling fundamental issues like student-teacher ratios and curriculum design in the process.

AI can and should play an important role in education reform because it can tell us so much more about students and individual teaching approaches, than ever before. But we need to also remember that technology only takes us so far: personalised learning ultimately depends on our willingness and ability to engage with each student as an individual. For now, two questions Australian educators should be considering are: how might I use technology to better understand my students? And, more critically: how equipped am I to act on that understanding with what I currently have?

We’re making bold steps in that direction as a country, but there’s still lots to be done. EM

Buyer’s Guide Acer Computer Australia Ph: 1300 308 056 Web: www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/ content/home

The UTS x Acer Learner Attention Analytics Pilot Program monitors eye gaze, keyboard, mouse and digital pen movements to understand and develop personalised learning.

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TECHNOLOGY // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

Choosing the right fit AS EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO EVOLVE, DECIDING WHAT TO IMPLEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM CAN BE A CHALLENGE. PROFESSOR OF LEARNER CENTRED DESIGN AT UCL IN LONDON, ROSEMARY LUCKIN, PROVIDES HER TIPS ON CHOOSING THE BEST OPTION FOR YOUR SCHOOL.

Rosemary Luckin is a UCL Professor whose research involves blending theories from the learning sciences with techniques from artificial intelligence (AI). She is author of Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: the future of education in the 21st century (2018); Director of EDUCATE, a London hub for educational technology start-ups; Specialist Adviser to the UK House of Commons Education Select Committee; Co-founder of the Institute for Ethical AI in Education; a member of the UK Office for Students Horizon Scanning Panel; adviser to the Topol review into the NHS workforce; and one of the 20 most influential people in education (Seldon List 2017).

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Education technology (ed-tech) is increasingly an integral part of teaching and learning. But deciding what to purchase and use – especially at a time of school budget constraints – can be daunting. Is it effective? How will my students benefit? Will it cut my workload? Does it represent value for money?

These are all questions you might ask, but how can you get the best information from the people who want to sell you their technology? Here are some questions that you can ask any ed-tech company before you decide to buy: THE PRACTICALITIES This covers infrastructure, staff training and continuing professional development, the ongoing costs, and the sustainability of the purchase.

• How long does it take the average educator to learn how to use and implement the product?

• Is it necessary to purchase any additional

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software, etc, to increase the products’ potential?

• What software is it compatible with?

• What pedagogical training do you provide in respect of the integration of your product in schools?

• How do you support schools to sustain and develop their use of the product over time?

THE EDUCATION VALUE AND SPECIALISMS This area covers the core benefit the product offers. And, whether it’s going to make a tangible difference to the lives of your students; either on their needs today, or their skills for the future.

• How does the product make educators’ lives easier?

• Can you explain the product and its educational value in one sentence?

• What support does your product provide for

students for whom English is not their first language, or for students with special educational needs or disabilities?

• How does your technology help to prepare young people for the jobs of tomorrow?

School budgets, compatibility with existing technology and ease of use are among the factors to consider when choosing technology for your classroom.

THE RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE This area helps you to know that your purchase is founded on principles of evidence. This is especially important given the increased accountability that schools face and the impact of austerity budgets.

• Where and how was your product tested? Do you have any results from pilot studies?

• How does your company draw on existing relevant research to ensure that its technology stays current and relevant to today’s real-world classrooms?

• What research-based evidence do you have to prove that your product is effective?

• How were teachers or educators involved in the design or creation stages of your product?

AT A SCHOOL LEVEL It might also be useful to start the debate about ed-tech by conducting a thorough analysis of the educational needs that are a priority for your school and focusing on how ed-tech can be applied to these.

You can then work together to design a way to pilot a piece of promising ed-tech that addresses one of your priority needs.

It is also useful to conduct a survey about teachers’ confidence and competence with digital tools. One of the hardest decisions can be knowing when to switch off existing ed-tech – or provide additional training to staff/learners to optimise its uses – and the results of the survey can help with this decision.

All of these activities can help to keep the school community engaged and active in the processes of learning about and with ed-tech. Of course it’s also important to celebrate teacher and school achievements too. EM

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TECHNOLOGY // EDUTECH

This year’s event theme is Disruption, Creativity and Diversity.

Bigger and better THE LARGEST EDUCATION EVENT IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, EDUTECH 2020 WILL FEATURE PRESENTATIONS ON THE LATEST CASE STUDIES AND INNOVATIONS FROM LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS. EduTECH brings together the entire lifecycle of education under the one roof – covering pre-school, K-12, tertiary and higher education, workplace learning and continued adult education.

EduTECH 2020 is one of the most important two-day meetings on the education calendar for educators, leaders and administrators who want a decluttering of all the latest news and curriculum updates that affect you, your peers and students.

EduTECH will follow the same successful format as previous years but will be centred around a brand new theme: Disruption, Creativity and Diversity.

Spanning across an impressive 12,000 square metres, the free EduTECH expo will feature over 300 exhibitors hosting seminars, launching new products and offering demonstrations.

Those in attendance will have the opportunity to compare innovative products and services from multiple providers.

EduTECH 2020’s congress will feature six parallel streams, with Schools Leadership, Schools Teaching, ICT Management and Build/ Design specifically curated for education stakeholders who have a keen interest in building/designing new and existing schools and the administrators/users of ICT infrastructure.

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2020 is expected to be a big year for the sector, with various factors set to shake up the education space. The mission of EduTECH 2020 is to improve student learning outcomes Australiawide across K-12 education, while also focusing on new developments in tertiary education.

This festival for education brings over 10,000 people together from across the entire education and training sector to learn, debate, exchange ideas and be inspired. EduTECH will delve into and develop the ideas that will help shape the next decade of education.

EduTECH will be held 2-3 June 2020 at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. It will Over 300 exhibitors will showcase products and offer demonstrations.

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be run alongside two other events: EduBUILD, which is Australia’s largest event for education buildings and infrastructure; and Learn@Work, held within EduTECH and designed for learning and development, and training managers from the business and government sectors.

EduTECH, EduBUILD and Learn@Work are organised by Terrapinn, which is also the team behind The National FutureSchools Festival. EM

Buyer’s Guide EduTECH Web: www.edutech.net.au

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TECHNOLOGY // EPSON

A bright idea AS PART OF A RECENT TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE, ASHGROVE STATE SCHOOL HAS MADE THE SWITCH FROM INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS TO EPSON’S INTERACTIVE ULTRA SHORT THROW PROJECTORS, ENCOURAGING GREATER LEVELS OF STUDENT COLLABORATION AND ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY.

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Epson’s interactive projectors allow content to be displayed and students to annotate over the top.

At the Brisbane-based school, technology is viewed as an important tool to enhance student learning.

“I think we need to resource teachers well if they are going to be able to teach well. Part and parcel of equipping teachers with what they need is upgrading our technology,” says Anita Bond, Ashgrove State School Principal.

Catering to almost 800 students, the Prep to Year 6 school had nine Epson EB1450Ui interactive projectors installed in classrooms at the beginning of 2018, and a further five added at the beginning of 2019 – with more on the cards, budget depending.

Interactive projectors are now being used right across the school, in most year levels. In Prep to Year 2, many of the classrooms feature older Epson interactive projectors, installed in 2015. These will be the next classrooms to be upgraded to the Epson EB1450Ui. In addition, there are plans for other teaching spaces such as the school’s Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden classroom, library and communal areas to be equipped with Epson projectors in the near future.

The school’s Technologies Mentor, Sandy Gardner, says the new projectors have replaced old equipment in many of the school’s classrooms.

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“We had interactive whiteboards in all our classrooms since about 2012 and are slowly replacing and updating them with Epson interactive projectors. The technology of the old interactive whiteboards meant they had to constantly be recalibrated and were difficult to use, so they weren’t being used with all of their functionality.

With the new interactive projectors, we’ve had such great service from the Epson team. Our teachers, particularly those who were a bit hesitant, have picked it up easily and are excited about the technology.”

As part of the upgrade, Epson undertook a professional development session at the school to ensure all teachers understood how to use the projectors and all of their functions. “Epson ran a professional development afternoon and I was asked by staff to record it. That night I was approached by staff again who wanted more professional development around the use of the projectors because they were so excited about the opportunities they would provide for their teaching,” says Ms Gardner.

Staff quickly identified a variety of features that would prove beneficial in the classroom. “Among

the most exciting features for our teachers are the fact that they can have a couple of students interacting at once, can screenshot student work, annotate over the top and provide just in time feedback. This work may then be saved for future reflection, a task that teachers and students couldn’t do in the past. They are really excited about the opportunities the technology brings.”

Students at Ashgrove have a bring your own iPad program from Years 3 to 6. Using the Epson technology, teachers can actually photograph a student’s work on their iPad and then quickly and easily share it with the entire class. “Being able to annotate and capture that so they can refer to it at a later time if needed is a big advantage. Teachers are also able to go to the whiteboard, visit a website or other online source,

“Among the most exciting features for our teachers are the fact that they can have a couple of students interacting at once, can screenshot student work, annotate over the top and provide just in time feedback. This work may then be saved for future reflection, a task that teachers and students couldn’t do in the past.”

screenshot the page, and investigate the digital literacy components of the website, and take screenshots of the appropriate things they need so it can be shared with their class,” adds Glen O’Halloran, Deputy Principal for Years 3 to 6.

For Ashgrove, the brighter colours offered by Epson’s exclusive 3-chip LCD technology, which dedicates an entire chip to process each primary colour, has proven to be a great advantage. “Our classrooms have a lot of windows, and therefore a lot of natural light, which is great. The ultra short throw projectors Epson provides means the colour is always bright so teachers don’t need to darken classrooms for students to be able to see properly. These projectors work seamlessly,” adds Ms Gardner.

According to Mr O’Halloran, choosing Epson for this latest technology upgrade brought with it many advantages. “The interactive projectors were wellpriced for what they can deliver. While the price-point was good, Epson’s continued support, including coming out and doing professional development days and being able to support us when we need it has been a real winner. Interactive projectors are a genuine alternative to what a lot of schools are doing. They bring so much functionality that teachers didn’t have access to previously.”

The install was completed by AboutTech, a Queensland-based audio-visual technology specialist that has completed a wide variety of successful technology upgrades in schools.

“AboutTech has been a long-standing provider, which we have worked with for many years,” says Ms Gardner. “We worked with the company’s director, Glenn Searle, to determine the best option for our needs. For the actual install, AboutTech has been very accommodating with regard to school hours, coming in very early so they are finished by the time school starts, which results in less disruption to our students. Glenn has been great at providing advice and professional development for our teachers. There is no point in putting this sort of technology into our school unless our staff have the proper skills to use it. The Epson EB1450Ui interactive projectors were seen as the best match for us.” EM

Buyer’s Guide Epson hosted a professional development session at Ashgrove to ensure teachers understood all of the projectors’ functions.

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Epson Australia Ph: 1300 361 054 Web: www.epson.com.au 31

TECHNOLOGY // EDVAL

A timely solution EDVAL HAS LAUNCHED AN ALL-NEW CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE SOLUTION DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS, THAT’S MAKING DAILY TIMETABLING AND ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT A BREEZE.

Edval Primary is a timetabling program that has been purpose built to suit the needs of primary schools. It provides fully automated timetable construction with greater transparency to help ensure a more efficient use of resources.

As a timetabling expert, Edval’s suite of software aims to streamline a school’s entire scheduling process. It can generate customised, highly detailed timetables in minutes. From completely automated schedules, to manual allocations, Edval can facilitate it all.

Principals and school leaders can easily manage the school’s daily operations with access to live timetables, synced with the school’s calendar. Notifications can be tailored so all parties receive updates of any changes as they happen, keeping everyone in the loop.

Teachers can also easily review rosters, schedule meetings and book rooms or equipment at any time, as needed.

Designed to save time and effort, Edval Primary is easy to use, featuring drag and drop functionality. It can be used to schedule specialist classes, yard duties, organise extra curricular activities such as music lessons or sports classes, and more. The scheduler can also ‘lock’ a subject to a specifically required slot, and auto timetable around it.

Edval Primary can assist with class list management, automatically assigning students to classes by considering multiple parameters and providing schools with reporting of allocated subject time for ACARA requirements and Key Learning Areas, for each subject and student group.

When used in combination with Edval Daily, teachers can access various timetable views, with individual webcodes and permissions, showing all teaching and non-teaching obligations. Timetable views are offered, either individually or in

combinations, for teachers, student groups, year levels and rooms, with colour-coded subjects.

Edval Daily produces Day Sheets that can be printed or emailed to ensure everyone involved knows exactly what is happening within their day.

The software can display a teacher’s timetable for the day, their classes, covers, room changes, duties and events or excursions.

A time and cost saving solution, designed to assist with daily school organising and management, Edval Primary has been developed to evolve with your school; assisting principals and school leaders to easily stay on top of all that is happening within their primary school. EM

Buyer’s Guide Edval Ph: 02 8203 5455 Web: www.edval.education

Edval’s timetabling software assists principals to manage their school’s daily operations quickly and easily.

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Projector Model Code: MPTW4001 Maxell Ultra-Short Throw Interactive Laser projector.

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Education Matters is an informative, valuable resource for decision makers of primary and secondary schools Australia-wide.

Introducing Maxell’s new, highly innovative 3LCD ultra short throw laser interactive projector which can reach up to 4,200 ANSI lumens. This new projector is light weight, compact and environmentally friendly.

This next generation projector provides unparalleled image vibrancy and clarity all wrapped up in a sleek, stylish design. Ideally suited for producing up to 110” images in limited spaces and is specifically designed to meet the diverse needs of educators.

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HEALTH & WELLBEING // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

Problematic sexual behaviours ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ELSPETH MCINNES AND DR LESLEY-ANNE EY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISCUSS THE FINDINGS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY THAT EXAMINES HOW PRIMARY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS IDENTIFY AND RESPOND TO PROBLEMATIC SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS IN YOUNG CHILDREN.

In 2016, 107 educators from primary schools, pre-schools and out of school hours care services around Australia answered an online survey about their experiences involving children’s displays of problematic sexual behaviours (PSB) in education settings. The survey explored how they defined such behaviours, the training and education they had received on the topic and the kinds of training and support they would like to have to deal with this issue.

The research was conducted in the context of a near doubling of reports of PSB in Australia in

Dr Lesley-anne Ey lectures in Child Development, Educational Psychology and Child Protection in the Bachelor and Master of Teaching programs. Her research revolves around the impacts of media on children’s healthy development, bullying, children’s problematic sexual behaviours, and child protection issues with the aim to support teachers and inform curriculum. She is interested in supporting the wellbeing of children and is a great advocate for placing children’s voice at the centre of her research.

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the decade from 2005 to 2015. In addition, of the survivors of sexual abuse who gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, over 23 per cent said their experience involved another child. PSB is linked to exposures to complex trauma including domestic violence, parental drug addictions and mental illness, and child abuse. Given that Australian Bureau of Statistics data details that at least one in four Australian children have been exposed to domestic violence and other forms of abuse, it is vital that educators are able to respond effectively

to PSB in education and care sites.

Educators undertake mandatory training in responding to child abuse and neglect under the mandatory reporting laws in the state or territory in which they work and some universities offer preservice courses that cover child protection issues.

Such training is geared to address practices in relation to abuse of children by older people or adults rather than concerning harmful sexual behaviours involving other young children. PSB requires mandatory reports to child protection services, but unlike sexual abuse of children by older people, it is not a criminal matter involving police. Educators remain at the frontline of responding to classroom behaviour, peer relationships and concerned family members.

The survey identified that educators wanted ondemand access to training and expert support. While all state and territory education departments provided some level of support, services were often thinly spread and issues of child sexual behaviour did not have any priority over other issues. This meant that educators could have to wait weeks before they or the children could access counselling support. A particular priority

Results of the survey found educators would like to see on-demand access to training and expert support for dealing with problematic sexual behaviours.

was support for educators in responding to involved families – including the family of the child who had initiated PSB and the families of the children affected by these behaviours. Educators also wanted to be able to refer families to services in the wider community and have whole of school leadership engaged in safe behaviours education. Respondents noted that support was most effective when they could access information and guidance as needed.

Educators experienced high levels of stress when confronted with PSB and wanted to be effective in protecting and supporting children. Responses from site leadership were critical for educators who needed to comply with legal frameworks, manage the learning and care needs of the children, care for their own health and wellbeing and manage the needs of families. Respondents felt that they experienced little support when they reported the PSB and were not informed or aware of any action by child protection services. Principals and managers who did not act promptly or appropriately on reports of concerning behaviour were seen as failing to prevent escalating behaviours by children. Male educators felt particularly vulnerable to responding to PSB because of their gender. The combination of being exposed to PSB, limited or delayed support from school leadership and counselling and therapeutic services, the ongoing impacts on children’s behaviour in their classroom environment and the ongoing concerns of families, meant that educators were highly vulnerable to vicarious trauma, toxic stress and burnout.

The survey findings highlighted the need for PSB to be included as a specific issue in pre-service teacher training programs in universities, in child protective behaviours curricula and in mandatory training in responding to child abuse and neglect.

Multiple forms of access to education in identifying and responding to PSB, greater access to counselling and therapeutic services for affected children and expert and continuing support in managing family needs, are indicated as critical to ensuring the harms caused by PSB can be prevented and reduced.

Feedback to educators on actions by child protection services is important for enabling educators to form part of a team approach to support children’s safety and recovery.

The social problems of domestic violence, parental substance abuse and child abuse manifest in children’s behaviour in education sites, with educators on the frontline of identification of PSB and effective response to prevent ongoing and future harms. More training, more services and more support need to be focused on PSB to improve outcomes. EM

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Principals and managers who did not act promptly or appropriately on reports of concerning behaviour were seen as failing to prevent escalating behaviours by children.

Associate Professor Elspeth McInnes AM researches and teaches in the School of Education of the University of South Australia, focusing on wellbeing and safety of children and families, particularly early childhood care and education services. This includes attention to the intersections between home, children’s care and education services and the wider community context, as well as the impacts of family welfare, family law and family safety policies.

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HEALTH & WELLBEING // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

Smartphone ban isn’t smart after all FINNISH EDUCATOR AND GONSKI INSTITUTE PROFESSOR, DR PASI SAHLBERG, SHEDS LIGHT ON THE SMARTPHONES IN SCHOOLS DEBATE AND REVEALS WHY HE BELIEVES A BLANKET BAN ISN’T THE ANSWER.

Pasi Sahlberg is Professor of Education Policy at the Gonski Institute for Education of the University of New South Wales. He has worked as a school teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems and advised governments around the world.

He is former Director General at Finland’s Ministry of Education and a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University. He lives in Sydney with his wife and two sons.

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After their first day of school, children from a school in the city of Espoo in Southern Finland brought home a letter from their principal. It told parents disturbing smartphones would be removed from students, even forcefully, if nothing else helps. “That is illegal,” some parents reacted. The principal responded, “It is according to the regulations in Finland.”

The technology youngsters carry with them everywhere is causing headaches among teachers, and it’s not just in Finland. As a consequence, authorities are acting to try to solve the problem.

Recent headlines in Victoria revealed mobile phones would be banned in all government primary and secondary schools across the state. In Ontario, a daily newspaper reported a blanket mobile phone ban wasn’t the best solution. These news headlines both point to a real problem but offer opposing solutions.

Even when they should be learning at school or sleeping at night, many students just can’t stay away from their smartphones. With that said, what would be a smart fix to this growing problem in our schools?

Firstly, as adults we must realise that smartphones are everywhere. According to statistics portal Statista, over 95 per cent of Australians aged 12 to 24 have a smartphone and those devices are constantly in heavy use.

In a May 2018 study by Deakin University’s School of Psychology, led by lead researcher and psychology lecturer Dr Sharon Horwood, it was also reported that one third of young Australian smartphone users feel anxious if unable to regularly check their phones.

Many teachers and parents have reached the consensus that smartphones disturb children and affect school learning. Educators from that school in Espoo know this, and I agree too. Finland’s decline in international student assessments (for example in PISA) has happened at the same time as teenagers spend much more time staring at a digital screen.

As a consequence, they read less books and longer stories. Similar trends of stagnated or worsening education performance have been noted in many developed nations recently, according to PISA results.

Australia is not an exception.

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Perhaps the most worrying is children’s declining mental health during the smartphone era.

An international look at the state of young people’s wellbeing offers a grim picture. Consider this: • The National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland estimates 20 to 25 per cent of youths suffered mental health problems in 2017, an all-time high.

• In the United States, professor Jean Twenge found that the number of American teenagers who feel joyless or useless jumped 33 per cent between 2010 and 2015 and there was a 50 per cent increase in depressive symptoms among teens.

• An Alberta Teachers Association survey showed that 85 to 90 per cent of teachers think the number of children with emotional, social and behavioural problems in their schools has increased in the past five years.

• Evidence from around the world suggests children don’t sleep enough, don’t eat enough healthy food, and do too little outdoor physical activity.

Kids in Australia are not okay either. Melbourne Psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg stated that in Australia, one in seven primary and one in four secondary students suffer mental health issues.

Although we don’t know if smartphones are the primary cause of these problems, they may well be.

So, for the sake of children’s wellbeing and learning, should smartphones simply be banned in schools, as has happened in Victoria?

Blanket bans are rarely the most effective ways to solve behavioural problems, especially among young people. Teenagers were born in a digital world, their parents were not. Teens don’t know the world without smartphones. What young people are good at is finding a way around prohibitions.

From an educational perspective, a smartphone ban is an easy fix but not a smart move. A better solution is to teach children safe, responsible and healthy use of their smartphones. That isn’t easy, but it is possible. Many schools in Finland and Australia already do that. They know, as we all should, that education is the most effective tool in learning to control your own behaviours and live a healthier life.

Rather than simply taking smartphones away from teenagers, parents and teachers should help them to live with and understand the benefits and risks related to having one with you all the time.

There are a range of things that can be done in schools and at home to teach children how to use smartphones safely and responsibly.

PUT LIMITS ON USE AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL Many Australian teenagers spend more time watching digital screens than sleeping. Classroom work and homework often significantly contribute to daily screen time. Let’s teach children responsible and safe use of technology at school and at home. Allow children to figure out how to do that. Parents and teachers should be role models that demonstrate how to limit time on smartphones. At school, take regular digital diets. At home, log out of digital networks on the weekends.

SLEEP MORE AND BETTER Teenagers should sleep at least nine to 10 hours every night. Most teens don’t get that much sleep anymore. According to the Victorian Government, most adolescents only get 6.5 to 7.5 hours sleep per night, some even less. 70 per cent of teens suffer from sleep

deprivation according to the same source. Let’s teach children the importance of adequate good sleep. At home, let’s shut off smartphones two hours before bedtime and keep them away from bedrooms.

GO OUT AND PLAY Our children play less than we did when we were young. Many schools in Australia don’t provide recess or sufficient time for daily free outdoor play anymore. Parents tend to prefer structured educational afterschool programmes to unstructured outdoor play for their children. Let’s make 15-minute hourly recess a basic right for all children in every school. Let’s teach parents how play benefits their children and encourage them to play more with them outdoors every day.

Encourage children to go out and play after school with parents or friends for at least 30 minutes every day.

READ MORE BOOKS Children read less than before, and so do adults. Half of American children today, for example, love or like reading books for fun, compared to 60 per cent in 2010. International reading literacy survey PIRLS 2016 indicated a decline in recreational reading among Finnish children: only 35 per cent of 4th Graders read

for pleasure. Boys read so little in Finland that one in eight is functionally illiterate. Similar trends are noted in Australia too.

EDUCATION IS KEY The purpose of these steps is to learn to control and change one’s own behaviours to live a better and healthier life. The often-cited New Zealand Dunedin Study and other longitudinal research show self-control and other executive functions learned in childhood are the best predictors of success in adulthood.

Smartphone bans issued to schools by governments in France, Ontario and Victoria address an important problem but it’s an inefficient cure. Firstly, parents should be advoked not to buy smartphones for primary school-aged children. Secondly, teachers and parents should work with teenagers to help them understand the effects of technology and how to use smartphones responsibly.

Education is, as many teachers and principals see it, a more effective solution than prohibition.

A smartphone ban pushes the real problem under the carpet. Instead of barriers and bans we should spend more time with our children and understand their perspectives of the world we all share. EM

The first step in teaching children to read and write is to... …provide awareness of the 43 sounds (phonemes) we use in Australian spoken English.

4 BOXED SET Award-winning co-author of Sound Waves*, Barbara Murray, has recently released a boxed set of 4 hardcover illustrated books that introduces the 43 sounds to young children.

Sound Stories is a unique resource that takes children on a joyful and imaginative

journey to help them become aware of the 43 individual sounds while interacting with the enchanting illustrations and creative text.

For more information or to order a 4 Boxed Set, please visit: www.barbaramurray-author.com.au

* Sound Waves, The Whole-School Phonemic Approach to Spelling, is widely used in schools throughout Australia and in some countries overseas. Distributed by Woodslane. www.woodslane.com.au

With each set, schools can request a free digital version for electronic whiteboards.

20% SCHOOLS DISCOUNT!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT // AITSL

Making the most of professional learning CEO OF THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE FOR TEACHING AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP (AITSL), MARK GRANT, DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF TEACHERS AND SCHOOL LEADERS AND THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THEM THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS.

AITSL CEO Mark Grant has worked as both a teacher and principal.

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Like many of you, I started my career as a passionate teacher leading the learning of school students. I was also fortunate to spend 12 years working as a principal. Those experiences not only shaped me as a person but gave me a valuable perspective when I joined AITSL as CEO. It is something that is top of mind as AITSL continues to put evidence-based tools and resources into the hands of teachers across the country so you can confidently lead the learning of your students.

A constant theme throughout my career has been the importance of making sure that teachers and school leaders are well supported to address and respond to the varied and complex demands of the job.

No matter what stage you are at in your career, or where in Australia you teach, it is crucial you have opportunities to grow as a professional. This means having access to clear career paths with opportunities to gain and leverage your expertise, which will help you contribute to improved student learning outcomes.

AITSL is here to help support all teachers’ professional development in a nationally consistent way, one where quality and accessibility are key components. It is important that evidence-based resources are developed and offered, and that educators have the opportunity to apply them across all career stages, experiences, locations and modes of teaching and school leadership employment.

Across Australia there are more than 328,500 dedicated teachers and school leaders charged with the responsibility of educating the next generation of young Australians. You are part of this immense

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and impressive group and face a complex range of challenges and factors that impact your day-to day professional experiences. It follows that in an environment of constant change, with a diverse range of students, there is also an incredibly diverse range of professional learning needs within the primary teaching profession.

While many of the professional learning needs and challenges may be specific to an educator and influenced by their school, location and community, the reality is there are many shared and core competencies that can be learned to meet the professional growth needs of all primary school educators.

AITSL is here to help support all teachers’ professional development in a nationally consistent way, one where quality and accessibility are key components. It is important that evidencebased resources are developed and offered, and that educators have the opportunity to apply them across all career stages, experiences, locations and modes of teaching and school leadership employment.

Making use of new AITSL professional learning resources can help teachers contribute to improved student outcomes.

In fact, one of the things that really drew me to joining AITSL is the unique position the organisation occupies in the Australian education sector, and the incredible opportunity we have to directly support teachers in the classroom.

We are an independent voice for the teaching profession and use it to advocate on your behalf to key decision makers in all states and territories, across all systems and sectors. Our work is geared towards promoting excellence and supporting educators to have the greatest possible impact on their learners. We pride ourselves on close collaboration with the profession and I’m determined to make our two-way engagements with teachers and school leaders even stronger.

With that in mind, I’m pleased that we are providing access through our website to new, practical professional learning resources.

Recently we consulted with more than 1000 teachers and education leaders across Australia on their professional learning needs. Their responses reinforced the critical importance of professional learning. Based on what all respondents told us, we found that: • 76 per cent of teachers wanted to change something in their teaching.

We are an independent voice for the teaching profession and use it to advocate on your behalf to key decision makers in all states and territories, across all systems and sectors. Our work is geared towards promoting excellence and supporting educators to have the greatest possible impact on their learners.

• Only 20 per cent of leaders are involved in the professional learning of their school.

• A common barrier for rural and remote teachers and early childhood teachers is the shortage of casual relief teachers.

• While 64 per cent of teachers undertook four or more professional learning activities, 27 per cent of casual or relief teachers reported no professional learning activities.

• The most popular approach to professional learning was attending a course, though there are other emerging activities including professional reading, online learning, and professional conversations.

I encourage you to come and explore our website and check out our professional learning video case studies, new templates and guides, as well as the

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underpinning research and evidence. They have all been created to help you. The new resources are available at www.aitsl.edu.au/professional-learning.

We remain committed to ensuring that evidence informs the tools and resources we provide you. And we will continue to refine and co-develop resources you can use throughout your career.

The work you do in schools every day is vitally important. AITSL is proud to be able to provide support to teachers with the practical learning tools they need for achieving success in the classroom. EM

Buyer’s Guide AITSL Ph: 03 9944 1200 Web: www.aitsl.edu.au

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

The multiple drivers of instructional leadership AS PROFESSOR JOHN FISCHETTI OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE EXPLAINS, SUCCESSFUL INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP CAN BE A BALANCING ACT, INFLUENCED BY A WIDE VARIETY OF FACTORS.

Professor John Fischetti is the Interim Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Newcastle.

His work over the last 35 years has been around the areas of transforming learning and teaching, reframing teacher and leadership education, the implications of emerging technologies and promoting equity for disenfranchised populations. Professor Fischetti’s first teaching job was working with Cambodian refugees relocated to the US after the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime. His current teaching and research is centred on the future of learning, teaching and leading.

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School leaders have a figurative colour pallet in front of them as they paint the picture of and for their schools. They can use the imaginary colour wheel to determine with their executives, their faculties and their communities what approaches they would like to use to enable student success.

Is the school primarily one to promote academic excellence? Is it a school that cares deeply about student wellbeing? Does this school promote diversity and social justice? Does this school have students engaged in passionate study inside and outside of the four walls of the classrooms? The standards developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), and virtually all the leadership standards around the world, consider school leaders to be instructional leaders first and foremost. Instructional leadership is fundamentally job one of a principal after the health and safety of students and staff. However, some of the sub-indicators of the leadership criteria might actually be a bit naive in that they do not actually detail how difficult it is for time-poor school leaders on a day-to-day basis to actually be in classrooms for regular lengthy visits. Walkthroughs have become a cheap substitute to full ‘block’ observations. The standards and many processes almost make it all seem ‘too easy’.

Too often in the past we may have emphasised teaching over learning, with leaders monitoring teaching quality through observations over learning quality through evidence of students meeting outcomes. Everyone’s job in a school is to promote an inspirational learning environment built on high expectations, wellbeing, respect, dignity and love (of children and lifelong learning). The starting point

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for this kind of leadership is sharing a clear vision around an equity mindset – giving every child what they need when they need it. So, the first goal of an empowering, transformational instructional leader is fostering ‘vision’ towards great learning with an equity mantra and mindset. The equity lens is needed to ensure we are meeting the needs of every child, differentiating for each child’s special learning needs and to get learning and teaching right for each child. Establishing that equity vision is crucial for instructional leaders or each strategy will just look like a bunch of to-do items to improve a data wall or school plan, rather than shaping the direction of the school.

The job of the instructional leader is to put in place the people and processes to enable engaging, personalised school designs that will allow for success for all. In many schools there are pockets of great things happening, and individual great teachers who are doing great things to inspire great learning, but this may not necessarily add up to a whole-school design of success for all.

One common cliché for leaders is the act of keeping multiple agendas all in the air simultaneously, like a juggler continually rotating between the objects they are manipulating in the air all at once. So, what levers do school leaders have at their disposals – the drivers of transformational change. The NSW Department of Education particularly promotes three aspects of ‘future focused’ learning: space, technology and pedagogy.

Most leaders are using specific pedagogical approaches to drive the change process. Pedagogy is the way or the ways we teach (the principled and purposeful learning design and approaches/

Today’s teachers use flexible learning spaces to meet the needs of the learning outcome of the day.

methods/assessments). So, the major colour in our wheel is the colour of pedagogy in a school. Some teachers have a philosophical view of pedagogy grounded in the literature, others employ an experiential or time honoured view of the kinds of work and activities students do in their classes.

Pedagogy drives a school’s vision forward but in some schools the focus of pedagogy is haphazard classto-class, teacher-to-teacher, and not intentionally connected to the school’s vision.

Some principals have chosen emerging technology to drive their change agendas. Emerging and immersive technology can be the catapult to integrate some of the new and old tools that allow us to increase student engagement and, thereby, learning. The advent of artificial intelligence and virtual reality tools, including mixed reality learning environments, allow us to replace didactic (stand and deliver) teaching in the next 10 years. Many initiatives funded by outside agencies or foundations, such as enabling a tablet or laptop for every child, involves boosting technology integration in schools as the lead driver of change.

The physical space is another of the drivers of instructional leadership. Many schools have recently or will soon be refurbished or rebuilt as contemporary learning spaces. These new kinds of learning spaces create opportunities for children to be not only seated in better kinds of chairs but for the whole classroom and learning experience to be structured in much more dynamic and engaging ways. In these new learning environments, gone are the days of the teacher at the front of the classroom with chairs in neat rows. The teacher is more of the guide, facilitator, coach or orchestra leader using flexible space to meet the needs of the learning outcome of the day, not as before where the classroom structure dictates the pedagogy.

The use of pedagogy, technology and space in tandem is a powerful component of instructional leadership. However, those three alone do not fully represent the colour pallet. Just as vital is the notion of support. This includes academic, social and emotional support for learners in the journey. This driver can be providing wellbeing components, extra tutoring, and special interventions to personalise learning for children. It can mean providing pastoral care to assist students in negotiating through issues they might be dealing with at home or to support

them in negotiating growing up in a massively complex society. The average Australian teenager is online nine hours a day, three of those on social media websites. The level of anxiety, stress and depression emanating from our online and screen additions is the new normal for school leaders.

Another driver is the crucial need to engage positively with parents/carers and the community.

Getting the support of parents and the community is vital to gain buy-in to the process of change, to support new school designs and to understand transformational change. We do have a lot of parents who want schools to look just like they did for them and we’re talking about a very different kind of school for a very different kind a purpose.

Paramount to pedagogy, technology, space, support and engagement is the imperative professional learning of leaders, staff and the whole community. This new kind of professional development drives forward the knowledge, skills and dispositions for understanding what kind of learning we are trying to achieve and what kind of learning environment we are fostering to promote that learning. Without personalised, relevant and contextualised professional learning, pedagogy, technology, space, support and engagement may be a mishmash of incoherence and will be a noncontributor to change.

A final driver is the selection of new staff and the leadership development of current colleagues. All new

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staff should be incorporated into the school vision and feel they are a vital part of the change process.

Their skillsets and passions will be vital elements of the future of the school. Ongoing staff members are leaders, and their classroom and school leadership journey is paramount. Many classroom teachers do not see themselves as leaders and yet they are the most on-the-ground leaders in the school, the true instructional leaders. Their ongoing development is absolutely crucial in order to personalise learning, overcome siloed teaching and move to learning for all.

We are on the precipice of a very different approach to schooling, with new designs and new roles and functions of teachers to guide the learning journeys of all our children. We should design schools that are far more than just places young people go to watch their teachers work. In dynamic learning environments that are promoting learning and equity for all, school leaders are jugglers with multiple balls in the air. Trying to balance pedagogy, technology, space, support, engagement, professional learning and staffing simultaneously is a big ask. Keeping all the drivers in the air at the same time, while painting a unique design for his or her school is an amazing opportunity for a leader to shape the future. This move from ‘old school’ to ‘new school’ is an instructional leader’s dream. Moving from success for some to success for all allows everyone involved to have a huge stake in the future of a school, its community and society. EM

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT // MONASH

Monash’s research found that the use of graphic novels in the classroom provided a range of benefits.

Literacy engagement LITERACY EXPERTS FROM MONASH EDUCATION HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH TEACHERS TO EXPLORE THE USE OF GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE CLASSROOM AND UNCOVER HOW THEY CAN HELP LEARNERS RECONNECT WITH READING AND WRITING.

Graphic novels are being lapped up by contemporary readers. The combination of brief text, visual content and popular culture can transform learning in the classroom.

Below Monash Education reveals some ideas that have emerged from its five-year research project.

GRAPHIC NOVELS APPEAR SIMPLE YET HAVE COMPLEX LAYERS Graphic novels are extremely sophisticated texts that contain a wide range of literary devices.

Readers need to take in visual, spatial, gestural and linguistic cues. And there’s a real knack to reading them.

Teachers need to explicitly teach students how the design of graphic novels and the different modes of communication operate.

GRAPHIC NOVELS HAVE THEIR OWN UNIQUE VISUAL CONVENTIONS With everything from thought and speech bubbles to narrative boxes and sound effects, there are a range of conventions and literary devices students benefit from learning.

This challenges readers at all levels. In particular the combination of visuals and text have supported readers with limited language proficiency.

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GRAPHIC NOVELS PROMOTE A WIDE RANGE OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SKILLS Graphic novels use limited text but rich visuals and are not simplistic stories. Our research showed that the benefits ranged from exposure to sophisticated vocabulary, increased understanding of literary techniques and capacity to explore social and cultural issues.

Graphic novels also provided an excellent scaffold to teach writing.

A PRACTICAL WAY TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS “I was thrilled to find something that hooked them in from the get-go and provided my reluctant writers with an opportunity to shine,” says Kate Wall from Mossgiel Park Primary.

What started as a week-long lesson plan evolved into a six-week unit that culminated in a comic convention.

Ms Wall’s experience has ignited great interest, with graphic novels being used as mentor texts at her school and beyond. Students of all levels could experience success. EM

Buyer’s Guide Monash Education Web: monash.edu/education/teach

FUTURESCHOOLS // PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A festival of ideas REFRESHED AND REDESIGNED, THE NEXT INSTALMENT OF THE NATIONAL FUTURESCHOOLS FESTIVAL IS A PREMIER EVENT ON THE EDUCATION CALENDAR, BRINGING TOGETHER THE ENTIRE K-12 SECTOR.

Taking place on 18-19 March 2020 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the National FutureSchools Festival will be an interactive and immersive experience for educators across Australia.

Looking towards the future, this ‘festival of ideas’ is designed to upskill and inspire teachers, education leaders and partners who are searching for updated and practical tools to better engage and teach the students of tomorrow.

Focusing on the key areas of technology, environment, pedagogy and curriculum; the revamped event will allow participants to create their own agenda from 110 learning hours that are jam-packed with knowledge.

Participants can explore the exhibition floor to test drive a wide range of products and solutions side-by-side, giving them the opportunity to identify which technologies are the right fit for their school, and which vendors they want to partner with.

Six purpose-built theatres will line the exhibition floor, featuring practical, real world professional development content designed to

drive change for education in the 21st century.

Approximately 220 speakers will take to the floor over the course of the two days. Day one will run from 9am-9pm, giving educators the opportunity to attend after school. Attendance at the event provides up to 19 hours of teacher-identified professional development across the two-day conference.

Some of the important topics covered will include leadership, digital technology, learning spaces, ICT management, creativity and arts, PDHPE, inclusive education, ethics, distance learning, literacy and numeracy, gamification, pre-school, e-learning, music, and teaching with technology.

Also new to 2020 is a change to the ticketing structure. All participants will enter with one ticket providing access to all areas of the National FutureSchools Festival, including all conference sessions and the expo. This means educators have the opportunity to move freely between the various different sessions and topics.

Bursary tickets will also be on offer in 2020, and anyone within the school network

At FutureSchools 2020, one ticket will provide access to all areas of the event, including conference sessions and the expo.

The exhibition floor will offer the opportunity to test drive a wide range of products and solutions.

can apply by visiting the FutureSchools website.

Bursaries are strictly limited and complimentary, covering the cost of entrance into the National FutureSchools Festival.

The National FutureSchools Festival is designed to upskill, inspire and motivate educators and administrators alike as they grapple with disruption within the education sector.

For tickets and more information, please visit the National FutureSchools Festival website. The ticket price has been reduced by over 50 per cent to make it more affordable for all educators.

Super early bird tickets are now available at a special discounted rate of $275 when you book before 4 October 2019. Tickets purchased before 7 February 2020 will be eligible for a discounted rate of $350. Group bookings are also available, with special rates for groups of four or more. EM

Buyer’s Guide National FutureSchools Festival Web: www.futureschools.com.au education matters primary

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

New pedagogies for interdisciplinary STEM skills RUSSELL TYTLER OF DEAKIN UNIVERSITY SHEDS LIGHT ON THE DIRECT TEACHING VERSUS INQUIRY DEBATE IN THE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS SPACE.

Current advocacy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) represents a reform movement to increase engagement of students with the STEM disciplines, and to develop STEM skills that will prepare students for life in the 21st century. Such skills overlap with generic competencies that are increasingly represented in global curriculum framing (OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018), such as complex and creative problem solving, critical thinking, design thinking, mathematical reasoning, interpersonal and collaborative skills, and trans-disciplinarity.

What does this focus on interdisciplinarity and STEM skills mean for teaching and learning approaches? At face value, one might expect

Russell Tytler is Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Science Education at Deakin University. His research covers student learning and reasoning in Science, and extends to pedagogy and teacher and school change. He researches and writes on student engagement with Science and Mathematics, school-community partnerships and STEM curriculum policy.

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that the focus on developing students as agile and flexible problem solvers would imply inquiry pedagogies in which students are encouraged to develop agency in collaborative problem solving and investigation. This is indeed a strong strand of the project-based approaches based around design challenges often associated with STEM activities, where teachers report a growing confidence with student-focused pedagogies. However, there is evidence that these interdisciplinary activities, while engaging for students, fail to develop the deeper level understandings in the core disciplines of Mathematics and Science, where curriculum planning needs to attend to the progressive development of foundational ideas.

In this task, students investigated and represented shadow movement and related this to 3D models and drawings of earth-sun relations.

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Counter to this STEM move towards project based, inquiry pedagogies, a strong strand of Australian curriculum planning involves teaching strategies that at face value run counter to calls for the development of creativity, critical judgments, and student agency, advocating the ‘explicit teaching’ and ‘worked examples’ that are indeed the norm in current classroom practice. This is not to say that direct teaching does not have its place for aspects of the learning of knowledge and skills. In teaching, there is evidence on both sides of the explicit teaching/inquiry debate. I argue that the renewed focus on competencies and interdisciplinary thinking tips the balance towards the inquiry end of the scale, for Mathematics and Science as well as STEM project work.

So, what are the implications for Science and Mathematics teaching of this call for interdisciplinarity and STEM skill development?

I have described in a previous article an interdisciplinary approach to Mathematics and Science, with examples from a current research project (imslearning.org). The key argument is that the call for interdisciplinary curriculum approaches should not be seen as advocating the teaching of Science and Mathematics only through project-based work focused on engineering design or digital technology, but that the teaching in these subjects needs to change such that foundational knowledge and skills are developed in ways that enable flexible and insightful reasoning in authentic interdisciplinary situations. This is, after all, what disciplinary experts in real life bring to interdisciplinary innovation.

So, what should this pedagogy look like?

Clearly, this advocacy of the need to develop flexible Mathematics or Science learning and reasoning implies overt guidance from knowledgeable teachers.

On the student side, we should take a lead from how mathematicians and scientists develop and use ideas, and ask: How can classroom practices in some way simulate knowledge building in the real world?

This implies the need to allow space for students to explore and to create and test ideas in a meaningful and supportive environment. Thus, we seem to be enlisting elements of both direct teaching, and of inquiry. How can we balance these ideas?

We take our lead from the insight that knowledge building in Science and Mathematics involves the creative invention and establishment

Here, Year 4 students used guided investigation to explore whether a probot moves at constant speed.

of representational systems (models, visual representations, graphs and other data visualisations, mathematical and scientific symbols). These, as well as the language forms in which explanations, reports, proofs and argumentation occur, constitute the multi modal literacies of Science and of Mathematics.

Learning can be viewed as a process of induction into these disciplinary literacies, and command of these literacies (being able to create and use models, diagrams, mathematical symbols and processes) is what is needed for disciplinary knowledge to be flexibly used in reasoning and problem solving in authentic interdisciplinary settings.

In our pedagogy, students construct representations in response to structured and meaningful challenges. They actively explore and work with Science and Mathematics ideas through material exploration, in a process where the teacher strategically sequences the tasks and actively monitors and shapes student thinking and representing.

For instance, Year 4 children investigating whether a probot moves at constant speed were supported to invent, compare and refine ways of representing distance travelled over successive time intervals.

We and our colleagues argue that this process steeps students in authentic knowledge building,

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or epistemic processes of the discipline. In Mathematics for instance they develop key constructs such as measure, sample, data modeling and spatial reasoning through guided investigation rather than as procedures to be learnt independent of meaningful inquiry.

In astronomy, students investigated and represented shadow movement and related this to 3D models and then drawings of earth-sun relations.

In this process of sequenced investigation and representational invention, comparison and revision, we have found high levels of student engagement and representational competence.

The discussions are rich, they make meaningful choices, and are grounded in processes of scientific investigation and argumentation.

They are in an important sense ‘doing’ rather than ‘learning about’ Science and Mathematics.

In terms of the direct teaching/inquiry debate, the approach shares many of the features of quality direct teaching: deliberative structuring and framing of activities, clarity of intended outcomes, continuous monitoring of students’ inputs and ideas, and overt scaffolding through task design and targeted questioning. Key differences include greater trust in the generative nature of students’ ideas and the weight given to these; invitation of students into the purposes of the knowledge; openness to variation in student practices; opportunities for imaginative projection and robust discussion leading to communal agreement on key ideas; orchestration, critique and revision of students’ invented representations; and attention to the purposes of modeling and representational work compared to presentation of ideas as pre-packaged practice.

Direct teaching advocates the gradual ceding of control to students after they have been taught techniques, and monitoring of their work, rather than our staged process of exploration, invention, evaluation and revision. The payoff, we argue, is that students come to know the disciplinary ideas in richer ways. We have found, however, that the approach requires of teachers both significant knowledge of the Science and Mathematics, and command of a pedagogy involving negotiation and refinement of student ideas, compared to ‘telling’. It also takes more time. However, if we are serious about developing STEM skills for interdisciplinary problem solving, we argue there are no shortcuts. EM

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

Building confidence in teaching numeracy PROFESSOR CHRIS WALSH FROM VICTORIA UNIVERSITY AND DR LEICHA A. BRAGG OF DEAKIN UNIVERSITY HAVE CO-DEVELOPED A FREE NEW RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS THAT AIMS TO ENHANCE PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN THE FIELDS OF NUMERACY AND MATHEMATICS.

Professor Chris Walsh is the Academic Director of Victoria University (VU) Online, Melbourne. With a demonstrated history of co-creativity and innovation in the higher education industry in both developed and developing contexts, he researches and publishes widely in the field of teacher professional development and digital literacies.

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High-quality online education and professional development for teachers should be freely accessible. Our stance compelled us to propose the design of an open educational resource (OER) to the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET). OERs consist of freely available online teaching and learning materials that can be used and utilised by anyone without charge. OERs allow teachers to study online from anywhere in the world and provide access to high-quality resources to support evidence-based practice in their classrooms. Growth in teachers’ professional learning in turn, improves students’ learning.

The demand for teachers with sufficient numeracy pedagogical knowledge and skills is high. However, at times, existing numeracy teacher professional development programs struggle to develop pre-service, in-service and returning teachers’ professional foundations in numeracy teaching and learning. Often one-off professional development programs happen after school or during teacher release time. This approach does not provide enough time for teachers to learn sufficiently about evidence-based practices or sustained time to reflect on their learning to empower their professional growth.

The internet is inundated with educational resources for teachers across all subject areas.

For many educators, the sheer volume of online educational resources makes it difficult to find the ‘right’ resource to demystify the teaching and learning of key concepts, specifically in mathematics. To overcome this challenge, we designed the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER (www.numeracy-guide-oer.com).

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Our OER is a six-week micro-course for pre, inservice and returning teachers. It is designed to help educators build confidence in teaching numeracy and mathematics to become a more proficient numeracy teacher. The OER’s learner-centred activities provide numerous opportunities to draw on evidencebased best practice, such as High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS), to maximise their students’ opportunities for numeracy learning. Additionally, the ‘Numeracy at Home’ module provides teachers with strategies to successfully encourage families to foster numeracy problem-solving and investigations through everyday activities.

The Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER has the potential to significantly enhance teachers’ professional learning and connect them to DET’s numeracy teaching resources. A key resource the OER draws on is the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide (numeracyguidedet.global2.vic.edu.au). In 2018, we led on the design of Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide for DET. It is a curated collection of

The OER’s learner-centred activities provide numerous opportunities to draw on evidence-based best practice, such as High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS), to maximise their students’ opportunities for numeracy learning.

dynamic approaches to developing student numeracy across three stages of learning: Birth to Level 2; Level 3 to Level 8; and Levels 9 and 10. In our conceptualisation of The Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide we took specific steps to ensure its numeracy teaching resources where aligned with the Victorian Curriculum, VEYLDF and all DET initiatives.

The design of the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER and the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide explicitly draws on the principles of heutagogy.

Heutagogy is a form of self-directed learning grounded in a learner-centred approach that focuses specifically on the learner and what is learned. Figure 1 outlines the key heutagogical principles used in the design of both online multimodal resources.

The Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER and the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide are engaging, inspiring and motivating online teacher professional development resources. They are simple to navigate with videos introducing weekly topics that present

The design of the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER and the Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide explicitly draws on the principles of heutagogy. Heutagogy is a form of self-directed learning grounded in a learner-centred approach that focuses specifically on the learner and what is learned.

evidence-based strategies that are easy to implement in the numeracy classroom. These online resources have a specific and intentional focus on teacher’s reflective practice, presenting opportunities for working in collaboration with peers to plan for a cycle of continuous improvement. The Birth to Level 10 Numeracy Guide OER’s practical design aims to build educators’ confidence in the teaching and learning of numeracy and mathematics, thus supporting children and young people’s numeracy growth. EM

Principle

Description

Learner-centred & Learnerdetermined

The learner is self-motivated and autonomous and is primarily responsible for deciding what will be learned and how it will be learned (and assessed).

Capability

Numeracy practitioner capability is characterised by being able to use one’s competencies in unfamiliar as well as familiar circumstances, learner self-efficacy, communication, creativity, collaboration (teamwork), and positive values. The inclusion of curated numeracy teaching resources reflects this characterisation.

Self-reflection & metacognition

Within heutagogy, it is essential that reflection occurs in a holistic way. This translates to the numeracy practitioner having opportunities to reflect not only what she/he/they has learned, but also the way in which it has been learned, and an understanding of how it is learned (metacognition).

Double-loop learning

Double-loop learning requires that numeracy practitioners be both psychologically and behaviourally engaged. The activities in the OER and The Guide ask learners to reflect on not only what they have learned, but also the way in which this new knowledge can be used in their classroom to improve student numeracy learning.

Nonlinear learning

As learning is self-determined, the path to learning is defined by the numeracy teacher and is not pre-established. As a result of teachers choosing their own path, learning happens in a nonlinear format and the OER and The Guide is intentionally designed to have stand-alone components to facilitate nonlinear learning.

Figure 1. Principles of Heutagogy employed to develop the online resources.

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Dr Leicha A. Bragg is a Senior Lecturer and Mathematics Teaching and Research Coordinator at Deakin University, Melbourne.

She has worked in education with preservice and practising primary Mathematics teachers for over 20 years and has an international reputation for her work in professional learning and developing engaging educational tasks.

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NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED educationmattersmag.com.au

Education Matters Magazine and educationmattersmag.com.au are informative, valuable resources for decision makers of both primary and secondary schools Australia-wide. We provide a content-rich, comprehensive buyer’s guide of the most reliable, trustworthy school suppliers in the market.

This is coupled with the latest in news and expert views about the topics and issues currently impacting the education sector. educationmattersmag.com.au is a one-stop shop for a wide variety of products or services for your school. You can browse our categories which include technology, professional development, curriculum, health and wellbeing, beyond the classroom and more; or use our search function to find exactly what you require.

For further information, contact: Andrew Morrison Mobile: 0411 755 432

Email: andrew.morrison@primecreative.com.au

LITERACY // CURRICULUM

A phonemic approach is the key to learning to read and write PHONICS AUTHORITY AND CO-AUTHOR OF SOUND WAVES, BARBARA MURRAY, EXPLAINS WHY TEACHERS NEED TO DEVELOP IN THEIR STUDENTS AN AWARENESS OF THE 43 SOUNDS (PHONEMES) USED IN AUSTRALIAN SPOKEN ENGLISH.

The Australian National Curriculum strongly recommends that all Australian primary schools include phonemic awareness and synthetic phonics in their literacy program.

In spite of this, recently published research reported that new teachers, fresh out of university, have never learned these skills themselves, let alone been instructed on how to teach them to their students in the classroom.

Phonemic Awareness, combined with Synthetic Phonics, is currently scientifically proven to be an extremely effective way for children to read and write proficiently.

There are only so many words our brains can commit to memory. Imagine learning to read and write unfamiliar characters, such as those used to represent Russian or Chinese in written form. If we understand the structure of the language and the

Barbara Murray is the co-author of award-winning Sound Waves phonemic reading and spelling resources, which are used throughout Australia’s primary schools.

The boxed set of Sound Stories was introduced in 2019.

The Sound Stories set of books are designed to assist teachers in teaching students about the 43 sounds used in Australian spoken English.

recurring patterns, we have a much better chance of success.

Phonemic Awareness means ‘being aware’ of all 43 sounds (phonemes), that we use every day and knowing how to identify them in the words that make up Australian spoken English.

This is the first, vital step in learning to read and write. It is an oral step. Once students can identify the beginning, medial and final sounds in simple two and three sound words orally, they are ready for Synthetic Phonics.

Synthetic Phonics teaches students how to break (segment) words into the individual sounds.

It then teaches students how to use the alphabet letters to represent those sounds in written form when reading and writing.

To help teachers in the classroom, I have developed a set of four books that provide a ‘sound story’ for each of the 43 sounds (phonemes). The creative stories are accompanied by delightful, engaging illustrations that will entice children to observe, imagine, predict, draw conclusions and create a possible storyline as part of an open

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discussion, before the story is read to them.

The four books in the set are: • Book 1: An Introduction to Consonant Sounds, Part 1. The Bolton Boys’ Balloon Adventure and other stories.

• Book 2: An Introduction to Consonant Sounds, Part 2. Robbie Robot to the Rescue and other stories.

• Book 3: An Introduction to Vowel Sounds, Part 1. Anna Ant’s Antics and other stories.

• Book 4: An Introduction to Vowel Sounds, Part 2. Bertie Bird and the Earthworm and other stories.

With every set of books purchased, schools receive a colourful box for easy storage and can request a free digital version of the book (e.g.

PDF) for teachers to show in class on a digital whiteboard. EM

Buyer’s Guide Barbara Murray Web: www.barbaramurray-author.com.au

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CURRICULUM // EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

The reality of STEM education STEM EXPERT DR KATHY SMITH, FROM MONASH UNIVERSITY, DISCUSSES THE CHALLENGES OF STEM EDUCATION AND HOW WE CAN LEARN FROM THE WORK CURRENTLY BEING DONE BY PRIMARY TEACHERS.

What is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education? It is difficult for teachers to provide a succinct and clear response to this question because they know they are dealing with more than a simple acronym. In their eyes, STEM education embodies professional responsibilities to students and families, professional accountability to both curriculum and assessment regimes, and concerns about

Dr Kathy Smith is a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Her research interests are teacher professional learning, primary science education and STEM education. She continues to work with teachers in schools to support the planning and teaching of Science. Dr Smith is the course leader for the Graduate Certificate of STEM Education.

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their personal ability to support every student in all STEM areas. Through the eyes of teachers, STEM education involves much more than economic rhetoric of future jobs and national competitiveness in global markets. Teachers face a different professional reality.

The descriptions of STEM education that teachers share with me in response to this question are insightful. They cite the importance

Numerous primary schools are taking whole-of-school approaches to teaching and learning.

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Supporting teachers to find STEM learning opportunities within existing teaching units allows teachers to work with familiar topics in different ways. ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Change’ are inquiry topics commonly embedded within the planning cycles of many primary schools. of developing critical thinkers to solve real world problems and the need to develop learning approaches which enable students to: understand the ethical/ moral/historical implications of authentic world problems; design solutions through innovation and experimentation; find different ways of thinking; use a hands-on approach working within multifaceted teams that value collaboration; and evaluate a solution and the impact of a chosen approach. Teachers know what matters in STEM education. The next big challenge is: how do they make this happen in their school and with their class?

While it is still early days, primary schools have started to lead the way, showing that STEM education can be successfully embedded within whole school practice. For many schools this happens in small steps as staff work to develop careful and considered approaches. Noticing what these teachers are paying attention to as they do this may provide some valuable insights about how to effectively develop STEM education at all levels.

ASPIRATIONAL DISPOSITIONS It appears valuable for staff to work together to determine the key attributes that are most important for learners. Staff at St Joseph’s Primary School in Hawthorn, Victoria, have developed a list of aspirational dispositions and while this is not intended to be seen as definitive, it is a statement about what they agree is important for their students at this point in time. These aspirations include students being flexible and responsive to circumstance, creative and critical thinkers, effective and articulate communicators, and informed and active citizens, etc. STEM education would clearly add value to the development of the dispositions identified by the staff at St Joseph’s. In this context, STEM education adds value to the school’s learning agenda.

TEACHING APPROACH Reaching a consensus about preferred teaching approaches is also important as these decisions guide teacher planning. Many primary schools already use schoolwide approaches to learning and teaching, e.g. integrated inquiry. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program, characterised by an inquiry led, transdisciplinary framework, is an example of such an approach. This approach provides opportunity for primary teachers to challenge students to think for themselves and take responsibility for their learning. In IB schools, teachers are expected to use this approach to explore local and global issues and opportunities in real-life contexts. These types of learning experiences complement many of the

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underlying intentions which teachers described for STEM education. The transdisciplinary approach also has the potential to explore the nature of the knowledge which defines each STEM discipline while examining how each brings a unique lens to problem solving. Following a consistent planning approach across a school ensures that STEM education is embedded within existing teaching and learning.

FINDING STEM OPPORTUNITIES IN EXISTING UNITS Supporting teachers to find STEM learning opportunities within existing teaching units allows teachers to work with familiar topics in different ways. ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Change’ are inquiry topics commonly embedded within the planning cycles of many primary schools. A teacher who encouraged a group of Year 6 boys to address an existing waste problem within the school by working to design an interactive rubbish bin for students in the junior levels, opened the opportunity for these students to showcase their work at a sector-wide event. Through a partnership with a local community conservation group, another teacher enabled students to develop a water pollution filter for use in a local waterway.

Finding opportunities within existing units is a great place to start.

SEEKING OUTSIDE EXPERTISE Primary teachers also readily identify a need to enhance the skills and knowledge they bring to STEM education. As generalist teachers, many actively seek the involvement of expertise from the wider community.

Some schools acknowledge the expertise of parents by inviting them to participate in class activities and contribute to ongoing projects. Parents are invited as guest speakers; and engineers, health workers, electricians, builders, chefs, etc. are all sourced from the local school community. Other primary schools are reaching out to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with local community organisations and approaching local businesses to support the supply of STEM materials when budgets are limited.

STEM education is exciting but also challenging.

While teachers know what matters for their students’ learning, it is sometimes difficult to find ways to effectively develop school-based STEM education.

There may be much to learn from the simple steps that primary schools are taking to develop careful and considered approaches. EM

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BEYOND THE CLASSROOM // PLAYROPE

At Casula Public School, the Roplay Ball allows for many children to play on it at the same time.

Playgrounds: Research is key PLANNING A PLAYGROUND IS AN IMPORTANT TASK THAT’S LIKELY TO BRING MANY QUESTIONS ALONG THE WAY. ACCORDING TO PLAYGROUND DESIGNERS AND CONSULTANTS, PLAYROPE, IT’S IMPORTANT TO DO YOUR RESEARCH AND SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT TEAM OF EXPERTS FOR GUIDANCE.

In this edition of Education Matters, PlayRope provides some tips on how to begin your research for a new school playground.

WORK TO YOUR BUDGET We understand that many education providers are limited in resources, and that government initiatives for playground projects aren’t exactly abundant. Because of this schools will most likely be fundraising to pay for their playground.

Playground suppliers can be flexible when it comes to your budget. There is no minimum spend – it’s simply a matter of coming to us with your budget and your allocated space, so you can be guided through your many options.

If your playground budget is limited, think about completing

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your playground in segments in order to stagger payments and give you more time to accumulate funds. A staged delivery also works for maximising safety during the term so the build happens during holidays, and student activities aren’t disrupted by a construction site.

SELECTING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR SCHOOL When choosing playground equipment, it’s not just a matter of selecting the components of your playground, but the design aesthetic as well. You want to produce something that fits your environment and supports imaginative play.

Schools should also design and build their project according to the kinds of play they want the space to facilitate.

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Choosing play equipment that encourages basic forms of exercise such as balancing, climbing, jumping, bouncing, rocking and swinging helps to promote physical activity.

Some questions to help guide your decisions include: • Should activities remain close to the ground or can they take children up high in the sky?

• Should activities promote a lot of physical movement?

• Should there be activities and/or equipment that promote social interaction?

• Should there be activities or spaces for independent play and discovery?

• What about equipment to challenge the cognitive aspect of the child’s play?

• What should be done to make the playground more inclusive?

Furthermore, PlayRope recommends ensuring all products come with a warranty and supporting documentation that explains how to properly care for and maintain the equipment.

THINK ABOUT SAFETY In schools, safety is paramount. Working with a local playground consultant provides peace of mind that you’re getting a top quality installation that supports safe play.

EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE PlayRope has over 14 years of experience in bringing imaginative play spaces to life in Australia’s education sector. Over the years, PlayRope has built an incomparable product portfolio of innovative and high quality equipment. This extensive range caters to any project, in any style, meaning the range of possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

PlayRope has the experience and know-how to turn a school’s vision into reality, providing equipment and design that has huge benefits for children, school staff and the wider community at large. A school playground isn’t just for imaginative play, it also promotes exercise, fosters positive behaviour and assists in cognitive and social development.

Contact PlayRope to find out how to get your playground project started. EM

Buyer’s Guide PlayRope Ph: 1800 767 529 Web: www.playrope.com.au/schools Climbing helps train a child’s sense of balance and body awareness.

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BEYOND THE CLASSROOM // WILLPLAY

Bringing out the ninja WITH TODAY’S STUDENTS TYPICALLY LESS ACTIVE THAN IN THE PAST, WILLPLAY HAS LAUNCHED A RANGE DESIGNED TO APPEAL TO STUDENTS OF ALL AGES, ENCOURAGING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND PROMOTING GREATER CORE STRENGTH.

WillPlay’s Urban Warrior Range combines the best of play and fitness equipment to enable an amazing play area that can be so much more than conventional play equipment.

The Urban Warrior range has been designed to engage students of all ages. Urban Warrior makes play more engaging and fitness fun.

With an emphasis on activities that can develop cardio-vascular fitness and improve core strength, the Urban Warrior range can help with a student’s overall fitness and strength and help to improve posture. Improved core strength and posture has been linked to higher concentration levels and improved educational outcomes in students of all ages.

Following the rise in popularity of television shows promoting similar obstacle course activities, the Urban Warrior system encourages activity and participation. The system also encourages social engagement and can add an element of competitiveness.

As an added benefit, WillPlay’s Urban Warrior range can also be incorporated into the school’s

Physical Education program. The structured flow of the course allows students to be benchmarked and compare their own results/improvements in physical performance and fitness over a defined period of time.

With the increased emphasis on physical challenge and movement, this system encourages activity without the perception of play that can often be a disincentive for older primary students who are beginning to transition into secondary school. With these students no longer feeling the need to ‘play’, Urban Warrior encourages activity and social interaction beyond the ‘play’ years.

The individual elements can be set as a closed circuit or scattered around a larger area, creating a cross country style training course.

Encouraging students to move between elements can improve cardio-vascular fitness and helps students achieve the minimum daily movement that many are missing out on in today’s world.

Elements of the system can also be ordered individually and incorporated into conventional

WillPlay’s Urban Warrior range allows schools to benchmark and track fitness outcomes in students from Prep to Year 12.

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play areas. In addition, this allows a circuit to be built in stages, as budgets allow.

Manufactured in Australia from premium materials including stainless steel, aluminium and recycled plastics and timber composites, these units are built to handle anything that students can throw at them.

WillPlay is an Australian manufacturer of play and fitness equipment, which can assist schools with formulating the ideal play and fitness spaces, from the initial design concept through to construction. WillPlay can also supply and install shade systems, softfall, outdoor furniture and mini-grandstand structures.

Talk to your nearest WillPlay distributor to help design the ultimate obstacle course or play area for your school. EM

Buyer’s Guide WillPlay Ph: 1300 132 047 Web: www.willplay.com.au

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BEYOND THE CLASSROOM // SHERPA KIDS

The Hurstville team: Josephine Grady, Sophia Wong, Emma Ward, Leanne Abbott, William Wong and Tammy Najm.

A sense of community OFFERING THEIR OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS CARE SERVICES TO 11 PRIMARY SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT NSW, SHERPA KIDS’ FRANCHISEES WILLIAM AND SOPHIA WONG HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SMALL REGIONAL TOWN OF URALLA.

Mr and Mrs Wong became Sherpa Kids franchisees in 2014, servicing the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Sherpa Kids is an out of school hours care service that provides before and after school and holiday childcare.

In mid 2016, there was an opportunity to extend their service offering to the Tamworth area, in northeast NSW, so Mr and Mrs Wong expanded their business by taking over the franchise within the area.

The husband and wife team now offer their services at eight schools within the Hurstbridge area and three within the Tamworth region – with more schools on the way.

With the rising costs of living, many parents are choosing to return to work in order to keep up with dayto-day living expenses. For numerous working parents, out of school hours care is a necessity.

Mr and Mrs Wong’s regional services operate in

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schools that are isolated in terms of their geographical location and have small town populations, which means there are less children, so booking numbers are small.

“A lot of out of school hours care providers don’t have any interest in operating in an area that isn’t making profit. Because of the challenges faced in these areas, many parents are of a low socio-economic status. This means costs associated with these sorts of services is another factor, as many parents can’t afford it. That has made it challenging for any out of school hours providers to service these small towns,” explains Mr Wong.

However, the couple’s commitment to out of school hours care led to them becoming the first provider to offer their services in Uralla, where parents are receiving high quality services for their children with no out of pocket expenses.

“We offer these services to parents free of charge. We only receive the childcare subsidy portion but families pay nothing at all. This was an opportunity for us to contribute to these communities.

Rather than just treating it as a business, we welcome all families and give children the opportunity to unwind, to learn while they play and have a nutritious meal,” Mr Wong explains.

“We’ve had positive feedback from school principals, which in return is good for their school’s reputation too. In some cases, families are choosing these schools because of the quality of before and after school hours care being offered – these supplementary services that suit parents’ needs.”

Along with receiving praise from the schools in which they operate and the wider communities, Mr and Mrs Wong have been recognised for their efforts on a broader scale too. Their Hurstville business won Hurstville City Council’s ‘New Business’ award in

2015; was a finalist in the St George Local Business Awards for the ‘Outstanding Community Services’ category in 2015, 2016 and 2017; and received the ‘Excellence in Education and Children’s Services’ award from Georges River Council in 2016. More recently, in June 2019, Mr and Mrs Wong were interviewed about their community contribution to Uralla for Australian television network Prime7, an affiliate of the Seven Network.

Committed to furthering the level of service being offered at the schools they service, Mrs Wong is currently completing her Masters Degree of Teaching at the University of Sydney, majoring in Early Childhood Education. EM

Buyer’s Guide Sherpa Kids Ph: 0403 824 119 Web: www.sherpa-kids.com.au

DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR UPCOMING OCTOBER SECONDARY EDITION OF EDUCATION MATTERS. These bumper editions will include: ROBOTICS Our special Hot Topic feature on Robotics will investigate how this technology is being used to enhance student engagement, provide hands-on STEM learning, and help prepare today’s students for the world of the future.

MATHEMATICS AND TUTORING For some students, maths skills come naturally, for others a little help goes a long way in improving outcomes. In this feature, we look into some of the programs and resources being used to assist students of various skill levels to improve their mathematical abilities.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING PROGRAMS Looking after our physical and mental health is important. This has resulted in a range of effective programs being developed and implemented into schools to help improve the health and wellbeing of students, teachers, principals and school staff. We highlight some of the tools currently available.

To be part of this exciting issue, please contact

Andrew Morrison M 0411 755 432

Sarah Leptos E andrew.morrison@primecreative.com.au

M 0403 485 140

E sarah.leptos@primecreative.com.au

THE LAST WORD // Minister for Education

Education for a fast-changing world Minister for Education, the Hon. Dan Tehan MP, speaks about the Australian Government’s commitment to choice and equity in education.

We understand that an education gives you power over your destiny, helps you understand the world around you, and gives you the tools to participate in your community. The Australian Government believes that central to a high quality education must be a focus on literacy and numeracy that starts in primary school.

We are providing record funding of more than $310 billion to all Australian schools over the next 10 years. This is an average per student funding increase of 62 per cent.

But just spending more money won’t help our students if the money is being spent without a plan.

That is why the Australian Government has reached agreement with every state and territory government to deliver the reforms recommended

by David Gonski in the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools.

The Australian Government will take the lead on: • Enhancing the Australian Curriculum so it is tailored for development pathways so teachers can meet individual student’s learning needs.

• Creating a unique student identifier – so students can be supported no matter where they move.

• Establishing a national institute to be the centre of excellence and research for teaching, school systems and policies.

Record funding matched with real reforms will improve student outcomes and help every child reach their full potential.

We want parents to see results from this funding. That’s why we back NAPLAN and the transparency it provides to parents and the feedback it provides teachers about their students’ progress, both what they do well and where they need more assistance. Parents should expect to be able to see progress in their child’s education.

At the election, our Government promised to roll out a free phonics health check for Year 1

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students. This tool will help teachers and parents identify any students whose reading skills are falling behind and to provide the support they need to progress.

South Australia has introduced a state-wide phonics screening check that is helping to identify students who need support. The introduction of the phonics check has also enabled a fresh emphasis on the quality of phonics instruction and on reading instruction in general.

We will also create a phonics resource hub for schools, teachers and families, provide $2.8 million for disadvantaged schools to access phonics resources and training, and ensure trainee teachers learn how to teach phonics in the classroom.

The Australian Government backs local communities and local schools. We back teachers and principals. We will reduce red tape to ensure teachers have more time to focus on teaching through a review into the compliance and regulatory burden teachers’ face.

We will develop a national teacher workforce strategy focusing on attracting and retaining quality teachers, supporting teachers and the teaching profession, and understanding supply and demand.

The Australian Government will also invest an additional $15 million to support more Teach for Australia graduates who will train specifically for school leadership roles. These graduates will be high achieving teachers who will become high quality school leaders in rural, remote or disadvantaged schools.

We will also develop a strategy to help schools address the abuse of staff.

In this year’s Budget we introduced the $30.2 million Local Schools Community Fund to help schools with small-scale projects. Every electorate around the country will have $200,000 that local schools can access to fund a school project.

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Schools will be able to apply for up to $20,000 in funding to support projects such as new computers, playground and sporting equipment, musical facilities, library resources and counselling or youth mental health support. The fund will be open to eligible state, Catholic and independent schools.

Applications for funding opened on 25 July and will close on 30 September 2019.

We know that student wellbeing is an issue for parents and teachers, particularly with the rise of cyberbullying and the inappropriate use of new technology. The Australian Government supports the Victorian and New South Wales Governments’ ban on mobile phones in the classroom. We will use experts from Canada and France, where mobile phones in the classroom are banned, to provide advice to school systems about best practice regarding mobile technology use in schools.

The Australian Government, through the COAG Education Council, is undertaking a review of the 2008 Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals For Young Australians, to create a nationally consistent future direction for Australian schooling for the next decade.

Through our record investment in education, supported by a strong Budget and sensible reforms, the Australian Government is committed to delivering the quality education every Australian child deserves. We will continue to focus on ensuring that Australian students receive a worldclass education, tailored to individual learning needs, and relevant to a fast-changing world. EM

ACARA // THE LAST WORD

The purpose of education David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), discusses the role of education, and how it extends far beyond preparing students for the future workforce.

I have now been the CEO at ACARA for six months. It is a great privilege and responsibility to be in a position working with passionate people committed to improving our school education system. But in order to think critically and creatively about how to do this, one needs to have a clear idea about the purpose of education more broadly, and of schooling as a particular, socially organised form of education.

Perhaps a good way into this is to start with the oft-heard complaint from some students who ask something like this: “Why do we have to study Shakespeare? What use is that going to be for getting a job?”

Putting aside for now the various reasons that could be given as to why a study of Shakespeare would indeed be useful preparation for the modern world of work – with valuable insights into character, power, personal relationships, communication, self-deception, problem-solving, just to name a few – and what is noticeable about this lament is the assumption that the purpose of education starts and ends with employment.

Of course, being able to make a contribution to one’s society in ways that attract financial reward is vitally important for one’s own physical survival and wellbeing.

But while acquiring the knowledge, skills and attributes that improve one’s chances of employment is a fundamental part of any educative process, it is really only the most basic function of education, upon which other higher level functions can be developed to meet higher level needs.

In addition to serving this basic function at what might be termed the ‘vital’ level of need or value, which is concerned with the goods essential to the quality of physical life such as

food, health and shelter, education also serves, in ascending order, social, cultural and personal needs and values.

At the level of social values, education supports the effective and harmonious interaction of individuals with one another as members of ever-larger groups, from families to communities of various kinds (e.g. friendship groups, churches, clubs) to wider society.

Effective socialisation also supports our ability to meet our basic vital needs, since collaboration is increasingly important in our complex world for the earning of a living.

Beyond physical survival and effective socialisation, and dependent on them, there is the level of cultural values, which is concerned about the meaning of life, as mediated through story, myth, philosophy, science, history, the creative arts and literature, and many other systems of meaning that have developed over thousands of years as our society evolved. At the core of our being, at the centre of the human condition, are questions of meaning. Human beings desire to answer the questions: “How am I to live my life? What am I to do with myself?

How do I make sense of the world into which I have been born?”

Education, insofar as it operates at this cultural level, supports us to make sense of the world and the society into which we are born, and to interpret it. And just as cultural expression has the meeting of vital and social needs as a prerequisite, it also informs the ways we meet those needs.

But, ultimately, we must also be capable of understanding and shaping ourselves and our own lives as individuals. We are not just products of our physical circumstances or of a deterministic socio-economic or cultural

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process. The family, society and culture into which we are born influence who we are, but do not determine us.

As self-consciously thinking and feeling beings, we have agency to make meaning for ourselves, and so education, operating at the level of personal values, serves to empower us to become people of integrity, authenticity and wisdom.

‘Know thyself’ is the earliest recorded advice on the design of a curriculum, inscribed above the Temple of the Oracle at Delphi in Ancient Greece: only a truly self-aware person was able to understand the mysterious utterings of the oracle, and be able to make wise decisions.

Importantly, an individual who comes to appreciate fully their own agency is also able to critically assess the society and culture into which they were born and which influenced their development in crucial ways.

Thus, education at this level of personal values has not only shaped the world view and values of each person, but also empowers them to be agents of change. Education therefore paradoxically serves simultaneously the purposes of social and cultural continuity, and social and cultural change.

What an exciting and essential enterprise with which to be involved. I and all my colleagues at ACARA look forward to continuing to engage with the readers of Education Matters as we undertake our work. EM

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THE LAST WORD // Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association

Let teachers teach and leaders lead Brad Gaynor, President of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association (ACPPA), discusses the ongoing challenges and pressures faced by teachers and principals, and why it needs to be addressed.

In the last few years much has been written about how education is destroying teachers. High on the agenda is early career teachers leaving the profession in droves after five years. The impact Australia’s obsession with testing is having on teaching and learning and the interference of politics resulting in record levels of compliance and accountability is devaluing teachers and reducing deep classroom learning. The same can be said for many educational leaders. To put it simply – we need to let teachers teach, and leaders lead.

School leaders from all sectors – Catholic, government and independent – have had much to say about what is affecting and impacting on their role, and this is largely confirmed by Philip Riley’s extensive research into principal wellbeing.

Many of the complexities of school leadership are compliance and accountability based. NAPLAN, learning progressions, NCCD, an overcrowded Australian Curriculum, assessment data collection, record keeping, reform agendas, not to mention numerous audits, surveys and regulatory forms and policies are all reducing a leader’s emphasis on teaching and learning. Added to this is rapid change and vagaries of Federal and State governments.

School leaders are also dealing with managing teacher performance and other human resource issues. They are dealing with complex student behaviours, mental health of staff, students and parents and unrealistic parent expectations.

Isolation, limited resources, restricted access to professional learning and high costs are also affecting rural and remote leaders. A constant concern is ongoing social media and media scrutiny and negative publicity which is creating a poor public perception of teaching and school leadership.

So, what can be done about it? It is time to rethink what school principalship looks like.

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Authorities need to continue to be bold, despite financial and human resource constraints. These models need to be based on positive relationships, shared understandings and a common vision.

They must be flexible and benefit the leader but advantage the students and school community.

They require formation, support and reflection.

Ongoing advocacy is also vital. It often appears the profession is not being listened to and requests are falling on deaf ears, but school leaders cannot give up. We need to continue to campaign for involvement and representation of professional associations on working parties and forums that make decisions that impact schools and students; including unions and teachers at the coal face.

One of the most significant reforms is the need for a cultural and societal shift in politician and community expectations, perceptions and understanding of schools, teachers and leadership.

Schools cannot solve every social issue, teach more than they already are or be expected to take on new initiatives or so-called reforms. More importantly, it’s not okay to verbally abuse, intimidate or be violent towards school leaders. There needs to be a national campaign on what behaviours are acceptable. This goes beyond just school leaders but other frontline service providers. We need to rebuild trust in education and school leaders.

Another key improvement is the need to rationalise and centralise compliance and accountability requirements. Departments and systems need to consolidate services and minimise duplications to take the burden off schools and school leaders. Allow school leaders to focus on teaching and learning – it is our core business.

The significant increase in mental health issues, complex behaviours, social disadvantage, learning difficulties and disabilities requires

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significant restructuring at a school level. There needs to be an integration of community and family support services. Improved access to counsellors, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech therapists and other health professionals will improve outcomes for students and their families.

Authentic formation and preparation programs for aspiring leaders and ongoing mentoring and coaching for school leaders is paramount in developing and retaining school leaders. Formation programs need to focus on developing clear understanding of the requirements and expectations of the role of principal, cultivate interpersonal skills, improve understanding of leadership and management practices and build capacity to lead school improvement, innovation and change.

Current school leaders require effective and rigorous mentoring and coaching programs to continue developing skills and reflect on leadership practices.

Essential to all levels of school leadership is the importance of developing network and support structures, especially for rural and remote school leaders. Networks which are regular and routine have a significant positive impact on wellbeing.

Without immediate action, education in Australia will continue to suffer. Governments, bureaucrats and system leaders need to include the profession in all levels of decision making – it is that simple. Teachers need to reclaim the opportunity to teach and school leaders need to be able to lead school communities. EM

Australian Education Union // THE LAST WORD

The public school success story Correna Haythorpe, Federal President of the Australian Education Union, talks about the current increases in enrolment figures at public schools.

Public schools have traditionally been where the vast majority of Australian children have received their education. This trend is only set to strengthen in the future due to an unprecedented boom in public school student enrolments. Our public schools are now at the centre of a nationwide building boom.

Booming enrolment figures mean that state governments across the country are now scrambling to cater for the wave of students who have already hit classrooms and those predicted to enrol in the future. The Victorian Government has committed to building 100 new public schools across the state over the next eight years. NSW is looking to build or expand 170 public schools over four years.

All this construction has been made necessary because nearly 200,000 extra students have enrolled in Australian schools in the past five years. 76 per cent of that growth has been in public schools, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Figures show that the number of students in public schools increased by 113,039 between 2015 and 2018, compared to an increase in Catholic school enrolments of 196 and an increase of 29,626 in independent schools.

It won’t stop there either. The Federal Department of Education predicts enrolments in public schools will increase by 270,507 between 2018 and 2027 compared to 11,564 additional students in Catholic schools and 69,526 more in independent schools.

The data is very clear – public schools are pulling away from private schools in terms of student numbers and popularity with parents.

Unfortunately, this recent trend in school enrolment is not reflected in federal school

capital funding. While the Australian Government provides private schools with $1.9 billion in capital funding over ten years, it has cut capital funding for public schools completely. While the public school sector is experiencing the greatest growth in student enrolments of any sector, it receives no extra Commonwealth funding to build new schools.

The public sector is the sector which clearly has the greatest need for classrooms, libraries, science labs or sporting facilities.

For the Australian Government to provide no equivalent capital funding support makes absolutely no sense.

Public schools provide a high quality education for their students, yet they must be given the resources to give students the best start at a bright future. Just imagine what could be possible if our public schools were equipped with state-of-the-art-teaching and learning facilities?

The Commonwealth has provided billions of dollars of capital funding to private schools, in spite of My School data for 2017 showing that total capital expenditure in independent schools was already more than four times greater per student than in public schools. Catholic schools were already spending more than twice as much. This is a clear demonstration of funding inequality between the sectors.

Here’s the catch. Despite these billions of dollars in extra capital funding for private schools, some of these schools are now closing or amalgamating. The reason for this? Falling enrolments.

In its most recent Federal Budget, the Australian Government announced a $30 million ‘Local Schools Community Fund’, a one-off

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$200,000 grant per electorate for libraries, classrooms and play equipment to be shared amongst all school sectors. However this fund just doesn’t measure up and should not be seen as a replacement for capital works funding for public schools.

There is no indication of how this will be split between school sectors. If the fund is allocated according to school enrolments, each school could receive a one off $3158, which is only $7.77 per student. If it is evenly split between the three school sectors, it means about $1500 for each public school. This is not even enough for a new textbook for each student.

By comparison, 2018 and 2019 alone saw 315 non-government schools receive an average of nearly one million dollars per grant from the Australian Government’s existing $1.9 billion private schools capital works fund.

But its public schools which need new classrooms to cater for the hundreds of thousands of new enrolments.

It is time for the Australian Government to accept reality and acknowledge that the majority of parents send their children to public schools and that these schools should be provided with the financial resources to meet their capital and infrastructure needs.

Politics aside, it’s about giving all school students a fair go. It’s just the right thing to do. EM

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EVENTS

HTAA CONFERENCE 2019 1-3 October 2019 Adelaide, SA Web: www.historyteacher.org.au/conferences/ Presented by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia and in partnership with the History Teachers’ Association of South Australia, this year’s event will be centred around the topic of ‘History Matters’.

AGTA 2019 CONFERENCE 1-4 October 2019 Gold Coast, QLD Web: www.agta.asn.au ‘The Innovative Geographer’ is the theme of the 2019 Australian Geography Teachers Association Conference, which will bring together teachers from across Australia to share their own innovations for the Geography classroom.

ASBA 2019 CONFERENCE 1-4 October 2019 Hobart, TAS Web: asba.asn.au The Association of School Business Administrators will host its biennial conference, based around the theme ‘It starts with us’.

ACEL 2019 CONFERENCE 2-4 October 2019 Sydney, NSW Web: www.acel.org.au This year’s Australian Council for Educational Leaders’ Conference will focus on ‘Vision and Voice’ in setting the learning agenda.

ASME NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2-4 October 2019 Perth, WA Web: asmeconference.org.au Based on the theme ‘Footprints – creating pathways to the future’, the Australian Society for Music Education is a celebration of all levels of music education.

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GETTING THEM ALL ENGAGED 12 October 2019 Ipswich, QLD Web: www.qassp.org.au At this workshop, Dr Anita Archer will present a range of research-backed procedures to actively involve all students and enhance engagement.

AIEC 2019 15-18 October 2019 Perth, WA Web: aiec.idp.com Aimed at international education practitioners, teachers, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders, the 33rd Australian International Education Conference is based on the theme ‘Leading the Way’.

AIS EDUCATION RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM 18 October 2019 Sydney, NSW Web: www.aisnsw.edu.au Showcasing research conducted in independent school contexts, this event will focus on improving student, teacher and school outcomes.

SPELLING FOR LIFE 25 October 2019 Melbourne, VIC Web: www.acer.org/au/professional-learning/ Recommended for Years 3 to 6, this one-day workshop is designed to assist teachers to learn about spelling coping strategies, undoing poor spelling habits and practice successful spelling strategies.

MINDS ON FIRE 4 November 2019 Sydney, NSW Web: www.aisnsw.edu.au/courses A masterclass aimed at principals and senior executives, it will look at ways of embedding critical and creative practices into schools.

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MAWA PRIMARY & SECONDARY CONFERENCE 18-20 November 2019 Perth, WA Web: mawainc.org.au/primary-secondaryconference/ The Mathematical Association of Western Australia will feature Eddie Woo and Penny Crossland as keynote speakers. The event will offer opportunities for professional development and networking.

ITE CONFERENCE 2019 27 November 2019 Sydney, NSW Web: iiate.com The Institute of Technology Education – Annual Teachers Conference aims to assist teachers to learn about current and future directions in STEM education, focusing on Engineering, Technology and Industrial Arts.

AATE NATIONAL CONFERENCE 30 November – 3 December 2019 Melbourne, VIC Web: www.vate.org.au/2019aateconference Hosted by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, this year’s event is based on the theme of ‘My story flows in more than one direction: power of story, politics of voice’.

NATIONAL FUTURESCHOOLS FESTIVAL 18-19 March 2020 Melbourne, VIC Web: www.futureschools.com.au This is Australia’s largest K-12 education showcase.

It is a schools-only education event, designed to upskill, inspire and motivate educators as they deal with disruption within the education landscape.

EDUTECH 2-3 June 2020 Sydney, NSW Web: www.edutech.net.au A giant festival of education, EduTECH brings together the latest in education thought leadership.

It features an exhibition and parallel conferences.

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