MEETING THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S LEARNERS

Adolescence is far more complex now than ever before. Mobile phones, streaming services, artificial intelligence, social media and a global pandemic have resulted in increased reports of depression and anxiety, and a decline in attention spans, communication development and sleep behaviours among our young people. And our old ways - the way we’ve always done things - will no longer serve our future leaders.

Gone are the days of simplicity; the days when you needed to plan your screen time around the TV guide, the days when you could only contact people via the home telephone or by writing a letter, the days when you were present in the moment because capturing memories using a disposable camera was just too arduous. Some of us remember the first record, cassette or CD we bought, the annoyance of attempting to tape your favourite song from the radio (only to have the announcer speak over the end of it), and the rush on a Friday afternoon to see if the latest new release video was still going to be on the shelf at your local video store. Our young people know none of this. They wait, and want, for nothing. And boredom is not an option. Want to listen to a particular song? No worries - Spotify has you covered. The latest movie? Enter Netflix and its close cousins. Wondering what to buy Mum for Mother’s Day - thanks, Google. Need to spill the tea with my friends? Too easy - they’re just a snap away (and no, I’m not talking about a card game).

A survey conducted in 2019 found that teenagers today spend an average of nine hours per day using screens. Compounding this, recent studies out of Cincinnati suggest that the access our young people have to streaming services, mobile phones, social media and gaming is actually changing the structure of their brain. Further studies emerging from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study indicates that increased screen time often replaces reading time. When this compromise occurs, MRI evidence shows that brain volume decreases through a reduction of thickness of grey matter in areas of the brain responsible for empathy, attention, complex memory and reading skills. To make matters more complex, adolescence in and of itself brings with it the most significant cognitive and physiological change in one’s life (outside of the first 5 years of development). The way adolescence is experienced is changing at a rapid rate. The way we reach our young learners needs to change, too.

At Nudgee, we are heeding the call to rethink. We owe it to our boys, plain and simple.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we are rethinking the way our young people experience the Middle Years of schooling (Years 5-9). In Term 2, our teachers interrogated our data. From behavioural to attendance to achievement to student voice to standardised data, nothing remained untouched. Emerging from the data analysis, a process of visioning and planning commenced. In Term 4, our Middle Years Steering Committee will work closely with Adolescent Success to evaluate our College’s processes, practices, environments, frameworks and structures to identify the next steps required to ensure we are best meeting the needs of our current and future learners. We’ll lean on the work of educational experts such as Dylan William, John Hattie, Bill Rogers, John Sweller, Michael Fullan & Barak Rosenshine to ensure our actions are grounded in evidence and we’ll engage in impact cycles to check our progress. We are unapologetic in our improvement journey, and deeply understand the urgent need to rethink for the sake of our young learners. The way adolescence is experienced is changing at a rapid rate, and Nudgee will rise to the challenge.

References:

Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. (2024). Various articles retrieved from https://abcdstudy.org/ .

Adolescent Success. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on middle years education. Retrieved from https://www.adolescent success.org.au .

Archer, A. (2018). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching. Guilford Press.

Common Sense Media. (2019). The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens.

Fray, L., Jaremus, F., Gore, J. et al. (2023). Schooling upheaval during COVID-19: troubling consequences for students’ return to school. Aust. Educ. Res. 50, 1533–1550.

Hattie, J. (2020). Visible Learning: Feedback. Routledge.

Hutton, J. (2022). Screen Usage Linked to Differences in Brain Structure in Young Children. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre.

Knight, J. (2019). The Impact Cycle: What Instructional Coaches Should Do to Foster Powerful Improvements in Teaching. Corwin Press.

M. Li, R. Zhao, X. Dang, X. Xu, R. Chen, Y. Chen, Y. Zhang, Z. Zhao, D. Wu, Causal Relationships Between Screen Use, Reading, and Brain Development in Early Adolescents. Adv. Sci. 2024, 11, 2307540.

Pendergast, D. (2017). Middle years education: The state of play in Australia. Springer. UNESCO. (2021). Education: From disruption to recovery.

Wiliam, D. (2018). Creating the Schools Our Children Need: Why What We’re Doing Now Won’t Help Much (And What We Can Do Instead). Solution Tree Press.