F E AT U R E
How do we view children? It is a simple question that can generate a myriad of responses depending, in part, on when you ask it, the reason you ask it and the audience from whom you seek to answer it. The staff who have the privilege of educating our Kindergarten to Year 6 students have, over the course of Terms 3 and 4, revisited this question through the lens of the St Michael’s vision, ‘Creative, inquiring minds learning from, with and for the world’. Periodically it is important for us to revisit our image of the child. This ensures we have a shared understanding and furthermore, in defining our image of the child, we redefine our image of the educator, and collaboratively reflect on our teaching and learning programs. Longer standing members of the St Michael’s community will understand that our School has been inspired by the tenets of the Reggio Emilia Educational Project over several years. One of those tenets is the ‘image of the child’. Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia Educational project, argued that the ‘theory’ you hold of the image of the child shapes your relationships and expectations, it influences how you listen to children and how you view them. In other words, your relationships become a mirror for that image. Reggio educators believe that there is no one universal definition. This stands to reason. Each society constructs its own view of the child and what the child could and should be. The different views are created by different perspectives, contexts and intentions. Hence, it was very important for us to redefine our image of our students, and the hopes and aspirations we have for them. At the conclusion of our collaborative contemplation we re-affirmed the St Michael’s image of the child as curious, capable, creative and unique social beings wishing to make a difference to their own and other’s lives. The next level of work is to ensure that our approaches to teaching, learning and caring work together to foster and develop the skills, attitudes and values that will shape their futures as empowered citizens of the world. At St Michael’s we aim to be a place of exploration and experimentation, allowing for autonomous learning while using explicit instruction to build the key foundational skills that are the basis for higher order thinking. Staff interrogate the data and use this to inform instruction, so that studentcentred authentic learning becomes the focus. Experiences that allow immersion in authentic tasks, while working on problems and issues relevant to children, will bolster
foundational literacy and numeracy skills. We cannot hold this image of the child and continue to deliver a heavily contentbased program that relies more on a regurgitation of facts. This will not prepare our students for the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world they will enter at the end of their schooling. As educators, we understand that we must prepare students for a world driven by disruptive, scientific and technological advances. The pandemic has highlighted the need for us to educate our students to move from one-way content dissemination to more personalised, self-directed learning. We believe our children have the dispositions required to not only manage but thrive in an educational model where they will be literate and numerate, develop global competence, where they can reconcile dilemmas and apply critical and creative thinking to take action. With programs that allow for co-construction, a connection to nature, a deeper understanding of our Indigenous people, and allow for research into environmental science, we hope to connect with children and the issues that matter to them. We wish for children to appreciate their agency and capacity to lead in areas of passion in an ever changing world. It will come as no surprise that creativity was high on our list of attributes to be celebrated and developed at St Michael’s. We know our children love to question, challenge, trial and express their ideas and knowledge in many ways using a variety of mediums. By defining our students as creative, we commit to designing opportunities for them to explore new possibilities, adapt to challenging situations and solve complex problems. Providing an environment that allows creative exploration and innovation, challenges children to solve problems using innovative techniques is important. Another essential cognitive skill is the ability to engage with divergent thinking and the opportunity to test multiple ideas to find a best-fit solution. By understanding the research process, we believe our children can unpack a wicked problem and find a range of solutions. Through Professional Learning Teams, every staff member also engages in a research process, where problem-solving and creative thinking is required. We have appointed Learning Leaders in the areas of Literacy, Numeracy, Transdisciplinary Inquiry and Wellbeing. We must engage in the learning experiences we expect our children to undertake, and we value the opportunity to cocreate a relevant, engaging and innovative learning culture.
The Crest Issue 4 2020
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