Global trends inspire change

research around global trends in both the workplace and education”.

To this end, the school consulted sources from the OECD’s Future of Education and Skills 2030 report, the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero and the Foundation for Young Australians, through to leaders in their fields, such as cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, social researcher Brene Brown and psychology professor Angela Duckworth, a specialist in grit and self-control.

The result is BY DESIGN. “We wanted to create a learning framework that was rigorous, adaptable and responsive so that it would stand us in good stead moving forward,” says CGGS Director of Learning, Design and Development Charlotte Forwood.

“ We wanted to ensure it was built on strong pedagogical foundations, and that it supported students to thrive and shape their future.”

The learning architecture, launched in 2020, is an evidence-based framework that guides learning design at CGGS within and beyond the classroom, from ongoing curriculum to pop-up learning experiences, such as the opportunity to develop radio hosting skills and broadcast as part of LIVE FM’s BE LIKE HER program.

“It has proven to be robust for both on-site and remote learning,” Forwood says. “We believe that educating young people for their future is about much more than just learning disciplinespecific knowledge.”

Teachers at CGGS now use the custom, in-house BY DESIGN app, which runs them through a series of prompts to ensure the learning they are creating uses consistent design elements and language.

BY DESIGN ensures that eight transferable real-world skills are embedded into every part of the curriculum, including communication, leadership, problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking.

These transferable skills, alongside subject discipline knowledge and skills, “are essential for engaging with the broader world, and are highly regarded by employers and tertiary institutions”, Forwood says.

“Building these skills involves intentional planning, explicit teaching, and hands-on application and exploration – something that the CGGS BY DESIGN learning architecture supports.”

The future of the ATAR – the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank

– is also getting a rethink. Earlier this year, The Age reported that a group of 14 principals and school leaders called for reform of the system, suggesting the arbitrary score should be replaced with a process that better evaluates students’ academic and personal achievements.

“I’ve worked internationally, in international schools and seen students enter universities in the States and in the UK through portfolios,” Jeremy Otto says of the viability of alternative approaches that take more of a “wholeperson” view.

Australian universities have already begun bypassing the system by making early and non-ATAR offers.

O tto says that at Westbourne, “we are very much thinking around partnerships with universities, and exploring that space around how to ensure entry for students that isn’t necessarily the traditional route, to allow every student to have success”.

In Caulfield, Shelford Girls’ Grammar, an independent Anglican day school for girls from Prep to Year 12, is also forming partnerships with universities to create unique learning opportunities and is looking beyond the ATAR when recognising student achievement.

“ We’re just really cognisant that the ATAR may not be around forever,” says Principal Katrina Brennan.

“A lot of our students get earlyentry offers to university, so we’re increasingly finding that they’re looking at their results from Year 11 and then what else it is about them –what have they done?

“ We have really rich extracurricular opportunities and leadership opportunities and that’s the sort of thing that universities are increasingly looking at: service learning, volunteering, real-life experiences.”

Shelford’s partnership with the Swinburne University of Technology saw Year 9s last year attend an oncampus STEM Challenge. This year, the Year 10s can take a Shark Tank elective, in which their ideas compete against those of other high schools.

W hile other entrepreneurship programs focus on making and selling products, Brennan says this elective is about much bigger concepts. “ They’re looking for products that are going to kind of disrupt the market – really big-picture thinking – and designing a prototype rather than ever actually producing it as such,” she says.

W hile there’s been disruption for students and teachers alike in recent years, it’s also resulted in a dynamic landscape where innovation has become more important.

“It’s a really exciting time to be in education because there are so many opportunities and our staff are excited about what we can provide for students,” Brennan says.

A DOMINICAN EDUCATION FOR YOUNG WOMEN, YEARS 7 TO 12