Education Matters 2016 (Primary) by Prime Creative Media

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Coding matters How does personality affect teaching and learning? 6 - SEPT

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2016

The value of learning music Responding to parent complaints about bullying

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Editor’s Note

With the nation’s mining boom over, the Federal Government has shifted its focus to ‘minds’ by acknowledging the importance of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in primary and secondary schools even though many talented teachers across Australia have already been hard at work implementing digital learning initiatives and embedding STEM into the wider curriculum. The Government’s national approach to improve the teaching and take up STEM in Australian schools – the National STEM School Education Strategy – is a plan to give school children the skills needed for the jobs of the 21st Century. The key measures to support the delivery and participation of STEM subjects in primary and secondary schools include supporting the teaching of coding across different year levels, and reforming the Australian Curriculum to give teachers more class time to teach science and maths. It’s timely then that in this edition of Education Matters we get to hear from not only the Education Minister himself, but also from two teachers who have successfully implemented the teaching of robotics and coding at their schools. Susan Bowler, from Tasmania’s all-girls Ogilvie High School, has a very strong interest in promoting STEM and has been involved with robotics for the past nine years. Susan integrates robotics in the classroom, using it as a platform to teach engineering, programming, technology, arts, science and maths, and her passion is to build girls’ interest in STEM. I spoke with her about these issues and her presentation at this year’s EduTECH conference. Further north, Melbourne’s Aitken Creek Primary School prides itself on being an early adopter in the educational technology world. The school’s digital learning leader Bec Spink writes about how the school has embedded robotics and coding in the curriculum and says for coding education to be a success it is important that teachers are developed, empowered and trusted to teach it with confidence. Also inside this edition, the Queensland Education Leadership Institute discusses Australia’s school middle leaders who have the unique challenge of juggling competing priorities from both the teaching staff and the executive team, but are in need of support from their peers, principals and the professional learning community. In our ‘spotlight on’ series Dr Brad Merrick, National President of the Australian Society for Music Education, reports on the current status of music education in Australia and the value of learning music. Looking at playgrounds, Dr Brendon Hyndman writes about the safety influences on primary students’ free play within school playgrounds and says reduced play priorities in many school settings, combined with the emergence of ‘helicopter parenting’ or adult-directed policies, are having a detrimental effect on children’s cognitive and social development. Treading on more tricky territory, Karyn Healy discusses issues surrounding your school’s response to parent complaints about bullying and says, despite the difficulties, there are important reasons why school staff members need to engage with parents on the topic of bullying. Justine Kiely-Scott and Jenny Ackland look at primary school sexuality and relationships education and discuss the developmentally-appropriate discussions and information that will provide students with the best skills. Finally, make sure you turn to page 28 where principal of Canberra’s St Clare of Assisi Primary School Brad Gaynor joins us for the magazine’s first ‘principally speaking’ column. I’m delighted to bring you this edition of Education Matters – Primary and we’d love to hear your feedback. Please feel free to pass on any comments or questions to me directly via email kathryn.edwards@primecreative.com.au or get in touch via Twitter @edumattersmag.

Kathryn Edwards Editor

education matters primary

Publisher: John Murphy john.murphy@primecreative.com.au Editor: Kathryn Edwards kathryn.edwards@primecreative.com.au Art Director: Michelle Weston Designers: Blake Storey, Sarah Doyle Group Sales Manager: Brad Buchanan brad.buchanan@primecreative.com.au Advertising: Chelsea Daniel-Young chelsea.daniel@primecreative.com.au 0425 699 878 Production Coordinator: Michelle Weston Production Manager: Justine Nardone Education Matters is a division of Prime Creative Media Pty. Ltd. 11-15 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne 3205 Ph: (+61 3) 9690 8766 Fax: (+61 3) 9682 0044 Subscriptions Education Matters is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher. Ph: (+61 3) 9690 8766 E: subscriptions@primecreative.com.au Articles All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format. Cover Image The Geelong College, VIC 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 Apr 2016 - Sept 2016

DEPARTMENTS Editor’s Note 4 Foreword

Advertisers’ Directory

Primary Column

Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education and Training

Dennis Yarrington, President, Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA)

FEATURES 20

Coding matters

Building wellbeing in our students

Responding to parent complaints about bullying

Middle leaders need specific leadership skills

Coding is just one part of the new Australian Digital Technologies curriculum that allows students to develop an understanding of being able to use, and create with, digital technologies. Bec Spink reports. Justin Robinson reports on the first 10 years of Positive Education in Australia.

Events Diary

Despite the difficulties, there are important reasons why school staff members need to engage with parents on the topic of bullying, writes Karyn Healy.

National Education News

Principally Speaking

Brad Gaynor, Principal, St Clare of Assisi Primary School – Canberra

Our school middle leaders are in need of support: from their peers, psrincipals and the professional learning community.

72 The safety influences on primary and secondary students’ free play within school playgrounds

Reduced play priorities in many school settings, combined with the emergence of ‘helicopter parenting’ or adult-directed policies are having a detrimental effect on children’s cognitive and social development, writes Dr Brendon Hyndman.

78 Judging or Perceiving? How does personality affect teaching and learning?

We are all unique, but in understanding and acknowledging the preferences of both yourself and your students you can teach with greater knowledge, clarity and empathy, writes Kate Mason.

80 The current status of Music Education in Australia

and the value of learning music

usic in schools continues to draw the attention of our students, M providing many with the necessary path to follow their aspirations to become professional musicians and most importantly, providing the opportunity to develop musical understanding and selfexpression irrespective of their career path, writes Dr Brad Merrick.

83 Primary school sexuality and relationships education – building the foundations

To provide students with the best skills, primary sexuality education must include developmentally-appropriate discussions and information about the concepts of ‘choice’, friendships, gender stereotypes, personal safety, emerging identities and much more, write Justine Kiely-Scott and Jenny Ackland. 6

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Foreword

Ensuring students keep pace with technology WITH OUR ECONOMY MOVING FROM ONE RELIANT ON MINES TO ONE FOCUSED ON MINDS, IT IS FITTING THAT THE FIRST EDITION OF EDUCATION MATTERS FOR 2016 HAS A FOCUS ON DIGITAL LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS. Ensuring young people develop the skills they need to

While we are firmly focused on the digital age, we

keep pace with rapidly changing technology and can

know that the success of this and future generations of

take advantage of the opportunities this presents is a key

Australians will also be based on having strong foundation

priority for the Turnbull Government.

skills in literacy and numeracy.

We now have a national approach to improve the

The 2015 NAPLAN National Report released

teaching and take up of science, technology, engineering

in December last year confirmed some areas for

and mathematics (STEM) in Australian schools – the

improvement in literacy and numeracy outcomes for our

Simon Birmingham has served as a Liberal Party

National STEM School Education Strategy. We must attract

students, but we can and must do better.

Senator for South Australia since May 2007 and in

more school students to study these subjects, which we

Research tells us the alphabetic teaching approaches

September 2015 was appointed to position of Minister

know will increasingly be the skills needed for the jobs of

we are adopting, such as Direct Instruction and Explicit

for Education and Training.

the 21st Century.

Direct Instruction, are particularly beneficial for children

Simon grew up near Gawler in Adelaide’s north and was

having difficulty learning to read.

educated at government schools before completing his

Through our National Innovation and Science Agenda, we’re also investing around $65 million in new funding to help Australian students embrace the digital age, engage with science and maths in the early years and prepare for

We also understand that not all students learn in the same way and all schools have unique needs. This lies at the heart of our Students First approach

study at the University of Adelaide. After less than three years in the Senate, Simon was appointed to the Shadow Ministry, serving as Shadow

to give schools more autonomy, to encourage community

Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray-Darling Basin

involvement and increase parental engagement. Our

and the Environment until the 2013 election.

is tackling the digital divide to ensure those students

$70 million Independent Public School Initiative is also

Following the change of government in 2013, Simon

most at risk of falling behind in the digital age are given

helping local government schools to become more

served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the

opportunities to participate and engage. This includes $7.9

independent and encouraging more community and

Environment. In 2014, Simon was appointed to serve as

million in additional support for schools in disadvantaged

parent engagement.

the Assistant Minister for Education and Training and he

the jobs of the future. One focus of our Innovation and Science Agenda

areas for training teachers to use digital technologies, using digital technologies. Disadvantaged students will also get the chance to

We know that quality education relies upon quality

is now Minister for Education and Training.

teaching. That’s why this year you will see the introduction of a national test for new teaching students in literacy and

fully implemented.

improve their digital literacy through computer science

numeracy. It’s an initiative we’ve worked with the states

summer schools for Years 9 and 10. This $1 million

and territories to develop and it will provide a nationally

on student outcomes, that moving NAPLAN online from

initiative specifically targets help towards students in low

consistent measure to ensure that new teachers are

2017 gives information more quickly, that parents are

SES areas.

operating in the top 30 per cent of the adult population.

better engaged in education and that we have a smooth

To inspire students and help them engage with the

Last February we accepted 37 of the 38

I want to ensure there is more accurate information

transition to the new national curriculum.

world, we are using digital tools to deliver language

recommendations of the Teacher Education Ministerial

learning from the earliest age. The success of the Early

Advisory Group (TEMAG) to improve initial teacher

with teachers and schools to deliver the best education

Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) trial last year with

education and have gained support from education

for our children. I look forward to working with teachers,

more than 1,700 pre-schoolers means it is being extended

ministers to introduce new selection guidelines to tighten

parents and students to further strengthen an education

into 2016. That success and as part of the Innovation

the entry practices of providers offering teaching education

system that supports all Australian children.

and Science Agenda has seen the Turnbull Government

that goes much further than an admission based simply

commit $6 million to develop a similar STEM-focused app

upon an ATAR score. It’s the first time in nearly three

Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham

for the early years.

decades that the recommendations from a review will be

Minister for Education and Training

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education matters primary

STRIKING & FIELDING

6 or safe 2 teams – 4 batters and 4 ﬁelders. The batting team, hitting off a tee, has 6 hits. Batters have the choice of running to a safe zone for 2 points or completing the round trip for 6 points.

Base run Two players with one ball try to stop a third player from reaching a base at either end of a playing area. Warm-up by playing without the bases.

What to do

Scoring

160PMPCA 340PMPCA

Scoring

What to do

base runner. > Rotate so each player has a chance defenders becomes the new base ru bases without getting tagged, one of > If the base runner reaches one of th either base. > The attacker (base runner) tries to re

Warm-up by playing without the bases. Two players with one ball try to stop a third player from reaching a base at either end of a playin

signal is given. > Repeat this pattern until the ‘stop’ then runs to Line A. > Pl Player 2 throws th th the b ball tto Pl Player 3 and d then runs to th t Li Line B B. > Player 1 throws the ball to Player 2 and

What Wha at to do at

Change it

PLAYING

3 metres apart > Markers or tape to identify 2 lines about > One ball per team of players

6 or safe

DESCRIPTION CONTENT

if a ball escapes their group. > Players should know what to do walls or other obstructions. obstructions > Ensure players are not close to to the ability of the group. > Use Change itt to adjust activity

Safety > Vary the type of ball. use preferred or non-preferred hand. the lines, vary type of pass, roll the ball, > Other – vary the distance between (e.g. Hopping, skipping and jumping > Vary the locomotion between lines

Shuttl Shu ttle e ball ball

GNIHCTAC

catcher and the catcher in turn runs to join players at the thrower’s line. (Teams of 3 or more.) A cooperative game. A ball is thrown to a catcher. The thrower runs to take the place of the

o a ﬁelder who runs makes the return run, ﬁelder in the safety

TNEMEVOM ROTOMOCOL

SETTING UP

and B – underarm and slow is better. > Throw at any time between lines A to repeat the pattern. passing to player 2 and running to line B back to line A with the ball and player 4 > The game continues with player 3 running sent to player 2, who passes it to player 3. a team-mate (player 3). The ﬁrst throw is ability (player 2) could start at line B with > A player with limited mobility or passing

INVASION GAMES

To find out more visit sportingschools.gov.au/P4L /P4L

tions.

LEARNING INTENTION INTENTION

800PMPCA

SETTING UP

SPORTING SCHOOLS

and catching with agility. See also Run the circle. Shuttle ball combines introductory throwing

successfully reaching either base. for the attacker to score a point by > One option is not to score, another

PLAYING

> One medium sized ball per group of three. for attackers. (about 10m apart) to indicate the base > Playing area with cones at either end

SPORTING SCHOOLS

FOCUS SKILL

COOPERATIVE PLAY

Get in touch via social media

sportingschools.gov.au

TNEMECALP TOHS GNIDLEIF GNIHCTAC GNIWORHT KROWMAET GNIKIRTS

Shuttle ball combines introductory throwing and catching with agility. See also Run the circle.

not allowed to throw the ball at the attacker. aiming to tag the attacker – defenders are > Defenders pass pass the ball ball to one another another run with the ball. > Defenders can change position but cannot (without ball) in the middle. who start at opposite ends, the attacker > Start – one ball between the two defenders

520PMPCA

students’ needs and specic skills

ACPMP025

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ACPMP008

» Designed to help teachers plan, organise and deliver more activities to get children moving

ACPMP061

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ACPMP043

» Over 140 activities to choose from based on skills not drills

Shuttle ball

ACPMP061

> One option is not to score, another he er iis by for the attacker to score a point by se e. successfully reaching either base.

ACPMP043

> Start – one ball between the two defenders who start at opposite ends, the attacker (without ball) in the middle. > Defenders can change position but cannot run with the ball. > Defenders pass the ball to one another aiming to tag the attacker – defenders are not allowed to throw the ball at the attacker.

CATCHING LOCOMOTOR MOVEMENT THROWING TEAMWORK

» A free online resource aligned to the Australian HPE Curriculum

PLAYING

Scoring

SKILL FOCUS

> Batters sco score re 2 p point poin points oints oint oin s iif they reach the > Choose Ch an a area rea away ffr from om wallll and d the ball b does or safety zone before the obstructions. obstructions other obstructions. CONTENT > 6 points for running g tto o tthe safety zone and > Don’t throw the ball at the attacker. DESCRIPTIONS back before the bal ballll is p placed in the hoop. COOPERATIVE PLAY > Tagging must be confined to the area between the opponents shoulders What you need What to do and knees. > 2 tennis balls or similar perr group Batters e zone > The batting team has 6 hits. > Markers to set out the safe ightweight > The batter hits off a tee and has 2 choices: > Kanga cricket bat or other lightweight hitting implement – Run to safety zone – if the safety zone SKILL A cooperative game. A ball is thrown to a catcher. The thrower runs to take the place of the is reached>before Vary the locomotion between lines ball is caught in FOCUS catcher and the catcher in turn runs to join players at the CONTENT thrower’s line. (Teams of 3 or more.) Hopping, the hands of (e.g. a fielder in the skipping safety and jumping). DESCRIPTIONS zone, 2 points are scored. Thedistance batter between > Other – vary the walks back forthe thelines, nextvary ball.type of pass, roll the ball, TEACHING TIPS LEARNING INTENTION preferred or –non-preferred hand. – Run to safetyuse zone and back before the >ball is placed in of theball. hoop. 6 or safe is an introductory s striking trik ki and fielding > Encourage defenders to pass the ball and Vary the type activity. The activity develops fielding and s batting, battt > Batting Score 6 points. quickly move to a new position readytee to or alternative decision-making skills. receive next pass. Safety 2015 AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION SPORTING SCHOOLS > Encourage attackers to© move into space > Use Change it to adjust activity away from the defender receiving the pass. SPORTING SCHOOLS to the ability of the group. > Ensure players are not close to walls or other obstructions. s batttting, fielding and What LEARNING to do INTENTION Change it strik king and fielding > Players should know what to do SETTING UP > A player with limited mobility or passing Base run develops skills of moving into space and relies if a ball escapes their group. on passing and catching skills. Defenders have to ‘close ability (player 2) could start at line B with > One ball per team of players down’ space and attackers have to find space and choose CONTENT a team-mate (player 3). The first throw is between options > Markers or tape to(bases). identify 2 lines about DESCRIPTIONS sent to player 2, who passes it to player 3. 3 metres apart The game continues with player 3 running SPORTING>SCHOOLS PLAYING back to line A with the ball and player 4 > Player 1 throws the ball to Player 2 and passing to player 2 and running to line B then runs to Line B. to repeat the pattern. > Player 2 throws the ball to Player 3 and > Throw at any time between lines A then runs to Line A. and B – underarm and slow is better. > Repeat this pattern until the ‘stop’ signal is given. l is sp placed in the hoop. DESCRIPTIONS g to o tthe safety zone and CONTENT the b ball does or nts iif they reach the LEARNING INTENTION SPATIAL THROWING

THE BENEFITS OF PLAYING FOR LIFE ACTIVITIES

> Playing area with cones at either end (about 10m apart) to indicate the base for attackers. > One medium sized ball per group of three.

SKILL FOCUS

Safety CATCHING C ATCHING AWARENESS AWARENESS

SETTING UP

o reach > The attacker (base runner) tries to either base. he ttwo wo > If the base runner reaches one off th the e of of the the e bases without getting tagged, one e runner. runne er. defenders becomes the new base nce e tto ob ea > Rotate so each player has a chance be base runner.

Fielders > Return the ball to a fielder in the safety zone. If the batter makes the return run, the ball is thrown to a fielder who runs along C–A. > Rotate fielding positions.

CATCHING FIELDING SHOT PLACEMENT STRIKING TEAMWORK THROWING

INVASION GAMES

FOCUS SKILL

APPA Column

Our principals’ health and wellbeing – everyone has a role THE 21ST CENTURY ENVIRONMENT SEEMINGLY BRINGS AN EVER-INCREASING STRAIN ON PEOPLE’S ABILITY TO BE RESILIENT AND RESPOND APPROPRIATELY TO EVENTS AND ACTIONS THAT BRING CONFLICT OR DISAPPOINTMENT. THE NATIONAL PRINCIPAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING SURVEY, FOR EXAMPLE, REPORTS AN INCREASING INCIDENCE OF BULLYING, INTIMIDATION, VERBAL AGGRESSION, THREATS AND EVEN VIOLENCE FROM PARENTS AND STUDENTS TOWARDS OUR SCHOOL PRINCIPALS. THE SURVEY HAS BEEN A FIVEYEAR STUDY, UNDERTAKEN INITIALLY BY MONASH UNIVERSITY AND NOW BY THE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, AND ENDORSED AND FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY THE FOUR PEAK NATIONAL PRINCIPALS ASSOCIATIONS (APPA, ASPA, AHISA AND CASPA) WITH A GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION FROM TEACHERS HEALTH FUND. THE SURVEY COVERED GOVERNMENT, CATHOLIC AND INDEPENDENT PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PRINCIPALS FROM EVERY STATE AND TERRITORY. IT COVERED PRINCIPALS FROM VERY SMALL TO LARGE REMOTE, REGIONAL AND METROPOLITAN SCHOOLS, AND PROVIDED DATA THAT SHOULD INFORM GOVERNMENT, EMPLOYERS AND INDIVIDUALS.

Put simply, the data trends are not good. We are seeing parents and students displaying behaviours that are totally unacceptable and do not contribute to a positive and supportive school community. This is happening at a time when principals are

experiencing an unprecedented surge in workload and responsibilities. Providing recommendations for key groups and individuals, it is clearly the case that a multifaceted response is needed to change the

education matters primary

trends and create a positive and healthy working environment for our school principals and all members of the school community. The challenge is for each group to own its responsibilities and respond appropriately. Let me highlight various aspects of these recommendations and some actions that would help alleviate the issues raised in the survey report. Parents: Support your school and principal to develop policies that achieve positive outcomes. Stop the unacceptable behaviour and learn to use the procedures in place to address concerns or issues. Be the model for your children to follow. Employers: The report highlighted two aspects. The first is to support principals with the resources to do the job. The second is to trust rather than rule educators. That is, work with principals to identify what decision-making processes work effectively and efficiently, and how best to meet school and system accountability requirements. This will come through targeted professional learning and ongoing access to mentoring and coaching. Principals Associations: Collaborate to develop a common voice that works for the health and wellbeing of all principals, no matter the sector, state or territory. Use the professional

networks to support principals in their role and provide opportunities for principals to meet and share effective practice. Principals: The report identifies that individual principals need to look for opportunities to further their development and exert influence over the workload; respectfully remind aggressors of the school’s expectations of acceptable behaviour and what procedures are in place to deal with issues, complaints and concerns; ensure passion for the job is positive; and, take a positive and proactive approach to personal work-life balance. This is much more achievable if principals join with colleagues as part of a professional network. Governments: We need governments across all jurisdictions working collaboratively to ensure every school has the resources required to address the needs of their students. The report reinforced the point that “we need highly motivated educators, if we are to have the best school system possible.” This will require long-term funding agreements that provide transparency, consistency, flexibility, trust-based professionalism and equity. We need a nationally coordinated strategy to support principal preparation and development. What is the outcome if we do not change the trend? Well, we will see less people applying for principals’ positions and more principals leaving the profession early. In many areas, this is already happening. We will see an increase in the cost of supporting principals who develop health issues. However, more importantly, we will see school communities begin to underperform and other issues will arise that will further impact the school. The bottom line is that this impacts on student learning and future generations. Great schools have leaders who have great support from their community, employer and professional networks. The survey identified that passionate leaders who reported positive health and wellbeing have strong social capital within the school. Here are some features that contribute to social capital: • There are strong expectations of behaviour, and clear protocols, policies and procedures for dealing with concerns and issues; • There is a positive mindset about the health and wellbeing of everyone in the school; • There is strong evidence of working together to achieve the best outcomes for students; • Students display positive behaviour towards all members of the school community;

• A shared understanding of the values of the school community; • Staff and school leaders work with a shared purpose and commitment to ensuring the best learning conditions for students; • There are clear communication channels and processes, and the community feels informed and follows the agreed procedures for following up issue or concerns; • The community is familiar with the school ethos, values, vision and goals; • There is a sense of belonging for all and that each person is a valued member of the community; • There is an engagement in the learning of students by parents together with an avenue to participate in the development of policies and school direction; • There are opportunities to be involved in the events and activities of the school; and, • Leaders are trusted and given responsibility to make decisions for their community. This social capital is the strength that enables principals to deal with the unexpected or unintentional upsets or events that we know can happen in school. These events or incidents are not something principals enjoy. Nor, it can be said, do parents, staff or students enjoy them. However, they happen. What happens next is a reflection of the social capital of the school community. In the best circumstances, the response is measured, there is listening and clarification of the facts, and the reaching of an agreement of what steps to take next to repair, mend or change behaviors so we learn from the incident or event. And let’s remember that, in finding solutions, principals are on the same team as parents and students. Finally, no principal comes to school each day hoping to cause stress to someone! Good principals come with enthusiasm, passion and commitment to make a difference to the learning of every student in their care. They come to support staff in doing the best they can do. They come knowing parents want the best for their children. We need all school communities, employers and principal associations working together to ensure this vision is reality. Dennis Yarrington President Australian Primary Principals Association 2015 Principal Health and Wellbeing Report: www.principalhealth.org/au/reports.php

education matters primary

DENNIS YARRINGTON PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY PRINCIPALS ASSOCIATION (APPA) Dennis Yarrington has been the Principal of Harrison School, a new and expanding Preschool to Year 10 School in Canberra, Australia. The school caters for 1500 students. Dennis has a Masters in Educational Leadership, Masters in Special Education and a Bachelor of Education. He has been involved in education for over 30 years, including the positions of teacher, executive Teacher, consultant and Principal of a small country school, a large regional school, Special School and establishing a large metropolitan P-10 school. Dennis has been involved with concept designs for new schools in the ACT. He has presented at State, National and International conferences on leadership, school culture and implementing learning communities. Dennis was Vice-President of the Australian Government Primary Principals Association and is currently the President of the Australian Primary Principals Association. He has experience in developing leading schools in the integration of technology, 21st Century learning tools and structures and an inclusive school community. This includes teaching and learning communities and a coaching culture to improve teacher performance.

National Education News

Govt cements focus on restoring STEM in schools The Federal Government has announced a $1.1 billion

become a culture of ideas because it is the ideas boom

plan to increase Australia’s innovation, including a

that will secure our prosperity in the future.

renewed focus on promoting science, maths and computing in schools. In the recently-released National Innovation and

you know something, unlike a mining boom, it is a boom

page/national-innovation-and-science-agenda-report) the

that can continue for ever.” Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) literacy program

engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in primary and

intends to help schools with the following:

secondary schools, these include:

• Encouraging school students to participate and achieve

different year levels in schools; • Reforming the Australian Curriculum to give teachers more class time to teach science, maths and English; and, • Requiring that new primary school teachers graduate with a subject specialisation, with priority for STEM. It has been labelled the ideas boom designed for the nation’s future prosperity and to help it move on from the mining boom that has passed. “We want to be a culture, a national culture of innovation, of risk-taking, because as we do that, we

A pledged $48 million Science Technology

the delivery and participation of science, technology,

• Supporting the teaching of computer coding across

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

in the ideas boom. That is the next boom for Australia and,

Science Agenda Report (http://www.innovation.gov.au/ Federal Government has outlined key measures to support

“By unleashing our innovation, unleashing our imagination, being prepared to embrace change, we usher in the ideas boom. That is the next boom for Australia and, you know something, unlike a mining boom, it is a boom that can continue for ever.”

“By unleashing our innovation, unleashing our imagination, being prepared to embrace change, we usher

in science and maths by supporting participation in international competitions and by introducing youth prizes in the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science; • Engaging preschoolers with fun experiments, inquiry and play-based learning apps focussed on STEM concepts; and, • Backing science in communities, with events such as National Science Week, that inspire STEM curiosity and knowledge in young people. The Government will also implement a five-year $51

grow the whole ecosystem of innovation right across

million package starting in July 2016 to promote digital

the economy,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at

literacy and has set $13 million over five years aside to be

last year’s launch. “We become more experienced, more

used to encourage and retain women and girls in STEM

innovative, more agile, more prepared to take on risk and

industries.

Labor promises to fully fund Gonski Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has brought school funding

Entitled Your Child. Our Future, Labor’s education

to the fore of Labour’s election campaign by committing

plan has set key benchmarks that indicate by 2020 it will

to fully fund the Gonski reforms in a package that will cost

ensure 95 per cent Year 12 (or equivalent) completion

$4.5 billion over school years 2018 and 2019 and a total

and by 2025 Australia will return to the top 5 countries in

of $37.3 billion a decade.

reading, maths and science.

The Coalition has so far only committed to fund four

Despite admitting there are some instances around

years of Gonski, not the full six years. Labour has also

the country where the implementation of Gonski funding

promised to reverse the $30 billion reduction to school

has improved outcomes in schools, Federal Education

funding over the next decade revealed by the Coalition in

Minister Simon Birmingham said the Government does

its 2014 budget.

not believe increased funding automatically improves

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educational and student outcomes. The Government

to student outcomes and school performance, you then

has refused to commit to the final two years of Gonski

make funding decisions as to how you support them.”

funding. “So what we need to focus on, and what the Turnbull

Federal President of the Australian Education Union (AEU), Correna Haythorpe, welcomed Labor’s plan and

Government has been focussing on, are the things that

said Gonski funding is the only way to ensure all children

matter in relation to improving student performance:

have a chance to make the most of their potential.

the right curriculum in schools, the best quality in our

“The education of our children is too important to

teachers, the engagement of parents, [and] the autonomy

be a partisan political issue,” she said. “We need [Prime

of school communities to be able to set a course that’s

Minister] Malcolm Turnbull to back the full Gonski, not just

relevant to their school,” Birmingham said.

stick to [Former Prime Minister] Tony Abbott’s policy of

“The opportunity to create the right type of environment to meet the innovation challenges of the future, to create an entrepreneurial spirit, to ensure

ending needs-based funding after 2017 and cutting real funding to schools. “Minister Birmingham needs to recognise that Gonski

people are studying science and maths and technology

is delivering results in the States where funding is going

and engineering – skills that will equip them for the future

straight to schools. He and Malcolm Turnbull have a stark

– these are the things we should focus on first. And in

choice – do they continue investing in programs that are

those areas that we know will actually make a difference

helping students, or do they abandon them?”

Call for minimum entry scores to teaching courses The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) report into initial teacher education has indicated that the ATAR scores required for entry into teaching courses around Australia has dropped. Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the research further strengthens

• 41% with ATAR 70 or less compared to 25% for other courses • 30% with ATAR of 81 and over compared to 53% for other courses • 9% with ATAR of 91 plus compared to 27% for other courses

the case for minimum entry scores for teaching courses

The report also revealed that the retention rate

and has called for Education Minister Simon Birmingham

for students moving from first to second year has also

to take action.

fallen from 77 per cent in 2011 to 72 per cent in 2012,

“Education Minister Simon Birmingham must follow the example of the NSW Government and put clear

and students admitted with low ATARs are less likely to continue with their course.

minimum entry standards in place for undergraduate

“Entry scores for teaching degrees have dropped

teaching degrees, a measure which has the support

steadily over the last decade, and we have now reached

of AITSL chair Professor John Hattie,” she said in a

a point where they are significantly lower than for other

statement.

courses,” Haythorpe continued.

The NSW government has implemented rules

“It is also clear from the data that universities are

requiring all beginning teachers to have ATAR scores of

using other pathways to allow students with low ATAR

over 80 in three subjects, including English, before they

scores to enter teaching courses. The report shows that

can be employed in schools.

18.5% of those coming through another pathway have an

The AITSL report shows that entrants to undergraduate teaching courses have lower ATARs than

ATAR of between 30 and 50.” Haythorpe said while those students may have

the average university student with:

other qualities that will make them good teachers, it is

• Double the proportion of students with ATARs between 30

a concern that other pathways are being used to lower

and 50 (6% compared to 3% average for other courses)

academic entry standards even further.

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“It is also clear from the data that universities are using other pathways to allow students with low ATAR scores to enter teaching courses. The report shows that 18.5% of those coming through another pathway have an ATAR of between 30 and 50.” Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal President Correna Haythorpe

National Education News

“We cannot expect young people who struggled at

who are unable to find work, yet we still have shortages

school to become high performing teachers within a few

of teachers in the crucial areas of maths, science and

years,” she said. “If we want to have high quality teachers

languages.

in our schools we need to select the best graduates

“We need minimum entry standards for teaching

for teaching courses, ensure that courses are rigorous,

degrees because as long as universities can enrol

and give beginning teachers support and professional

unlimited numbers of students in teaching degrees, this

development when they begin in the classroom.

issue will remain.”

“The current system is producing too many graduates

The racism challenge for Australian schools Results from a three-year study on intercultural understanding in Australian primary and secondary

Professor Christine Halse, Chair in Education, School of Education, Faculty of Arts & Education at Deakin University

The research also found that in schools where

schools has revealed unique insights into young people’s

the intercultural capabilities were a priority across the

thoughts on racism.

school, there were much higher levels of acceptance

The project, Doing Diversity: Intercultural

“We found the most effective schools were schools where issues of building the intercultural capabilities was a priority across all aspects of school activity. So it wasn’t just limited to the curriculum, it was a part of school policy, it was part of the nature of their interactions with school communities, and it was built into their strategic plan.”

into their strategic plan.”

of diversity, more positive relations between different

Understanding in Primary and Secondary Schools,

cultures, and these schools had safe and calm

examined the issue of responsibility for racism in focus

environments that facilitated learning.

groups with Year 7-10 high school students. As intercultural understanding has been made

“Having a school where there is a supportive and active environment for diversity, meant they actually had

a mandatory part of all curriculum areas in the new

very robust, calm learning environments and that had a

Australian curriculum, the researchers sought to

direct positive impact on learning outcomes,” Halse said.

investigate issues in schools and work on ways to best implement this new aspect. Professor Christine Halse, Chair in Education, School

Students in the focus groups attributed responsibility for racism to one of five factors. • Racism is normal.

of Education, Faculty of Arts & Education at Deakin

• It’s the racist bully.

University, said some of the key findings were how

• It’s ethnic minorities who don’t assimilate.

powerful outside of school influences were on shaping

• Whites are the real victims.

students’ attitudes and behaviours, and how important

• We’re all responsible.

and necessary it was for schools to consider and take into account they operate in this broader social context. “Schools are sites of social formation,” Halse said.

Halse said the research can be of use to schools to help create a genuinely anti-racist, multicultural nation. “While those five factors are not representative of all

“Students bring attitudes and values to the school space

schools it’s helpful for teachers to know that these are

and schools have to be responsive to those sorts of

the different ways students think about responsibility so

contexts.

that in their engagement with students and the way they

“We found the most effective schools were schools

structure their curriculum, develop policies in schools,

where issues of building the intercultural capabilities

this is part of the knowledge base that can inform their

was a priority across all aspects of school activity.

decision making.”

So it wasn’t just limited to the curriculum, it was a part of school policy, it was part of the nature of their

Visit http://interculturalunderstanding.org for more

interactions with school communities, and it was built

information about the project.

education matters primary

Events Diary

Upcoming events in education A RANGE OF EVENTS ARE COMING UP ACROSS AUSTRALIA FOR PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS – FROM PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE CONFERENCES TO TECHNOLOGY EXPOS – CHECK OUT THE LIST BELOW.

ACTA International Conference 2016

7-10 April 2016, Perth WA

Diversity – exchanging way of being www.tesol.org.au/ACTA-Conference/ACTA-InternationalConference-2016

NO2BULLYING Conference 2016

18-19 April 2016, Gold Coast QLD

Creating a generational change towards bullying: principle and practice http://no2bullying.org.au/

SASTA Annual Conference & Expo 2016

18-19 April 2016, Adelaide SA

Raising standards of teaching and learning www.sasta.asn.au/professional_learning/sasta_annual_ conference_and_expo_2016

Improving Initial Teacher Education

20-21 April 2016, Melbourne VIC

Developing better prepared classroom ready teachers www.criterionconferences.com/event/ite/

Aspect Autism in Education Conference

5-6 May 2016, Melbourne, VIC

Engaging learners for life http://autismineducation.org.au/

ETAWA State Conference 2016

7 May 2016, Perth WA

That was then, this is now www.etawa.org.au/events/etawa-2015-state-conference/

Positive Schools

Various dates and locations – May to June 2016

Mental health and wellbeing conference www.positiveschools.com.au

EduTECH 2016

30 May – 1 June 2016, Brisbane QLD

International conference and expo www.edutech.net.au

ACEL ISCAPPED Symposium 2016

2-3 June 2016, Sydney NSW

Enhancing wellbeing and success for students and staff www.acel.org.au/

2016 NSWSPC Annual Conference

14-16 June 2016, Hunter Valley NSW

Leading learning, aiming high www.nswspc.org.au/

NCEC 2016 Conference

19-22 June 2015, Perth WA

Faith to lead, lead to faith http://ncec2016.com/

CaSPA 2016 National Conference

3-5 July 2016, Melbourne VIC

Live in the light, open your heart, sing a new song www.caspa.edu.au/conference-2016.html

ATEA 2016 Conference

3-6 July 2016, Ballarat VIC

Teacher Education: Innovation, interventions and impact http:// federation.edu.au/faculties-and-schools/faculty-of-education-andarts/events/australia-teacher-education-association-conference

CONASTA65 2016

3-6 July 2016, Brisbane QLD

Superheroes of science – unmask your potential http://asta.edu.au/canasta

ACER Research Conference 2016

7-9 August 2016, Brisbane QLD

Improving STEM Learning: What will it take? www.acer.edu.au/rc/overview

Anglican Schools Australia Conference 2016

11-13 August 2016, Adelaide SA

Rivers in the desert http://conference.anglicanschoolsaustralia.edu.au/

The AIS Conference 2016

25-26 August 2016, Hunter Valley NSW

Shared purpose, different journeys – focusing on impact www.aisnsw.edu.au/

The Education Show

2-4 September 2016, Melbourne VIC

Showcasing school resources, products and services www.theeducationshow.com.au/

APRIL

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TO HAVE YOUR ORGANISATION’S EVENT LISTED IN THE NEXT EDITION OF EDUCATION MATTERS MAGAZINE PLEASE EMAIL THE DETAILS TO KATHRYN.EDWARDS@PRIMECREATIVE.COM.AU education matters primary

Facilities Management

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To deal with these time constraints, the carpetcleaning paradigm has shifted. The focus is no longer on cleaning stains after they occur; rather a proactive approach to maintaining carpet appearance and cleanliness has developed instead. This involves preventative maintenance measures such as dry vacuuming and interim cleaning with the use of carpet cleaning equipment. Tennant’s innovative ReadySpace® Rapiddrying Carpet Cleaning Technology cleans and dries carpets in under 30 minutes. This minimises area closure times and allow for the removal of soils before they become embedded in the carpet fibres. Carpets remain cleaner over time, last longer and extraction is required much less frequently.

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Technology / 21st Century Learning

Casio - Lampfree projection WITH 200 SCHOOL DAYS EACH YEAR, AROUND FIVE HOURS OF USE EVERY DAY, THAT’S A 20-YEAR LIFESPAN. NO WONDER LAMP-FREE PROJECTORS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE EDUCATION MARKET.

CASIO may be best known for its calculators and watches, but it’s a true innovator in the projector sphere. CASIO is a pioneer in LED/Laser Hybrid Technology. Distributed in Australia by Shriro, CASIO manufactures a full range of lamp-free projectors. Being a global leader, it is currently offering its sixth generation of lamp-free projectors. The key benefits of the Japanese made projectors for education purposes are: on/off/restart within five seconds, no lamp or filter replacements, 5-year warranty and low power consumption. The unit comes with a bracket, cable cover and Wi-Fi dongle for wireless connectivity. Make the change and SAVE money. Ask for your Total Cost of Ownership evaluation and product demonstration today. Email: casioprojectors@shriro.com.au www.casioprojector.shriro.com.au

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Technology / 21st Century Learning

Coding matters Bec Spink is a Digital Learning Leading Teacher at Aitken Creek Primary School in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Bec has a Master of Education specialising in Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation. In 2013, Bec was awarded the Victorian Department of Education and Training Education Excellence Award for Primary Teacher of the Year for outstanding contributions and dedication towards leading classroom innovation. Bec is a Co-founder and Director of Code the Future (codefuture.org). A non-profit organisation that connects schools and teachers with the technology industry to support the learning and teaching of computer science education in schools. Much of Bec’s time is spent supporting and mentoring other teachers to treat technology as an integral component of classroom practice and use social media as an authentic learning tool in the classroom. She aims to give students an opportunity to participate in real-world learning opportunities and values the importance of developing students’ global awareness. Bec is Vice-President of Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator and an Education Ambassador for Evernote. Bec, a believer in continuous learning and sharing, writes a blog, becspink.com, supporting and advocating for the next wave of change in schools.

CODING IS JUST ONE PART OF THE NEW AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES CURRICULUM THAT ALLOWS STUDENTS TO DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF BEING ABLE TO USE, AND CREATE WITH, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES. BEC SPINK REPORTS.

If you have been involved with Australia’s education sector for the last 12 months or more you would have heard the clarion call to have all children learn coding. The publicity has stretched far and wide and coding education has even become a part of the political sphere. With the recent endorsement of the new Australian Digital Technologies curriculum and the announcement of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘Innovation Agenda’, the buzz is certainly in the air. A glimpse into your average school may not paint this exact picture just yet, but many Australian primary schools have been embracing ‘coding’ as a part of their school curriculum for a while now and things are only just getting started. Why coding? We know that today’s students live in a technology-saturated world. Emerging technologies are changing education and the world as we know it but while many students (and, in fact, adults) often know how to use technology, rarely do they understand how it works. Think for a minute about the things around you, how was it built? How did it transform from an idea to reality? How did it get

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to you? Somewhere along that chain, computer science was involved. Did you know that Ikea’s ‘Billy’ bookcase does not come into contact with human hands in manufacturing? The entire factory operation runs 24/7 and is facilitated by machines and robots with employees there to simply feed materials into the machine and then take out the packed boxes. With over 25,000 bookcases being built a day, this operation could not happen without coding. Digital disruption is transforming both the manufacturing and service industries, and in order to future proof Australia’s economy and workforce changes need to begin now. The skills students develop when learning to code will enable them to participate in this future workforce, where flexibility, agility and entrepreneurial thinking will be at the forefront of many careers. It is indeed possible that the jobs today’s primary school students will have in the future, do not even exist yet. So what exactly is coding? Coding, or computer programming is the way people command and communicate with computers and machines. It can be described as the process that people take to design, write, test

and debug computer programs. Coding in education is about understanding the process of how a computer works. But what about coding and learning? When we discuss the thinking involved in learning to code it is imperative that teachers are familiar with the work of Seymour Papert. Papert was one of the designers and inventors of ‘Logo’, an educational programming language that was built in the 1960s. Logo is based on the work of Piaget (with whom Papert worked) to allow students to think and solve problems in a play-based environment. Papert likened these environments to ‘microworlds’ describing them as a place where strategic thinking and powerful ideas can be developed. Papert’s work on coding and learning also identifies that whilst students are developing their programs they are constructing mental processes and patterns of thought used to make sense of information. This process, Papert coined as ‘Constructionism’. Constructionism is similar to what we know as the Constructivist learning theory in that learners construct knowledge and make meaning through experiences, however, in Constructionism the key difference is on knowledge being built by the learner making something tangible and sharable. When Papert said, “I am convinced that the best learning takes place when the learner takes charge…” it is easy to assume that the logical thinking, problem solving skills and meaning being developed when students are creating through code is a step in the right direction for education and students in today’s world. There is more to learning to code than just recalling a set of symbols and commands. More than 20 years ago, Steve Jobs famously said, “Everyone should learn how to program a computer,

because it teaches you how to think.”. With that in mind, it is fitting that the new Australian Digital Technologies curriculum is designed for students to develop a deep understanding of systems thinking, design thinking and computational thinking. In fact, coding is just one part of the new curriculum that endeavours to allow students to develop an understanding of being able to use, and create with, digital technologies. Making it happen... Aitken Creek Primary School (ACPS) prides itself on being an early adopter in the edtech world. When the draft Digital Technologies curriculum was released ACPS saw this as a fantastic opportunity to engage both staff, students and the wider school community in the future of digital learning at the

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school. As more than half of the student enrolments at ACPS are in the Foundation to Year 2 area, the school has focused heavily on introducing the new curriculum in the early years. Through an inquiry learning process a number of students in Foundation at ACPS spent weeks exploring and investigating ‘robots’ with their teacher Erin McNamara. Students began by being immersed in robots through playing with them, reading about them, listening to the different sounds they make and viewing many different kinds. Students then delved into collecting and representing data about them and what they observed, as well as comparing and contrasting different robotic toys. Students even had the opportunity to pull apart a BeeBot to investigate what was inside. Students also investigated and

Technology / 21st Century Learning

“For coding education to be a success it is important that teachers are developed, empowered and trusted to teach it with confidence.”

created simple circuits using LittleBits to discover and be able to explain the inner workings of their robotic toys. Once students had developed a significant understanding of what robots were and how they worked, they had the opportunities to construct their own programs. The use of robots in this experience allowed students to take the ‘code’ off the screen and see their programs come to life. Through this experience students were able to develop a sense of how digital systems work and how to solve problems through programming, rather than only focusing on how to use them. Developing a deep understanding of how digital systems work and creating digital solutions was the focus for Level Two students, taking their learning further by integrating other curriculum areas – specifically student learning about Narratives. Students developed a sequence of scenes for their narratives using a story board and published their work by programming robotic devices as their

‘actors’ and using a Green Screen to make their stories come to life. Not only were students able to achieve specific literacy outcomes they were able to meet each of the achievement standards for the Digital Technologies curriculum for Year Two. With inspiration from Melinda Cashen and the Bell Gaming Festival, Year Two teachers Tamryn Kingsley and Emily Fintelman embarked on a ‘Gaming Project’ with their students. Again, through an inquiry learning process, students investigated ‘games’ and used Scratch to design and construct their own games resulting in a gaming convention at the school where students were able to showcase, share and receive feedback about their games from other students, teachers, parents and the wider community. While there has been a major focus on the early years, developments in the middle and upper years are occurring at ACPS as well. Year Three and Four students have been predominately using the iPad application Hopscotch – allowing them to experiment and create their own iPad based applications and games. Selected students in Years 5 and 6 have taken part in a project with Code the Future (codefuture. org) that facilitated a software developer to work with students for six weeks. Students used Intel Galileo Boards to design and create their own projects. A classroom monitoring system that measures temperature and an encryption machine

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that allows users to send and receive ‘secret’ messages being just some of the innovative ideas that students explored, designed and built. Thinking about each of these examples, not only were students developing the fundamental skill of coding they were able to develop logical thinking skills and problem solving through constructing and making their own games, apps or programs using a variety of digital technologies. For coding education to be a success it is important that teachers are developed, empowered and trusted to teach it with confidence. Top tips for developing this in staff include: • Purposeful and specific professional learning; • Workshops and learning experiences built around play; • Breaking down and unpacking the language in the new curriculum; and, • Developing an understanding of Papert and Constructionism. Teaching our students to code does not mean that we expect all students to become professional computer programmers. We teach students how to write music, but we don’t expect all students to become professional composers or recording artists. We teach students physical education and how to play sport, but we don’t expect all students to become elite athletes. We teach the basics of science and history, but we don’t expect all students to become scientists or historians. What we do expect however is that all students, in all schools are given the opportunity to learn about the world they live in, how it works and how they can be successful. In the continuously changing digital landscape we now live, learning about digital systems and being able to create through code should be an essential component of a balanced education for every child.

Technology / 21st Century Learning

STEM and girls EDUTECH IS THE LARGEST ANNUAL EDUCATION EVENT IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. HELD FROM 30TH MAY – 1ST JUNE 2016, EDUTECH IS THE ONLY EVENT THAT BRINGS TOGETHER SCHOOLS, TERTIARY EDUCATION, VET, AND WORKPLACE LEARNING UNDER ONE ROOF – THE ENTIRE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR – TO GATHER TOGETHER TO LEARN, DEBATE, EXCHANGE IDEAS AND BE INSPIRED.

After 20 years working in the IT industry as a consultant across many projects from design, development and implementation of large systems, and as a program and process manager, Susan Bowler decided to study teaching and naturally gravitated towards a specialisation in technology, along with maths and science. Susan has a very strong interest in promoting STEM and has been involved with robotics for the past nine years as a teacher and mentor of teams for her after school club RoboSquad United. The teams from RoboSquad United have won 24 competitions including four international championships. Susan integrates robotics in the classroom, using it as a platform to teach engineering, programming, technology, arts, science and maths. Susan is also a member of three robotics organising committees, Robotics Tasmania, RoboCup Junior Australia and International RoboCup Junior. Susan is a strong advocate of Australia’s public school system and her passion is to build girls’ interest in STEM and as such currently teaches at Tasmania’s all-girls Ogilvie High School. She spoke with Education Matters magazine’s Kathryn Edwards about robotics in the classroom, STEM and her presentation at this year’s EduTECH conference. HOW DO YOU THINK WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN STEM CAN BE INCREASED THROUGH THE SCHOOL LEVEL? I’ve taken many teams to robotics competitions, and to the international level, and we’ve won four times. Now, those teams have been mixed, boys and girls, because the club would pull students from other schools, but what I’ve seen in all girls’ schools is the girls are not afraid to try things when the boys aren’t there, whereas when they started mixing with the boys, they were a little bit more subdued at first. I think if you really want to get girls started in STEM, you’ve got to make it creative, you have to make it very open-ended, and you have to put it in a context where they can see the benefit of it, which is why I’m going to talk about projectbased learning at EduTECH because robotics is exactly that.

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HOW DID YOUR TEACHING OF ROBOTICS EVOLVE? When I was doing my post-graduate degree in Teaching, they told me that I should be teaching maths and science. Then I discovered they had an IT stream so I thought, “Oh well, I’ll do three streams; that gives me more employability at the other end.” But once I actually started the class, the professor basically said, “You know more than what you’re going to learn in this class”, and I said, “Yeah, but I’m really interested in these little yellow robots you have running around. While I’m here, can you at least show me them?” So I looked at the robots and discovered we had a competition in Tasmania, so I volunteered for that, and then when I started at Ogilvie, I discovered we had a whole closet of unused robots, so I took those into a class that I was teaching of how things worked, and it was a lower-level class sort of centred around engineering at a simple level, and the girls just took to them like crazy, they really, really enjoyed them. I thought, “All right, they’re actually going to learn something” and I taught them how to do some pretty basic moves and use the sensors with the robots, and then thought about the competition that was coming up. They have a dance category – that’s very creative – and the girls get to choose their music, they get to choose what the robot’s going to do, they get to dress the robots up, and so it really does attract quite a few girls. We just starting entering them and actually did all right. Then it just started growing, and because we did all right, we got the newer version of the robots, and because I had a girls’ team, we applied for a Google grant in 2009, and got fully funded to go to Austria by Google. We did all right in one of the divisions, not so well in the others, but we returned in 2010 and 2011 and took it out twice in a row; we were the international champions! Then we did it again in 2013 and it was

Technology / 21st Century Learning

great fun, you know, the girls and the boys love it, because they love the travel, but it’s hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of work on their part and you just wouldn’t know it. They’re happy doing it, they’re working collaboratively, they are learning, they’re having fun, they are talking, and being silly in many cases. So it’s a lot of afterschool and weekend work, and through school holidays too, but joyful, very, very joyful. IS ROBOTICS STRICTLY AN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY FOR THOSE EXCELLING AT MATHEMATICS OR IS IT INTEGRATED INTO LESSONS AT THE SCHOOL? At our school, we are trying to integrate it into lessons. We also have a science and engineering club and we’ve been playing around with some new robots; we haven’t started that up yet this year because this is only our second week of school. It’s open to anybody and it can be if they’re good in science or if they’re good at maths or if they’re good in audiovisual, because there’s programming involved. What they need is a very open mind and to be logical; it’s really what it’s all about. It develops analytical thinking and critical thinking. HOW ARE YOU TRYING TO INTEGRATE ROBOTICS IN THE CLASSROOM? In science, there are quite a few areas that you can use it, you can use it for data logging, you can use it for physics, you can use it for chemistry by using, you don’t have to build really elaborate

I think if you really want to get girls started in STEM, you’ve got to make it creative, you have to make it very open-ended, and you have to put it in a context where they can see the benefit of it.

robots, they’re very simple, but you use the sensors quite a bit. So for example you could use a light sensor to measure the density of a solution just by its transparency then compare that to the weight, and things like that, or whether something fully precipitates or doesn’t. In physics, you can use it to demonstrate velocity and acceleration because you can, again, use the light sensors. The data logging can be used to measure temperature. There are all kinds of sensors that you can use. You can explain things like balance by using the gyroscope in the robots. You can explain compass and maths by using the compass sensor and programming it to make right angles or a 90o turn of a 180o, and it’s something that takes the pencil off the paper and gets kids thinking about it. In science, you could use it to collect samples too and if you were worried about sterile things you could send a robot in. The programming essentially helps you with algebra because it uses variables in a lot of the programming, but that’s getting pretty advanced at that point. So right now, what we’re doing is starting to design where we might use the robots. But before we do that, we need to get some new robots because ours are rather worn out; they’re quite old now. So I’m actively working on where to put them in the curriculum so I can get some good robots to get the club started up again and current. IS THERE A NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF STEM TEACHERS TO BE IMPROVED? Yes, I think there is. I believe that it would not be a bad idea to have teachers work with universities and industry to develop some very specific post-graduate programs for working teachers, and make it part of the undergraduate programs. I think IT is always seen as an aside. YOUR PRESENTATION AT THIS YEAR’S EDUTECH WILL BE ABOUT PROJECT-BASED LEARNING. CAN YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT, WITHOUT GIVING TOO MUCH AWAY? What I’m going to talk about is how you could use robots for project-based learning, both within say a classroom for maths or science, like what

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we’ve just talked about, or as a standalone project. I’m going to bring an awful lot of examples of where I’ve seen it done. You’ve got the US-based Buck Institute of Education, who seem to be the leaders on projectbased learning, and I’ve been going through their site and thought, “Yep, this is a robotics project; yes, this could be an IT project” because it’s following whether you have big questions or you have a big goal. For one of my competitions, it was to have 14 robots all work together without running into each other and do a performance of the tea party in Alice and Wonderland. And I had around 10 team members working together in two different countries, because we had two US team members and they were working from the US, and we pulled it all together. And that takes the basics of PBL – you’ve got to be thinking critically, you have to be collaborating, and the communication skills have to be top-notch. Those are not things that are necessarily taught in a standard classroom, probably more so here in Australia from what I’ve seen in the US, or what my experience was. But robotics is just the perfect tip for it. A variety of attendance packages are still available for EduTECH 2016. If you would like to be inspired by Susan Bowler or one of the many other talented speakers from the local and global education sector visit www.edutech.net.au for more information.

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Principally Speaking

Memorable moments happen every day as principal ST CLARE OF ASSISI PRIMARY SCHOOL IS A KINDERGARTEN TO YEAR 6 CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL LOCATED IN THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF CANBERRA THAT HAS A CURRENT ENROLMENT OF 605 STUDENTS. ST CLARE OF ASSISI, WHICH BEGAN CLASSES IN 1994, PRIDES ITSELF IN PROVIDING A VERY RICH AND COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM, COMPLEMENTED BY A WIDE RANGE OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS TO ENRICH LEARNING. EDUCATION MATTERS SPOKE WITH PRINCIPAL BRAD GAYNOR ABOUT PROVIDING LEADERSHIP TO TEACHERS, WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN EFFECTIVE PRINCIPAL AND THE IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING AUSTRALIA’S EDUCATION SECTOR.

HOW DOES ST CLARE OF ASSISI PRIMARY SCHOOL DIFFER FROM OTHER SCHOOLS? All schools are great schools, but we’re not a ‘drop off on your way to work school’. We are in the Lanyon Valley which is right down the end of Canberra. There are three suburbs that surround the school and all the kids live in that area. We don’t get out-of-area kids so it’s very much a community school and a unique thing in that ours is a very close-knit community. The staff here are always having fun. These days there’s so much going on in teaching that I think having a sense of humour actually brings a balance to it and when the kids see that the teachers have fun and the teachers enjoy working here that has a positive influence on the school. Lots of practical jokes and fun things going on and dress ups and all that sort of stuff that teachers don’t take everything they do overly seriously. They’re here to do their job and they know that but they’re also here to enjoy their job which I think makes a big difference. Lastly, I believe we have a really balanced approach to everything. We don’t jump on the latest bandwagon. We don’t jump every time the Government says you’ve got to be doing something. We are very discerning in what we do and we try to keep things really simple. Simple for the staff, simple for the kids, simple for the parents. If something comes along and we’re just told that we should implement it, we look at it to see if it suits us. If it doesn’t suit us then we don’t do it. So that’s probably what makes us a bit different.

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HOW DO YOU PROVIDE LEADERSHIP TO TEACHERS AT THE SCHOOL? Leadership is about having a vision of the school and making it explicit so I try and make mine very explicit. By having high expectations and being very consistent in what I am and what I do, and being very organised. I also show leadership by ensuring that the teachers have everything they need, the resources, support, there’s policies and procedures, everything that allows them to do their job. They focus on the teaching and let me worry about all those other things, and to me they’ve got to be there for the kids mainly. I think that you’ve got to be a really good listener and have good communication skills. Part of leadership, especially these days, is listening, being approachable and also having a sense of humour and getting involved in, you know, the carry on that goes on as well. I often say that I work with the staff and for the staff not necessarily the other way around if that makes sense. The staff don’t work for me I actually work for them as well, and the way I look at it is the teaching staff are my class. So what I expect them to do for their class I try to do for the teachers. It’s just about being a role model and being part of the staff and not necessarily a separate thing. WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY IN THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUR STUDENTS? My aim is to make sure the teachers have everything they need, like I said above – the resources, the policies and procedures, to allow them to teach effectively and do what they do

best. So by me doing that I know that the kids are getting the best possible opportunity. I monitor student assessment data really closely. I’m not hung up on it and I think as a society we’re too hung up on student assessment but I do monitor it because it does obviously inform what you’re doing and what you need to do. I monitor achievement by looking at collective data from the whole cohort, the whole school, but there’s also certain children that I like to keep a particular focus on and see how they’re travelling and what we can do. I also work closely with the learning support staff because they’re the ones that often look after the bottom end and the top end, so really working with them to make sure they can do what they need to do. One of the joys of being a Principal is you can celebrate achievements. So you can visit a classroom, there’s awards, there’s stickers, there are kids coming to you showing you their work and you can jump up and down and be all excited for them for them reaching a goal. My role is all of that. It’s about providing but it’s also about celebrating. It is also important to keep up communication with parents. Often I’ll ring a parent and say, ‘your child just brought me some exciting work and I’ve told them to bring it home to you’. I like to share milestones with the parents because I think sometimes we only ever talk to parents if there’s something wrong, so I try to talk to parents when there’s some great things going on. Especially regarding the kids that I know that could do with a bit of a boost or sometimes the parents are having a bit of a tough time and getting some good news just makes their day. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR? I believe the biggest issue at the moment is an overcrowded curriculum. While ACARA has done an amazing job developing a curriculum – I don’t necessarily think it’s an Australian curriculum because every state and territory is slightly different – I think it is so overcrowded and it’s almost impossible to teach everything that is expected in the curriculum. I believe there is an over emphasis on assessment and Government compliance. I think assessment is actually taking us away from good teaching and learning because we’re so hung up on assessing kids to meet Government standards or whatever, and that is actually detrimental to teachers and to students. Flowing on from that I’ve got no issues with NAPLAN but I think how the data is being used is immoral in a way. The lead tables, being able to compare schools and the whole My School website I believe is atrocious

My aim is to make sure the teachers have everything they need – the resources, the policies and procedures, to allow them to teach effectively and do what they do best. So by me doing that I know that the kids are getting the best possible opportunity. and I would rather have the funds that go towards My School to be used in classrooms to support kids not necessarily to judge schools. Funding inequity into non-Government schools is also a big issue, as is funding in all sectors, but when you combine Federal and State funding non-Government schools are extremely disadvantaged. Catholic schools are basically operating on half of what a Government child gets through Federal and State funding yet we’re still expected to do everything the same. Students with disabilities is another big issue in all sectors, and how to deal with it and the funding surrounding that is also an issue. The mental health of teachers, students and parents, and stress and anxiety, is also something that seems to be growing. There are things being done, but it’s something that we need to keep on the agenda. The other issue we will have focussed on is initial teacher education. We need to focus on getting the best students into our universities so we get the best teachers coming out of the universities.

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WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT AS A PRINCIPAL? Memorable moments happen all the time, every day. When a child comes in with some work to show me with a smile on their face, it makes my day. Or you often get a note from a parent thanking you for something that you’ve done or you’ve supported in some way or you’ve helped their child, and to me those sorts of things just make it all worthwhile. Seeing teachers enthusiastic about teaching and happy to be here and having fun is great. Those sorts of everyday things are what makes my job memorable. IN YOUR OPINION WHAT TRAITS DO YOU NEED TO BE AN EFFECTIVE PRINCIPAL AND WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF THE JOB? You need to be extremely resilient and thickskinned as well as have a good sense of humour. You also need to be a good communicator and empathetic. I don’t think you can be black and white these days, you’ve got to be black, white and grey depending on the situation. I believe you need to be open, open to new ideas, be willing to grow, that sort of thing, and always willing to learn. Now principals have got to have a new set of skills, if you like. We’ve got education, we’ve got leadership, but I think we need more work and more special learning in things like negotiation, social work, mental health and how to deal with staff with mental health issues, and new ways of communicating as well especially through social media. We also need IT skills if we’re asking teachers to develop BYOD programs, and getting kids to develop apps and coding, we need to have some idea of what that is all about. It is also important to continually be aware of local, national and international issues, and being in touch with the needs of the staff, the students, and the parents.

Positive Education

Building wellbeing in our students JUSTIN ROBINSON REPORTS ON THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF POSITIVE EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA.

Justin Robinson, M.Ed. MACE, is the inaugural Director of the Institute of Positive Education, based at Geelong Grammar School. He leads a team dedicated to promoting the theory and practice of Positive Education through research and providing training for other educators. As a passionate leader in the field of student and staff wellbeing, Justin has been invited to write for a number of publications and speak at conferences both in Australia and around the world. His appointment at the Institute follows a successful career as a Mathematics and Physical Education teacher and school leader at both Geelong Grammar School and Trinity Grammar School. An enthusiastic sportsman, Justin has coached many school sporting teams and is a keen marathon runner. Justin is an Honorary Fellow of Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and lives with his wife Jeanette and their four children on the Corio campus of Geelong Grammar School.

In 2006, Dr Martin Seligman first introduced Positive Psychology to Geelong Grammar School in Victoria. Since then, there has been a rapid diffusion of Seligmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educational philosophies and principles in Australian schools. Known today as Positive Education, the results of this partnership are helping educators to transform the way they approach pastoral care in a learning environment and prepare students for lifelong learning and flourishing beyond the school gates. As Roosevelt noted, we cannot predict the future. However, we can try to assist our students to be resilient and adaptable to whatever their future may bring. This is one of the key aims of Positive Education. Historically, education models have tended to focus largely upon academic excellence at the expense of less quantifiable variables such as wellbeing. Positive Education is used to overcome this discord, bringing together achievement and personal growth. Positive Education promotes

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specific skills that assist students to strengthen their relationships, build positive emotions, enhance personal resilience, promote mindfulness, and enable the exploration of meaning and purpose in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. While Positive Education is utilised in many different ways to serve a variety of purposes, it is underpinned by several essential tenets. Positive Education helps students to understand their individual character strengths and learning styles, and adopt a growth mindset. The practice of mindfulness and active gratitude improves interpersonal relationships and interactions. Students and staff strive to achieve optimal wellbeing through focusing on the areas included in the PERMA model, which stands for Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement. In developing our own Positive Education programme here at Geelong Grammar School, we added Positive Health to the PERMA

model, and over the past seven years, have worked to refine the topics taught under each area. The realisation of optimal wellbeing allows students to flourish, emotionally, socially and psychologically. All of these aspects are used conjointly, to build resilient and emotionally intelligent students, who emerge from their education having gained the skills to thrive and make a meaningful contribution to their world. Research Research has shown that motivation to learn and achieve one’s best is linked with higher levels of wellbeing – ‘feeling good and doing good’. It has also been shown that happy children perform better academically, and positive staff feel a greater connection to their organisation. While Positive Education is a new area for research, studies conducted at Geelong Grammar School and elsewhere show promising results in regards to Positive Education programmes decreasing stress and anxiety as well as increasing self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism. A team of scholars, led by Associate Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick from the University of Melbourne, received an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to conduct research on the effectiveness of Positive Education programmes at Geelong Grammar School. They have tracked the wellbeing of students across Years 9, 10 and 11 using a range of psychological, physiological and behavioural indications. Year 9 and 10 students from Geelong Grammar School who all receive Positive Education were compared to the

corresponding year levels at a range of SES matched schools without Positive Education programmes. They found that: • Positive Education can protect young people from declining mental health; • Students are able to use positive strategies taught through Positive Education programmes to help them respond effectively to everyday life events; • Student-teacher connections matter to young people; • Students engage with Positive Education most when they can see its relevance to their real world experiences and get involved with the learning process; • Positive Education improves both the emotional and physiological state of students; and, • Through Positive Education strategies, students are better able to regulate their emotions, savour personal achievement, understand their strengths, achieve their goals and appreciate others. Vella-Brodrick and her colleagues found that Positive Education, which focuses on early intervention and prevention and is adopted with a ‘whole school approach’, increases the likelihood of sustained wellbeing benefits to students. Key findings from Vella-Brodrick et al.’s (2015) research included: On average, Year 10 students from the representative schools experienced a decline in social connectedness and physical health, as well as an increase in depression, anxiety and antisocial behaviour. However the effects were far less

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pronounced in students within the Geelong Grammar School Positive Education programme. Students at Geelong Grammar School reported significantly higher levels of wellbeing, social relationships and physical health at the end of Year 10 relative to comparison students. While there was a clear benefit despite the short timeframe of the programme (less than a year), it is unlikely that the results would be sustained if the Positive Education programme was not maintained. A continuous effort throughout the schooling years would have the greatest upward effect on student wellbeing. In my role at Geelong Grammar School’s Institute of Positive Education and as a teacher, I have seen firsthand the challenges facing educators today. In particular, there is a growing need to address concerns about the mental health and wellbeing needs of our students. Shockingly, studies suggest that one in four young Australians report experiencing mental illness. As students spend such a significant portion of their lives at school, schools are ideally placed to address these mental health and wellbeing needs, perhaps even before they become an issue. Young people, males in particular, can be reluctant to seek help for mental health issues, so adopting a preventative and early intervention based programme can help those who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks. Positive Education aims to give students the coping mechanisms required for living in a fast-paced and often high-stress environment, both at school and later in their adult lives.

Positive Education

Developing the whole school approach Developing a whole school approach to Positive Education involves four key elements: Learn it; Learn it involves providing opportunities for all members of the school community to understand and grasp the science of wellbeing. This requires introducing staff, both teaching and non-teaching, to the key tenets of Positive Psychology and allowing them to explore and consider how particular activities and principles may be applied in their life. While initial and then ongoing staff training is an essential component of a Positive Education programme, each school must also consider how best to help the parent body and members of the wider community to appreciate the growing evidence base of Positive Education. Live it; Live it is the next logical step in the implementation of a whole-school approach to Positive Education. Individual wellbeing is a multi-faceted construct that is dynamic across time and consists of meeting different challenges throughout each of the life stages. Wellbeing will never be a goal that can be ticked

off, instead it will be a quality, a value that we endeavour to foster within ourselves to help us thrive. In particular, each adult within a learning community must endeavour to be actively involved in nurturing their own wellbeing. This may be through maintaining a gratitude journal, practising daily mindful meditations, overcoming a fixed mindset or taking part in other personally meaningful wellbeing activities. Research into Positive Education at Geelong Grammar School has shown that it is vital for teachers to be authentic role-models of the concepts espoused within Positive Education. Teach it; T each it refers to providing students with the opportunity to discover and explore each of the key elements of wellbeing. Teaching wellbeing can occur in various ways within the one school, including: the explicit delivery of a wellbeing curriculum, the addition of wellbeing focus days devoted to exploring relevant themes, weaving wellbeing components where appropriate into existing academic curriculum and the specific exploration of wellbeing topics during

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pastoral/home group tutorials. In 2009, Geelong Grammar School created a Positive Education Department and introduced a Head of Positive Education position to focus on the explicit teaching of Positive Education from Years 5 to 10. At Geelong Grammar School, the explicit teaching of Positive Education occurs from Years 5 to Year 10 and each of The Junior School campuses and Academic Departments across the School are also charged with the responsibility of addressing relevant wellbeing concepts. Embed it; Embed it refers to adopting school-wide policies and practices which align with the principles of supporting and nurturing wellbeing within individuals and within the community. Each element of a school must be considered through the lens of wellbeing: This includes formal communication through assemblies, reports, the school prospectus, job descriptions, newsletters and emails, as well as informal communication through: • The implicit messages and expectations visible around the school; • The effective management of mistake and the promotion of positive relationships; • The procedures for staff appraisal and professional development; and, • How the school community celebrates and grieves important local and global events. Whilst the applied ‘Learn It, Live It, Teach It and Embed It’ framework that we use at Geelong Grammar School is described in a linear and ordered sequence, each element continues to be actioned as part of a successful Positive Education Programme. It has been suggested that the fifth phrase in the framework should be “Repeat It”. We believe that Positive Education should never be static. Each element of the programme must continue to evolve as the science evolves. We need to ensure that we respond to feedback from students, staff and parents, while also not shying away from complex or difficult topics. We also need to gain a deeper understanding of genetics, the mind-body connection and how different cultures and personalities relate to the various wellbeing concepts. One of the biggest questions still facing the field of Positive Education is what the most effective frequency, balance and delivery of wellbeing elements

“We cannot always build the future for our youth but we can build our youth for the future.” – Franklin D Roosevelt, 1940.

is. Answering this will allow the establishment of an evidence-based developmentally staged K-12 wellbeing curriculum coupled with the most effective environments that nurture human flourishing. Such a curriculum could then be adapted to fit the unique needs of individual schools. How schools are implementing Positive Education Over the past three years, over 8,000 educators from more than 500 schools from around Australia and the world have participated in our Positive Education training courses. In working with these inspiring educators, we have seen first-hand that Positive Education is not a onesize-fits-all approach to education. Positive Education should look different in each school. Yes, many of the ingredients will be the same – character strengths, gratitude, mindsets, flow, mindfulness, resilience, savouring, kindness and more, and many of the processes will be the same – staff training, whole-school practices, wellbeing committees and positive interventions to name a few. However the exact components need to be shaped by the culture and practices of the individual school. A small sample of schools who have completed training with our Institute and gone on to successfully implement a Positive Education programme are highlighted below. Auburn South Primary School in Victoria has integrated Positive Education throughout their syllabus. Positive Education has been integrated into Auburn South Primary School’s IB PYP curriculum through the

development of, and access to, co-curricular activities that allow students to grow, identify their strengths and understand their emotions. Positive Education strategies are being reinforced in all classes, across all year levels at the primary school from mathematics to literacy and health, and are practiced through strength-based activities, inquiry and solution-focused language, verbal and written in the classroom. Teachers at Auburn South Primary School are also encouraged to lead students in classroom mindfulness

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meditation to help alleviate stress and anxiety levels and to train attention and focus for optimal learning. Mount Barker High School in South Australia has taken a different approach. One lesson a week across all year levels has been dedicated to Positive Education. Over time, the school is working to introduce Positive Education into all classes, whether explicitly or implicitly. Teachers at Mount Barker are taking a collaborative approach to this process, working together to find the best solutions. For instance, maths teachers are using Carol Dweck’s Mindsets to challenge students’ preconceptions about the difficulty of maths. Year 9 science classes include a unit on the brain, neuroscience, and neuroplasticity, in which students look at the science behind Positive Education and how they can change their own negativity bias and patterns of thinking. Like many educational theories, Positive Education has lofty aims and ideals. However, it is not a system that requires extensive funds and resources. Many schools, government, independent or otherwise are implementing Positive Education programmes within their existing curriculum and strategic framework. Rather than requiring a complete overhaul, it is a matter of taking the time to assess the school’s current strengths and weaknesses and evaluate how Positive Education can be implemented in a way that best suits the needs of the school. Having worked with many schools over the years, we know that the success of Positive Education is often determined by how the programme is implemented and integrated in to existing structures throughout academic and pastoral care programs, co-curricular activities and in school literature, such as weekly newsletters. Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School in Western Australia is an example of a school who have

Positive Education

About the Institute of Positive Education The Institute of Positive Education is an initiative by Geelong Grammar School aimed at improving student wellbeing. Since the launch of the Institute in 2014, more than 8,000 representatives from more than 500 primary and secondary schools have attended Positive Education training courses at the Institute of Positive Education. These educators have come from all Australian states and territories and nine different countries. You can find out more about the Institute, Positive Education, the courses they offer, and the research undertaken at Geelong Grammar School on the Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website: www.instituteofpositiveeducation.com Other useful websites PESA (Positive Education Schools Association): www.pesa.edu.au/ IPEN (International Positive Education Network): www.ipositive-education.net/

incorporated Positive Education into their pre-existing culture and ethos. The school has a strong sporting culture and physical education programme which has been enhanced with the adoption of Positive Sports Coaching. By introducing new concepts one by one, the school is also encouraging students to discover their own character strengths. In exploring these strengths and how they can be nurtured, developed and applied to multiple aspects of their education and interests, students are able to enhance not only their studies, but also their sense of self-esteem and general wellbeing. Positive Education is used to negate the effects of stress and transform negative mentalities into a growth mindset, which seeks to address challenges in the manner that best suits the individual. Caring for the carer While Positive Education exists as a means to improve student wellbeing, one of the essential tenets of Positive Education is staff wellbeing. The rationale behind this is that teachers need to feel the impact of the training on their own lives in order to model and enact the principles of Positive Education in the classroom. An excellent example of a school working to

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improve teacher wellbeing is Geelong High School in Victoria. Staff have been provided with opportunities to be involved in ongoing Professional Development. The school has also established the position of Positive Education Leader, which has been the key to driving the programme and allowing the school to remain strongly committed to implementing Positive Education. Geelong High School has introduced initiatives such as staff gratitude and recognition activities, meditation, and a regularly scheduled coffee van visiting the school, as a way of encouraging staff to take some time for themselves. An effectively implemented Positive Education programme is taught by teachers who are knowledgeable about, and genuinely believe in Positive Education. It is for this reason that genuine staff engagement with Positive Psychology is a prerequisite for effectively communicating Positive Education. Providing comprehensive teacher training and upholding an open dialogue between administrative and teaching staff allows teachers to play an active role in shaping the curriculum, utilising and adapting Positive Education as they feel best fits their classroom. A higher level of engagement and responsibility

Education can help teachers to encourage their students, nurture a love of learning and support their character development.

promotes ownership in a way that a dictated and fixed model cannot. The implementation of Positive Education programmes can arm teachers with the necessary

tools and mindset to deal with less favourable classroom situations, through positive communication and coping mechanisms learnt through Positive Education strategies. At the same time, Positive

Conclusion Positive Education is not about completely dismantling our current curriculum in favour of the new and shiny. Nor is it simply paying lip service to popular buzzwords such as mindfulness and wellbeing without the research and science to support it. Positive Education is a means of complementing and enhancing current educational strategies, supported by valuable membership organisations including PESA (Positive Education Schools Association) and IPEN (International Positive Education Network). Furthermore, I believe that, over the next ten years and beyond, as the science continues to develop and Positive Education schools share best practice in teaching and learning, both the mental health of our young people and the wellbeing of our communities as a whole will show the benefits of this legitimate and necessary commitment to placing wellbeing at the heart of education.

Health & Wellbeing

Tecoma Primary School: embedding a shared strategy for school wellbeing KIDSMATTER PRIMARY HAS HELPED TECOMA PRIMARY SCHOOL TO EMBED A WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH TO STUDENT WELLBEING.

Joining KidsMatter Primary has helped Tecoma Primary School bring together its many student wellbeing activities into one strong action plan. School staff members are now more focused on the social and emotional learning (SEL) of their students and confident in promoting mental health and wellbeing of the whole school community. As a result, students at Tecoma Primary now feel a stronger sense of community and connection with school staff members. BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN KIDSMATTER PRIMARY Before joining KidsMatter, Tecoma Primary was implementing various student wellbeing activities. Lisa Hoskins-Faul, a teacher and KidsMatter Action

Tecoma Primary School has embedded student wellbeing in the curriculum. Photo shows students during the inaugural KidsMatter Day making a Mind Jar to help with calming their emotions.

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Team Leader, shared: “we knew how important health and wellbeing was as a part of our job, but many of us were not confident to deliver this is an authentic way. We already had circle time timetabled across the whole school each week but this was not always deemed important in every classroom. In a crowded curriculum it is often the first thing to go. We used restorative practices in both the playground and the classroom but we wanted to create a wholeschool community culture.” School Principal Rohan Thompson reiterates that KidsMatter needs to be a part of a school’s annual implementation plan and strategic plan to ensure accountability across all levels of the school. In 2011, Assistant Principal Di Double introduced KidsMatter Primary to school staff after attending a Leadership Briefing. Lisa says that from their discussion, KidsMatter Primary presented a way to synthesise “the good things we were doing.” It also showed them how to “develop a language and way of dealing with student wellbeing that was consistent across the whole school.” COLLABORATION RIGHT FROM THE START The school’s Action Team is composed of the Assistant Principal, representatives from each teaching team, and parents. Tecoma Primary also opted to appoint a KidsMatter Coordinator to ensure that the school continued to progress through to Component 2 even when there were changes to the membership of the Action Team. The Action Team planned a KidsMatter Day in 2012 to launch the framework. Students, school staff, and parents collaborated to produce a music

Tecoma Primary School places a huge emphasis on student voice. Photo shows some of the reflections that students wrote after performing and filming the whole school Lip Dub video.

Staff and students in Tecoma Primary regularly share inspirational notes, which help promote the positive vibe in the school. These notes were given to teachers to celebrate KidsMatter Day.

video that showcased Tecoma Primary as a positive place. Senior students were assigned a year level each to choreograph and direct while the parents assisted with filming. Everyone worked cohesively in teams and the video production became a whole community project that reflected the positive vibe in the school and gave the senior students a real sense of ownership.

Song’, the whole school performing en masse to ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. This also included past students from Upwey High School filming the performance as a part of the cross-age tutoring program run across the school network.

“It is so important to have goals to reach for and a clear vision. The surveys assist in many ways. They give us concrete data to focus on and ensure that we are really listening to our students’ voice. It also shows what we are doing well and where we need to improve.” Since then, the school has held an annual KidsMatter Day. In 2015, the school’s KidsMatter Day was celebrated with the theme Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies and activities focused on good nutrition, physical exercise, mindfulness, and cybersafety were held. In a cyclical two-year focus of Component 1, Tecoma Primary also incorporated the popular ‘Cup

EMBEDDING A WHOLE SCHOOL WELLBEING FRAMEWORK The school has completed Component 2 professional learning and will begin with Component 3 in 2016. A weekly SEL lesson is scheduled and school staff members undergo professional learning in Component 1 every two years. The Action Team also plans to revisit the survey data collected through the KidsMatter framework to pinpoint student concerns and issues, and to streamline the professional learning needs of staff members. Lisa states that the resources in the KidsMatter Primary portal have made their planning easy and consistent across all year levels. The surveys and resources suggested by KidsMatter provide scope and sequence in teaching SEL. “It is so important to have goals to reach for and a clear vision. The surveys assist in many ways. They give us concrete data to focus on and ensure that we are really listening to our students’ voice. It also shows what we are doing well and where we need to improve.” Ongoing support from Principals Australia Institute Project Officers has also helped Tecoma Primary embed social and emotional learning in their school culture. Lisa says that “the staff at KidsMatter Primary are amazing! They are so supportive and encouraging.

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Promoting student wellbeing in Tecoma Primary School includes teaching children how to take care of physical and mental health. Photo shows Harper Sidell creating a healthy plate of food during a Healthy Mind, Healthy Body session as a part of KidsMatter Day 2015.

They are always willing to come out and see what you are up to, as well as offer advice.” Lisa adds that Implementation Support and Network Meetings are a big help “because you have the ability to share and learn from other schools.” Tecoma Primary School is now on track to complete Component 4 within the next 18 months. Lisa advises schools that are starting their KidsMatter journey to take time to carefully plan their implementation. This will enable Action Teams to ingrain SEL in their school culture.

Health & Wellbeing

Don’t let illness define your travel holiday ASTHMA, ALLERGIES, HEART PROBLEMS… NONE OF THESE CONDITIONS SHOULD STOP YOU FROM TRAVELING, AS LONG AS YOU RESPECT YOUR DOCTOR’S RECOMMENDATIONS AND PREPARE YOUR TRIP WELL. TO ENSURE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING TRIP HERE ARE SOME YOU THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU TAKE-OFF.

FIRST THING TO DO – SEE YOUR GENERAL PRACTITIONER! • He or she will know best whether or not your trip is feasible and what medically is required to help you be fully prepared. Have a complete medical exam and ensure that your condition is stable. Ensure you ask about the potential risks if you travel. Review all the situations you should avoid and the measures to take in case of an emergency and be sure to write down all of your doctor’s recommendations and advice • Always plan on taking a surplus supply of medication in case your return flight is delayed, and make sure you have several days’ worth of medication in your carry-on luggage. • Ask your doctor to provide a letter stating the medications you will be carrying, how much you will be taking and confirming that they are for personal use. You may have to present this document to Customs to justify taking any PBS drugs overseas. You must keep all medications in their original packaging. There are also restrictions on the amount of PBS medication you can take overseas.

• Ask your doctor for a written summary of your health condition(s) in English. This will be very useful in helping any Doctor overseas treat you appropriately if an incident should occur. Also if you have a heart condition, ask for a copy of your last electrocardiogram (ECG). • Start thinking about vaccinations at around three months prior to your intended travel. TRAVELING BY PLANE • Transporting medications requires careful organisation. You should ensure that in your carry-on luggage you have enough medication to last at least a week. Also verify that all the medications you carry in any bag are packaged properly, as they may be very sensitive to high or low temperatures. • Do you have a heart condition? Remember to point out your pacemaker to security staff before passing through the security gate. • During the flight, stay well hydrated and take frequent short walks throughout. Discuss using compression stockings with your doctor and undertake calf and foot exercises regularly.

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DURING YOUR STAY • Adjust your medication to the change in time zones. Follow your doctor’s recommendations. If the time change is more than three hours, you’ll have to compensate for this - the aim being to adjust to the local time as soon as you arrive. • Diabetics should be aware that changes in diet, activity levels and time zones can affect their blood glucose so they will need to monitor this more closely than usual. Speak with your doctor and prepare a diabetes diet plan that takes into account local food options. Travel often involves a lot of walking and Diabetics should also take extra precautions to look after their feet and avoid injury. • Adapt your activities to your situation. Those with allergies to insects should avoid hiking in tropical forests. If you are a diabetic, epileptic or have a chronic cardiac or respiratory condition you should seek specific medical advice before considering scuba diving. Hiking in high altitudes or in the cold can trigger an angina attack in a susceptible individual or limits to how high you can travel may be required if you have certain cardiac or respiratory problems. • In case of a health incident, stay calm! If the problem is more serious you can contact your assistance provider who will know how to advise you appropriately for your location you are in and help you reach local medical, emergency and hospital services. If you have received medical care overseas, ask the health care professionals for a written and exact account of the care they have provided (in English if possible), with their contact information so that your own doctor back home can appropriately follow up on your care if necessary. Follow the advice of your doctor, and don’t let living with a chronic disease prevent you from travelling.

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Bullying

Responding to parent complaints about bullying DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES, THERE ARE IMPORTANT REASONS WHY SCHOOL STAFF MEMBERS NEED TO ENGAGE WITH PARENTS ON THE TOPIC OF BULLYING, WRITES KARYN HEALY.

Karyn L. Healy is a psychologist with extensive practical experience in supporting schools, parents and students in preventing and addressing bullying, and resolving conflict. She worked as Principal Project Coordinator with Queensland Department of Education for many years leading a major initiative implementing conflict resolution in schools in South East Queensland, and through this role developed several whole-school programs and teaching resources to address bullying and promote social and emotional skills of students, staff and families. Karyn is coauthor of the Resilience Triple P program which is an evidence-based family intervention for children chronically bullied at school. She has a Master’s degree in organisational psychology specialising in social consultancy, conflict resolution and group facilitation. She has a PhD in intervening with families of children bullied at school. Karyn is an Associate Editor with the Journal of Child and Family Studies. She has ongoing roles in staff wellbeing for Queensland Department of Education and in program development at the Parenting and Family Support Centre of The University of Queensland.

School bullying is a sensitive issue, and conversations on this topic with parents can often be stressful for teachers and principals. It is common for school staff to feel attacked by parents who complain that their child is being bullied. It is common for parents and schools to have different views about whether a particular child is being bullied. Parents usually only know their own child’s version of events, which may not be the whole story. They may also have a different definition of what is bullying than used by the school. Despite the difficulties, there are important reasons why school staff members need to engage with parents on the topic of bullying. If parents are not satisfied with the way the school responds to their concerns, they might take matters into their own hands including directly reprimanding the other child, getting into conflict with the child’s parents or taking their story to the media – all of which risk making the situation much worse. If parents are not happy with the school’s response, they might also complain about the school to other parents, which damages the school’s reputation and may cause further problems down the track. Some parents resort to transferring their child out of the school, which may or may not be in the best interests of the child. Apart from the risks of not managing parents’ complaints about bullying well, there is evidence that working with parents to address victimisation will achieve better results for children. A recent meta-analysis showed that school bullying interventions which actively involve parents are more effective (Ttofi & Farrington, 2010).

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Other research has found that warm, supportive parenting protects children against victimisation (Lereya, Samara & Wolke, 2013) and buffers them against ongoing emotional distress caused by victimisation (Bowes et al., 2010). The parenting children receive at home, including coaching of social skills and support of their friendships affects children’s peer competence and acceptance by peers (McDowel & Parke, 2009). At the University of Queensland we have developed a program for families of children who are bullied at school called Resilience Triple P which teaches parents to support children’s peer skills and relationships and to work with the school to address bullying. The trial of this program found that children whose families participated in the program had significantly greater reductions in victimisation than control families who were relying mainly on school efforts alone to resolve the problems (Healy & Sanders, 2015). Schools are therefore likely to achieve better results for children when they work with parents on concerns about bullying. IF THE PARENT THINKS THERE’S A PROBLEM, THERE’S A PROBLEM So how can school staff work with parents who claim their child is being bullied at school? Firstly it’s important to understand that schools and parents have very different perspectives and priorities – but these can be complimentary in solving the problem. Teachers and principals are concerned with the safety and wellbeing of all students. Parents, on the other hand, are primarily concerned with the safety and wellbeing of their

own child, and they are usually experts on this. If a parent says their child is distressed, then this is a concern. A large, wellcontrolled study in the UK found that parents’ reports of their child being bullied at school predicted increased risk of ongoing mental health problems for children several years later (Arseneault et al, 2008). It is noteworthy that we don’t know whether the teachers of children involved in this study would have agreed with the parents’ conclusions about bullying: they weren’t asked. We do know, though, that if the parent says the child has been bullied, then the child is at-risk. It is therefore important, regardless of whether the school has evidence of bullying, and regardless of whether school staff agree with the assessment that the child is being bullied, that the school takes the parents concern seriously, investigates the issue further and seeks to improve the situation for that child. LOOK PAST THE EMOTIONAL DELIVERY TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES It is the parents’ job to advocate for their child, and there are few issues which make parents more defensive and emotional than their child being hurt or targeted. Unfortunately, school staff are usually first in the line of attack for an emotional parent. Parents may blame school staff for failing to keep their child safe, or sometimes school staff feel attacked simply because of the emotional delivery. Either way it is important to remember that emotionality comes with the territory: the parent is just trying to protect their child from danger. Most parents are able to calm down if they are listened to empathically without interruption. This means putting you own views on hold, even if you think the parent is mistaken. It also means agreeing with what you can. You don’t need to agree that the child is being bullied if you are not sure whether this is true. However you could still empathise with the child’s or parent’s distress. e.g. “I’m so sorry to hear that Sam is coming home upset about his play with Riley. We want all our children to enjoy their play time.” If you ask the right questions you can get a lot of useful information from the parent about what has been going on. You can find out what behaviour the child found distressing e.g. “Could you please tell me exactly what was done that Sam found upsetting?” You can also find out about the context (where, when, who, who else was present) and frequency of the problem. It is also useful to ask what the parent’s child did before and after the problem. Although the parent may not know this information at the time, this might help them consider their own child’s behaviour as part of the relevant context. Giving the parent a chance to tell you what they know, before providing your information, will usually help the parent calm down enough to listen to you, and to work with your to devise a plan to solve the problem.

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Bullying

AVOID AN ARGUMENT ABOUT WHETHER IT’S BULLYING All Australian schools have a school bullying policy, which specifically defines what bullying is and what bullying isn’t. This is very important as a guide for unacceptable behaviour, especially as bullying can take different forms: physical, verbal, technological and social, and may include behaviour which is very subtle. However many parents describe getting into arguments with school staff about whether behaviour constitutes bullying, according to the school bullying policy. It is not helpful to use the school bullying policy as grounds to dismiss parental concerns about their child. It is common for parents and school staff to have initially different views on whether behaviour is bullying. It is not necessary for parents and school staff to agree that the behaviour is bullying to be able to start working on the issue. Sometimes it is not clear until you start dealing with the problem whether it really is bullying or not. For instance, in the situation of name-calling, it is not a concern if the child does not mind being called that name. Although it may be hurtful, it is also not bullying if the perpetrator is not aware the other child does not like being called the name. In this instance we will not really know whether the perpetrator is bullying or not until we are sure they are aware that the name-calling is not acceptable to the recipient. If they continue with name-calling when they know it is hurtful, we might then conclude it is bullying. If the parent believes the behaviour is bullying and you do not, it is also worthwhile considering the possibility that there may be some information that you do not have. Children are often very good at bullying when adults are not around, and very often school staff see what children want them to see. For instance teachers might see a child lashing out angrily and not realise that the outburst is a reaction to controlled, sustained, subtle provocation. Although teachers and school staff think they know when bullying is happening, research shows they only know a fraction of what goes on, and that children tell parents more often than teachers (Fekkes, Pijpers, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2005). If you do not have enough information about whether the behaviour is bullying or not, or you have a different opinion to the parent, it is worthwhile collecting more information. This will not stop you from starting to do something to address the issue. You can say something like, “Look I’m very concerned that Jamie has been upset, and I’m keen to find out more about what’s going on so we can improve things for him.”

If the parent insists it is bullying and demands a punishment, and you do not have enough information, simply say this to the parent: “Look I’m very concerned that Jamie is upset. We will investigate it immediately, and deal with any misbehaviour decisively according to our behaviour policy. In the meantime, let’s come up with a plan to keep Jamie safe at playtime tomorrow.” GIVE THE PARENT INFORMATION THAT MAY CLARIFY THE SITUATION Sometimes in listening to the parents’ concerns, it is apparent that there is some relevant information they are not aware of. For instance, the matter may have already been dealt with by yourself or someone else, but the family may not be aware of this. You may also know of something that the parent’s child did that may have exacerbated the situation. This is not unusual, and can be helpful for the parent to know in understanding the situation. Regardless of whether the child did something to exacerbate the situation, it is worthwhile making a plan to prevent and manage further incidents. INVOLVE THE PARENT IN MAKING A PLAN Involving the parent in making a plan enables the parent to see that something is happening and can also encourage the parent to support the plan. The plan can include monitoring and strategies for the child, teachers and parent. Monitoring involves collecting information about the peer behaviour that is distressing for the child. Incidents of serious physical aggression are usually captured on school systems. However information about minor physical incidents, verbal or social behaviour affecting a particular student are unlikely to already be represented on school data systems. Teachers can keep a record of incidents they are aware of. Parents are also in an

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excellent position to keep a record by checking with the child at the end of the day. Records will usually include exactly what happened, the context (including what happened beforehand) and how the child responded. Parents can balance this by first asking the child some good things that happened in their day, then asking if there were any concerns. For issues in which the child is in physical danger, keeping the child safe is the immediate priority. This might mean ensure the child avoids situations that may be dangerous until school staff are confident the issues have been resolved. For instance if the child has been threatened with physical aggression, they might avoid walking home alone until the situation has been dealt with. Sometimes keeping a child safe involves educating the parent and child about how the child’s behaviour might provoke the situation. To avoid defensiveness on the part of the parent, this can be done by using questions: “When Jamie threatens the other boy back, do you think that makes it better or worse?” Any effective plan to address victimisation will need to involve the child’s class teacher. Drawing the teacher’s attention to the behaviour of concern will help the teacher notice incidents. If the behaviour occurs mainly in the playground, duty teachers may need to be informed. The teacher may be able to have a quiet talk to the other children involved. Techniques like the “Method of Shared Concern” provide a process for the teacher to address concerns through a series of conversations with individual children involved (Rigby & Griffiths, 2009). PLAN TO INVOLVE THE CHILD IN LEARNING SKILLS TO HANDLE THE SITUATION It is important that the child has an opportunity to learn how to prevent problems, and to deal with the

problems themselves. Having good friends at school is an important protective factor against bullying (Bollmer, Milich, Harris & Maras, 2005) and can also help children cope with emotional consequences of unkind behaviour of peers (Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro & Bukowski, 1999). So one proactive strategy is to check that the child has friends and something to do at lunchtime, or when the problems occur. Parents can help support children’s friendships by allowing the child to catch up with friends outside school hours and to participate in extra-curricular recreational activities. It is important to ensure that the child knows how to deal with minor incidents themselves. Very often children need coaching and practise to respond effectively to problem behaviours of peers. Parents can help children practice strategies. Staff like Guidance Counsellors or School Chaplains can work with children and parents to help them develop and practice effective strategies to address minor behaviour from peers. For instance, children can learn to use words to solve problems. e.g.“I always get the job of referee but I’d like to play today. Let’s take turns with the referee job.” This usually involves helping the child practise a calm tone of voice.

into account a student’s cultural background, family circumstances and disabilities in determining an appropriate consequence. However, none of these reasons should prevent the school from imposing a reasonable consequence for serious harmful behaviour. PLAN A FOLLOW-UP MEETING TO REVIEW PROGRESS Sometimes plans work immediately, and a misunderstanding is resolved or children taught more appropriate social behaviour. More often, plans need to be worked on over time, to successfully solve a problem about children’s peer relationships. Although your initial plan may not succeed in solving the problem, it will probably help you better understand the nature of the challenge. It is important to plan a follow-up meeting with the parent. This will enable you to find out if the parent’s initial concern has been dealt with, and whether there have been any new developments which require further action. It

will also enable you to communicate with the parent what the school has done to address the issue. Very often parents assume that if they hear nothing from the school, nothing has been done. Equally often, school staff assume that if they hear nothing more from a parent, the issue is sorted. Neither of these assumptions is necessarily true. Communication, and working together, is central to resolving parents’ concerns about bullying. Disclosure Statement about Author’s Involvement in Resilience Triple P The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is developed and owned by The University of Queensland. The university, through its main technology transfer company Uniquest Pty Ltd, has licensed Triple P International (TPI) Pty Ltd to publish and disseminate Triple P worldwide. Royalties stemming from published Triple P resources are distributed to the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, School of Psychology, Parenting and Family Support Centre and contributory authors. Karyn L. Healy is a contributory author of Resilience Triple P and may in future receive royalties from TPI. TPI is a private company and no author has any share or ownership of it. TPI had no involvement in the writing of this report.

IT IS REASONABLE FOR PARENTS TO EXPECT THE SCHOOL TO DELIVER CONSEQUENCES FOR SERIOUS BEHAVIOUR At some stage of tackling the issue, it may become apparent that there has been deliberate harmful behaviour perpetuated. This is usually easiest to prove when the behaviour is physical or there is a record such is sometimes the case with cyber-bullying. In these circumstances it is reasonable for a parent to expect that the school will deliver reasonable consequences. Most schools have positive reward systems, but children also learn from negative consequences. It is the job of the school to keep the child safe, and part of this is delivering consequences. It is reasonable and important for a school to take References Arseneault, L., Milne, B. L., Taylor, A., Adams, F., Delgado, K., Caspi, A. & Moffitt, T.E. (2008). Being bullied as an environmentally mediated contributing factor to children’s internalizing problems: a study of twins discordant for victimization. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 162(2), 145-150. Bollmer, J. M., Milich, R., Harris, M. J., & Maras, M. A. (2005). A friend in need: the role of friendship quality as a protective factor in peer victimization and bullying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(6), 701-712. doi: 10.1177/0886260504272897 Bowes, L., Maughan, B., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E. & Arseneault, L. (2010). Families promote emotional and behavioural resilience to bullying: evidence of an environment effect. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02216. Fekkes, M., Pijpers, F. I. M., & Verloove-Vanhorick, S. P. (2005). Bullying: who does what, when and where? Involvement of children, teachers and parents in bullying behavior. Health Education Research, 20(1), 81-91. doi:10.1093/her/cyg1100 Healy, K.L. & Sanders, M.R. (2014). Randomized controlled trial of a family intervention for children bullied by peers. Behavior Therapy, 45(6), 760-777. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2014.06.001 Hodges, E. V. E., Boivin, M., Vitaro, F., & Bukowski, W. M. (1999). The power of friendship: Protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization. Developmental Psychology. Vol, 35(1), 94-101. doi: 110.1037/0012-1649.1035.1031.1094 McDowell, D. J., & Parke, R. D. (2009). Parental correlates of children’s peer relations: an empirical test of a tripartite model. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 224-235. doi: 210.1037/a0014305. Rigby, K., & Griffiths, C. (2009). Applying the Method of Shared Concern in Australian schools: an evaluative study. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. http://www.ncab.org. au/Assets/Files/MethodOfSharedConcern.pdf Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2010). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7(1), 27-56. doi:10.1007/ s11292-11010-19109-11291.

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Making the Grade

Middle leaders need specific leadership skills OUR SCHOOL MIDDLE LEADERS ARE IN NEED OF SUPPORT: FROM THEIR PEERS, PRINCIPALS AND THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY. THEY ARE OUR HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, HEADS OF CURRICULUM, DEANS OF STUDIES AND DEPUTY PRINCIPALS, WHO HAVE THE UNIQUE CHALLENGE OF JUGGLING COMPETING PRIORITIES FROM BOTH THE TEACHING STAFF AND THE EXECUTIVE TEAM.

With quality professional learning scattered sparsely amongst an abundance of pedagogical and curriculum-focussed support, and aspirant principal and executive leadership professional development, one team of researchers is focussed on evaluating current middle leadership professional learning, designed to support our middle leaders through these challenges. Associate Professor Bev Flückiger is lead author for a research study, published late last year. Together with her colleagues, Susan Lovett, Neil Dempster and Dr Stephen Brown, they underline the importance of investing in education’s middle leadership tier, drawing on an independent evaluation of Queensland Education Leadership Institute’s (QELi) Middle Leadership program (2013–2014), as the catalyst for the current research*, as well as a review of international literature on professional development for middle leaders. “In years gone past, teachers have put their hand up because they wanted to do more, or were encouraged to get a promotion, without that focus on developing their skills first, or developing their skills while remaining in the classroom,” Flückiger said. “Middle leaders have such a strong influence on what happens in our classrooms and schools, and yet, it seems to me, that the professional learning on offer for them is quite limited.”

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The team’s research looked at what it means to be a middle leader and what it takes to get there, and uncovered six matters which merge to influence the purpose of middle leadership, and the professional learning needed to support leaders: 1. The trouble in attracting teachers into leadership roles. 2. The preference given to principals’ professional learning over that of middle leaders. 3. Different understandings of middle leadership 4. Distinguishing who is a leader at a time when ‘everyone is a leader’. 5. Conflict over middle leadership functions. 6. Differing opinions regarding the essential components of middle leadership learning.

“Middle leaders have such a strong influence on what happens in our classrooms and schools, and yet, it seems to me, that the professional learning on offer for them is quite limited.” Dr Stephen Brown, CEO at Queensland Education Leadership Institute and a co-author of the current research, agrees that middle leaders are an essential part of modern education and need to be supported as they transition into leadership roles. “In twenty-first-century schools, there has been a shift in responsibility for learning and learners, from the senior echelons of educational organisations to the middle tier, meaning our middle leaders are, in effect, critical leaders of learning and should be prepared as such, in order to be multi-skilled, responsive and agile,” he said. “Principals may come and go, but school organisations need to build a depth of distributed leadership to drive a complexity of issues, in a dynamic and evolving environment. “In order to enhance performance, we’ve got to focus on capability building. You can’t say to people, ‘Improve your performance,’ if you’re not focused on the capability. They go hand in glove.

“To know and understand a quadratic equation is one thing; to influence someone who may have been circumstantially a peer, or build a team with everyone on the same page is another, and is the real challenge.” Are we relying on innate ability rather than practised skills? An experienced middle leader, Joanne has prioritised her own professional learning, recently completing a Master in Leadership and Management. “I love my role as a middle leader and think we are like the meat in the sandwich, when it comes to working both with our teacher and executive colleagues,” she said. “On one hand, we have our ear to the ground in terms of what is really happening in classrooms, and are right there on the edge of professional practice. I think we bring a sense of reality to administration, and are passionate people, invested in our curriculum or pedagogical area of expertise. But for me, I know that I need more than just passion to get the best out of my team and directly affect the people I work with. “As teachers, we often get promoted because we are good at teaching, and drawing on those skills, rather than knowing anything in particular about good leadership. “While there is a lot of professional development available in schools, it is not necessarily geared towards leadership. I’ve noticed that there has been a greater awareness over the last few years towards an increased focus on developing leadership skills. “I think I’ve always been very fortunate, in terms of support, to have some very good mentors and role models around me whose leadership, professionalism and management I’ve admired. They’ve taken the time to teach not just how to do things, but to teach about leadership, and management in middle leadership. “In 2013, I took time to complete the QELi Middle Leadership program, which I thought was wonderful for a number of reasons. It was time away and time to think on your own practice, values and ideas, and provided quality input and learning, focussing on persuading and informing adults, rather than children. I was able to use the extended program towards my Master degree, which was rewarding. “I would always encourage young leaders to find that person who is able to mentor or coach you, so you are getting the feedback and able to improve.”

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Bev Flückiger Bev Flückiger is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University, a member of the Griffith Institute for Educational Research (GIER), and sits on the executive committees of both the Professional Development Network (PDN) for school leaders, and the Queensland branch of Early Childhood Australia (ECA). Prior to joining Griffith University at the end of 2008, Bev held positions in the Department of Education and Training (DET) Queensland as a primary school Principal. Bev’s research and consulting interests focus on school leadership and early childhood education. She has been involved in a range of local, national and international research projects. Currently, Bev is working with school leaders on Effective Age-appropriate Pedagogies for Prep involving 48 schools across the Queensland for the Department of Education and Training (DET).

Making the Grade

Learning to negotiate the staff room rather than the classroom It’s not easy to get buy-in, to get change processes enacted in schools. We can’t assume all teachers or middle leaders can get fellow teachers to follow them. Maureen Ryan is Principal at Sacré Cœur School, Melbourne, and has a team of 14 middle leaders who contribute to the effective running of her school. As highly regarded leadership professionals, they contribute to the school’s executive leadership team’s deliberations and decision making, to ensure they maintain shared vision to embed change, grow skills and build on social capital within their school. “I think, as a system, schools have been slow to develop our middle leaders’ capacity,” Ryan said. “For some reason, we have the rationale that effective classroom teachers automatically make equally effective middle leaders. However, leadership is a skill that comes with development from within. “Over the years, I have found that people spend enormous amounts of time to perfect their craft and become skilled as teachers. But they don’t invest to the same level in their leadership. I think it has been unknown to them. Some of my really talented teachers still look at me with shock and wonder

when I ask them what was the last leadership book that they read? What areas have you grown your leadership over the past 12 months? Tell me about your own metrics? “There are few quality offerings available for middle leaders, but QELi’s Middle Leadership program has the whole package. Leaders can dialogue with peers about their leadership progression and development. It’s rigorous and the rich source of materials that are available are phenomenal, and participants then take it further to develop and implement an action program back in their school. “I then maximise the effectiveness of any extended formalised professional learning program, to embed their learning, through mentoring programs with members of the school’s executive team.” Qualities of a great middle leader ‘A good middle leader is someone who has a demonstrated desire to develop their own skills. They are flexible, adapt to change and learn how to bring about change, through research, and trial and error. They have a hunger to lead, will squirm through difficult conversations but will learn how to grow and perfect that area. They

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are an active team member, and comfortable about making mistakes – you aren’t going to get it right every time as you build your own credibility and authority voice, to genuinely build a team around you and take them with you.’ Maureen Ryan, principal, Sacré Cœur School How can we set up our middle leaders to fly, not fail? When we look at education leadership across all sectors, there is a wide focus on principal or executive-level leadership and teacher leadership, but if you are to grow and develop an organisation, it’s going to take leaders at all levels. Typically, it comes down to those middle leaders, who need to translate the vision of practices into what actually happens. Rachel has been teaching since 2007, and in a middle leadership role since 2010. “As a career, middle leadership can be incredibly diverse, and you can find yourself working with any element within the school,” she said. “I started at my school as head of teaching and learning, and have come back from maternity leave into a completely different role, leading the collection and application of student data. Schools can reshuffle and reorganise. As a middle leader, you need to be able to adapt and prepared to do anything. “As the middle person between teachers, and deputies and the principal, you are continually balancing competing priorities from teaching staff, with those from the administration. “While I know that everyone has a lot to do, I do feel middle leaders have a big workload. When you work out who your teams are, and who is going to be more of a challenge, you need to get on the front foot and work out how to bring them onside, to get the most out of them. You are always balancing your teacher-focused persona, ‘I’m one of you guys and I know things are tough on the ground,’ with your leader-focussed persona, ‘This is why we’re doing this new position.’ “It can often feel like people dump things that are too challenging or difficult into middle leadership roles. Added to that, I think there is still a misconception around the role, and some teachers don’t see or appreciate how much their head of department is doing. “They are such large roles that support needs to be offered before people become middle leaders. At

my previous school, where I first became a middle leader, I participated in an aspirant program, and QELi’s Middle Leadership program. Meeting a wide range of middle leaders, and discussing situations in their contexts, was incredibly valuable. I have had individual mentors over the years, and still have a mentor who I run things past, ask for advice to best manage specific situations or manage difficult staff. I’ve also recently completed my Master in Education from QUT, which has provided a great insight into leadership in education.”

“Over the years, I have found that people spend enormous amounts of time to perfect their craft and become skilled as teachers. But they don’t invest to the same level in their leadership.” When our middle leaders succeed, there is a tangible cultural shift across the whole teaching team Dr Kerrie Tuite is principal at Mount Alvernia College, Brisbane. While she is focussed on ensuring her entire team is supported through appropriate professional learning, she appreciates that middle leaders are a special part of her school’s team. “I have this philosophy about schools, that if everyone in your organisation performs their own role as well as they can, then your organisation is going to be a great,” Tuite said. “Over my career, I’ve been in the position of being supported by people and it made me aware of the importance of supporting other people, too. “Over the past five to 10 years, there has been a shift in education, to expect people to be leaders rather than administrators, a process that we’ve experienced industrially and now need to support professionally. “Last year, we decided to take advantage of professional learning for our new middle leaders. We wanted them to move from a headspace of management and administration, to thinking about, and achieving, a vision for their own area. That’s

the only way – challenge them to do something that they didn’t know they could do – and I’ve enjoyed watching them grow, and coming up with ideas, rather than simply follow a list of instructions. “Investment is really important; if you want to nurture your middle leaders you need to give them the capacity through professional development and give them the opportunity to own a project or area, and see what they can do. “One of the most powerful moments was seeing one of my longest-serving middle leaders transform his approach to his work, from one of management and administration, to one of leadership, following his completion of the QELi Middle Leadership program, and his practical project, and then go on to mentor one of our new middle leaders. It seemed to give him more energy, greater enthusiasm for his role, and helped him to grow from someone who filled out forms, to the person who would lead the task. “We are all in this together; let’s raise the bar across the board.” Middle leaders fill a tricky, yet rewarding role The research is clear – if we are to form effective teams with true leadership capacity, we need to provide quality support and learning opportunities. Associate Professor Bev Flückiger comments, “There is a body of teachers who want to lead within their schools. They want to have an impact from the classroom, and concentrate on making a difference for children which, as educators, is our core moral purpose: to make a difference for children. “What we have uncovered through our research is that our middle leaders are very powerful people, conduits between the principal and the classroom. It is vital that we, as an industry, choose to invest in their capabilities to lead and navigate this space, with both competence and confidence. “As we have seen, middle leadership is an excellent and rewarding career path in itself, not simply a rung on the ladder to principalship, and with complex and at times competing priorities. It is critical that these leaders have access to role-relevant professional learning, which can only assist those who aspire to progress through to the senior tiers of education leadership.” *QELi’s Middle Leadership program is under licence to the National College of School Leadership and Children’s Services in England.

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Dr Stephen Brown Dr Stephen Brown is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Queensland Education Leadership Institute (QELi) Ltd, and has undertaken consultancies in a range of settings and contexts within Australia and internationally, facilitating access to a range of specialised programs designed to assist and support education providers to enhance outcomes. A highly regarded expert in the areas of leadership development, organization renewal, change management and capability development, Stephen was the Regional Director of Hume Region in Victoria, acted in the position of Deputy Secretary, Office of Government School Education (OGSE), was Executive Director of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat in the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and a member of the departmental leadership team. He has been awarded the Australian Council for Educational Leaders Nganakarra (2007), nominated for membership of the Global Education Leaders Program and a Presidential Citation (2009), and awarded the prestigious Miller-Grassi for outstanding leadership in education (2013). He is author of numerous research papers on public sector change, leadership and organisational redesign.

Professional Development

Making Learning Visible HELEN BUTLER OF CORWIN AUSTRALIA SITS DOWN WITH PROFESSOR JOHN HATTIE, DIRECTOR OF THE MELBOURNE EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE, TO DISCUSS VISIBLE LEARNING THEORY.

Helen Butler: Let’s start from the beginning: when Visible Learning (2009) was published. What do you think it is about that book that has created the shift we’ve seen in education? John Hattie: The book certainly was never written for teachers. As you know, it’s got a lot of numbers in it; some parts of it are very technical even though I did my best not to do that. In one sense I’m delighted because many people including teachers are reading it, so for those who say teachers don’t read that kind of stuff, it’s just not true – they do. One of the things, if I could be immodest for a moment, is that it’s based on a premise that’s very unusual. Most published work begins with the assumption that things aren’t working: there’s a problem, and here’s how to fix it. This book actually starts with the opposite: that we’re doing a lot of incredibly successful things, and this is what success looks like. I have a hunch that this is why it’s caught on, that it’s not saying to teachers ‘you are the problem’, it’s saying ‘you are the reason we’re successful’, and not as if all are successful, but we are peopled by a very successful group. I think the other message is that we really do have to maintain this teacher expertise, because that is the essence of what we do. We’re pretty good at it – well what do you think, you’ve been involved in it, do you have a view about why, of all the thousands and tens of thousands of books out there, it’s stayed around longer than its two-minutewonder? HB: For me, it’s opened a dialogue that’s heavily based on evidence and talks to educators at a system level and at a classroom level about how we can build on the strengths of what we’re doing in education, and know that there’s a science to it. It allows a conversation regarding schools that I’d never seen before in the role that I was doing, so I think that was what the shift was for me. You’re constantly updating the research, you’re constantly across things, so I was just wondering –

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where do you go for the most up-to-date research? JH: I have the luxury of being in a job that gives me access to the latest journals. I have the luxury of being on 28 editorial boards. I’m co-editor of a number of the top journals in the world in this area, so you see stuff even before it comes out. You get a sense of what’s coming. You get a sense of who’s doing exciting things. Because of the success of the book, plus my other career which is more in the measurement area, I have access to many of the top researchers in the world – and that is real luxury. Then there are the things anyone can do to stay informed: you go to conferences and you hear the latest information. I think the social media world has changed us dramatically in terms of blogs; on the one hand it’s somewhat easier to keep up, on the other hand it’s more frustrating because there’s more out there. I think seeing what other people see as valuable is a major asset. There’s never enough time to read everything, but certainly, I’m pretty good at being selective while reviewing literature, so that gives me a major advantage in terms of finding out what’s happening. And I get paid to do that – it’s wonderful! HB: Although the narrative hasn’t changed, it seems that systems and teachers are always looking for the ‘next best thing’. Why do you think they are still looking for more? JH: Well I think I’d go back a step before that, and say that the word ‘evidence’, I think it should be the most contested word in the business. And the evidence I’ve been using is research-based evidence. Teachers often privilege a different kind of evidence: their experiences. They have very strong theories of how they teach, based on the evidence of their experience. So when they go to workshops, they’re looking for things to augment and add and slightly change what they’re doing. Partly what I’ve been trying to do is change their whole mindset of how they look at their own evidence, and that is quite a fundamental notion of what we’re working

for. So many times when schools ask for Visible Learning, the question that we’ve trained ourselves to ask: ‘and what is the problem to which Visible Learning is the answer?’ and some schools have not articulated it, and it’s not going to work because it’s just another ‘bauble on the tree’. HB: How do you introduce and explain the model of Visible Learning workshops? JH: I start with the premise that I have an incredible opportunity to change how they think about what they do. I think too much PD says ‘what can they take home and do tomorrow?’. That’s the wrong way to think of PD. The purpose of these PD’s is: how to get them to be more articulate about how they think in terms of their jobs. It’s the moment-by-moment decision making from teachers and school leaders that matters dramatically in the learning lives of students. I want to change how they see the evidence. We want to make a distinction between the surface and the deep, we’ve got to make a distinction between enquiry and consolidating, and we want to show the message that there is a time when certain strategies work. If we can get that, the aim is there’ll be subsequent follow up, and that’s where you guys [Corwin] are very good. But given you’ve only got a few hours, it’s not tips and tricks, it’s mindsets. HB: Part of the work that Corwin does in Australia consists of large programs of Collaborative Impact offered across Australia. How does a program or the program logic differ to the other sorts of professional learning? What is the principal framework or the development of Collaborative Impact? JH: One of the things you do first is you work with the school to assess its needs – what the particular problem is – and you do that by asking, ‘What is the evidence that you’re having this kind of impact on your students?’. I find it really interesting watching that process, because teachers are very good critics, and school leaders just can’t put any old evidence on the table, because teachers say, ‘well that actually just doesn’t work for me’, and ‘that’s not what it’s like here’. I think there are three critical conversations at this point: what do we mean by impact in this school, what does it mean to have a year’s growth for a year’s input, and the answer’s not ‘out there’, there’s

no prescribed cookbook answer, it’s ‘how do those teachers think’, and that’s what you’re trying to get with their mind frame. Then it’s about what is the magnitude of that impact. And then the third thing is the equity one, how spread out it is across all the different kids, and you know as all kids getting that year’s growth. And that’s why the Collaborative Impact program that Corwin is running is the most powerful, and that then identifies, now look, hopefully we’ve been a bit smart here – we kind of know from having done this now at about seven or eight thousands schools, the four or five things that typically come out, but it’s not as if all four or five come out at every school, and the art then is to focus on one or two of those, and then put a program in relative to what it is that you need to address. Because at most schools you work in, there’s a lot of success! So it’s about how to capture that, and then work on the other parts. HB: When we work in Collaborative Impact we are recommending three to five years of iterative cycles to build on systems, where we’re taking ourselves out of that professional learning. Why have we set that timeframe? JH: Well I go back to your earlier questions about professional learning and most of it’s one-off, one shot, usually at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon and, you know, that’s the worst kind. The other problem is that it does take a long time to do this program. At many schools it takes up to a year to build the trust that this is not an accountability issue. Schools

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and teachers have been so beaten with the stick of accountability, that they are appropriately nervous, so the first thing you have to do is to build that trust, that we’re in this together, and that if we’re not having that kind of impact we want, it’s not going to be an accountability issue, it’s going to be a collective way of learning. Given that many teachers believe that their job is to go into their classroom, close the door and do it as they want, that can take a long time to change, and of course there’s a lot of trust that needs to be built there. Then we have to start to see the change. Now the virtue of the cycle we’re offering is that we’re constantly looking for the impact of what we do on kids. It’s not what we do, it’s that impact and feeding that back in and that’s how you draw quite a few of your teachers in the early days because they all want to see that impact, they want to see it and discuss it and ask, ‘is it good enough? Is it large enough?’. But it does take time. My argument would be that if you can’t start to see the change within six months, it is probably not going to happen. But it’s the embedding of it, so it becomes part of the normal day job; ‘this is what we do in this school – we do go into each other’s classrooms to help ourselves and each other look at our impact, we do bring examples of students’ work and discuss it, about how we’re having an impact, we do see assessment and test information as information to us about our impact in a positive way’. It’s not a short-term solution. Corwin is the exclusive provider of Visible Learning plus professional learning and development in Australia . For more information, visit au.corwin.com.

Professional Development

Digital Classroom Because of research in education, new and fascinating work can be conducted about teaching and learning technologies. After a career in corporate writing and editing, David pursued secondary school teaching before commencing in the Monash PhD program. His PhD explores new classroom literacy learning that can emerge from the use of commercial video games in formal curriculum. Using the game Minecraft and working with young people and teaching staff, he designed a single unit of literacy work which allowed students to play video games during formal class time. The results saw students engaging in unscripted learning - incorporating creative thinking, problem solving, design and content creation, and exciting new kinds of collaboration. At Monash, David is supported by a passionate community of experts. He is able to see technologies being adopted and he can help shape the ways that they will be used. The Monash Doctoral Program helps you explore your passion and make an impact on the world. Call 1800 MONASH for more information and start in 2016.

EDUCATION AT MONASH

Do you want to make an impact in the field of Education? Apply now to start the Monash Doctoral Program in 2016. Our PhD is a fantastic opportunity to undertake research in an area you are passionate about. Work with our renowned researchers to make an impact and find solutions to current educational challenges. Scholarships available. For more information, visit: monash.edu/education/research/degrees

educationmattersmag.com.au is a leading source of breaking industry information. The website is updated daily with news, policies, governance, curriculum and editorial from leading authorities, industry experts and ministerial decision makers. The Premium School Suppliers Directory has a user-friendly interface making it easy for educational professionals to search for products and services they may require for their school.

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Uniforms

The fabric of school. THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IS A TREASURED MEMORY. IT’S A MOMENT IN A YOUNG PERSON’S LIFE THAT’S NEVER FORGOTTEN. EVERY CHILD’S FIRST DAY STARTS WITH PUTTING ON THEIR UNIFORM, AND FEELING THAT SENSE OF BELONGING - THAT CONNECTION TO THEIR NEW SCHOOL.

For more than three decades, Weareco has been supporting children through their first day of school, and their entire learning journey. As a proud, privately owned Australian business, we understand how a uniform is much more than a collection of clothing. It is a connection between the children and their entire school community. Every school views their uniform as part of their unique identity – something to own and celebrate. At Weareco, that’s exactly how we feel, too. We work closely with school communities,

ensuring we understand and respond to your exact needs. We want you to be proud of your uniform and that’s why we care so much about the final garment. Outfitting your students should be smooth and simple. We’ve developed the capacity and networks to deliver you a complete uniform solution. From design and manufacturing to wholesaling and logistics, everything we do is about making things easy for schools and parents. Schools need choice and flexibility, and our

innovative retailing options give you the best of both worlds. We can set up and manage a uniform shop within your school, and we’ve also developed an easy-to-use online ordering system that makes things even simpler. Weareco stocks a full range of head-tofoot attire, from branded uniforms, bags and hats through to unbranded generic wear. Our established national and international operations offer you faster turnaround times, shorter runs and a more reliable, regular supply.

learning

Camps & Excursions

Melbourne Discovery Melbourne Discovery Group knows school accommodation. Planning a camp can be stressful but we make it easy. If you want a stress free, easy and educational camp that, most importantly, is full of fun? Then Melbourne Discovery Groups should be your number one choice. We are the premier provider of school group accommodation in Melbourne. Ideally located in the heart of the city and right on the doorstep of everything the city has to offer. Take advantage of the free tram zone to get to all of Melbourne’s major attractions or make your way by foot through Melbourne’s famous laneways. School camps are what we do with free itinerary planning, on-site catering and numerous facilities such as a conference room and cinema. Our expert groups consultants will help you every step of the way and make sure your school camp goes off without a hitch and that you get to see the most that Melbourne has to offer. Melbourne Discovery Groups has you covered. For further information go to: www.melbournediscoverygroups.com or call +61 3 9329 4012

TEACHING CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP? N EED H ELP?

Consider an excursion to Canberra with your students

An excursion to Canberra can provide your students with a clear understanding of Australian democracy and civics and citizenship. Your students can view Australia’s founding documents, participate in a historical political debate, learn the importance of their voting rights, watch

For information about planning an excursion to

Question Time at Parliament House or view a High Court of Australia sitting. Explore Australian stories, commemorate the service and sacrifice of

Canberra visit canberraexcursions.org.au

Australian soldiers and delve into treasures

at Canberra’s wide range of museums

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Sign up for our quarterly e-newsletters for all the latest information Order a National Capital School Excursion Planner Look out for special teacher programs Register for a National Capital Teachers Pass

and galleries. Canberra also offers experiences in a range of other subject areas which include history, art, science and technology, environmental education, health and physical education.

SAVE & LEARN IN THE NT

Tourism NT understands that cost is a major factor when planning an excursion for your students. So we are offering grants from $1000 per trip to all interstate schools visiting the NT on a school excursion. Simply apply online to save and learn! See our website for more information www.ntlearningadventures.com

DARWIN KAKADU

ARNHEM LAND

KATHERINE

TENNANT

CREEK

ULURU Valid from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017. Visit the website for full terma and conditions.

Uluru Icon made by Freepik. www.flaticon.com is licensed under Creative Commons BY 3.0

ALICE

SPRINGS

Transport

Premium transport for the First XI THE NEW MASTER 12-SEATER BUS IS THE IDEAL SMALL GROUP TRANSPORTER FOR ANY SCHOOL WITH AN EYE ON STYLE, COMFORT AND REDUCED RUNNING COSTS.

Buying a new Renault Master 12-seater Bus is a good way for school administrators and principals to encourage teachers to volunteer to escort pupils to off-site engagements. The Renault Master Bus is based on the highly successful van of the same name and is very easy and comfortable to drive. It’s very safe too, with the engine up front, not between the seats, meaning there’s a larger, safer crumple zone in front of the occupants. And with dual airbags, a driver head and chest airbag, ABS and traction control, ESP and Grip-Xtend as well as a myriad of clever electronic aids, both passive and active safety systems give their all in the protection of those on board. Renault Australia has specified the Bus with 12 seats so that there is plenty of legroom and shoulder room for growing kids, while behind the back row of four individual buckets seats there is a huge space for school bags or sports kit, or both. The uncompromising luggage space means teachers don’t necessarily need to tow a trailer when taking the bus away on a camping weekend, making life easier for all concerned. Plus a roof rack can carry up to 200 kilograms (including the rack). An optional cargo barrier will be available complete with two metal shelves to allow the floor-to-ceiling space to be safely, yet fully loaded. Because the barrier sits behind the rear seats, a glazed panel in the roof provides the required third emergency exit and allows in plenty of light. All emergency exits are equipped with a hammer to break the glass in case of the need to evacuate in a rush. Renault has priced the Master Bus from $59,990 (Manufacturer’s List Price, but less for ABN holders), making it exceptionally affordable. Renault running costs are reduced with up to 30,000 kilometres between scheduled servicing or once per year (unlike some that demand a day at the dealership after just 10,000 kilometres) and the first three scheduled services costs only $349 each. Renault protects its LCVs with a 3-year/200,000-kilometre-factory warranty, and this can be extended to five years, which is very

handy for schools that don’t clock up big km on a regular basis. Of course there are lap/sash seat belts for every seat as well as ISOFIX connections and tether strap hooks on two seats, just in case smaller tots are carried. The air conditioning system has been designed to cope with Australian conditions, which means it can cool the cabin down very quickly even if the bus has been left in the sun for a while at a cricket or netball game. That means the engine doesn’t need to be left idling to run the A/C all the time, reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Getting in and out is easy, too, with a powered step emerging from under the side sliding door aperture even for models with the manually activated door. An optional electrically powered side sliding door is controlled by the driver. Should the driver attempt to drive off with the side door open an alarm sounds and the door

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automatically begins to close. Teachers will love driving the Renault Master Bus because it is very quiet, with barely any engine noise reaching the cabin. The smooth automated gearbox makes very slick changes and the elevated driving position gives a commanding view over the road. Despite being 6.2 metres long and almost 2.5 metres high and over two metres wide, the Master Bus doesn’t feel huge on the road, or even when parking, thanks to a standard reversing camera. Smooth sides and flush glazing also help to reduce wind noise from reaching the cabin, making the Bus exceptionally pleasant on longer journeys, even on the freeway at cruising speeds. The 2.3-litre single turbo diesel engine is also very light on fuel with around 10 or 11.0-litres per 100-kilometre consumption easily achievable, depending on load, topography and headwinds. With a 100-litre thank, that means a theoretical range of more than 1,000 kilometres per fill, helping to further drive down the cost of transporting the First XI. “We have designed the Master Bus to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of school users in Australia,” says Lyndon Healey, Model Line Manager for Renault LCV. “We have a bus that is easy to drive, efficient to run and affordable to service. “It is comfortable to drive and to sit in as a passenger, and it is exceptionally spacious down the back, with particularly generous luggage space especially compared with typical rival vehicles. “For schools looking for a smart, spacious and affordable solution to moving small groups of pupils or teachers around, the Master Bus fulfils their requirements perfectly,” he says. “And if the 12-seat configuration doesn’t work for you, talk to us to see how we can devise a version to meet your exact needs. After all in Europe there are more than 380 different variants on the Master van theme, so there will be a solution that’s right for you,” Lyndon says. Find out more about the new Renault Master 12-seater Bus at renault.com.au

We have the infrastructure and resources to help your school improve the effectiveness of your communication in all its varied forms; print, digital, stationery, signage, merchandise, etc. We understand your business, and we have the capacity to provide what you need to communicate with your students, families and community.

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For further information please contact Chelsea Daniel-Young m 0425 699 878 e chelsea.daniel@primecreative.com.au

Furniture

At Woods, we’re for flexible learning EDUCATION IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE, NOT ONLY FOR THE CHILDREN OF TODAY, BUT ALSO FOR OUR ENTIRE WORLD TOMORROW.

This belief has driven our team, for over half a century, to study how children learn – from a behavioral, ergonomic and cognitive perspective – and to develop furniture that is flexible, adaptable and stimulating. Our product range positively enhances the educational environment, ensuring our children are reaching their full learning potential. We offer an extensive range, service and support to education facilities across Australia. Our support and services commence with the initial contact or enquiry and continue years down the track with our valued Woods clients. We provide professional advice on how to integrate best practices into the learning environment, which in turn inspires education and allows students to perform better in a flexible and stimulating setting. We are proud to say we take a “hands on” approach, with our people travelling all over Australia to work with educators, architects and specifiers to design and provide the best possible learning and teaching outcomes. Woods is committed to Australian manufacturing. Whilst many of our competitors have chosen to use imports as the key source of their furniture supplies, our company remains Australian owned and continues to manufacture our award winning, innovative furniture right here in Australia, as we have done since 1953. By investing in CNC machinery and hightech equipment, Woods has the technology to produce the majority of the components for its broad furniture range in house. Additionally, having our own extensive warehousing facility, teamed with strong alliances with locally-based transport companies, Woods has the resources to meet customer expectations and requirements by delivering our products anywhere throughout Australia in a timely manner. At Woods, not only are we committed to providing inspired and flexible learning environments, we are also passionate about

providing a better world for future generations. At our factory we have adopted processes of utilising solar power, harvesting rainwater, waste minimisation, resource conservation, recycling and sustainable manufacturing decisions and processes. It is this consideration that sets us apart and this is the contribution we are making to the world of tomorrow. Our products are GECA certified (Green Tick). This provides our customers with the confidence that our products meet environmental, human health and ethical impact criteria. Additionally, all Woods products are VOC Emissions Certified and contain no volatile compounds or carcinogens that cause chronic irritation to children. Naturally, Woods considers this an important factor when developing furniture that will be used daily by many children. Additionally, we proudly manufacture our products to the highest quality standards, of AS/NZS 4610, ensuring our products meet the demands of classrooms today and well into the future. We back this promise with a 10-year warranty on the entire Woods range. By implementing best practice in management control, business practices,

education matters primary

operation performance, communication and coordination Woods achieved an ISO 9001 accreditation. Ensuring we maintain a consistent level of service and product delivery throughout the company. With our own in-house research and development team, Woods is constantly expanding and refining its line of products to ensure we keep providing current furniture designs, relevant to today’s complex learning and working environments. Our strategic partnership with VS, a German company, arguably the world’s best designer and producer of ergo-dynamic and flexible school furniture, ensures Woods is always at the forefront when it comes to innovation and design within the Australian education system. By incorporating our design philosophy with products that are produced to the high Australian and New Zealand Standards, in an environmentally sustainable way, we are creating furniture that not only enables students to reach their full learning potential, but also contributes to a better future for them and the planet in which they live. Visit www.woodsfurniture.com.au for more information.

At Woods, we believe that education is of the utmost importance – not just for the children of today but for our world tomorrow. This belief has driven our team, for over half a century, to study how children learn – from a behavioral, ergonomic and cognitive perspective – to develop furniture that is flexible, adaptable and stimulating. It’s this philosophy that inspired our innovative Hokki Stool. An intelligent ergo-dynamic stool designed to improve motor and muscular-skeletal development of growing children. To find out more about our innovative range of educational furniture visit woodsfurniture.com.au or call 1800 004 555. We’re for flexible learning

Furniture

Seating Revolution FELTON INDUSTRIES’ NEW LUNCH & LEARN SETTING IS IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN, SETTING THE INDUSTRY STANDARD IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION FURNITURE.

With more than 20 years’ experience, Felton Industries is Australia’s leading supplier of aluminium school furniture. Education is changing and Felton Industries can see schools require different products that can multi-task and promote interaction. Self-directed Learning is increasing and there is mounting evidence that outdoor learning is immensely advantageous to students’ learning outcomes. With this in mind, Felton Industries has introduced the Lunch & Learn Setting which features a smooth, outdoor grade Laminex table top. The Laminex top is easy to clean and flat to write on so classroom activities can easily be accomplished outdoors.

Bolt Down Park Setting  Seats up to 8  Ideal for Concrete Areas

With safety at the heart of this fully Australian-owned and manufactured brand, Felton Industries is made to Australian Standards and is particularly suited to schools because of its strength, durability and long-lasting finish. It is also very easy to keep clean and is vandalism resistant meaning graffiti can easily be removed. Felton Industries offers a range of quality aluminium seating solutions from sheltered park settings to bench seating and grandstands. They also have a flexible range of disabled seating that acknowledges the importance of interaction and inclusion. Felton’s friendly sales staff is very

Felton’s new Lunch & Learn Park Setting features an outdoor grade Laminex table top perfect for outdoor learning programs.

experienced and can talk you through the range of seating that will suit your school best.

Jumbo Park Setting

Select Grandstand

 Seats up to 12  Free Standing or Bolt Down  Vandalism Resistant

 Seats up to 40  Footrests & Backrests  Free Standing or Bolt Down

$985+ gst

$1800+ gst

Code: FELAGPS

LUNCH & LEARN SETTING  Easy to write on  Easy to clean  Outdoor grade Laminex  Seats up to 8  Free standing or bolt down

$6180+ gst

Code: FELJPS

Code: SELG4T4

687

Eco-Trend Sheltered Park Setting  Seats up to 8  Colorbond Roof

$3750+ gst Code: FELETSP

+ gst

Code: PSFSB2-BB

1685 Code: FEL-LLS

+ gst

Buddy Bench More than just a seat:

www.felton.net.au | Ph: 1800 22 00 55

The Buddy Bench promotes positive playground behaviour & is a place where children can sit where someone will extend friendship to them. Seats up to 4 children.

Sustainability

Snappy science – make a lava lamp COOL AUSTRALIA IS AN AWARD WINNING NOT-FOR-PROFIT THAT HELPS TEACHERS INSPIRE THEIR STUDENTS THROUGH REAL-WORLD LEARNING. THEY PROVIDE FREE-TO-ACCESS UNITS OF WORK AND LESSON PLANS THAT INTEGRATE TOPICS SUCH AS SUSTAINABILITY, ETHICS, ABORIGINAL HISTORIES AND CULTURES, ECONOMICS AND WELLBEING ACROSS SUBJECT AREAS. COOL AUSTRALIA’S ‘SNAPPY SCIENCE’ RESOURCES HAVE BEEN CREATED TO BOOST SCIENCE EDUCATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. EACH LESSON IS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT TEACHERS WITH THE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, IDEAS AND RESOURCES TO STIMULATE A SENSE OF WONDER AND CURIOSITY IN THEIR STUDENTS. THE SNAPPY SCIENCE RESOURCES CAN ALSO BE USED TO ENGAGE FAMILIES IN FUN SCIENCE AND LEARNING FOR LIFE.

In this activity students make their own lava lamp. Students can use the Predict, Observe, Explain table on the Student Worksheet to describe and reflect upon this experiment. YOU WILL NEED • A clean 1 litre clear soft drink bottle • 3/4 cup of water • Vegetable oil • Antacid tablets (such as Quick-Eze or Mylanta) • Food colouring WHAT TO DO Step 1: Pour the water into the bottle. Step 2: Use a measuring cup to slowly pour the vegetable oil into the bottle until it’s almost full. You may have to wait a few minutes for the oil and water to separate.

education matters primary

Step 3: Add 10 drops of food coloring to the bottle; the drops will pass through the oil and then mix with the water below. Step 4: Break an antacid tablet in half and drop it into the bottle. Watch it sink to the bottom and watch the lava start to flow. Step 5: T o keep the effect going, just add another piece of antacid tablet. For a true lava lamp effect, shine a flashlight through the bottom of the bottle. HOW DOES IT WORK? To begin with, the oil stays above the water because the oil is lighter than the water. The oil and water do not mix because of something called “intermolecular polarity.” (Molecular polarity basically means that water molecules are attracted to other water molecules. Oil molecules are attracted to other oil molecules. The structures of the two molecules do not allow them to bond together.)

Sustainability

The piece of antacid tablet sinks to the bottom of the bottle and starts dissolving and creating a gas. As the gas bubbles rise, they take some of the coloured water with them. When the blob of water reaches the top, the gas escapes and the water drops down again. TAKE IT FURTHER Repeat the experiment using water of different temperatures (very hot or very cold) or using antacid tablets of different sizes. How do these changes affect the lava lamp? LINES OF INQUIRY FOR STUDENT LEARNING • What is an oil spill and how do they happen? • How do ice and water interact during an oil spill? • How does oil affect marine life during an oil spill?

Australian Curriculum content description: This activity is relevant to Science Inquiry Skills across all primary year levels of the Australian Curriculum. For example: • Year 2 Science - Different materials can be combined, including by mixing, for a particular purpose (ACSSU031) • Year 5 Science - Solids, liquids and gases have different observable properties and behave in different ways (ACSSU077)

General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking. Time required: 15 – 20 minutes to set up and demonstrate with lava lamp. Resources required: Clean 1 litre clear soft drink bottle, 3/4 cup of water, vegetable oil, antacid tablets (such as Quick-Eze or Mylanta), food colouring.

For more information about this activity: Download the Student Worksheet at www.coolaustralia.org/activity/snappy-science-make-lava-lamp/ Explore the Snappy Science library at www.coolaustralia.org/ca_topic/snappy-science/

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Sustainability

Kitchen garden concept bears fruit A BRISBANE SCHOOL’S KITCHEN GARDEN PROGRAM HAS PROVIDED POWERFUL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS, AS WELL AS BRINGING THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY CLOSER TOGETHER.

A simple idea to plant a vine outside a classroom at Junction Park State School has sprouted into a flourishing, learning-focused kitchen garden. When one of the school’s parents - Soraya Del Castillo - was approached by a teacher with the idea to grow a vine on a security grill outside a prep classroom, she was inspired. That seed of an idea soon grew into a plan to install four raised veggie garden beds on the concrete outside the classroom. A group of parents fundraised the money for the garden, which was installed in mid 2013 and multiplied rapidly. “The following year an epic working bee saw the space radically changed, with asphalt being removed to make way for orchard trees,” Soraya said. The school community named their new oasis the ‘Yummy Garden’, and with further funding raised through grants an outdoor learning space called the ‘Yum Shack’ was built. A group of parents also established a ‘Green Team’ to help water and maintain the garden. In 2015 Junction Park SS, which is in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley, joined the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program - becoming part of a network of over 800 schools across Australia. Soraya, who became the school’s Kitchen Garden Program Coordinator and Kitchen Garden Specialist, said the school joined the Program as they recognised that increased use of the garden and kitchen required a curriculum-focused approach.

education matters primary

She said the school had successfully integrated the Program into its curriculum, with students learning science, maths, literacy and more in the kitchen and garden. “Classroom learnings are repeated in the garden and kitchen and vice-versa, such as procedural text in recipes, and maths in measurements, sorting and patterning,” Soraya said. As well as being a great way to teach the curriculum through hands-on activities, Soraya said the Kitchen Garden Program has also improved the students’ leadership and communication skills. “The Program teaches the students teamwork and decision-making skills, respect, courtesy, care, resilience and fortitude,” Soraya said. “One of my big things is giving the children

ALL educators can now dig into pleasurable food educati0n!

“The Program has taught the students teamwork and decision making skills, respect, courtesy, care, resilience and fortitude.” the ability to make real decisions and be really active in the Program … many teachings are child-led.” Soraya said students also gain valuable life skills through the cooking and gardening knowledge they learn in the Program. Students love being outside in the garden, learning how to grow their own food, and are completely thrilled to harvest their fresh produce. In the kitchen they learn how to safely use a knife to cut food, how to prepare meals such as fresh pasta and, importantly, how to clean up and wash dishes! A vibrant Instagram account showing the smiling faces of the proud students in the kitchen and garden - jpss_kitchengardenproject - has become a popular way for the school community to be part of the Program. “It means that some of our working families can still see what their children, or their friends’ children, have been doing in the kitchen and garden,” Soraya said. She said the Instagram account also receives great feedback from the wider community, and is especially valuable when they take part in events such as National Tree Day. “It feels alive, like you’re part of something,” she said. The school’s Kitchen Garden Program is going from strength to strength and they have plans to refurbish the tuckshop they have been using for kitchen classes into a teaching kitchen. “The Program has brought a food revolution to our school,” she said. Details: kitchengardenfoundation.org.au

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Start small & grow, contact us to learn how! Call: 13000 SAKGF (13000 72543) Email: support@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au Visit: www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au

Before and After School Care

A fresh approach to childcare SHERPA KIDS IS AN INTERNATIONAL COMPANY WHICH RUNS BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL AND VACATION CARE ACTIVITIES WITH PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND OTHER COMMUNITY FACILITIES. WE HAVE SOME 100 LOCAL OWNERS WORLDWIDE, LOOKING AFTER AROUND 5,400 PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN EVERY DAY, SUPPORTING OVER 100 SCHOOLS.

Sherpa Kids’ activities include arts and crafts, music and drama, sport and games, cooking and technology. Many of them are based on specific themes, such as the circus, recycling, sporting events and space, and are tailored to fit in with the individual requirements of schools, their curriculums, children engagement and the surrounding environment.

Global Company sharing Cultural Diversity “Currently servicing over 150 schools by 100 local owners working with over 5400 primary school aged children daily”

Sherpa Kids aims to deliver a ‘fresh and vibrant’ approach to childcare – and to “give children such a great time that they do not want to go home!” In addition to offering a wide range of activities, it also capitalises on its international connections by, for example, encouraging Sherpa children from Adelaide in Australia to send postcards to children in County Cork, in Ireland, to

learn about life on the other side of the world. By using a franchise model, Sherpa Kids not only benefits from the local knowledge of the provider, it also contributes to the economic and employment prospects of local communities since all decision-making is done at local level by owners and franchisees are encouraged to source products locally. Contact us today on (08) 8354 4886.

Sherpa Kids believes in making it easier Have Sherpa Kids partner with your School Community today

Before School, After School and Holiday Care vicki@sherpa-kids.com.au www.sherpa-kids.com.au 08 83544886

JOIN WITH US TODAY AND UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL OF TRUE GLOBAL REACH FOR YOUR COMMUNITY. Call Sherpa Kids and enquire how your school could possibly be partnered with a like minded school across the globe. Australia, South Africa, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada. Sherpa Kids have over 170 schools to share cultural experience and stories.

“Let us unlock the imagination of children around the world with story telling, imagination and play, through OSHC”

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Before and After School Care

Children’s wellbeing in the modern world AUSTRALIAN KIDS HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT CHILDHOOD TO THEIR PARENTS. A GENERATION AGO KIDS PLAYED IN THE STREETS, OFTEN OUT OF SIGHT AND CONTACT FROM THEIR PARENTS FOR HOURS ON END. IN MANY NEIGHBOURHOODS TODAY THIS WOULD BE REGARDED AS PARENTAL NEGLIGENCE. WHERE ONCE KIDS FOUND THEIR OWN WAY TO SCHOOL ON FOOT OR BIKE, TODAY MOST KIDS ARE DRIVEN TO SCHOOL. THE GAMES THEY PLAY ARE ALSO DIFFERENT, THE VAST MAJORITY OF GAME TIME IS SCREEN BASED – WHETHER IT IS AT HOME, IN THE CAR, OR AT A FRIEND’S PLACE – THE SCREEN IS THE FOCAL POINT. ALL OF THIS HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILDHOOD LEARNING AND WELLBEING AND THE ROLE OF SCHOOLS, WRITES ANTHONY PHILLIPS – DIRECTOR, CAMP AUSTRALIA.

Many young families today have tried to follow the Australian dream and so look to buy their own home so that they can settle down and raise a family. With property pricing being what they are, this is usually a significant financial burden. There are a number of flow-on effects from this which significantly change the

Anthony Phillips is a qualified teacher with over 30 years’ experience in education and school aged care services. As founder and Director of Camp Australia, a leading and trusted after school care organisation providing services to more than 600 schools. Through the Camp Australia Foundation Anthony also strives to positively impact the lives of children beyond the school yard fence.

education matters primary

physical nature of childhood today: • In three out of five Australian families both parents work; • Housing blocks are smaller, houses are bigger, making backyards much smaller; and, • Safety concerns discourage kids being on the street or at home unsupervised.

While these are relatively easy for parents and teachers to comprehend, the impact of the internet and social media is perhaps less understood. While the internet provides children with access to an unprecedented level of information, it is not without its problems. Firstly many young children cannot distinguish between fact and fiction, or quality and nonsense on the internet. Secondly the internet makes the full breadth of human nature available to anyone who wants to see it – and unfortunately to many who do not. Subsequently the internet is not a safe neighbourhood. Social media is also proving to have some unforeseen consequences. One familiar to many schools, although more typically high schools, is cyber-bullying. One less understood by older generations is the relentless pressure on children to be ‘on’ because their peers are also their paparazzi. With modern phones, any mistake can be recorded and published on social media before the individual has even had time to recover their breath or get their bearings. With these things in mind perhaps we should be grateful that more kids are not suffering from stress and anxiety, rather than surprised that a few of them are. Many parents are trying hard to ensure physical activity is part of the kid’s child-hood. It is one of the reasons that organised sport is such a major part of the lives of many children outside of school hours. However while this is commendable, structured sporting activities, particularly competitive ones, do not replace all of the benefits children were getting from unstructured play a generation ago. Unstructured or free play allows children to explore and extend their physical and mental

capabilities in their own way. Learning life skills like negotiation, compromise, leadership and teamwork in a variety of circumstances and often from a number of perspectives. For example a simple game of hideand-seek quickly gives a child the perspective of both the hunter and the hunted. Imagination games allow children to explore the role and importance of rules as they create their own world order. They also help them to understand that in order to lead, one needs to have the ability to get others to follow. Many of these games by their nature combine physical and mental stimulation and activity in ways that build a child’s self confidence in both of these spheres.

education matters primary

It is perhaps a little ironic that after school care, which a generation ago was regarded by children as restrictive, is now one of the best opportunities a child has for free play. This is not to say that it is unstructured chaos, or a longer version of lunch time. However, quality after school care does provide children with a safe environment in which they are encouraged to explore their own ideas as well as new things. After School Care is not what it used to be, it delivers a safe, reliable and nurturing environment for kids to play and grow and it definitely makes kids smile – that is why we do it.

Before and After School Care

The importance of play MANY HUMAN BEHAVIOURAL PROFESSIONALS BELIEVE A PERSON’S EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (EQ) MAY BE MORE IMPORTANT TO OVERALL LIFE AND CAREER SUCCESS THAN THE PERSON’S INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ). IT’S UNDERSTOOD THAT PLAY HAS A LARGE BEARING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MAKING PLAY CRUCIAL TO CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT. BY DARREN STEVENSON, EXTEND MANAGING DIRECTOR

Engaging in play activities with peers helps children develop their speech and extend their language abilities. They also have the opportunity to refine their all-important listening skills and non-verbal communication skills. Playing with peers helps children develop social skills with social competence being one of the greatest predictors for future success. During play children practice negotiation, reasoning, rapport building, empathy, conflict resolution, negotiation skills, and the ability to read people. This has a positive effect on self-confidence and stress management. Innovation and creativity is also spurred on by play. Whether playing with peers, parents or on their own, children are fantastic at creating sophisticated storylines for their play activities and this is excellent for their creative development. There are two main types of play; structured and unstructured. All children should have the chance to participate in both types of play on a daily or weekly basis. Structured play is organised. It’s often thought out by a grown up but can also be child-lead. It may include: • Sporting matches like cricket, netball, soccer etc. • Board games, card games or interactive games like Twister • Structured dance or gymnastics classes • Incursions such as science, magic, kite making, painting • Other activities like horse riding or cooking Unstructured play is based on the child’s interests at that time. It is also known as free play. Children simply have access to a variety of items in their environment and create their own play using their surroundings. It may include:

• Creating music out of inanimate objects • Creating castles out of blankets and chairs • Dress ups • Free dancing • Building things with blocks • Drawing and craft (which can also be structured play as well) At Extend After School Care all children of all ages have access to structured and unstructured play every day. Depending on the size of the After School Care service there are usually two main activities children are encouraged to participate in; one indoor activity and one outdoor physical activity. There are also a number of structured and unstructured ‘stations’ set up in the room for children to embrace with their own imagination. It could be blocks, dress ups, story-time, or board games. At Extend children have a variety

education matters primary

of options for structured and unstructured play which is beneficial for their social and creative development. Emotional intelligence plays a very critical role in the overall quality of our personal and professional lives, and is considered a better predictor of future personal success than intelligence alone. While traditional schooling helps us learn and develops our intellect, nothing better teaches us how to interact with people from an early age than the opportunity to play as children. Extend children get that every day! Extend is a leading provider of high quality Outside School Hours Care services within primary schools throughout Australia. Visit extend. com.au to read more useful articles for school leaders.

Playgrounds

The safety influences on primary and secondary students’ free play within school playgrounds REDUCED PLAY PRIORITIES IN MANY SCHOOL SETTINGS, COMBINED WITH THE EMERGENCE OF ‘HELICOPTER PARENTING’ OR ADULT-DIRECTED POLICIES ARE HAVING A DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, WRITES DR BRENDON HYNDMAN.

A climate of over-policing, surplus rules and regulations within school playground settings is becoming an emerging trend within our modern society. Teacher fears of litigation from potential accidents and parents seeking to protect students from physical dangers within the school playground is reaching widespread proportions. Many of these safety concerns are due to the high national rates of child hospitalisations, yet ‘over-protecting’ school children from key life skills learnt through ‘free-range’ play needs to be avoided. By children learning from mistakes, problem solving through challenges, facing failure and overcoming risk through a process of trial and error, it can establish foundation habits for children to capably encounter many of life’s future

difficulties and adverse events. Within Australian schools, trends have shown that many educational leaders are modifying school playground rules by reducing play space size (trees, fixed equipment) and combining facilities to free up classroom locations and implement restrictive policing of children’s free play; including the elimination of running, cartwheels, kicking and ball games. Reduced play priorities in many school settings, combined with the emergence of ‘helicopter parenting’ (such as wanting to accompany, supervise and nurture children through school play activities) or adult-directed policies are having a detrimental effect on children’s cognitive (less inclined to overcome obstacles, boredom, frustration) and social development (reduced group

education matters primary

exploration and team work opportunities). If there is too much restriction on children’s play behaviours, it can cause young people to have a reduced confidence during physical activities. Importance of encouraging children’s ‘free play’ opportunities When at play, children are the leaders of their own destiny, naturally calculating hundreds of decisions as they take measured risks and determine which physical, emotion or social choice to undertake by simultaneously increasing a portfolio of life skills. Beyond our children, animals across the world are engaged in play behaviours to rehearse life skills that are the foundation developments to overcome obstacles later in

PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTING • • • • life. As the popular American educator, Fred Rogers stated, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” A review of literature released by the University of British Columbia also revealed that children that experience encouragement for ‘free range’ play and exploration had greater physical activity levels, improved social skills and perform better at school. Unstructured free play is defined as the activities children participate in that are spontaneous and without a set regime or purpose that can include digging, raking, lifting/carrying, exploring, planting, chasing, pushing objects into positions, construction, imaginative and creative play. The importance of children’s unstructured free play is reflected in Howell Wechsler’s definition of school recess breaks “as a regularly scheduled time for children to engage in ‘unstructured’ play”. Despite this, listening to students’ voices about how safety influences can affect their play behaviour has often been overlooked. Listening to primary and secondary students’ voices about safety influences in schools Within my recent study in the Australian Journal of Teacher Education, seven focus group discussions (four primary school & three secondary school) were conducted with students by asking a series of questions using a semi-structured interview schedule in relation to the safety influences within their school grounds. Major safety individual and social influence themes that emerged across both sectors included:

• • • • •

What playground strategies can encourage more play freedom for students? By overcoming elements of danger and taking risks, children develop a sense of play freedom to explore movement opportunities and improve confidence from a range of physical habits. School playground strategies that encourage unstructured, open-ended free play such as movable items (introducing non-fixed equipment), greening strategies (introducing trees, rocks and gardens) and eliminating restrictive rules (allowing running, ball games) are important strategies to develop children’s health. Such strategies have resulted in diverse skill development, enjoyment, playability and cognitive improvements) and the development of social skills (e.g. co-operation, reduced bullying, team-work. The emerging strategy in school playgrounds of the provision of movable items to provide children with student-directed play opportunities via many different materials (often from the household) and choices for students has been crucial to ensure playground boredom is prevented. The introduction of school playground items such as hay bales, milk crates and tyre tubes (such as via the internationally recognised Lunchtime Enjoyment

PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTING • • • • • •

Risk taking (e.g. trying new tricks, groups of children going down slides) Preventing boredom (e.g. recklessness & destructiveness when bored) Teacher responsibilities (e.g. risks of litigation increasing teacher control of activities) Teacher support (e.g. more teachers can ensure students feel safe) Bullying/territorial issues (e.g. year level tensions) Peer support (e.g. friends to help when things go wrong)

There were also a number of physical environment and policy themes mentioned by the primary and secondary students that included:

Playground space (e.g. to avoid collisions) Surfacing (e.g. non slip & impact absorbing surfaces preferred) Weather protection (e.g. shade coverage for activities) Protective equipment (e.g. borrowing policies for types of padding) Hydration (e.g. more drink tap locations) Designated play areas (e.g. for specific year levels) Playground rules (e.g. restricting tree climbing) Further supervision (e.g. more support) Maintenance (e.g. replacing/monitoring equipment quality)

SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTING • • • • • •

Risk taking (e.g. risks make play fun) Preventing boredom (e.g. ensuring playgrounds/ activities are regularly updated) Misbehaviour (e.g. students like to challenge any rules in place) Teacher responsibilities (e.g. teachers need to trust student activities) Bullying/territorial issues (e.g. gender or age tensions) Teacher intimidation (e.g. over enforcement of rules/procedures)

Activity and Play [LEAP] school playground strategy in Western Victoria) has allowed children to actively develop and create their own playground areas and

education matters primary

SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTING • • • • • • • • • •

School security (e.g. scanning doors) Surfacing (e.g. impact absorbing surfaces) Weather protection (e.g. shade for cooler temperatures during activities) Safe structures (e.g. impact absorbing walls) Protective equipment (e.g. padding & helmet provision) Passive smoking protection (e.g. smoke detectors) Designated play areas (e.g. a roster system for year levels) Playground rules (e.g. more restriction= boredom) Further supervision (e.g. security cameras) Maintenance (e.g. keeping facilities hygienic)

activities. Due to the level of engagement and inclusion offered from such items, what can be perceived as risky obstacles often results in an imaginative smorgasbord of activities. With the burdensome roles of many school teachers, teachers originally perceived that a diversity of movable school playground items could lead to increased demands. Despite this, reductions in misbehaviour and injury and improvements in learning and engagement across developmental areas re-shaped teachers’ beliefs in both New South Wales and Victorian contexts. Primary school teachers that were interviewed at the school with the LEAP playground strategy reported a host of cognitive benefits such as children rushing out to play with a specific purpose, the primary school students played with greater effectiveness, problem solving and independence. The social benefits from the LEAP strategy were also reported such as learning from children that were more confident at the activities, working like a team, mixing with other students in class they wouldn’t normally hang out with and improved interactions between the year levels. Greening school playground projects (introducing trees, rocks and gardens) have also shown promise as an avenue to promote open-ended play opportunities and can facilitate a school play environment to cater for all ages, interests and abilities. The power of such open-ended free play strategies can unlock a powerful ‘hidden curriculum’ of learning within school playgrounds to complement or be transferred to and from classroom learning. School playground rules and policy considerations to encourage play freedom Another such strategy that has captured attention to reduce injury rates and improve behaviour within school playgrounds has been to eliminate restrictive school rules. Within a New Zealand primary school, normally restrictive rules have been waivered; allowing the riding of skateboards and scooters, climbing trees, play fighting, sliding in the mud, using stair rails for monkey bars, building huts and allowing children to access normally restricted areas. Such an unorthodox strategy

Playgrounds

is the polar opposite to the surplus safety culture in which teachers often feel the need to over-police school playgrounds in a mission to reduce behaviour management or parents to want to supervise children’s movements. Yet, similar to providing movable items for children to direct their own play behaviours, the freedom provided by an unconventional approach of removing school playground rules has resulted in a blessing for classroom learning, improved behaviour and injury rates. With school playgrounds a place where children seek to escape restrictions imposed by household and classroom rules, providing ‘free range’ play freedom could be the key to ensuring the developmental skills and health of our young generation reach another level. If we withhold opportunities for children to explore on their own merit, take risks, learn from errors, problem solve, create and innovate in the face of challenges, it could lead to a generation of ‘psychological fragility’. Play has been acknowledged by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a basic entitlement for every child. School playgrounds provide

an avenue to engage in unstructured active play that includes self-directed activities to build active, healthy bodies. When play is driven by children rather than adults, it allows children to pursue activities within the environment that interests them, which can develop decision making, negotiating and motor skills. Children can strengthen their social and emotional wellbeing when making choices, accepting challenges, considering risks, managing change and coping with frustrations that can occur when more play freedom is provided. Children are programmed via an innate, in-built requirement to be physically active, and as adults we should be doing all that we can facilitate children’s freedom of play. We as adults should demonstrate trust and faith in our children that it is in their developmental interests to ensure they can experience the vigorous, healthy play freedom that past generations were fortunate to experience. A philosophy of resilience needs to be applied by adults that truly embraces children’s risk taking, uncertainties and obstacles to truly create a recipe and culture for child development within school playgrounds.

Dr. Brendon Hyndman is the Program Manager of the Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (Pre-Service) within the School of Education and a researcher within the International Graduate Centre of Education (IGCE) at Charles Darwin University (CDU), Australia. Dr Hyndman has extensive school-based teaching and research experiences within a diverse range of primary, secondary and tertiary settings and has been involved in teacher education since 2009. His PhD included the internationally recognised Lunchtime Enjoyment Activity and Play (LEAP) school playground intervention. The originality, innovation and impact of Dr Brendon Hyndman’s research is showcased by the interest and recognition in his studies both nationally and internationally. In 2015, Dr Hyndman was nominated for a CDU Vice Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional Performance in Research. Broadly, his research interests lie in health and physical education, the hidden curriculum of school grounds, teacher education and interventions to improve school children’s physical, cognitive and social skills.

References: Brussoni, M., Olsen, L. L., Pike, I., & Sleet, D. A. (2012). Risky play and children’s safety: Balancing priorities for optimal child development.International journal of environmental research and public health, 9(9), 3134-3148. Bundy, A. C., Luckett, T., Tranter, P. J., Naughton, G. A., Wyver, S. R., Ragen, J., & Spies, G. (2009). The risk is that there is ‘no risk’: a simple, innovative intervention to increase children’s activity levels. International Journal of Early Years Education, 17(1), 33-45. Chancellor, B. (2013). Primary school playgrounds: features and management in Victoria, Australia. International Journal of Play, 2(2), 63-75. Dyment, J. E. (2005). Green school grounds as sites for outdoor learning: Barriers and opportunities. International Research in Geographical & Environmental Education, 14(1), 28-45. Hyndman, B. P., & Telford, A. (2015). Should Educators be ‘Wrapping School Playgrounds in Cotton Wool’ to Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary and Secondary Students’ Voices from the School Playground. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v40n6.4 Hyndman, B. P., Benson, A. C., & Telford, A. (2014). A Guide for Educators to Move Beyond Conventional School Playgrounds: The RE-AIM Evaluation of the Lunchtime Enjoyment Activity and Play (LEAP) Intervention. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n1.2 McLachlan, B. (2014). Project play at Swanson School. Play and Folklore, 61(1), 4-8. Wyver, S., Tranter, P., Naughton, G., Little, H., Sandseter, E. B. H., & Bundy, A. (2010). Ten ways to restrict children’s freedom to play: The problem of surplus safety. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 11(3), 263-277.

education matters primary

Playgrounds

The ultimate thermoplastic playground markings AT PROJECT PLAYGROUNDS OUR AIM IS TO ENCOURAGE OUTDOOR ACTIVITY BY MAKING THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND A VIBRANT, STIMULATING, EDUCATIONAL AND FUN PLACE TO BE.

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We can start applying our markings at the first bell and by lunch time the children can play! There is no need to wait till school holidays or wait for paint to dry, rendering your playground useless. Far superior to paint, our vibrant markings bring to life any dull concrete surface and renew the look of your school. The key feature of thermoplastic is its durability. Our markings are long lasting – they don’t fade and will last as long as the surface they are put on. In addition, our markings are safe, non-toxic, UV stable and have anti slip properties – unlike paint

which becomes extremely dangerous in wet weather especially when it is old and peeling. We have all the traditional designs but can also create bespoke markings such as school logos or any other unique design. The results are stunning and will delight your students! They are a hit with both students and teachers and our numeracy and literacy focused markings allow the classroom to be taken outside. Give your children the playground they deserve and give us a call! 1800 264 307 or email us at info@ projectplaygrounds.com.au for further information.

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Physical Education

Sporting Schools: Playing for Life SPORTING SCHOOLS WANTS OUR NEXT GENERATION PLAYING MORE SPORT. TO DO THIS WE NEED TO ACT NOW TO ENSURE OUR CHILDREN BUILD SPORT INTO THEIR DAILY LIVES.

Based on the Playing for Life philosophy, Sporting Schools provides safe, fun and engaging activities for all children, regardless of their ability. What is Playing for Life? The Australian Sports Commission’s (ASC’s) Playing for Life philosophy is about encouraging children to have fun and get active by focusing on skills, rather than drills. Playing for Life complements the Australian Government’s $100 million Sporting Schools program, which is all about giving children positive experiences with sport to develop a lifelong interest in sport. Aligned to the Australian HPE Curriculum, the

online resources help teachers plan engaging games and activities within a safe, inclusive and challenging environment and can be used for: • Health and Physical Education lessons • Short physical activities and classroom energisers • Lunchtime/break activities With more than 140 Playing for Life activity cards available, the activities adopt a studentcentred approach and assist students to develop a love for being physically active. The activity cards are also designed to help teachers better plan, organise, and deliver each lesson. Try the Playing for Life activities with your students today and sign up for Sporting Schools to deliver even more sport in your school at sportingschools.gov.au. Playing for Life online resources The ASC’s Playing for Life activity cards are a free online resource designed for teachers to use every day with a focus on having fun, having a go and getting active. The cards provide activities to teach students new skills and are divided into nine game categories including: • Invasion games • Striking and fielding games • Net and court games • Target games • Cooperative play • Energiser • Group Management • Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander games • Movement exploration games

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Descriptions, Game Category, or Skill Focus to find a game that meets student needs. For more information on Playing for Life and to access the resources, please visit sportingschools. gov.au/P4L.

The Playing for Life cards use games to introduce the skills and tactics of a particular sport or structured physical activity. They guide teachers through the whole process from preparation to pack up. Each card provides a clear learning intention, identifies the skills and curriculum content to be taught, and provides strategies to differentiate learning according to students’ needs. The cards also provide tips on effective coaching techniques and strategies to promote positive classroom management. Each activity card provides information on: • Bands of learning (F-2, 3-4, 5-6) • Content descriptions • Skill focus (Fundamental Movement Skills) • Activity focus • Learning intention • Equipment required • What to do • Tips to adjust the game (to make it easier or harder) • Tips for safety The activity cards can be filtered online according to Activity Focus, Bands of Learning, Content

The Sporting Schools program Sporting Schools is a $100 million Australian Government initiative and the nation’s largest sportbased participation program with more than 5,000 schools already registered! The Sporting Schools program is a key part of the ASC’s Play.Sport.Australia strategy and is designed to get more children playing more sport. In partnership with more than 30 national

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sporting organisations (NSOs), Sporting Schools has resources to help sporting clubs, coaches and teachers to deliver sport before, during, and after school hours. The range of sports being delivered through this nationally accredited program is giving children an excellent choice of sports that they can do at the community level as well, from rugby league, tennis and golf through to water polo, orienteering and table tennis. Through Sporting Schools, children are getting out, moving and playing with their friends, improving their fundamental movement skills and developing skills for life, including resilience, respect and teamwork. By bringing sports, schools, and community organisations together, Sporting Schools aims to increase participation in sport during school years, and to help connect students with local sporting clubs in their community. Sporting Schools proves that a community that works together; plays together! Registration is free for all schools, the programs are tailored to the education environment, and all sessions are delivered by NSO-endorsed coaches. To register and learn more about the Sporting Schools program, visit the website sportingschools.gov.au.

In The Classroom

Judging or Perceiving? How does personality affect teaching and learning? WE ARE ALL UNIQUE, BUT IN UNDERSTANDING AND ACKNOWLEDGING THE PREFERENCES OF BOTH YOURSELF AND YOUR STUDENTS YOU CAN TEACH WITH GREATER KNOWLEDGE, CLARITY AND EMPATHY, WRITES KATE MASON.

Teaching is full of rights and wrongs, new ways of handling old problems, curriculum changes, different teaching and learning styles. To add fuel to the never ending fire, I ask you, how does your personality style impact your teaching and can the personality of students influence their learning style? As a teacher, parent and a personality profile facilitator, I have witnessed the impact of how knowing ‘who you are’ and what makes you ‘tick’, can improve your teaching style and help you understand your students. I use The Myer Briggs Type Indicator, a personality profiling instrument which provides tools to help build understanding about ourselves and others and how to work with our differences. It sorts our preferences into four areas, Introversion/ Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling and Judging/Perceiving. These preferences are innate, just as the hand that you ‘naturally’ write with. You can use the opposite but it requires greater effort and concentration lacking the ease and familiarity of the preferred hand. For this article I am looking at the MBTI preferences Judging and Perceiving and how these affect the way we teach and how students respond. Based in Adelaide, Kate has been a successful businesswoman for over 25 years. She has experience of diverse sectors such as teaching, food and fitness. Kate is trained in personality profiling, specialising in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. She is highly experienced in the relationship between personality, people and performance.

Judging and Perceiving Preferences. What are they? When determining how much structure or flexibility an individual needs in the world the Judging and Perceiving types have different outlooks. Those who use their Judging preference prefer order and structure in their world. They are usually organised and planned. They are comfortable with the

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timetables, lists and diaries that are used to define their movements throughout the days and weeks ahead. They enjoy working progressively on the completion of one project before beginning another and find deadlines easy to meet. Then there are the Perceiving types. These people prefer flexibility and adapt easily to change. They enjoy responding to the moment and are not bound by lists and timetables. Time is taken exploring all options before decisions are made. They get pleasure from working on several projects at once and they are energised as the deadline nears, they make deadlines... Just! J’s and P’s in the classroom These two approaches to ‘the world’ impact both teachers and students in many ways, both positive and negative. The positives of the Judging teaching style are that work is usually marked and returned promptly, lessons well structured, expectations made clear and ground rules set and adhered to. One negative of the Judging preference for order and structure is that it sometimes overrides the humanitarian aspect of teaching. For example, my daughter dreaded being late for a particular class where the classroom door was closed the minute the lesson began and the ‘offender’ was made to wait outside for a period of time without any question of validity for the delay. This method certainly got students into the teacher’s class on time but his need for control made this a process of humility rather than a desire to be there. The positive aspects of the teacher who prefers the Perceiving style is that they create a relaxed

classroom environment with ease, where flexibility allows various new incidental experiences to be enjoyed. The timetable is effortlessly altered to fit in with the changes that occur during the day to day running of the classroom. However this too has its negative side as discipline and classroom routines that are important for learning can be neglected and the subject matter that needs to be taught and reinforced ceases to be the focus. My daughter had some teachers for whom she was never on time, being a P herself, she would blithely say, “I don’t need to be on time for Miss Mason’s class she doesn’t care, she wouldn’t notice anyway.” Be aware of who you are! These are extremes, are you too strict or too lax? Most teachers whether Judging or Perceiving types do find ways of creating a classroom environment where students want to be on time! My daughter is always on time for teachers she respects and admires! Judging and Perceiving teaching and student preference and the marking process When an assignment is given and a due date set for submission the students who prefer the Judging preference who will work steadily towards the deadline. My ‘Judging’ son even finished an essay before the teacher had assigned it to him

because he knew what the topic would be and wanted to get it out of the way! My ‘Perceiving’ daughter however, delays much of her work until the final days, sometimes hours, before the assignment time limit. She is then however, energised by the last minute adrenalin surge as she throws herself into an ‘all-nighter’ to get her work finished on time. Can you relate to these scenarios? These Judging and Perceiving work styles are different but the end result is that both children get A’s for their work. Perceiving types can meet a deadline but are also happy to postpone it. A frequent frustration for my son are his Perceiving preference teachers, who often change the deadline at the last minute for Perceiving students who had not yet completed, some not even started, their assignment. His outrage is that the last minute Perceiving students are rewarded for their tardiness and given extra time with no loss of marks and his effort at meeting the due date is not rewarded! The opposite in this scenario is the ‘Judging’ teacher who does not compromise, even when lateness can be justified and fails students for not meeting the deadline. However, it is a fact of life that when students join the workforce, no matter what their preference, finishing tasks on time is a life skill that they

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need to develop and school is the place to foster this expertise. Strategies should be in place for overdue work, such as loss of marks for each day the assignment is late. This gives the student consequences thus allowing those who complete their work on time to be rewarded and those that hand it in late to be penalised. The negatives of these two teaching and study styles are as follows The J’s desire for quick closure can throw them when new information is disclosed near the deadline and they may have to rewrite all or sections of their work to include this. The P’s last minute dash can sometimes be too late if they underestimate the time needed for researching and putting their work together. Therefore their dilemma is that their work can lack important information and the flow that is needed. Balance is the key We are all unique, but in understanding and acknowledging the preferences of both yourself and your students you can teach with greater knowledge, clarity and empathy. How much structure do you need in your world? Let’s find out!

Spotlight on Music

The current status of Music Education in Australia and the value of learning music MUSIC IN SCHOOLS CONTINUES TO DRAW THE ATTENTION OF OUR STUDENTS, PROVIDING MANY WITH THE NECESSARY PATH TO FOLLOW THEIR ASPIRATIONS TO BECOME PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING AND SELF-EXPRESSION IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR CAREER PATH, WRITES DR BRAD MERRICK.

Michelle Leonard’s Moorambilla Voices Regional Children’s Choirs, the subject of the recent ABC documentary “Outback Choir”, is a wonderful example of the impact of music learning. Whilst this program is not within the regular school curriculum, it nevertheless demonstrates the importance of music by providing welcome opportunities that are unique and life changing for children from regional and remote communities in western NSW. The Moorambilla Voices program is remarkable, especially given that it is geographically centred on the regional, remote and very remote regions of western NSW, covering over one third of the state. Every year, over 70 schools and over 180 children participate in the Moorambilla Voices program. If it weren’t for Moorambilla Voices, these children in remote areas would be unlikely to have the opportunity to experience making music. They are a not-for-profit organisation and provide an amazing service for the children in this rural community. Please see their website if you would like to support this initiative. Further info at: www.moorambilla.com/

Music in schools continues to draw the attention of our students, providing many with the necessary path to follow their aspirations to become professional musicians and most importantly, providing the opportunity to develop musical understanding and self-expression irrespective of their career path. A report from The Age earlier this year (2016) highlights the increased interest in the study of music. In this article, Professor Gary McPherson (previously President of ASME and ISME) states, “There’s a different mindset now. There’s an understanding that the solid training you get through a music career can apply in a number of different career paths”. Other research continues to highlight the value of studying music and the increased development of neurological pathways and capacity that involvement in music offers to students, particularly those who commence learning at a young age. During the past year Dr Anita Collins, an experienced classroom educator and music lecturer from the University of Canberra, has received more than four million hits on TedEd for her talk “How playing and instrument benefits her brain” (https://www.youtube.com/watch2014, Jul 14?v=R0JKCYZ8hng) which highlights how the unique process of learning an instrument is

education matters primary

so important and valuable to brain development. Linked to this area of brain development is the increased development of executive functioning amongst those who engage in learning music. Music education literature and publications have continued to espouse the value of learning music though little seems to be changing on the educational landscape. Coupled with this increased interest amongst students to study music, we are seeing many more artists vying for positions in orchestras and other groups, and striving to create and share their music around Australia and the world, but often their passion is not fully realised, as the difficulty of sustaining a livelihood in a difficult profession becomes more and more the reality. In recent months, the decrease in funding for Arts programs, at both the state and federal level has highlighted an ongoing downward shift in the value being placed on the importance of these subject areas. Over the past 10 years, we have witnessed the creation and publication of an Australian Curriculum for all schools for the learning levels Foundation to Year 10. This has seen some competition for classroom hours across the various subject groups, and due to the onus placed upon the ‘core’ subjects, the competition for classroom hours has become keenly contested, particularly in an educational

environment that continues to place such an emphasis on external testing and results, often seeing Music and other Arts subjects like Visual Arts, and Drama lose status and priority within the learning process. By combining Five Art forms into one curriculum document for all states and territories, there is now a clear mandate for music to be included in the classrooms around Australia, but is this the case? The allocation of time to provide continuous music education in our schools, at both the primary and secondary level is still uncertain across many schools and settings in Australia. For many primary schools, there is still little or no music being offered. Petrova (2012) highlighted that 63% of primary schools in Australia offer no music education experience for the students in their care while Letts (2013) expands the discussion on the limited access many students have to music education across the country, highlighting the enormous shifts between education sectors and systems. While many independent schools offer a music program, the limited access to music in many public schools further highlights that access to quality music education is certainly not equitable across the country. In many public schools this can be due to the external organisation of a band program that runs separately to the school, but often appears to be part of

the school. Sure, students who participate are learning to play an instrument and be in an ensemble, but they are not receiving a sequential, properly implemented music curriculum for the duration of their primary years. Esteemed educator and musician Richard Gill, has set about the development of the National Music Teacher Mentoring Project to further enhance the training and profile of music teachers over the next three years across Australia (https://ministers. education.gov.au/launch-national-music-teachersmentorship-pilot-programme) but despite this we are still in need of much greater commitment and provision of music. Even if music is offered in many of the schools where it has been missing from the curriculum, the big question is finding teachers who have the training to teach music in Primary Schools. At last count primary generalist teachers received an average of only 17 hours of music in their undergraduate training (Letts 2013), exposing the difficulty that primary teachers face in the delivery of music as a subject. The worry is that much of this has been known for many years, and many of the recommendations still requiring attention were highlighted in the Federal Government’s National Music Review Augmenting the

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Diminished in 2005. In this report, the Minster at that time highlighted the following priorities, which unfortunately are still very relevant today, i.e.: • Improve the equity of access, participation and engagement in school music for all students; • Improve teacher pre-service and in-service education; • Improve curriculum support services (advisory, instrumental music, vocal music and music technology); • Support productive partnerships and networking with music organisations, musicians, the music industry and the Australian community; • Improve music education in schools through supportive principals and school leadership, adequately educated specialist teachers, increased time in the timetable, adequate facilities and equipment; • Improve levels of accountability; and, • Improve the overall status of music in schools. “Music literally ‘lights up’ the brain like no other human activity and neuroscience has shown that while some activities such as reading or solving mathematical problems used discrete areas of the brain, listening and creating music engaged multiple areas of the brain, either simultaneously or in intricate, interrelated and astonishingly fast sequences” (Collins, 2013, p.218). This emerging research has also highlighted how learning music from a young age has been connected to the acquisition of language. Surely this research is reason enough to ensure that the study and participation of music is available for all students, across all educational systems and levels of learning. We are well aware of the social and emotional value of music as a subject, whereby its study and performance allows students of all cultures and

Spotlight on Music

abilities to share in the creation and performance of music, such is the power of this universal language. The recent Parliamentary inquiry in Victoria saw the spotlight placed on the value of arts, and music in particular, and the evidence presented by esteemed educational researcher, Professor Brian Caldwell suggested that “There is incontrovertible national and international evidence of the benefits of participation in arts education, including music education, not only for the intrinsic benefits of such participation but also for the benefits it brings to learning and personal and social wellbeing. Arts education, including music education, should form part of the curriculum of every school. It is critical that the arts component of

the Australian Curriculum be implemented in every school.” (2013) The same inquiry saw a submission by former ASME President, Associate Professor Neryl Jeanneret from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education highlight many of the advantages gained through involvement in music such as increased resilience, wellbeing, motivation, self-esteem, self-concept and self-regulation combined with a myriad of other positive influences gained from the involvement in learning and participating in music. (2013) So where to from here? The Australian Society for Music Education is committed to advocating for quality music education for all, and is currently looking to work closely with other key music associations and organisations to try and make this a reality. Working alongside others who have a common cause is key, and engaging those who understand both the aesthetic and developmental benefits gained from music will continue to be critical, particularly as the new Australian Curriculum is implemented and the tertiary teacher training process is also reviewed. This is not an easy pathway as many of those involved with music education and its provision have traditionally been involved through a ‘love’ of being involved rather than for any financial remuneration. Feedback from music educators in a range of different settings from all areas of Australia suggests that the key is to gain further government support and increased priority for music education so that we can get on with teaching and delivering music to students rather than justifying its existence. It is fantastic to see pockets of musical excellence continue to shine in some of the established music programs in the Public, Independent and Catholic systems but this is not adequate, given that many schools are missing out as

shown by the recommendations and findings from the National Review of School Music in 2005. Please advocate for the inclusion of a quality program at your local school and ensure that music has a place in the curriculum. Perhaps even share Dr Anita Collins’ online video with your school Principal just so they know how important and valuable music is for all students and the enormous benefits that it affords students in all settings. For further information please visit our national website www.asme.edu.au or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ASME.musiced/ or on Twitter via @Asme_Music_Ed Dr Brad Merrick National President Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) An upcoming Film called Wide Open Sky wide www.wideopenskymovie.com is an uplifting documentary about the Moorambilla Voices, highlighting the power and value of learning music for all children involved. “Out here, footy is king and music education is rare as rain. The children travel far from home to music camp to prepare for a big concert in Coonamble. They have three days to learn a demanding repertoire. Wide Open Sky follows four primary-aged children brave enough to dream big. While the choir means something different to each of them, it matters a hell-of-a-lot to all of them. Moving and funny, the film reminds us why no child, anywhere, should grow up without music”. It opens nationally in cinemas 7 April.

References Brandis, G & Pyne, C. (2014) Launch of National Music Teachers Mentorship Program. Media Release. Department of Education and Training. Boon, M. (2015, December 22) Musical Neurons discovered in the brains auditory cortex. Limelight Magazine. Caldwell, B. (2013) Music Education Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry Statement. Retrieved February 16. Cook, H & Butt, C. (2016) Music hits a high note amongst school leavers. The Age Victoria. Retrieved February 2016. Collins, A. (2013) Neuroscience meets music education: Exploring the implications of neural processing models on music education. International Journal of Music Education. 31 (2) 217-231. Sage. Collins, A. (2014, July 22) How playing and instrument benefits your brain. Ted-Ed talk, YouTube. Jeanneret, N. (2013) Inquiry into the extent, benefits and potential of music education in Victorian schools. Music Education in Victorian Schools. Retrieved January, 2016, http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/etc/submissions/Music_Ed_Inquiry/196_Neryl_Jeanneret_16022013.pdf Letts, R. (2013) The Provision of Music Education in Government Schools in Australia. Retrieved February, 2016: http://musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php?title=The_Provision_of_Music_Education_in_ Government_Schools_in_Australia Petrova, I. (2012) What Makes Good Music Programs in Schools? Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. University of NSW. (2005) The National Review of School Music Education- Special Report. Curriculum and Leadership Journal. Retrieved February, 2016

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Sex Education

Primary school sexuality and relationships education – building the foundations TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH THE BEST SKILLS, PRIMARY SEXUALITY EDUCATION MUST INCLUDE DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE DISCUSSIONS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONCEPTS OF ‘CHOICE’, FRIENDSHIPS, GENDER STEREOTYPES, PERSONAL SAFETY, EMERGING IDENTITIES AND MUCH MORE, WRITE JUSTINE KIELY-SCOTT AND JENNY ACKLAND.

Comprehensive sexuality and relationships education in primary schools is more important than ever. Children are exposed to much more than their parents were at the same age. Technology, social media, and the sexualised messages of advertising, music videos and films are ubiquitous. We need to think ahead as today’s children are subjected to more than playground whispers and rumours. With the internet so accessible, it’s essential that parents and teachers are available and approachable to answer questions, as they would agree it’s preferable for a child to ask a trusted adult than go to Google for the answer. Our students deserve more than a few lessons in

Justine Kiely-Scott and Jenny Ackland established Sex Education Australia to help ensure that young people were getting accurate, contemporary and age-appropriate education in primary and secondary schools. Visit www.sexeducationaustralia.com.au for more information.

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the last year of primary school covering the changes of puberty as well as the basics of conception, pregnancy and birth. The shift to secondary school can be daunting and challenging, and parents want their children to make healthy and informed choices as they develop greater independence and become young adults. To provide students with the best skills, primary sexuality education must include developmentally-appropriate discussions and information about the concepts of ‘choice’, friendships, gender stereotypes, personal safety, emerging identities and much more. Whilst some primary schools do a great job of teaching sexuality education, there is still an entrenched hesitation that teaching this topic may be controversial or unsettling for students, parents and teachers. Most teachers have not covered sexuality in their teacher training so don’t feel they have the skills or expertise to cover the subject matter or answer seemingly ‘difficult questions’ that can come up during class. Principals, teachers and parents can work together to ensure quality programs are delivered and students given clear messages that this subject is worthwhile. An ideal scenario is where principals provide clear direction along with high-quality professional development for staff, so they feel supported in developing the skills and self-assurance to teach this subject. Schools can assist parents by providing clear outlines of what is covered in the classroom and tips on how to continue conversations at home. The Victorian government’s curriculum document Catching on Early1 is a practical resource for primary

Sex Education

teachers. This document outlines why sexuality education is important. Some of the reasons include: Healthy choices: Sexuality education assists young people to make healthy choices, reduces misinformation and helps to clarify and strengthen positive values and attitudes. Children want to know: Most children are curious and want to know. Children know much more than we think they do and a good quality sexuality education program provides them with accurate information and the right language to ask questions. Correct information: Sexuality education provides young people with support and guidance to deal with the conflicting messages and misinformation from media and society. Navigate puberty: A comprehensive and good quality program helps young people to navigate puberty. They learn what to expect and how to manage the changes. A good program will take all their questions seriously and provide them with age-appropriate answers. Parents want sexuality education in schools: Parents want sexuality education to be taught in primary schools but also want to be informed about what content will be taught and when. Sex education is important for boys too: In many instances, boys have been left to work things out on their own. In the past, adults thought it was important that girls had information about their development i.e. how to manage periods, but boys didn’t receive relevant information about their changing bodies. Protective against child abuse: Sexuality education can be protective against child abuse. Educating students about appropriate touching and helping them to identify a support network of trusted adults is critical. Understanding the function and correct names of reproductive anatomy and other private body parts is also empowering. Challenge gender stereotypes: Sexuality education programs provide a forum for students to challenge and question society’s narrow ideas of what it means to be female and male. Providing a safe space to question strict gender rules can help children who don’t fit the stereotypes to feel included. Bring diverse families into the classroom: Discussions about the importance of families and diversity of families is essential. Not all families are the same; some children may have single parents, divorced parents, same-sex parents, blended families or grandparents bringing them up. One element of a good sexuality education program is providing sequential lessons from Prep to Year 6 so that students develop the ability to talk about relevant and age-appropriate aspects of sexuality

without unnecessary embarrassment. Building a language base means they can communicate clearly and understand their developing bodies and understand their developing bodies and changes in attitudes, emotions and social behaviours. By starting this education in lower primary, teachers can capture the uninhibited way students often talk about their bodies and ask questions before natural selfconsciousness and possible embarrassment creep in. One school in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs has decided to implement a whole-school sexuality and relationships education program from Prep to Year 6. The topics covered from the Prep to Year 2 years are simple and may not even look like topics that come to mind when we think of ‘sex ed’. Students explore ideas about growing up, family, individual differences, what it means to be a girl or a boy, personal safety and the names of basic reproductive parts. The Year 3 to 6 program builds on the former topics and moves on to include the dynamics of friendships, the concept of choice (in the context of hobbies, food and TV shows etc), how babies are conceived, physical, social and emotional changes of puberty and a greater understanding of diversity. By providing students with a comprehensive program, they will acquire the knowledge, confidence and necessary building blocks to form a solid foundation as they make the important and often challenging transition to secondary school and encounter issues of greater complexity and significance. By showing they value this area of the curriculum and ensuring the sequential program becomes a standard part of the curriculum, this school is providing the best possible education for their students, not only making sure they receive knowledge but also skills and understanding.

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Supporting parents as partners Parents support sex education in schools and want to be a part of the conversation. Research shows that parents want to be informed about the content of the program, know that skilled teachers will deliver the lessons and be reassured that teachers ‘remain sensitive to the diversity of values among their students and their families’2. Some parents can find it difficult to talk to their children as they feel constrained by the lack of or limited sexuality education they had at school. Schools can help build parents’ skills by providing information sessions that cover what will be taught at school, tips for answering difficult questions, how to talk to their children as well as providing a list of quality resources they can refer to, including websites and books. It’s also important to understand that while schools can provide a good sexuality education program, it is parents who know their child best and they can make sure they are available to answer their child’s questions. In addition, diverse cultural and religious backgrounds inform this type of education so it’s imperative that parents share personal values, attitudes and expectations with their children to help shape and enrich discussions that have been had at school. Respectful relationships education Families are where children first learn how to relate to other people and soon after, friendships form important building blocks to all subsequent relationships in life. Discussions about respectful and healthy relationships must start early. Topics including how to be a good friend, what a healthy friendship looks like and who young people can talk to if they need support are all integral parts of respectful

relationships education in primary schools. Discussing friendships should also include the opportunity to discuss how age differences can affect power and control, and how a young person – whether child or teenager – can learn to assert him or herself in friendships without fear of hurting someone’s feelings. The Victorian Government recently announced a new ‘Respectful Relationships Program’ which is to be taught from Prep to Year 12. The program’s aim is to teach awareness of the skills needed to form respectful relationships and more specifically to challenge gender stereotypes that can lead to gender-based violence and disrespectful attitudes to women. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) states that, “Early interventions with children and young people can have a lasting effect on their relationships in the future... On the basis of current evidence, violence prevention and respectful relationships initiatives among young people can make a real difference, producing lasting change in attitudes and behaviours.”3 Providing awareness and language skills around this topic are central to children and young people being able to communicate their views effectively and understand they have a right to respectful relationships and that there are support networks available to them. Social media and sexuality education Not only should a sexuality education program explore friendships and how we interact with one another face to face, but also include guidelines and discussions on how we interact on social media. Most young people’s social contact is carried out on smartphones, tablets or computers. According to a recent survey, 78% of eight-nine year olds and 92% of 10-11 year olds have used a social network.4 In the upper years of primary school and beyond, direct messaging, group chats, texting, Instagram and Snapchat are popular ways of sharing information and being in touch. Children need to understand how to safely use social media and understand the respect and etiquette they should use when communicating with others. Explaining clearly that although it may seem easy to say things behind the façade of a device, what is said can be hurtful and damaging for both the sender and the receiver. If a child isn’t willing to say face to face what they are willing to send, then they need to think carefully about sending or posting something. A priority is making sure young people learn to become aware of the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle mechanisms of bullying, marginalising or excluding someone online. The same goes for thinking before sending pictures or

posting photos. Students should know that photos are never permanently erased so they have to carefully consider what will be made public, not just as a short-term consideration. Young people will always act impulsively and they will make mistakes but schools can have frank and open conversations about the snags of social media and if this can start in primary school, all the better. Sexually explicit material online and sexualisation in the media Children are capable of being critical consumers of media and technology. Their lives are already, and will continue to be, saturated by digital messages and links to the World Wide Web. Teachers claim there is consistent anecdotal evidence that some students in Year 5 and 6 have been exposed to pornography or are seeking out pornography online. Research backs up this claim. One Australian survey of 9-16 year olds found that 44 per cent had seen sexual images online.5 Another study found that among 13 to 16 year olds in Australian schools, 93 per cent of males, and 62 per cent of females had seen pornography.6 Sexualisation is rife, billboards advertising everything from perfume to jeans are overtly sexual, popular song

something by another child, the response should be consistent. Parents can help children understand that that sexually explicit material is not made for children and could even be damaging for their development. Parents and teachers can prepare ahead of time, by thinking about what they would do if a child told them they’d been accessing or exposed to sexually-explicit material online. The response will be different for everyone but teachers and carers need to be ready to respond in a calm and measured way and provide support for young people who are exposed to this material at a young age. Discussions about gender stereotypes Gender stereotypes are culturally-embedded ideas about how we should behave as males and females. From kindergarten, children have formed the fixed ideas of what it means to be a girl or a boy, woman or man, and often believe these narrow social constructs are true and therefore unchallengeable. Stereotypes can limit a girl’s and boy’s ability to reach their potential. For example, the box that a ‘real male’ is hemmed in by may limit their ability to unselfconsciously express emotions both positive and negative. The idea that boys wear blue, don’t cry,

Discussions about respectful and healthy relationships must start early. Topics including how to be a good friend, what a healthy friendship looks like and who young people can talk to if they need support are all integral parts of respectful relationships education in primary schools. lyrics are saturated with sexual references and this exposure can drive natural curiosity. Parents and educators can choose to ignore the potential exposure to this material or be very clear early on about what they want children to understand. Firstly, computers at home and at school need to have appropriate filters. Secondly, children should be actively supervised when using computers and not left for hours on end searching sites. Finally, children need to know that if they ever see something online or someone shows them something that they find upsetting or distressing, or that they know is age inappropriate, they should tell a trusted adult. Parents need to stay calm and give themselves time to respond to any disclosure. The quickest way to cause a young person to ‘clam up’ is to have an extremely emotion reaction to something they’ve told you or you’ve found out. Whether the child has sought out the material, stumbled across it or been shown

education matters primary

are the decision makers and leaders, are interested in sport, are forceful, aggressive, tough and strong must be challenged. Likewise, the belief that all girls are pink loving, overly emotional, gentle, caring and submissive is extremely restrictive. Attitudes like these serve to restrict personal choices and development of individuality. They also act against awareness and celebration of diversity. In upper primary school, discussions about the contrasting language that is used to describe the behaviour of females and males can also be explored, for example girls who show leadership or are assertive are called ‘bossy’ and boys ‘strong leaders’ or boys who like more domestic activities are labelled ‘prissy’, ‘girly’ or even worse ‘gay’. The Victorian government maintains that by questioning gender stereotypes early we, as a society, can work to reduce the incidence of domestic violence. Conversations about gender stereotypes

Sex Education

lead to further discourse around power and gender in secondary school. Whilst this might seem a very sophisticated subject, it can be discussed in an introductory and developmentally-appropriate way at the primary level. Students can learn from a young age that gender stereotypes limit their options at school, work, in sport and within their families, and socially. We need to expand children’s thinking and encourage them to understand that diversity and difference should be celebrated not scorned. If we can be more accepting of diversity and alternative ways of being, then hopefully fewer children will be teased, ridiculed and bullied for existing outside the narrow boxes that have traditionally defined what it means to be female and male in our society. Personal safety Whilst schools don’t use the word ‘consent’ with primary students, they should discuss the concept of ‘choice’. Explicitly teaching the ‘age of consent’ or ‘sexual consent’ at primary level is not appropriate, that is a conversation for older students, but talking about how people are free to say ‘no’ to things particularly in the context of friendships and private parts of bodies is important. Students need to develop a clear understanding about giving and not giving permission and have those decisions respected by parents, carers and friends. If we can let young people know that their opinions and choices are valued and respected, then this can have a positive impact on their concept of respect and choice when it comes to friendships and, later in life, intimate relationships.

Personal safety is a topic that some teachers and parents will avoid because they are afraid it may be too confronting, scary and negative for primary students. But personal safety can be taught in a non-confronting way. In the younger years, educating students about appropriate and inappropriate touching is simple and clear. This message not only includes adults or teenagers touching a child but also children touching each other. Obviously, it’s okay for children to touch themselves but they need to understand this is something that is done in private and not in class or in front of others. Students need to receive clear messages about what to do if they ever feel uncomfortable or unsure and how to tell an adult and keep telling until someone listens. Explicitly teaching that we never keep secrets about our bodies is a crucial part of this education. Reinforcing that secrets and surprises are one that have a positive and happy outcome, and should never make someone feel unhappy or guilty is also important. Primary students need to be told that if something does happen that makes them uncomfortable, feel unsafe or is inappropriate, it’s never the child’s fault. Part of teaching about personal safety is making sure student can identify a support network at home and at school, in a way that’s simple, clear and easy to understand. Conclusion Children have the right to a high-quality sexuality education program that not only provides them with facts and information, but also aims to build ability to talk about and understand their bodies, as well as shape their attitudes and beliefs about the world and their place in it. If principals get behind their school’s sexuality education program and make sure their staff have the expertise and confidence to teach the program successfully, then that will lead to better outcomes for students. Primary students deserve more than just the basics. If schools can expand the curriculum to incorporate a broader range of topics including respect in relationships, then young people will have a solid foundation from which to express themselves and their needs as they grow and develop.

References 1. Catching on early: sexuality education for Victorian primary schools, DEECD, 2011 2. Parents and sex education – parents’ attitudes to sexual health education in WA schools, Department of Health, Western Australia, 2010 3. Respectful Relationships Education Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian secondary schools, DEECD, 2009 4. Like, post, share: Young Australian’s experience of social media, Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2013 5. Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet: full findings from the AU Kids Online survey of 9–16 year olds and their parents, Green et al, 2011 6. Safety in cyberspace: adolescents’ safety and exposure online, Fleming et al, Youth & Society, 38(2): 135-154, 2006 7. Catching on Early: Sexuality Education for Victorian Primary Schools, DEECD, J Walsh, 2011

education matters primary

Sexuality education topics that can be covered from Prep to Year 2: • growing up and changing, human development across the lifespan • identity, unique self and celebrating diversity between people • talking about how families are different and how families are the same • differences and similarities between boys and girls • naming basic reproductive parts • discussing friendships and respect in friendships • introducing the concept of choice • exploring and questioning gender stereotypes • personal safety • beginnings of a baby – when the sperm and the egg join Sexuality education topics to be covered in Year 3-6: • how babies are conceived, pregnancy and birth • diversity in families and different ways babies can join families • what puberty is and how to manage it • names and functions of male and female reproductive body parts • friendships and respectful relationships • emerging sexuality, responsibility and independence • developing a greater understanding of choice • continuing to challenge gender stereotypes At the primary level, quality sex education has been shown to: • help increase children’s personal safety • help increase children’s confidence and self esteem • make children better able to make healthy decisions as they grow older. At the secondary level, quality sex education has been shown to: • delay the first experience of sex • reduce STIs • reduce instances of unplanned pregnancy • reduce instances of coerced sexual activity • reduce instances of sexual assault • increase confidence and ability to negotiate consensual sexual activity that is mutual, respectful, communicative and safe.7 Teacher resource • Catching on early-sexuality education for Victorian primary schools, DEECD, 2011.

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