A more focused Start experience
13w Yoga
The Lenovo 13w Gen 2 is designed with the tools to enhance future generations and respecting our indigenous identity with the new Te Reo Māori keyboard. This versatile, portable device is powered by AMD and includes features such as a Full HD Touch display, World Facing Camera, Active Garaged Stylus and a 360 degree hinge to provide a fully interactive teaching device. techtoday.lenovo.com/education
Lenovo Aotearoa New Zealand bilingual keyboard
For more information call Helen on 0427 219 664 or email: admin@thebrowncollective.com.au
The Brown Collective’s flagship program, ‘Leading from Within’ acknowledges the importance of middle leaders to a school’s overall performance. The vast majority of middle leaders want to remain in these roles.
Leading from Within supports and enhances the formation of middle leaders through exploration of key aspects of their leadership such as leading teaching and learning, and leading teams. Every program is customised to ensure contextual relevance to the school, network, region or system that it is being delivered to.
The program is typically conducted over a nine-month period with a minimum of 20 participants. Successful completion of the Leading from Within program enables participants to make application for a 1 unit credit towards a Master’s Degree offered by Australian Catholic University (ACU), Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Broken Bay Institute—The Australian Institute of Theological Education (BBI TAITE).
Amanda Ypinazar, Principalthebrowncollective.com.au admin@thebrowncollective.com.au
As Term 2 comes to a close this school year, I’m pleased to introduce the latest issue of Education Matters Magazine Secondary. Ahead of EduTECH 2023, this edition explores many of the key focus areas of the conference including the latest innovations in educational technology such as robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, teaching computer programming and Bring-Your-Own-Device programs.
The cover story comes from VEX Robotics – a U.S. based tech company that has swept the globe with its move to incorporate computer programming and robotics into the 21st century learning curriculum. In a similar vein, Grok Academy introduces its latest innovative course in Digital Forensics, designed for secondary school students to give an aptitude for detecting data breaches and stopping cyber criminals in their tracks. In another tech-focussed feature, Writer’s Toolbox showcases its AI platform that teaches students how to be better writers.
To further amplify the voices of Australian teachers, we’ve included a new column in this edition titled ‘Teacher’s Voice’ where we hear from Sally Munro, Director of Pastoral Care at Loreto Normanhurst, on how a whole-school approach to pastoral care could hold the key to enhancing student wellbeing. Meanwhile, Tenielle Davies, Head of Digital Learning at Loreto Normanhurst, explains how fostering fearless learning and creativity in the digital age can empower students to become fearless innovators in the future.
Speaking of the future, this month’s Hot Topic explores ‘The Virtual Classroom’ and the role of emerging technologies in changing the way we think about learning. Professor Erica Southgate from the University of Newcastle shares firsthand her research findings on the practicalities and implications of implementing AI and VR technologies into the Australian Curriculum as part of the world’s first VR School Study.
From the frontlines of the Australian Secondary Principal’s Association, we mark an important milestone in the career of President Andrew Pierpont as he prepares to retire next year. He shares some of his key takeaways from his nearly 40 years as an educator and advocates for a more positive sense of purpose for teachers and the Australian education system.
Regarding curriculum, we have the latest news from eSafety Commissioner Julie-Inman Grant, ACARA CEO David de Carvalho, Education Services Australia CEO Andrew Smith and EREA Flexible Schools CEO Matt Hawkins, and readers are invited to explore the knowledge and expertise of Lenovo Education, Compass, Jands, and more – covering the full spectrum of education.
We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did putting it together for you, and we look forward to seeing you at EduTECH 2023. For a full program guide to the event, turn to page 14. Happy reading!
Kate Felton Editor – Education Matters kate.felton@primecreative.com.auwww.educationmattersmag.com.au
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Editor’s note 4
News 8
ASPA column 16
ASPA President Andrew Pierpoint reflects on a 40-year career in education as he prepares to step down and retire later this year.
Teacher’s Voice: Sally Munro 18 Director of Pastoral Care at Loreto Normanhurt, Sally Munro, believes that a holistic approach enhances wellbeing.
Teacher’s Voice: The power of the undo button 19 Head of Digital Learning at Loreto Normahurst, Tenielle Davies, is fostering fearless learning in students.
Hot Topic: The virtual classroom 20 Education Matters reports on how emerging technologies are changing the way students and teachers work together.
Cover: Building resilience in STEM 22 VEX Robotics is empowering students to become the next generation of STEM leaders and innovators.
The Last Word 48
EREA CEO Dr Matt Hawkins, explains how a supportive and trauma-informed learning environment can better serve students. ESA CEO Andrew Smith discusses AI-enabled technologies. ACARA CEO David de Carvalho outlines the launch plans for ACARA’s new professional learning hub.
14 Explore EduTECH 2023
A comprehensive program guide to EduTECH 2023’s conferences, speakers, panels.
24 ‘CSI’ for modern digital systems
As data breaches escalate in Australia, Grok launches the first Digital Forensics course for secondary students.
26 AI and education: What if good were possible?
Writer’s Toolbox introduces a generative AI tool that provides students with tailored feedback on their writing.
30 A tech-enabled future for students
Peter Moyes Anglican Community School leverages Lenovo ANZ intelligent solutions to solve IT challenges.
32 The History Makers Challenge
The National Museum invites students to explore key moments in history through film and multimedia.
34 Improving student-to-teacher connectivity
Advanced audiovisual technology that empowers educators to be seen, heard and extraordinary.
35 Streamlining school management systems
Compass helps schools consolidate administrative and operational tasks using one unified platform.
36 Sparking adventure
Nestled in the Otway Forest is where the call of the wild can be answered with a day trip to Live Wire Park.
40 Languages open doors
Why are fewer Australian students choosing to study a language in school? Dr Enza Tudini investigates.
41 Addressing bullying in schools today
Dr Ken Rigby shares his research on effective methods for addressing bullying in schools.
43 Leading education systems
Dr Stephen Brown examines the challenges and dilemmas associated with managing complex education systems.
44 Learner profiles
Dr Vitomir Kovanovic explains how learner profiles provide a better view of a student’s capabilities.
Minister for Education the Hon Jason Clare MP has announced that Dr Michele Bruniges AM has been appointed as the new Chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL).
In a statement released on 6 June, Mr Clare stated that the Government is committed to strengthening the teacher workforce and building a better and fairer education system and extended a warm welcome to Dr Bruniges.
“Dr Bruniges has dedicated more than 40 years to education as a teacher and policymaker, most recently leading the Commonwealth Department of Education,” he said.
Dr Bruniges is a former school teacher at Leppington Public School, St Johns Park High School and Ingleburn High School. She was also a TAFE teacher and a teacher in the Adult Migrant Education Service before leading the ACT, NSW and Commonwealth Education Departments.
Dr Bruniges further holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational Measurement, a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of New South Wales, a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies and a Diploma in Teaching from the Goulburn College of Advanced Education.
In a separate announcement, AITSL bid a fond farewell to the outgoing Board Chair, Melbourne Laureate Professor Emeritus John Hattie, after a nine year tenure.
“During his time leading AITSL, John has firmly positioned AITSL as a national leader in education policy reform, supporting jurisdictions and education employers to focus on quality teaching and leadership. Having seen him in action, there is no doubt about the respect he has and authority he brings when talking about education. He is,
quite literally, an educational rockstar,” said AITSL CEO, Mr Mark Grant.
“John has been a tireless advocate for the profession, the expertise of those in it, and the work of AITSL. His positioning of AITSL as the honest broker in Australia’s education architecture is a prime example of the significant impact that John has had in leading AITSL’s work.”
As a passionate expert focused on driving real change that is impactful, evidence based and measurable, Mr Hattie led the charge on important work across the career lifecycle of teachers and leaders.
His influence and advice have driven significant advancements in preparation, induction, and development of teachers – always with a focus on expertise as the central tenet of teaching.
“Although Professor Hattie is leaving AITSL, he will continue his focus on changing the lives of Australia’s students through his many other avenues across the education landscape,” read the statement.
“He has been instrumental in driving improvements in the focus on the leadership capacity and capability of our school leaders, a key to improving education outcomes for Australia’s 4 million students. The profession and Australia’s students will all benefit from the legacy that he leaves us at AITSL.”
As the new Chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Dr Bruniges will commence her three-year term on 1 July 2023. EM
“Dr Bruniges has dedicated more than 40 years to education as a teacher and policymaker, most recently leading the Commonwealth Department of Education.”
Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MPDr Michele Bruniges AM. Image credit: Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The Australian Government has committed to strenghtening the teacher work force and building a better, fairer education system.
Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) has announced the appointment of Dr Liam Smith as National Executive Director, bolstering the organisation’s ability to deliver best practice Catholic education to its more than 40,000 students across the country.
An experienced and passionate leader, Dr Smith has been working in the education sector for more than 30 years. Most recently, Dr Smith held the appointment of Regional Director of two of the largest education regions in Queensland, where he had oversight of more than 265 primary, secondary and special schools catering to more than 176,000 students.
As an EREA-school graduate, previous director of the EREA Colleges Ltd Board, and with a Doctorate in inclusive classroom practices, Dr Smith also understands the values of an EREA education. He is uniquely experienced to support the vision of EREA in collaborative leadership across the federated structure, as it equips students with a passion for learning and the skills, character and commitment, grounded in the Edmund Rice tradition, to contribute to a better world.
Dr Smith said he was looking forward to reconnecting with the organisation that inspired his passion for education: “This role holds both immense opportunity and privilege. It is with great pleasure that I re-join the very organisation which so many years ago, inspired within me a life-long commitment to education,” he said.
system with a rich history of care and commitment to ensuring positive educational outcomes for children and young people across Australia. I am also aware of the
possibilities that lie ahead – opportunities that, through collective effort and a genuine commitment to the success of all members of the Edmund Rice family, we can achieve.”
In his role as National Executive Director, Dr Smith will be tasked with building EREA’s national identity, providing collaborative and strategic guidance to EREA subsidiaries and schools, leading EREA’s strong commitment to reconciliation with First Nations peoples, and building productive relationships with diocesan Catholic education offices, representatives, regulators, unions and other stakeholders critical to realising EREA’s vision.
Chair of the Trustees of EREA, Philomena Billington, said Dr Smith would bring fresh thinking to this role as EREA continues to bolster its shared narrative as a community of schools.
“Throughout his career, Dr Smith has demonstrated a passion for education and an unwavering commitment to supporting students throughout their learning journey,” she said.
“With 55 schools operating in every state and territory, EREA is the only national system of Catholic schools in Australia. We needed someone who had proven experience
“I know that I am stepping into a strong education system with a rich history of care and commitment to ensuring positive educational outcomes for children and young people across Australia.”
National Executive Director, EREA, Dr Liam SmithEdmund Rice Education Australia is one of the foremost providers of Catholic education in the country.
The first day of school is often a significant and exciting time for Australian children. However, for children that are vision impaired, that is often not the case. Not-for-profit organisation NV Access aims to change this with the launch of its free screen reading software, NVDA.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that chronic eye conditions affect approximately 12 percent of Australian children that are aged 0-14 years.
Children with vision impairment challenges often face uncertainty regarding the quality of their education, as schools around Australia are not equipped to provide equal education opportunities to vision impaired students, according to NV Access Co-Founder, Michael Curran.
“For blind people to use a computer, they need a screen reader which reads the text on the screen. Unfortunately, most screen reading software is incredibly expensive, which has left computers inaccessible to vision impaired kids across Australia,” said Mr Curran.
“This is critical because, without computers, access to education and future employment is severely limited,” he said.
However, with the right support and adjustments in the classroom, vision impaired students can learn the curriculum alongside everyone else.
The impact and challenges presented by vision impairment are significantly different for every student, depending on the cause and extent of vision loss, according to the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).
Additionally, vision impairment can cause students to have visual fatigue and strain their eyes while alternating between near and distance focussing –making it difficult to complete learning tasks, study, and complete assignments.
The NCCD’s podcast series on Classroom Adjustments highlights five adjustments that can be made in the classroom to enable students with disability to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers.
In the Vision Impairment episode, experts on vision impairment provide some key actionable adjustments that educators can make to better support vision impaired students in the classroom and enables schools, education authorities and governments to better understand the needs of students with vision impairment or blindness.
1. Verbalise your instructions as much as possible – fill visual gaps with words.
2. For students that need to access braille, be mindful that not all parents and carers read braille. Ensure parents and carers have print copies of homework tasks and communicate via email or other channels.
3. Rather than waiting to receive adapted resources such as enlarged versions of worksheets, use optical magnifiers to enlarge materials, and encourage students to be proactive using them.
4. Consider visual fatigue and strain in lesson planning. Alternate your lesson plan between activities that rely on vision and activities that provide an opportunity for students to rest their eyes. To avoid strain, provide a hard copy of notes in addition to verbal instruction and notes on the board.
5. Create an inclusive learning environment where braille and other aids such as tactile resources are incorporated into all aspects of the classroom environment.
NVDA is a simple solution for schools to improve their educational opportunities for vision impaired students. Implementing screen reading software will not only benefit current students but future generations of vision impaired students.
Implementing NVDA is quick and simple, with users able to plug in a USB with NVDA or download NVDA from the NV Access website.
Furthermore, unlike other screen readers, NVDA’s installation and updates are free, making it a sustainable, long-term solution for education systems. NVDA was founded by two blind men, meaning it was developed for the blind, by the blind.
In addition to being free to access, the software is open source, meaning it is consistently updated by the engaged community, supports more than 55 languages, and is compatible with most computers.
“The reality is, blind and vision impaired students deserve the same right to education as any other child,” said NV Access General Manager, James Boreham.
“NV Access is thus dedicated to the idea that accessibility and equitable access is a right and should not come as an extra cost to a person who is blind or vision impaired.
“It’s important that schools understand it is often simple changes that can make a world of difference to vision impaired student’s learning outcomes,” he said.
Donations are vital to NVDA’s success and help keep the program free and constantly updated to remain relevant for its users. EM
For more information on NVDA, to download to the free software, or to donate, please visit: https://www.nvaccess.org/
For more information on how schools can support students with disabilities, visit: https://www.nccd.edu.au/.
The Andrews Labor Government is supporting families and children living with disability, by providing better access to the services young Victorians need to learn and succeed from the first day of their education to their very last.
Backing more inclusive education and support for families, the Victorian Budget 2023/24 invests $235 million to support students and children with disability or additional needs in school – ensuring more students have easier access to the services they need to thrive.
The investment builds on the Labor Government’s $1.6 billion Disability Inclusion reforms in schools, supporting specialist out of school hours care facilties, support for families to navigate the NDIS, more support animals and hydrotherapy pools at specialist schools and specialised kinder equipment and support.
“Victorian students deserve access to a great local school close to home with the resources and services they need to thrive – we’re making sure that’s a reality for every kid, no matter their additional needs,” said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
“We’re delivering the biggest reform to disability support in our schools Victoria has ever seen, creating better supports for families while delivering stronger educational outcomes for more students across the state,” he furthered.
“Families of children living with disability know how challenging it can be to navigate a system that feels like it’s been set up to fail them – so we’re investing $21.2 million to
introduce NDIS Navigators into all specialist schools by the end of 2025, with the first 30 to be introduced this year.”
Supporting more students with the infrastructure they need, a $25 million investment will deliver hydrotherapy pools at specialist schools, with expressions of interest opening in Term 3.
The Labor government will be further supporting families juggling busy schedules by making it easier for students to get to school, with a $31.8 million investment providing specialist transport through the Students with Disabilities Transport program.
“Everyone deserves to be able to fully participate in school and these investments are making sure that students with disability and additional needs are given the tools and supports to be their best,” said Victorian Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins.
Making it easier for parents and carers to access the additional support they need, $121.7 million will continue and expand High Intensity Outside School Hours Care across 30 specialist schools.
Support animals provide specialised care to children with disability – and the investment will support the training of more therapy animals, with an extra $4.8 million to make sure kids who would benefit from an animal can get one, enhancing their learning, health and overall wellbeing.
From little improvements that make a big difference, to upgrades that can change a student’s entire school experience, the government is investing a further $20 million in grants to deliver upgrades and improvements that better support inclusion at schools, including playground and facility upgrades.
These latest initiatives add to $3 billion the Labor Government has already invested in inclusive education, including upgrades to every single specialist school in the state, more support for students in the classroom and facilities so every child gets the chance to play, learn and grow, no matter their needs. EM
For more information, visit: https:// www.vic.gov.au/inclusive-education-forstudents-with-disabilities
“Everyone deserves to be able to fully participate in school and these investments are making sure that students with disability and additional needs are given the tools and supports to be their best.”Victorian Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins. The Victorian Labor Government is investing $235 million to support students and children living with a disability.
EDUTECH 2023, AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST EDUCATION CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW, IS SET TO RETURN TO MELBOURNE THIS YEAR WITH THE AIM OF DELIVERING A BIGGER AND BETTER EVENT THAN BEFORE. THE TWO-DAY CONFERENCE WILL SHOWCASE THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS, AND THE MOST CUTTING-EDGE SOLUTIONS IMPACTING THE EDUCATION SECTOR RIGHT NOW.
This year, EduTECH is taking a future-forward approach, essentially doubling its capacity, and expanding its offering to include 10 seminars that will be paid to attend, and 10 free-to-attend seminars happening on the expo floor, with the aim of further driving learning, teaching, and training forward, while at the same time, envisioning what the classroom of the future might look like.
Discover more details on EduTECH 2023’s conferences, speakers, and panels in the program list below.
• Gary Stager, PhD. Founder, CEO of Constructing Modern Knowledge
• Richard E. Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education
• Saku Tuominen, Founder, HundrED
• Caroline Wright, Director General, British Educational Suppliers Association and EdTech Exchange
• Laura Overton, Founder, Learning Changemakers
• Dr Tim Patston, Educator, Researcher & Designer of Innovative Professional Development
• Professor Chris Walsh, Dean and Chief Academic Officer, Victoria University (VU) Online
• Philip Regier, University Dean for Educational Initiatives & CEO of EdPlus, Arizona State University
• Andy Griffiths, Australian Children’s Author
• The national imperative to create more tech workers - Hugh Williams, Co-Founder and Chair, CS in Schools. Martin Bean, Founder & Chief Executive Officer (Former ViceChancellor & President of RMIT University), The Bean Centre. Bridget Loudon, Founder & CEO, Expert360
• Flexible pathways: Government strategy
and policy (The future of flex/hybrid/digital strategies)- Sandra Milligan, Director, Assessment Research Centre & Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Julie Lindsay, Senior Education Technology Advisor, University of Southern Queensland. Bhavneet Brar, Principal Education Officer at Department of Education, Western Australia
• Building wellbeing through explicit and implicit educational practices - Anne Johnstone, Principal, Ravenswood and Kate Barbat, Head of Positive Education, Ravenswood
• The use of data at a school level to enact change - Dr Raju Varanasi, Director, Data Intelligence & CIO, Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta and Dr David Kellermann, Senior Lecturer, UNSW
• Generative AI in education, including text and image generation - Leon Furze, Director of Learning and Teaching, Monivae College Hamilton
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES STREAM
• Integrating virtual reality into classrooms: a multi-school study with curriculum, pedagogical and learning insights - Erica Southgate, A/Prof, Emerging Tech for Education Research, University of Newcastle
• Leverage design thinking and experiential learning through Augmented Reality - Jason Lane, Junior, Middle & Senior Schools eLearning Pedagogy Leader, Villanova College
• Robotics: Pedagogy before Play - Adam King, P-12, Instructional Designer, Suncoast Christain College. Nicola Flanagan, Deputy Principal, Patricks Road State School. Emily Gibbs-Connor, Head of Digital Learning, Lauriston Girls’ School Gibbs Connor
• Tips, Tricks and Best Practices for Teaching Object Oriented Programming - Michelle Chomiak, Digital Technologies Teacher, St Mark’s Anglican Community School
• Teaching AI and Machine Learning in the Primary Years - Laura Bain, Head of Emerging Tech and Innovation, Matthew Flinders Anglican College
• Successful Coding Techniques - Toan Huynh, Director Learning & Teaching, CS in School, Grok Academy
AI SESSIONS
• Transforming Education: Harnessing the Power of AI to Enhance Student Learning - Deirdre Farrar, eLearning Resource Teacher, Mount St Benedict College
• Why you need to teach AI in your classroomArgiro Anagnostu, eLearning Coordinator P-6, Redlands (C)
Dan Heap, Assistant Director, Academy of Future Skills
• AI in schools: The impact on cognitive and social development - Naz Zengin, Educational Leader, Department of Education, Victoria
MUSIC SEMINAR
• Hip-Hop Creativities in Music Education - Ethan Hein, Professor of Music Technology, NYU and Montclair State University (USA)
• Creativity in music education - Dr James Humberstone, Senior Lecturer, Music Education, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
• How music teachers can incorporate technology into the music curriculum - Katie Wardrobe, Midnight Music
WELLBEING SEMINAR
• The why, what and how of school wellbeing - Prof Lea Waters PhD AM
• Leveraging Ed Tech to enhance school-based wellbeing education: Strengths and limitations - Dr Anneliese Gill, Dr Kent Patrick & Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick, Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne
• Implementing evidenced based whole school wellbeing on a budget - Carolyn Spears, PosEd in Government Schools
DIVERSE EDUCATION NEEDS & INCLUSION SEMINAR
• How emerging technology can support neurodiverse students in a mainstream classroom, not as an assistive tool, but as
Manager, Education and Outreach, CSIRO
• Diverse learning, sensory needs and the inclusive classroom - Nicole Torres, Education Community Coordinator and Elisabeth Salle, Education Product Manager, Autism CRC Autism CRC and Elisabeth Salle
PRE-EVENT WORKSHOPS
By participating in EduTECH’s pre-event workshops, attendees can gain up to seven hours of professional development by participating in pre-event workshops. These full-day workshops, hosted by qualified trainers, offer a hands-on learning experience and the chance to explore innovative ideas and emerging practices in teaching and learning. EM
EVENT DETAILS
Event: EduTECH Congress & Expo 2023
Location: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Pre workshops: Wed 23 Aug 9am -4pm Day 1: Thur 24 Aug 9am - 6pm Day 2: Fri 25 Aug 9am - 4pm
As Official Media Partners for EduTECH 2023, Education Matters Magazine is offering an exclusive discount to our readership.
Visit www.edutech.net.au for more information and enter code ‘EM20’ for an extra 20% off registration today.
AS ANDREW PIERPOINT PREPARES TO RETIRE FROM HIS ROLE AS ASPA PRESIDENT LATER THIS YEAR, HE REFLECTS ON A 40-YEAR CAREER IN EDUCATION, AND MAINTAINS THAT BECOMING A TEACHER WAS THE BEST DECISION HE EVER MADE.
When asked what first inspired him to become a teacher nearly four decades ago, Mr Andrew Pierpoint’s answer is simple and to the point: “Teaching is the most honourable of professions.” And for anyone who’s considering becoming a teacher, he maintains that becoming a teacher can be a career for life. “My life has been teaching and I’ve enjoyed my career significantly,” he says. “As a teacher, you hold the future of your community, your state, and your country in your hand – and your hard work pays off. If in your teaching career, you change one life for the better and positively affect one student, that’s a great career that you’ve had.”
candidates to fill those positions, according to Mr Pierpoint. “The issue of teacher shortages and recruitment is a multifaceted challenge. To an extent, it is about arduous workloads and inadequate pay rates, but it’s also about a shortage of young people who leave schools aspiring to become teachers,” he says.
Andrew Pierpoint has over 38 years of experience working as a secondary level science teacher, Head of Department (Science), Deputy Principal and Principal as well as having several system positions in the support of Principals. Throughout his career, Andrew has worked in complex rural and remote communities through to large regional and metropolitan schools. He has led communities and reference groups at district, regional, state, and national levels. Andrew’s special interests are the provision of high-quality professional learning for school leaders and improving the wellbeing of school leadership.
In his time as President of the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA), he has seen significant changes in the Australian education system, compared to when he began his career. Most notably, he says, a decline in how education is valued as a tool to open doors in life to several careers. “I appreciate education very deeply and the idea that education is the rest of your life was instilled into me as a young fellow, and I still firmly believe that. I think instilling that that value in young people is very meritorious and heartful thing to do.”
The undervaluing of education as an honourable and integral pursuit in life is part of the reason why the current education system is seeing such high turnover in teaching positions and ongoing disparities between the number of teaching positions and a distinct shortage of qualified
“Fewer people are opting to sign up for a teaching course, and fewer people are coming out on the other side of the course because there is a lot of attrition as the course progresses.” To change this, he says, the country needs to make teaching a more attractive profession and advocate for a more positive mindset surrounding teaching, and teachers for that matter, as important and impactful figures in Australian society.
“We need to have a community conversation as a whole country around what we want the education systems in Australia to look like and what outcomes we want to have happen as the result of these positive actions,” he says.
One of the biggest challenges in Australian education system, Mr Pierpoint confirms, is addressing the inequities across the country’s different systems on a national level. “There’s a funding disparity between the three education systems that needs to be addressed and there’s accountabilities around that funding, that constrains principals from making decisions for themselves,” he explains. “The financial inequity
“I appreciate education very deeply and the idea that education is the rest of your life was instilled into me as a young fellow, and I still firmly believe that. I think instilling that that value in young people is very meritorious and heartful thing to do.”
and the social inequity that we face is significant and continues to perpetuate a wage gap in the Australian society.”
To remedy this, Mr Pierpoint underscores the need for strong and united leadership within the government sector that is focussed on clearly defining what the purpose of education is in Australia. “We need to examine deep questions about what education really means in this country. Why do students go to school? What is the difference between the different subsidiaries, such as receiving an education at a Catholic
school, versus an independent school, versus a government school? And how can we work together to make things more cohesive and intentional?” he says. “For me, it’s about making a difference in children’s lives and the lives of their families.”
ASPA Vice President Mark Breckenridge paid tribute to the outgoing ASPA President as Mr. Pierpoint prepares to go on service leave from September 15 this year, until his retirement in 2024. “Over the last 40 years, Andrew has made an enormous contribution to public education in this country,” says Mr Breckenridge. “From leading complex school communities as a principal, his commitment to the Queensland Secondary Principals Association, and ensuring ASPA had a seat at the table when policy decisions impacting principals were made - he has been a tireless advocate for public secondary school leaders. We sincerely thank Andrew for his contribution to ASPA and wish him all the best in his retirement.”
Co-President of the ACT Principals’ Association (ACTPA) Andy Mison has been elected as the next President of the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association and will be taking the position from October 3.
Mr. Mison, an executive principal of a large
Canberra P-10 school, will succeed Mr Pierpoint, who has served as ASPA president since 2018. According to Mr Breckenridge, the association is confident that Mr. Mison will be a strong advocate for the increasingly complex needs of school leaders.
“Andy has worked in classrooms and in school leadership roles across a range of regional, remote and metropolitan school settings and understands the demands on principals, their staff, and their school communities,” he says. “He is passionate about the need for a strong public education system and the need for a principals’ perspectives to be central to education policy and decision making. We are proud to have him step up into this important role.”
In retirement, Mr Pierpoint plans to continue with his involvement with the ASPA as an alumni member and assisting with the workload of the association’s board members. “I look forward to joining the alumni and having time to work on papers. Anything I can do to continue to contribute to the education system in our great country will remain at the forefront of my mind,” he concludes. EM
Fostering the growth and shaping of wellrounded students is a task that truly takes a village. As teachers continue to evolve pedagogical practice to remain in tune to the rapidly changing educational landscape and witness the impact of social media on student wellbeing, the importance of positive parental influence has never been so profound. At Loreto Normanhurst, we have seen the benefits of a whole-school approach to pastoral care, with meaningful engagement of our parental community the key to successfully enhancing student wellbeing outcomes.
The home environment has long been considered as a major determinant for a young person’s social and emotional wellbeing. We as educators, are increasingly privy to the shared responsibilities of schools and families to work in partnership to foster greater wellbeing outcomes for students. But how do we engage with our community in a way that best supports the needs of our students?
The answer lies in a multi-faceted approach that engages all stakeholders across the entire school community. A whole school approach sees the implementation of various explicit and intentional interventions and strategies target a range of groups including students, teachers, and parents. This means whilst we seek to educate teachers on supporting wellbeing through social and emotional learning in the classroom, we also support parents to ‘speak the same language’ when it comes to providing emotional support at home.
The benefits of engaged and informed parents cannot be overstated. Our whole school approach not only prioritises the wellbeing
of our students, but cares for and supports our close-knit community of parents. As parents navigate the challenges of their child’s adolescence, schools have a pivotal role in providing opportunities for parents to connect with their peers and become informed on how they can help support the overall wellbeing of their children.
Face-to-face parent evenings often provide the greatest opportunity for quality engagement with educators and other parents. We know parents want support but need more time to access it, so we recognise a growing need for dynamic opportunities that provide flexibility for parents and carers to engage with their child’s school in different ways. This means the livestreaming options that flourished during COVID are likely here to stay – this is a positive for our busy families and boarding community. reinforce elements such as the consistency
of expectations between school and home settings and draw on the knowledge and expertise of our school counselling team. Through this approach we ensure parents are empowered to effectively respond to behaviours at home, which then reduces incidents we need to manage at school and gives educators a united platform to work together when needed.
In partnering with parents to support student wellbeing, educators can make significant contributions to the holistic development of students and strengthen the positive impact and reaffirmation of wellbeing initiatives. Emphasising the collaborative efforts needed to foster deeper connectedness and belonging, strengthen social and emotional learning and resilience, and bolster key relationships ensures holistic
Labelled as ‘digital natives’, today’s students are so deeply immersed in technology it affects their attention and motivation levels both in the classroom, and in their daily lives. Now more than ever, we as educators must recognise the immense potential of digital technologies to improve learning and adopt practices that enhance student creativity. With the realm of technology offering an endless expanse for experimentation and growth for students, we must look at how we can better engage students to foster deep learning, where the concept of failure is transformed by the reassuring presence of the ‘undo’ button.
At Loreto Normanhurst, we are undergoing a digital transformation to enhance and streamline our platforms to integrate new technologies that support advances in pedagogical practice and amplify student learning experiences. We know digital learning allows students to access vast information and valuable resources that enrich their understanding of the subject matter. When technology is integrated authentically into the learning process, it becomes more than just a tool—it becomes an inseparable part of the journey, fuelling critical analysis, collaboration, co-design, experimentation, and meaningful comprehension. In essence, technology interwoven with learning, welcomes a world of possibilities for students.
The mere presence of technology in the curriculum does not guarantee improved educational outcomes or enhanced creativity, and this is where we must recognise the value of a seamless integration. Insight into the integration can be sought from the Technology, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework developed by Mishra and Koehler. This framework
promotes the synergy between essential learning elements and pathways for the effective integration of technological tools in the classroom, emphasising the utilisation of students’ existing knowledge and diverse skill levels. By embracing the TPACK framework, educators can unlock the benefits of leveraging technology to effectively communicate content and propel our students towards limitless growth and resounding accomplishment.
To ensure success in shaping curious and tenacious students, it is essential that educators work to balance digital technologies and traditional teaching methods. When technology is harmoniously used alongside conventional teaching, it provides numerous benefits that enrich student learning experiences. Class discussions on ethics or debates concerning current affairs, can be enhanced by digital technology to stimulate critical thinking and prompt dynamic discourse. Technology can catalyse heightened engagement and
lasting knowledge retention within these conventional contexts. Students can critically analyse arguments and reflect on the salient discussion points by recording debates. This innovative fusion of traditional and tech-led methods demonstrates the TPACK framework in action, enhancing critical thinking and fostering deeper learning outcomes.
This blend of a digital teaching approach liberates students to learn fearlessly, knowing they can explore, tinker, and refine their ideas without the weight of irreversible mistakes. Consider a 3D modelling task that transports students into a realm where their designs come to life through the magic of 3D printers. Powerful learning tools like this can further empower students to explore and create, unleashing their boundless creativity and fostering innovation.
It is exciting to explore the impact of allowing students to delve into new digital frontiers and take ownership of their learning journey, leading to increased fulfilment and passion in the classroom. EM
TENIELLE DAVIES, HEAD OF DIGITAL LEARNING AT LORETO NORMANHURST, IS FOSTERING FEARLESS LEARNING AND CREATIVITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE BY EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO BECOME INNOVATORS WHO CAN SHAPE A FUTURE LIMITED ONLY BY THEIR IMAGINATION.Tenielle Davies, Head of Digital Learning at Loreto Normanhurst.
Advancement of modern technology has had a profound impact on the way society operates and changed the way that people access information and learn about the world around them. In many ways, the limits of what is possible for society have exceeded human capabilities and outpaced daily life, which has changed the way that people value their time, prioritise their experiences, and access services.
Above all else though, technology has changed the way that people communicate with each other. The rise of digitalisation and the rapid advancement of technology has introduced new modes of communication, from which more flexible, creative, collaborative ways of sharing and exchanging information have emerged. In the education sector, these
opportunities to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and make learning more engaging, accessible, interactive, and personalised experience for pursuing academic interests. Moreover, the advent of a diverse range of educationfocussed technologies centred around the idea of ‘the virtual classroom,’ such as e-learning platforms that present learning materials in the form of smartboards, downloads, videos, virtual messaging and virtual reality, or online classroom environments have allowed students and teachers to streamline the exchange of ideas, course content, and assignments while working remotely, and facilitated more channels of communication between them.
According to Dr Erica Southgate, Professor of Emerging Tech for Education Research at
is to embrace it as a tool for learning in the same way, one would embrace something in the natural world that has specific affordances and can promote deeper exploration and creative methods of engaging with the world in a more authentic way.
“In nature, a stick can be a learning tool that provides an individual with an opportunity to explore the world by themselves, and with others. And much like technology, it also has affordances, or rather specific properties, that can be leveraged to allow for new understandings to be developed,” says Dr Southgate. By this line of thinking, any learning tool can provide properties to help students imaginatively tell a learning story beyond the self, she explains, and acceptance that learning tools are contextual and open to interpretation should seamlessly be a part of a shared learning culture as a society, whether it is applied in the classroom, or beyond.
“Children and young people understand the concept that learning tools in the digital world can be leveraged for individual fun and sharing content with a connection to something greater than themselves. Whether that be in the context of a multi-player game or the creation and sharing of a TikTok video. This sense of purposeful and positive connection with the world is truly what the best digital learning tools provide,” she says.
In addition to teaching at the tertiary level, Dr Southgate is also the Founder and Lead Researcher of the VR School Study, which is the first of its kind, and longest running investigation into the use of virtual reality in primary and secondary schools, internationally. In her
IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND VIRTUAL REALITY, TECHNOLOGY IS ADVANCING AT AN UNPRECEDENTED RATE. EDUCATION MATTERS REPORTS ON WHAT THESE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES MEAN FOR THE CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE AND HOW THEY ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING.Emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality and AI-enabled learning tools have the potential to create purposeful and positive connections with the world for students.
research, Dr Southgate has investigated the ethical implications of artificial intelligence for schools and was the lead author on the Australian Government commissioned national report ‘Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Schools.’
“There are many ethical and governance challenges facing us right now with emerging technology. We are living in the era where the internet of things meets the internet of bodies to produce unprecedented harvesting of our very personal, often biometric, data through each device we use and all the devices in the community that track, profile, predict and nudge us,” says Dr Southgate.
The report produced the first ethical framework for the use of artificial intelligence in schools and presented a framework for understanding AI as an emerging technology and its implications for curriculum design, pedagogy, and learning, in addition to the ethical and governmental implications of it for education and academic institutions.
“If you take a moment to consider all the different types of data that has been collected about you from the time you got up in the morning. From wearables like smart watches; to GPS and signals from our devices; to the online content we consume and create – we are in a world right now where we have very little power over whether our data is harvested and stored,” says Dr Southgate.
“I think it’s important that we understand what data is being extracted from our schools, how it is used and shared, and what effects data hungry AI algorithms and profiling might have on the selfhood and our life opportunities of ourselves and our students.”
As profiling systems such as learning analytics dashboards begin to be embedded in applications and learning management systems, Dr Southgate says that educators need to honestly interrogate algorithmic processes that will produce representations of our students.
“Teachers are particularly well-positioned to explore our understanding on the affordances of specific technologies to determine how they can be better used in the classroom because of their deep pedagogical knowledge,” she says. As an example, she explains that one of the affordances of virtual reality technology in a classroom setting is its ability to provide a first-person perspective and allow students to travel to a time and place and see the world as they otherwise might not experience it.
“This affordance is something that English, History, Geography and Language teachers can understand, as well as how VR is a powerful form of communicating course content to students,” she says. “Teachers can assign texts that provide a firstperson character perspective in a VR format. This can effectively immerse the learner in simulations of times and places that are qualitatively different from paper or flat-screen technologies because the learner feels present there and, in many cases, can interact and explore the virtual environment by themselves and with the teacher or peers.”
She furthers that teachers can also provide students with easy-to-use tools to create their own virtual environments to allow them to demonstrate what they have learned in creative and fun ways that invite others to immerse themselves in these worlds, with the click of a URL or QR code.
“In this instance, teachers would be learning alongside their students about what the technology
can do and how it can be used to demonstrate the depth of knowledge and understanding. This is what I’m most interested in – a new relationship between teacher, learner, and technology,” she says.
The introduction of AI-enabled learning tools and technology such as ChatGPT has further shifted the needle in the education landscape towards a world where educators start to lean more heavily on technology for foundational learning and information, and embrace new ways of thinking about how students can express their learnings and be assessed on their academic performance.
“If generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are considered disruptive to the Western concept of education which assesses students on their demonstration of knowledge through production of original and authentic written artefacts, then we will be in for more shocks as all cultural forms become automatic, machine-made, or synthetic (music, video, games etc),” she says.
With the current trajectory of technology as it is, Dr Southgate posits that perhaps the future of education will need to rely more on assessing students for their application of concepts, critical thinking abilities and creativity in developing realworld solutions using emerging technologies, rather than having students demonstrate learning through traditional forms of assessment.
“The future is now. In a world of where EdTech products can harvest our data, profile and nudge us, we need to better understand and advocate for our digital human rights as educators, and situate the digital human rights of the child at the centre of education. We also need to productively and critically engage in the ‘teacher-learnermachine’ relationship because that is as central to education right now as it is core is to every day life,” she concludes.
Dr Southgate will be co-presenting at EduTECH 2023, taking place in 24-25 August in Melbourne, on a VR School Study, alongside three Adelaide-based secondary teachers: Ella Camporeale, Jess Simons, and Toni Maddock. The group will be reporting on research findings on VR integration across a range of subject areas such as science, geography, maths, and digital design, and in different junior secondary school settings. EM
For more information, visit: www.edutech.net.au and enter code ‘EM20’ for an extra 20% off registrations.
See us at stand #1012
Giving students the opportunity to make mistakes and iterate to solve problems is an important part of learning STEM concepts and Computer Science curriculum. However, every student responds to errors and challenges in their own unique way. That is why fostering a culture of resilience and persistence in the classroom can help students gain the perspective they need to be successful and providing effective feedback is central to building this resilience.
Feedback is information provided to help close the gap between where a student is in their learning, and where they need to be. While providing high-quality feedback is important, there are other factors that influence the efficacy of feedback received by students. Students need to be taught how to receive, interpret, and use the feedback provided. If students do not understand the feedback or how to action the feedback, there is little to nothing they can do to improve moving forward.
Some feedback in STEM Labs is provided to students through the coding method and the behaviors of the robot. Students can test their VEXcode or Coder projects and receive immediate feedback on whether their project works as intended. With this feedback, students can self-assess their progress in a STEM Lab. During a STEM Lab, students may require feedback from the teacher who is facilitating the lesson. Students may become stuck on a particular challenge. The goal of the teacher would be to provide feedback that allows the students to move forward while not giving out any solutions.
Feedback is a part of the formative assessment framework and one way to address a student’s understanding of the material. These two concepts go hand in hand to create greater student success by providing targeted feedback at the appropriate time in each lesson. Effective feedback should help students examine their thinking, and guide them to finding the correct answers, not just inform students of what is wrong and give the solution
of how to fix it. As such, feedback may include questions designed to help students see their errors, instead of statements of those errors made for the students.
Here are some guidelines to remember when giving feedback:
1. Be specific and target feedback at the project, not at the student. Example: I see you have the [Repeat] block here at the bottom of your project. Why did you make that choice? Look at the Help or at this image in the slideshow for reminders about how the [Repeat] block works.
2. Feedback should happen after students have time to attempt to solve their own problems. Give them a chance to go through the strategies that help them get unstuck.
3. Ask students one or two reflection questions after each Lab. These questions can be used to provide the teacher with information on their students’ thinking. Example: What questions do you still have about this topic?
“Feedback should happen after students have time to attempt to solve their own problems. Give them a chance to go through the strategies that help them get unstuck.”
PROBLEM-SOLVERS OF TODAY AND TOMORROW. VEX STEM LABS PROVIDES TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR GIVING STUDENTS CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK WHEN LEARNING STEM AND COMPUTER SCIENCE CONCEPTS THAT ENCOURAGE THEM TO BECOME FEARLESS WHEN TESTING THEIR KNOWLEDGE.VEX STEM Labs promotes collaborative and exploratory learning to encourage students to build confidence and resilience as they progress in STEM subjects.
The process of giving effective feedback, like using the strategy outlined above helps students to build on their growth mindset and resilience. Students with this mindset are “more likely to interpret academic challenges or mistakes as opportunities to learn.” This engagement by students is cited as a crucial factor in promoting perseverance by students in their learning.
Four student beliefs that contribute to a successful learning mindset have been identified as:
1. I belong in this academic community.
2. I can succeed in this.
3. My ability and competence grow with my effort.
4. This work has value for me.
Numbers two and three directly relate to that growth mindset of students. If feedback to students is effective, then students know they can succeed. STEM Labs provide a framework so students can experience immediate success before receiving a challenge to help the students grow in their understanding. That feedback gives students the tools they need to succeed independently or with a group and learn from their efforts in an activity.
Once students have experienced that success, they then can make positive connections with the content and look for value in the work. When students place value on an academic task, there is a strong association between the persistence and resilience of students and their performance.
VEX STEM Labs look to help students understand the value of the activities through connections in the content. In the GO and 123 STEM Lab Units, students are introduced to the concepts with a “Hook” in the Engage portion, to allow the students to make a personal connection to the concepts that will be introduced in each Lab. IQ and V5 STEM Labs relate activities to real-world scenarios, allowing students to understand the scope and nature of the challenges in the Lab. It is important to remember that there is no single best teaching strategy for all students or all classrooms. This pedagogy needs to be adapted to fit the context of the students and the subject. However, with a cycle of effective feedback and assessment, students can grow their mindsets and become resilient in the face of learning challenges.
4. Feedback in all forms should avoid comparisons between students. Focus on the projects and on how to help each student improve.
Making errors while working through a challenge or activity in a STEM Lab is expected and encouraged. However, students have varied feelings and reactions to making mistakes. While errors can be disruptive or frustrating at times, errors in learning can create opportunities, and can help students realise connections.
When framed as an opportunity, errors are not punitive, but positive. Creating a familiar process for problem solving with students can help them to know how to identify the problem and move forward when they make an error, thereby minimising disruption and frustration. This strategy specifically mentions the projects and challenges related to coding, but a similar approach can be used for other errors students may encounter.
1. Describe the problem. Ask the student to explain what is wrong. How is the robot moving in their project? How should the robot be moving? Because these Units are built around a shared goal, students should be able to relate the error back to the shared goal or the challenge at hand.
2. Identify when and where the problem began. Ask the student when they first noticed the problem. What part of the project were they working on? When did they last test the project? If students are having difficulty determining where in the project the error is, encourage them to use the Step feature in VEXcode or on the Coder. Once students understand where the error might be, the teacher can point them back to the appropriate lesson.
3. Make and test edits. As students review the direct instruction relating to the error, they should
work on their project and make edits. With each edit made, the student can test the project. If the project is successful, then they can move onto the next step. If the project is not successful, they can go back to the beginning of the process and try again.
4. Reflect. Ask students to think about the error they made and overcame during the process. Encourage them to recognize their mistakes and what they learned from the process to help encourage a growth mindset. A strong emphasis on a growth mindset can help students to learn when and how to persist, and when to ask for help. If students can see their process as a precursor to new learning, then they can use the steps here to further their own learning, as well as
encourage them to share their errors and process with fellow students. In this way, students can become “learning resources for one another.”
VEX Robotics has designed its STEM Labs resources with educators in mind. VEX resources give teachers all the tools needed to help plan, teach, and assess STEM curriculum in creative and innovative ways. From activity ideas to coding tutorials, VEX seeks to support educators by creating flexible curricular resources that can be adapted to meet the needs and interests of students in a variety of educational settings.
At education.vex.com educators will find a wealth of teacher and student curricular materials within VEX STEM Labs. STEM Labs function as “plugin” lessons that can fit into the existing curriculum. Multiple labs can be utilized in sequential order to create a unique, extended learning experience. STEM Labs promote collaboration and exploratory learning.
Through VEX STEM Labs, students can enjoy hands-on-learning activities that allow them to apply technology, science, maths, and engineering skills as they enjoy a 21st-century learning experience. STEM Labs have something to offer for everyone and they are aligned with the Australian curriculum standards. Labs can also be used as crosscurricular activities so that teachers can work together to ensure that students can be exposed to robotics in a variety of classes. EM
To learn more, visit: vexrobotics.com
“The process of giving effective feedback helps students to build on their growth mindset and resilience. Students with this mindset are more likely to interpret academic challenges or mistakes as opportunities to learn.”VEX Robotics offers educational robotics for everyone, spanning all levels of both formal and informal education with accessible, scalable, and affordable solutions. VEX STEM Labs function as plugin lessons that can fit into an existing lesson plan and are aligned with the Australian curriculum.
WITHIN A FEW SHORT MONTHS, CHATGPT AND ITS ILK HAVE BECOME HOT CONVERSATION TOPICS AMONG EDUCATORS. SOME SAY AI WILL TRIGGER THE DEMISE OF HUMANITY, DESTROY ORIGINAL THOUGHT, AND DUMB DOWN CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION. BUT WHAT IF THE OPPOSITE WERE TRUE?
In medicine, agriculture, and policing, AI advancements have been feted. While in education, proponents have argued students will merely regurgitate what ChatGPT tells them and cease to think for themselves. Sound familiar? Similar rhetoric occurred when pen was first put to paper, with the advent of the printing press, and more recently television. We can no more hold back the steady advancement of AI than we can these other historical developments.
As educators and freethinkers, one legitimate perspective is to question how new technologies might be used for productive ends. What if we were to look to AI in education as a way of unshackling creativity rather than a harbinger of groupthink? To see it as a route to developing individual voice rather than passive acceptance of machine-generated suggestions. Even as a springboard to widespread literacy.
These are the questions Writer’s Toolbox has been researching for over a decade.
Led by founder and researcher Dr Ian Hunter, the deep learning team at Writer’s Toolbox have wrestled with how to specifically engineer AI to support educational outcomes. In contrast to generative AI, the objective was not to build software to produce text or, like Grammarly, to correct a writer’s syntax or word choices. The objective for the Writer’s Toolbox team was far more fundamental: to teach a learner. Consequently, the team fused global curriculum
The result is an AI that teaches a student— of any age or ability level—how to be a better writer. This discontinuous leap in computeraided learning fundamentally pivots the AI debate. For here is AI that has been built to support the moral imperative of education: to engage students who are switched off, to lift underperformers, and to push good writers to become great writers.
Writer’s Toolbox AI does what nothing else can because it is trained on an extensive longitudinal research project into authentic student writing: tens of millions of sentences, across every year level and text type. That
teachable moment. Instant feedback enables students to learn what they have done well, and what they need to do to make their writing better—whatever subject or writing genre.
For the busy teacher, it is like having another set of hands. In a time where curriculum is exploding in breadth, Writer’s Toolbox AI develops and nurtures the teaching of writing, cementing the relationship between teacher and student. Where classrooms are bursting at the seams and teacher time is precious, AI-based tools can provide the structure, learning, and feedback required to better a student’s understanding.
In 2016, Writer’s Toolbox embarked on a four-year longitudinal study tracking the impact of their technology across 71 schools and nearly 79,000 students in Queensland sitting the NAPLAN writing assessment. The goal of the study was to understand how AI could be used to produce quantum shifts in student literacy. The study found those using Writer’s Toolbox patented AI software advanced two to ten times faster than students who did not.
• Year 3: 3.2 times greater than state growth rate
• Year 5: 5.4 times greater than state growth rate
• Year 7: 2.1 times greater than state growth rate
• Year 9: 2.6 times greater than state growth rate
• Year 9 Boys: 9.6 times greater than state growth rate
If our fundamental aim is education, these are exciting results with far-reaching implications. The lifelong earnings difference between a person who goes to tertiary education and someone who doesn’t is $1.6 million. But the benefits are not only individual. Opening doors to further education for more young people will positively impact families and communities. Increasing literacy access at a societal level has positive implications for
It has been 15 years since the launch of NAPLAN standardised testing for Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in Australia. And while the test itself is not without controversy, the main trends in the nation’s students have been clear: numeracy is sound, reading has improved, writing has declined. Such a downward trend in writing is a problem not only faced by Australian schools. US school districts and colleges are reporting similar low performance. Underneath big data, worrying trends are appearing. Large scale studies of teachers in NSW suggest that many feel ill-equipped to teach writing. Those in the teaching community report a lack of confidence to assess writing or in some instances, even give their students effective feedback. At the level of the student, gaps are equally glaring. As many as 20 per cent of Year 9 students no longer meet the minimum writing standard. And there can be an almost two-year lag when comparing boys’ writing results against those of girls.
It was at this juncture that Writer’s Toolbox intervened. Writer’s Toolbox is a cloud-based writing programme that employs Composition Theory, Discovery Learning, and advances in neuroscience to provide immediate feedback to students on writing of any genre. A K-12 initiative, the intelligent AI inside Writer’s Toolbox has been programmed to teach a student how to be a better writer (not just gifting answers).
The impact of this approach has now been tested in a four-year longitudinal study involving 71 Queensland schools and nearly 79,000 students. The aim was to see if this approach to writing instruction— across an entire school system—could trigger change. The initial results surprised even the research team. Across every year level, NAPLAN writing improvement results were between double and 10 times those achieved by the state of Queensland in the same period. It did not matter if the school was a state school, private school, independent, single-sex or co-ed, inner-city or very remote, writing outcomes lifted. And for boys in Year 9, this was especially true. The rate of writing improvement among boys using Writer’s Toolbox was 9.6 times greater compared to the Queensland state average.
There are innumerable benefits to broadening access to and strengthening that most fundamental of human skills: writing.
The use of the AI-driven writing programme had further side benefits. Schools involved in the study observed improvements in student self-expression and confidence. Teachers reported greater ability
of student engagement, confidence, and writing quality, teachers also spent less time marking.
Writer’s Toolbox is proud to host the inaugural Australasian Literacy Summit on 18-19 September in Hamilton, New Zealand. Join two days of thoughtprovoking discussion and insights on literacy from leading educational experts, including Edinburgh University’s Professor Richard Andrews. Register now at www.writerstoolbox.com/events/ australasian-literacy-summit.
The inability to express oneself clearly and powerfully is holding back too many Australian students from fully enjoying the educational and life goals they desire. Using the best of what technology can offer, Writer’s Toolbox is steadfast in its mission to change this trend. EM
To read the full study including specific school case studies, visit: writerstoolbox.com/naplan-success
In March 2023, Australia suffered one of its largest data breaches to date, impacting 14 million people. Putting this in perspective, the widely reported Optus breach affected 9.5 million and Medibank 9.7 million people, respectively. The target of this breach was Latitude, an Australian personal loan and financial service provider, and the attack occurred when one employee’s credentials was stolen, allowing access to Latitude’s customer data.
When data breaches like this occur, cyber criminals gain access to the information they need to perpetrate identity theft or conduct highly targeted phishing attacks. In the Latitude case, the damage included the theft of 7.9 million driver’s licence numbers
of Australian and New Zealand customers, as well as 53,000 passport numbers.
As the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner (AICP) Ms Angelene Falk puts it: “As personal information becomes increasingly available to malicious actors through breaches, the likelihood of other attacks, such as targeted social engineering, impersonation fraud and scams, can increase.”
Data breaches are so common that they’re now an anticipated, if not normal, part of functioning in the digital world. According to the AICP, in 2022 there were 497 data breaches in Australia, 40 of which were largescale data breaches occurring predominantly
in the health and finance sectors, as we saw with Latitude and Medibank. Almost threequarters of those breaches were blamed on criminal attacks, while a quarter were due to human error. Of concern is that there was a 67 percent rise in the number of attacks in the second half of 2022 compared to the first half of the year.
Given the increasing rate and impact of attacks, it seems an almost Sisyphean task to quell data breaches, but there are many ways to stay ahead of cyber criminals. These include cyber security protection software, ongoing regulatory and data privacy reform, and community awareness and education. Given a quarter of breaches are due to human
error, it is logical that consumer education should be a major focus for government and industry.
That’s one of the reasons why Grok Academy is launching a new course for high school students called Digital Forensics, as part of the compulsory digital technologies curriculum (AC:DT). Participants investigate a fictitious data breach that has occurred in the school environment. By understanding the nature and extent of a data breach, students will gain insight into what can be learned from data breaches –in particular, how they occur and how to avoid them.
Organisations employ specialist digital forensics professionals in their cyber security teams, working on highly confidential investigations to understand data breaches to better protect systems and data. In the field of digital forensics, specialists use sophisticated techniques to answer questions such as - what happened, how it happened, what data was breached and who might be responsible. With the learnings gained from such investigations, organisations are better able to defend against future cyber-attacks.
Ms Sujatha Gunja, Lead Educator for Grok Academy believes this is the first-time forensics has been offered to a high school audience with real-time feedback. “Digital forensics is an established part of policing and is now a growing field within corporations, spurred on by the prevalence of cybercrime and regulatory reform. The Digital Forensics course highlights the investigative element to working with data breaches. It’s like CSI but it examines all the trails and clues that modern digital systems captures to build up a picture of what might have gone wrong.
“We are fortunate that Grok Academy’s industry and government partners - ANZ, The Australian Signals Directorate, The Department of Industry Science and Resources, AWS, BT, CBA, Fifth Domain, NAB and Westpac – have their own teams of digital forensics specialists, many of whom appear in the challenge via helpful videos that shed light on different aspects of actual data
breach investigations,” she says.
“These, together with real-time hints and feedback as the student progresses, brings a real-world element to the task. Thanks to Grok Academy’s partners, Digital Forensics is available to high school students for free across Australia.”
In the Digital Forensics course, students play the role of a Digital Forensics Investigator, exploring the definition of a data breach, how digital forensics specialists work, and learning about privacy principles. A key aspect of the challenge is understanding how virtual machines (VMs) are used in these investigations. VMs are an industry standard practice of creating isolated computing environments to examine evidence - much like computing ‘clean rooms’ for digital forensic experts. The course is broken down into four stages and categories:
1. The Leak: Students are presented with details of a suspected data breach and need to verify the details of the case.
2. The Perimeter: The investigation takes a different focus, examining data logs from various sources relevant to the case.
3. Closing In: More data logs are examined including HTTP proxy logs to understand where and how the data might have been shared.
4. Under the Microscope: This module completes the picture with a forensics report to build a
case of what might have happened, and the key people involved.
Grok Academy hopes that Digital Forensics will not only educate students, but also inspire them to consider roles in the nascent fields of digital forensics and cyber security. Despite the ongoing growth of Australia’s cyber workforce, companies struggle to find skilled cyber security workers. Although in 2019 AustCyber predicted 17,000 more cyber security workers would be needed by 2026, more recent research has found that over the next few years the shortage of qualified cyber security professionals is projected to reach 30,000.
“When industry and government talk about building the cyber security skills pipeline, the focus is usually on the tertiary sector. But at Grok Academy, we believe that to truly solve the skills crisis, the process needs to begin at school. This is important not just in terms of building cyber literacy – which will help reduce the human error factor contributing to 25 percent of data breaches – but also put consideration of cyber security and digital forensics roles on the radar of students, parents and teachers,” says Ms Gunja.
“The Digital Forensics course opens new technical ground for us at Grok Academy, where we give students opportunities to work with Virtual Machines. We have worked hard to create the ideal balance of suspense (what might have gone wrong, who might have done it?) and ensure that curriculum goals are reached. Our cyber-AU partners were integral to the content design and technical development of the course providing industry expertise, around which we layered sound teaching practices.”
“This course gives students a little taste of what it’s like to work in the industry, and hopefully inspires them to continue learning and working in technology,” she concludes. EM
For more information on the Digital Forensics challenge, visit: grok.ac/digital-forensics
PETER MOYES ANGLICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL WORKED WITH I.T. PARTNER, STOTT HOARE, LEVERAGING LENOVO ANZ INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS TO SOLVE SEVERAL I.T. CHALLENGES. FROM DEVICES, TO SERVERS AND SERVICES, THE SCHOOL IS SEEING THE BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH ONE LENOVO.
More than 1,500 students go through the doors of Peter Moyes Anglican Community School, ranging from Pre-Kindergarten through to Year 12. Each year, students in Years 4, 7 and 10 are provided with new devices to assist in their everyday learning.
In the most recent rollout Lenovo was chosen as their preferred hardware vendor, with the ThinkPad L13 Yoga chosen as the right solution for both students and teachers.
The latest partnership is an extension of the school’s existing relationship with Lenovo’s Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) – who have been providing the school with servers for some time. The extended partnership is a great example of how working with one partner across several IT challenges can reap multiple benefits, simplify complex issues, and allow for a fruitful IT environment that supports long term business outcomes.
Schools often operate in complex IT environments, some with as many nuances and challenges as any large enterprise. With
end-users ranging from kindergarteners, through to young adults, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School has its work cut out for it in the IT department.
Stott Hoare have been working with Peter Moyes Anglican Community School for nearly five years. Initially employed to provide support on devices, the close nature of their partnership ultimately geared both parties towards management of devices, as well as improvement of the entire IT infrastructure procurement process. By understanding the school’s needs on a deep level, Stott Hoare have been able to help the school find the right solutions for their complex needs yearin-year-out.
“Lots of schools are facing a real challenge navigating their move towards a learn-from-anywhere model, and I think technology have moved away from being just about a device, to how schools can manage that device and ensure students and teachers have got access from anywhere,” said Mr Brian Hawkins, Sales Manager at Stott Hoare. Through Stott Hoare, Lenovo was already the chosen provider for server
infrastructure at the school. So, in 2019, when looking to commence a device refresh for students in Years 4, 7 and 10, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School and Stott Hoare approached Lenovo about extending their partnership. The new partnership was to include existing solutions spanning servers, devices, and services – all of which would help ensure a smooth rollout of devices, easy ongoing management of the IT environment, and better cost containment through bundled financial services. With an existing relationship and knowledge of the school’s IT needs, Stott Hoare and Lenovo were able to arrange a solution to meet their needs by tapping into the power Lenovo’s end-toend capabilities in infrastructure solutions, intelligent devices, financial services, and service solutions.
As the long-term trusted IT partner of Peter Moyes Anglican Community School, Stott Hoare are called upon to make decisions about what technology providers to work with
to best deliver on the school’s objectives through technology. Their decision to work with Lenovo to help solve the school’s IT challenges is testament to the end-to-end nature of Lenovo’s offering. Lenovo is a global technology powerhouse that, unlike many competitors, can offer customers everything they need, from the pocket to the cloud. With the biggest device business in the world, a fast-growing infrastructure business, and an innovative solutions and services business.
“At One Lenovo, we make buying a solution as easy as buying a PC, making life easier for our customers all through a single company, and a single team. It’s our goal to help our customers and partners deliver on their business goals. We’re united in our vision to equip more people around the globe with smarter technology and to help build a better future,” said Ms Julia Sinton, Account Executive of Large Enterprise, at Lenovo.
To foster a future in which students become positive and active global citizens, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School believes in ensuring that students are well equipped for the future by being trained to use technology
effectively on their schooling journey. The school has a philosophy: ‘I belong, everyone matters, together we achieve our goal.’
“We partnered with Lenovo to provide options for our students to utilise technology and develop their skills so that they may be successful in whatever pathway they are looking to pursue,” said Mr Benjamin Lomas, Principal at Peter Moyes Anglican Community School. To help students get to where they need to get to, the school utilises the latest technologies in their classrooms, from creative arts rooms, to media labs, to computer facilities.
The Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Yoga is designed to take student productivity to new heights. The second generation of the 13.3” L13 Yoga delivers powerful 11th Gen Intel® performance and graphics. With a 360-degree hinge, the device is ideal for adapting to a variety of classroom environments, capable of shifting from typing to digital art in seconds. Because it features an integrated, rechargeable pen, the device lets user take notes or sketch when they prefer not to type – which the school has found is a great feature for teachers when marking work, according to Mr Lomas. Because the L13 Yoga is a Windows device, students can benefit from the new
features of Windows 11, including a new layout that is designed to give students a more focused Start experience.
Furthermore, thanks to Windows Remote Deployment and Compliance, schools and their partners, can deploy, secure, and manage remote devices through the cloud, in compliance with school policies. Windows 11 has expanded support for Group Policy administrative templates (ADMX-backed policies) in mobile device management (MDM) solutions like Microsoft Endpoint Manager, enabling IT professionals like Stott Hoare to easily apply the same security policies to all devices, whether they are remote or on site.
This makes managing remote learning a much simpler process, enabling students and educators to work securely inside and outside of the school environment – a critical component of a postCOVID world. EM
To find out how you can unlock the power of creativity and collaboration with a Windows 11 device that’s built for learning, visit: techtoday.lenovo.com/education
Peter Moyes Anglican Community School students enjoy state-of-the-art creative arts, media labs and computer facilities that utilise the latest technologies.THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA’S INNOVATIVE DIGITAL HISTORY PROGRAM, AUSTRALIA’S DEFINING MOMENTS DIGITAL CLASSROOM, INVITES STUDENTS TO EXPLORE KEY MOMENTS THAT HAVE SHAPED AUSTRALIAN IDENTITY AND CULTURE THROUGH AN INTERACTIVE TIMELINE OF OUR COUNTRY’S HISTORY DATING BACK 65,000 YEARS.
The National Museum of Australia’s Defining Moments Digital Classroom website is a treasure trove of learning resources presented as a series of comprehensive interactive learning modules that contain primary sources from the museum, scanned photographs, videos, virtual tours, facts, trivia, and many other curiosities and relics – all free to the public to access online.
The Defining Moments Digital Classroom initiative made headlines in 2020 when Australian philanthropists and founders of the Gandel
Foundation, Mr John and Ms Pauline Gandel, pledged a generous $1.5 million dollars toward the program’s development – the single largest donation the National Museum has ever received.
The success of the program encouraged the National Museum to focus on developing its next program with the aim of inspiring and engaging Australian students at a national and local level, which saw the launch of the first History Makers School Video Challenge in 2022, led by the National Museum of Australia’s Assistant School Outreach Manager Ms Leanne Pope.
“The Defining Moments Digital Classroom and the History Makers School Video Challenge are inspired by education, which is what the National Museum of Australia is all about, and the digital classroom is intended to complement the museum’s existing on site, digital and outreach education programs,” says Ms Pope. “These programs have been linked to the Australian Curriculum, created with educators in mind, and designed for students to explore the volumes of digital resources that we have to offer.”
Combining Australian Curriculum learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities, the History Makers School Video Challenge provides students with an opportunity to creatively demonstrate their research and understanding of Australian history – and bring those moments to life through film and multimedia.
“The History Makers School Video Challenge encourages students to engage with our Defining Moments in the Digital Classroom website and identify the historical events that are of most interest or relevance to them,” says Ms Pope. “Students are welcome to submit their own individual story, or work as a group or an entire class and we encourage teachers and educators to get involved.”
The videos submitted in 2022 came from across Australia and covered a broad range of topics including the demise of Bushranger Johnny Gilbert, the abolition of capital punishment and the integration of schools, and one class of students travelled back to the 1700s, reeinacting the time of the first Australian settlers.
“Last year, we received over 100 amazing submissions. We had a panel that examined all the videos and placed them in categories. It was hard because every video was inspiring in its own ways and showcased so many beautiful moments. But we had to choose just 20 winners and 10 of those were runners up,” she says. “With generous support from the Gandel Foundation, competition winners are awarded $2,000 and runners up with $500, which can be put toward learning resources or improving communities.”
Ms Pope’s commitment to delivering a diverse range of innovative cultural programs across the country is evidenced by her passion for education and the arts and extensive experience with transforming the Australian culture, history and identity into interactive and engaging experiences that have a powerful impact on the public.
“As a Wiradjuri/Tubba-Gah Woman, I love seeing First Nations culture, being researched, and then relayed in a manner where young people can tell and retell their stories and the defining moments from where they have come from so far.”
For students, teachers, and schools who are interested in joining the competition, Ms Pope
recommends using the Defining Moments Digital Classroom site as a starting place for inspiration.
“The first thing I would suggest is that students explore the timeline, spend some time looking through the moments, and see what appeals to them,” she says. “What I love most about this site is that say you click on a national park, and you think you are going to learn about the bush, but then it will expand into a learning journey, where suddenly you are learning about early settlers, immigration, scarlet fever, and goldmining.”
“You may start out looking at a national park, and then realise, wow, I am really interested in the history of goldmining in that area. Students may start their journey in one spot but could end up somewhere else entirely. And that’s exactly what we love about education. The more you research, the more you learn and the more exciting the journey becomes,” she furthers.
“From that point you can start to get excited and inspired about where to take your own history video, what you want to make, and why it’s special to you.”
Entries for the History Makers 2023 School
Video Challenge are open until 15 September 2023. The challenge is open to all Australian school students (K-12) and can be completed as individuals, small groups, or whole classes. The teaching and learning experience can be adjusted for all year levels, for all levels of digital capability and across a wide variety of topics.
The History Makers 2023 School Video Challenge is supported with video resources for teachers on cultural protocols, copyright acknowledgements and topics to be explored. All winning videos become part of the Digital Classroom to be used by other students as resources.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to explore their creative side through the lens of history. Participants can come with their own story, history or recreate their own historic moments from their hometown or school,” Ms Pope concludes. EM
Are you ready to become a #HistoryMaker in 2023?
To learn more about the competition, visit: nma.gov.au/history-makers
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, technology plays a pivotal role in enabling effective hybrid and online staff and teacher collaboration experiences. With the increased demand for flexible teaching solutions, educational institutions require
solution specifically designed for small to medium-sized collaboration areas, not only empowering staff to have effective meetings, but allowing educators to deliver impactful lessons to students in their own homes. The Biamp VBC2500 conferencing bar serves learning environments, connecting teachers to other staff and students from their onsite environment. The Biamp VBC2500 features
ensuring that every word spoken by educators is captured with exceptional clarity. Its highquality, full-duplex speakers eliminate sound
experience for remote students. With echo cancellation and noise reduction capabilities, the conferencing bar guarantees that every Visual engagement is paramount in capturing people’s attention and fostering an in-depth
meeting (or lesson). The Biamp VBC2500 features a high-definition camera has autoframing settings that adjusts to follow whats in the frame, allowing educators to deliver lessons while not being fixed to a single position. Its superior video quality ensures that every gesture and facial expression is conveyed with precision, bridging the gap between in-person and virtual interactions.
In an era where hybrid and online learning have become integral to the educational landscape, the Biamp VBC2500 conferencing bar stands as the premier AV solution for small to medium-sized collaboration areas. Its cuttingedge audio and video capabilities, seamless connectivity, and intuitive set-up features empower educators to deliver immersive and engaging lessons. With the Biamp VBC2500, schools across Australia can unlock the true potential of hybrid meetings, giving teachers the upgrade that they need to create dynamic online meetings and lessons. EM
For more information, visit: https://www.jands.com.au/biamp-parlevbc-2500-conferencing-video-bar
BIAMP IS EQUIPPING EDUCATORS WITH ADVANCED AUDIOVISUAL TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL EMPOWER THEM TO ‘BE SEEN, BE HEARD AND BE EXTRAORDINARY’.Jands’ audiovisual systems allow teachers to create more flexible and dynamic hybrid learning experiences. See us at stand # 000
THE EFFICACY OF A SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CAN HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE QUALITY OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR A SCHOOL’S STUDENT BODY. AS THE EDUCATION LANDSCAPE CONTINUES TO CHANGE, SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TEAMS AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF WILL NEED TO BE PROACTIVE ABOUT IMPLEMENTING MORE STREAMLINED AND EFFICIENT OPERATIONAL PROCESSES.
Neil Spence, Schools Engagement Manager at Compass believes that in today’s education landscape, total school management systems play a critical role in managing complex operations of schools and improving results. “To be effective, these systems must be flexible and tailored to meet the evolving needs of schools,” says Mr Spence.
An efficient management system is essential to improving the way a school collects, analyses and uses its data to inform decision-making. “One important area that school management systems can assist with is the collation of attendance, wellbeing, and assessment data. By integrating this data in a cloud-based system, educators can more easily track student progress and tailor teaching strategies to meet individual student needs,” explains Mr Spence.
The benefits of consolidating and automating a school’s management system also extends to identifying trends in student wellbeing. Generational shifts in the way schools teach and students learn have shown that having a clear picture of a student’s wellbeing is essential to nurturing their happiness and success at school. However, the challenge for many schools is translating wellbeing data into actionable plans to improve student outcomes. To this end, Compass transforms the complex into the simple by capturing student wellbeing data and turning it into meaningful information.
“The Compass platform has been designed to meet the demands of modern schools through its powerful data analytics tool to provide a holistic view of school performance,” says Mr Spence.
For Compass, simplifying school tasks and giving teachers more time to focus on learning was the catalyst for the development of an all-in-one platform that automates entire workflows for principals, teachers and school administration staff.
“With an increasing number of tools and apps being offered to schools, many schools’ tech stacks consist of multiple apps which all perform different functions in order to manage routine school tasks,” explains Mr Spence. “It’s important that tech stacks are simplified, as schools seek to use the most versatile tools available to reduce the fatigue that teachers face as a result of overly complicated administrative workflows.”
Compass alleviates the burden of administrative tasks, such as scheduling, communication, attendance tracking and academic reports, by connecting more than 40 feature-rich applications in a single solution.
Compass offers a unified experience for the entire school community that empowers staff, teachers, parents and students by operating in a single platform with connected tools and automated workflows.
“Implementing a new school management system starts with planning requirements, then building awareness of products, and finally, completing a cost/benefit analysis before purchasing a system,” says Mr Spence. “By partnering with an experienced and trusted vendor like Compass, schools can successfully transition to a universal school management system and transform the quality of life for their students and staff.” EM
For more information, visit: https://www.compass.education
THE EXPERT TEAM OF OUTDOOR EXPLORERS AT LIVE WIRE PARK ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS THROUGH ACTION-PACKED OUTDOOR ADVENTURES THAT ARE SURE TO CHALLENGE THE BODY AND MIND, WHILE RECHARGING THE SPIRIT.
Nestled in the Otway Forest, just off the Great Ocean Road is where the call of the wild can be answered with a day trip to Live Wire Park. Safe, secure, and full of fun, Live Wire Park is the perfect way for students and teachers alike to enjoy Victoria’s rainforests while learning about the local flora and fauna and participating in the park’s sustainability education program.
As Australia’s first outdoor adventure park, powered entirely by nature, Live Wire Park has been thoughtfully designed to have a minimal impact on the environment. Fuelled by solar power, paired with all water being collected, used, and treated on site, Live Wire Park is a sustainable business.
The park’s eco-approach adds an educational dimension to the experience. The Live Wire team takes student groups through core sustainability principles, explaining how
they have been implemented them in the building of the park to ensure minimal impact on the environment.
As students scale trees, swing on ropes, and plunge down the park’s bungee circuits, amidst the native gumtrees and lush natural landscapes, they will also learn about the history of the temperate local rainforest, which contains dense biodiversity and several species of trees and plants with some towering Blue Gum Eucalypts estimated to be more than 150 years old.
Students will learn about the park’s photovoltaic off grid system and how by harnessing solar energy, it uses a 5.4 kW Solar Array which charges a battery bank, and in turn, powers the entire park.
Live Wire Park’s water cycle management plan and the systems in place to capture water
on-site, negate the need for mains water. The park also treats waste onsite through selfcomposting toilets and recycling grey water.
The Live Wire Park team will also introduce students to the native wildlife including koalas, wombats, and kookaburras, which frequently make an appearance during these outdoor excursions.
Studies show that encouraging secondary school students to overcome their fears and try new activities can help them become more confident and self-assured, in addition to offloading the built-up energy and frustration that comes with adolescence. Ultimately, enabling them to be calmer and more focused when they return to the classroom.
Students will experience the sense of freedom and autonomy that comes from self-directed outdoor learning, while
building greater confidence in their abilities, forging friendships with their fellow outdoor explorers, and developing valuable social and communication skills.
Supported by the Live Wire Park team, park activities are the ultimate group bonding experience, bringing students together in a new setting, away from sometimes stressful and familiar environments. At Live Wire Park, students will naturally come out of their shells and become more social, more cooperative, and more encouraging of one another, making them open to meeting and talking to new people and making new friends.
Elevated above the Blue Gums, Live Wire Park’s Canopy Circuit features 120 metres of easy treetop suspended pathway, in addition to a five-zone elevated trampolining net park known as the Spring Circuit. For the little live wires, the Short Circuit has been designed with children and smaller teenagers in mind.
For an electric outdoor adventure unlike any other, the park’s Super Circuit will challenge the physical
ropes lovers. Featuring 53 mid-air trails, suspended bridges, tree scaling activities and an electrifying Tarzan swing, the Super Circuit tree top challenge is designed for thrill seekers and active adventurers ready to test their endurance, agility and problemsolving skills.
For adrenaline seekers, the Shockwave Zip Coaster is the most extreme zip line in Australia. The ultimate zip lining joy ride 525 metres long, the Shockwave Zip Coaster pulses forward at electrifying speed, with twists and turns, charged by the sheer force of gravity. Get ready for an outdoor adventure experience like no other.
Live Wire Park is a family-owned business, run by locals who are passionate about the environment and sharing the natural wonders of the Surf Coast of Australia with the rest of the world. The park offers school group pricing and activities including a 25% discount for school groups as well as teachers who can attend free of charge. For more tailored, or overnight trips, the Live Wire team also offers catering services and local accommodation recommendations. EM
For more information, visit livewirepark.com.au/school-programs
Italian, Greek, Japanese or Indonesian. Whatever language a student chooses to study at school can open up a world of opportunity to them. So why are fewer students studying languages in secondary school?
Statistics show that in the past 13 years, Year 12 language enrollments have dropped by nearly 50 percent in South Australia. While this decline is partly due to the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) reducing from five to a minimum of four subjects, the decision not to prioritise languages is putting our students at a serious disadvantage, especially on the international stage.
continue to transform these fields, people who can think creatively and develop innovative solutions will be in high demand. Multilingualism can play a vital role in fostering creativity in STEM by exposing individuals to different perspectives and ways of thinking. Additionally, multilingualism can enhance communication skills, enabling scientists and engineers to collaborate effectively across linguistic and cultural barriers.
Dr Vincenza Tudini completed her PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, and currently works in the Education Futures academic unit at the University of South Australia. Her research interests include the application of conversation analytic techniques to online interaction. Her work on online language, learning and interaction has been published in various book chapters and journals, including The Modern Language Journal and Journal of Pragmatics. Her book on online language learning, Online Second Language Acquisition: Conversation Analysis of Online chat was published in 2010 and she is currently working on her next book Children’s Online Language and Interaction.
Globally, bilingualism is the international norm, with 193 United Nations member countries and most people in the world able to speak more than one language. The extensive and unequivocal research literature on the benefits of bilingualism points to advantages across a range of domains. From higher intellectual executive functioning and cognition, to improved mediation skills, selfregulation, and even empathy.
Research shows us that Australian students with a language background other than English (LBOTE) typically outperform the ‘non-LBOTE’ students at every year level tested (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9), and in each measure (Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation, Spelling, and Numeracy). This also extends to younger learners who tend to perform better in English language tests than their peers.
We also know that bilingualism can boost creativity. Increasingly recognised as a crucial skill in the fields of STEM, ‘Creative Thinking’ was ranked by the World Economic Forum as one of the two most important skills for workers in 2023. Now, as automation and artificial intelligence
While ‘languages’ is one of eight learning areas in the Australian Curriculum, agreed by all eight states and territories – as well as nationally, in Education Declarations signed by all ministers of Education – it seems a little more than forgotten. And this must be rectified.
So, what can we do? Firstly, we need to support maintenance of languages spoken at home, this will encourage students to keep speaking their native language and hopefully continue this into their studies at school.
Secondly, school students must not be put in the position where they need to choose between STEM or a language. Instead, we should encourage students to take languages and STEM subjects together to prepare them for global careers.
And finally, in states where only four subjects are the minimum requirement in Year 12, we need to urgently boost this to five, while also maintaining the Research Project. This will at least reverse decline of Year 12 languages enrolments in those states.
Learning languages is important for all Australians. It reflects and embraces our multicultural society and allows our First Nations and migrant communities to see themselves as important in Australian education systems and communities. Languages open doors; let’s not close them for our future generations. EM
As an Adjunct Research Professor, Dr Ken Rigby’s work at the University of South Australia is being conducted through the School of Education and the Hawke Research Institute. Between 1958 and 1969 he was employed first as a School Teacher and then as a School Guidance Officer. Subsequently, he was employed by the University of South Australia as a Lecturer in Psychology and Research Methods. Most of his work since 1990 has focussed on bullying in schools - as a Researcher, Consultant to governments, Speaker at conferences and Presenter/ Facilitator at workshops in Australia.
Bullying among school children is a serious problem, especially for vulnerable children who can be repeatedly targeted. For these children the mental health consequences of bullying can be severe and can persist long after they leave school. For the most part, interventions to reduce bullying have had little success. School children in Australia, as in other countries, who have gone to teachers for help after being bullied – and many do not – generally report that the problem was not resolved.
Knowledge about the effectiveness of interventions to address school bullying has advanced over the last three decades, but applications in schools have generally not kept up with what is known. To be successful, interventions need to be both proactive and reactive. Plans to counter bullying need to be carefully made, drawing on available evidencebased studies and incorporated in anti-bullying policies endorsed by both teachers and students, and rigorously applied. The use of curricula that includes lessons and activities designed to develop social and emotional learning (SEL) has been shown to make a positive impact in some schools.
Teachers need to become familiar with the range of proposed intervention methods, and to the relevant knowledge and skills to apply them. However, many are unaware of these other methods or lack the training or confidence to use them. It follows that the knowledge and skills to intervene more effectively are urgently needed. The latter can sometimes include the selective use of traditional methods, such as the use of appropriate sanctions
and helping bullied children to cope more effectively. However, where bullying is carried out alternative or supplementary methods are commonly required.
Restorative Practices, the Support Group Method and the Method of Shared Concern are modern methods that have proven to stop cases of bullying and help develop more positive and satisfying relationships in which the desire to bully is eliminated. Training and practice how to apply these methods promises to make a breakthrough in the extent to which cases of bullying can be resolved.
There are grounds for believing that although bullying has long proved difficult to eliminate in schools, further reductions can be made through to application of tested procedures. A new resource I have written, titled ‘Interventions in Cases of Bullying in Schools: A Training Manual for Teachers and Counsellors’ is now available to schools. Designed to be deployed alongside policy development and preventive programs, this training manual sets out nine evidence-based methods of intervention. Using a series of role-plays and prompts for discussion, it supports practitioners in selecting and applying the most appropriate method for each unique case. It also features a practical framework for recording and evaluating the application of interventions in a unique context, as well as resources that will further develop an understanding of bullying. EM
To pick up a copy, visit: www.hbe.com.au/hb1571.html
DR KEN RIGBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA SHARES SOME OF HIS RESEARCH FINDINGS ON THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHODS FOR ADDRESSING BULLYING IN SCHOOLS.
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE BROWN COLLECTIVE DR STEPHEN BROWN EXAMINES THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND EXPLORES EMERGING THEMES HIGHLIGHTED IN THE BROWN COLLECTIVE’S SYSTEM LEADERSHIP PROGRAM THAT DEFINES SYSTEM LEADERS AS BOUNDARY SPANNERS,
behaviours, are common to the work of the broad group of system leader actors described above.
By working with system leaders, seven key themes emerged that provided insights into such systems; weavers of conditions which nurture learning, performance, and connection; network energisers, and brokers; agile pilots connecting micro and macro system levels; contextualisers,
touchstones of system purpose.
These themes are examined in greater detail in the think piece ‘The Nature of System Leaders in Leading Education Systems.’ (Brown, Gregson, Pain, and Walker, 2021). EM
REFERENCE:
The Brown Collective’s flagship System Leadership Program will be delivered in September 2023. For more information, visit: www.thebrowncollective.com.au
Dr Vitomir Kovanovic is a Senior Lecturer in Learning Analytics at the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L) at the University of South Australia. His research focuses on helping schools use machine learning and artificial intelligence to support student learning and teacher decision making. Dr Kovanovic obtained his PhD in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, the United Kingdom, in 2017. He is currently the Editor of the Journal of Learning Analytics (JLA) and an Associate Editor at the Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) Journal.
LEARNER PROFILES FOCUS ON CAPTURING CAPABILITIES SUCH AS CRITICAL THINKING AND COLLABORATION, AND PROVIDING A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF AN INDIVIDUAL STUDENT’S LEARNING PROFILE, WHICH EXPERTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA BELIEVE COULD HOLD THE KEY TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES.
There is a growing call for schools to move beyond graded assessment scores to include the skills and capabilities that students require to thrive in the future. One approach that has gathered significant interest is learner profiles.
In a recent paper, we reviewed several learner profile initiatives being implemented in Australia and internationally. It is important to understand the key benefits and challenges of these different forms of learner profiles and how they can best serve our schools and students.
WHAT IS A LEARNER PROFILE?
Learner profiles are visual representations of students that paint a richer picture of their learning than grades and academic scores alone. They typically include information about a student’s learning progress, extracurricular activities, learning behaviours, self-regulation, and wellbeing. Most learner profiles focus on capturing capabilities such as critical thinking and collaboration, on providing a more comprehensive view of student learning and, possibly, a future alternative to ATAR-based university admission.
Firstly, learner profiles help teachers identify developmental needs and personalise student learning to address those needs. They provide a holistic view of students, which can help teachers understand student strengths and their progress across multiple subject areas. Learner profiles also allow students to make better career choices and transition into the workplace or further studies. Instead of the one-size-fitsall approach provided by ATAR and grade point averages, learner profiles allow more tailored career pathways and better transition between different systems.
By focusing on a wide range of data, learner profiles provide richer insights into student learning, allowing teachers to better understand students. Such data can also be used to analyse student cohorts (an entire class or a year level).
By visualising historical data, learner profiles help identify trends and patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. Access to such data could improve student support and counselling by focusing the conversation with students on the actual data and evidence of their learning progress. Learner profiles can also help coordinate
and share information between teachers, which is often time-consuming and manual.
The fundamental challenge is the lack of clarity about learner profiles and what kind of data they should contain. Each profiling approach uses different constructs and data, making profiles vague. This is particularly evident in how capabilities are defined, with a wide range of similar but still different terms. It is also unclear whether each learning area should focus on developing a specific set of capabilities or whether each capability should be integrated into every learning area.
Another critical problem concerns data collection, as some of the most useful data, such as data on capabilities, is usually captured manually. This raises the issue of the quality of judgement and equal and fair treatment for all students since each teacher might have different interpretations of relevant constructs.
The manual data capture also brings significant workload challenges, as collecting such data requires substantial time and effort by the teachers. At the C3L research centre at UniSA, we are exploring how artificial
intelligence and machine learning can help with data collection and reduce workload challenges.
Our work shows significant potential to automate large portions of data collection for some capabilities, such as critical and creative thinking. Such techniques would make it easier to adopt learner profiles and help reduce the already heavy teacher workload.
There is also an open question on integrating learner profiles into existing school practices. Any change to complex systems such as schools requires a staged approach and significant teacher input on what works and what doesn’t. There is a need for substantial professional development to help teachers integrate learner profiles into their teaching. This includes understanding learner profile dashboards and new data collection processes.
Finally, there is a need to shift from an assessment-oriented mindset to a developmentoriented mindset. We also need to strive to assess learning progressions rather than performances at specific points in time. Such change requires a massive cultural shift and changes in incentives and constraints on school processes. EM
THE
Held over two days this year at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, the National Education Summit in Melbourne gave space to a diverse variety of programs, products, services, and suppliers that cater to the education sector. The event was thoughtfully organised as an opportunity for educators to connect and collaborate in-person and network with prospective partners. Collectively, the summit brought together experts and thought leaders working in the education space right now, all united by a shared love of learning and one common goal: making a difference in education.
A huge thanks from the education
partners, sponsors, exhibitors and keynote speakers who made the event such an engaging and rich experience for those who attended.
“We aimed to put together an intensive professional development program for the conferences this year, combined with a wide variety of engaging and interactive experiences on the show floor from exhibitors that would leave attendees feeling enriched by their experience,” says Margo Metcalf –Creative Director at International Exhibition & Conference Group.
The exhibition floor complimented well the six core conferences that included the Diverse Learner’s Symposium, Wellbeing for Future-Focused Schools, Capacity Building School Libraries, STEM Across the Curriculum, the Literacy Masterclass, and the Classroom of the Future. The exhibitors ranged from organisations for social change to curriculum and classroom solutions to literacy, the arts, STEM, health, and wellness.
As official media partners to the event, the Education Matters team was happy to meetand-greet with delegates and contributors, managing to capture some snapshots of exhibitors and conference highlights. it was a great opportunity to connect with people faceto-face again and learn the latest ideas and solutions being offered in the education space.
Great conversations were had with Grok Academy, Awards Victoria, HELI, Micromelon
2023 SHOW
Robotics, Modern Teaching Aids, AFL Schools, WorldStrides, Softlink Education, Seven Steps to Writing Success, the Old Treasury Building, ThinkPlus Australia, and the Crisis Prevention Institute, the Big Sister Experience and Beyond the Classroom – to highlight just a few.
AN ENRICHING PROGRAM
A hearty and vigorous event program offered delegates a fulfilling two days of professional development and a plateful of knowledge. This was surely helped along by an exceptionally generous, full-service catered lunch delivered fresh to the event that boasted a menu to rival some of Melbourne’s finest restaurants. And of course, no event in Melbourne would be complete without good coffee being served.
As part of the conference, attending delegates enjoyed an abundance of program speaker sessions beginning on Friday morning with Mr Steve Brophy – Director of Digital Transformation at Ivanhoe Grammar School presenting on ‘Unlocking the potential of AI in education’ on the Classroom of the Future stage.
Mr Brophy holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Deakin University and is a renowned educator, writer and speaker exploring digital futures and the impact of emerging technologies on teaching and learning. His work asks deep questions on how technology is shaping the future of humanity and challenges educators to explore ‘brave new
NATIONAL EDUCATION SUMMIT RETURNED TO MELBOURNE DELIVERING A SUCCESSFUL
THAT STRENGTHENED THE BONDS BETWEEN SOME OF THE BIGGEST PLAYERS WORKING IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR AND AMPLIFIED THE VOICES OF EDUCATORS, EDUCATION MATTERS REPORTS.The Classroom of the Future: Steve Brophy, Director of Digital Transformation at Ivanhoe Grammar School, presented ‘Unlocking the potential of AI in education.’
worlds’ with a curious and playful approach and seek improved connections with people from all walks of life.
On the Spotlight stage, Ms Maria Ruberto –Lead Psychologist at Salutegenics Psychology delivered an inspired presentation titled ‘What does anxiety look like?’ that delved into the different ways that anxiety can present in humans and within the context of a learning environment.
Ms Ruberto is the Founder and Director of Salutegenics Psychology: “a strengths-based practice that moves people in personal and professional coaching toward mental fitness and life- health.” Her work is based on the theory of Salutogenesis where wellbeing is built from the development of positive human assets using emotional intelligence and resilience skills to increase in capacity and performance of individuals and teams and encourage professional, and organisational growth. She is an RFA-certified Master Trainer in the neuroscience of resilience. The training she offers to clients proactively teaches the building blocks of mental fitness through resilience and strengths-based language.
Audiences were further captivated by the ideas and concepts presented by nearly 100 other speaker sessions at the conference, spanning across the fully booked two-day program. Speakers addressed some of the industry’s most pressing challenges and presentations covered the full spectrum of education from pedagogy to policy, advocacy to psychology.
The range of keynote speaker topics included creating a more equitable and accessible education system; improving student and teacher wellbeing; teaching STEM concepts; and how
teachers, principals, and schools can adopt technological advancements such as AI and hybrid learning environments in the face of a changing education landscape.
The catered lunch featured a community mural organised by Dya Australia. The mural was a collaborative effort between delegates and exhibitors by Dya Australia CEO and Co-Founder Ms Revi Chai. The final art piece was presented at the end of the day on Friday, and Dya Australia was awarded by IEC with ‘The Best Booth in Show Award’ for their booth design, proactivity engaging the community, and overall outstanding contributions to the event.
Education Matters caught up with Ms Chai for a chat about the history of her company, which originated in Israel before she introduced the program to the Australian market and established as part of Melbourne’s thriving arts and culture scene. “Through curated workshops and community engagement programs, we encourage schools to explore the power of creative thinking and artistic expression and aim to empower young people to discover new passions and talents through a diverse range of mediums and techniques,” said Ms Chai.
Ms Chai believes that art is a universal language of expression that should be a mainstay in every school’s curriculum, in the same vein as literacy, STEM, and physical education.
“By promoting a strong presence at events like the National Education Summit, we aim to spark the interest of educators and help them understand the tremendous value that arts and creative thinking education has for school communities,” she said. “Our workshops not only empower students and strengthen social bonds
through creative expression, but they elevate student wellbeing by encouraging self-expression and giving them confidence in their abilities.”
With ongoing teacher shortages and increasing workload pressures on school leadership, Margo believes events like the National Education Summit are critically important for providing educators with a reminder of the intrinsic value of the education professional.
“We are very grateful for our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and our dedicated events team, without whom this event would not be possible. As evidenced by the uptick in registrations and attendance we saw this year, I believe that the passion that people have for their work shone through as the event unfolded,” said Margo.
“Education is an area that is experiencing tremendous growth at the moment,” she furthers. “The companies and speakers we work with on this event are truly remarkable people and have worked with us for several years. During this time, it’s been incredible to see them grow and develop in their respective field in the education space and make a positive impact on the community. Every year it gets better!”
For those who missed out on the Melbourne event, interested parties can still register for the Brisbane event taking place on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 August 2023 at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. Registrations are now open. EM
For more information, visit: nationaleducationsummit.com.au
CEO OF EDMUND RICE EDUCATION AUSTRALIA’S FLEXIBLE SCHOOLS, DR MATT HAWKINS, EXPLAINS HOW A SUPPORTIVE AND TRAUMA-INFORMED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CAN BETTER SERVE STUDENTS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED COMPLEX EDUCATIONAL, SOCIAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL SITUATIONS WHICH DEMAND UNIQUE RESPONSES
“If you’re a child today from a poor family, or from the bush, or you’re an Indigenous child, then you’re three times more likely to fall behind at school. We must turn this around.”
These are the words we heard recently from Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. In response to the release of the OECD’s Education Policy Outlook in Australia, Minister Clare indicated that the report signalled the need for significant educational reform, particularly with respect to equity, funding, and teacher workforce challenges.
While the report highlights many strengths that exist in our education system, it is clear significant challenges remain. Like many educators, the Minister believes our education system can be “better and fairer”.
Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA)
Flexible Schools Ltd is the largest independent national provider of flexible schooling, catering to some of our country’s most vulnerable and marginalised young people.
EREA’s 23 Flexible Schools offer an alternate education to young people who have become disenfranchised from a more traditional, mainstream approach to schooling. Many of those young people have experienced trauma, neglect, abuse and significant family dysfunction. Significant numbers of our students have social-emotional disabilities,
and many display challenging behaviours and struggle with self-regulation. We also have large proportions of First Nations young people, as well as a growing number of LGBTQIA+ young people.
Our students’ previous schooling experiences have often been defined by failure, shame and exclusion. Our model and approach is vastly different. Rather, our schools are characterised by radical inclusion, empathy, hope, fun and opportunity.
To describe the way that we work with young people, we use the language of ‘Common Ground and Operation by Principles.’ We utilise a counter approach to the traditional ‘power over’ model of schooling where adults possess all the control, and young people are expected to simply follow the rules.
EREA Flexi Schools do not have nor enforce school rules. Instead, adults and young people operate together on the four principles of: Honesty, Participation, Respect, and Safe and Legal. Our students have a great deal of choice, agency, and voice in what and how they learn, all within the parameters of a national curriculum and state and territory legislation and regulation.
We solve problems collaboratively, and our young people are allowed to make lots of mistakes. Exclusion is rarely, if ever, an option.
alongside young people on common ground, and people supporting each other to operate within our four principles.
We do not seek to argue that our model is the silver bullet required to meet all current educational challenges, nor do we attest that every young person who walks through our gates is suddenly gifted with a bright future free from trauma, abuse or neglect.
However, since our first school opened in Logan in the 1980s, our approach has had a great deal of success for a growing cohort of young people left behind and left out of our education system.
We are committed to continuing to work with government and other partners to keep providing an alternate educational approach for some of our country’s most vulnerable young people. EM
WHEN CHATGPT WAS RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC LAST YEAR, IT UNLEASHED A WAVE OF EXCITEMENT, FEAR, CURIOSITY AND DEBATE. CEO OF EDUCATION SERVICES AUSTRALIA ANDREW SMITH DISCUSSES THE IMPACT OF AI-ENABLED TECHNOLOGIES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING.
As Australia’s national education technology company, the team at Education Services Australia have been following these developments closely, connecting with colleagues in Australia and across the globe, to help us better understand the technology, the arc of its development, and what this could mean for Australian classrooms.
The global education technology industry has an estimated value of over $300 billion and one billion potential consumers. An industry with this profile will attract interest and investment, and although much of it will be driven by values that align to those of our education system, this is not always the case. Driven by diverse motives, existing and emerging education technology developers will turn to generative AI models as a means of increasing their market share.
In the interests of our students, Australia needs to take a strong policy position on shaping the design, use and governance of AI in our schools. Australia’s education ministers have taken an important first step on the path to harnessing AI-enabled education technology products through the establishment of a national taskforce to provide advice on the development of an evidence-informed, best practice frameworks for Australian schools to guide the use of generative AI tools.
Presently, ESA’s work is coalescing around three key themes: Make it safe, make it fair and make it work.
‘Make it safe,’ is focused on responsible and ethical approaches to the design and use of AIenabled edtech that benefit students, schools and families. Ethical risks arising from the inherent bias contained within the datasets used to train AI models, the generation of misinformation that appears credible, and the creation of content that undermines individual autonomy can have serious consequences for our students and society.
Privacy risks associated with collection and use of sensitive personal information without consent, the misuse and monetisation of student data, and increased risk of data breaches – all put the privacy and safety of young people at risk. Establishing frameworks and governance arrangements that ensure AI-enabled edtech products comply with Australian Privacy Principles and information security standards, ensure transparency and are accountable is critical to minimising potential harm.
As E D Hirsch once noted: “The internet is not an equal opportunity fact finder, it rewards those in the know.” The advantages enjoyed by those already ‘in the know’ are amplified by AI-enabled edtech and presents a risk of digital divide.
If we allow the usage of these emerging learning technologies to be concentrated in more advantaged schools, we will see existing equity gaps widen. This is why governments and agencies have a responsibility to ensure
tools across educational settings.
From a solid foundation of safe and equitable design and use, we can collectively harness the opportunities these technologies present for positively impacting the learning trajectory of students and reducing the workload of teachers.
Co-design with educators, learning design grounded in evidence and ongoing research into what works should be the minimum standard for any education technology product that enters our classrooms.
Supporting our teachers with effective and accessible professional learning that respects their expertise and supports them to integrate these technologies into their teaching practice is essential.
AI-enabled education technology can become a powerful tool in creating a more equitable and effective education system that benefits students and teachers. However, the risks associated with the misuse of data, perpetuating biases and undermining the role of educators, cannot be ignored.
Everyone in education has a role to play in establishing frameworks and practices that will allow our students and teachers to thrive in an AI-enabled world. EM
It is hard to believe that it has been over a year now since the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 was endorsed by education ministers and the new curriculum website published. Since that time, the focus of ACARA’s hard-working curriculum team has turned to supporting the implementation of the Version 9.0 curriculum.
As state and territory jurisdictions are implementing the Version 9.0 curriculum in different ways, it is imperative that ACARA’s team adopts a flexible approach in developing and publishing our new curriculum support resources. Teachers and educators need to access and use the resources in a way that suits their individual needs but will also work with the different jurisdictional timelines for implementation.
That’s why we have ensured that flexibility is the cornerstone of our Professional Learning Hub – a new professional learning resource for teachers, educators and schools which we launched at the end of April 2023.
This online portal hosts professional learning content that supports teachers in understanding and teaching the new Australian Curriculum. Our intention is to provide an indispensable, ongoing professional learning forum across the three dimensions of the new curriculum. It will help teachers and educators to build deep familiarity with the curriculum and support high-quality curriculum planning.
We believe it is important for us to avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ professional learning approach. That is why our Professional Learning Hub is a self-directed learning tool that is designed
to allow teachers and educators to undertake ongoing professional development at their own pace. Teachers can log into the Hub and choose the course most relevant for them as they make individual preparations for implementing the new curriculum.
Another key design consideration was helping teachers to understand the main changes in the curriculum, especially the new, refined and deleted content and the related changes in the achievement standards.
However, as the changes between the Version 8.4 and Version 9.0 curricula vary considerably between learning areas, we’ve taken a flexible approach to developing each individual module so that the changes in each specific learning area and their implications on the planning of teaching and learning activities and assessment practices are clearly explained.
The development and rollout of the Professional Learning Hub is being done in stages. The first set of courses provide an overview of how the Professional Learning Hub works, and a summary of the Australian Curriculum review process as well as the content and functionality of the Version 9.0 curriculum website. The second set of courses explain the more detailed changes to the content, content descriptions and achievement standards in the learning areas, general capabilities and crosscurriculum priorities.The future courses under development will offer detailed explanations of the relationships between strands and sub-strands within the learning areas and the
connections across the curriculum. They will also provide ideas to support the planning of teaching and learning activities and related assessments to progress learning.
As well as focusing on developing these new curriculum resources, work continues on the final stages of the Australian Curriculum Review: Languages. The public consultation period for Arabic, Hindi, Turkish and Vietnamese closed in April and we’re aiming to have these language curricula endorsed by education ministers in the middle of the year.
The final four languages and language frameworks – Chinese, Classical Languages Framework and Classical Greek and Latin, Auslan and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Framework curricula – will be released for public consultation later in the year with the aim of having them endorsed and published in early 2024.
Once this review process is over, we will have the entire new Australian Curriculum available on the website. In the meantime, teachers and educators can sign up to the ACARA Professional learning hub at: www. learning.acara.edu.au EM
For more information, visit: www.acara.edu.au
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