Revolutionising education: The innovative journey of Scotch Global

Mrs Cara Fugill Head of Scotch Global

In 2023, Scotch College embarked on a groundbreaking journey to reimagine education outside the bounds of a traditional school.

Having always been at the forefront of innovation, technology integration, and catering for the diverse needs of students through its excellent pastoral and academic programmes, the purpose of this project was to explore how a new model of learning might better cater for the unmet needs of families in the broader community.

Each school is made up of carefully interwoven decisions that work to educate our children; however, the structures of what we learn, how we learn, and where we learn are largely the same for all. But what happens when a child can’t access a traditional classroom? What other options does a family have? Research would indicate there are an increasing number of families who feel that the education system is failing them. These reasons are often complex and varied, so resolving them all within the one structure seems an impossible task.

Due to the ongoing commitment and generosity of our Old Scotch Collegians (OSC) community, the school received a generous seed donation to invest in the project. Taking the lessons learned during COVID, the rapid advancement of technology platforms developed during this time, and better understanding the unmet needs of some families, the model of learning for Scotch Global was conceptualised. The co-educational school caters for students aged 12 to 25 through its three unique streams: Connect, Thrive, and Accelerate — each addressing an area of education that could benefit from a different approach.

Connect is our full school solution that will be built out to manage remote learners from Years 6 to 12 and will take education online. Thrive is our after-school co-curricular academic programme that offers students a deep dive into courses where there is a shared passion of an expert course facilitator and students. Lastly, our Accelerate programme addresses the challenges that young people face in finding relevant education on careers, workplace skills, and how to advance themselves into strong positions and fulfilling professions early on.

Connect Year 7 has now been in operation for the past two months, and already the new model is providing families with a high-quality option for education. Our remote learners are enjoying a combination of collaborative online classes that are connecting these students across the state and delivered in our purpose-built streaming studios. The collaborative classes occur daily between 8 to 11 a.m., allowing us to cover all areas of the Australian curriculum. A few highlights have been cooking with Mrs. McLeay, morning gatherings and assemblies with Mr. Valentine, and Humanities with Ms. Mfune. Classes are highly interactive and focus on building our students’ social and communication skills through the lens of the content they are learning.

The complementary component to this is the independent learning modules that have been carefully curated by our Scotch Global teachers to focus on building content knowledge and developing thinking skills. Using an inquiry approach, each module offers questions, model answers, and inbuilt support with the opportunity for the teachers to provide feedback and for the students to reflect on their progress. This has enhanced the rate at which students are acquiring new knowledge, giving teachers more time to show how this fits into a real-world application or has transferability into other aspects of learning.

Using an inquiry approach, each module offers questions, model answers, and inbuilt support with the opportunity for the teachers to provide feedback and for the students to reflect on their progress.

Similarly, this model of learning is also in place for our Thrive community, who have over twelve courses on offer across STEM, Business, and the Social Sciences. Offered in difficulty levels 1 through 3, students can choose bespoke courses ranging from Philosophy and Ethics, Health and Medical Science, Mechatronics, and even Innovation and Entrepreneurship. While the courses are challenging and expect students to go beyond the curriculum, passionate Year 6 to 11 students who are keen and interested learners are developing incredible depth in their thinking.

Early indicators of success speak volumes about the impact of Scotch Global. From being selected as one of seven schools in the world authorised to deliver the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme wholly online to witnessing high levels of student engagement and satisfaction, Scotch Global has met the benchmark for educational excellence while offering a model that will provide for a new community of learners.

To learn more about our three streams please visit https://global.scotch.wa.edu.au