Learning How to Learn

It has been well documented that employers of the future need an adaptable workforce. One that can pick up new content, processes, skills, and technologies quickly and efficiently. With futurists predicting that jobs and workplaces of the future will require employers and employees to upskill and learn more frequently, and on short notice, knowing how to learn will be a necessary skill.

To prepare our girls to be resilient learners who can learn anything, anywhere, and be able to transfer their knowledge and skills between tasks, Toorak College has developed and implemented Growth Mentoring, a new subject for students in Years 7 and 8.

Focused on the individual, Growth Mentoring is run in classes with no more than eight students. Teachers act as mentors and guide students through lessons on cognitive psychology, organisation, goal-setting, and feedback loops. When ‘learning how to learn,’ students are explicitly taught active listening, note-taking, stress management, test taking, and memorisation techniques, and are exposed to the science of how the brain works, including the power of memory, the forgetting curve, and the importance of sleep, exercise, and motivation.

"Growth mentoring is helping me build confidence in asking for help and support. So far I have learnt different ways to ask for assistance and deciding what level of support we need, whether we can ask a peer or whether we need assistance from a teacher. Growth mentoring has also helped me a lot with my organisation and appropriate use of time. With my teacher, I created a very helpful timetable that has benefited me and my busy schedule." Theodora N, Year 7

"Growth mentoring is helping me be more confident in myself as a person and a student. It has made me feel a lot more confident during all of my classes as I now know what I need to do to improve my work and make myself a better learner." Alexandra S, Year 8

Growth Mentoring builds confident and adaptable learners who are willing and excited to learn new concepts while preparing them for the rigours of the VCE and the demands of the changing world of work.

Mrs Diane Furusho - Head of Senior School, Deputy Principal