Docendo Discimus
Tag: Learning
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Collaboration = Skills = Opportunity
For those living and working in rural areas, the importance of providing genuine pathways to skilled employment for local populations, particularly young-people, is paramount. We understand in great detail, the challenges of ageing rural populations and structural adjustments. This is more than just a “microcosm” of the challenges facing our national economy.
Working in the field of skills development, labour markets and rural and regional planning, the nature of this model of collaboration and its result, has genuinely raised my interest and admiration.
The genesis of this idea [among others] came about during a meeting of 11 School Councils in 2005.
Northern Hub Seymour – CRTTC I have had the honour of attending the dual official opening[s] of the $AUD 11.3 Million dollar, Central Ranges Trade Training Centre, a unique collaboration of nine Government and Catholic secondary schools spanning a potential student population of some 3,500 across the shires of Mitchell and Murrindindi and the City of Whittlesea.
Southern Hub – Whittlesea I say “unique” with genuine intent. It is rare [at least in my 30 years of experience] to see a level of collaboration, governance and coordination, that sees a number of individual schools, TAFE Colleges [Goulburn Ovens and Kangan Batman], Industry partners and a community-based planning network [Central Ranges LLEN] agree to fore-go individual funding, to maximise and pool available funds to establish a distributed network of infrastructure and human resources to supply a quality and depth of training opportunity that is clearly greater than the some of its parts.
Today in Seymour, the “Northern Hub” was officially opened by the Federal Minister for Skills and Training, The Honourable Brendan O’Connor and the Member for McEwen, Mr. Rob Mitchell. This completed the “bookend” of the opening of the Southern Hub, at Whittlesea Secondary College, just over a week ago. This complements the two other minor hubs, established and on-stream in 2012 at Alexandra Secondary College and Assumption College Kilmore.
Central Ranges TTC – Northern Hub – Seymour In this expanded regional network, there are schools from the Government and Catholic sectors, their key leaders, school Principals, have chosen to take on a level of planning complexity and responsibility that is not easily reconciled with their “day-to-day” core-business, yet is clearly in the best interests of young people and employers throughout the region to gain access to training facilities and high-level qualifications in key areas of long-term skill-shortage.
Engineering Students – Seymour 
Northern Hub – CRTTC Broadford Secondary College, as lead school in the consortium, coordinated and managed the five year project, yet received no capital investment. Seymour College and Whittlesea Secondary College, provided technical, programmatic and planning expertise and shared this with all schools and partners. This is what genuine leadership is, at the community level, these leaders have taken responsibility to build something for a region and the young people within it, well-beyond their individual school gates…
The other partners, specialists, governments and individuals have all contributed, having recognised the depth of collaboration and commitment of this consortium. To also complete such a complex task on budget and ahead-of-time, certainly challenges the stereotypical view of the public sector.
A genuine model of cluster-collaboration with concrete, long-term success. Congratulations to all involved.
Links
The Central Ranges Trade Training Centre Consortium
- Alexandra Secondary College
- Assumption College Kilmore
- Broadford Secondary College
- Euroa Secondary College
- St.Mary’s College Seymour
- Seymour College
- Yea High School
- Wallan Secondary College
- Whittlesea Secondary College
Other Links
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Black-White Test Score Gap?
The Black-White Test Score Gap Down-under.
Andrew Leigh observes: Discussing NT schools, the CIS’s Helen Hughes writes:
This week all Australian children in school years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat numeracy and literacy tests for the second time. The tests are to give Australians an annual snapshot of basic educational progress. The first national ‘NAPLAN’ tests, held in May 2008, showed that 90% of children passed. Western Australia has made the tests available for government schools on the Internet, and Education Minister Julia Gillard has promised that all the 2009 test results will be posted by school.
An overview of the 2008 tests showed that there was no ‘gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Indigenous students in mainstream schools in Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT had the same results as non-Indigenous students.
I find this claim difficult to reconcile with the facts. Looking at the NAPLAN report(15mb), here’s year 7 numeracy:
Achievement Year 7 Numeracy- Indigenous Students by State To put this into more concrete terms, the average score by year 7 Indigenous students is about the level of year 5 non-Indigenous students. (This is true even if you restrict the comparison to metropolitan schools.)
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Identifying what matters…
If ever there was essential reading for every teacher and every teacher-educator, the work of Professor John Hattie from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, would be at the top of my reading list.
The clarity and focus of such an extensive, system-wide meta-study that focusses on the EFFECTs of what teachers, schools and education systems DO is very compelling.
Professor Hattie delivered one of the key-note presentations at the 2007 EARLI conference [European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction]
The abstract states:
The session will overview a synthesis of over 600 meta-analyses of effects on achievement, highlighting the major themes that influence student learning. From these themes, the presentation will demonstrate the development of an assessment model of student learning that has been available and extensively used in NZ elementary and high schools over the past 5 years. A particular theme of the assessment model has been methods for helping teachers see and understand student progress, enable them to set targets/high expectations, and provide feedback so that there are more aware of the importance of some of the key competencies that act as enhancers or barriers to learning.
I would highly recommend the work of Professor Hattie to all involved in educational research. I would suggest you start by reading his Inaugural Lecture from August 1999; see the link at the bottom of this page.
In this presentation, Professor Hattie presents three parts to his “story”. These are
- To identify major influences on achievement [ using 700+ meta-analyses ]
- To outline an assessment model based on these influences
- To demonstrate the power and joy of Educational Psychology
Prof John Hattie – 2007 Links: -
Kyneton Applied Learning
Year 10 Applied Learning Program at Kyneton Secondary College.
In back-to-back issues of the Curriculum Leadership Journal, educational communities from our LLEN area have been featured. This time it is the Year 10 Applied Learning Program at Kyneton Secondary College that has been featured. Richard Donker and Glenn Davey shared their work with us at the recent Future Minds Forum in Melbourne.
The Abstract says:
This year Kyneton Secondary College has introduced the option of a new program for Year 10 students. The Applied Learning Program aims to develop a positive approach to lifelong learning, improving communication skills, emotional literacy and self-efficacy. The intention is to enable students to stay at school and then decide which pathway suits them best. The program leads into the VCAL, without closing off the options of VCE or VET courses.
Kyneton Secondary College is a 7–12 coeducational school in central Victoria. The school draws students from Kyneton, a semi-rural town of about 5,000 people, and neighbouring areas.
Demographically the school is coeducational. The student population is almost exclusively Anglo-Saxon in background. Student numbers have remained stable at around 730 students and the proportion of young people is projected to remain steady for the next 10 years. The school is 100 years old and our neighbouring Kyneton Primary School is one of the oldest in the country, celebrating 150 years in 2006.
The full article can be found online at the Curriculum Leadership Journal Volume 5 Issue 28
[Source: Richard Donker, VCAL Coordinator, Kyneton Secondary College.]
Related Links:
Curriculum Leadership Journal Volume 5 Issue 28
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Plato’s Cave in Schools?
Philosophy in schools. Philosophy is about asking childlike questions – how do we know the world exists?
How do we know it hasn’t just started existing?
Why can’t we go back in time? So why not teach philosophy in schools?
It doesn’t happen much in this country (it doesn’t much happen anywhere) but it does go on in Queensland, and this week we talk to a Queensland teacher [ Peter Ellerton, Head of Curriculum, Calamvale Community College Brisbane.] who’s teaching philosophy to high school children.
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Changes to pre-school look likely
In the biggest petition to be tabled in the Victorian Parliament in the past five years, more than 34,000 voters urged the State Government to shift responsibility for preschools out of the Department of Human Services and into the Department of Education. They say the move would put more emphasis on early childhood learning, cut kindergarten fees, help children in the transition to primary school and offer better career structures for teachers.
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Interactive Kee-Pad systems
Melbourne Uni research looking at complimentary systems for learning. I have used and seen these keepad systems and they certainly have an appeal for immediate “point-in-time collection and correlation of user views. Can be used to great affect when working to identify and challenge personal viewpoints in group situations…
KEEpad is a system that allows lecturers to present interactive PowerPoint lessons in which students are able to answer questions anonymously using small personal keypads. Responses can be displayed on screen in real-time for students to see and are stored for future reporting.
Link: Increasing student participation through interactive KEEpad.
Link: www.keepad.com
