Thinking a way forward

Today I presented to a group at the Australian Council for Educational Leaders. The presentation was entitled, Creativity and Innovation in Education: Moving beyond best practice. I was surprised by the fact that the workshop paper session was attended by over 100 people.

There appears to be a some serendipity and convergence of thinking. As a profession I think that teachers and educational leaders are looking for ways forward.

For me there are some key things.

An increasing awareness that schooling (as it is largely practiced in Western, English-speaking countries) is largely obsolete. It still functions, but not as well as it could. Many policies related to schools are more about public assurance from this position of obsolescence.

For me, finding answers to the problems that face the profession lies with the profession. I believe that teachers can play a significant role in providing solutions to the problems facing education. Part of this movement forward requires teaching to view itself as the learning profession.

One of the limiting factors in moving forward are the views of teachers and teaching held not only by others outside of the profession, but by teachers themselves. These views can see teachers as implementers of policy reforms and initiatives of others outside of the profession. There is a perception that teachers also require stronger accountability and tighter standards (to give public assurance).

The challenge is to make a difference to the learning outcomes and life chances of all students. Seeking public reassurance may lead to superficial differences for students.

The challenge is to find authentic ways to engage teachers in improving their practice.

New Position

I'm excited! I have been offered a position with Parramatta CEO as one of the newly appointed Team Leaders. Parramatta CEO's Executive Director, Greg Whitby was recently announced as one of The Bulletin magazine's Top 100 Thinkers. It is a great opportunity to be part of a venture that is focused on transformation of learning and teaching - to move from the industrial models and approaches.

For me this is an opportunity to put into practice my own thinking and understandings as reflected in my Churchill Fellowship. The focus on innovation, collaboration, networking and capacity building has great potential in transforming learning and teaching.

Further interest and interesting developments

Two further things have happened.

1. Letter from Prof. Brian Caldwell
Brian Caldwell acted as my project referee and something of an e-mentor in developing the submission for the Churchill Fellowship. He was a great support and very encourgaging.

Recently I received a letter from Brian regarding my Final Report. In the letter he says,
"I must say ... that your report is the very best I have read - in context and presentation.
The way you conceptualise what you learnt is extraordinary. I would highlight, especially, figure 9 on page 38, which could surely be the basis of policy, practice and many publications and presentations."

This response to my report is very encouraging particulalry given the somewhat mute response and interest expressed up until the last couple of months.

2. Teaching Australia
I had had a meeting with Fran Hinton from Teaching Australia earlier this year regarding my Churchill project and gave her a copy of my report. Today I happened to be on the Teaching Australia web site. I noticed with interest that recently Teaching Australia had called for a Request for Proposal seeking proposals to undertake feasibility studies for a Centre for Pedagogy and a National Clearinghouse for Educational Research, as well as Victoria University having been selected to undertake research into effective and sustainable partnerships between universities and schools. These developments appear to be related to some of my recommendations.

Interest is growing

It has been an interesting few weeks.

The Australian Catholic University (Strathfield) invited me to present on my Churchill project as part of their seminar series. I presented an overview of my project in an hour long presentation entitled What difference can we make? It used a series of case strudies from the trip to explore some of the concepts.

The seminar was well received with over 30 participants across the Government, Catholic and Independent sectors. Word of mouth has led to some further presentations within the system I work for, to some key groups.

It is exciting to open up the thinking of others who are positioned to make a difference to the students they teach, their schools and the profession.