The start of this term has been very challenging for all and it feels like the term has only just started as we near the end of week three. During the last set of student holidays the management team from our college attended a Governance symposium hosted by the Association of Independent Schools in Sydney. The keynote speakers were David Gonski and John Hattie who both had very interesting perspectives on how to run colleges effectively.
I was blown away by both speakers and felt very privileged to be in a position to have the influence we have over so many young people on a daily basis. As I looked around the room I felt a tremendous sense of pride as all the people in the room were involved in education and there was a collective desire to help young people be the best they can be.
Professor Hattie challenged some of the concepts that consistently get spoken about on how to assess effective colleges and high quality education. Topics such as resources, teacher to student ratios, technology, education philosophies and many other areas were spoken about and he challenged the audience to think which of these issues might have the greatest effect on student learning outcomes. Surprisingly, from his research most of the things that you would assume might have a major impact have been proven to have very little impact. The professor spoke about four different types of colleges that he has identified:
- colleges which are high achieving although the students are “cruising”.
- colleges which are high achieving and students are developing at a great rate.
- colleges which do not achieve academically and students are “cruising”.
- lastly, colleges which are not achieving academically although students are developing.
The point Hattie was making, from my perspective, was that it does not really matter how the college might be achieving, if the students are not achieving their potential or beyond then that is not desirable and we should all be striving toward a level where each individual student in our colleges is developing. This struck a chord with me as one of the main goals at our college is about creating an environment where our students can be the best they can be both academically and in their pursuit of sporting excellence.
The professor asked a challenging question of the attendees; ‘is each one of your students receiving a years worth of value each year they attend your college?’ How do you measure value as a college and how do you measure the success/growth of your students?
His last major point was about asking ourselves the question, ‘what impact do we have on those around us on a daily basis?’ This has forced me to really think about who I interact with daily and what impact do I have on them? Are these interactions helping our students achieve the success they are looking for?
There are so many exciting things happening at college at this year and although we have moved into our third year as a college I still feel like we just opened the doors and the potential of each one of our students and staff is something I look forward to witnessing on a daily basis.
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