Barker Institute Journal 2022

Learning in Practice

Mission

An Anglican community inspiring every learner every experience every day

Vision

To be a leader in Christian education that is characterised by a global vision that inspires hope

We acknowledge the Dharug, Darkinjung, Wonnarua and Yolŋu peoples who are the traditional custodians of the land on which Barker College, Darkinjung Barker, Ngarralingayil Barker and Dhupuma Barker stand. We pay respect to the Elders past, present and emerging of the Dharug, Darkinjung, Wonnarua and Yolŋu nations and extend that respect to other Indigenous people within the Barker College community.

Editors

Dr Matthew Hill

Dr Timothy Scott

Editorial Assistant Susan Layton

The Barker Institute

About the Barker Institute

• The Barker Institute exists to use the rich intellectual resources of Barker College to facilitate learning and growth through the School and the wider community.

• As a research centre the Barker Institute conducts education research and offers consultancy services to individuals, departments, and leaders in the school to assist decision making and reviews using research methods bespoke to the Barker context.

• As a publication house the Barker Institute provides and facilitates dissemination opportunities for staff, students, academics and community members to share their work in various forms internally and externally in journals and at conferences and events.

• As a learning hub the Barker Institute enables professional learning and support for staff in schools, especially associated with research activities. Students, teachers and community members come together as learners at Barker Institute events.

About the Learning in Practice Journal

As a leader in Christian education, Barker College aims to both demonstrate and inform best practice. This journal was developed to showcase a range of initiatives and research projects from across the School. It explains the rationale behind innovations in practice and archives pivotal developments in Barker’s academic, co-curricular and pastoral realms.

From the Head of Barker College

One measure of a healthy intellectual life within a school is the degree to which evidence is used to guide the teaching and learning that takes place within it.

Embedding research informed practice has become increasingly important to contemporary schools because it empowers their teachers as experts and enables their learners to thrive. I am thankful for the work the Barker Institute does in leading the Barker community in this space, informing policy and practice through the research work they do, and facilitating opportunities for reflection on learning.

This is the sixth edition of Learning in Practice. The range of topics shows the many contexts in which learning takes place at Barker and how the learner is at the centre of all we do. I am delighted to draw your attention to the two articles celebrating the completion of the Junior School portion of the Barker Journey study and what that ongoing research project has to say about how students perceive schooling, teaching and learning in the 21st century. Student reflections on this year’s Garma Festival, in which Barker College was most fortunate to participate, also feature. Articles from staff relating to Outdoor Education, Science, Service Learning, or their own doctoral studies in education also have their place in this year’s issue.

I commend this edition of Learning in Practice to you and warmly invite you to be in touch with the Barker Institute for further conversation about the educational research taking place at Barker College and how the work that is taking place is contributing to excellence in teaching practice and learning.

Phillip Heath AM Head of Barker College

We are keen to share what has been learnt by experts in education, be those experts classroom practitioners, pastoral care and wellbeing leaders, or school leaders. Learning in Practice is a published conversation in which reflections on practice take place, and professional learning and development benefit.

This year, the Barker Institute published the 2022-2023 Research agenda formalising five broad research domains. In this edition of the Journal you will find two publications from our Flagship Project: The Barker Journey, as well as articles relating to the domains of Coeducation, Indigenous Education, Character & Enterprise Education, Intercultural Education, and Future & Innovation. We especially invite future articles and collaboration in these areas.

A key benefit to in-school research can be the authentic incorporation of student voice in the stories that are told. As education continues to evolve, many are noticing how student voice as evidence has assumed a greater role in informing practice. Several articles in this edition of Learning in Practice directly address the place of student voice in educational research. The Barker Journey follows a group of Barker students as they make their way through schooling in the 21st century, granting us the privilege of understanding learning, teaching and schooling from the perspective of the

learner. Another example is Lucy Pitkin’s article on student reflections on the Garma Festival which provide an informative insight into student responses to learning about and celebrating Yolŋu culture through cultural immersion. In listening to student voice in the context of responses to Garma, Pitkin reveals a student-informed approach to Reconciliation.

There is a great deal to celebrate in this, the sixth edition of Learning in Practice, the journal of the Barker Institute. We are proud of this year’s publication and hope that you will find it both useful and informative.

Dr Timothy Scott Lead Editor, 2022 Barker Institute Research Fellow

Dr Matthew Hill Director of the Barker Institute

Publishing the close-to-practice research that takes place within the Barker community is an important part of the Barker Institute’s role within the School.

From the Director of the Barker Institute

A Year in Review: The Barker Institute in 2022 1 Dr Matthew Hill The Barker Journey: Articles from the fourth year of our decade-long longitudinal study

The Barker Junior School Journey: Report on Year 3-6, 2019-2022 9 Dr Matthew Hill and Dr Timothy Scott

The Barker Journey - Year 6, 2022: Community and Belonging. 39 Dr Timothy Scott and Dr Matthew Hill

Research and Relections on Practice

The Garma Experience - Connecting to Community and Country 67 Lucy Pitkin

A model for secondary school blended learning 75 Dr Andrew Mifsud

Quality Assurance through Teaching Standards: The Path to National 81 TeacherAccreditation Dr Greg Cunningham and Tim Milkins

Current Trends in the teaching of Academic Writing 85 Andrew Hood

Do a group of teachers believe that the International Baccalaureate 89 Learner Profile attributes have influenced the development of international mindedness in their school?

Lisa Bonazza

Developing and Implementing a Philosophy for Service Learning at Barker 99 Olivia Smith and Josephine Christofferson

“Not new, but newly important”: Why outdoor education needs to have 105 its finest hour Dan Lewis

Untapped Potential: The Neglected Urban Interest in Secondary Agriculture 111 Scott Graham

Improving short answer written responses in the Science classroom 125 using targeted literacy strategies Nonie Taylor

Why every school needs a beehive (or three)... 135 Dr Alison Gates

Concussion Management - The Barker Way 141 Lisa Chalmers

About the Authors 146

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

From the Director of the Barker Institute

A year in review: The Barker Institute in 2022

Dr Matthew Hill Director of the Barker Institute

In the contemporary world there is an overabundance of data points such that the challenge of research is perhaps less about collecting the data, and more about being selective about how it is stored, categorised, used, and made sense of. In the same way, for the individual teacher, there is an overwhelming amount of academic research that exists on education which needs to be curated and distilled for practical use. Similarly, at a school like Barker, the extensively rich intellectual resources of the teaching and non-teaching staff (and arguably even the students, parents, and alumni) are to be strategically aligned to serve the community.

And this is the mission of the Barker Institute. The Barker Institute provides consultation advice on the use of data in the School, supports staff, students and parents connecting to expertise and academic literature from outside the School. Perhaps most importantly, it seeks to provide the structures for the rich intellectual resources within Barker College to be used to facilitate learning and growth through the School and the wider community. A theme of this year has been establishing the structures to allow for collective contributions to both pressing issues at Barker and the global education narrative through establishing and publishing the 2022-2023 Barker Institute Research Agenda, and producing a website designed to inspire and collate various writing, thinking and research around five key domains The Barker Institute looks forward to ongoing collaboration in 2023.

Hig h lig h ts o f 202 2

In -p er s on ev ents

After two years of typically online events due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was a privilege to welcome parents and the community back on campus for face-to-face events. Finally, it was together that we laughed with Dr Jared Cooney Horvarth when he accurately recounted tricky conversations we had with the teenagers in our lives only the night before, we transformed our own abilities to write with Dr Ian Hunter’s toolbox of tips and we tinkered with circuits at the event celebrating Women and Girls in Science. Personally, it was a delight to see the faces from two years ago who have continued to be committed to learning

together with me at Barker Institute events. Here, I would like publicly to thank my colleague, Susan Layton, for her work which facilitated these on-campus events.

The Barker Journey study reaches a milestone with the class of 2028 coming to the end of their Junior School journey

The Barker Journey is a decade-long study that was first conducted in 2008-2017. It is now being repeated with the students who commenced Year 3 in 2019 as the first coeducational Year 3 cohort at Barker. This year was the fourth year, or the final Junior School year, of interviewing and surveying these wonderful students to listen to the student voice on what this coming generation seeks for their education and how they perceive the Barker experience.

It has been a tough time to be a student (or a global citizen) over the last few years and these students’ stories of resilience are to be celebrated. Their insights into education are profound and it has been a privilege that the Barker Institute has been able to capture their voices in this study. The period of learning from home only reinforced the importance of relationships in learning and the school experience, but I strongly encourage you to read more of this study and the implications for educating Generation Alpha in the following articles in this Journal. You will not be disappointed.

The findings of the first four years of this study were also presented at the 2022 National Conference for the Australian Association of Research In Education and will be shared in a variety of formats locally and internationally in 2023.

T The

p ublicat ion of t he firs t Barker In st it ut e Resear ch Agen da

Five research domains were defined to draw together existing research activities at Barker College and to direct ongoing research into areas of importance to Barker and the education community more broadly. After a thorough consultation process with stakeholders in the school the first Barker Institute Research Agenda was published articulating the purpose of research at Barker, the values of research at Barker, and the domains of research at Barker which include Coeducation, Indigenous education, Character & Enterprise education, Intercultural education, and Future & Innovation. These domains, along with the Flagship Project of The Barker Journey, define the priorities of research in the Barker community and allow for individual staff researchers and thinkers to have a collective influence in these areas. The Research Agenda was widely appreciated by my counterparts at other schools especially those seeking to establish their own research institutes and agendas. Along with many other obvious research activities (this edition of the Journal being one of them) it was contributions to this Research Agenda that I particularly want to thank my colleague, Dr Timothy Scott. Without him, this would have not been a reality

One of the first steps to implement the Research Agenda was to present a platform that would collect the output of the rich intellectual resources of Barker so that it may be of use. I am delighted with our new website and how, through the five research domains, it shares this output in and beyond Barker. I thank my colleague, Tim Miller, for advice and resourcing the Barker Institute in many ways, but especially regarding the website, that this may be a blessing now and into the future.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice 2022

Ba rker is a co m m u nity o f th inker s wh o u se d a ta well

Young people are the first to reject argument from authority and are astute observers of the world around them. Rather than assuming what works, Barker is a community who seek to collect, analyse, and apply data to make evidence-informed conclusions and decisions. Our primary students are disposed, under the PYP learner profile, to be thinking inquirers

The Year 6 exhibition was testament to the thoughtful processes these students followed in the production of these major works. Similarly, our student leaders seek to meet the needs of the School by listening to their peers rather than assuming what must be done.

Barker is committed to using data to review, improve and inform processes and decision making. Regular surveying and interviews occur small scale (through the House and pastoral system with approaches to learning and progressive reporting data collated and available to Heads of House) and large scale through the school. Academic progress is tracked, and wellbeing is monitored, especially in response to recognised pressures and strategic interventions.

The Barker Institute has provided consultation services to individual teachers and leaders throughout the School as they seek to collect data and make evidence-informed decisions. It has also conducted reviews on behalf of the School in areas of student and staff wellbeing, professional learning and pastoral structures. Using existing data well is an ongoing priority for Barker and The Barker Institute.

Ba rker is a co m m u nity o f learner s wh o eng a g e with ex terna l ex p ertise a nd a ca d em ic liter a tu re

A commun it y of lear n er s at Barker In st it ut e Ev en t s

Barker Institute events start from the point that all are learners. The Barker Institute Prayer and a Barker Institute Acknowledgment of Country is read to ensure a context of community in learning This is important. For to train students as learners, teachers themselves must model what it is to be expert learners. A range of events were held in 2023 to allow parents, teachers and students (often at the same time) to participate in life-long, voluntary, learning by engaging with internal and external expertise.

Some events particularly targeted teachers and parents Complementing a session for Barker Staff during the day, friend of the Barker Institute, Dr Jared Cooney Horvarth, presented to students and parents A tour through the changing teen brain. To connect messages to students and parents, Dr Ian Hunter presented on his program The Writer’s Toolbox which is used extensively at Barker, and sleep expert Lisa Maltman delivered sessions to students during the day and parents and community in the evening on Sleep for better health, resilience, and performance.

Four learning events were designed for the whole community to come together. These included Year 7 Study Habits where I applied academic literature on this subject to the Year 7 Barker context, a student photo exhibition from the Garma Festival entitled Reflections on Garma, a film screening of Where the Water Starts with panel discussion. The fourth event took place in two parts; Barker’s annual Science Extension Public Lectures where my

colleague, Dr Alison Gates, and I presented on the History and Philosophy of Science. The Science Extension lectures were well attended by students, teachers and family members across the greater Sydney region including guests from the Southern Highlands and Central Coast.

Former Head of Barker College, Dr Neil Tucker, returned to share the findings of his recent doctoral research on Educating for Humanity & The Holistic Principle which was appreciated especially by the leadership team at Barker.

A celebration of Women and Girls in Science was held including guest speakers, a panel, and tinkering workshops recognising the outstanding contribution to coeducation in science through the Barker Science and STEAM community.

A commun it y of lear n er s en gagin g wit h academic lit er at ure

Barker students and staff recognise the immense privilege of highly accessible peerreviewed academic literature in the 21st century. When investigating a topic or making decisions, literature must be consulted and the Barker Institute supports community engagement to that extant research. This is often through collating bibliographies or constructing literature reviews. In 2022, this included literature reviews on academic streaming, training evaluation methods, grit and academic tenacity, belongingness, research methods and student voice.

Barker staff are highly experienced at engaging with literature and the Barker Institute provides a connection point for staff to seek out colleagues who have previously investigated relevant topics to provide literature and advice in collaboration. Examples include connecting the staff who have international teaching experience to those investigating cultural immersion education and intercultural and refugee student transitions, and staff who have already synthesised literature on various topics for Masters of Education courses which are applicable to the Barker context. It is hoped that in 2023 there may be more opportunity for sharing of literature reviews among staff and journal club discussions on various issues relevant to Barker.

Ba rker is a co m m u nity o f crea to rs wh ich co llectiv ely p ro d u ces resea rch , th inking , a nd so lu tio ns f or ou r world

The Barker Institute is one of the original school-based centres of educational research. Its primary function is to engage in educational research that inspires thought and action, inquires to create new knowledge, informs policy, improves practice, and includes students, educators and academics. Each of these actions involve, but also extend far beyond, the Barker Community. The Barker Institute also provides opportunities for members of the Barker community to contribute to a wider and ongoing dialogue about teaching and learning to drive education forward. It is a learning hub that enables professional learning and support for staff who are seeking to be better teachers, particularly where professional learning involves research-related activities or studies.

One of the important distinctions of the Barker Institute from other educational research centres is that its research takes place in the context of a community whose constituent members are simultaneously experienced educational researchers and experienced educational practitioners. The work of the Barker Institute benefits from a perspective informed by the interplay between understanding of educational research discourse and being in the classroom as a teacher.

There are countless hours of formal and informal research being conducted by staff at Barker. The Barker Institute aims to collate, streamline and disseminate this research so collectively a body of work aligned with the five research domains of the 2022-2023 Research Agenda can be of great value to education in Australia and abroad. Educators are seeking close-to-practice research in coeducation (especially the outcomes and process of changing from mostly a boys’ school to a fully coeducational school), indigenous education, character & enterprise education, intercultural (especially refugee) education, and future and innovation. The Barker staff are creators with research, thinking and solutions to share. Watch this space!

This year the Barker Institute published the sixth edition of the Barker Institute Journal of staff writings, Research in Practice. Thank you to the staff who contributed to the journal. Individual articles and the Journal as a whole can be viewed on the website or in the Barker Institute offices.

It is not only our staff who contribute to research but also Barker’s students. This is most clearly demonstrated through a variety of Year 12 Extension courses that offer capstone experiences where students learn by conducting genuine academic-style research. The Barker Institute is proud to publish the fourth edition of Scientific Research in Schools. This student journal now has 62 academic articles from Year 12 Science research students. It is widely used by the high school science research community in New South Wales. We are proud of our students and the research they have undertaken.

C o nclu sio n

Through 2022, the Barker Institute has taken large steps in achieving its vision of using the rich intellectual resources of Barker to facilitate learning and growth in the school and wider community. Progress centres around the three functions of the Institute as a research hub, learning centre, and publication house. I wish to thank the Barker Institute staff team and all staff and students who have contributed or participated in research at Barker in 2022. I also wish to thank the School Council and the Head of Barker College for continued investment in this worthwhile pursuit.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

The Barker Journey Articles from the fourth year of our decade long longitudinal study

The Barker Junior School Journey Report on Year 3-6 from 2019-2022

Dr Matthew Hill Director of the Barker Institute

Dr Timothy Scott Barker Institute Research Fellow

A b stra ct

The Barker Journey longitudinal study has now completed its fourth year. The subjects of the study are a group of students who celebrated the conclusion of their primary schooling in 2022. The significance of this milestone was underlined by the current Barker Journey cohort also being the first fully coeducational primary school year group to progress through Year 3-6 at Barker. This article presents an overview of the primary school phase of the Barker Journey project, 2019-2022. In so doing, it presents a longitudinal perspective on learning, teaching, and schooling that is distinctly student-based. These students are part of the generation labelled “Generation Alpha” and their narratives about how they have experienced going to school in the 21st century have provided valuable insights that deserve the attention of teacher and educational leader alike. The article provides a complementary analysis to the annually published articles that focus on student perspectives year-by-year. It explores the fouryear development of five topics for investigation described in the methodology of the 2019 article – values, relationships, resilience, coeducation, and aspirations – and conveys its findings with an emphasis on the concepts of continuity and change as well as lessons and provocations for educators to consider.

Intro d u ctio n

The Barker Junior School Journey is the first phase of a decade-long longitudinal study across the third decade of the 21st century called the Barker Journey. Following a previous Barker Journey project (2008-2017), this school-based educational research project follows the progression of a group of students at an independent, coeducational, PreK-12 school with its largest campus in the north of Sydney, Australia. These students are currently in Year 6 and have been sharing their stories of learning, teaching, and schooling over the last four years. The narrative that has emerged over the course of this first phase has

Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Matthew Hill (2019-2022) and Timothy Scott (2021-2022) building on contributions from Amanda Eastman (20192020). The authors would like to thank Susan Layton and Tim Miller, acknowledging their roles at different points over the past four years in preparing and collating the data that has informed this article. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Matthew Hill and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

provided the basis for understanding how the current generation of student learns, and establishes key considerations for what the educational needs of this generation might be in the future. Research has posited that the current generation from which the Barker Journey cohort comes is still revealing key attributes and characteristics, further contributing to the value this project brings to educational leaders and practitioners alike. The purpose of this article, then, is to present an overview of the first phase of this project, exploring and reflecting on key themes, trends and ideas that have emerged during interviews, focus groups and student surveys during this time. It seeks to identify more clearly what the students of this generation value and what learning, teaching, and schooling may look like in the future.

Meth odolog y

The Barker Journey project is an ongoing, longitudinal, school-based research project Data is collected annually through semi-structured interviews of a core group of 30 students, supported by occasional whole-cohort surveys. The methodology is informed by grounded theory where annual thematic analysis and reporting provides iterative theories and cumulative results in key milestones, particularly at the end of 2022 and 2028. Based on a previous iteration of the project (2008-2017) five broad topics were identified for exploration including values, relationships, resilience, coeducation and aspirations and this paper explicitly reports on the continuity, change, lessons and provocations that have emerged related to each of these topics.

Central to this longitudinal project is student voice. While many others stakeholders have their own valuable perspectives and contributions to these students’ school journey, such as their parents and teachers, all data obtained and analysed in this study comes directly from the students themselves There has been a growing interest within educational research in what students have to say. It stems from students having a unique perspective on learning and teaching. (Cook-Sather, 2006). This is particularly the case if an aim of education today is to make learning and teaching more meaningful and authentic Taking the time to listen to what the students have said about making their way through school in the 21st century has yielded valuable information such as the values that the students hold, the nature of the learning environment in which they feel they learn best, and what should be considered fundamental if learning and teaching is to be considered effective.

Data collection methods included interviews, and occasional surveys. Starting with Year 3 in 2019, every year the same group of 30 students have been participating in recorded semistructured interviews conducted by the researchers. To ensure the validity of findings from the interviewed sample for the whole cohort, in Year 3, the cohort (66 students) also participated in group interviews, and in Year 6, the cohort (now 150 students) participated in a survey. The questions for interviews and surveys were determined by a panel of schoolbased researchers and suitability of wording for that age group was checked by one of their classroom teachers. The content of the questions for both the interviews and surveys included five important topics for investigation identified in 2019 following on from the 2008-2017 study (values, relationships, resilience, coeducation, aspirations) and specific

relevant issues suitable for that year such as settling in as a Year 3 student, navigating online learning as a Year 5 student, and words of wisdom from Year 6 students.

Interview responses were transcribed and NVivo was used to perform annual thematic analysis Responses were initially coded according to the five pre-determined topics, then further themes were identified within the topics, and across topics to form the annual reports (Eastman & Hill, 2019, 2020; Scott & Hill, 2021, 2022) This process of annual memoing was important in the process of following principles of grounded theory.

The principles of grounded theory have greatly informed the approach of this project from its inception. First posited by Glaser and Strauss (1967), grounded theory seeks to have hypotheses emerge from collected data, rather than formulating hypotheses in advance of the collection of that data. Grounded theory, then, is imminently suitable for a longitudinal study such as the Barker Journey and it has been applied each year the study takes place. Its suitability for this project is clear because at the heart of the study is a generation of student the key attributes and characteristics of whom are only now beginning to be revealed and understood. Furthermore, it is an approach that allows the students’ perspective to be heard and understood without being obscured by a particular theoretical framework or underpinning interpretative schema. It is hoped, then, approaching what the students have to say in this way, and until the project’s completion in 2028, will encourage both discussion and development of how education might progress to meet the needs of this generation without preconceived ideas being put before what the evidence of student voice is conveying.

Each year, the commentary on learning, teaching and schooling provided by the Barker Journey cohort would also be compared to current academic scholarship. This proved revealing. In some instances, as expected, what students were saying aligned with the perspectives offered by educational research. In others, contrary to expectation, differences were detected. A particularly clear example of this comes from student experience with COVID-19 lockdowns. Where the expectation was that students might be positive and embracing of online learning, the reality suggested more nuanced modes of thinking were needed around the topics that emerged from talking to students about how they experienced each school year (for example: Scott & Hill, 2021)

This report sits as an interim report, drawing together analysis from four years of reporting based on 600 minutes of interviews and 226 survey responses. To effectively communicate the findings this report provides an exploration of five topics of values, resilience, relationships, coeducation, and aspirations. A table summarising the emergent themes related to each of these topics is found in Table 1: Summary of Findings, and is a useful tool in understanding the highlights of what the Barker Journey cohort has revealed from 20192022.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

P r o v o c a t i o n

W h a t i s r e q u i r e d f o r v a l u e s t o b e t r u l y i m b e d d e d i n a s c h o o l ?

Students were excellent at using the labels of the IB PYP learner profile when describing a virtuous student. How can other values be embedded in a similar way?

H o w t o b e s t p r o v i d e n o nd i g i t a l i n t e r a c t i o n s t o d i g i t a l n a t i v e s ?

The challenge for schoo l leaders and teachers to ensure that relational opportunities continue regardless of models of blended, hybrid, or online learning in the future.

L e s s o n

T e a c h e r s i m p a r t v a l u e s , u s u a l l y b e y o n d t h e c l a s s r o o m . Values instruction could occur in the classroom, but most students indicated extracurricular experiences as opportunities to develop values, especially those where they were challenged and stretched.

“ L e a r n i n g i s S o c i a l ” c a n n o t b e o v e r s t a t e d Practices during online learning due to COVID19 reflect the intense desire of students to participate in learning communities

C h a n g e

I n c r e a s i n g r e c o g n i t i o n o f v a l u e s i n p e e r s

Initially, students saw desirable values in their teachers. Along the journey they began to also identify positive values in themselves and their peers .

I n c r e a s i n g v a l u e i n p e o p l e o v e r p l a c e s Initially students most appreciated school’s facilities and opportunities . W hile students still do appreciate events and facilities, at the end of the journey it is not the places, but the people who come together in these places that they will remember.

Table 1: Summary of Findings C o n t i n u i t y

K i n d n e s s i s k e y

Every year these students emphasi s ed kindness as the primary desirable value for student and teachers. Students in Year 6 articulate that kindness and otherpersoncenteredness is a fundamental value which needs to be present before any other trait can be developed or displayed.

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R e l a t i o n s h i p s a r e c e n t r a l

Consistently, t he comradery of the year group and dedication of teachers were two of the most valued and transformative aspects of the School experience.

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C a n e v e r y c h a l l e n g e b e o v e r c o m e ? A holistic education must support students to not only reach for the stars again and again despite setbacks, but learn to listen to themselves, their bodies and those around them to be the best version of themselves.

T h e d i f f i c u l t y o f C O V I D1 9 w a s a n o p p o r t u n i t y f o r g r o w t h T he unanticipated hardships bought by COVID19 appeared to have accelerated personal growth quicker than expected .

D o t h e b o y s a n d g i r l s p e r c e i v e t h a t t h e y a r e b e i n g t r e a t e d t h e s a m e ?

These students see boys and girls treated equally in school. Some differences are reported which will be monitored in future years.

B o y s a n d g i r l s a r e d i f f e r e n t , b u t b e t t e r t o g e t h e r . “ If you added 100 boys… it would pretty much stay the same as it was before… when you have boys and girls your school almost seems better, and it is better. ”

W h a t g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s t o w e s e e i n c a r e e r a s p i r a t i o n s ?

While individual differences exist, female students were more likely to aspire to Education & the Arts, male students to STEM and Sport. Along the journey, many female students are changing to STEM.

S t u d e n t s e x p e c t s c h o o l s t o p r o v i d e t r a i n i n g , p r a c t i c e , a n d h o l i s t i c d e v e l o p m e n t

I n c r e a s i n g s e e k i n g o f f r i e n d s ( a n d l o o k i n g i n w a r d l y ) f o r s u p p o r t Students became better at recognising the whole suite of resources available to them when times are tough including teachers, parents, friends, and themselves.

I n c r e a s i n g m a t u r i t y w i t h p o s i t i v e o u t c o m e s Year 6 students considered increasing maturity and getting used to the change as the cause of improved relationships.

P a r e n t s & t e a c h e r s a r e c o n s t a n t s u p p o r t s

Each year students saw their parents and teachers as caring experts who could be trusted for supporting them through difficult times.

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C o e d u c a t i o n i s “ n o r m a l ”

Most students barely mention coeducation. They see it as just “normal” and simply “as it should be”.

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Students wanted a combination of careerspecific training, opportunities to develop and practice, and to be supported academically, socially and as learners.

I n d i v i d u a l c a r e e r c h o i c e s c h a n g e While the overall trends stay the same, individuals 70% of individuals changed career choice and the majority to a completely new category.

P o p u l a r c a r e e r s a r e i n E d u c a t i o n & t h e A r t s , S T E M a n d S p o r t

At the start and end of the journey, over 80% of students aspire to careers in one of these three categories.

A s hor t n ot e about COVID-19

During 2019-2022 the entire world was disrupted by COVID-19. For this group of students, COVID-19’s impact on education was clearly felt in 2020 when schooling experienced a brief period of school campus closure and changed term dates. The 2020 study noted 52% of the Barker Journey cohort discussed the impact of the pandemic before being directly asked about it (Eastman and Hill, 2020, p. 49) However, it was in 2021 that their school experiences were defined by COVID-19 (Scott & Hill, 2021). Governmental Public Health Orders required Term 3 to be run entirely online, and the online learning extended until Week 3, Term 4. Students and their teachers (including even the authors of this paper!) needed to quickly shift to online learning, and adapt to a “new normal” without any clear sense as to when social distancing restrictions might end. This shift overshadowed the school year and influenced the way in which students responded to the questions that were asked in online interviews. Descriptions of learning experiences were characterised by a mixture of disappointment and hope. One student stated: “I want to see my friends and play with them and also connect with people face to face” (Student 5G in Scott & Hill 2021, p.8). Missing out on activities such as camps, excursions, sport and travel, as well as not being able to see family and friends, were disappointments to which students referred but students also exhibited hope. The ability to continue to connect with their peers, and, particularly, the efforts of teachers to make the best of a very challenging learning environment gave students confidence in their learning (Scott & Hill, 2021, p. 8) COVID-19 is not the topic of this research, but it is unsurprising that it is a strong feature of these students’ journey and influences many of the themes discussed in this paper

1 Va lu es

The development of character is core to the Barker student journey. The school seeks to promote and show the five values of commitment, compassion, courage, integrity, and respect Whilst these values have been thoughtfully developed and displayed, embedding in school culture has been an ongoing process. With that in mind, in Years 3-5, the word ‘values’ was deliberately omitted in face-to-face interviews to prevent leading students to recite the official school values. Rather, students were asked to reflect on what Barker students should be like and whether people at Barker visibly demonstrate what the Barker Journey cohort had identified as key characteristics or attributes. In Year 6, all students were explicitly asked to choose a value and to discuss how Barker may or may not have assisted them in developing this value.

V Values Cont in uit y – Kin dn es s is key

Every year these students emphasized kindness as the primary desired value for students and teachers. Their identification of kindness as the most important value a student can display is in step with wider studies that state that kindness is one of the most highly endorsed character strengths and virtues around the world (Datu & Park, 2019; see also: Karis & Craighead, 2012; Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Lee & Huang, 2021). When asked for three words to describe an ideal Barker student, kindness consistently presented as the most popular above other common terms such as respect, caring and principled. However, it was also evident in other offered responses where Year 3 students most valued their

teachers for their kindness, describing situations where people ask how you are going, or help if you drop your books. Synonymous terms included “caring” and “niceness” (cf. Gaertner & Binfet, 2015, pp. 36–37). This notion of outward affirmation became more developed and nuanced to the point where students in Year 6 were choosing to articulate that kindness and other-person-centeredness as a fundamental value that has to be present before any other trait can be developed or displayed. Perhaps the foundational nature of kindness to demonstrating the values in life was best expressed by connecting this value to another foundation, which for many at Barker is the Christian faith.

Well at Barker, we try to be like, we believe in Jesus and we want to be like him and we want to do it for other people, not because we want to have a reward but because we love everyone and we want them to be happy.

Student 4G in Year 5, 2021

V Values Chan ge – In whom ar e t he v alues s een?

Initially, the positive values of kindness, respectfulness, caring and helpfulness were most commonly attributed to teachers rather than fellow students.

Staff are like that [kind and committed], like Mr Heath

Student 3B in Year 3, 2019

When the Year 3-4 students viewed their peers they could see some inconsistency with the demonstration of the school values. The fact that, in the students’ opinion, there were students whose actions were not consistent with the ideal characteristics they had identified was identified in 2019 as an area for future growth (Eastman & Hill, 2019). Interestingly, students in their early years appeared to seek out friends based on these kindness-related values.

My friends are like this [nice, helpful, respectful], others aren't always like this - they are sometimes mean, the teachers are!

Student 11G in Year 3, 2019

Towards the end of the Barker Junior School Journey, the students continued to recognise their teachers as those who model the values.

Barker has developed the values in me because of the teachers showing and telling us

Student 4B in Year 6, 2022

They also have increasingly come to recognise the values in themselves and their peers.

Yes, I think the teachers have helped all of us become better people. But also everyone around me have been always working hard trying for us.

Student 13G in Year 6, 2022

This is consistent with the first iteration of the Barker Journey study where increasingly students recognised the role of their peers in shaping their values “When you’re around good people you become one yourself” (Eastman & Merrick, 2019; see also: Gaertner & Binfet, 2015; Binfet & Passmore, 2019)

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

Ever since I started in Year 5 I have seen people around me, at Barker, treat others with respect. I believe that this has been projected on to me and I will continue to be respectful.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 92

I found a nice group of friends and they helped me show more compassion to others. Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 52

I have learnt to be compassionate by looking at the examples of other students around me

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 135

The recognition of kindness from other students was particularly evident in the Year 5 interviews amidst a term of online learning where respondents were physically separated from their peers. Students missed the incidental help from their peers during learning and praised efforts of their peers to make contact during and after the school day to check in on how they were doing.

Values L es s on – When ar e v alues dev elop ed?

The modelling of values from teachers and school leaders was observed in student faceto-face interviews and surveys as the primary way students were introduced to, and encouraged to develop, values at Barker. When all Year 6 students were asked to write a short paragraph discussing whether Barker assisted them in developing the school values, students recognised the role played by teachers in addition to connecting values development to classroom and extra-curricular opportunities (cf. Scott & Hill, 2022; see also Allen & Bowles, 2012; Blomfield Niera & Barber, 2012; Allen et al., 2018; Verhoeven, Poorthuis & Volman, 2019)

Barker has helped me develop commitment, by after school activities. The after-school activities have helped me stay on schedule and commit and believe in my ability to do these activities.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 33

I believe Barker has helped me to practice and learn [respect] as it is something that is practiced every day in the school environment. It is how you communicate with friends and peers and is something the school teaches you all the time for you to put in practice such as in sports.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 44

Important for students was the opportunity to develop values through participation in learning and activities beyond their comfort zone.

I think they helped me with it because 1. they gave me lots of opportunities, so I tried a lot of them, many of the opportunities were things I did not try before, so trying them out made me a bit more courage 2. Sometimes when I did activities in class my teachers would help me do a lot of things outside my comfort zone.

Student 12G in Year 6, 2022

I agree with the statement, that Barker College has helped me develop respect and the Barker values. I think this because Barker has given me multiple opportunities to

learn the values and use them in the correct and respectful way. For example, on camps and excursions.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 99

The co-curricular debating has improved my public speaking abilities in Barker’s ‘Courage’ Value.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 113

It is therefore a combination of the people and the activities that allow for development of values in the school.

V Values Pr ov ocation – What is req uir ed for v alues t o be t r uly imbedded in a school?

In Year 5, there was a discernible shift in the language used by students to describe the ideal characteristics of Barker students (cf. Scott and Hill, 2021). In Year 5 and 6, students used less colloquial terms like “niceness”, “friendly”, and “helpful”, replacing them with vocabulary from the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) Learner Profile such as “caring”, “respectful”, “principled”, “courageous”, “open-minded”, and “risk-taker” (cf. Bullock, 2011, pp. 10–13)

Integrity. Respect. Open-minded [are values that are important] - I am doing well at integrity. I do the right thing I am working at being open-minded.

Student 3G in Year 5, 2021

This illustrates the tremendous success of the clear identification of desirable learning dispositions amongst students which is a core requirement of the implementation of the PYP. Students know the words as they are reminded of them regularly and experiences are imbedded with opportunities for developing these dispositions.

I think that it has helped me develop school values. This is because that the reminding me on this every single day.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 112

I think Barker has definitely helped me develop my courage. This is because they have given me so many opportunities to perform or do something in front of a group of people.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 152

It is important to note that despite recognising how the school articulates values, and seeks to imbed them, this doesn’t automatically translate to students displaying these values regularly. As previously mentioned, there was a clear increase in students recognising positive values in each other in the latter half of the Junior School Journey, but it should not be claimed that this character development is comprehensive and complete.

I have been at that the school for 6 or 7 years, so the values are drilled into my brain. Though they are the school values not everyone shows them so there are fewer people who display them. I also think that as the values are repeated it becomes robotic, it kind of loses its meaning after a certain point. So, it might have helped me but I haven’t seen proof so I don’t know.

Year 6 2022 Student Survey Respondent 56

This student was identified by a peer, during the Year 3 interviews, as “kind, caring and principled” (Student 14B in Year 3, 2019), indicative of the fact that students have a sense of

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

whether identified values are present in their schooling environment (Gaertner & Binfet, 2015; Binfet & Passmore, 2019)

The relative success of students identifying with the attributes of the PYP learner profile offers a lesson for how values or positive dispositions can be effectively imbedded in a learning program in a school. This serves as an encouragement and a model for the explicit imbedding of values in curricular and extra-curricular opportunities throughout Barker College. It will be interesting to track student perception of values as they enter the secondary school which does not focus on the PYP learner profile but retains the same five core school values of commitment, compassion, courage, integrity and respect.

2 . Rela tio nsh ip s

In the first iteration of the Barker Journey study, one of the three key findings related to the extensive opportunities that the students were able access at Barker. And as this second study began in 2019 it was clear that students again appreciated the opportunities before them. However, what was merely an undercurrent in the previous study became a tidal wave in the present study where the real blessing of learning and extra-curricular activities were the relationships that they formed and utilised. This became abundantly clear as this cohort was required to temporarily transition to only relating to their teachers and peers online at various points in Year 4 and 5 due to the government COVID-19 response.

R Relat ion s hips Con t in uity – Relat ion s hips are cen tr al

From the first interviews in 2019 “it was clear that the comradery of the year group and dedication of teachers were two of the most valued and transformative aspects of the School experience. Indeed, these relationships formed a unique School culture that deeply impacted the students in the study.” (Eastman & Hill, 2019, p. 29). Each year the importance of a network of relationships was reinforced including teachers, friendships, school leadership, and parents.

I like that my teacher is nice and really thoughtful

Student 6B in Year 3, 2019

I liked having lunch with Mr Heath Student 5G in Year 3, 2019

[This year is] better because there’s more people in Barker now than last year. Student 8B in Year 4, 2020

[This year I enjoyed] Being in Mr Foster's class & made lots of new friends in class. Student 12G in Year 5, 2021

[This year I enjoyed] Spending time with family

Student 7G in Year 5, 2021

Just being/coming to school every day and seeing my friends is something great in itself.

Student 4G in Year 6, 2022

R Relat ion

s

hips Chan ge – In creas in g v alue of peop le over p laces

Relationships with friends, teachers (and parents) remain important to these students. However, in Year 3 and 4 many of the most exciting things about their schooling involved facilities and opportunities such as the Rosewood Centre, playgrounds and fields, and the pool.

[I like that] there are lots of activities to participate in like art and aquatics

Student 2G in Year 3, 2019

Yeah, I love it [The Rosewood Centre]. It's very big and It's new, but I'm happy that now we have lots of different places to play sport instead of just the MPH.

Student 4G in Year 4, 2020

[This year is better than last year] Because last year the play equipment was still in construction I remember everything was boarded up and also this year there’s the Rosewood centre.

Student 2B in Year 4, 2020

This was further demonstrated in the features student in Year 4 chose to emphasise when drawing their ideal school including fanciful elements like free ponies, fast food outlets and rollercoasters but also technology-enhanced spaces they identified as existing at Barker (Eastman & Hill, 2020)

Reaffirming the observation that there had been an increase in importance of people over place were students’ responses to the Year 6 survey question: “In one sentence, please describe one thing that you will remember most from your Barker Junior school experience”.

Now in Year 6, only two student (less than 2%) mentioned facilities when responding to this question and 4.43% of students shared a memory where it was the relationships that were key. Most spoke of friends.

I will definitely remember my friends and the best times I have had with them e.g., going on camp with them or the first time I met them.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 64

I remember my year 5 camp and how I made 3 amazing friends that I didn’t have before.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 109

Many described their teachers, with some students identifying multiple teachers from different years

The teachers the teachers I've had in Junior School are the best, like, I would do anything just to have another year in the Junior School.

Student 4G in Year 6, 2022

Responding to this question, 68% of students did refer to a particular event or time, with almost half of these responses referring to camps over the years. There was a very high overlap with identifying events and developing relationships.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

I will always remember that the first time I met one of my best friends, they pushed me off a chair at camp.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 22

Year 5 camp it was so fun and I got to interact with people I wouldn't normally talk to and make new friends

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 75

This suggests that while students do appreciate events and facilities, at the end of the Barker Junior School journey it is not the places, but the people who come together in these places that they will remember. This is in step with recent studies regarding the way in which the schooling experience is remembered, and particularly in relation to “the notion that memory of schooling relates strongly to the social context” (Barzykowski et al., 2019, p. 450).

R Relat ion s hips Les s on – That “lear n in g is s ocial” can n ot be over st at ed

It was no surprise that from Year 3 students consistently valued the ability to learn in community as something they enjoy. They also suggested that when they do get the chance to learn in groups they learn more effectively.

[I work best when we are] working in groups – we can talk and know other’s ideas, I like it when we get to choose groups

Student 12G Year 3

[Learning should be] quiet but not too quiet – need to be able to talk to a group

Student 6B in Year 3, 201

During 2020 and 2021, when this generation of students were in Year 3 and 4, the social element of learning was challenged with restrictions placed on non-essential gatherings and students of all ages globally entering into online learning due to COVID. First identified in 2020, the importance of social and non-digital interactions, even during online learning, gained greater prominence with these students participating in a block of 10 weeks of online learning in Year 5, 2021.

Collaboration, particularly face-to-face, was repeatedly underlined as important for classroom experiences to be considered positive. Interviews revealed the high value that students placed on social interaction within and outside of the classroom. Online learning was therefore considered a more challenging environment in which to work. Students reported clear examples of teachers facilitating collaborative learning, which for a teacher might refer to “instructional arrangements that involve two or more students working together on a shared learning goal” (van Leeuwen & Janssen, 2019, p. 71), students identified deeper needs that could only be partly met in the online environment. The key finding here, therefore, goes beyond affirming that learning is social. Rather, it is the extent to which learning, in the students’ perspective, is a social act. (Scott & Hill, 2021)

Certainly, there was still evidence of students valuing learning together for collaborative effects, but the dominant finding was the way that social interactions alongside and intermingled with learning enhancing the learning experience. Simply being able to be with friends while learning was of greater importance.

And like in lockdown we can't like really like communicate with our friends much, so I think maybe some tasks we could do like as like chosen groups by ourselves.

Student 8G in Year 5, 2021

Each generation uses social media in new ways and it was fascinating see the way students chose to use social media to support their learning experiences during lockdown, further highlighting the notion that learning can be more of a social act than might be otherwise understood. Some students referenced the fact that social media apps, examples of which might include Zoom, WhatsApp or FaceTime, were used in parallel with the school’s remote learning ecosystem.

I connect with my friends in the class in the morning and at afternoon. But then with some of my friends at the other classes, sometimes I go on like different zoom meetings to just say hello with them.

Student 12G in Year 5, 2021

Well, I've emailed people and also, I don't really have a phone, Well I have my friends’ contacts on his [dad’s] phone so I normally chat with them as well via WhatsApp.

Student 15Bs in Year 5, 2021

The students also recognised how the teachers responded to these social needs as part of the learning experience and therefore adding social interaction to the [online] school schedule.

Student 15Bs in Year 5, 2021

Well [our teacher] at the ending of our day at 2:15 to 2:45, sometimes she makes us go into these little groups in Teams and she lets us like communicate to each other and do stuff like that. She also says if you have like a mobile phone number or like an email that you can text each other and connect I guess.

Student 13G in Year 5, 2021

The image one starts to build of a student’s workspace during online learning is that it existed across several digital contexts to recreate the usual social interactivity that might ordinarily have taken place in the physical classroom (cf. Scott & Hill, 2021).

R Relat ion s hips Pr ov ocat ion – H ow t o best pr ov ide n on-digit al in t er act ion s t o digit al n at iv es ?

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, schools were forced to rapidly adopt flexible learning arrangements. Overall, our research during the pandemic showed people are very positive about a shift towards online learning. In fact, nine in ten said they were positive about an increased use of online learning in vocational training (90 per cent), university (89 per cent), workplaces (90 per cent) and in school (86 per cent)

McCrindle, Fell & Buckerfield (2021) p.195

Even though the Year 3-6 experience for the Barker Journey cohort was interrupted by online learning they recognised the quality of the learning experience offered. Amongst the many definite positives that students identified was a strengthening of family relationships at home However, the students in this study longed to be back at school.

It's harder to communicate when you're not in person and it's I'm there. Barker is doing so well for online learning – way better than some of my friends’ schools – but it's

still it's a little boring not being able to interact with other students and talk to them way more than we would do on online learning.

Student 4G in Year 5, 2021

Perhaps the challenge of COVID-19 was not only the interruption to face-to-face schooling for a brief period of 2021 and an extended period in 2021, but the interruption to many extra-curricular opportunities in school and beyond over those two years. Camps were cancelled or rescheduled. Parents had limited access to campus events. After-school activities were limited, and sport seasons were heavily interrupted.

As the list of Year 6 students salient memories included the way that events and activities facilitated the development of relationships, it is no surprise that the combination of online learning, and interrupted events and activities made these students long for non-digital interaction with their friends, peers, and teachers.

This puts forward a more nuanced view regarding the extent to which the current generation of students are more inclined to be digital. The interviews showed the students’ need for personal interaction, despite being raised in a digital, media-saturated world and learning in a media-rich environment; even in digital learning the computer interface could not replace the human face. (Scott & Hill, 2021)

It is almost certain that this generation of students will experience further opportunities for or periods of blended, or solely online, learning before graduating from high school. The challenge for school leaders and teachers will be to ensure that relational opportunities continue regardless of models of blended, hybrid, or online learning in the future.

3 . Resilienc e

Resilience is considered a vitally important characteristic (Duckworth, 2017) and yet it appears to be in decline amongst adolescents in recent years (Haidt & Paresky, 2019). In the previous iteration of this study, many of the students demonstrated remarkable resilience, thus prompting the researchers to examine what educational experiences had stimulated the development of this (Eastman & Merrick, 2019). In this iteration of the study an annually recurring question of students was asking them to identify a challenge, and then explain how they have worked to overcome it.

R Res ilien ce Con t in uit y – P arent s & Teacher s ar e con st an t s uppor ts

Each year from Years 3-6, many students recognised that they could turn to parents and teachers who for help with dealing with all forms of challenges. This was true for academic, sporting, relational and personal obstacles. They were sees as experts and as people who could be trusted.

Rugby is really scary… my coach gives me motivation to tackle someone, he always gives us lots of tips

Student 11B in Year 3, 2019

I wasn’t good at handball at school so I asked my Dad. [He] helped me think it through and played handball with me

Student 15B in Year 3, 2019

If I felt bullied, I talked to someone I trust, my teachers or my parents Student 8G in Year 4, 2020

I turned to my teachers and parents for help with online learning Student 1G in Year 4, 2020 [When difficulties with work] - Sometimes I think I haven't read the question properly, then I go to my friends, and if I still need help I go to my teachers who really know the answers

Student 8G in Year 6, 2022

To overcome... asking a friend or teacher who always help me to learn it.

Student 1B in Year 6, 2022

Trusted teachers, combined with personal, social, and academic reassurance form home is an essential support base for navigating the primary school years. It will be interesting to see the ways these students talk about their parents and teachers in the coming years as they journey through secondary school.

R Res ilien ce Chan ge – Recogn is in g fr ien ds as comp an ion s an d dr awin g on t heir own in n er s tr en gt h.

While some students did mention friends in Year 3, and one student did tell us that when he comes to an obstacle “I just face the challenge and take it head on – feels good” (Student 8B in Year 3, 2019) students either focussed on parents and teachers as their support network, or said they were not sure how they could overcome their problems (Eastman & Hill, 2019)

As the students progressed through their journey, students were better able to identify solutions. It was much more common for them to describe their personal attributes, possibly related to elements of the PYP learner profile such as “risk-taker”, “open-minded”, “reflective” and “thinker”.

I try and think more deeply about answers [thinker], try and think out of the box [open-minded]. Try and think of things that other students wouldn't [risk-taker]

Student 2G in Year 6, 2022

I was a bit harsh in the way that I didn't believe what my teacher was saying was true, and it kind of reflected in my school work... I almost tried to think ""How can I get better"", ""how can I get out of that low point""... I’ve learned you just have to try and respect what people are saying, really.

Student 15Bs in Year 6, 2022

Maths - I don't really understand it, is really confusing, it never end. How to cope? Think of other things and try my best. Try, and not give up, you know when you have done you're best, you know when you have not done your best.

Student 5G in Year 6, 2022

The other change in student responses was the increase in students identifying their friends as being integral to their support network both as people who can help them with their learning, but also as an emotional support.

[When difficulties with learning] - Sometimes I think I haven't read the question properly, then I go to my friends, and if I still need help I go to my teachers who really know the answer.

Student 8G in Year 6, 2022

I turn to my new friend - he's a great guy - if I have any troubles. Student 10B in Year 6, 2022

I know every time I'm sad, like ten students will come up to me and ask me if I'm OK… Student 4G in Year 6, 2022

These students are becoming better at recognising the whole suite of resources available to them when times are tough. Building on the foundation of trustworthy and caring teachers and parents, they now see their friends as integral to their resilience (Allen et al., 2018). What is perhaps most exciting was the strong responses indicating personal resilience in the face of hardship shared by many of these students who are still only 12-13 years old.

R Res ilien ce L esson – The difficult y of CO VID -19 as an opp ort un it y for gr owt h

One benefit of a longitudinal study based on grounded theory is the chance to Journey with the students where the ideas of the researchers are gradually shaped and moulded each year as the students grow. There was a noticeable difference in the attitudes of the students around hardship from Year 3 2019 to Year 4 2020 when the interviews were conducted 6-8 months after the COVID-19 pandemic started causing widespread restrictions in Sydney. In the 2020 interviews it was evident that students could better identify positives amidst difficult times and articulated greater agency through sharing who they would turn to for help, and how their efforts or repeated practice might improve their situation (Eastman & Hill, 2020).

Most of the time I just look on the bright side and look at the positive things. Like, there’s always going to be next year.

Student 3G in Year 4, 2020

Students experienced new opportunities to grow. These came through the role played by their teachers, and the unanticipated hardships bought by COVID-19, some of which were even more prominent during an extended 10-week lockdown in Year 5. These new opportunities appeared to have accelerated personal growth in unprecedented ways. Whilst the preliminary research on the impact of the pandemic suggested many potential worries, (Golberstein, Wen and Miller, 2020; Prime, Wade and Browne, 2020), there is also potential that one of the silver linings will be a generation with a greater degree of resilience and adaptability than its predecessors.

Eastman & Hill (2020), p. 48

R Res ilien ce Pr ovocat ion – Can ev er y challen ge be ov er come?

Despite the positive trends of students increasingly being able to identify who they would go to, and drawing upon their inner resources more and more, there were still multiple examples of students being uncertain as to where to turn when they needed help Students

made it clear that friends were an important group upon which to rely (cf. Allen et al., 2018) Teachers were seen as experts and role models with whom students could speak. But students recognised that there were times where the external support friends and teachers provided, despite having a positive influence on their lives, was not enough What was observed in interviews and surveys was a growing understanding of the role of intrinsic motivation in overcoming challenges

Perhaps it was most noticeable when students described their desire to “try harder”, something evident in some responses in each year from Years 3-6. For example, in 2022 Student 4G stated:

Sometimes you have some bad days and I remember one clearly. I was just really upset because I thought I couldn't be myself because I always tried to make people like me… but you'll have some people who don't like you as much as you thought they would… I guess I was just really down about that, but once the teachers made me feel a lot better and I'm definitely feeling a bit better about and better about myself and I am getting to understand that not everyone will like me, but be really happy about the people who are there for you and do whatever you can to keep those friends.

This student’s reflection on trying harder illustrates the type of holistic view of self on which the Barker Journey cohort commented This view of themselves integrated their natural abilities, their capacity for improvement through learning, effort, and practice, and even their own limitations as individual human beings, all in order to be the best version of themselves.

4 . C o ed u ca tion

The small group of girls who started Barker in Year 3, 2019 were the only female students in Years 3-9 on Barker’s Hornsby campus. Previously, at this campus, female students were enrolled from Years 10-12. This meant that the cohort of male and female students commencing in Year 3 were embarking on Barker’s first 10-year coeducational journey from Year 3-12. Therefore, this study, especially across the first four years, presented a unique opportunity to understand coeducation from the perspective of a coeducational group of students in a school that at the time was in the process of making the transition to be fully coeducational by 2022 Female students joined the cohort each year, particularly during a larger intake of male and female students for the start of Year 5.

During Years 3-5 the researchers deliberately did not ask the students directly about coeducation. Rather, they were asked more general questions such as ‘What do you like about Barker?’ ‘How is Year 3 different to last year?’ and ‘What has been hard about being at Barker this year?’ Thus, they were given the opportunity to raise the issue if it genuinely factored into their thinking, rather than being led to a particular response. This allowed the researchers to gain more sincere insight into how the students were being affected by the transition to coeducation. In Year 6 students were asked to directly reflect on the coeducational experience with the question “What do you think about having boys and girls at the same primary school?” and where possible they were encouraged to find positives

and negatives to avoid biasing their responses towards what they through the interviewers may want to hear.

C Coeducat ion Con t in uity : To t his cohort , coeducat ion is seen as n or mal

None of the students thought coeducation a negative. In fact, many considered it a great improvement. Ultimately, most of the Barker Journey cohort thought it just “normal” and simply “as it should be”. This does not mean that there were no complaints about the other gender (explored more in the following section) Observed clearly and consistently, however, through indirect questioning in Years 3-5 and direct questioning in Year 6, the students were overwhelmingly positive about their experience.

As early as its first year, students viewed coeducation as “normal” or “as it should be”. This was seen in the way in which students responded to being asked to identify what was different about Year 3. With most of the students in Year 3 having been in a single-sex schooling environment in Year 2, there was an expectation that students would make reference to coeducation or gender. On the contrary, there was an absence of reference to coeducation or gender to this and other similar questions, indicating that the Barker Journey cohort students perceived coeducation as a normalised part of their schooling experience (Eastman & Hill, 2019). Fellow students were their peers, regardless of gender.

In contrast to this generation of students, when the students in the previous iteration of the Barker Journey study were interviewed in Year 10, when female students previously joined the cohort, they saw the introduction of female students as the most significant change that year and did report initial disruption to their studies and their friendship groups (Eastman & Hill, 2019). The results of version two of this study suggest that the presence of both genders from the outset has negated these adjustment issues and magnified the benefits of a coeducational environment.

It’s good [having co-education in the junior school]. It stops the big shock in Year 10 Student 1B in Year 6, 2022

[Having Girls at Barker now] It’s better than the all of a sudden big change that happens at Year 10 that my brother did.

Student 12B in Year 6, 2022

The implicit indifference towards potential challenges of coeducation was made explicit by these students in Year 6, at the end of the first four-year Barker Junior School Coeducational Journey.

I don’t mind - I don’t think anything of it – I would find it weird if it was only boys or girls

Student 2G in Year 6, 2022

I don’t mind it – it’s not that different

Student 14B in Year 6, 2022

I think its good thing ‘cos you get used to it. ‘ cos I think if you spend your whole school life with girls and then when you're an adult, you have to work in an office, so you would be used to it.

Student 9G in Year 6, 2022

2022

I'm fine with it. I don't think it's a big deal.

Student 2B in Year 6, 2022

Doesn't matter what gender you are as girls can do anything boys can do.

Student 5G in Year 6, 2022

C Coeducat ion Chan ge: In cr eas in g mat ur it y with p os it iv e out comes

When asked in Year 3 about something they found challenging, some students did express relational difficulties. For example, four of the 15 interviewed female students indicated experiencing conflict related to a student or students of the opposite gender despite there being many initiatives deployed by the school to ensure that the Year 3 girls were warmly welcomed However, the concerns of the female students regarding the relational difficulties they experienced resolved over time. During their Year 6 interviews, the students were asked to reflect on what their Year 3 selves said about the things they found challenging when they first entered the Barker primary school community. The benefit of a longitudinal perspective on coeducation change that these reflections provide can be seen in the table below.

Table 2: Longitudinal perspective on the change to coeducation Year 3 Year 6

Sometimes the boys and girls fight because they don’t really know each other – but it may get better (as they do).

(Student 2G in Year 3, 2019)

[Something that was hard this year was] trying to fit in as the first girls.

(Student 6G in Year 3, 2019)

[After responding with laughter when the Year 3 quote was read] Now the boys and girls don't fight. I don't know why I said that, but I guess it was true (Student 2G in Year 6, 2022)

[It was] the fact that we were only girls in the whole entire junior school, but also felt special at the same time… Well, the first year was a little bit strange but as it went on I realised that this is, ‘it’s going to be ok and it’ll feel normal’ and it did feel normal probably at the end of year three actually. (Student 6G in Year 6, 2022)

[A challenge was] ignoring rude boys spying on us!

(Student 8G in Year 3, 2019)

Sometimes the boys chase us and make fun of us

(Student 9G in Year 3, 2019)

I guess, like, we stopped paying attention to them so they didn't bother like going & listening [It stopped] around Term 3 and Year 4, I think? (Student 8G in Year 6, 2022)

It doesn’t happen as much anymore ‘cause I think as all of us get more and more mature we realise that it’s like-, there’s no reason to do that. (Student 9G in Year 6, 2022)

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

It is reasonable to expect that a change in a school’s learning ecosystem as significant as shifting from a single sex environment to a coeducational one creates degrees of social uncertainty amongst the students directly impacted by that change. For the girls, the transition to a new school would have been made more complicated by being a part of the first coeducational year group in the Junior School (Year 3-6). The challenge for the boys was similarly two-fold, firstly welcoming a large intake of new students and secondly adjusting to many of their day-to-day peers being female – for some, this would have been the very first time that schooling was a coeducational experience.

It is understandable, then, that in Year 3 Student 6G identified how challenging it felt to fit in. Both girls and boys were finding their place in what was for both girls and boys a different school. The girls were socially and academically acculturating themselves to what was for them a new environment alongside students for whom the school they had become used to had fundamentally changed. Student 6G’s observations about this initial experience from her Year 6 interview indicated that the challenges associated with the “fitting in” were resolved by the end of Year 3. Even for this student, the settling in process was not all negative. Her reflections when in Year 6 say she and her female peers “felt special” at the same time as seeking to fit in. Student 8G suggested that the process took perhaps a little longer. However, the consensus amongst the students was that there had been positive changes and that the environment in which students now found themselves was normal The four students who had expressed concerns about being at school with boys were able, in their Year 6 interviews, identify a positive change that had occurred in year group since Year 3. The laughter of Student 2G, along with her own words, is an example; the fighting between girls and boys that took place in Year 3 is now not even a memory of Student 2G’s cohort. The students attribute such positive changes to students of both genders in the year group growing in their maturity and adapting to change. An additional intake of female students joining the cohort in Year 5 2021 increased the female to male ratio which would have also assisted in positive changes. The small ratio these students experienced in Year 3 will no longer be an issue at the school.

C Coeducat ion L es s on : Thes e s t uden ts s ee boy s an d gir ls as differ ent , but bet ter t oget her

While these students see coeducation as normal, this is not claiming that differences between girls and boys do not exist. Year 6 responses to the question “What do you think about having boys and girls at the same primary school?” did result in some stereotypes but these can be categorised as anecdotes about their experience of having boys and girls together at school.

Some differences in the way people act were identified.

The boys are pretty crazy in my class… they all start talking at once. Girls do it less.

Student 15G in Year 6, 2022

Girls think through a lot more before they do things... boys just do things if they are fun.

Student 1B 2022

It is interesting to note that both previous quotes come from students who initially responded to the question with “I think [coeducation] is a good idea” and “It’s different for the best” respectively.

What was most profound is that these students saw gender differences in the classroom as something that enhanced the learning experience through hearing “different ideas or opinions…sometimes, [boys] have more creative and different ideas” (Student 12G in Year 6, 2022). Some students were able to give specific examples of when they noticed how a difference improved their learning.

During the unit of inquiry a really fun task build your own economy stranded on an island... for the girls it was easy to choose who could lead, boys had to think more deeply.

Student 8G in Year 6, 2022

Girls can bring more to the lessons and more variety from the girls. For example, it was helpful [having girls in class] when covering history topics in school see how equality was different in the past.

Student 11B in Year 6, 2022

Perhaps the most helpful summary of each of these points is best heard in one of these students’ own words that details that boys and girls are not the same, but through difference there is strength.

If you added 100 boys… it would pretty much stay the same as it was before when you have boys and girls your school almost seems better, and it is better.

Student 15Bs in Year 6, 2022

C Coeducat ion Prov ocat ion: D o the boy s an d gir ls p er ceive t hat t hey are being tr eat ed t he s ame?

During the Year 6 interviews, students were intentionally asked “Are there differences between the ways boys and girls are treated at the school?” Their responses provided further insight into slight differences in experience by gender, particularly in light of the change from a single sex to a coeducational environment this particular year group experienced Most of the Year 6 students responded that there were no differences in the way in which girls and boys were treated at the school.

It doesn't matter what gender you are as girls can do anything boys can do.

Student 5G in Year 6, 2022

Girls and boys are treated equally in class

Student 7B in Year 6, 2022

It took time to reach the point that students, such as 5G and 7B, expressed in their comments. It was expected that the expression of how girls and boys experience school differently would be the most pronounced in the first four years, from 2019-2022. An example of this was identified in the previous section where a student explained that as a girl in Year 3, 2019, she struggled to fit in but felt special at the same time, but this was not the only difference in how schooling was seen to be experienced amongst the students, by students

Multiple students believe that boys were more likely to get into trouble, but it was debatable whether that was the fault of the boys or the teachers. From one students’ perspective, it resulted in the girls being unfairly reprimanded.

Boys like to yell… they get in trouble but we all have to stay behind as a class Student 10G in Year 6, 2022

Though one of her male classmates felt that the teachers were more likely to assume or notice boys who were misbehaving.

sometimes the impression that the teachers say the BOYS are doing the wrong thing, but generally treated the same. Maybe teachers sometimes assume it is the boys mucking around.

Student 13B in Year 6, 2022

Despite the intentional question about differences in treatment, these students believe that boys and girls are treated equally in school. Both genders have access to opportunities. Both are respected by teachers and peers. This is an area of investigation that will be monitored as these students continue their coeducational journey from Years 7-12.

5 A sp ira tio ns

As p ir at ions Cont in uit y – P op ular car eer s ar e in E ducat ion & the Art s , S TE M an d Sp ort

Thematic analysis of the Year 3 and 4 interviews revealed three dominant answers for career aspirations including:

• Education & The Arts, such as teaching, performer, pianist

• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)

• Sport, such as being a rugby player or a swimmer.

Collectively 82% of students fell into one of these three categories.

When all students were surveyed in Year 6, 84% of students’ responses were encapsulated in these themes and in similar ratios as seen in Figure 1. This implies that the three categories are reliable for describing most students’ aspirations. This can be used by teachers to connect to most students should they wish to engage students based on the careers to which they are currently aspiring.

0%

Education & The Arts

Career aspirations

STEM Sport Other Don't Know

Year 3 Year 6

Figure 1: Career aspirations of this cohort of students in Year 3, 2019, and Year 6, 2022. Consistent themes were Education & The Arts, STEM and Sport. Many students identified more than one career and so an individual student can be counted in multiple categories.

There was change in the type of jobs selected in the “Other” category from Year 3 to Year 6. For instance, when the Year 3 results were analysed in 2019 it was identified that many students named careers that had not existed when the previous cohort completed their Year 3 interviews in 2008, such as YouTuber and gamer. It was concluded that there is an urgent need for educational institutions to prepare students for an unknown future (Barnett, 2004) as many of these students may end up taking jobs that currently do not exist (Eastman & Hill, 2019). Similarly, Year 6 saw “youtuber” and “gamer” replaced by “architect” and “lawyer”. Only two students in 2019 wanted to be architects, but in 2019 12 wanted to be architects or lawyers.

A As p ir at ions Chan ge – Des ired jobs chan ge, esp ecially aft er a p er iod of un cert ain t y in in Year 4

While Figure 1 shows consistency across the three dominant categories for the whole cohort, change in individual student’s career aspirations was noted. Responses from 2019-2022 were paired allowing comparison of aspirations for individual students. The results are presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2: 30% of students reported the same aspired occupation in Years 3 and 6. 57% of students changed not only their desired occupation, but the new occupation was in a different category than before (Education & The Arts, STEM, Sport).

While changes in career aspirations are unsurprising, the Barker Journey project noted that what was recorded Year 6 as a career aspiration was in a completely different category to what had been originally identified in Year 3. So, while the overall career category percentages stay the same (Figure 1) individual students are very likely to have changed their plans (Figure 2). Educators of this age group may assume that a third of their students want to go into STEM jobs, but should continue to provide a broad career preparation as the students that make up that group are likely to change (Aschbacher, Ing & Tsai, 2014; Beier et al., 2019; McCrindle, Fell & Buckerfield, 2021).

A possible suggestion for such a change was posited by the research team in 2020, when examining the results of the Year 4 study (Eastman & Hill, 2020). 2020 saw a significant increase in students saying “I don’t know”, particularly amongst the female students. The number of girls in this category increased from 13% in 2019 to 47% in 2020, leading to questions about whether the observed changes were symptomatic of uncertainty amidst the pandemic or just an indication of age-appropriate development? To address such questions the researchers considered what trends the previous iterations of the Barker Journey study had found. When the previous cohort were in Year 3 in 2008, their aspirations were often being inspired by the careers of family members (Eastman & Merrick, 2019). It appears that as they were exposed to a greater variety of possibilities, many students questioned their preconceived notions and reconsidered their options. In the first cycle of the study, their aspirations were first challenged in early primary school, then reshaped as they approached secondary school and then consolidated as they neared the HSC. Similarly, amongst the current Barker Journey cohort, in Year 3 students often cited family, with responses such as ‘I want to be a chef like my mum’. Figure 3 shows how the number of students unsure about their careers increased in Year 4 but then returned to earlier levels by Year 6 suggesting a similar development as earlier iterations of the Barker Journey study have suggested whereby student aspirations are being reshaped as they leave primary school and enter secondary school.

N e w o c c u p a t i o n , n e w c a t e g o r y

N e w o c c u p a t i o n , s a m e c a t e g o r y

S a m e O c c u p a t i o n

C o m p a r i n g i n d i v i d u a l s t u d e n t s a s p i r a t i o n s f r o m Y e a r 3 t o Y e a r 6

Figure 3: The percentage of students who did not give one or more career aspirations when in Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6. There is no data for Year 5 as the focus was on other areas of interest due to the timing of the interviews (during a ten-week period of online learning).

As p ir at ions Less on – St uden ts exp ect s chool t o pr ov ide tr ainin g, pr act ice and holis t ic dev elop ment

A vision of this longitudinal project is to understand the expectations that this generation has for their education. Year 6 presented an opportunity to ask students about career aspirations with this vision in mind. Specifically, the Barker Journey cohort was asked what they hoped for from their school to support them as they worked towards their chosen possible career. While a group of students were unsure of how Barker could help 75% had some suggestions of the support they wished to receive from the school. Of those who did have ideas, there were three groups of responses including those that requested specific training related to the occupation, those that sought opportunities to develop and practice skills suitable for the profession, and those that sought investment in their general capabilities. The students who wanted specific training were mostly from the STEM category, especially coders/software developers. An exception was a Year 6 students who wanted to be a teacher who also sought specific training.

Teacher: Teach me to plan lessons or working with kids.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 66

Game programmer: Teach programming (not block code) using something like Java 2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 142

The second group of students were those who wanted exposure to develop and practice in their chosen field. This seemed obvious for those wanting to be sports people but was most evident in those seeking careers in the Arts.

Percentage of students responding that the "don't know" what they want to be when they grow up

Musical theatre performer: Drama, singing lessons, dance lessons and more musicals in the middle school.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 65

Add a co-curricular class students can attend if they want to improve their writing and story-telling. It would give an opportunity to students who are looking to improve and willing to show commitment in their studies in writing and English 2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 125

AFL player: Help me along my path by having great coaching, good facilities and opportunities.

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 28

Architect or Designer: Give me lots of opportunities to draw stuff. 2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 64

Finally, many students, including those that were unable to identify a future career at this point, recognised the all-round development of academics, positive experiences, and people skills to prepare them for their known or unknown future. Even students who had a particular career in mind recognised the need for holistic development:

Immunologist or microbiologist: Introduce me to new concepts and topics earlier (e.g math, English, anatomy, history, chemistry, science, geography etc.)

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 69

Screenwriter: Help develop my people skills

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 5

Architect: Help me grow as a person and learn new things

2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 82

Military: Teach me to be quick thinking fast smart and reliable 2022 Year 6 Student Survey Respondent 21

The students do expect their schooling to prepare them for their future careers. They seek a combination of career-specific training, opportunities to develop and practice skills related to their desired occupation, and to be developed academically, socially, and as learners.

A As p ir at ions Pr ov ocat ion – What gender differen ces t o we s ee in car eer asp ir at ions ?

While the split between students aspiring to careers in the three identified categories was approximately equal (see Figure 1 showing that consistently approximately 30% of students aspire to each of Education & The Arts, STEM, and sport), this is no longer the case when gender is considered. A gender bias was first identified in 2019 when interviewing the Year 3 students. In 2019 the researchers wrote:

Research by Archer et al (2013) suggests that societal expectations influence girls’ career aspirations from a young age, resulting in less girls aspiring towards careers in the realm of science. Amongst this cohort, responses showed that 20% of the girls aspired towards STEM-related careers, compared to 44% of the male students. This finding was also mirrored when the boys spoke about their interests, with many of the boys citing STEAM as their favourite thing in the Junior School, whereas this response did not feature amongst the female students.

Eastman & Hill (2019), p.32

Learning in Practice 2022

A similar trend was observed in Year 4 (Eastman & Hill, 2020) and the preference of female students to aspire to Education & The Arts over STEM and Sport hi is firmly juxtaposed by the preference of male students to aspire to STEM and Sport over Education & The Arts (see Figure 4).

Percentage

Education & The Arts STEM Sport

Figure 4: Gender differences in aspiring to careers in Education & The Arts, STEM and Sport.

According to Figure 4, in both Year 3 and Year 6 the female students are far more likely than male students to aspire to careers in Education & The Arts. Male students are more likely to aspire to careers in sport. In Figure 4 it can also be seen that there is a similar distribution of choices made by the male students in Year 3 and 6 (though from Figure 3 it can be predicted that individuals may have made changes). One clear change that can be seen in Figure 4 is the higher proportion of female students aspiring to careers in STEM compared to Education & The Arts in Year 3. This most likely came from some students who changed their minds, and the larger sample size of female students in Year 6 (n=50) compared to Year 3 (n=15). In 2020 the researchers wrote that they wondered whether the coeducational learning environment will, over time, counteract perceived limitations arising from socially imposed gender conventions and allow girls to envision audacious and limitless aspirations. The extent to which evidence is emerging in support of this will continue to be explored in the coming years.

C o nclu sio n

This project describes the school student experience as a journey. Along a journey many things change, there are challenges and lessons learned, and also things that stay the same. The findings of this article offer an insight into the story of schooling in the third decade of

of students choosing career categories by gender Year 3 vs Year 6

the 21st Century. As the decade has only begun, the journey of these students, and this research project is by no means complete. The school welcomes an additional group of Year 7 students to join the subjects of this study in 2023, and data collection, analysis, and reporting will continue into the Barker Secondary School Journey from 2023-2028.

A ckno wled g e m ents

The authors would like to thank the students who generously have shared their stories over the last four years. Thank you to the Barker Institute research assistance team including Amanda Eastman, Susan Layton, and Timothy Miller for adding value at every stage of the project in cludign organising, collecting, transcribing and analysing the data. Thank you to Mr Phillip Heath, Head of Barker College, Mr Martin Conway, Head of Barker Junior School, and every teacher who has taught these students in Years 3-6 for facilitating the research but more importantly guiding these students on their journey.

Ref eren ces

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Allen, K.-A. and Bowles, T. (2012) ‘Belonging as a Guiding Principle in the Education of Adolescents’, Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 12, pp. 108–119.

Aschbacher, P.R., Ing, M. and Tsai, S.M. (2014) ‘Is Science Me? Exploring Middle School Students’ STEM Career Aspirations’, Journal of Science Education and Technology, 23(6), pp. 735–743. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9504-x.

Barnett, R. (2004) ‘Learning for an unknown future’, Higher Education Research & Development, 23(3), pp. 247–260.

Barzykowski, K. et al. (2019) ‘School in our memory: do we remember our time in middle and high school differently?’, Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 31(4), pp. 438–452. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2019.1621320.

Beier, M.E. et al. (2019) ‘The effect of authentic project-based learning on attitudes and career aspirations in STEM’, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(1), pp. 3–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21465.

Binfet, J.-T. and Passmore, H.-A. (2019) ‘The Who, What, and Where of School Kindness: Exploring Students’ Perspectives’, Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 34(1), pp. 22–37. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573517732202.

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Eastman, A. and Hill, M. (2019) ‘The Barker Journey: The commencement of cohort 2’, Learning in Practice, 3(1).

Eastman, A. and Hill, M. (2020) ‘The Barker Journey study amidst COVID-19: Analysis of Year 4 interviews’, Learning in Practice, 4(1), pp. 41–53.

Eastman, A. and Merrick, B. (2019) ‘The Barker Journey: Lessons from cohort 1’, Learning in Practice: The Barker Institute Journal, 3(1).

Gaertner, A. and Binfet, J.-T. (2015) ‘Children’s Conceptualizations of Kindness at School’, Canadian Children, 40(3), pp. 27–49.

Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New Brunswick, London: AldineTransaction.

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McCrindle, M., Fell, A. and Buckerfield, S. (2021) Generation Alpha: Understanding Our Children and Helping Them Thrive. Headline.

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Barker Institute Learning in Practice

The Barker Journey – Year 6, 2022: Community and Belonging

Dr Timothy Scott Barker Institute Research Fellow

Dr Matthew Hill Director of the Barker Institute

A b stra ct

This paper reports on the fourth year of following the Barker Junior School Journey of the cohort of Barker students graduating Year 12 in 2028. In Term 3 of 2022, 150 Year 6 students of Barker College completed a survey, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 of these students. Questions focussed on their schooling experience and expectations for the future. Analysis presented in this paper includes an overall summary of this year’s results, in the students’ own words, followed by discussion of three key findings relevant for education in the third decade of the 21st century. These three findings were that students conceptualise learning, teaching, and schooling through personal relationships, that students value kindness as foundational to other traits and can articulate what it looks like in practice, and that students perceive meaningful learning to be about identity and belonging.

Intro d u ctio n

The fourth year of the Barker Journey research project starts as a story about beginnings and endings, of looking to the future and at the past. It presents a narrative centred on the Barker Journey cohort, now in Year 6, completing their primary schooling. The perspective on learning they bring to this year’s study is informed by reflections on their time in primary school, and what it has meant for them to be a student in 2022. What it might be like as a student in secondary school also emerged in their commentary about their experiences at school as Year 6 students. It is a commentary that extends the Year 6 story into 2023. This present study, therefore, can stand on its own at the same time as being a study that will find a natural pairing with the analysis of the Barker Journey cohort’s experience of Year 7.

The purpose of this paper, however, is to focus on Year 6 and the perspective the students of this year group bring to learning. It approaches this task by outlining the methodology that underpinned this year’s study, briefly setting context for this year’s study before

Both authors contributed to the article’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Timothy Scott and Matthew Hill. The authors would like to thank Susan Layton and Tim Miller, acknowledging their roles in preparing and collating the data that has informed this article. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Timothy Scott and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

presenting a summary of this year’s results in the words of Year 6 students. Their perspective on learning, teaching, and schooling is at the heart of this ongoing longitudinal study making this section of the paper an important one from which the key findings are drawn and discussed.

There were three key findings from this year’s study:

1. Students conceptualise learning, teaching, and schooling through personal relationships.

2. Students value kindness as foundational to other traits and can articulate what it looks like in practice.

3. Students perceive meaningful learning to be about identity and belonging.

Meth odolog y

As our understandings of learning are moving away from a traditional model with the learner as passive to more constructivist ones with the learner actively making sense and meaning of the information through interacting with it, so pupils are seen to have more of a role to play in their own learning.

McCallum, Hargreaves & Gipps, 2000, p. 275

Recording the narrative around a group of students making their way through school in the third decade of the 21st century positions listening to student voice as central to this project’s methodology. This approach aligns with an increasing emphasis on listening to student voice in recent years. McCallum, Hargreaves and Gipps’ introductory comments to this section establish why this trend has emerged, going on to identify that despite this growing interest, research on the learners’ role in the learning process and the perspective offered by primary school students are few. This is notwithstanding McCallum, Hargreaves and Gipps’ finding that students as young as 7 years old could understand what learning was about and explain what learning practices they could adopt in the classroom. The current research project listens to, and seeks to make sense of, the primary school student narrative. The methodology used by this present study, then, helps to address this identified gap in the literature. It upholds students as holding relevant and unique insights into the teaching and learning that they experience, and, as Cook-Sather (2006, pp. 359–360) posits, it draws both the attention and responses of adults who are a part of their school experience to afford them an active part in what shapes their education.

P r in cip les of Groun ded Theor y

The 2022 study continues to use the principles of grounded theory as an approach to gathered data to help answer the question of how the current generation of student perceives learning and what the current generation of student expects of their school experience. Grounded theory seeks to have hypotheses emerge from collected data, rather than formulating hypotheses in advance of the collection of that data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). This makes it a suitable approach because at the heart of the Barker Journey study are the first students of a generation labelled as Generation Alpha and whose key traits and characteristics are only now just becoming visible (McCrindle, Fell & Buckerfield, 2021). It is an approach that starts with their perspective of learning, teaching and schooling,

allowing their perspective to be heard and understood. Notions of theory and practice regarding how education might progress to meet the needs of Generation Alpha in an authentic manner can then be formulated rather than starting with a preconceived notion, concept or theoretical framework and expecting what the learners have to offer will fit into it.

C Collect in g in format ion in 20 22

The range of data gathered this year was influenced by the Barker Journey cohort being in Year 6. The same group of approximately 30 students has been interviewed each year since this iteration of the Barker Journey project began. There was no departure from this in 2022, however the final year of the cohort’s primary schooling presented as an opportunity to survey all of Year 6 to learn about the broader context in which interviewed students sit. In 2022, interviews were conducted after all of Year 6 were surveyed. 29 students were interviewed. Surveys were distributed electronically, and students responded online, in class. 150 responses were received.

In the survey, students were asked to score their overall impressions of Barker on a 1-5 scale. Questions relating to words that would best describe the ideal Barker student and words that would best describe Barker were asked alongside questions about what students remember most about their experience of primary school. The survey also asked students to identify which of the Barker values was most important to them and the extent to which their primary school experiences have contributed to the development of these values.

Interviews consisted of 7 questions pertaining to the students’ Barker Journey so far in 2022. The interviews were conducted face-to-face, unlike last year where Public Health Orders saw interviews undertaken online via Teams. Questions related to highlights and challenges of 2022, and the extent to which students regarded 2022 as different from 2021. Questions also asked students to explain more fully why they chose the words they had identified in the survey to describe Barker as a school and what they believed constituted the ideal Barker student. Prior to the face-to-face interview, some had the opportunity to write down how a teacher during their time in the Barker Junior School had an impact. These were in the form of a thankyou letter. 13 of these letters were produced.

S etting th e sce ne f o r th e 2 02 2 Ba rker J o u rney stu d y

Important background information on these students’ cohort and this study can be found in previous articles published from 2019-2021 (Eastman & Hill, 2019, 2020; Scott & Hill, 2021). These articles give historical depth to the analysis that takes place in the present study, and help to establish the key theme of continuity and change that appears in the Year 3-6 analysis (see Hill & Scott, 2022) In 2019, when this iteration of the Barker Journey study started, values, resilience, relationships, coeducation, aspirations and COVID-19 were established as recurrent areas of interest (Eastman & Hill, 2019). They continue to frame the inquiry of the Barker Journey project even though they might not be explicitly discussed in each year’s findings. Values and relationships are two areas of interest whose visibility have become clearer each year of the study. The analysis of the annual interviews has revealed an emerging values schema for this generation of student. We describe such a schema as ‘emerging’ or ‘emergent’ intentionally because of observations already made about this

generation of student still revealing their key characteristics and traits (for example, see: McCrindle, Fell & Buckerfield, 2021). Particularly noteworthy has been the recurring prioritisation of kindness. The Barker Journey cohort has shown the importance they place on kindness, not only as shown towards each other but also experienced in the relationships that are developed between student and teacher. This is one way in which relationships, as a key topic in the Barker Journey study, has seen an increase in visibility. What has become progressively clearer, which will be discussed as one of the three key findings of the present paper, has been the has been the way in which relationships have come to characterise everything in the student educational experience.

Th e 2 02 2 Y ea r 6 Ba rker J o u rn ey : a su m ma ry o f th e resu lts in th eir o wn wo rd s

This year’s study tells a story of endings and beginnings, of students finishing up primary school and looking towards secondary school. Within that story is another narrative of thoughtfulness and mindfulness, of students demonstrating a maturity in relation to how they are taught, what they value in their learning, and how they should interact within one another. This section presents the 2022 Barker Journey without a comparative analysis with extant literature on the themes and issues that emerged in our discussions with the Barker Journey students. That particular analysis appears later in this paper. The purpose of the present section is to provide this year’s summary of results in the words of the students themselves. This establishes a basis from which to understand how our conclusions were reached in a manner congruous with student voice sitting at the heart of the Barker Journey project.

P os it iv es about 2 02 2

Students were invited to discuss 2022 and the highlights of their year. Recurrent topics included learning and co-curricular experiences at school, and being able to share those with friends. For example, many students drew on the Canberra excursion, describing it as an opportunity to go away with friends and to learn with them about the Unit of Inquiry that was being studied at the time. One student stated:

Canberra was really fun. I had all my friends in my group. We got to go to Parliament House, the House of Reps and the Senate. It was live. People were doing things. We also got to do bowling and cycling and all this different fun stuff…. [We learnt] about Parliament House and all the different positions and what everyone does… that is what our unit is about right now

Student 7B

Another student also connected the positives of the excursion and the practical learning activities they engaged in to partaking in the experience with friends. She described the trip to Canberra as:

…really, really exciting, I guess because we got lots to do, like lots of different activities and had different opportunities. And we also got to be with our friends at the same time.

Student 12G

Students also talked about being able to make new friends at the beginning of the year. One student commented that:

I made new friends. Being in Year 6 I can be in more activities…it is so much better in Year 6…. In 2021 some of my friend groups were getting away from me and they weren’t becoming my friends anymore because they were doing stuff I didn’t really want to do. So, like, making a new friend gave me a sudden relief that I have a new friend and I don’t have to be alone anymore.

Student 10B

Another student commented on being in a good class with a good teacher, despite his own friendship group largely being in other classes. This allowed for new friends to be made, something which this student viewed that as a positive. Co-curricular activities, such as sport and music, featured highly in students’ discussions too. One student recalled:

I really like music. Stage Band, my jazz band, is one of my favourite bands and we got to perform [at the Barker Swings concert] in front of everyone in the [Multi Purpose Hall]…we were the only junior school band.

Student 7B

Another stated simply that she was delighted to be on music camp because she got to play music and hang out with her friends.

C Challen ges about 2 02 2

Students were asked about the challenges that they experienced in 2022. Strategies relating to resilience were a subject of interest to the researchers and so follow up questions relating to how challenges were overcome were also asked. Students typically made generalised statements about what might be needed to overcome the challenges they faced, and who they could turn to for further advice. They were not always able to articulate the specifics of what approaches they might use to overcome the challenges they experienced. Many referenced the idea that they had to try their best or work on not doubting their own abilities. For example, one student described Mathematics as their biggest challenge. The student found Mathematics confusing, observing that it was a subject where the amount of content to learn was significant and that the learning in Mathematics never stops. This was a challenging environment in which to work for this student. However, the student did demonstrate tenacity:

I try my best. If you struggle with something you try your best and not give up and you know when you have done your best and you keep on trying.

Student 5G

Another student also demonstrated how being tenacious can be rewarding in itself: I’m not the strongest at maths. That’s probably because I doubt myself. I always think that I can’t do something. But once I think I can…I’m actually getting quite good at maths…once I actually believe in myself I can do much more than I thought I could.

Student 4G

Another challenge that students discussed was getting used to being back in the classroom again all the time, in contrast to 2021, having missed out on activities from 2021 due to COVID19. Further challenges included changes to friendship groups and being able to balance between daily classroom expectations and successfully participating in co-curricular activities.

A change in teacher part way through the year for some Year 6 students featured among the challenges detailed for 2022. Students discussed how they were saddened that their teacher was leaving. They also articulated how, in different ways, their expectations for what would happen in the classroom had to shift. Students spoke of the changes they experienced in the classroom as well as how they coped with the brief challenging period between the old teacher’s departure and the new teacher’s commencement.

B Bein g at s chool in 2 02 2

Surveyed students were also asked to describe Barker in three words. Figure 1 is a visual representation of the words used by students to describe Barker. This figure provides context for the Barker Journey interview group’s discussion about how they would describe the school.

Figure 1: Visual representation of student responses to describing Barker in three words

Surveyed students were also asked to select which of the school values they considered to be important. There are five school values: compassion, commitment, respect, integrity, and courage. These values are displayed in each classroom. Figure 2 is a visual representation of how students responded to this question.

Figure 2: Pie chart reflecting student ranking of Barker values according to importance

Students were also asked about the extent to which Barker helped them develop these values. Most students believed that the school had assisted in the development of the Barker values. Three examples are provided, showing how teachers particularly have an important place in role-modelling and values development. For example, in relation to the development of the value of Commitment, one student reflected:

Barker college has helped me learn and apply. Barker has taught me not to give up and be committed to what I am doing. Like example I almost gave up on a massive project and my teacher came over and supported me and told me not to give up and be committed.

Student survey response 7

On the development of the value of Courage, one student recalled:

I definitely agree with this statement. Before coming to Barker, I would never speak in front of my class. I was so afraid I was going to be embarrassed that I just couldn’t do it. But in Year 5 when we had to enrol for School Captain, my teacher helped me summon up the courage to talk informs of my class. I did that and was chosen to go to the next round! I was really nervous to speak in front of the whole grade, but my teacher told me I could do it and I did, and I was chosen as Vice Captain!

Student survey response 60

On the development of the value of Respect, one student stated:

I think Barker College has taught me a lot when it comes to respect, because before I came to barker I did not really understand that I needed to treat others the same as they treat me and I think that these values have shown me that this way is not right.

Student survey response 39

12 of the 150 students reported that they felt the school had not helped them develop the school values, or a particular school value. There were varied reasons for this:

• a belief that their previous school had already taught them about school values such as compassion, commitment, respect, integrity, and courage;

• a belief that they were still unable to exercise a particular value, such as courage; and

• a belief that other students were not taking the school values seriously. Discussing being at Barker in 2022 also involved asking surveyed students to describe, in one sentence, what they would remember most from their time in the Junior School. Hill and Scott (2022) discuss this more fully, but a short comment is detailed here as a part of understanding what the survey of Year 6 students revealed. Students typically described positive memories and many of these were connected to things students had done with their friends. The importance of relationships in the construction of key memories extended to student relationships with teachers also; teachers and friends featured prominently as keystones to significant memories linked with primary school. Events also featured strongly in students’ memories of their time in Years 3-6. It is interesting to note that a slightly higher percentage of female students included a relational element in their most significant memory whereas a slightly higher percentage of male students reported a particular success as an important memory.

Being a st udent in 2 02 2

All surveyed students were asked to describe the ideal Barker student in three words. Figure 3 is a visual representation of the words used by students to describe the ideal Barker student and it provides a broader context for the discussions that took place with students about what traits they believed constitute the ideal Barker student. Students that were interviewed were asked to explain which of the three words they had chosen to describe the ideal Barker student was the most important to them and why that word had been selected.

Figure 3: Visual representation of student responses to describing the ideal Barker student in three words

In the instances of students waiting to be interviewed, and since students in the Barker Journey cohort were now in their last year of primary school, students were invited to consider a teacher in the Barker Junior School that had had an impact on them and to then write a letter to that teacher, thanking him or her for the part they played in their schooling. Of the interview group, 13 students wrote letters. Asking students to express their gratitude to teachers resulted in a demonstration of the impact teachers have on students. Four examples drawn from the introductory activity follow.

When I first came to Barker, she made me feel welcome and was a kind teacher. She taught me a lot and I still come down to see her to this day. She was a good teacher that you could talk to if you wanted and had a fun way of teaching….

Student 14G

Making learning not only enjoyable but being kind and welcoming was an important aspect of the classroom environment for students, as expressed by Student 14G. Such traits are considered important by students for teachers to have. From the students’ point of view, such things make teachers good at what they do. Student 2B’s comments also show this.

Thank you for helping me all through 2021 and created a very fun environment and one where I became more confident in. With the interesting activities, I became more open to sharing. You helped me get through online learning and along with the unit of inquiry…

Student 2B

Student 2B’s comments also revealed that 2021 has left a mark on the schooling experience of this group of students. The dislike of online learning was a conclusion quickly reached in our initial notes and observations following the 2021 Barker Journey cohort interviews. The experiences of online learning still feature in student thinking; an observation corroborated by the Year 6 survey and by comments made by students in the Barker Journey cohort interviews. Students conveyed a sense that they were ‘reluctantly digital’, accepting the idea that digital learning is a part of their learning experience even though they may not prefer it to face-to-face learning environments.

You have made a huge impact on my life. You taught me most of what I know and what I believe. Every day I wanted to come into your class. The jokes, but strictness, were perfectly balanced and I was incredibly happy when my brother was put in your class. The way you taught me Maths and English helped me throughout school immensely. Thank you.

Student 15Bs

Student 2B’s comments also revealed that enjoyable learning environments are important to a student’s learning as well as a student’s character development. This is something that comes across in the Student 15Bs’ own reflections. The teacher’s positivity altered this student’s world view, not just increased his receptivity of the content to be learned.

You have impacted me mainly that I can be myself and that its fine to do weird stuff. In all the STEAM lessons, you would start dancing or singing and it taught me not to be scared of being myself.

Student 9G

Student 9G takes this idea of character development further and highlights how their own experience of their teacher meant that they could be themselves. Indeed, for Student 9G,

the teacher modelled a fearless behaviour that resulted in the development of a more mature sense of student-self.

Expectations for Year 7

Students were asked about their expectations about going into Year 7. Many students talked excitedly and positively for different classrooms and different teachers for each subject but at the same time there was a nervousness expressed about “going up the hill”. Some referenced the size of the secondary school in comparison to the size of the Junior School, both in terms of the facilities as well as the number of people. Others talked about having some idea of what was in store as they had a brother or sister already in the secondary school. One student commented about not having too many expectations of Year 7 at Barker as there was the possibility of a change of school. As the discussion progressed with this particular student, it was clear that any expectations for Year 7 at Barker had been replaced by a focus on the inevitable change in friendship groups that a change of school brings and the uncertainty that comes from moving from primary school to secondary school as well as one school to another.

Role models for other students

The Barker Journey cohort stated that being a Year 6 student meant acting as a role models for others.

I mean there is more responsibility and you are leaders of the school. You should be a role model… To do what is right and don’t do like what you know you shouldn’t do especially in front of younger grades in case they might copy you…

Student 10G

Students also commented on the fact that a greater degree of responsible behaviour was expected. Another student described being a Year 6 student as: …[feeling] much more like a leader for the school even if you are not in a leadership position. You still feel like a leader because you are teaching those lower than you what the example should be set for. So when you are in Year 5 you are learning from Year 6s how to lead as a Year 6 and when you are in Year 6 you are teaching all of the others when they get in to Year 6 how to show the younger generation what they are doing right and how they can improve on that.

Student 15Bs

Co-education

This year group represented the first fully co-educational year group of the Barker College Junior School. Students were asked what they thought about having boys and girls at the same primary school. Responses talked about the different perspectives that a mixed environment brought to the classroom as well as opportunities to talk to a diversity of people. For example, one student commented:

I think it is a good idea because you get to experience more things. You get to meet more people and people who are quite different. I have been here when it was just a boys’ school and you do speak to the same people every day. But now there are girls and boys it is quite a different school…

Student 15Bs

Another student stated:

You get to experience different opinions because boys think differently to girls and girls think differently to boys… For this unit of inquiry we did this really fun task at the start where we had to build our own economy and we were stranded on an island. We could choose our nominees really easily but the boys thought more strictly, like, who would lead well and things like that whereas we girls just wanted to have someone who could represent us girls.

Student 9G

Students spoke of their reaction to moving from a single-sex school to a co-educational learning environment.

I used to go to [a school]. It was only girls. Well, I guess like, I don’t really mind that much. Like if it’s boys or just boys and girls, but I guess I like boys do give like different opinions and like different ideas, which I think is really cool.

Student 12G

Others connected the co-educational environment as something that reflected the postschool world.

I think it is good because you get to learn more, I guess. In the real world you will be interacting with girls, and I think you need to learn that from a young age. I feel that girls can bring something new to the lessons and bring a variety to our lessons…When we are covering certain history topics in school we get to see more of the equality of the past as well and see how it was so much more different back then.

Student 11B

Key Find i ng s

Community and belonging emerged as powerful factors that influence how students perceive and experience school. When asked to identify the best thing about their school, student replies echoed the importance of friendship, socialization, and belonging.

Defur & Korinek (2010, p. 16)

In their study of perspectives of rural and suburban adolescents on the nature of schools, teaching, and leadership that influences learning, Defur and Korinek saw how strongly students wanted opportunities to talk about their schooling and their education, and how important it was for them to be heard. Defur and Korinek also identified several factors that were key in the formation of the perception students held about learning. Community and belonging were considered especially important, concepts that emerged as central to the narrative of this year’s study. Their presence in this year’s findings underscores relationships as an organising principle regarding how students perceive learning, teaching, and schooling. They want learning to be personal, as opposed to personalised. This is consistent with essentials that have appeared in the Year 6 story: endings and beginnings, thoughtfulness and mindfulness, an understanding and valuing of learning. These have informed the experience of community and belonging conveyed by the students themselves, from which the three findings were identified

The significance that Defur and Korinek (2010, p. 16) assign to the concepts of community and belonging by labelling them as “powerful factors that influence how students perceive and experience school” plays out in what Bernstein-Yamashiro (2004) describes as the place of relationships in student identity formation (cf. Bernstein-Yamashiro & Noam, 2013). Students value relationships in school because at the same time as informing how they learn, relationships are also informing their sense of self. They are building who they are in and of themselves as well as in relation to others. And in this, kindness emerged as key (cf. Gaertner & Binfet, 2015; Binfet & Passmore, 2019). For students, kindness promotes both community and belonging because it is perceived by them as an act of emotional or physical support that helps build or maintain relationships with others (Gaertner & Binfet, 2015, pp. 36–37). This can go some way in explaining why active and engaging learning emerges as one of the key findings, alongside that of the importance of relationships and kindness. Students painted a picture that schooling rich in opportunities is enjoyable and makes learning more meaningful because of the diverse relationships that they are able to build through those opportunities, and the voice about their learning that students are able to express (cf. DeFur & Korinek, 2010, p. 17).

F Fin din g 1: St uden t s con cep t ualis e learn in g, t eachin g, an d s choolin g exp er ien ces t hr ough p er s onal r elat ion s hips

Well in 2021 mainly we spent about half a year in isolation and lockdown and that was, like, much harder because … I mean it wasn’t much harder – you had less work, but it was harder to do the work because sometimes it wasn’t so clear because like on the teams calls and stuff sometimes like you’d be cutting out or the teacher would be cutting out and you wouldn’t know exactly what to do, and also you wouldn’t be seeing any friends, like you might go on a video call with a friend to do some work or something but you otherwise you wouldn’t like actually be seeing them in person or having like a proper conversation with anyone. [2022 is] better and more social because … I’ve been able to spend like more time with friends and talking and, like, I’ve had many more friends this year than I did last year.

Student 15B

School is a place where adolescent identity is constantly forming and changing. It happens in hallways, in classrooms, on playing fields, and with teachers, friends, and coaches. Schools do not need to create life skills classes to contribute to students’ emerging identities. But by ignoring students’ needs for adult support and wisdom and not acknowledging the complex interaction of affect and intellect, schools fail to maximize students’ growth and teachers’ understanding.

Bernstein-Yamashiro (2004, p. 69)

What this year’s interviews revealed went beyond last year’s finding that social interactions within and outside of the classroom are highly valued by this generation of student (Scott & Hill, 2021). Now, a year beyond that time of online learning necessitated by the COVID19 lockdowns, the students demonstrated a more developed perspective regarding what they experienced at school. This was noticeable in the responses that students provided in both the face-to-face interviews and in the Year 6 survey, wherein a greater degree of sophistication in language use and an understanding of complexity in context were evident. In particular, we now observed students conceptualising each of learning, teaching and schooling experiences through personal relationships. Student 15B quoted above makes this

clear. For this student, being able to spend time with friends made learning in 2022 better than learning in 2021. For students, learning is oriented around people. It is a personal experience. And there are layers to such a statement, something reflected in BernsteinYamashiro’s (2004) study of teacher-student connections. Relationships that have an impact, by defining the quality of learning experienced, are not limited to peers but also include significant adults such as teachers.

This concept of personal learning is one of the continuities in the narrative surrounding the Barker Journey cohort for this year. Last year, Scott and Hill (2021) observed the extent to which the Barker Journey cohort expressed a strong preference for collaborative, face-toface learning experiences that were not grounded in the digital world. Reluctantly digital, these so-called “digital natives” conveyed a preference for personal learning over personalised learning (Crouch, 2022, p. 8). While there was a recognition that an individualised or personalised learning environment, facilitated by educational technology, has its place in their learning, teaching, and schooling experiences, the students of the Barker Journey cohort made it clear that relationships made learning experiences meaningful and significant. This year they spoke with a greater degree of clarity about this point: relationships with each other, relationships with teachers and relationships with the environment in which learning is taking place are the things that matter most. And they also articulated why.

Student relationships with each other

There is a growing body of research on the place and importance of peer relationships at school and their impact. Some of that literature has looked at peer relationships alongside the importance of positive student-teacher relationships (Ryan & Patrick, 2001; BernsteinYamashiro & Noam, 2013; Ryan & Shin, 2018). Other recent contributions focus on the role of school context on student motivation and cognition, drawing on classroom-based examples and observations regarding student interpersonal relationships (for example: Witmer, 2005; Wentzel & Ramani, 2016; Jones, 2022). The impact of student relationships with each other on student academic performance and development of cognitive skills has also been an avenue of research (Wentzel & Caldwell, 1997; Ryan, 2001; Wentzel, Barry & Caldwell, 2004; Kutnick & Kington, 2005; Wentzel, Jablansky & Scalise, 2018; Wanders et al., 2020). Some of that research has looked specifically at the influence of negative peer experiences on schooling (see: Reavis, Donohue & Upchurch, 2015). That the members of the Barker Journey cohort view relationships with their peers as important in their schooling, and that these friendships can inform the quality of the learning experienced, has a strong academic context.

More than just relationships increasing enjoyment of the learning experience, the Barker Journey cohort recognised that those with whom they learn inform the quality of the learning that takes place. For example, Student Survey Response 69 explained how recommendations from the class teacher were requested to ensure that there could be shared reading interests with a friend who was a passionate reader. This resulted in not only a greater confidence in reading but also a more diverse range of reading experiences for the student concerned. Specific group learning contexts or shared learning experiences that broadened the experiences of the classroom were also mentioned by students in both survey responses and interviews, including the Canberra excursion, participating in musicals, the PYP Exhibition, and being involved in co-curricular sport. Learning was considered far

more enjoyable, meaningful, and memorable when students felt they had the opportunity to be with others. Student 12B stated that one of the things most liked about 2022 was being in class with “my friends and just chatting to other people whilst doing [my work]”. The importance of being with friends was further affirmed by the way in which the Canberra excursion was described. Student 12G identified the Canberra excursion as an event that was exciting and full of different activities and learning opportunities but, fundamentally, what made the Canberra excursion what it was, was being able to do such things with friends. Student 1G identified the importance of peers exhibiting helpfulness around the class as this made it a better place to learn. Student 15B believed that showing empathy was an important part of making an environment that was encouraging for learning. For this student, being empathetic to others makes them feel better and motivates them to learn.

…because if you’re kinda feel like other people it’ll make them feel better and it’s just like it gives them a better attitude, like a positive mindset. If they’re feeling happy which is just better for learning and it helps you learn, having like a positive mindset because it helps you have a growth mindset which is good for learning.

Student 15B

In some cases, students felt their work improved specifically because they were learning with others. For instance, in response to the Year 6 survey, Student 122 stated that friends “have supported me, bring me up when I was down and helping me through hard tasks”. Of course, the converse was also found to be true. One student revealed that a love of a subject, in this instance Music, can be reduced because of what others do; “I feel I have started to like music less than when I started here, because lots of people keep on ruining it for me” (Student Survey Response 72). Student relationships with other students matter. They have an influence on the way in which students perceive what they are learning and how receptive they will be to the learning processes going on in and outside of the classroom.

Student relationships with their teachers

In her paper about the complexity in learning relationships between teacher and student, and what school leadership needs to take into account when developing policy, BernsteinYamamoto (2004) demonstrates how teacher-student relationships impact student academic behaviours (see also: Roorda et al., 2011; Martin & Collie, 2019; Roorda, Jorgensen & Koomen, 2019; Thornberg et al., 2020; Thijssen, Rege & Solheim, 2022). Student willingness to engage in learning, to seek help in learning material or take intellectual risks relates to the degree to which there is a positive, caring relationship between student and teacher. Bernstein-Yamamoto goes further and states that such a relationship starts in the classroom with teachers showing that they care about student success by helping them learn the material; “…teachers who helped students learn material were seen as extending friendship and validating students as people” (Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004, p. 59).

Such a relationship is reflected in the words of the Barker Journey cohort about their own schooling experiences. In one thank you letter, written by Student 15Bs, expertise as a teacher is praised alongside attributes that might be typically valued or sought after in friends.

You taught me how to structure writing in an interesting and thought out way that made it easier to do so. I loved those lessons. You never told me anything mean or unreasonable, and it always made sense. Now I can easily do my writing better.

Student 15Bs

There is a validation of Student 15Bs as a person by the teacher inherent to this comment. The teacher not only understood that the student wanted to learn but that this was something the student wanted to prioritise. The student’s opinion on their own learning mattered. Personal validation was also important. Student 9G appreciated the way in which their teacher allowed them to be themselves; “You have impacted me mainly that I can be myself and that its fine to do weird stuff. In all the STEAM lessons, you would start dancing or singing, and it taught me not to be scared of being myself”

In her study, Bernstein-Yamamoto found that the student experience of learning is “rarely separated from how they feel while they learn and how they feel about the person from whom they learn” (2004, p. 60). Her observation is shared with what was found in discussions with the Barker Journey cohort. Student 15Bs’ comments about learning to structure writing helps to illustrate this point. Happier written responses typically were derived from those that were longer. But perhaps the most powerful indicator that students understood the importance of relationships in their learning were student references to the disruption to the classroom caused by a change in teacher, recognising its impact on how they felt about school, their sense of community and belonging, and on their own performances in specific subjects (cf. Allen et al., 2018). For example, Students 7G and 13B identified the change they experienced in their relationship with their teacher as a significant challenge for 2022. Student 15G went some way to providing a sense of how the students felt the change was impacting their learning in describing a messiness surrounding the transition to a new teacher and the disruption this caused in the way the classroom functioned. Student 2B was more specific. A new teacher meant a new way of doing things; Student 2B used Mathematics as an example to express his thoughts, feeling that the new classroom system was an obstacle to his personal preference for self-paced learning.

Student relationships with place

Literature on school connectedness and belonging has drawn attention to the importance of student-student and student-teacher relationships to how students regard where learning and teaching takes place (for example: Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004; Allen et al., 2018). Ripperger-Suhler and Loukas (2011) posit that school connectedness is a subset of social connectedness, something this present study observed in both face-to-face interviews with the Barker Journey cohort as well as in the responses to the Year 6 survey. Student 4G expressed this most clearly.

Not only the facilities and all the opportunities that we have and we are so lucky to have that, but it’s all the people like the teachers are the kindest people I know and they would do anything just to put a smile on your face... They’re just so kind and always there for you and I’m going to miss them next year because even though I will probably have even more amazing teachers, the teachers I’ve had in Junior School are the best. Like, I would do anything just to have another year in the Junior School. Student 4G

For Student 4G, being happy at school was to do with the relationships experienced with the teachers. Student 7G expressed similar sentiment but emphasised being with friends while learning.

But where learning takes place did not necessarily have to be on campus. The Canberra excursion was an oft-cited favourite event of 2022 in the face-to-face interviews and the Year 6 survey, and it serves as a good example to illustrate the point that student relationships with place have an impact on the learning that takes place, and how well it is regarded. The Canberra excursion, according to the students, not only represented an opportunity to enjoy learning about the Unit of Inquiry being studied at the time outside of the classroom but also an opportunity to share the experience with their friends. It was this shared experience that was particularly important. Student 7B’s account of missing on the Canberra excursion underscores this point.

I think I felt kind of sad in a way that I missed it, but also I was kind of happy that everyone else had fun and still I think the teachers did a good job of, ‘cause they actually in parliament house, it was like key to our unit of inquiry to see it, I think they still did a good job of still informing me and keeping me up with the rest of the class.

Student 7B

F Fin din g 2 : S t uden ts v alue kin dn ess as f oun dation al t o ot her trait s an d can ar ticulat e what kin dn es s looks like in p r act ice

For me it’s probably ‘kind’, and I think it’s probably the most important ‘cause, I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s important to be kind to others and be open to other people and their opinions.

Student 15G

…despite varied educational and societal stakeholders having shared expectations that students behave kindly, there is a relative dearth of research examining how students themselves conceptualize the construction and enactment of kindness.

Binfet & Passmore (2019, p. 23)

Kindness remains the most valued attribute for the Barker Journey cohort, a finding that aligns with other studies that demonstrate kindness as outranking other traits that are regarded as character strengths for this generation of student: honesty, gratitude and hope (Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Karis & Craighead, 2012; Datu & Park, 2019; Lee & Huang, 2021). What makes the continuity from last year to this year of kindness as a primary value noteworthy is the observed accompanying capacity of students for articulating what kindness looks like in practice. Many terms that emerged during both the surveys and the interviews about what makes a good student, or a good learning environment, connected to the idea of kindness. This was particularly clear when students were able to choose any term to describe the ideal student or the ideal school. When limits were placed on what terms could be used, such as asking which of the five school values are the most important, students typically identified the terms that were synonymous with kindness. This helps clarify what students understand kindness to be. What students see as kindness or kind behaviour is something that has been relatively under-researched. Binfet and Passmore (2019, p. 23) have provided an excellent summary on recent research on kindness but they point out that there are very few studies that consider the students’ perspective. Binfet and Passmore

identified only three in recent years (Eisenberg et al., 1999; Layous et al., 2012; Gaertner & Binfet, 2015). They identify a potential trajectory for the Barker Journey project to follow in its information gathering and analysis; there is still a lack of evidence for how older students might define and enact kindness at school, something with which the Barker Journey study is well positioned to address.

This year we witnessed how kindness was considered by the Barker Journey cohort as foundational to other behavioural traits that students have indicated are important. This observation marked a shift in student perspective in and around the concept of kindness. In last year’s study, Scott and Hill (2021) found that students valued kindness and saw it as something to be demonstrated by students and by teachers. One year on, the Barker Journey cohort students view kindness with the same level of importance but also as an attribute that had to be present before other characteristics might be observable, or success in the classroom apparent. For example, Student 6G stated before being principled one must be kind. Similarly, Student 11G believed that being kind was important to progressing one’s learning because being kind led to having more friends (cf. Layous et al., 2012; Binfet & Passmore, 2019). In turn, this meant having a greater network upon which to rely when something was challenging in the classroom. In this sense, kindness is more than just doing good things. It is considered a fundamental life skill that is essential to creating and sustaining social relationships that are vital for students to thrive. Binfet and Passmore (2019, p. 34) quoted one of their student participants: “you need kindness to live, kindness is what helps people live”. It is an identical sentiment to that expressed by the Barker Journey cohort.

Identifying kindness as one of their principal values also saw students describe what kindness for them looks like in practice. Student 15G, quoted above, is an example; this student connected kindness with the idea of showing respect to others and the opinions that they hold. Student descriptions of kindness reflected definitions posited by extant research; “Kindness, from the perspective of young children, is an act of emotional or physical support that helps build or maintain relationships with others” (Gaertner & Binfet, 2015, pp. 36–37). Emotional supportive actions included being made to feel welcome Student 2B explained how both students and teachers were very welcoming. For Student 6B, students and teachers always saying “hi” is an indication that individuals are regarded and respected by others as human beings. Other emotional supportive actions that students identified as acts of kindness were assisting friends when they were uncertain about content being covered in the classroom. Physical acts of support included being helped when hurt. Student 6G described how an injury was sustained in the playground and how friends were there to help, and to get the school nurse. Student 6G also went on to describe kindness from the point of view of a third party. That is, witnessing acts of kindness taking place but not being a part of when those acts of kindness take place. A student had hurt herself and Student 6G described those that came to the aid of the student as being kind. Student 10G described a situation on the Year 6 Canberra excursion where a friend had injured both ankles and needed to be pushed around in a wheelchair. This was witnessed by Student 2G and when Student 2G was asked what constituted kindness, this incident was used as an illustration. These stories offer two perspectives: those involved in the act of kindness and defining it as kindness, and those that saw the act of kindness being performed and construing it as kindness. And it is this that signifies this finding an important development in students’ thinking about kindness. A student need not be the recipient of an act of kindness to recognise kindness when it happens.

Kindness could also be conceptualised using vocabulary like the school values. This is evident in the results from the Year 6 survey. In the survey, the year group was asked to identify which of the Barker values it believed to be the most important. The visual representation of this can be found at Figure 3, earlier in this paper. 36% of respondents identified Respect as the most important school value. Compassion was ranked lower, with 13% regarding it as the most important. However, the accompanying comments made by the Year 6 group about Respect and Compassion point to these terms being identified as key to the students’ conceptualisation of kindness. One student equated respect and kindness with each other (Student Survey Response 79). Students that showed respect to each other were also being kind. One student identified that being kind was to be nice, and being kind contributed to an increased sense of optimism (Student Survey Response 81). This resonates with what Student 6G stated in face-to-face discussions about how being kind makes the provider and recipient of that kindness both feel good. This has been described by Binfet and Passmore (2019, p. 33) as an altruistic, other-person oriented perspective. Critchlow (2022, p. 186) suggests such a perspective, shown by carrying out conscious acts of kindness and noticing when other people are being compassionate, can increase empathetic skills, contribute to one’s sense of optimism about people, and deepen one’s understanding of other people’s struggles.

F Fin din g 3 : S t uden ts per ceiv e mean in gf ul lear n in g t o be about iden t ity an d belon gin g …they give you a lot of different things to choose from. There’s co-curricular things, there’s stuff to do in the school day, there’s outside lessons, it’s just a lot of things [they] allow you to do and that they make you do, like they want you to do things that, going back to the risk-taker, they want you to do things quite a bit…quite a lot of opportunities to do things that are quite exciting, quite interesting...

Student 15Bs

….[students] came to see their core selves as vitally connected to what they were learning and doing (identity), and they had opportunities to enact their learning by producing something rather than simply receiving knowledge (creativity). Often these spaces or classrooms were governed by a logic of apprenticeship; students had opportunities to make things (newspapers, collections of poetry, documentary films, theatre productions, debate performances) under the supervision of faculty and/or older students who would model the creative steps involved, provide examples of high quality work, and offer precise feedback.

Mehta

& Fine (2019, pp. 6–7)

Diversity in learning experiences appeared to make learning more meaningful and memorable for students. Many students commented on the unique learning environment that Barker has in that there are many things that students can do and that these things are not limited to what is experienced in the classroom. Student 15Bs went so far as to connect the diversity of learning opportunities positively to the notion of being a risk-taker and having a growth mindset. Other students also linked the idea of rich and diverse learning opportunities as a means by which one could be oneself and learn to respect others for what they brought to the schooling experience overall. Alongside such comments emerged an awareness that a range of learning experiences can contribute to a sense of self, and positive and formative experiences relating to community and belonging (Larson, 2000; Allen et al., 2018). This finding is in step with what has been observed more broadly in the Australian context; that actively participating in a range of activities in and outside of the

classroom has a positive impact on a student’s personal development (Blomfield & Barber, 2010, pp. 114–115; also see: Holland & Andre, 1987; Cooper et al., 1999; Eccles & Barber, 1999; Videon, 2002; Eccles et al., 2003; Darling, Caldwell & Smith, 2005; Fredricks & Eccles, 2008).

The impact of extracurricular activities on academic success has been the subject of educational research for some time (Coulangeon, 2018, p. 57), and the extent to which there has been an impact is a contentious issue. Seow and Pan (2014), for example, concluded that the extent of the impact of extracurricular activities on academic achievement or social development is contingent on balancing competing time commitments between studies and participation. Shulruf (2010, pp. 591, 609) claims that extant research shows associations between participation in extracurricular activities and academic success but there was no basis to conclude that there are causal effects between the two. Coulangeon (2018) points out that for some this means that participation in extracurricular activities is detrimental to school success while others remain ambivalent about the nature of the relationship between extracurricular activities and classroom (see: Coleman, 1961; Camp, 1990; Marsh, 1992; Steinberg, 1996; Fejgin, 2001; cf. Broh, 2002; Marsh & Kleitman, 2002). The jury, it would seem, is still out.

Into this academic context, the observations of how the Barker Journey cohort perceive learning suggest a slightly different perspective might be undertaken. For this generation of student, learning takes place in many contexts. For them, extracurricular activities are as normal an experience as to that which happens in the classroom. To categorise extracurricular activities in a binary fashion as either contributing positively to academic achievement or having a negative impact, as the literature seems to do, establishes these activities and opportunities as separate from the schooling experience. This is incongruous with the way in which the Barker Journey cohort perceives the diversity in learning opportunities afforded by extracurricular activities. Student responses suggest that what happens in the classroom is considered no different to what takes place on the football field, in the chamber orchestra rehearsal or on the drama theatre stage. Student 7B’s focus on learning music, both in class and as an extracurricular activity, is a good illustration. For Student 7B, playing in bands, learning guitar and drums, and going to music class were all a part of the same learning experience. Student 6G expressed this meshed nature the most clearly and provided an insight into why learning in the classroom might be construed similarly to learning outside of the classroom by this generation of student. Being in the musical, being able to practise dance, and being able to swim were identified as activities, alongside the welcoming environment established in the classroom by teachers and peers, enabling Student 6G to develop from a formerly shy student to one with a greater degree of self-confidence in who they were as an individual. Student 13G echoed this sentiment: “I feel like there’s so many opportunities to like, do things, and, like, be who you are…”. Learning is as much about knowledge as it is about identity formation and understanding one’s place in the world.

Students commented on how different learnings contexts and opportunities enabled them to move outside of their comfort zone, helping with the processes of learning subjectspecific knowledge at the same time as developing one’s sense of self. Student 15Bs was the most articulate about this, tapping into the language of the International Baccalaureate’s Learner Profile in talking about why it was good to be a risk-taker, to be a learner who was willing to “approach uncertainty with forethought and determination” (International

Baccalaureate Organization, 2013). To be a risk-taker was to develop a growth mindset. Student 15Bs provided the following example from the classroom: Well, you learn a lot more things than you would if you didn’t have the mindset. You learn better ways to do things, you might learn more, like if I was [learning] Maths and I only thought ‘I’ll do the easy questions ‘cause the easy questions are what I think I could probably most do’, then doing the hard questions you might learn more – you might find you’re good at it, you might find you’re better at something, so I reckon being a risk-taker means you can try new things, get better at new things, and maybe even like them more.

Student 15Bs

The ensuing discussion saw Student 15Bs discuss how such a mindset was applied to life at school more broadly. Involvement in the school’s tennis program was particularly important to Student 15Bs as this was an activity the student loved, and one in which the student sought continually to improve and excel. Challenges to the student’s improvement at tennis were approached in a similar fashion to challenges faced in the classroom with the student articulating “How can I be better?” as the key question to be asked in and outside of the classroom. Resolving challenges in tennis was done with the same approach as challenges in the classroom. Learning moments are considered to exist in both the classroom and nonclassroom environments.

This emergent student perspective where meaningful learning at school incorporates an active and present blending between what happens in the classroom and outside of the classroom, as opposed to viewing the two as discrete parts, reflects notions of school belonging. This has been defined, most consistently across the literature, as “the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school social environment” (Goodenow & Grady, 1993, p. 80; see also: Allen et al., 2018, p. 2). Research generally supports the benefits of school belonging because it positively contributes to the development of the intellectual, physical, and emotional aspects of a student’s life. It promotes what the International Baccalaureate Organization (2013) Learner Profile describes as Balanced. For children of the same age as the Barker Journey cohort, the issue of school belonging is particularly relevant on account of adolescence being a period of identity formation due to “shifting social relationships, priorities and expectations, and the need to navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood” (Allen et al., 2018, p. 3). Diversity in learning experiences helps learning to be more meaningful and memorable for students because that diversity, as the Barker Journey cohort explained, enables student achievement in different areas. Through that achievement, students feel they are contributing to school life and school identity. In turn, there is a sense of belonging to a community, which can then provide for a sense of student success and a positive affirmation of a student’s sense of self.

C o nclu sio n

This year’s study of the Barker Journey cohort anticipated that it would present a story about endings and beginnings. Students were completing their primary schooling and getting ready to start secondary school. What it means to be a Year 6 student and role model to others, according to the students themselves, affirms that there are elements of that story

throughout the present study. However, at another level, the storyline underpinning the present study is one of students who are thoughtful and mindful of each other, valuing the learning experiences they have been able to share. As this study developed, a further narrative emerged and that one is to do with community and belonging. The Barker Journey cohort highlighted the extent to which relationships frame everything to do with the learning, teaching, and schooling experience; for them schooling is about being a part of a community.

McCrindle, Fell and Buckerfield (2021) posited that Generation Alpha, the label used for the generation from which the Barker Journey cohort comes, are identifiable by the following traits: global, digital, social, mobile and visual. While these are useful categories of analysis in formulating an approach to the learning and teaching of this generation of student, it is important to note that students from this generation are still revealing what makes them who they are. Listening to, and seeking to make sense of, what they have to say about learning, teaching, and schooling in the 21st century should be treated as a serious exercise, and one that can contribute to educational thinking and development. The Barker Journey cohort has provided clarity around the attribute of ‘social’ in comparison to other attributes such as ‘global’ or ‘mobile’ whose presence in discussions now is minimal at best; they are most definitely a social generation

People matter greatly to the current generation of student. The Barker Journey cohort repeatedly made this clear. People define meaningful learning and memorable moments for them. During interviews with the Barker Journey cohort, and through the surveys of the year group, students referenced the importance of being with their friends when they were learning. Being with friends was not only what motivated them to learn concepts and content associated with a particular course or subject, but it was also what helped them work through challenges or obstacles that existed in and outside of the classroom. Students explained that showing such support was viewed as kindness in action, and this was something they valued highly. For them, then, learning is fundamentally a shared experience. Learning takes place in a community that fosters a sense of belonging, where students can be themselves, and where students perceive understanding specific subject knowledge or participating in extracurricular activities as synonymous with “going to school”.

Looking ahead, 2023 will see the Barker Journey cohort complete their first year of secondary school. There was some trepidation expressed by the students in their interviews about this milestone. One student described the change to come as a:

Very big change, like it’s all completely different. You’re not going to be with all your friends all the time because it’s a huge, huge school in secondary school, so you’ll have to get used to walking around a lot, finding your way around the place. I’m actually pretty excited for it, ‘cause I kind of know where everything is around in junior school, so I’m looking expecting it to be very different, which is good for me.

Student 1B in Year 6, 2022

The impact of the change in moving from primary school to secondary school described by Student 1B will be an important part of the analysis in next year’s study. It will of course not be the only focus; key topics such as values, resilience, and relationships will continue to have a presence in the conversations we have with the Barker Journey cohort as they share their stories about being at school. And we will listen carefully, as the insights and

perspectives they have to offer about learning are unique and can, and should, have a profound influence on the way their education is shaped.

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Research and Reflections on Practice

The Garma Experience – Connecting to Community and Country

Lucy Pitkin Dean of Indigenous Education

A b stra ct

At the heart of this article are student reflections on attending the Garma Festival, an annual festival held in Gulkula, North-East Arnhem Land. Widely recognised as Australia’s premier Indigenous Festival, this event is hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, with whom Barker College has a lasting partnership through the establishment of Dhupuma Barker in Gunyangara in the Northern Territory. The article provides an informative insight into student responses to celebrating and learning about Yolŋu Culture through cultural immersion. It considers the purpose of cultural immersion programs as means for students, pre-service teachers, and teaching staff to connect with Aboriginal Culture. In particular, it focuses on the how listening to, amplifying and acting on student voice in the context of responses to Garma can set the foundation for a student-informed approach to Reconciliation.

Intro d u ctio n

In the warm, calm evening air on Yolŋu Country at Gulkula, NT, as the fire flickered, 16 students, seven staff and six members of the Barker College School Council sat quietly staring at the flames, taking a few minutes to reflect on their experience of the previous few days at the Garma Festival.

Sitting in circle, they shared their thoughts one by one. The reflections were varied, echoing each person’s individual experience. From what was shared, four key ideas emerged: Gratitude, Connection, Inspiration, Action.

The word Garma is a Yolŋu word meaning two-way learning, and it could not have been more apt for the event. The Garma Festival is an annual festival held in Gulkula, North-East Arnhem Land that is widely recognised as Australia’s premier Indigenous Festival. The festival is hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, with whom Barker College has a lasting partnership in the establishment of our Dhupuma Barker school in Gunyangara, Northern Territory. In recognition of this connection, the Yothu Yindi Foundation invited Barker students and staff to attend the festival, and to assist with the coordination of the youth forum, a key component of the event. So, a delegation of school council, staff and students made the journey (approximately 2,800km as the crow flies) to Gunyangara, then on to Gulkula to the site of the festival.

Over four days, the three key components of Garma run concurrently – the Key Forum, The Youth Forum, and Cultural Events and Activities. It is a coming together of Yolŋu, other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Balanda (non-Indigenous) peoples to discuss key issues, learn together and celebrate Yolŋu Culture, miny’tji (art), manikay (song) and buŋgul (dance). The theme for 2022 was Nhaŋa Ŋathilyurra, a Yolŋu phrase meaning to look ahead towards the future.

Before the festival, a historic first visit of Hornsby students to Dhupuma took place. This was a wonderful opportunity for the Hornsby students to see the school and begin to understand the impact of the wonderful work being done by staff, Community members and of course the students first-hand and to develop these connections. During the Garma Festival, staff and students participated in the Youth Forum and attended Key Forum and Cultural Events. Upon return, the students and staff were asked to share a photograph and write a reflection of their experience of the festival. The purpose of this was to share their experience with the broader Barker Community as well as convey a message of the impact of the experience on each of the students and staff in attendance.

Th e p u rp o se of cu ltu ra l im m ersio n p ro g ra m s

Cultural connection or immersion programs have been increasing in popularity in recent years as a means for students, pre-service teachers, and teaching staff to connect with Aboriginal Culture. In the context of teaching staff and pre-service teachers, the purpose of such programs is to improve the teacher’s awareness of and appreciation for students’ Aboriginal Culture and background as a response to the continuing gap in achievement and outcomes for First Nations students when compared with their Non-Indigenous classmates. Most recent data shows promising improvements in many areas, however the target set to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy by 2018 was not achieved. The percentage of First Nations students at or above national minimum levels of achievement in reading and numeracy has only improved by between 3 and 11 percentage points in the decade leading to 2018. First Nations students are still overrepresented in the cohort of students that performs below the national minimum standard for reading and numeracy (Australian Government, 2020). Entwined with this is the concerning problem that First Nations students are often viewed through a lens of deficit, where the student themselves, or their families and culture can be seen as the cause of their educational failure (Sarra, 2012 & 2018, Burgess & Canvanagh, 2015). This in turn causes teachers to lower their expectations of these students and see them as lacking, which unfortunately can be then reflected in teaching practice. This is particularly troubling in light of all of the evidence supporting the importance of teachers holding high expectations for their students and the value of strong teacher-student relationships (for example: Hattie & Zierer, 2019; Hattie, 2012; Hattie, 2008; Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004; Berstein-Yamashiro & Noam, 2013). So, it seems the effort to improve educational outcomes for First Nations students in Australia is somewhat hamstrung without increased cultural understanding and respect within the teaching community, as outlined in the Report of the Review of Aboriginal Education completed in 2004 by the NSW Aboriginal Educational Consultative Group and the NSW Department of Education & Training (NSW AECG & NSW DET, 2004).

As a means of improving the relationships between teachers and First Nations Australian students and community, many pre-service teaching qualifications and programs have looked towards a cultural immersion experience. Burgess and Cavanagh (2012, 2015) explored the impact that cultural immersion had on pre-service teachers who had participated in an Aboriginal Community led and developed program. The results were more than clear, showing that the program “had a dramatic impact on the attitudes of teachers to Aboriginal students, on their ability to establish relationships with the local Aboriginal Community and on their willingness to adapt curriculum and pedagogy to better meet the needs of their students”. Similarly, Lavery, Cain & Hampton (2014) found that preservice teachers reported improved professional knowledge in regard to better meeting the needs of Aboriginal students, increased cultural awareness and a deeper understanding of the importance of relationships with community and with students.

However, there is far less literature available that explores the impact of cultural immersion on participating students. Yet, many schools are undertaking such experiences with a view to improving the cultural awareness of Non-Indigenous students and supporting First Nations Australian students to increase the connection to Culture. A noble cause indeed, and we suspect such an experience to be of great benefit. That is a conclusion reached, however, by those that are not directly involved in the cultural immersion experience; the unique and valuable insights of the students themselves need to be heard.

L istening to , a m p lif y ing , a nd a cting u p o n S tu d

ent V o

ice

The term “Voice” has received increasing attention in recent years, with the campaign for the First Nations Voice to parliament gaining momentum and a referendum soon to be conducted. The word itself has a very simple meaning, however it has come to mean far greater than the sound we make or the words we use when we speak. In the education arena, “Student Voice” is a concept that has gained momentum in guiding educational reform. Hadfield and Haw (2001, p.488) describe the different types of voice “for some, it is synonymous with people simply expressing their point of view on a subject; for others it is a much more involved act of participation where people engage with the organisations, structures and communities that shape their lives”. Cook-Sather (2006) and Holdsworth (2000) also delve deeper into the definition of “Student Voice” as it is used in Education reform and action research. Both describe student voice as far more than hearing from students, but as a deeper participation, providing the students with the opportunity and power to influence decisions and practices within their school community.

Listening, amplifying and acting upon Student Voice can provide important insights and relevant suggestions that can make schools more effective. It has the power to enact significant change as a powerful tool for school improvement that can provide the impetus to enact change in culture and practices within a school environment (DeFur & Korinek, 2012; Pekrul & Levin, 2005). Clearly, when students are being heard and their voice holds the power to make change, they feel validated and respected as active participants in their education. This respect builds stronger relationships between student and teacher, beneficial not only in enacting change within a school, but for students’ sense of self and

academic achievement (Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004; Bernstein-Yamashiro & Noam, 2013; Sarra et al., 2020).

S tu d ent Ref lec tio ns o n th eir Ga rm a E xp erie nce

Attending the Garma Festival is a transformative experience for many. Even well-travelled adults with broad experience and a strong understanding of Aboriginal Culture find the experience inspiring, challenging and enriching. This leads to the question of what a group of 16 young people, a combination of First Nations Australian and Non-Indigenous students would take away from their experience.

Upon return from the festival, students and staff were asked to provide some reflections on their experience to share with the Barker Community in the form of a photography exhibition. Each student selected a photograph that represented their experience and a written reflection to outline why they had chosen the photograph and what impact the time on Country, participating in two-way learning with the Yolŋu Community had on their ambitions, hope for the future and for the school. Some recurring themes quickly became clear: Gratitude. Connection. Inspiration. Action.

There was no doubt from the reflections that students and staff were grateful for the opportunity they had to travel to such a beautiful, remote part of Australia. But the gratitude ran deeper than that. The Yolŋu Community so generously shared their Culture, Traditions and Ceremony and the students reflected upon the impact this had on their experience and outlook:

“It made me realise that even though the Indigenous peoples of Australia have had so much taken from them they still find an incredible capacity to give – give their knowledge, their love and care for the land and people” Sass, Year 12

“It was an experience I will never forget, and never not be grateful for” Nick, Year 12

“I was constantly in awe of the willingness of the Yolŋu people to share their Culture” Zoe, Year 11

“The children were a good example of the openness and generosity of the festival’s Yolŋu hosts. Their willingness not only to welcome thousands of guests onto their lands, but to teach us about their Culture and even invite us to participate in their customs, left a strong impression on me.” Charlie, Year 12

“The richness of a Culture whose people welcomed us with open arms, the experiences and Community that we got to be a part, the incredible people that we were lucky enough to spend time with in such an unbelievable place. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am.” Zali, Year 11

A second emerging theme from the student reflections was a deeper sense of connection to Culture and a better understanding of the depth of Yolŋu Culture in particular. Additionally, students reported increased connection and stronger relationships with both

students from Barker and from other schools in attendance, and the Barker staff that attended the trip.

“It was great to share each other’s stories and gain insight into their perspective on life, especially coming from very diverse backgrounds, and it certainly broadened my horizons, giving me a greater appreciation of life” Nick, Year 11

“There were so many unforgettable moments that we were all able to experience, that helped provide us with such a rich understanding of Yolŋu Culture and amazing friendship and connections” Lucy, Year 11

“The experience has also demonstrated the vast difference between learning about Indigenous Cultures in the classroom compared to learning about Indigenous Cultures on Country through practical participation, with the latter illustrating the importance of cultural festivals such as Garma to introduce the wider Australian population to this enriching heritage” Yue Hun, Year 12

It was always so fun to discover that some of them were from Dhupuma Barker and see them get so excited about their school”. Zoe, Year 11

“Being able to walk on country alongside the Yolŋu people, to hear stories about the land, the stars, the dreaming – it was so beautiful to share space with a people so honest and open with their knowledge and beliefs.” Zali, Year 11

During the Youth Forum at Garma, students heard from Yolŋu Elders about the need for change, and lit the word CHANGE on fire, in an effort to ignite symbolically the fire within the students, seeking to inspire them to create change in themselves and to support change in Australia in the context of Reconciliation. This inspiration was evident in their reflections, but perhaps came more from the immersive experience and willingness of Yolŋu Community to share their knowledge and Culture than from any specific activity.

“Attending this festival was an opportunity that no words can satisfy or begin to explain – it was truly, by far the most humbling, inspiring and emotive experience.” Imogen, Year 11

“Ideas such as identity, values, and change have been ignited into our hearts and minds and is something I will never forget” Jamison, Year 11

“There’s this magical connection you start to form between the land and the people as soon as you’ve arrived. Meeting the Elders, who are the knowledge holders of our past and present and being a part of some of the ceremonies were and are some of the most special things to do in a lifetime.” Jaiden, Year 11

Throughout the experience, students were encouraged to think of action that they can take and how they can carry this experience in their hearts in future. The students reflected on the action they wish to take and how they see change being enacted through their generation.

“In the future, I hope to lead a generation not of empty talk, or mere speech – but one of genuine and authentic action causing real change in an area which must be addressed” Yue Hun, Year 12

“We can learn so much from their Culture, but what does that mean if it remains within us and doesn’t change anything within us?” Sophie, Year 11

“Garma is such an important event because it shows what is possible, and it is my hope that this spirit of collaboration and two-way learning between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples can be a defining part of the future across our nation.“ Charlie, Year 12

“I aim to use my voice and the resources available to me to awaken the ideas of the Youth Forum by discussing them with people in my community. I believe that only when we work together can we reach better outcomes for all whilst recognising the strength and resilience of Indigenous Australians and their sacred connection to Culture. “ Jess, Year 12

“It’s extremely important to have the knowledge of the good, bad and the ugly as having awareness of the past assures it doesn’t happen in the future. Working alongside each other, not under, not over, but together in harmony is the only way Australia as a country and as a nation will truly come together in reconciliation.” Jaiden, Year 11

C o nclu sio n: Gr a titu d e, C o nne ctio n, Insp ira ti o n, A ctio n. To wa rd s a stu d ent d ev elo p ed f ram ewo rk f o r cu ltu ra l im m ersio n?

Cultural immersion programs for students seek to create leaders of the future with a closer connection to and deeper understanding of Aboriginal Culture. Presently, there is limited literature detailing the impact of cultural immersion experiences on students. Listening to what students have to say about cultural immersion experiences, noting the insights or perspectives they have and considering how that might inform meaningful and authentic connections to Aboriginal Culture, is one way to start addressing such a knowledge gap. And this is what has been observed in the reflections from those students who participated in the Garma Festival. Provided with an opportunity to experience and celebrate Yolŋu Culture, and to discuss and understand more fully key issues and concerns, the reflections tell us that the participating students left the Garma Festival inspired. They felt a greater connection to Yolŋu Culture, and a responsibility to carry their experience forward by sharing it with the Barker Community more broadly. The emergent themes of Gratitude, Connection, Inspiration and Action that their comments convey establish a possible framework for student developed cultural immersion programs for the future that will raise up leaders inspired to create and support change in the context of Reconciliation, a hopeful response to the 2022 Garma Festival theme of Nhaŋa Ŋathilyurra.

Ref eren ces

Australian Government (2020). Closing the gap report 2020. [online] Available at: https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdf/closing-the-gap-report-2020.pdf

Berstein-Yamashiro, B. (2004). Learning relationships: Teacher-student connections, learning and identity in high school. New Directions for Youth Development, 103, pp.55-70.

Bernstein-Yamashiro, B. and Noam, G. (2013). Relationships, learning, and development: A student perspective. New Directions for Youth Development, 137, pp.27-44.

Burgess, C. and Cavanagh, P. (2012). Preliminary Findings From an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Cultural Immersion Program for Local Teachers. In: Joint AARE APERA International Conference, Sydney Burgess, C. and Cavanagh, P. (2015). Cultural Immersion: Developing a Community of Practice of Teachers and Aboriginal Community Members. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 45(1), pp.48–55.

Cook-Sather, A. (2006). Sound, Presence, and Power: ‘Student Voice’ in Educational Research and Reform. Curriculum Inquiry, 36(4), pp.359–390.

DeFur, S. and Korinek, L. (2010). Listening to Student Voices. The Clearing House, 83(1), pp.15–19.

Hadfield, M. and Haw, K. (2001). ‘Voice’, Young People and Action Research. Educational Action Research, 9(3), pp.485–502.

Hattie, J. (2008) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge: London and New York.

Hattie, J. (2012) Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximising Impact on Learning. Routledge: London and New York.

Hattie, J. and Zierer, K. (2019). Visible Learning Insights. Routledge: London and New York.

Holdsworth, R. (2000). Schools that Create Real Roles of Value for Young People. Prospects, XXX(3), pp.349–360.

Lavery, S., Cain, G. and Hampton, P. (2014). A Service-Learning Immersion in a Remote Aboriginal Community Enhancing Pre-Service Teacher Education. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 10(2), pp.1–15.

New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (NSW AECG) and New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET) (2004). The Report of the Review of Aboriginal Education Freeing the Spirit: Dreaming an Equal Future. [online] Available at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/about-us/careers-ateducation/media/documents/aer2003_04.pdf

Pekrul, S. and Levin, B. (2005). Building Student Voice for School Improvement. In: Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Montreal, Qubec.

Sarra, C. (2012). Strong and Smart - Towards a Pedagogy for Emancipation: Education for First Peoples (New Studies in Critical Realism and Education). London, Uk: Routledge.

Sarra, C., Spillman, D., Jackson, C., Davis, J. and Bray, J. (2018). High-Expectations Relationships: A Foundation for Enacting High Expectations in all Australian Schools. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 49(1), pp.1–14.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

A model for secondary school blended learning

Dr Andy Mifsud Head of Digital Learning

Dr Andew Mifsud

A Ab s t r act

This article summarises the results of a doctoral research project that used culturalhistorical activity theory and ethnographic methods to study a group of students and teachers as they participated in blended learning activities. The study explored how and why a mainstream Australian secondary school implemented a holistic approach to blended learning and how tensions within the activity suggest further development This article presents a secondary school blended learning model designed to resolve tensions in the existing program. The blended learning program was effective when it promoted a deep integration between online and face-to-face activities and contexts. Results suggest that activities should provide students with choice, challenge, support, and opportunities for online feedback and interaction. Schools need to weigh these benefits against increasing teachers' professional learning and implementation time.

Keyw or d s

Blended learning, expansive learning, instructional design, learner control

E xp an s i ve l ear n in g

Expansive learning (Engeström, 2015) identifies the ideal process in which all human activity expands to resolve internal and external contradictions. Researchers view contradictions as essential to activities' growth and development. Studying these tensions makes it possible to offer an alternate, expanded activity that resolves existing contradictions. Engeström (2015) outlines this process in the fifth step of the cycle of expansive learning.

I applied this theory to the study of contradictions in a model of secondary school blended learning implemented at Barker College in 2016 as part of a doctoral research project. The study aimed to examine contradictions in the existing activity and offer recommendations to expand the activity further. The contradictions suggest that the objective of the new activity might develop with changes made to the blended learning model and the way teachers design activities.

Throughout my investigation, it was clear that the school emphasised certain aspects over others. These included supplementing face-to-face (F2F) courses instead of redesigning courses to leverage blended learning fully; the focus on developing independent learning

tasks instead of scaffolded activities; allowing learner control during online sessions instead of offering control throughout the course holistically; providing written or F2F feedback instead of online feedback and tracking; valuing F2F instead of online interactions. Many of these decisions were made to limit the amount of change for teaching staff. This move, however, has trade-offs in the potential loss of a true blend of online and F2F content. The suggested model (Figure 1) provides six structural changes to address these contradictions.

Des i gn for i ntegrati on

Teachers should consider designing courses with deeper integration between F2F and online activities. Students found the most benefit from work relevant to their specific class, meaning online work should be related to F2F study in the way it introduces, reinforces or revises learning. Additionally, students should feel a solid connection to the class and the teacher through online and F2F activities. This connection could occur by designing a sequence of online resources spanning each unit. For example, resources used during F2F lessons are made available through a learning management system (LMS). The teacher can use them for direct instruction or for students working in more independent settings. These

Figure 1: Redesigning secondary school blended learning

R ed es i gn in g s econ d ar y s ch ool b l en d ed l ear n i n g

resources would then be uploaded to the LMS and used by teachers and students at multiple points throughout a unit.

An integrated approach to course design would ensure a strong alignment between the course objectives in F2F and online environments (Brusso & Orvis, 2013), supporting students' engagement with blended courses (Artino, 2009a). Like Chen (2016), this study found that students preferred video content created by their teacher over pre-made content. In this study, students could relate to how their teacher presented information. Therefore, where possible, the online resources should be designed by teachers teaching the course and include videos and other content created by these teachers. A redesign or adaptation of existing courses requires a heavy investment of teacher time and professional development in understanding blended learning strategies, technical skills required for construction (Cherry, 2010; Gariou-Papalexiou et al., 2017), and in the planning, preparation, and construction of these courses. While redesigning courses may represent a desirable feature, it also requires a significant investment of time for teachers.

A Acti vi ti es for engagement

Design for engagement guides the types of activities best suited to online or independent work. These activities were most effective when they provided a sense of Kairos, a term used in my research to signify moments when students found work valuable and engaging. The findings suggest that this occurs when students have some element of choice over what they are learning. Similarly, effective tasks were those where the students could exercise control over the pace and place of learning. Tasks that spanned a term were successful because students could see the big picture and break down activities into smaller components. Kairos can also be achieved through choice in the activity used to demonstrate understanding. For example, students might choose from a range of activity types.

Evidence suggested that tasks that allowed students to draw upon personal experiences (Nave, 2015), relevance, or preferences also led to this sense of Kairos. An example occurred when activities required students to make personal connections to the themes studied in their English text. Finally, students experienced Kairos when they felt some cognitive challenge in the activity. Challenge can be created by providing different types of cognitive engagement through various questioning types (Marton & Säljö, 1976). Teachers can guide students to complete work that provides them with enough cognitive engagement to experience a sense of challenge but not enough to feel unable to complete the task.

D Di s pl ay vi s ib l e s equ ences

While the previous model called for the design of cohesive activities, the structure only allowed one online activity per fortnight. This time restriction limited the ability to control the pace at which students accessed information and completed activities. Having online resources available across a course allows students to exercise greater learner control of the course's pace (Horn & Staker, 2014). For example, a student who had finished all their work and was ready to move on or required additional challenge would be able to gain access to a degree of flexibility and personalisation (Horn & Staker, 2014). Further, this student need not wait for the teacher to release the next set of online work. The risk here is that these students may experience boredom (Artino, 2009b) at the restricted control of course pace. A fully realised blended course with a visible sequence of online activities

resolves this issue by allowing students to move beyond the confines of the cycle and may result in more positive effects on motivation and effort (Corbalan, Kester & Van Merriënboer, 2008; Hughes et al., 2013). This aspect of blended learning is closely linked to the courses' design. Making pathways available for students requires little additional time or expertise once the courses have been created.

B Bu i l d i n s caffol d s

Scaffolds in a blended learning course provide opportunities for all students to move out of their comfort zone into their zone of proximal development (Baker, 2010; Van Laer & Elen, 2017). This is particularly important for students who do not yet possess the ability (Aleven & Koedinger, 2002), confidence (Dweck, 2010) or executive functioning skills required to work independently. Blended learning activities should provide appropriate scaffolds or support. Support should come in the form of scaffolding the approach to the work, time management, worked examples, and exemplars. Studies suggest that students with less-developed executive functioning skills struggle with elements of flexibility and learner control (McGee & Reis, 2012). Without explicit scaffolding and support, these students are potentially at a more significant disadvantage at the commencement of the blended approach. This aspect is vital for ensuring that teachers give all students opportunities to succeed. Scaffolds might involve developing a resource toolkit (Jelfs, Nathan & Barrett, 2004) or allocating time for individual support (Anderson, 2008; Baker, 2010; Kalogeropoulos & Liyanage, 2019). As with the design of integrated blended learning courses, scaffolding requires an investment of teacher time to provide ongoing support.

P Provi d e onl i ne feedb ack

The previous model did not systematically require feedback and tracking student progress using the LMS. Similarly, there was no formal structure to provide an avenue for reflection on a student's progress. Using feedback and reflection (Anseel, Lievens & Schollaert, 2009) in an LMS remedies this issue and may increase learner motivation and connection to work (Ibabe & Jauregizar, 2010). Developing this functionality attracts professional learning costs as teachers must learn how to use the LMS for feedback and reflection.

F Fos ter onl i ne i nteracti on

The previous model relied on F2F, not online interaction. The risk of overlooking online interactions may show up in lower satisfaction and engagement levels amongst students (Artino, 2009a) as it misses opportunities to provide ongoing formative feedback (Clark, 2012; McLaren, 2012), personalisation (Horn & Staker, 2014) and moments of connection (Lai, Khaddage & Knezek, 2013). Facilitating online interaction requires an ongoing investment of time on the part of the teacher in scaffolding, checking, and responding to moments of interaction.

Con cl u s i on

The model in Figure 1 demonstrates the opportunities for secondary school blended learning and uncovers teachers' challenges in development and professional learning time. Redesigning a F2F course into a blended learning course requires considerable professional

learning time for teachers to familiarise themselves with blended learning strategies. Additionally, this intervention requires time for teachers to design and construct the blended learning program, collecting and sequencing resources and activities. It is important to note that many contradictions occurred because of the decision to limit the impact on teacher time. The result is that the overall success of the program was compromised. Therefore, any blended learning model must include a strategic focus on allowing professional learning and implementation time.

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Nave, B, 2015, Student-centered learning : nine classrooms in action, ed. B. Nave, Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Van Laer, S & Elen, J, 2017, 'In search of attributes that support self-regulation in blended learning environments', Education and Information Technologies, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1395–1454, doi: 10.1007/s10639-016-9505-x.

Quality Assurance through Teaching Standards: The path to National Teacher Accreditation

Dr Greg Cunningham Director of Accreditation Tim Milkins Director of Robotics

A b stra ct

There is growing evidence that the quality of teachers is the most important educational resource in our schools. Therefore, greater attention must be given to the factors that shape that quality. Teachers play a leading role, greater than ever, in our technologically enhanced and skill-based economies where academic underperformers are perceived to be left behind (Sywelem, 2009). Teacher quality translates directly into students’ learning. A well-prepared and skilled teacher impacts student learning and assessment more than any other student background aspect. This includes minority status, language and poverty (Darling-Hammond, 2006). Teacher Education providers should have the capacity and ability to attract students with high academic potential to teaching and then collaborate with them to meet the ever-evolving demands of learning and teaching in the 21st century. Achieving such capacity in the providers of teacher education is the collective responsibility of the nation, universities and the profession. Internationally, educational practitioners and policymakers have been focused in developing adequate accountability and quality assurance procedures for teacher education. Many countries have already accredited their teacher education programs to ensure better teachers and higher quality instruction in classrooms (Ingvarson et al, 2006).

Teacher accreditation is both a “process” and a “status.” The “process” reports the current evaluation and development of educational quality with the improvement and validation of standards, while the “status” offers a guarantee to the community that teacher education institutions offer high quality training program(s) (Satyanarayana & Srivastava, 2009). Accrediting bodies produce and use certain criteria both to ensure teacher education programs meet the maximum expectations of quality. More than ever, the world needs effective teachers, but in many important jurisdictions around the globe, the fundamental components of teaching's professional standing are being neglected due to a number of factors including concerns about salary, professional working conditions and access to ongoing professional learning. It is important to consider the consequences for ongoing

reform in the context of the world, as well as how rapidly and successfully Australian policy for assisting the teaching profession has evolved.

Teaching has been referred to as the first profession and the “profession of professions” by Dr Gregor Ramsey in his significant November 2000 Report for the NSW government on the quality of teaching, Quality Matters. Ramsey stated that the occupation most essential to the development of other professions is education.

Th e lo ca l co ntex t

In NSW, for example, Tom Alegounarias, current Chair of ISTAA (the Association of Independent School’s Teacher Accreditation Authority) and previously CEO of the NSW Institute of Teachers (NSWIT) and later Chair of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) oversaw the NSWIT implement a policy model for supporting teacher quality and standards which has drawn attention from policymakers worldwide. These professional teaching standards and associated accreditation and approval processes are viewed by government officials as among the most significant educational policy reforms in recent times.

Alegounarias cites that the reasons for success are many, but he was CEO of NSWIT in 2000, when the policy for supporting teacher quality and standards was codified into law for the first time in Australia. Further, this teaching standards’ agreement was ratified nationwide and was incorporated into the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) charter not long after AITSL was founded in 2005.

While it is not the intention here to analyse every descriptor of the Australian Standards’ Framework and associated policies that make it both unique and significant, certain dimensions are worth noting. One is the availability of accreditation as outstanding teaches, either at Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher. This places outstanding teaching in a context of recognised professional growth from all other teachers. Outstanding teachers and leaders evolve their practice based on knowledge gained as students and in practice, not independently from collegial experience. The Framework also includes requirements for Initial Teacher Education graduates. The capacity to be accredited or registered at Proficient Teacher level and subsequently at Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher is built on knowledge gained through a recognised university degree, complemented subsequently by practice and further experiential development

Ra tio na le f o r tea ch ing sta nd a rd s

The Standards were developed by practising teachers. A range of representative bodies including teacher unions nominated individuals that dedicated significant time to developing drafts that were subsequently independently validated by teachers in different contexts. Teachers themselves exercise judgment as to who meets the standards, within a strict system of oversight, run by accredited teachers. Outstanding teachers, for example, are selected from among those that are regarded by their peers, including principals, as

indeed being outstanding practitioners, and who are already active in providing leadership and support in their schools and classrooms. The integration of graduate qualifications with effective and outstanding teaching capabilities in a single framework represents teachers’ expectations of themselves as a coherent profession.

The Standards are a reference point for determining professional standing. In exercising consistent judgment against these high standards, teachers are issuing an assurance to the community that systems are in place for every student to be taught by a high-quality teacher. The Standards describe this expectation. Judgments against the Standards enact it. This is the essence of a profession. It is independent from but related to employment practices. Employers, that is, schools or systems, can and should be able to exercise judgment in selecting individuals to employ as teachers. The point of a profession is that this choice is exercised within the accreditation processes designed to protect the interests of the community and the status of the practitioners. This is important and virtuous public policy, and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers make it happen.

While the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) stand as testimony to this groundbreaking work in professionalising the teaching profession, it is the application of the Australian Standards’ Framework and related policies that make them special and important here. The possibility of receiving accreditation as a superb educator – either at the Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher levels – is an example of this. The Australian Standards’ Framework provides exceptional instruction in the context of professional development for teachers. Outstanding leaders and educators develop their practice based on knowledge they have learned in the classroom and in the workplace, not separately from collective experience. Graduates of Initial Teacher Education are subject to additional criteria under the Framework. Knowledge earned through a recognised university degree, supplemented by further training, is the foundation for the ability to be accredited or registered at Proficient Teacher level and later at Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher.

As Alegounarias points out, the regulatory standards method is based on the concepts of community responsibility. Conversely, deregulators emphasize the advantages of this strategy over the professional standards’ strategy. Those opposed to professional standards claim that it would be impossible to get teachers to agree to a set of standards that would also make sense to the general public. Additionally, maintaining a deregulated approach would cost significantly less.

S ta nd a rd s a nd p ro f essio na l co nnect ion

It is common reactive response to a perceived crises in teacher supply to implement crude performance pay systems and to eliminate teacher licensing or registration requirements. Many of these arguments come from outside education. The debate over how to improve education has not ended – even in Australia – and the arguments made in opposition to Professional Standards have not been defeated.

The areas of Professional Standards’ vulnerability that deregulators first identified still require attention. In NSW, where various forms of financial recognition are either already in place or are in the process of being implemented across all school sectors, teacher

accreditation at the higher levels of Highly Accomplished and Lead is progressing. However, not all states are committed. The quality of professional judgment demonstrated thus far must be maintained by the accreditation processes for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher to delay the performance pay push. However, it must also accelerate the rate at which outstanding teachers are recognised. Initial Teacher Education has been the most active area of policy work since the Standards were established. When the Professional Standards Framework was first created in NSW, the deregulation option was available, and it is still available to any policymaker who doubts the value of accrediting teachers against Standards.

Accreditation is a key mechanism for assuring the quality of preparation courses in a number of professions. The profession of teaching's status is at stake.

Ref eren ces

Alegounarias, T. (2017). “Professional Standards: Threats and Possibilities” Journal of Professional Learning, www.cpl.asn.au/journal

Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). “Securing the Right to Learn: Policy and Practice for Powerful Teaching and Learning” in Educational Researcher, 35(7), 13-24. Ingvarson, L., Elliott, A., Kleinhenz, E., and McKenzie, P. (2006). “Teacher Education Accreditation: A review of national and international trends and practices” in Teacher Education, 1. Satyanarayana, N., & Srivastava, R. (2009). “Accreditation: Panacea for Producing Better Professionals” in South Asian Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oct 2020. Sywelem, MMG (2009). “Accreditation Models in Teacher Education: The cases of the United States, Australia, and India in International Journal of Education and Research, 2(3).

Barker

Current Trends in the teaching of Academic Writing

Andrew Hood Director of Academic Writing and Oratory

A b stra ct

While recent research suggests there is no clear consensus on how to teach academic writing, there is definitely a trend towards more explicit instruction on how to plan, structure and compose writing. Furthermore, a very promising development is the explicit teaching of key sentence structures that underpin academic writing and embody the complexity of thought required to write at a sophisticated level. A review of a variety of methods is presented including application to the Barker context.

It is generally agreed a fundamental skill that students need is the ability to write fluently and express themselves clearly. Parents and employers constantly stress how crucial for future employment it is to write well, even in occupations that don’t immediately seem to require writing. And beyond the pragmatic need for strong writing skills, in higher education and the workforce, many also recognise the quiet satisfaction students gain from a wellcrafted piece of writing. Writing is a key life skill but also an art and a pleasure.

So, the crucial question in recent years for the education system has been how to teach writing most effectively in an era when students seem less exposed to quality writing and writing standards appear to be dropping. Indeed, while significant research has commenced on how to teach writing composition more effectively, there is still little consensus on how it is best done, with a recent NESA report from 2018 suggesting that an approach would be to study good teachers of writing and try to learn what they are doing in their classroom: a response that suggests little confidence in the research so far (NESA, 2018a).

With this in mind, at Barker we are embarking on ways to lift the standard of writing by exploring a range of approaches, testing them in the classroom and integrating them into key units of work. To identify areas to target, we have proposed working with a broad model of the writing process that commences at the content stage, works through the question and planning stage, then addresses sentence, paragraph and extended response writing, with the drafting and feedback stages explored, all with the help of student exemplars. Within this model, there is already excellent work going on, in many departments, at various stages of this process, with excellent scaffolds, systematic writing instruction at various stages of a unit and solid conceptual planning. Departments are now targeting areas that could do with further attention and development.

This follows one powerful trend in writing instruction, which is gaining traction around Australia (even if more research is needed): the explicit teaching of writing. Older parents will remember they received very little training in writing composition at school, with fairly sketchy directions on how to write an essay. However, now there are a variety of scaffolds, exemplar responses (at different levels of quality) and very clear instructions on planning an essay guided by explicit writing tips. We will continue to build on these strengths but work on analysing, at even closer depth, the structures and methods that lead to even more powerful writing. But there is a tension: explicit teaching is crucial in building clear expectations for quality writing but, at some point, there also needs to be room for students, especially in senior years, to experiment and respond to open questions with fewer prompts. This is the process that we are now embarking on to improve writing across the school –recognising existing strengths while also researching and targeting the explicit teaching of writing – at appropriate points and at appropriate levels.

One area that appears to offer significant benefit for students is to focus on teaching at the sentence level. This has recently been characterised by the Australian Education Research Organisation, in their second paper on writing, as the activity of sentence combining (AERO, 2022). Basically, it means that students are explicitly taught ways of combining clauses and phrases into more complex sentences, which not only function to indicate more sophisticated literacy but also enables more complex ideas to be expressed. It comes from close analysis of the grammatical types of sentences that are intuitively recognised as expressing complex ideas and the key parts of speech, like noun groups, that function to denote academic writing.

From our review of literature and practice, and current testing of this idea, a significant number of educational groups, teachers and organisations are exploring this practice in a variety of fruitful ways. One significant player is Dr Ian Hunter, the CEO of Writer’s Toolbox, who promotes a web-based writing program that has a number of powerful learning features, including an instant AI evaluation of a student’s writing, based on algorithms that measure the clarity and precision of expression (Advanced Learning, 2021, 2022). The key feature that we have been using at Barker this year is his teaching of 12 different types of sentences. His program encourages and educates students to adopt more complex sentence styles, with dependent clauses, focusing on the effect on expression of these different sentence types. Rather cannily, he does not give these grammatical names, like “dependent clause” or “adjectival clause” but snappier names like “the -ed start” or “explore the subject” which make them appealing and less daunting for young users (although the grammar can be taught later after the use is embedded). Certainly, all the research for the past 60 years suggests that traditional grammar instruction does not fundamentally lift writing composition (NESA, 2018b). But this kind of writing instruction does show that handson teaching of basic structures can help. Furthermore, Hunter’s recent study of four years of Naplan data, from the 70 Queensland schools using his program, suggests that this method of increasing sentence variety and complexity is highly effective (Writer’s Toolbox, 2022). Our Middle School students, and their teachers, have access to this program and are integrating it into the teaching of their writing. Furthermore, a range of teachers have now attended his courses and we trust that his explicit teaching of writing, including this sentence level focus, can be increasingly incorporated into the everyday writing that occurs in our classes. He, and we, recognise that it is crucial that this teaching is built into the everyday

teaching of content in classrooms and not remain an isolated activity if it is to become a step forward in the teaching of writing.

Another related approach from the United States, is Hochman and Wexler’s The Writing Revolution (Hochman & Wexler, 2017). Best suitable for Stage 4 students, these two writing educators focus on a few key areas of writing that are built into the content teaching of a unit (a key principle they hold: that the teaching of writing should be integrated into content delivery). Initially, they focus on fragments and run-on sentences, teaching students what constitutes a complete sentence and how to remedy unfinished sentences. They then work on key subordinating clauses – introduced by subordinating conjunctions because, but, so – in a series of exercises that teach students how to express cause and effect, qualifications to an argument and the consequences of an argument. They add the very useful tool of the appositive, a dependent noun clause, coming after the main noun, that packs extra information into a sentence (for an example, re-read this sentence). From there, they develop these basic grammatical features into sentence combining, working on building longer, deeper sentences that pack in great content.

Closer to home, Ben Seldon’s approach from Balgowlah Boys High in Sydney, is already proving powerful in some classrooms (Seldon, 2022). His focus is on the evidence-analytical sentence in academic essays and the underlying grammar of that sentence. He reduces it to a profound simplicity –“this does that” – which is the bedrock of English essays – this feature shapes that meaning. This simple skill is certainly transferable to other Humanities subjects, giving a shape to the nature of the evidence sentence in each discipline. From this simple structure, with one finite verb (which he calls an ‘s’ verb) there are a series of cascading present participles (“ing” verbs) that can create a cascading sentence – “this does that, doing that, doing that” – giving a student a rich and proliferating tool to build from a simple grammatical structure to a lengthy one, while staying focused on what is arguably the key skill in an essay: providing evidence and analysis for their argument.

Finally, the approach from Sammuri and Quaglia from Dulwich Hill High School is also helpful: an explicit focus on the skills of nominalisation (turning verbs into nouns), a foundational skill in academic writing (Sammuri & Quaglia, 2022). Alongside this, this team works on building complex noun groups (the carriers of advanced subject content) and on relational verbs (the cause and effect link words in academic sentences). This approach will work well at Stage 5 and 6 level.

In conclusion, while this is a brief tour through some recent trends in the explicit teaching of writing, it does give an idea of where it can go and what benefits it can bring. By strategically focusing on a few key practical, grammatical skills that really matter in academic writing, rather than analysing grammar in broad terms, students can improve their writing with an explicit understanding of what makes for strong academic prose at the granular level.

Ref eren ces

Advanced Learning (2021) Writer’s Toolbox, https://www.writethatessay.org/ [accessed 12 February 2022]

Advanced Learning (2022), Writer’s Toolbox, https://www.wtbox.com/ [accessed 12 February 2022]. Australian Educational Research Organisation (2022) Sentence Combining https://www.edresearch.edu.au/resources/sentence-combining-practice-guide [accessed 21 May, 2022].

Hochman, Judith C. and Wexler, Natalie (2017) The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades, [Jossey-Bass, New York].

NESA (2018) “Teaching Writing: Report of the Thematic Review of Writing” p.15 https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/f58f0df9-31f8-43b3-862ac8c4329c889e/thematic-review-teaching-writing.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID= [accessed 2 February 2022].

NESA (2018) Teaching Writing: Report of the Thematic Review of Writing p4. Sammuri, William and Quaglia, David (2022) An explicit approach to teaching academic writing: research-based methodologies to improving teaching writing, mETAphor, Issue 3. Seldon, Ben (2022) Exxcalibur S YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw0nCckP7RFGgsXIiGMs7A [accessed 10 April 2022].

Writer’s Toolbox (2022) How to Improve NAPLAN Writing Results | Writer's Toolbox Schools Outperform Queensland. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Yim8p2QU0 [accessed 1 September 2022].

teachers

Learner

Lisa Bonazza Junior School Director of Primary Curriculum / PYP Coordinator

A b stra ct

While International mindedness is core to the IB PYP, research suggests that consistency in definition and application amongst IB PYP educators can be lacking. This paper explores the extent to which Barker teachers have demonstrated understanding of international mindedness, and have facilitated its development in students in a number of ways. Recommendations include ongoing training and collaboration to foster deeper connections to international mindedness through teaching and learning and engagements with local, national and international experiences. The quality of well-planned and purposeful professional learning, connected to our strategic plan and the IB Programme Standards and Practices have much value, and this vision will be implemented on our forward journey.

Intro d u ctio n

International mindedness is “central to the IB mission and is a foundational principle to its educational philosophy; it is at the heart of the continuum of international education” (IBO, 2020). It consists of developed perspectives of “the world’s constituent parts, nation states and their relationships with each other” and “the perspective of the planet as a whole”. To comply with the desire, vision and accreditation of the IBO, all International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must demonstrate their commitment to the IB Mission Statement including the development of international mindedness in students.

Barker College, being a school accredited for the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), has conducted a recent research project in order to inquire into whether teachers believe that the IB learner profile attributes has influenced the development of international mindedness in their school. Key to this is evaluating if this “way of thinking, being and acting that is characterized by an openness to the world and a recognition of our deep interconnectedness to others” (IBO, 2017) is the goal teachers have for students in our schools. Similarly, is international mindedness being demonstrated, reflected upon, and taught within the school community and throughout all aspects of teaching and learning? In particular, this study aimed to assess teacher’s understanding of what international mindedness is in relation to the IB, and the ways in which they support their students in becoming internationally minded.

Do a group of

believe that the International Baccalaureate

Profile attributes have influenced the development of international mindedness in their school?

Furthermore, this project also aims to identify opportunities and challenges for the successful implementation of the programme to contribute to ongoing strategic planning for the Barker College Junior School, along with the formal evaluation processes associated with the IB, particularly the standards listed in (Figure 1).

Purpose 3: The school community fosters internationally minded people who embody all attributes of the IB learner profile. (0101-03)

Purpose 3 1: The school ensures that the school community is aware of the IB learner profile and is committed to international mindedness and its importance in embodying the IB mission. (0101-030100)

Lifelong learners 2.3: Students understand the connections between the IB learner profile and international mindedness. (0402-02-0300)

Figure 1: Identified IB learner profile and international mindedness Standards and Practices (IBO, Programme Standards and Practices, 2020)

L itera tu re Rev i ew

Whilst it is expected that all educators within an IB education setting are well-equipped to understand and deliver all components of the framework, there can be differing definitions and differences in practice that are helpful to understand.

What is int ern ation al min dedn es s ?

Research rarely succinctly defines international mindedness and collectively presents mixed conceptions and a belief from teachers that is challenging to develop and assess (McCandless, Moss, Rahimi & Chandir, 2019). The IBO itself describes international mindedness as “central to the IB mission and is a foundational principle to its educational philosophy; demonstrative of the heart of the continuum of international education” (IBO, Principles into Practice, 2020), and emphasises this as the encapsulating principle surrounding the exterior in the model depicted in Figure 2. Implied with this depiction are that all aspects within work together to culminate in the learners’ ultimately expression and demonstration of international mindedness. Aspects such as agency, language and ‘sharing the planet’ are thus understood to work together to guide and nurture learning with an internationally minded perspective.

Figure 2: IB PYP Curriculum Model (IBO, Principles into Practice, 2020)

This concept highlighted in the model is further emphasised in the IB Mission Statement, such as in the phrase “... to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect...” (IBO, 2017) indicating that there is a definite goal of international mindedness being woven throughout the framework.

Of the many research projects commissioned by the IBO, one such project has attempted to define and clarify the concept of international mindedness by viewing IB schools as emulating a multicultural world in themselves where the intricate settings inclusive of political, social and economic concepts allow for an implementation that is contextualised to the specific setting (Castro, Lundgren & Woodin, 2015). The authors demonstrate that ways in which the framework is delivered will always be interpreted according to a specific school context. They explain international mindedness as “one of the underpinning attributes of its learner profile, which embodies the organisation’s international education values while recognising that the learner profile attributes may be interpreted differently from one school culture to another” (Castro, Lundgren & Woodin, 2015).

I In t er n at ion al min dedness in p ract ice

Specific aspects of the curriculum model can be viewed as supportive in linking learner profile attributes and international mindedness. One such component is that of the PYP Exhibition which occurs in the final year of the IB PYP and is the culmination of a substantial piece of student research involving group collaboration, inquiry, social action and presentation to an audience. A study conducted by the University of Nottingham identified the impact of the PYP exhibition on the development of international mindedness, critical thinking and the attributes of the IB learner profile (Medwell, Cooker, Bailey & Winchip, 2017). The study found that the exhibition embodied the values of the PYP and gave students the chance to develop and display the attributes of the IB learner profile, specifically “the process of planning, supporting and giving feedback about the exhibition offered teachers multiple opportunities to promote learner attributes, critical thinking and international mindedness” (Medwell, Cooker, Bailey & Winchip, 2017). It also investigated participant views regarding the development of their international mindedness as a result of the exhibition. Part of the experience in the study was that teachers had identified with specific training that had occurred which facilitated those schools to better support students with the optimum experience that challenged and extended them in their inquiry journey. In particular, support for teachers in the process of planning and providing feedback during the exhibition provided them with the opportunities to promote the learner provide attributes and international mindedness. Teachers noted that through the process of the exhibition learning journey, students were enabled to use another language, explore information, actions and perspectives about other cultures and people in other cultures, and to reflect on their own perspectives (Medwell, Cooker, Bailey & Winchip, 2017). Additional understanding for teachers regarding international mindedness was heightened by personal connections and increased networking with other schools also conducting their own IB PYP exhibition. (Medwell, Cooker, Bailey & Winchip, 2017)

Unfortunately, research also has revealed some ambiguity amongst staff from IB PYP schools around international mindedness. Hacking et al. (2018) used classroom observations and interviews to explore international mindedness and found, that experienced educators were not able to articulate the meaning of international mindedness, describing their responses as ‘fuzzy’.

P ar t icip ants and Methodology

In order to answer the research questions, data was collected from semi-structured interviews that took place online (via Microsoft Teams video-conferencing software).

The samples of the study involved 10 teachers from the same school. The participants were diverse in their experience as teachers and more specifically, their experience within the IB PYP framework ranged from limited to extensive experience (see Table 1). They were diverse in their gender, age and ethnicity and care was taken to avoid discrimination to demographic factors. Pseudonyms in this report are used to keep the teacher names confidential.

Table 1: Years of teaching experience and years of teaching in the IB PYP programme

The data set in this table has already been summarised. It aims to group participant responses into similarities and dissimilar points. The content covers questions 2 and 3. Number of years teaching and number of years teaching in an IB PYP school.

Teacher 1 - 10 • All teachers have at least two or more years’ experience teaching in an IB programme and teaching overall.

Teachers 1, 2, 6 and 8 • These teachers have more than 20 years teaching experience and three of which have had more than 10 years of IB PYP teaching, whilst one teacher has had three years of IB PYP teaching experience.

Teacher 4 • This teacher has had more than 10 years’ experience teaching in an IB PYP school.

Teachers 3, 7, 9 and 10 • These teachers have had less than 10 years’ experience teaching in an IB PYP school.

Teacher 5 • This teacher has had less than five years’ experience teaching in an IB PYP school.

C Commen t :

Table 1 categorises the number of years of general teaching experience of the participants in the study, ranging from two years’ experience to more than 20 years of teaching experience and a minimum of two years’ experience teaching within an IB PYP programme. Participants of the study were approached and gave informed consent prior to beginning data collection. They were provided with a brief overview in the form of an information statement including advice that their identity would remain anonymous. The semi-structured interview outline contained a variety of questions of which some were open-ended, designed to encourage further discussion into the ways they each connect, develop and nurture international mindedness in their classrooms and to also explore in which ways it is evidenced in the context of the Junior School as a community. The interviews were transcribed and coded to identify common responses and themes.

Findings

The responses from the 10 participants are analysed below.

Table 2: Teacher definition of international mindedness.

This table summarises and groups participant responses according to comparison with the IB definition. “International-mindedness is a multifaceted concept that captures a way of thinking, being and acting characterised by an openness to the world and a recognition of our deep interconnectedness to others. The development of the learner profile attributes is the foundation of developing internationally minded students who can help to build a better world.” (IBO, Principles into Practice, 2020). The responses are to question 4 ‘The participant definition of international mindedness’.

Key word s

Teacher 1-10 responses

Understanding

Appreciation of others

Connections to local and going beyond

Demonstrating the learner profile attributes

Responses on international mindedness definition from participants, key words:

1. Acceptance, honour and appreciation of all, shared through the demonstration of the learner profile attributes

2. Looking outwards, accepting our place in our world community localnational-global, empathetic eyes, understanding what our impact means to wider community, being abreast of current events.

3. Creating students with a holistic view of the world. Understanding how they build their relationship and understanding across different areas of the curriculum. Understanding different cultures, diversity, perspectives and demonstrating open-mindedness

4. For a student to understand their place in the world and to have an appreciation of what other people’s experiences may be like, making connections to this, not just about themselves but where they fit in it all.

5. At the core of it, it’s being able to show the learner profile attributes

6. Looking beyond ‘you’ and the thinking beyond. Beyond the mint gates!

7. Thinking globally, taking the understandings that you grasp in local settings and expanding it to a global context.

8. Having an endless and deep understanding of different cultures and different societies. It’s also about a philosophy, putting others’ needs first and understanding others

9. An innate awareness, understanding and respect for others in terms of their social, cultural, geographical or linguistic backgrounds.

10. Looking beyond the classroom, not only on a global scale, but going into your community and looking at how the things that we learn about in the classroom are there.

C Commen t :

In Table 2 participants have articulated their own definition and understanding based on experiences and attendance at professional learning opportunities as they discussed during the interview process. They were not prompted, nor did they have prior insight into the specific question being posed. The key words that formed part of/all of their definitions were four key words/statements coded as: Understanding, Appreciation of others, Connections to local and going beyond, and Demonstrating the learner profile attributes.

The responses reference some or most aspects of what it means to be internationally minded as defined by the IBO.

Table 3: Years of teaching in the IB PYP programme and teacher definition of international mindedness (common groupings of words)

This table summarises and groups participant responses according to comparison with the IB definition. “International-mindedness is a multifaceted concept that captures a way of thinking, being and acting characterised by an openness to the world and a recognition of our deep interconnectedness to others. The development of the learner profile attributes is the foundation of developing internationally minded students who can help to build a better world.” (IBO, Principles into Practice, 2020). The responses are to question 4 ‘The participant definition of international mindedness’.

Teacher

Commen t :

When viewing the results of common groupings of key words/statements used by teachers in their response to the definition of international mindedness, there were some interesting insights. The teacher with the most experience in an IB PYP setting was able to discuss international mindedness the most comprehensively, listing three key areas identified in the responses, i.e. that of Understanding, Appreciation of others, and Connection to local and going beyond. While this teacher made no explicit reference to the Demonstrating the learner profile attributes, when a tour of her learning space was conducted there was evidence of this practically through links to the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2022), see Figure 3.

The teachers with more than 10 years of teaching in an IB PYP framework responded in a similar manner to the teachers with less than five years’ experience, all responding with only one or two key words or statements that were common to the whole group. Only three out of the 10 teachers in the sample group referred to international mindedness being demonstrated by the learner profile attributes. However, when asked to show me elements of the learner profile connected to international mindedness, four of the teachers in the sample group indicated connections to the IB learner profile attributes and explained how they were connected to international mindedness, see Figure 4. Of these four, three had referred to international mindedness being demonstrated by the learner profile attributes.

Half of the participating teachers explicitly referred to the Mission Statement display in the Junior School Reception area and the world map with learner profile attributes display as

Figure 3: Visual evidence of Teacher 4 discussion points with response to international mindedness definition

Figure 4: Environmental examples shown by teachers to evidence international mindedness being demonstrated by the learner profile attributes.

seen in Figure 5. Interestingly Teacher 7, the teacher with the least amount of experience, connected with the Welcome to Country statement in the Junior School Reception area and commented that, “This is where it all starts, looking at who we are and where we are from. We can then go National and Global.”

Figure 5: Junior School Reception area

When teachers from the sample group were asked to share examples of international mindedness being demonstrated, six out of the possible 10 responses referenced the IB PYP Exhibition. These responses noted the connection from local to global, demonstration of the IB learner profile attributes being evident throughout the journey of exhibition (not just at the concluding presentation), and a sense of purpose and agency within the learners. Two teachers from the sample group reflected on Harmony Day as an example of international mindedness being demonstrated and one commented that, “It’s nice that we keep the displays up until the end of each year so we can be reminded of the values.” Another teacher, in her third year of teaching within the IB PYP framework stated, “We have recently been looking at Who We Are, our rights and responsibilities. We’ve looked at the rights of a child through the United Nations and my students don’t just think about themselves but they have the opportunity to look on a global scale and what it looks like for students in Australia and then oversees.”

D iscu ssion

Through in-depth interviews with 10 teachers, the present findings have generated valuable insights and allowed a clear identification of the ways in which teachers at the school define international mindedness and connections they make to other areas of the framework such as the IB learner profile attributes, action, the IB PYP Exhibition and agency.

Whilst the ways in which the teachers in the study defined international mindedness was not incorrect, there was however room for elaboration and increases in consistency in their understanding.

The ways in which the teachers utilised real-life classroom examples and reflected on student perspectives as they moved throughout the classrooms and open areas, demonstrated their passion for and understanding of how elements of the IB framework are connected. Participating teachers leveraged visually-stimulating environments that connected to the IB framework to support both students and teachers as they shared their programme understanding, especially in relation to international mindedness

Teachers participating in the study were able to demonstrate sophistication in their understanding of international mindedness, for example Teacher 1 defining this concept as, “someone who sees themselves as connected to the rest of the world, is outward looking and can see similarities and differences with others through an open-minded lens.” This demonstrates an evolution of understanding such as indicated in the literature: “How far we have come from the early notions of international mindedness based on travel to experience other parts of the world!” (Hill, 2012).

This study also demonstrated the usefulness the exhibition for teachers to solidify the learner attributes and practical applications of international mindedness. Currently all of the teachers support the annual exhibition at the School and it will be important for this to continue to be the case.

R eco m m end a ti o ns

1. While the teachers did understand international mindedness, Consistent with the literature, “it was not always clear that individual teachers understood these connections between the lived experience of the curriculum and how this culminated toward the IB conception of IM, and therefore whether they were making these explicit to their students” (McCandless, Moss, Rahimi & Chandir, 2019). Therefore a project which must continue is the school and the teachers constructing a collective definition and align understanding of how all of the learner profile attributes can be demonstrative of international mindedness in a local, national and global scale. As this progresses, it can enhance the cumulative understanding for students as they move throughout the grades and also provide common language and definition for the wider school community, including key stake holders, administration staff and parents.

2. With more than half of the teachers in the study identifying how much programme knowledge was gained during the process of the 2022 exhibition, it would be interesting to survey teachers at the conclusion of the next exhibition and conduct further research into the benefits of community and mentor support.

3. As parent access has now been restored post lockdowns and restrictions, increased community engagement can occur. In order for the school to grow and develop its own programme understanding, it would be beneficial for the whole school community to have the opportunity to reflect and pose questions to increase understanding of the programme. There could also be further research to ensure cohesion and the level of broad knowledge of the framework amongst the community.

4. Continued displaying of visual celebrations of international mindedness in its local, national and global experiences throughout the community are essential. This was identified in the research as supporting teachers in their articulation and in evidencing connections between the learner profile attributes and international mindedness. Similarly, clear and purposeful upskilling sessions with teachers should be held during the planning process to equip them with the location of documentation and research in order to keep their learning current and authentic.

nclu sio n

This paper confirms that although teachers at the school have demonstrated an understanding of international mindedness, there are opportunities for further collaboration and deeper connections through teaching and learning and engagements with local, national and international experiences. This is consistent with the literature suggesting increased need for inquiry and understanding in international mindedness for staff. The quality of well-planned and purposeful professional learning, connected to our strategic plan and the IB Programme Standards and Practices have much value and this vision will be implemented on our forward journey.

Ref eren ces

Hacking, E.B., Blackmore, C., Bullock, K., Bunnell, T., Donnelly, M., and Martin, S. (2018). International mindedness in practice: the evidence from international baccalaureate schools. Journal of Research in Education, 3-16.

Hill, I. (2012). Evolution of education for international mindedness. Journal of Research in International Education, 245-261

IBO. (2017, May). What is an IB education? Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/what-isan-ib-education-2017-en.pdf

IBO. (2020). Principles into Practice. International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Principles into Practice. Geneva, Switzerland: IBO.

IBO. (2020). Programme Standards and Practices. International Baccalaureate Programme Standards and Practices. Geneva, Switzerland: IBO.

Medwell, J., Cooker, L., Bailey, L., and Winchip, E. (2017) The impact of the PYP exhibition on the development of international mindedness, critical thinking and attributes of the IB learner profile. Retrieved from IBO: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/ib-research/pyp/pyp-exhibitionfinal-report-en.pdf

Oxfam. (2022, February 21). Oxfam.org.uk. Retrieved from Oxfam Education: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/who-we-are/what-is-global-citizenship/ Castro, P., Lundgren, U., Woodin J. (2015). International Mindedness through the looking glass: Reflection on a concept. Journal of Research in International Education, 187-197.

McCandless, T., Moss, J., Rahimi, M., Chandir, H. (2019). Teacher conceptualisations and enactments of International-Mindedness in PYP programmes in Australia and Singaporean IB World Schools. Singapore: International Baccalaureate Organisation. United Nations. (2022). Sustainable Development. Retrieved from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Developing and Implementing a Philosophy for Service Learning at Barker

Olivia Smith Coordinator of Service Learning & Languages Teacher Josephine Christofferson Assistant Coordinator Commerce & Service Learning

A b stra ct

This paper explores the development and implementation of a philosophy of service learning. Service learning is an important part of school life at Barker College with every student afforded the opportunity to engage in age-appropriate service activities that look to see positive gains in students’ attitudes toward self, attitudes toward school and learning, civic engagement, social skills, and academic performance It is the aim of Barker’s Service Learning Program to foster academic success and develop well rounded young people who are active citizens, serving the wider community with respect, integrity and courage and compassion. Connected to the school’s teaching and learning framework, students engage in service learning experiences that is based on three concepts: Respect, Relationship and Return.

Intro d u ctio n

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others.” Gandhi

Service learning is an experiential education approach that is premised on "reciprocal learning" (Sigmon, 1979, quoted in Furco 1996). As learning flows from service activities, both those who provide service and those who receive it "learn" from their experiences. As demonstrated in a meta-analysis of 62 studies involving 11,837 students participating in service learning programs in the USA by Celio et al., (2011), students achieved significant gains in five outcome areas: attitudes toward self, attitudes toward school and learning, civic engagement, social skills, and academic performance. Service learning is therefore fundamental to education and growth of students during their most formative years.

So why do we engage in service learning at Barker? Teaching and learning at Barker College is characterised by our “Thrive Framework of 4 pillars”: Inquiry, Rhetoric, Gratitude and Service. These pillars are underpinned by our values: Commitment, Compassion, Courage, Integrity & Respect. We wanted to create a program of service initiatives for each year group that follows these values and pillars, allowing students to develop a culture of service learning throughout their time at Barker.

Service learning programs that begin early and are continuous throughout schooling appear to achieve the greatest gains with respect to both citizenship and academic performance (Moore et al., 1999). To do this, at Barker, we developed a two-tiered system. Firstly, we partnered with charities through each of our vertically aligned house groups (Years 7-12). Secondly, we matched each year group with a suitable age-appropriate theme of service and rewarding service-learning experience. Through this model, we aspire to create a visible and sustainable culture of service learning that students can take beyond their schooling years into future endeavours. This model is based on a strong philosophy of service learning that we aim to deliver at Barker.

Ou r Ph ilo so p hy

An adaptation of our philosophy stemmed from the Australian Centre for Service Learning (ACSL, n.d.), where transformative learning is created by building upon the 7R approach as a foundation for all programs incorporating; respect, relationship, return, reality, resilience, research and reflection (Huitker, 2022). At Barker, we are actively developing a philosophy for service learning which rests on three of the ACSL components: Respect, Relationship and Return. We found these three values are intrinsically linked when engaging sustainable service learning and resonate with Barker’s school values. The aim of the service learning philosophy is to act as an articulation of guiding principles when creating service learning opportunities at Barker College.

R Res pect

Respect is one of the core values at Barker. We promote respect in our classrooms at the same time as extending it into our community. Where service learning promotes this value in our students is in their understanding of diversity and mutual respect, something that is looked upon highly in society. This vision emphasises that our students work collaboratively to address our community’s needs. Through our service learning programs we provide our students opportunities to work with and alongside children and adults who live on the margins of society. We feel this promotes inclusivity and mutual respect.

R Relat ion s hip

The best service-learning activities are those that emphasise student learning whilst concurrently addressing community needs (Chamber & Lavery, 2017). Service learning at Barker seeks to promote a mutually beneficial relationship between our students and community partners. This reciprocal relationship teaches our students to value opportunities for personal and academic growth while fostering a culture of inclusion. The ongoing nature of our service learning programs seeks to build continuity with relationships that are sustainable. Therefore, we continue to actively support and contribute to our community by creating meaningful relationships.

R Ret urn in g

Building an authentic relationship requires commitment, rather than a specific short-term purpose. At Barker we believe that through returning to services we engage with, we form trusting partnerships. We believe these longer term relationships are critical for servicelearning success, as they mean that partners and students learn together and understand

each other better. We believe this is truly where the learning occurs. The service is no longer transactional, and we understand why and how we are making a mutual impact on both the community we are serving, as well as our own students.

S erv ice L ea rni ng Pro g ra m s in th e Mid d le S ch o o l

In Year 7, we focus on the theme of the environment, as this creates age appropriate activities with which students can engage as they are introduced to service learning at our school. Our Year 7 students can be involved in the Barker Recycling Program whereby they collect recycling bins from staff rooms, sort through these and take them to be collected. The program is coordinated by one dedicated staff member with other staff members helping these students. Through this, students learn to respect the environment of our school, develop relationships with our staff members and return weekly to this commitment, all while helping to promote a culture of service within our school community.

In Year 8 we focus on the theme of care through working with aged care homes and hospitals. An organic relationship of care grew with a local charity: The North Foundation upon their request to work with North Shore Sydney schools on a Costumes for Cancer initiative. To show respect to the needs of the North Foundation, our Year 8 students met with the charity and learnt how to best serve them. A relationship was developed, and The North Foundation brought doctors into the school, whom Year 8 introduced to the primary school, to assist in better understanding the purpose of their fundraising activity. We returned to this charity during our Year 8 Service Learning day, where students created handprint messages to display in the North Shore Hospital, thanking hospital workers for their dedicated service to our community. The Year 8 Service Learning Day, entitled “A Heart for Service”, gave students a taste of all the different programs that we offer throughout Barker. In the future, once the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic are overcome, our plan is to work with an aged care home on a regular basis.

In Year 9 we focus on the theme of shelter. This theme is age-appropriate for Year 9 as these students have the maturity to engage with homeless people in our community. Our students are primarily involved in helping at Hornsby Connect, a local supermarket for disadvantaged members of the community. Students learn to respect members of the community who are marginalised by society, not passing on judgement. In doing so, an authentic relationship has been formed with both the volunteers and participants based on mutual understanding. We have made a commitment to returning to Hornsby Connect weekly with a small group of students from each pastoral care group. The students then take back this experience of service learning to their pastoral care group and encourage members of their group to volunteer at the next opportunity, therefore allowing them to reflect on their experiences and demonstrate leadership skills.

S erv ice L ea rni ng Pro g ra m s in th e S enio r S ch o o l

In Year 10 we focus on the theme of Education. This has allowed Year 10 students to engage with young people in education at Clarke Road School and Ngarralingayil Barker. Clarke

Road School caters for students with an intellectual disability and is committed to vibrant, engaged learning and promoting student independence. This long-standing, strong partnership has been in existence for over 30 years and embodies the elements – returning, respectful and relationships - of service. Students visit the school every week during the course of a term, working in the same classroom to build a strong relationship with the students. This routine allows Barker students to ‘return’ and build a relationship with the students, respecting their abilities as learners and individuals. We are committed to maintaining the strong partnership with Clarke Road School, as it provides rich and meaningful experiences for our students.

Year 10 students have also been providing service as student mentors, as we begin to strengthen our relationship with the Darkinjung Barker and Ngarralingayil Barker. In their capacity as student mentors for the primary school students, they have modelled the Barker values through commitment to learning, courage in taking risks in learning, and integrity and respect for students with differing cultural understandings. These programs run regularly and include student mentoring in music, robotics, reading, mathematics and in play. Building this relationship is important as we acknowledge Barker as one school across four campuses.

As students move further into the Senior School, it is appropriate that we align our service initiatives to leadership and look to prepare students for ‘Beyond the Mint Gates’, a phrase used at the school to refer to life after Barker as active citizens in our community. In Year 11 and Year 12, students can participate in community events such as TimeOut Basketball, Red Shield Appeal, Bobbo Cycle Classic and the Lifeline Book Fair. TimeOut basketball is an established program that aims to provide ‘TimeOut’ for the parents and carers of young adults with a disability. Barker students guide participants through drills, activities, and a friendly match of basketball. Students are committed to returning on a fortnightly basis, where it is extremely important that they build a relationship with each participant and show care and compassion for their abilities to play basketball. Respect, relationships and returning are a vital component of this service as students begin to interact with people in our wider community.

As school leaders, it is pleasing to see that Year 11 and Year 12 students have led the charge in volunteering for community events. Students have been gracious in their service, continuing the tradition of helping to raise funds for the Red Shield Appeal, in partnership with the local Hornsby branch of the Salvation Army. Other events such as the Cycle Classic and the Book Fair have required students to assist with the running of the event, set up and pack up. The pinnacle of providing service is that it may disrupt a student’s normal schedule, with these events often requiring students to serve on weekends and to reorganise their study schedule or work and family commitments. Students have greatly demonstrated respect with their involvement in these yearly events, deepening the relationship between our organisations.

C onclu sion

The Service Learning Program at Barker College is underpinned by the school’s Thrive Framework, school values and the characteristics of Return, Respect, and Relationships. Coupled with the College mission to ‘inspire every learner, every experience and every day’ the service learning model, through year groups and house groups, aims to inspire students through service. Education encompasses a wide range of learning. Service learning is a critical component in achieving academic success and developing well rounded young people who are active citizens, serving the wider community with respect, integrity and courage and compassion.

Ref eren ces

ACEL n.d., Australian Centre for Service Learning, viewed 24 October 2022, https://www.servicelearning.com.au/

Barker College 2019, Teaching and Learning Framework, Barker College, Hornsby, viewed 24 October 2022, https://www.barker.college/media/3411/teaching-framework-final.pdf

Celio, CI, Durlak, J & Dymnicki, A 2011, ‘A Meta-analysis of the Impact of Service-Learning on Students’, Journal of Experiential Education, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 164–181.

Chambers, D. and Lavery, S. (2017), "Introduction to Service-Learning and Inclusive Education", ServiceLearning (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Vol. 12), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-363620170000012001

Furco, A. (1996). Service-learning: A balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning, 1, 1-6. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=slceslgen

Moore, K. P., & Sandholtz, J. H. (1999). Designing Successful Service Learning Projects for Urban Schools. Urban Education, 34(4), 480–498. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085999344004

Barker Institute Learning in Practice

new, but newly important”: Why outdoor education needs to

Dan Lewis Grange Teacher

A

Ab s t r act

Outdoor education has never been more important for improving student wellbeing and academic performance. A key theme at the recent 2022 National Outdoor Education Conference, this article presents an overview of the conference at the same time as addressing how and why schools are incorporating outdoor education into their curriculum offerings. Challenges that have confronted Outdoor Education in recent years, such as climate change and COVID-19, have been taken as opportunities to rethink how learning can take place, what students need in order to thrive and how Outdoor Education as a valuable part of the schooling experience can be made more resilient.

BU SHFIRE

Flames tiger-orange and parrot-red.

Bushfire burning and dancing.

Swirly smoke curling into shivery shapes. Leaves sizzle and sticks crackle.

Violent and spooky.

Inspired by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020, that powerful piece of poetry came from a student at The Nature School, Port Macquarie. It’s a pioneering bush-based primary school (extending to Year 7 in 2023) that lives the belief that outdoor education isn’t just important, it is vital, and should be part of everyday learning. It’s also a school that had its bush campus slammed by both those fires and the subsequent floods. The school’s head of primary, Catherine Shaw, was a speaker at the recent 2022 National Outdoor Education Conference (NOEC) and her presentation encapsulated the good, the bad and the ugly of life in the outdoor education sector presented at the conference. A key conference theme was that outdoor education has never been more important for improving student wellbeing and academic performance, but climate change is turning the outdoors into an increasingly challenging work, play and learning environment. At the same time, the sector’s greatest challenges can see it have its finest hour as traumatic events like fires and floods can be

“Not

have its finest hour

powerful education tools, inspiring breakthrough creativity, such as the poem above. Outdoor education is also seen as a key to overcoming the harm students have suffered in recent years from the likes of climate change trauma, COVID isolation, negative social media, excessive screen time and lack of physical exercise.

Among the 250-odd delegates who attended the three-day Blue Mountains conference was staff from The Grange – Barker’s outdoor education facility at Mount Victoria. Like so many others in the outdoor education sector, Grange staff and their programs have been beset by climate and COVID issues in recent years, making the need for plans A, B, C, D and E the new normal. The conference offered up solutions and inspiration. That inspiration included students from The Nature School writing moving letters of thanks to local Rural Fire Service members. “Kids write best when they have a purposeful reason to write and an authentic audience to write for,” Shaw said. “If you give students a real reason to write and real people to read what they want to say, they will rise to the occasion. Give them real reasons to make English come alive. Great classroom practitioners know how to be responsive to their students’ context and can teach through situations, leading to improved wellbeing while meeting learning outcomes.”

The school also chose to use the flood and fire catastrophes to inspire many other learning opportunities. On the science and technology front, they looked at heat and combustion, air quality, the impacts of fire on native animals, Indigenous weather knowledge, cultural burning, fireproofing homes and epicormic growth. The floods were great for looking at the water cycle, water safety (don’t driving through flood waters!), water quality, flood mapping, mold and the impact of floods on oceans. On the maths front, there was work on probability and statistics such as understanding what a one-in-100-year flood is. The flood water also helped students understand volume, depth, speed and distance. “When things happen, it doesn’t mean we ditch teaching, we radically rethink, we be responsive to the things our kids are living through,” Shaw said. “That learning is more authentic.”

Renowned Finnish education expert Pasi Sahlberg spoke of the crucial role nature play has in learning and connection – daily nature play is one of the reasons Finland leads the world in educational results, he said. As the conference program blurb said of Sahlberg: “His most recent book, Let the Children Play: Why More Play Will Save Our Schools and Help Children Thrive, highlights the importance of play, especially outdoor play, to allow children to explore, discover, fail, succeed, socialise and flourish. He argues play is a fundamental element of the human condition and is key to giving school children the skills they need to succeed – skills like creativity, innovation teamwork, focus, resilience, expressiveness, empathy, concentration and executive function.” Taking lessons about nature play from the Indigenous people who have been playing on this landscape for more than 60,000 years is also crucial, Sahlberg believes.

Kristi Bryant, an outdoor educator at the Colo facility of St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill, said the school’s teenage boys in 2022 were increasingly troubled with issues such as “intense” anxiety, distance between each other, a fear of the outdoors born of a lack of exposure to outdoor spaces. There has been an increase in mental health safety plans and school absence. In response, the school has replaced the “challenge” theme of its outdoor education with “play” because, for many students, the challenge of simply getting on the bus to go to the school camp was great enough. Play time “is the most awesome thing for

everything,” Bryant said. “We need to value it.” Her Year 7 students at Colo now get two to four hours of unstructured outdoor play time every day. The play time is treated as important, there are play choices such as Lego, painting, music, exploration, fishing or Frisbee golf, and it is “free” – the students don’t have to earn it. “It’s a need. You shouldn’t have to earn it.” Bryant said that when the students at play are distracted by nature – a leaf or an insect - they are connecting with nature and country, they are learning and losing their fears. The feedback from parents is that their children return from camp with reduced anxiety, with enthusiasm and new connections to their school mates. Other school staff are also noticing that the students are so much better for this nature play and want to incorporate play into their own teaching.

Other conference speakers addressed things like gear repair and maintenance, nutrition, bushcraft, pay and conditions, and how to deliver authentic Indigenous outdoor education. Dr Loren Miller, the executive director of outdoor education provider Outward Bound, struggled to fight back tears as she relived the toll fires, floods and COVID had taken on her organisation in recent years. She has now won $3.7 million of federal funding to establish a national centre for outdoor risk and readiness to help make the outdoor education sector more resilient. Miller said climate change meant the outdoor education sector was sending its workers into “Australia’s most dangerous workplace”, but risks could be mitigated using tools such as better insurance, staff training, procedures, digital technology and weather information. A good example is the bushfire guidelines developed for the St Joseph’s outdoor education centre at Colo, where different fire danger ratings are trigger points for different actions. A high fire danger, for example, means no ridge-top activities in the afternoon. The conference heard outdoor education was also struggling to deal with issues such as insurance and staffing, while other speakers urged the industry to do better when it comes to gender and race. Bear in mind that the outdoor industry is not a cottage industry. In NSW/ACT alone, it is worth $7.6 billion annually, according to Outdoors NSW/ACT. It also supports 77,000 fulltime-equivalent jobs and saves $480 million a year in lifetime healthcare costs. Industry custodian Liz Horne said that in the face of its many challenges, the disparate members of this industry must better work together to build resilience.

For Scott Manwaring, co-director of The Grange, conference highlights included dives into critical incidents, managing risk, building resilience, the purchase of the Vision Valley outdoor education centre by Pymble Ladies’ College (PLC) and hosting a visit to The Grange for conference delegates. “One of the most informative sessions I attended at the conference was the critical incident scenario information session by Claire Dallat,” Manwaring said. “Claire is an expert in outdoor education risk analysis and management, and she is internationally renowned in this field. Much of the discussion was to prepare organisations and schools in staging their own critical incident day involving many staff, from first responders in the field to reception staff to the school executive. “The focus for the session centred on strategies for dealing with the media in a critical incident. Through an informative online Q&A session with Sarah Farnsworth, an experienced TV journalist, we gained insights into methods and tactics used when covering critical incidents in the outdoors. The importance of a clear and co-ordinated operational response, the need for associated logistics and administrative support from various staff was noted. Additional resources needed during and after an incident in the outdoors and the unpacking of the incident were key learnings. The relationship with the media has a crucial impact on how the public will perceive the incident and therefore the response from the school or organisation is vital.”

Figure 1: That’s how you put up a Barker tent: Year 7 students and Grange staff at the Cathedral Reserve campground, Mount Wilson.

Also inspirational was the conference keynote address from award-winning Hollywood stuntwoman and naked reality TV adventurer Ky Furneaux. Furneaux attributed her remarkable achievements and resilience to the outdoors lifestyle of her childhood in remote and regional South Australia. “I particularly enjoyed listening to Ky Furneaux talk about her adventurous life achievements and some enlightening and spectacular You Tube moments,” Manwaring said. “It was impressive how she overcame physical challenges after a serous car accident as a young woman to be later awarded the World Taurus Stunt Award for the best female stunt performer in the world in 2012. She has featured in many TV shows including Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid – a reality TV series, only in America! Her incredible tales of survival in many challenging environments shows tremendous inspiration to all. Her resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity is awe-inspiring. Her lessons to young people about thinking positively, being prepared and adaptable and educating yourself in her book Girls Own Survival Guide is pertinent advice for the successful women of the future. These messages are often discussed with students at Grange camps, and I have also passed it on to my own teenage daughters to hopefully gain some more pearls of outdoor wisdom.”

A belief in the importance of outdoor education – particularly when it comes to building resilience and reducing stress – saw PLC purchase Vision Valley in 2020. The decision came in the wake of three student suicides over a short period and increasing evidence of

Figure 2: Barker students on their Year 9 Grange adventure hiking across the Megalong Valley

psychological stress among students generally. “Stuart Clark is the manager of the school’s Vision Valley outdoor education centre,” Manwaring said. “He presented to a packed session of delegates keen to learn why PLC recently purchased an outdoor education centre on the outskirts of Sydney. Stuart discussed the impetus to the decision - tragic recent school events, the state of the co-curricular program and other subsequent reasons behind boosting outdoor education programs and outcomes at the school. A crucial factor was a change of leadership at the school and the subsequent positive vision to increase and improve outdoor education opportunities at PLC in order to increase the resilience and character development of all PLC students. The search for a greenfield site was problematic and the opportunity to purchase an existing facility needing substantial investment came at Vision Valley in 2020. The school invested in the required infrastructure, compliance and staff needed to develop a progressive program of challenging outdoor education camps at Vision Valley from years K-12. The obstacles, challenges and improvements were outlined and more importantly the immediate benefits were discussed as Stuart explained the successful recent Year 9 camp. Based at Vision Valley for a month, students become immersed in a variety of experiences, including several preparatory expeditions before a concluding journey expedition back to PLC from various locations. Statistical analysis of the improved wellbeing outcomes of the program were presented by research assistant Helen Cooper from Western Sydney University, who measured the resilience levels of Year 9 students pre and post camp.” This longitudinal study by PLC and WSU will continue until 2027 to quantify the long-term wellbeing impact Vision Valley and outdoor education have on the school’s girls.

The Grange site visit hosted by Manwaring and his fellow Grange director Liz Charlton saw NOEC delegates from Australia and overseas tour the facility and discuss the features of its Middle School outdoor education program. “It was a successful end to an informative and inspiration conference at Leura in September 2022,” Manwaring said.

The elephant in every room at the conference, however, was that outdoor education is strong in the private school sector and almost non-existent in most public schools. “Starting out as CEO of Outdoors NSW and ACT in 2020, I was astounded to learn how many schools do not value or embed outdoor education in their methods,” said Lori Modde, host of the NOEC. “The outdoor education providers have the antidote for the challenges associated with mental health, resilience and other things life throws you and thanks to the challenges of the last few years the time is now for schools to listen to the research.” Conference coconvenor and Western Sydney University professor Tonia Grey concluded: “Outdoor learning is not new, but newly important. The evidence-based research has clearly shown the physical, psycho-social, educational, and emotional benefits. As an urgent priority, we call on our federal and state governments to embed outdoor education into the government schools, now.”

Untapped Potential: The Neglected Urban Interest in Secondary Agriculture

Scott Graham Head of Agriculture Department

Re-printed with permission: Graham, S., 2021, Untapped Potential: The Neglected Urban Interest in Secondary Agriculture, International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 29(4), 11-21, DOI: https://doi.org/10.30722/IJISME.29.04.002. Readers are encouraged to use this citation in their own references.

A b stra ct

Agriculture in a secondary school context in Australia has had a poor reputation amongst students and parents. Consequently, there have been historically low enrolments for many decades. This has contrasted with the reality of well-paid, knowledge-intense and increasingly urban-based jobs in the sector. This disparity has led to a significant shortage of university agricultural graduates needed to fill vital jobs to support the economy and society. Through a case study at one high school, this paper demonstrates how the reputation of the subject in the view of students and parents can be changed to more closely align with the modern reality of jobs in the agriculture sector. It shows that urban high school students, who traditionally would not be expected to take roles in agriculture, are not only interested in the concept of ‘paddock to plate’ but are willing to devote their lives to a career in the industry in order to make a difference.

K Key wor ds : agricultural education, secondary agriculture, urban students, agricultural workforce

Intro d u ctio n

The agricultural discipline faces a major shortage in university degree graduates in Australia and has done so for well over a decade (Pratley & Hay, 2010; Pratley, 2012; Pratley, 2016; Pratley & Crawley, 2018). Unsurprisingly, Randall (2019) shows this is mirrored by a decline of approximately 1000 students in the annual candidature completing the NSW HSC Year 12 leaving examination in Agriculture over the period from 1990 to 2018 (Figure 1). Despite this decline, NSW still has the highest number of students studying agriculture-related courses through to the end of secondary school, with more graduates than all other states combined (Table 1). Despite NSW having 32% of the Australian population (ABS, 2016), it accounts for 58% of Year 12 agriculture graduates (Randall, 2019).

Figure 1. Number of students sitting Higher School Certificate (HSC) agriculture Year 12 leaving examination in NSW (1990-2018) including trend line (Randall, 2019)

Table 1. Number of students sitting Year 12 leaving examinations in agriculture courses in each state of Australia in 2018 (Randall, 2019).

State Number of Students Percentage NSW 1396 57.8 QLD 642 26.6 VIC 191 7.9 TAS 0 0 SA/NT 71 2.9 WA 110 4.8 Total 2415 100

Given the shortfall in university Agriculture graduates compared to the large number of jobs in the agricultural sector, this lack of students who have studied Agriculture coming out of secondary school is unlikely to help improve this situation in the short term. Further, research has shown that the biggest influences on students’ reasons for joining the agricultural sector after school are agricultural background and family influence (Barber, 2015). Clearly students who live in an urban setting are far less likely to have these agricultural backgrounds and family influences (i.e experiences with agricultural production) in the same way as those living in rural areas. Given that almost 90% of Australians live in urban areas (and this figure is increasing - ABS, 2016), I believe significant effort needs to be focused on enticing urban students to study agriculture-related courses in later secondary school, inspiring them to progress to university and into the agriculture sector.

Ref lectio n o n m y ex p erience

For a student growing up in suburban Sydney, it was not a ‘normal’ thing to study Agriculture in secondary school. I began taking classes in agriculture early in my schooling as it was mandated in Years 7 and 8 at my high school. This led me to develop a significant interest in, and passion for, the subject. I subsequently continued to choose the subject throughout middle and senior high school, and this eventually led me to studying Agricultural Science at university.

However, throughout this time of taking agriculture at high school, I was constantly reminded by my suburban peers how ‘unusual’ my subject choice was. The common refrain I would hear almost weekly was “Why would you study agriculture if you aren’t going to be a farmer”? It is a phrase that was so common and came from so many sources that it still echoes loudly in my mind today. Despite the widespread nature of this view amongst my peers, I was never quite able at that age to articulate a clear or convincing defence against what I perceived to be their erroneous assumptions. However, as I progressed through school, I became increasingly aware of the significant proportion, indeed majority, of agricultural careers that simply did not involve ‘being a farmer’.

Upon reflection in later years, the wider societal trend became clearer to me, of which my school experience was simply a microcosm. Many suburban people are disconnected from the paddock to plate journey of much of their food (Pratley, 2013). This seems to have happened over generations, indeed over a century or more. It is not an attitude I believe modern urban people have consciously chosen; rather it is a consequence of living an urban way of life (NRC, 2009; Hillman & Buckley, 2011). This has led to a lack of knowledge of where food comes from and the processes that occur to get it to people’s plates (Hillman & Buckley, 2011). As a result, there is a lack of understanding of the nature of the jobs, particularly of those city-based that happen in the supply chain in agriculture (Youth Insight, 2017). Further, there has been a significant decline over the past few decades in numbers of students completing Year 12 agriculture in both New South Wales (NSW) and across Australia. Indeed, they are at historically low levels (Randall, 2019) despite research that shows there are around six jobs per graduate from agricultural degrees at university (Pratley, 2016).

This paper predominantly investigates one urban school, Barker College, on the upper north shore of Sydney, and its journey with agriculture as an academic subject. Agriculture was nearly discontinued in the mid-2000s due to low enrolments, but it now has the largest cohort of Year 12 students studying Agriculture in secondary school in Australia.

The question to be considered is that changing the focus from production to science, and increasing academic rigour in that process, is a key to increasing school student participation and in turn greater student intakes to university agriculture courses. Other components include promotion of employment opportunities, particularly off-farm.

As discussed earlier from my own experience, agriculture at school was perceived by my peers as leading to ‘being a farmer’ and ‘a bludge’. I believe historically this perception has held the subject back in terms of enrolments in high schools and needs to change for any

chance at increasing university enrolments and increased progression to employment in the agricultural sector.

Ra tio na le

I have had the privilege of teaching high school students for the past decade at Barker College in Sydney. Although I originally started as a teacher of middle school science with some agriculture, I have taught Agriculture exclusively for the last six years due to the increased number of classes.

Throughout my teaching career I have observed the significant and widespread curiosity amongst these urban students in the concept of ‘paddock to plate’ with respect to the food they eat. It seems that many students and parents alike have an inherent desire to understand where their food comes from, and the processes involved in getting it to them. In particular, I have also noticed a deep interest in the emerging technological and off-farm careers, even with the Year 9 Agriculture students. My experience is that urban students respond very positively to the thought that, through technology, they could have a significant impact on the world through a career in agriculture.

It is clear to me from what I have seen at my school that there is a deep unmet need to reengage urban students and parents in the processes that occur ‘paddock to plate’. Neither I nor those that came before me set out seeking the large number of students we currently have enrolled in agriculture. This deep interest from parents and students is a phenomenon that we have observed increasingly over the years; and we have endeavoured to understand the nuances involved so that subsequently we can fulfil their interest and desires in agriculture. There appears to be little existing research into this specific phenomenon so there is undoubtedly a place for further research into this specific area of motivation around choosing agriculture at school level.

C o ntex t o f Ba rker C o lleg e

Barker College is an independent school located on the upper North Shore of Sydney. The School has approximately 2,400 students enrolled from Pre-kindergarten to Year 12, with around 1,900 of these being in Years 7 to 12. Agriculture is a voluntary subject which can be taken from Years 9 to 12 and, in these years, there are around 1,300 students. Almost all students at the School reside on the North Shore and Northern Beaches of Sydney, with about 60 boarders usually split fairly evenly between urban and rural backgrounds. Approximately 5 of these rural boarders study Agriculture annually. Around 95% of students who graduate from Year 12 proceed to study university degrees.

Barker College is an urban campus, in which space is highly contested for buildings, sporting fields and the like. This means we have not had the space available for traditional agriculture field activities which many schools that teach the subject enjoy. This space constraint is one of several factors that led us to run agriculture in a unique way at Barker over the recent decade.

C a se S tu d y : The ‘ Ba rker Mo d el’

Barker College was founded in 1890 and agriculture as a subject has been a part of the curriculum since those early days. In the mid-2000s, agriculture as an academic subject was very nearly discontinued by the School due to low enrolments. To address this issue, the goal at Barker therefore needed to be a change in the mindset of students from “Why would you study agriculture?” to “Why wouldn’t you try agriculture at some point?”.

The new Head of Agriculture at this time, Allison Arnott, changed the focus from being more production-focused, to more science-focused. Thus, Agriculture was treated as a science in the same way as Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The strategy was to position the subject to be fun and engaging in Years 9 to 10, with progression of academic expectations developed in subsequent years, stepping up significantly in Years 11 and 12 to correct the perception amongst many students that agriculture is a “bludge” (Table 2).

Table 2. Progression of academic expectations of agriculture as a subject at Barker College from Year 9-12

Year P r act ical: t heory as p er sy llabus r eq uirement

9 50:50

P r ogress ion of academic ex pect at ions

• Focus on practical experience, enjoyment and engagement, connecting students with ‘paddock to plate’

• Study production of vegetables, orchards, broiler chickens, chillies and ethical eating

• Limited homework

• Focus on practical experience and linking students to current and future consumer habits

10 50:50

• Study production of prime lamb, beef, viticulture and alternative enterprises such as coffee, cocoa and bees

• Limited homework

• Greater focus on theory aspects and deeper thinking

11 30:70

• Students to practise past paper questions regularly for each syllabus outcome to improve exam responses

• Discussion increasingly of ‘big issues’ and how students might help solve them

• Subject marketed and taught ‘on par’ with science subjects such as biology (in terms of academic rigour)

• Significant work outside class time expected

• Continued significant focus on theory aspects and deeper thinking

12 30:70

• Students given 9 years of past HSC questions on every syllabus outcome: worksheet to be completed, submitted for marking and responded to marked teacher feedback

• Students have access to YouTube videos on every syllabus outcome for reference and review

• Subject marketed and taught ‘on par’ with science subjects such as biology

• Publicly stated aim is for 80-95% of students to achieve Band 5 or 6 (80-100/100) in the HSC. This is achieved almost every year

By moving from a production-focus to a science-focus in the teaching of Agriculture, the management of animals has changed. Animals are now kept only temporarily for a school term or two to cover required syllabus outcomes, rather than retained year-round in breeding programs. Further, the preparation and showing of animals at local and state agricultural shows ceased, since this tended to give the impression, amongst non-agriculture students, of a production focus instead of a science focus. Also, excursions for each year group are tied specifically to academic outcomes. These modifications have supported the goal of changing the reputation of Agriculture within the school to be a science subject.

Given the urban demographic of the school, part of the strategy which worked well over time was targeting units of work related to metropolitan lifestyles. Even for students who would not end up working in an agriculture discipline, there was a focus on making units of work align with their current and future urban lifestyles. This included looking at enterprises such as viticulture, coffee production, vertical gardens, raised garden beds, as well as alternative enterprises such as bees, honey and mushrooms.

Another key part of the strategy was to ‘normalise agriculture’. Research has shown that most teenagers want to be ‘normal’ and that working in agriculture is considered ‘not normal’ (Youth Insight, 2017). Typically, a large part of the problem, as discussed earlier, is that urban people are disconnected from the paddock to plate aspects of agriculture. School agriculture plots may also be located in areas where the general student population has limited access, which does not support engagement with this important area of study. When I was at school, all of the students who did not study agriculture had little idea what was done in the study of agriculture. At Barker, normalising agriculture included the previously mentioned use of urban-relevant units and enterprises, but also locating parts of our agriculture plots throughout the school grounds. For example, raised garden beds used by Years 9-10 are located such that more than 800 students walk past each day and see them on their way to the train station. ‘Normalising agriculture’ also involves encouraging kindergarten students to visit the vegetable plots and to see the sheep, while for Years 3-6 to participate in the BEAT Team (Barker Environmental Action Team (BEAT)), a lunchtime group which maintains a vegetable plot and keeps chickens.

Research has also shown that, when it comes to careers, students place high importance inter alia on aspects such as large numbers of jobs, industries that are growing, industries that are sustainable, high salaries and significant variety within the roles amongst others (Youth Insight, 2017). However, these particular traits have a low association with agriculture, thereby resulting in few students choosing the subject both at school and university.

Another key aspect of the strategy at Barker College has been to promote heavily the high number of jobs university graduates have available to them, as well as promoting the ‘future’

jobs with an emphasis on technology and STEM related skills and backgrounds. Emphasis on agricultural careers helping ‘feed the world’ is attractive to many students and it enables them to engage with the subject. Our experience has been that showing students the challenges faced by the global population with regard to agriculture and food production is one of the strongest motivators for student interest in the subject and their choice of agriculture degrees at university.

The measure of success or otherwise of this new model lies in the data generated. The key measurements include parent satisfaction, derived by survey of parents, increases in participation number in agriculture subjects by students and by the change in number of students sitting for the HSC over time.

Pa rent S a tisf a ctio n

A major factor in the choices of subjects for many students is their parents’ opinions. Barber and Pratley (2016) showed that 35% of secondary students rank family / home as their main source of agricultural information, second only to school / teacher. At Barker College, students often mention the influence or encouragement parents have given them, in choosing a particular subject. This encouragement can be of an historical nature (i.e. they did that particular subject at school and wish for their child to do the same) or they attended various curriculum or subject selection evenings and formed the opinion that a subject would be an ideal fit for their child. It therefore follows that a high parent satisfaction rate with teaching of academic subjects should lead to increased enrolments in a subject. This has been observed at Barker, where agriculture enrolments have increased in conjunction with high parent satisfaction levels for the subject. Parents are surveyed biannually and asked to rate their satisfaction with subjects. Those that select either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ are expressed as a percentage. These surveys have shown that agriculture has consistently been the number one rated subject with parents in Year 10 out of 23 subjects considered (Figure 2). Further, the subject has gone from 7th to 5th rank out of 32 subjects from 2015 to 2019, and from 85% to 95% in parent’s percentage satisfaction in Year 12 over the same period (Figure 3). My experience is that improved understanding of what agriculture involves amongst parents, as well as their child enjoying and doing well in the subject, leads to the increased parental satisfaction. It is acknowledged however that numbers of responses for some subjects are low

Figure 2. Parent satisfaction of the top 5 out of 23 Year 10 academic subjects – 2015 (top) v 2019 (bottom). Number of parent responses shown in brackets next to subject name (Barker College, 2020 pers. comm.)

Figure 3. Parent satisfaction of the top 8 out of 32 Year 12 academic subjects – 2015 (top) v 2019 (bottom) (Barker College, 2020 pers. comm.)

S tu d ent enro l m ents

Since the inflection point of enrolments in agriculture at Barker in the mid-2000s, there has been consistent growth in student numbers in the subject, year on year, showing four-fold growth from 2007 to 2020 (Figure 4). In 2005 when Agriculture as a subject was considered for discontinuation, total enrolments remained under 100 students from Years 9-12. After the change in direction as described above, total numbers of students enrolled from Years 9-12 increased to over 100 students (11% of cohorts) for the first time in 2008. This was followed, for the first time, by more than 200 students (22% of cohorts) in 2016 and then over 300 total students (33% of cohorts) since 2017

Figure 4. Student enrolments in agriculture (Years 9-12 inclusive) at Barker College from 2003-2020 (Barker College, 2020 pers. comm.).

Figure 5. Year 12 student enrolments in agriculture at Barker College from 2003-2020 (Barker College, 2020 pers. comm.).

An important aspect of this overall growth is the increase in students sitting the HSC examination in Year 12 for agriculture at Barker (Figure 5). The first year in recent history with more than 20 students in Year 12 agriculture was in 2009, followed by over 40 students in 2017 and then over 60 students in 2019. A particularly important aspect of such enrolments in the subject is that having high numbers of students studying for HSC Agriculture leads to more students choosing agriculture-related degrees at university. One of the major barriers to higher education course selection for students is where they cannot see the opportunities available in the industry (Youth Insight, 2017). Clearly having more students studying Year 12 agriculture, during such an influential time for deciding degree options, helps them see and understand the opportunities in the industry and how they could be part of it. Indeed, in each of the last four years, around 25-30% of students studying Year 12 agriculture at Barker progressed to an agriculture-related degree at university (Barker College, 2020 pers. comm.).

Year 12 is a time when many students look for more academic subjects to enhance their Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs). In our School context, students generally do not want to select a subject considered of low academic standard. Since framing the agriculture subject strongly in academic terms, and positioning it as a science, there has been a clear trend of increased enrolments in Year 12 at Barker College.

C o nclu d ing re m a rks – th e wa y forwa rd

Agriculture as an academic subject at senior high school level has suffered from a significant generational decline in enrolments across Australia in recent decades. It seems that the lower academic reputation of the subject amongst students and the population in general, has been both the cause and consequence of low numbers of enrolments (Youth Insight, 2017; Pratley, 2013). This has led to a six-fold shortage of graduates out of agriculture-related university degrees. This situation contrasts starkly with the reality of modern agricultural jobs, which are numerous, often heavily knowledge-based requiring tertiary qualifications, and located in urban areas in many instances. There appears to have been a lack of widespread success over the recent decades in connecting these two contradictory trends – that agriculture has the number and types of jobs many want, yet it has a ‘poor reputation’ for these particular aspects amongst school aged students, their parents and society more broadly.

However, modern agricultural secondary education is not an exercise in futility. Urban students absolutely show significant interest not only in wanting to understand the ‘paddock to plate’ of their food and fibre, but in many cases, wanting to be part of that process professionally through a tertiary degree and then a career in the industry. To achieve this in an urban senior school environment, agriculture as a subject needs to be seen to have ‘academic credibility’ and be on-par with other science subjects such as Biology and Earth

& Environmental Science. There also needs to be a significant focus, in an urban environment, on city-based employment opportunities in the agricultural sector. There are many of these, as Pratley and Crawley (2018) show, and urban students respond well to this information. It is hypothesised from our experience that parental satisfaction with a subject

is a strong factor influencing student choice of subjects and is an issue that merits further research.

Lastly, to achieve the ‘bridging of the gap’ by progressing increased numbers of students from school to university agricultural studies, careers and opportunities in the sector must be front of mind to students in the classroom on a regular basis in their senior years (Years 10-12). They need to be challenged to see the big picture problems the world faces in food and fibre supply in the future and be inspired to see themselves as being part of the solution. The good news is that when this generation of students are shown these challenges, and when their interests and passions in agriculture are made clear to them, many are willing to make the commitment and pursue solutions for the future of agriculture and our society.

A ckno wled g e m ents

I am grateful to Allison Arnott, the previous Head of Agriculture at Barker College who began the significant ‘Science-focus’ of the subject. I am also grateful to the other staff in the department over the years who have been integral to successes including David Giltrap, Tim Binet, Lara Griffin, Brianna Callum, Ben Christopherson, Lucy Pitkin and Alison Gates. Thanks is extended to Richard Clezy, who has given me many ideas over the years in regard to making a subject succeed in a school context. I also thank David Randall for his assistance and extensive knowledge of history and statistics when it comes to agricultural school education in NSW. This research and publication has been approved by the Head of Barker College and the Barker Institute

Ref eren ces

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2016). Australian Historical Population Statistics www.abs.gov.au.

Retrieved 11 October 2019, from https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/0/632CDC28637CF57ECA256F1F0080EBCC?Opendocu ment

Barber, H. (2015). Impact of Agricultural Engagement in N.S.W. Secondary Schools (Honours Thesis). Charles Sturt University.

Barber, H., & Pratley, J. (2016). Impact of agricultural engagement in NSW secondary schools Agricultural Science, 28(2), 16-24 http://aginstitute.com.au/data/pdf/Journal/AG_Institute_Journal_Dec_2016_V28_Issue_2_single_pag e_web_version.pdf

Hillman, K., & Buckley, S. (2011). Food, fibre and the future: Report on surveys of students’ and teachers’ knowledge and understanding of primary industries. https://www.piefa.edu.au/uploads/9/8/9/8/98986708/food_fibre_and_future_pief_report.pdf

National Research Council. (2009). Transforming agricultural education for a changing world. National Academies Press.

Pratley, J., & Hay, M. (2010). The Job Market in Agriculture in Australia. Agricultural Science, 22(1), 3540.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice 2022

Retrieved 23 August 2019. http://aginstitute.com.au/data/pdf/Journal/Volume_22_Number_1_2010.pdf Pratley, J. (2013). Review into agricultural education and training in New South Wales. Sydney: NSW Government http://exar.nsw.gov.au/exar/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Review-into-AgriculturalEducation- and-Training-in-New-South-Wales.pdf

Pratley, J. (2016). Graduate supply for agriculture - a glimmer of hope. Farm Institute Insights, 13(2), 1-5. Retrieved 16 June 2019. https://www.farminstitute.org.au/publication/may-2016-insights/ Pratley, J., & Crawley, N. (2018). Graduate destinations in agriculture. Agricultural Science, 29(2/1), 6. http://aginstitute.com.au/data/Members_Only_/AG_Institute_Australia_Journal_29-2 301_Sep18_web_eversion_2.pdf

Randall, D. (2019). Subject challenges. Sydney: NSW Association of Agriculture Teachers. Youth Insight. (2017). Developing student interest in the agriculture sector. Western Australia: Youth Insight.

Barker Institute Learning in Practice 2022

Improving short answer written responses in the Science classroom using targeted literacy strategies

Nonie Taylor Physics, Earth and Environmental Science, Mathematics, and iSTEAM teacher

A Ab s t r act

Five literacy strategies were embedded into a Year 9 mixed-ability science classroom and the impact was evaluated through a variety of observations and student artifacts. Evidence included the analysis of pre- and post-Inquiry student samples of ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ questions and conclusions for similar practical exams, as well as overall performance scores, teacher observations of student engagement and student feedback. While the Inquiry did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in performance of short answer responses, it did show some positives from the intervention – both for the students, and for the teacher. The benefits did not seem to be the same for all groupings within the classroom – for example, the foundation group of students showed the greatest improvement in overall content knowledge, whereas the extension group showed the greatest improvement in literacy skills. Overall, the students reported increased confidence in the subject, increased ability to understand and increased understanding of the terminology. Students also felt that they were receiving feedback which could help them to improve.

This research was completed as part of the Inquiry pathway submission for accreditation as Experienced Teacher with the AISNSW and ISTAA.

Li t er at u r e R evi ew

Literacy is a key component of the Science 7 - 10 Syllabus and has also been identified as a Cross Curriculum General Capability - meaning that there is an expectation that it will be taught across all subjects. ‘Scientific Literacy’ is a slightly different concept – is not limited to language skills, but rather to making meaning from scientific information and processes. This inquiry is focuses more on literacy in the general sense as it relates to the amount of new terminology students encounter in the science classroom and the requirement to be able express their understanding in the written form.

Observations of Year 9 mixed ability students’ work revealed that many of the students' responses to short answer questions - especially 'describe' and 'explain' questions, and in writing conclusions - lacked the required terminology, level of detail, links to the science

learned in class, conventions, and relationships between ideas, which is why these types of responses became the key focus of this inquiry

Five literacy strategies were selected to be implemented in the 2022 Science classroom.

V Vocab u l ary Trai ni ng

Henry (2021) presented on ‘High Yield Oral Strategies for Improving Literacy’, where she outlined the benefits of prioritising oral language interactions in the classroom. Oral language interactions give students the opportunity to rehearse new vocabulary and sentence structure and receive feedback before they need to write anything down. This ‘low stakes’ use of new terminology builds confidence in students.

The first strategy that Henry presented was explicit vocabulary instruction. This involved the teacher clearly introducing new terminology, along with a visual presentation, including definition, use in a sentence, synonyms, antonyms and etymology to give students an understanding what the term means. During this time, the teacher repeated the new vocabulary multiple times, including variations of the words also used in science. The teacher then showed an image with some other key words and modelled how to use the image and the words as prompts to use the new terminology in a sentence. She then called on students to try with a couple of other examples, supporting the students with further verbal prompts if required.

A Annota ti ng th e Pas s age and E xpand i ng

K ernel Sentences

Another strategy Henry presented to build on the vocabulary training was modelling annotating a passage related to the new terminology. The teacher called on different students to read a sentence at a time, and modelled on the board underlining key terms. She encouraged students to do the same, and used questioning to check for understanding from the students. For any unfamiliar words, she encouraged students to write definitions in the margins. Following this, she provided students with some very short sentences related to the content in the passage. She then asked students to add detail to the sentences, based on the information provided in the passage.

C CU BE th e Q u es ti on

CUBES is an acronym for ‘Circle the numbers, Underline the question, Box the key words, Evaluate and Solve’ (Lempke, 2020) and is typically used for solving mathematics word problems. It gives students a tool to help them decode what a question is asking. A version of this is suitable for science short answer questions – CUBE (Circle the verb, Underline the key/topic words, Box the important information e.g. plurals and additions, and Elaborate /Evidence/ Examples). This strategy helps students to determine what a question is asking for and how much detail it requires. The teacher’s version of this strategy also included prompts for students to plan their answer; writing down the key terminology they needed to mention or define; and then to write their answer by first rephrasing the question. As students become used to the process, scaffolds and prompts are removed.

When students are not confident what the question is asking, they tend to write down anything that they think is remotely relevant and miss the point of including the required detail of the question. This strategy was selected in order to give students a framework with

which to approach short answer questions, and to teach them the conventions involved. It also helped students to identify key terminology required and whether they have to make connections between ideas.

S Spaced Retri eval

In Morkunas’ (2020) article, learning is defined as a ‘change in long-term memory’. Spaced retrieval is one method of helping students retain their learning by building stronger connections in their brains.

Spaced practice is the technique of giving students a number of opportunities on different days to review information, helping them to commit it to long-term memory. Retrieval practice is bringing the information from long-term memory into working memory. This strengthens the memory, making it less likely to be forgotten.

Spaced retrieval was also described by Cooney Horvath (2021) as being key to committing information to long-term memory. Cooney Horvath also stressed the importance of laying a solid foundation of content before students can build on their concepts. Through spaced retrieval, students are given opportunities to strengthen their understanding of the science specific terminology in class, laying the foundation to be able to build the scientific concepts in their minds.

This strategy was selected in order to strengthen students’ memory of key scientific terminology so that they could form appropriate concepts in their minds and then express them in their short answer written responses. It also gave them opportunities to practice using the terminology orally in a low-stakes scenario (in pairs rather than in front of the class) to make them more familiar with it. This was typically implemented in the form of starter routines such as flashcards and questioning, as well as separating the theory and practical lessons for a particular knowledge outcome.

P Peer Mod el l i ng and E val u ati on Geithner and Pollastro (2016) referred specific study done on the impact on scientific literacy and writing skills of engaging in peer review and receiving peer feedback. Students involved in their study had their work reviewed by their peers and had the opportunity to resubmit their revisions. Through the study it was demonstrated that peer-evaluation made students better able to assess and analyse their own work, and also gave them exposure to a range of samples of work so that they could learn to identify what the key features of the ‘good’ samples of work were. It also made the students in the study more open to receiving feedback and seeing the value of it in moving them forward in their understanding.

This strategy was selected as it gave students exposure to ‘good’ samples of work, and also modelled the criteria being looked for in various types of short answer questions. It was also chosen for its potential to improve the writing of all students in the class – those who struggled with written responses would learn to identify the key components which make a good response, while the stronger students would benefit from the positive reinforcement of having their work modelled.

Su b j ects

A mixed ability Year 9 Science class was selected for this investigation, made up of 22 students. These consisted of 2 ‘extension’ students requiring more challenging work, 17 as ‘core’ or standard level ability, and 3 as ‘foundation’ requiring additional assistance and adjusted learning activities. In addition, a number of the students were classified as “disruptive” for analysis in this paper. Analysis across these classifications can help teachers predict the effect of these literacy strategies in their own class context.

T Th e Interventi on

Throughout the module on Energy (in all, a period of 8 weeks including approximately 24 hours of lessons), all five of the literacy strategies described in the literature review were explicitly used to support student growth. While some lessons implemented one particular strategy, most involved multiple strategies combined using the teacher’s discretion to best present the lesson.

D Data Col l ecti on

A range of academic data, engagement and participation notes, and student feedback was collected for the purposes of this inquiry.

A. Content Knowledge

Similar to typical academic data, overall performance was assessed with a pre-test (before the intervention) on Chemistry content and a post-test (after the intervention) on Energy content. While the content was different, and therefore this isn’t testing whether literacy strategies improve content knowledge, it was seeing if a targeted focus on literacy strategies would have noticeable effects on overall performance, especially when compared to a class without the targeted focus on literacy strategies.

To compare pre- and post-intervention overall performance, the normalised gain (the amount students improved divided by the amount they could have improved) was calculated for each student and then the gain of all students in the class were averaged.

B. Literacy

One of the working scientifically skills identified in the science curriculum is the ability to communicate scientifically. An important part of this is being able to communicate ideas in short answer responses. The following conventions are expected and were measured before the intervention (Chemistry) and after the intervention (Energy):

a. Students need to have an understanding of what the verb in the question means. For consistency, the definitions of these verbs used in the NSW Education Standard Authority (NESA)’s ‘Glossary of Key Words’ (2019) was used. Here ‘describe’ means ‘to provide characteristics and features’, and ‘explain’ means ‘to relate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how’, features of something.

b. Scientific conclusions in an investigation must always relate to the aim or the hypothesis and they must always include the data that the student has collected from their experiment.

c. In short answer responses, students need to be able to correctly recall and use the specific scientific terminology which they have learned in class. When marking short answer responses, it is often the terminology for which marks are allocated.

d. Another skill for short answer responses is being able to make connections between scientific ideas and observations that the student makes. Often students can recall some of the scientific reasoning but not apply it to the specific context of the question.

To compare pre- and post-intervention literacy performance, samples of student responses to ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ questions, as well as scientific conclusions were evaluated using rubrics developed to assess each of the expected conventions. A generalised form of the rubric for ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ questions is shown in Figure 1. The rubric for scientific conclusions is shown in Figure 2.

Each response was marked for each standard, with 1 mark awarded for emerging, 2 for approaching, 3 for meeting and 4 for exceeding, giving a maximum score of 16 for ‘describe’ questions and 20 for ‘explain’ questions and conclusions. The normalised gain was calculated for each student and then the gain of all students in the class were averaged.

Figure 1: Generalised Rubric for marking ‘Describe’ and ‘Explain’ Questions.

C. Student Engagement

During lessons when the specific literacy teaching strategies were implemented, notes were compiled by the teacher in relation to engagement and completion of the task. Engagement and completion were rated for each student as ‘below’, ‘meeting’ or ‘exceeding’ expectations in both areas, and these grades were converted to a mark of 1, 2, or 3 to quantify student engagement with various teaching activities.

D. Student feedback

Two types of feedback were collected - specific feedback on lessons/activities via surveys, and general feedback on teaching and learning in our class pre- and post-implementation of the Inquiry program. Surveys were collected for both classes allowing an understanding of the student perspective on the instruction.

Figure 2: Generalised Rubric for marking Scientific Conclusions.

A. Content Knowledge

The students’ overall exam test scores for the Energy practical exam (post Inquiry program) were similar to those for the Chemistry prac exam (pre-Inquiry program), with an average normalised gain of -0.18 (which means that on average, students’ marks were lower in the Energy exam). This value was the lowest in the foundation group of students (-0.07).

Initially, this result is unimpressive. However, the Inquiry unit of work contained far more unfamiliar content, new terminology and more difficult concepts than the pre-Inquiry unit of work. The smaller drop in scores in the foundation group of students suggests that the targeted literacy strategies were most effective in promoting the learning of content knowledge in this group compared with the Core and Extension groups. If the disruptive students’ scores (average -0.62) were removed from the core group, then the core group had a normalised gain of 0.02, the only group to have improved their marks in the final assessment. This is noteworthy, as I mentioned above, because the post-Inquiry assessment was harder in terms of content. It is likely that the literacy strategies didn’t increase understanding of the content of the disruptive students as they were less likely engage with them.

B. Literacy

All groups within the test class showed a positive average normalised gain in their short answer detailed scores between the pre- and post- assessments. The greatest gain was in the extension group of students (0.13), followed by the core students minus the disruptive students (0.04). The disruptive students and foundation groups only made small gains (0.02 and 0.01).

The results demonstrated that all groups had improved their short answer responses, despite the fact that the content was more difficult than in the pre-inquiry assessment. For the students in the extension group, they had been able to apply the structures and conventions they had been explicitly taught to improve the quality of their answers. While the core and foundation groups did not show such a marked improvement, recall that the foundation group did improve their content knowledge as shown in the section above. This may reflect the that for those students, there is still a discernable gap between being able to understand the content and then being able to express that it the written form. It also may suggest that the eight-week timeframe of the study was insufficient for these students to acquire this skill.

C. Student Engagement

Students on average scored the highest in engagement in the Resistance lesson (average engagement score 2.11 out of 3) where the strategies of vocabulary training, annotating the passage, and expanding kernel sentences were used; followed by the Heat Transfer lesson where CUBE your question and peer evaluation were used (average engagement score 2.10 out of 3). In these lessons there was a high level of teacher interaction and support, students were handwriting responses on paper, and the teacher circulated the room and gave

immediate feedback. These lessons also involved a range of activities to break the lessons up. The additional scaffolding made it possible for even the lower ability students to engage.

Students also engaged well with the spaced retrieval starter activities using flashcards. This strategy engaged students because it meant that they did not need to wait for others or for the lesson to start, and it gave them the opportunity for social interactions as they quizzed each other in a low-stakes scenario. Students also had the expectation that the teacher could call on them for a response at the end of the activity, and so there was an impetus for them to engage.

The way that the unit was sequenced to promote student engagement – it started by activating prior learning and structuring the content in the context of models, moving from somewhat familiar content to new ideas and concepts. Selected literacy strategies were used to build content knowledge as well as to improve short answer responses, and also as a way to provide spaced retrieval at a later date. Unfortunately, student engagement was somewhat negatively impacted on by the timing of the Inquiry - it was broken up by holidays, and camps of varying durations for different students. This did however create opportunities to return to previous content and including spaced retrieval as a way of refreshing students' understanding.

D. Student Feedback

The feedback provided from students after a range of the targeted literacy activities was useful as it identified some areas for improvement. They found the heat transfer lesson which incorporated the targeted literacy strategies 'CUBE your question' and 'peer evaluation' the most effective of the lessons surveyed, with students rating it 3.75 out of 5 starts for how useful they thought it was. Within that lesson, they felt that peer evaluation of other student work samples in group was more helpful to improving their responses than the CUBE strategy. Students also found expanding kernel sentences - where they had to intentionally look to add detail to their responses - valuable in the Convection and Resistance lessons. They also found the spaced retrieval through the flashcards beneficial in helping them to remember terminology and then be able to use it in their short answer responses.

The peer evaluation activity involved students writing, and then reading and critiquing, which students found more helpful than ‘listening to other students’ responses’ (as they did in the Convection lesson). This feedback suggests that reading and discussing other students' responses in groups may have a greater impact on improving short answer responses than merely listening to other students’ responses.

The Teaching and Learning Surveys for the test class showed gains pre- and post-inquiry in the areas of student confidence in the subject, organisation of learning, understanding of terminology, skills, feeling like they were getting feedback that helped them to improve, and that there were high expectations of them and expectations that they will reflect and act on feedback.

It was encouraging to see students reporting this increase in confidence through something as simple as targeting literacy. The types of activities implemented included a lot of verbal feedback opportunities in them. This feedback has affirmed that giving students explicit

literacy training gives them more confidence in the learning, as they know what is expected of them (in their short answer responses) and they can think more critically about their own responses after practicing on others in peer evaluation.

Di s cu ss i on

The Inquiry Question was: ‘What impact does using targeted literacy strategies have on a Year 9 mixed ability students’ performance in short answer responses in the Science classroom?’. This was evaluated through the analysis of pre- and post-Inquiry student samples of ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ questions and conclusions for similar practical exams, as well as overall performance scores, student observations of engagement and student feedback.

While the Inquiry did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in performance of short answer responses, it did show some positives from the intervention – both for the students, and for the teacher. The benefits did not seem to be the same for all groupings within the classroom – for example, the foundation group of students showed the greatest improvement in overall content knowledge, whereas the extension group showed the greatest improvement in literacy skills. Overall, students reported increased confidence in the subject, increased ability to understand and increased understanding of the terminology. Students also felt that they were receiving feedback which could help them to improve.

The inquiry showed the teacher that teaching literacy does not need to be at the expense of time spent covering content – but in fact literacy activities could be one of the tools by which content can be taught, revisited, and consolidated. The inquiry also fostered improved teacher routines in monitoring student engagement and providing immediate feedback in the classroom.

The student data did not show improvements in student writing of conclusions. This could be because of the difference in level of complexity of the conclusion question in the postInquiry task, but possibly also due to the types of literacy strategies used and the focus the teacher placed on 'describe' and 'explain' questions by comparison. As students embraced peer evaluation activities well, this may be an effective strategy to use when working on improving conclusions.

Fu t u r e R es ear ch

This project was conducted over a short period of time and with a small group of students, so it is difficult to make generalisations about how foundation, core and extension groups of students benefitted overall. To improve the rigor of the study, it could be extended over a longer period of time and across a larger group of students. It would be interesting to see if a longer timeframe would help the foundation students not just improve their content knowledge, but also be able to improve their written communication.

This Inquiry project opens up the question of what other strategies would be useful, and the value of one strategy over another or different combinations of strategies. It would also be interesting to see if different strategies were more effective for different ability groups.

The inquiry has raised discussion within the Science department about how teachers can be more intentional about embedding literacy activities into programming, and using Progressive Reporting as a way of capturing student progress in short answer written responses across the middle school. The targeted question types could follow a progression from lower order ‘describe’ and ‘outline’ in Year 7 through to higher order verbs such as ‘assess’, ‘evaluate’, ‘justify’ in the later years.

R ef er en ces

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.

Cooney Horvath, J 2021, ‘The Science of Learning’, Barker College Professional Learning, Barker College, Waitara, NSW, 19 April.

Cooney Horvath, J 2022, ‘The Cognitive Science of Routines and Habits’, Barker College Professional Learning, Barker College, Waitara, 26 April.

Geithner, C.A. and Pollastro, A.N. (2016). Doing peer review and receiving feedback: impact on scientific literacy and writing skills. Advances in Physiology Education, 40(1), pp.38–46.

Henry, M (2021). ‘High Yield Oral Language Strategies for Improving Literacy’, Learning Disabilities Australia High Impact Strategies for Supporting Secondary Students, Online Conference Sydney, 30 May.

Kesty, S 2018, Supporting Literacy in the Science Classroom, Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Lempke, I. (2020). Strategies to Develop Effective Problem Solving Habits for English Strategies to Develop Effective Problem Solving Habits for English Learners in a Problem-Based Learning Classroom Learners in a Problem-Based Learning Classroom. [online] Available at: https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5491&context=hse_all [Accessed 6 May 2021].

Morkunas, D. (2020). Spaced, interleaved and retrieval practice: The principles underlying the Daily Review. Learning Disabilities Australia Bulletin, [online] 52(3), pp.20–22. Available at: https://www.ldaustralia.org/app/uploads/2021/03/Morkunas-Spaced-interleaved-and-retrievalpractice.pdf [Accessed 6 May 2021].

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) (2019). Glossary of Key Words. [online] Nsw.edu.au. Available at: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-studentguide/glossary-keywords [Accessed 6 May 2021].

Why every school needs a beehive (or three) …

Alison Gates Assistant Coordinator STEAM, Acting Head of Agriculture Department

A b stra ct

Barker has re-established beehives on campus which support learning and teaching in Agriculture, Science and STEAM. During COVID lockdowns Bee Club was a place of social connection online and it has grown even larger in 2022. The experience of student interest in bees is not unique to Barker and there is a growing literature on the contributions to learning in academic disciplines as well as sustainability education. In this article the nature of the Barker apiary is outlined with suggestions of how it has been have implemented it effectively across the school.

Term s Ap icult ur e

Key

Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honeybee colonies by humans in humanmade hives. Most such bees are honey bees in the genus Apis, but other honey-producing bees can also be domesticated.

S TE AM

STEAM is an approach to learning that recognises the interdisciplinary nature of learning through Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics. Barker embraces STEAM as a way of constructing authentic learning experiences, guiding student inquiry, dialogue and developing collaboration and critical thinking skills.

Intro d u ctio n

There is increasing public realisation about the global importance of bees and about the factors that are contributing to their decline. Coverage in the popular press of the varroa mite incursion through the Port of Newcastle during 2022 has served to contribute to a growing interest. Even before the varroa mite, between the years 2006 and 2016 Australia lost over one hundred thousand commercial bee hives or around 20% of honey-producing hives (Clarke & Le Feuvre, 2021). Of particular concern is that around 65% of Australia’s agricultural crops require bee and insect pollination to survive. It’s little wonder then, with the strength of the Agriculture program at the school, that Barker’s interest in bees is buzzing. But there is a lot more to the humble bumble than agriculture and, in fact, there is

a resurgence of beehives in schools around the country regardless whether those schools offer Agriculture or not. In fact, in the USA through the Ashland Apiary Project, there is an evidenced based pedagogic approach to sustainability education called “apiary-based learning” (King, 2013). In sharing the Barker journey with beekeeping, this article seeks to outline why bees have an important place in so many education settings and then to share our Barker journey with re-establishing hives on campus with a hope of inspiring other schools to do the same.

The global decline is bees is a story that Barker students are familiar with. The native stingless beehives that are dotted around the campus and overseen by Mr Giltrap (Head of Senior School) provide a context for even Barker’s youngest learners to understand how humans can create habitats for pollinators. Since 2013 Australian honey imports have exceeded export volumes (Clarke & Le Feuvre, 2021) which may come as a surprise, as Australian’s bee populations are widely proclaimed as the healthiest in the world. The contribution of backyard beekeepers is very difficult to track and measure but there is anecdotal evidence that they might be starting to significantly boost domestic production. Barker’s journey into beekeeping, whilst led by the Agriculture team, has drawn in many students who are not studying Agriculture. Perhaps this is because students love that backyard beekeeping can improve pollination and honey production and they see the capacity for individual action to make a big difference. There is an emerging body evidence to say that bees are faring better in urban areas than they are in agricultural regions leading to the so-called urban renaissance in apiculture (Askham, 2013) and this may be another reason that beekeeping is something that interests today’s students.

Th e Ba rker Be e J o u rney

Barker has had a long history of raising and inspiring apiarists. A score of beekeeper's report that they learned their craft at “Barker Bee Club”. It’s been a part of Barker’s connection with the community over many years. My own mother remembers a bee swarm at her childhood home in Pymble and tells the story that her parents called a Barker staff member, Mr Bradshaw, who came enthusiastically and rehomed the swarm to the Barker Apiary. Bees have been variously located around the school, initially by the railway line on College Crescent and later at the Agriculture Plots on The Avenue. In the context of concerns about student wellbeing and risk assessment, and increasing understanding and prevalence of anaphylaxis, beekeeping fell out of favour and the Bee Club was eventually disbanded.

In 2018, as part of a review of a Year 10 Agriculture Unit on “Alternative Enterprises”, the Agriculture Team started to develop lessons that focussed on bees, their biology and husbandry. Relying on the personal hives of an agriculture teacher, bees were brought to school for a day at a time in carefully sealed observation frames that could be transported between classrooms and students responded with curiosity and enthusiasm. Students would watch the bees working the brood frames, feeding larvae, cleaning, preening and so on. The engagement continued as we realised the breadth of connections with the Agriculture syllabus. Particularly the rise of the Australian invented flow hive and its global reach in terms of agricultural technology (Grekov et al , 2021).

This was a great way to start because the risk assessment was very low risk with the bees safely contained in a sealed observation hive. But it was a lot of physical effort to be opening hives at home in the early morning in order to load them into the single frames, transport them to school and then return them into their hives after a long day. A flow hive was purchased by the school and in 2019 full flow frames from the teacher’s hives were able to be brought onto campus and complete a “flow harvest” in the classroom in real time without the bees. Undeniably wonderful learning, but a lot of work.

The next step came on the back of an observation within the Agriculture faculty that many schools are starting to return to having hives on school grounds. Had the risks changed or was there a changing attitude to how risks are managed? Barker staff conducted a careful risk assessment process and consulted widely across the school in terms of locations, mitigations and safety. Risks include stings (and allergic reactions), fire and smoke related injuries and burns as well as a number of risks associated with manual handling. Eventually a proposal was sent to the Head of School for consideration and the re-establishment of the hives was approved.

The Barker apiary now stands in a fenced garden adjacent to the Agriculture Plot or Clarke Road. The apiary was first established in 2021 with two hives, a Flow hive and a Langstroth hive each being developed from a nuc that we purchased from a beekeeping supplier. This combination of two hives, using two different technologies, has been highly beneficial. Student learning experiences are all the richer for the comparison between the hives, and having a second hive to hand, is an incredibly important asset for solving husbandry issues. The apiary has grown as swarms that have occurred on school grounds have been captured.

Im p lem enta tio n: Th e Ba rker Bee Pro g ra m s

So, how are the hives being used? The apiary is now serving learning and teaching within the school in a variety of settings and it is fair to say that this has exceeded original expectations. The experiences at Barker are wholeheartedly consistent with the existing research that states, “bees are a viable means with which to advance STEAM education for learners of all ages, backgrounds, origins, nationalities, colours, races, and interests.” (Schmitt et al, 2021, p 179). The hives have added value in STEAM education across a wide range of settings. Some key programs include:

1. A Agr icult ure class r oom pr ogr ams Bees continue to be an important part of the Agriculture program especially in the Year 10 Alternative Enterprises unit. It is much easier to put bees into observation hives and bring them up to classrooms and it is realistic and achievable to take students to observe a flow hive harvest in situ. Whilst we have a risk assessment that permits students to be involved in bee keeping, this is not for class sized groups but for much smaller groups. COVID slowed down some plans to do small group bee keeping however there has been opportunity to do many classroom practical activities including, harvesting, processing frames and comb, wax melting and purification, hive and frame construction, candle and lip balm making and honey tasting. Agriculture classes are also participating in a citizen

science project to perform pollinator counts within the school and contribute our results to a broader project.

2. W Wor ld Bee D ay In 2022 Barker held its first major World Bee Day event where Agriculture staff and the Bee club students set up tables in the Science Quadrangle and gave away crumpets with Barker Honey, honey comb making and extraction demonstrations as well as some bee craft. We played music by the Bee Gees (very loudly!) and were thrilled with the number of students that came to check it out. This was a really fun lunchtime with a great vibe and we are really looking forward to the next iteration.

3. B Bee Club Bee Club meets weekly during a school lunch time. Students began by undertaking an online beekeeping course and many students use this for their Duke of Edinburgh Skill. The limitations of lunch time is that there is not real time for student beekeeping and this is where we plan to start small group beekeeping experiences. The plans are for this to do after school incursions where students can sign up to do after school beekeeping. Barker has bee suits and beekeeping gear ready to go but the consistent rain and inclement weather has seen a number of false starts.

4. K K-12 L ear n ing act iv it ies . Barker STEAM leaders have run incursions with various age groups in the Junior School and have discussed honey and pollination and done honey tasting. Honeycombs and hive structures have added to mathematical inquiries on complex geometry and patterns in nature. It is fantastic to see how accessible complex biological content can be made for Barker’s youngest learners. Queen spotting activities as well as pollinator hunts and observation frame lessons are a particular favourite in the Junior School.

5 5. H iv e P r oduct s : A s ocial en terp ris e at Bar ker S pr in g Fair . In an ideal world, Barker Bee Club would have loved to have had a table of honey for sale at Spring Fair. But the La Nina season has meant that our harvest has not been what was hoped. Bee Club and Agriculture students have processed honey but there was insufficient volume for the 2022 Spring Fair. However, value-added hive products such as wax candles and lip balm are both fun to make and a rich learning experience in developing enterprise skills including calculating costs and profits and creating a manufacturing process to maintain consistent standards. This has been done in Agriculture classes for a few years now and it was gratifying to be able to have products for market at the Spring Fair.

6. B Bee S cien ce: Aut hent ic Res earch E xp er ien ces Perhaps most surprising has been the number of students who have come through Bee Club and Agriculture to the new Science Extension course asking to do projects relating to bees and bee products. We have had several honey related projects and in 2023 two students have proposed a project investigating the properties of bee venom and another project on the distribution of pollen within the hives.

A word of wa rning

It would be remiss to not temper the story with a word of caution. European honeybees, whilst often painted as pollination superheroes, also have the propensity to go rogue. Like the vast majority of Australia’s key agricultural species, European honeybees are not native and left to their own devices they rapidly become environmental villains. Some interesting research has been done to consider how to weigh their environmental benefit against environmental cost (Pyke, 1999).

The tendency for bees to swarm, often during spring, is a natural part of the cycle of a hive and it is the responsibility of the beekeeper to manage this. Swarms can be readily anticipated and prevented in the hive with regular inspections paying careful attention to the comb and resources (Seeley et al , 2006). During a swarm the bees leave the hive with their queen and attempt to set up a new hive. We have been fortunate to catch a number of swarms from outside Barker to add to our apiary, however left to their own devices, many swarms find their way into bushland where they can wreak a particular kind of havoc on native fauna. Honeybees compete with vertebrate fauna for nesting sites and habitat (Oldroyd et al., 1994).

The solution is relatively simple: swarm prevention and management techniques need to be a priority of beekeeping education along with bee pest and disease identification. Many of the other lessons can come with time and experience but these are crucial as a school apiary and beekeeping education program is established.

C o nclu sio n

Beekeeping is continuing to bring joy to the Barker community and the journey to reestablish an apiary on the school grounds has led to learning and curriculum innovation, and simultaneously a stronger connection to our roots in the long tradition of the Barker Bee Club. It is a popular connection point for students and a hobby that many can continue into their life beyond school. It enriches students’ (and staff) understanding of complex environmental problems and fascinating entomological research. It has an important role to play in sustainability education within our school setting and beyond. Above all, Barker Bee Club provides a co-curricular environment that is inclusive, fun and accessible and offering another way for students to connect and learn together on campus.

Ref eren ces

Alton, K., & Ratnieks, F. (2022). Can Beekeeping Improve Mental Wellbeing during Times of Crisis? Bee World, 99(2), 40-43.

Askham, B. (2013). Urban buzz. Sanctuary: Modern Green Homes, (25), 76-79.

Collins, D. (2019). Sustainability: Newcastle Grammar School's rooftop gardens. Geography Bulletin, 51(1), 48-50.

Clarke, M. & Le Feuvre, D. (2021). Size and scope of the Australian honey bee and pollination industry–a snapshot. AgriFutures Honey Bee and Pollination

Grekov, A. N., Grekova, N. S., Solomakhin, M. A., Lykhin, D. A., & Levina, M. V. (2021, November). Increasing efficiency of honey extracting through innovative technology as exemplified by a small agricultural producer. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 845, No. 1, p. 012088). IOP Publishing.

Ibrahim, K. H., Abba, M. A. S., Margret, K. C. O., Ogechi, I. V., & Chinenye, A. V. (2021). Apiculture (Beekeeping), an Easy Economic Venture Irrespective of Age, Gender, Religion and Profession. International Journal of Applied Agricultural Sciences, 7(4), 169.

King, R. (2013). Beekeeping as experiential: the Ashland Apiary Project. Journal of Sustainability Education, 5

Oldroyd, B. P., Lawler, S. H., & Crozier, R. H. (1994). Do feral honey bees (Apis mellifera) and regent parrots (Polytelis anthopeplus) compete for nest sites? Australian Journal of Ecology, 19(4), 444-450.

Pyke, G. (1999). The introduced Honeybee Apis mellifera and the Precautionary Principle: Reducing the conflict. Australian Zoologist, 31(1), 181-186.

Schmitt, T., Demary, K., & Wilson-Rich, N. (2021). Urban Beekeeping as a Tool for STEAM Education. In Teaching and Learning in Urban Agricultural Community Contexts (pp. 179-208). Springer, Cham.

Seeley, T. D., Visscher, P. K., & Passino, K. M. (2006). Group Decision Making in Honey Bee Swarms: When 10,000 bees go house hunting, how do they cooperatively choose their new nesting site?. American scientist, 94(3), 220-229.

Concussion Management –

The Barker Way

Lisa Chalmers Director of Health and Wellbeing

A Ab s t r act

This article serves as an explanation of the Concussion care and support framework at Barker College. It documents the process of the development of the current Concussion care system at Barker under a wholistic framework of student wellbeing and details the collaborative process involving students, staff, medical professionals, and family engagement. This paper outlines the Concussion Clinic’s current place in the School whilst sharing some hopes and aspirations for the future care of students in this arena

Key Ter ms

Concu s s i on – concussion is a traumatic brain injury induced by biomedical forces to the head, or anywhere on the body which transmits an impulsive force to the head. It causes short-lived neurological impairment and the symptoms may evolve over the hours or days following the injury

G RTP – graduated return to play

G RTL – graduated return to learn

In t r od u ct i on

As with much of what we do at Barker the concussion care process relies upon an integrated and highly collaborative team approach. It incorporates a strong awareness and knowledge of concussion by our sports coaches and teaching staff embedded into a multidisciplinary care system that seeks to care, educate and guide the student back to full health and function across all aspects of their life following a concussion injury.

Th e Or i gi n s of Con cu s s i on Car e at Bar k er

Concussion is a complex and often hidden injury of which we have still much to learn. Over the past decade the advancement of concussion research has made significant strides in the identification and management of concussion (Walter, 2017). The Barker Concussion Clinic originated in 2015 when our School physiotherapist and Head of Sport identified the importance of the care and follow up of students with a head injury. At the time this was seen as a ground-breaking care system that followed closely the emerging research and evidence growing about concussion recognition and management in professional contact sports across the world (Evans, 2014)

Th e ch an gi n g l an d s cap e of head i n j u r y man agemen t

The early recognition of a concussion injury is critical to the correct management and prevention of further injury and long term consequences. (Cassimatis, 2021). Over the years the Concussion Clinic at Barker has evolved and been enriched by the expertise and input from partnerships both within and outside of Barker that assist in enhancing this process. We have improved our concussion assessment tools so that a more systematic and objective concussion assessment process ensures less concussions are missed and that follow up and care is comprehensive and paced at the individual student needs. Barker concussion uses a combination of assessment tools including:

• Mechanism of injury/recognition – staff and coach awareness that a head injury has occurred

• Injury Reporting – all suspected concussions which occur during training, match play or other school activities, are reported by School Staff through Barker’s injury reporting system (Clipboard and Complispace). Collection of Concussion data is used to track trends and identify potential areas for safety improvement, specific training and conditioning needs as part of the integrated injury management system.

• Symptom checklist – Barker Concussion Action Plan (CAP)

• Cognitive testing (HeadSmart) that is compared with the students’ baseline test that completed in Term 1

• Student Concussion History – the student medical records contain information about a students’ previous concussions. Knowing about a student’s previous concussions can help to identify students who fit into a higher risk category, may need additional recovery time or support (e.g. learning and/or counselling).

• SCAT5 – Internationally recommended concussion assessment tool

Staff Training is undertaken via the Coaches Induction and all Barker teaching staff are encouraged to complete the Concussion Management for Coaches and Support Staff via the Australian Institute of Sport website.

The current Barker Concussion Process is based upon the Concussion in Sport Australia Position Statement (Elkington, Manzanero & Hughes 2019). It is a living document that is constantly being reviewed and updated as new evidence emerges. It is held in the Policy Connect App under Student Duty of Care/Health on the Student Concussion Management Page.

Key partnerships include:

• Northside Physio – most notably Robbie Wright and Jack Penny who oversee the weekly Barker Concussion Clinic and liaise closely with the Schools Sports Department, Health Centre and parents to care for our students.

• Dr Corey Cunningham (Sports Physician) who covers the Saturday sport injuries during the Winter season.

• HeadSmart – every student at Barker is offered the opportunity to undertake a Baseline cognitive test in Term 1 which can be accessed and viewed by the Health Centre staff and by Northside Physio if a student suffers a concussion injury to assist in the diagnosis and return to their normal cognitive function.

• NeuroCHECK – in 2022 Barker partnered with Neurocheck to participate in a research study for a new method of testing brain function via an electoencephalography (EEG) headset that measures brain signals.

• CHISM – Children’s Hospital Institute of Sports Medicine at the Children's Hospital at Westmead

• Vicki Evans AM, Concussion Clinical Nurse Specialist, RNSH, who oversees the Concussion Clinic at Royal North Shore Hospital and provides guidance and expertise.

• Barker Sports Injury Review – weekly oversight by Director of Risk & Compliance, Director of Sport, Deputy Head (Student Experience) and Director of Health & Wellbeing.

Lon g con cu s s i on

Symptoms of concussion typically should resolve within seven to ten days. Long concussion or post-concussion syndrome is a complex range of physical, cognitive and emotional/behavioural symptoms that endure for a prolonged period following a concussion injury. Both physiological and psychological aetiologies have been suggested as causes for post-concussion symptoms. Most investigators now believe that a variety of pre-morbid, injury-related, and post-morbid neuropathological and psychological factors contribute to the development and continuation of these symptoms (Broshek et al., 2015) Predictors thought to be associated with protracted recovery include; high severity of acute and subacute concussive symptoms, a high number of concussive symptoms, prolonged loss of consciousness (greater than a minute), post-concussive seizure, previous history of concussion, age of the athlete, female sex and history of depression, anxiety or migraine (Australian Sports Commission, n.d.).

Students at Barker who present with symptoms lasting longer than 10 days are referred to the long concussion multidisciplinary clinic at Royal North Shore Hospital or to CHISM for management The multidisciplinary clinic, composed of adult and paediatric neurologists, clinical nurse specialist and a neuropsychologist, takes a holistic approach to reviewing the students cognitive function, psychological wellbeing and associated post-concussive symptoms. Depending on the outcome they may recommend various lifestyle modifications and suggest appropriate referral pathways to ensure optimal recovery and an efficient return to life.

Th e Fu t u r e

In October 2022, the 6th International Consensus Conference on Concussion was held in Amsterdam. The Congress brought experts from around the world to talk about and update the current accepted world concussion guidelines. The purpose of the Conference is to present a summary of new evidence-based research that span the spectrum of concussion, from definition to initial management, investigations, treatment, return to play protocols and prevention. An expert panel group will review the research and develop the consensus from the information presented at the meeting. The second objective is to reach an agreement amongst the expert panel on developing a Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport. This document will then be used by physicians and healthcare professionals involved in the care of injured athletes at the recreational, elite, or professional level.

The outputs from the 6th Consensus Conference will be submitted for publication following the meeting and will be peer reviewed. It is anticipated that the outcomes of the conference will be available in the second quarter of 2023 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

On goi n g Ch al l en ges

The identification of local GP’s who are ‘experts’ in concussion would greatly support the care process of the Concussion Clinic at Barker. Good clinical care of a patient with concussion is the best prevention of adverse outcomes.

Adolescents and children are in the midst of a significant neurodevelopmental trajectory and thus are at a high risk of both short and longer term consequences of concussion. The education and collaboration of clinicians, parents, coaches and players is critical to ensure both appropriate notification of injury and supportive, appropriate care and follow up.

R et u r n t o l if e i n a t i mel y an d s u p p or t ed man n er.

There is emerging evidence to suggest that carefully monitored sub symptom exercise can play an important role in a beneficial treatment strategy following concussion (Howell et al, 2019). Broshek et. al. (2015) showed that excessive cognitive and physical rest may actually contribute to a longer concussion recovery. A tailored GRTP and GRTL program that ensures stretch and challenge but not overexertion is key to managing our students.

Con cl u s i on

Concussion is an unfortunate risk in nearly all sports. At Barker we believe the benefits from sport participation far outweigh the potential harm. For children and adolescents, sport increases their physical and mental health, improves social skills, teamwork and confidence while concurrently providing an important connection to Barker. The Barker College concussion strategy aims to ensure a proactive and integrated approach to the prevention and management of student concussions to both maximise student wellbeing and minimise the long term impact of head injuries that occur within our school community.

R ef er en ces

Australian Sports Commission n.d., Concussion in Sport, Sport Australia, Australian Sports Commission, viewed 14 November 2022, <https://www.concussioninsport.gov.au/>.

Broshek, Donna K., De Marco, Anthony P. & Freeman, Jason R. (2015) A review of post-concussion syndrome and psychological factors associated with concussion, Brain Injury, 29:2, 228-237, DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2014.974674.

Cassimatis, M. et al. (2021) “Early injury evaluation following concussion is associated with improved recovery time in children and adolescents,” Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.09.183.

Concussion in Sport Group 2017, ‘Sport concussion assessment tool for children ages 5 to 12 years’, British Journal of Sports Medicine, p. bjsports-2017-097492childscat5.

Elkington, L, Manzanero, S & Hughes, D 2018, Concussion in Sport Australia Position Statement ‘if in doubt, sit them out’, Australian Sports Commission, Belconnen.

Evans, V. (2014) “Recognizing and managing concussion in school sport,” Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 46(4). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1097/jnn.0000000000000063.

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Barker Institute Learning in Practice

About the Authors

Lisa Bonazza is the Director of Primary Curriculum and International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Coordinator, responsible for the Junior School’s curriculum and part of the pedagogical leadership team. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education (Primary) and a Master of Educational Leadership. Her teaching and leadership experience has seen her work in Australia, Thailand, Mauritius, U.K. and Belgium. Lisa has been working within the PYP Framework since 1998. She is an IB Workshop Leader, School Visiting Team Leader, Workshop Field Representative and IB School Consultant. These roles have provided her the opportunity to support schools setting up the IB framework, upskilling and mentoring teachers and heads of schools, developing curriculum, evaluating school’s implementation of teaching and learning development and instruction, and creating rich and inviting learning environments. Lisa also lectures at Notre Dame University in the undergraduate and post-graduate IB education courses. She is passionate about inquiry, creativity, and equipping students as global citizens who can make a difference in the world.

Lisa Chalmers is the Director of Health & Wellbeing at Barker College. Lisa holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing). Lisa has previously worked at the United World College of SEA in Singapore as Matron/Assistant House Parent (Boarding) and has fulfilled both nursing and public health roles in Dublin, Fiji and Melbourne. Lisa has lived in Sydney since 2008 working at NCIRS in vaccine research, UNSW (Lowy) in brain tumour research and co-ordinating a rare disease project across Australia. Lisa has been working at Barker since 2017 and loves her diverse role in caring for both the acute health care needs of our students but also educating and empowering them to carry lifelong good health care and wellbeing behaviours into their lives beyond the Mint Gates.

Josephine Christoffersen is currently Assistant Coordinator of Service Learning and a Commercial Studies Teacher, specializing in Business Studies and Commerce. She has also held the position of Commerce Coordinator at Barker (2016 – 2022) and has enjoyed developing the financial and commercial literacy of stage 5 students. Prior to this, Josephine worked as a business manager in the entertainment and hospitality industry. She has a passion for social justice and active citizenship and believes that engaging young people in service learning assists in developing well rounded individuals.

Dr Greg Cunningham is currently the Director of Accreditation. His PhD investigated the influence of reading on student response to visual texts. He has been a visiting educator in the United States and in the United Kingdom. He has authored and presented papers that consider approaches to teaching and learning, particularly in understanding, pedagogy and teacher professional learning and accreditation. Representing the Independent Schools of NSW on the Professional Learning Committee at the NSW Education Standards’ Authority, he has also been an accreditation assessor for both the AISNSW and NESA and a founding member of the Sydney Leaders of Accreditation Network. His interests include English teaching, professional accreditation and teacher coaching. A Fellow of Trinity College of Music London, he has also given organ recitals in London, Sydney and South Africa.

Dr Alison Gates is incurably curious and loves learning and teaching. At Barker she is part of our Agriculture and Science Extension teaching teams. She studied Environmental Science at the University of Sydney where she completed a PhD about introduced species. She has worked in research on fossil pollen and completed a postdoc about wheat, consolidating her expertise in Agriculture and co-authoring a book, textbooks and several journal articles along the way. Alison worked at Australian Catholic University teaching Geography and Environmental Science in the teacher training programs and then worked in education research at Charles Sturt University where her research publications focussed on education for practice. Alison is a beekeeping enthusiast and counts Barker Bee Club as one of the many great joys in her role.

Scott Graham is currently the Head of Agriculture, having commenced his teaching career in 2010. He is currently undertaking a PhD, under the title of ‘Increasing enrolments and engagement in secondary and tertiary agriculture, through improving academic rigour and reputation of agriculture in secondary schools. Scott is the recipient of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools.

Dr Matthew Hill is the Director the Barker Institute with a focus on professional learning, research and innovation in the School. He teaches Physics and the new Science Extension course at the School which introduces students to scientific academic research. Matthew’s doctorate reflects his passion for science education focusing on Representational Fluency amongst physics students at school and university. He has published in leadership, education and science journals and been involved in course development and teaching at The University of Sydney and The University of Western Sydney. He has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Divinity at Ridley College in Melbourne.

Andrew Hood is Director of Academic Writing and Oratory at Barker. Prior to that, he was Head of English (2010-2021) and has held roles of Assistant Coordinator and Senior School Tutor. He has also been Coordinator of Debating and Public Speaking since 1999. Recently, he has presented papers for the ETA and the AIS on various aspects of writing practice, including finding throughlines in Extension English, creating worldscapes in short fiction and reimagining worlds both critically and creatively in extended language responses. He has been involved in writing sample programs and course materials for NESA. He has also conducted a range of school workshops in question analysis, essay writing and academic prose.

Dan Lewis: After growing up in the Blue Mountains, Dan Lewis pursued a career in journalism. He started on community newspapers in the late 1980s then graduated to The Sydney Morning Herald in 1990 and spent more than 20 years there as a reporter and editor. Dan took a redundancy from the Herald in 2012 and retrained to work as an outdoor adventure guide. After a few years in his new profession, Dan started working as a casual at The Grange before becoming a permanent outdoor education teacher there in 2018. When Dan isn’t taking Barker students on adventures you can find him guiding canyons, rock climbs, abseils and bushwalks with Blue Mountains Adventure Company. He can currently be seen on Netflix taking Hollywood celebrity Zac Efron canyoning in the documentary series Down to Earth Down Under. Now aged 54, Dan’s last big writing project was authoring the book My Country, Our Outback on a commission from the Pew Trusts’ Outback to Oceans Australia project. It captures “voices from the land on hope and change in Australia’s heartland”.

Dr Andrew Mifsud is Head of Digital Learning and a Music teacher at Barker College. His doctoral research was an ethnographic study on student perceptions and experiences of secondary school blended learning environments. This research used cultural-historical activity theory to theorise an expansion of the learning activity based on the resolution of internal and external contradictions. Andrew has also been involved in research projects in the areas of social learning sites, digital learning, and music education. He has presented this work at national and international education conferences. Andrew is the NSW Secretary of the Australian Society for Music Education and is a past recipient of the ASME Music Educating for Life Award and Outstanding Professional Service Award for his work promoting professional learning in the music education community. Andrew is a Teacher Coach in the College of Teachers and Barker. He enjoys working with teachers to discover the art and science of teaching.

Tim Milkins is an experienced educator who is passionate about improving the teaching and learning outcomes of both students and teachers. He has gained valuable knowledge and capabilities in Australia and the UK, where he has held a variety of leadership roles including Head of Department / Faculty, Year Coordinator, Pastoral Care Coordinator and Governor (T&L and SENCo). Beyond schools, Tim has been involved in the review and creation of NSW curriculum, the assessment and development of examinations for NESA, and the assessing of all levels of teacher accreditation for NESA and AISNSW. Through these roles and experiences he has gained valuable insight into the importance of holistic education that enhances the capacity of educators whilst recognising the needs of every learner. Tim has been the Head of Computer Science at Barker since 2016 and is the Director of Accreditation and Technics Innovation from 2023.

Lucy Pitkin is the Dean of Indigenous Education and a teacher of Agriculture. She has taught in various educational settings over the last 11 years, including schools in rural areas and in schools on Sydney’s western fringe. It was here that Lucy’s passion for supporting students from diverse backgrounds really grew. She is responsible for the continued implementation, review and development of the School’s Indigenous education strategies in the Secondary School. Lucy works with First Nations communities and organisations to improve access to education for First Nations students, and to develop the understanding of and commitment to reconciliation of non-Indigenous students and teachers. She also works to implement and support the continued best practice in Indigenous education at Barker, including assisting teachers to bring First Nations histories, cultures and perspectives into their classroom. Through continued involvement in external research projects and Aboriginal education networks, and close relationships with Community, Lucy is able to support staff to continue to develop their teaching practice in a culturally responsive way.

Dr Timothy Scott is an experienced history and modern languages teacher, having taught and held a variety of leadership roles in schools in Australia and abroad. His PhD investigated socio-political influences on contemporary German conceptions of history and archaeology. Tim currently teaches History at Barker and he is also the Barker Institute Research Fellow. His research interests include intercultural and interlingual learning and teaching, the impact of artificial intelligence on education, and the role of student voice in improving educational practice. Tim is also one of the lead researchers for the Barker Institute’s longitudinal study, the Barker Journey.

Olivia Smith is Coordinator for Service Learning and a Languages Teacher, specialising in French at Barker. She joined Barker in 2021, following three years as a Languages Coordinator and French Teacher at Mercy Catholic College. Prior to this, Olivia has taught at The Scot’s College and Meriden Anglican School in Sydney. Olivia started teaching at Bow School in East London, 2014 through the Teach First teacher training program; a charity that develops teachers who are determined to make a difference where it is needed most. It is from then that Olivia has held a passion for holistic education, student wellbeing and service learning, believing that we as teachers can develop students into well-rounded individuals that can grow themselves and make a difference to the world, if given opportunities to serve.

Nonie Taylor is a Physics, Earth and Environmental Science, Mathematics, and iSTEAM teacher. Prior to teaching, she worked for fourteen years as an advanced wastewater engineer for a water utility company. During this time she was concerned by both the absence of female representation in the water industry as well as the shortage of creative, passionate young people pursuing engineering as a career choice. This drove her career change to education, where she now loves being involved in helping students find enjoyment in understanding the world around them and contributing to finding solutions.

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