From the Deputy Principal

Teacher Learning

Yesterday, our teachers enjoyed some learning time with education consultant, Kath Murdoch. Quite simply Kath is THE expert on inquiry, not just in Australia, but globally. 

Teachers will spend 4 days and some staff meetings with Kath this year fine tuning approaches to inquiry learning. Yesterday’s focus was introducing Kath’s ‘10 practices for inquiry teaching and learning’. We particularly focussed on ‘release’ and ‘questioning’. 

Here’s a word from Kath on inquiry learning vs ‘teaching the curriculum’….

“Inquiry approaches are sometimes seen as anti-curriculum. I often get asked that very question “but what about the curriculum that we have to cover?’  My recommendation is always to know the curriculum inside out. Then better you know it, the better equipped you are to help support students’ grasp of the ideas and skills it outlines. It is about how we address the curriculum. The Australian curriculum is full of references to skilled inquiry across several learning areas.  The fact that there is certain knowledge identified in the curriculum should not cause hand wringing angst for those who use an inquiry approach. That content may not lend itself to inquiry OR, if it does, then help children uncover it.”

If you’d like to learn more about Kath, please visit https://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/