Professional learning for teachers

One of the four main priorities of CHES is to lead professional learning for teachers on meeting the needs of high-ability students across Victoria. We proudly partner with Deakin University in offering this program to schools.

Teachers in government schools are invited to register for CHES and Deakin University professional learning courses in Terms 3 and 4. For more information, refer to the CHES professional learning flyer.

CHES partners with Deakin University in offering professional learning to teachers across Victoria on meeting the needs of high-ability students in primary and secondary government schools. In 2023, more than 250 participants took part in our 1 ½ day courses. This year we are holding these workshops once per term. 

At CHES, we accelerate high-achieving students through into early-access university subjects as part of their VCE, but our professional learning program is focused on differentiating for high-ability students within mixed-ability groups.

The coordinators of the professional learning program are Maria Nicholas, Andrew Skourdoumbis, and Ondine Bradbury. They have recently published a systematic scoping review which reports findings from a range of studies that have explored the approaches to differentiation used with high-ability students. 

Their article advances our understanding of current approaches and highlights future considerations for school-based teaching, including shared understandings of what effectiveness means and looks like in practice, and how it can be determined and measured. 

The Deakin University team have identified 15 effective teaching approaches used with high-ability students in both primary and secondary schools.

Last month this research by Maria, Andrew and Ondine was highlighted in an article in The Conversation – “How can schools make sure gifted students get the help they need.”

Their article in The Conversation can be found here: https://theconversation.com/how-can-schools-make-sure-gifted-students-get-the-help-they-need-225892

Their original research article is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00169862231222225

This is our second year delivering these professional learning workshops to teachers in government schools across Victoria. In 2023, there was a high level of engagement with 266 teachers participating across the year and we held 10 workshop days with extensive resources available in our purpose-built professional learning portal, including recordings of effective classroom practice in various schools, and curated research materials and resources.