Editorial

PVCC: Celebrating our community of learners

Schools are primarily places of learning. 

This may sound like the most obvious thing you’ve read, but it’s worthy of reflection due to the changing pressure on schools within the last generation.

There has been a push over the last two decades for schools to become a ‘one stop shop’ for human development: enculturating citizenship, social and emotional development, health care, community service, wellbeing development and interventions, and preparing students for adaption in the ever-changing workforce. This makes sense, as schools are uniquely placed as a cornerstone of society: there are no other institutions so universally and comprehensively attended. 

Not everyone attends church anymore, but everyone goes to school. Therefore, if you are going to make an impact on everyone, it makes sense to channel that impact through ‘school’.

Teacher reflection 1: "I enjoyed hearing other people's perspective and learning practical ways they had processed data and implemented the inquiry process."

It makes even more sense because so many of these impacts are magnified through a learning culture. And so, even though educators wear an increasing number of hats, each hat is made from the fabric of curiosity, intellectual humility, and an insatiable desire for improvement.

Learning is core to schools, and not just for students!

Plenty Valley Christian College teachers are expert learners. As committed Christians, we are also familiar with the concept of discipleship: we expect to model the kinds of attitudes and behaviours that we hope to see in our students, teaching from transformation for transformation. We do our best not to be hypocrites, expecting our students to learn, but not us.

This isn’t just something we say we do. We plan for it. We have systems and strategies aligned to it, and we do it together. We know that “advancing teaching and learning by fostering collaboration stands in contrast to a focus on improving and assessing teachers solely as individuals…” resulting in better student outcomes, higher job satisfaction, and decreased teacher turnover (Schleifer, 2015).

Teacher reflection 2: "Watching colleagues step up and present their thinking, seeing how we are excellent as a staff and how we need each other, and supporting others were highlights for me!"

And we celebrate it!

This term, we held our inaugural ‘PVCC Learning Symposium’ where teachers presented their learnings from inquiry-focused, action research across the year. It was designed to create a sense of ‘confidence in the team’ to achieve outcomes for students (collective teacher efficacy). Subsequent data revealed that teachers came away feeling ‘curious’, ‘inspired’, and a ‘sense of belonging’.

Teacher reflection 3: "I loved seeing people work together and sharing their passion, seeing an overall interest in our environment through research in sustainability, the pride in our College, and the privilege we have to work and study here."

At the risk of overusing a saccharine lyric, we really are ‘all in this together’: teachers learning alongside and for the benefit of our students.

Daniel Symons

Assistant Principal, Learning and Teaching