Director of Learning & Teaching

Staff Professional Learning Day

On Monday 15th July our staff engaged in a professional learning day.  Our day was spent looking at the MACS Vision for Instruction and The Learning Model.

The MACS Vision for Instruction was published in February 2024 and is the pedagogical focus for all MACS schools.  It is part of the MACS 2030: Forming Lives to Enrich the World strategic plan.  The Vision for Instruction clearly outlines the expectations for evidence based instructional based practice, curriculum coherence, design and assessment for all MACS schools.  The Vision for Instruction has two clear goals:

Goal 1 –  Excellence:  

All MACS schools deliver a knowledge rich, evidenced based teaching and learning program.  

Goal 2 –  Equity:  

Every student, regardless of background, achieves literacy and numeracy proficiency.  

The Learning Model work allowed our staff to use research from the area of cognitive science to investigate how learning happens.  The concepts of long term and working memory were explored and how the different factors in our environment can impact on how students remember and ultimately learn.  Our staff investigated the concept of cognitive load and how ‘overloading’ our working memory can affect our ability to learn. By better understanding the process of learning we are able to put in place the steps to allow our students to access and use that learning.

At the centre of this is the focus on the explicit instruction of knowledge and skills.  At St Mary’s College we have already made great steps forward in this area and this is our pedagogical model.  This can be seen across the classrooms in our College and is highlighted by the success of our literacy programs and recent 2024 NAPLAN results. The Vision for Instruction and the Learning Model will continue to be our learning and teaching focus as we move forward in 2024 and beyond.

Mrs Julia Wood

julia.wood@smseymour.catholic.edu.au