Teaching & Learning in the Senior School

Defining success

In my last Newsletter report, I raised the importance of learner attributes, or dispositions, in contributing to a person’s future successes in learning.  This is because our world is changing so quickly that the best tools we have at our disposal to deal with that change are our own resilience, adaptability and intellectual agility.  No one cares as much anymore if we know what the highest mountain is in Australia, but rather that we know how and when to find out that information.

We often make the mistake of thinking that the gift we give our young people through education is their Record of School Achievement (ROSA) or their Higher School Certificate (HSC), which in simple ways says they can answer questions well enough to warrant recording it on a piece of paper.  But neither the ROSA nor the HSC gives us any information about the qualities of the person who achieved them.  A student with a 90 ATAR can be proud of their mark, but who knows if they can also be proud of how they achieved that mark?  Is their mark evidence of someone who worked hard to achieve a goal (I want that person working for me!) or of someone who could have done better but didn’t want to push themselves too hard?  It could just as easily be either.  That ‘work ethic’ is one of the characteristics that contributes to a person’s success or otherwise, much more than anyone mark can.

I write as our Year 12 students are undertaking their Trial HSC examinations.  For these students, it can be difficult to envisage a life in which the HSC doesn’t matter.  The strangest thing though, is that a life where the HSC no longer features, begins in mid-December of graduating year.  Pretty soon thereafter, no one asks “What ATAR did you get?” and no employer wants a copy of your HSC in your curriculum vitae.  That’s because life away from school relies more on getting the job done, working with others, meeting the deadline, changing your business model to deal with a COVID shutdown, and making good moral judgements, than it does on doing this one niche thing perfectly. 

This is by no means suggesting that the HSC is not a goal worth striving for; of course, our young people should still aim to achieve their personal best (and we also want that for them!).  However, we should encourage them to achieve with a focus on learning, and on developing the skills and attributes necessary to continue learning past the HSC, rather than with a much narrower focus on achieving a specific outcome.  By developing their own agency as learners, our students benefit in the long term, but the great news is that research shows that students who can learn from failure, who can work in groups with others, and who can find information for themselves, also achieve higher academic results in the short term.

It is interesting to see that our universities are becoming increasingly focused on graduating students who demonstrate particular attributes rather than those who just succeed in academic testing.  On the University of Adelaide website, for instance, they identify their expected Graduate Attributes as follows:

• Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
• Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem-solving
• Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills
• Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness
• Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency
• Attribute 6: Australian Aboriginal cultural competency
• Attribute 7: Digital capabilities
• Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

Only one of these was about knowing things.  The rest are qualities that are expected of the graduate.  These qualities are like money; they don’t just grow on trees. They must be nurtured in our learners for many years.  At St Greg’s we are looking towards ensuring that we do nurture such qualities in our learners, for success in and out of school.

Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week

In the school week commencing 31 August, you might like to take some time to thank members of our College Learning Support and Enrichment teams for the wonderful work they do in supporting our students and teachers in and out of the classroom.  Our aides work closely with students who require a little bit of additional support to help them access their learning effectively. They are warm, caring individuals who spend a lot of time ensuring that conditions are just right for their charges to learn in.  The work they do is essential for building a safe, caring environment that enables all of our students to thrive.

In the Senior School we are fortunate to benefit from the work and care of:

• Mrs Joanne Birkenhead
• Ms Rebecca Burke
• Mrs Tammy Dooner
• Mrs Michelle Hill

In the Junior School our students and teachers love working with:

• Mrs Christine Lowe
• Mrs Rachel Tweedie
• Mrs Mary-Ellen Hayes
• Mrs Janine Orton

We wish each of these valuable members of our staff a happy Teacher Aide Appreciation Week!

Mrs Louise Millar

Director of Teaching and Learning