College Principal Message
Greetings students, families and carers,
Welcome to Winter solstice week, the days will start to lengthen soon!
Earlier this month members of the principal team attended the state-wide principals’ conference. I found Mark McCrindle’s session about trends impacting the future of education interesting.
Of note was the fact that there are now more school-aged children in Australia than ever before (4,632,000) which unfortunately is coinciding with a teacher shortage. There are a range of factors affecting the teacher shortage, one being the pandemic related transformation of working conditions.
Working from home and having more flexible hours has eroded what used to be seen as the desirable conditions for teachers (holidays and an ostensibly short working day). Other factors are poor mental health of students, increasing expectations from families and increasingly complex policies and procedures.
Another trend of note is Artificial Intelligence which has the potential to be a useful tool but equally can be used to subvert assessment processes unless schools engage with it meaningfully. This is something we are starting to address.
Where different generations source information is also interesting. Gen Y and Boomers use Google where they must read information. Younger generations use You Tube and Tik Tok! With that in mind, teaching critical analysis is very important.
Unfortunately, we continue to experience some staffing difficulties due to a range of factors and I am very sorry for those classes that have been missing out. I can assure you that we are working very hard to address the shortages and I am increasingly confident we will start Term 3 fully staffed.
The Day Structure Working Party (DSWP) work has been continuing. After getting input from all staff, we tasked the ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) and KLA Leaders to make recommendations regarding the allocation of periods to subject according to the Guiding Principles (see below). The DSWP took all the recommendations into account and have put their final recommendation to Curriculum Committee which will be voted on in this last week of term.
It has been noted that across the state there are many students, particularly at Year 10 with unusually low attendance rates. Everyone is concerned about this as their VCE years approach. While we are reaching out to individual families, we also welcome any communication from these students and or their families so we can understand what is behind the statistics and collaborate on a positive outcome for all.
Following on from that, the time is rapidly approaching when students select their courses for 2024. Please talk about that with your child(ren) and feel free to make an appointment with our careers advisers, appointments can be made through the Careers page on the website.
Please see below a promotion of a survey being conducted by the Federal Government regarding shaping the future of education. Your opinions will help inform the Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System.
The online survey is an opportunity to help shape the future of education in Australia. It closes on Friday 23 June 2023.
The survey is open to anyone who cares for a school-aged child and makes decisions about their education. Students aged under 18 years can also take part but require consent from a parent or guardian to do so.
The expert panel for the review will use the results to inform recommendations for the final report to all education ministers, by 31 October 2023. The final report will advise education ministers on what targets and reforms should be included in the next National School Reform Agreement.
The Social Research Centre is conducting the survey.
Life in Australia Survey (srcentre.com.au)
As part of a broader strategy to promote attendance, some of our wonderful Sydenham Media students have created a video. They and their media teacher are to be commended on the skills it demonstrates and it was a joy to see them engaged in creating a ‘real’ product with authentic purpose.
The plans to upgrade the administration area and staff lounge at Kings Park are getting close to sign off with the plans and finishes all but agreed and we hope it can commence in October.
I hope the students who did exams recently have learned much from the experience and will learn more from the feedback they receive. Reports will be published to Compass on June 23, please discuss them with your child(ren).
We look forward to greeting everyone back to Semester 2 in good form on Monday July 10.
Guiding Principles for Subject Allocations 2023
Best wishes,
Ms Pip Griffiths
College Principal