Walker Learning News

Professional Development & Study Tours

While students recently enjoyed a day off school, St Raphael's staff participated in a Professional Development Day focused on Walker Learning. The day was facilitated by our mentor Karen McKay, from Early Life Foundation. Staff worked hard to improve their practice by revisiting the key elements of Walker Learning from Foundation to Year 6. A take home message after a jam packed & exhausting day is that all children learn most effectively when there is hands-on, real life exposure to learning opportunities. It is crucial these opportunities are as personalised as possible & relate in meaningful & engaging ways to each particular child & their interests. Investigative learning is most effective as it allows movement within the learning space which enhances your child's learning experience. At St Raphael's, movement & using purpose built/designed spaces is a powerful teaching tool & it elevates the learning experience. Moving in spaces isn't a break from learning, it IS learning. 

We are very proud of the dedication and rigour with which St Raphael staff implement the Walker Pedagogy. We are now a Walker exemplar school and will be hosting Study Tours throughout 2018 to give other teachers & schools an opportunity to see what this pedagogy should look like in an exemplary setting. Our first study tour group will visit our school in March & will consist of 37 teachers from different metropolitan schools in Melbourne. Our second study tour group comprises of 11 teachers who will come to us from Queensland. We are extremely proud of our exemplary practice and the effort put in to make this pedagogy such a success at our school.