Dear Members,
I hope this Newsletter finds you well at the beginning of Term 2.
We had a very successful Awards ceremony in March at which colleagues from each of our sectors were honoured for their contributions to educational leadership and research in the ACT. We are currently planning the Ministers Breakfast on 17 May at the National Portrait Gallery. Please don’t forget to register as this is a very popular event.
I have taken the liberty of inviting members of our Executive to write the editorial comments for each edition of our Newsletter this year. Tracey Taylor who is a highly respected educator and previous Principal of Samford Valley Steiner School, now Director, Education Policy at Independent Schools Australia, representing the Independent school sector and the ACT Executive. Thank you Tracey!
If there are other members who would like to make some editorial comments in the future please write to principal @sfx.act.edu.au
Sandra Darley
ACEL ACT Branch President
ACEL Newsletter Article
If you have not yet had time to read Dr Briony Scott’s From the President section in the latest ACEL Australian Educational Leader Vol 46, then I encourage you to do so. In a succinct way Dr Scott encapsulates the educational landscape we all find ourselves in today, no matter our role or sector. She invites us to remember our purpose amidst the noise and ever-changing realities and dualities of our daily activities.
Our purpose is of course student-centred, to encourage young people today to be able to successfully navigate their world and develop into the best person they can be. We need to ensure we educate in a human-centred way, to be able to flourish in an increasingly digitalised world. This means a holistic approach and to ensure that we are just as focused on the arts as we are on literacy and numeracy.
One thing I think we should be awake to is the creep of an increasingly reductive approach to learning in order to measure learning gain. While evidence and research are absolutely critical to continued improvement, more and more, government reports, national agencies and research language are focused on the brain and learning, rather than the learner as a holistic human being.
Teachers understand the importance and evidence of instructional practice, but this is not the only way to learn and should not fill the entire day. If the teachers of tomorrow are taught that effective pedagogical practice is only relevant to how the ‘brain processes, stores and retrieves information’ then I am concerned students will not receive the richness of creative pedagogy, develop a sense of wonder, curiosity and a love of learning.
If we are only teaching to measure, then what will happen to the joy of teaching and learning?
Tracey Taylor
ACEL ACT Branch Executive member