Blockchain will transform education

While the cryptocurrency market might be the domain of the brave or the foolhardy, blockchain technology itself has the ability to revolutionise pretty much any activity that requires secure transfer of information and education is no different.

A recent JRC Science for Policy report has looked into how blockchain can be integrated into education and the benefits are apparent. Read more

New AITSL Guidelines For Principals

Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them, some wing it. Often there isn’t much in the way of preparing someone for a leadership role, it just kind of happens. It’s obviously not ideal but steps are being made to help principals to lead and AITSL’s Leading for impact: Australian guidelines for school leadership development is step in the right direction. Read more

Teacher wellbeing –
an essential benefit of flipped learning

One of the main reasons teachers leave the profession is due to workload, anxiety, stress and burnout. Whilst not a panacea, I have found that implementing in-class flipped learning has greatly reduced my stress and anxiety and has improved my job satisfaction.
I have recently returned to work after the long summer holidays. Over the holidays I worked hard to redo a number of my videos and create a workbook for my students to use to interact with the videos and to practice and deepen their knowledge.
Two weeks in, every class is doing great.
Read more

The opposite of standardised testing works

Australia has had 10 years of NAPLAN and the wash up is that standards haven’t really budged, so what now, more testing? Maybe test the test, or the teachers. Or maybe change the way we’re testing. Read more

Victoria’s first high-rise primary school opens

The gritty formerly industrial area around Fisherman’s Bend in Melbourne’s inner south continues its gentrification with the new South Melbourne Primary School, now open and teaching its first cohort.
Richard Leonard, Director at Hayball, the architects on the project, said the school was an exemplar of a contemporary 21st century learning environment, developed within the context of inner urban regeneration focussing on the needs of today’s students and also the wider community. Read more

Specialist programs and data make a difference as standards go nowhere

It’s 10 years in and NAPLAN has revealed one thing: there have been no significant gains in either reading or numeracy. Schools that have made the biggest improvements in their students’ standards of literacy and numeracy have concentrated on teaching approaches, intensive teaching programs and data.
At Clarkson Community High in WA the implementation of research based approaches, prioritising data and keeping an eye on teacher attitudes has worked well. Read more