Reflections from Australia - Part 3 (QLD Schools)

This final entry deals with some highlights from schools in Queensland – to actually do a comparison of the assessment systems between NSW and QLD would require some pages. I can’t being to compare the highly prescribed ‘dot points’ and high stakes HSC external examinations of NSW with the flexible internally assessed system in QLD (but with the unique Core Skills Tests in Year 12 to moderate against). Both systems are so fundamentally different that creating a national qualification system (as is being talked about) would require the worlds greatest diplomats to manage and organise, good luck I say!

The schools I visited were largely in the Brisbane area. My first Queensland school was Cleveland District State High School, about 1 hour 15 minutes east of Brisbane by train. The reason for visiting the school was because my school has had music exchanges with Cleveland and they are similar schools in make-up. Cleveland is a co-educational state high school with a roll of about 1200 students. The day was structured with 8 periods, each of 35 minutes, though most ran as double periods. Of interest was the fact that seniors, Year 11 & 12, attended school on Tuesday – Friday for extended days (8.30 – 3.25) and did not attend school at all on a Monday. An interesting class I observed was the schools SRT class (Science Research & Technology). In these classes students were in a purpose built lab with 15 computers and desks for working in. Students were working on finding out about certain aspects of science – the first class using lego to find out about gears and the relationships between gears. The second class were doing extended projects – all self-generated and well resourced. These ranged from making different types of coloured fireworks, experimenting with mouse memory, exploring rocket trajectory, crystal formation, plane flight and so on.

John Paul College is a large co-educational private school about 20 minutes from the centre of Brisbane. It has a large campus which hosts three schools – primary (1000 students), middle school (800) and secondary (750). The growth in the school is occurring with an approach toward students being sent to private primary schools. All students are required to lease a laptop from Grade 4 (our Year 5). Students bring laptops to class and spend a large amount of time using them. The schools are also set up with permanently mounted data projectors and staff members each have their own laptop/tablet for use in class. All classes I observed involved students working independently on research or tasks using the internet and laptops in class. Courses were organised on-line on a ‘workspace’ where students and staff could access material from anywhere.

The senior school (Grades 10-12) had very modern and well maintained facilities and was undergoing a Consultation Process for the next 10 year upgrade. I also observed the school assembly in which an amazing array of top awards (state and national) were given out for academic, sporting and cultural achievements. The school had a relaxed but focussed feel – students were easy to engage with and very polite (behaviour management is not a term necessary at the college). It was a real insight to see inside a private school and to see what difference the privilege of money can buy (but see earlier blog post). Interestingly, State Academies are attracting top students away from private schools so the school has gone and introduced the International Baccalaureate to try and compete in this respect.


The final school I visited was Holland Park, a state high school of about 520 students. A particular highlight was the time I spent with the literacy co-ordinator of the school. The school has received numerous awards for the literacy programme they run. Students spend 35 minutes (1 period) out of each of the 3 core subjects (Science, Maths and English) at Year 8 and 9 to improve their literacy skills and work through a series of literacy booklets. The students are ability grouped to give them access to different materials. The literacy program had shown students reading ages increase 2-3 years each year for some of the lower groups and students all improving above their yearly increment by being involved in the programme. The program had 3 foci: Tools of the Trade (decoding and grammar), Reading for Meaning and Critical Understanding.

The Fellowship offered me opportunities to enjoy times in schools and it was a privilege to visit. It also offered me a fantastic opportunity to have time away with my family, which we all relished.

Reflections from Australia - Part 2 (NSW Schools)

As I mention on my earlier blog-post, I recently had the opportunity to visit schools in Australia as part of a Woolf Fisher Fellowship. The focus of this posting is to mention some the highlights of visits to three NSW schools.

The first school I visited was Caringbah High School, a State Selective High School. There are about 8 selective high schools in Sydney, these are schools which have academic entry criteria good academic success. Selective schools provide an academic state education and are very popular. Students get selected to attend before Year 7 via the Selective High School Test in Year 6. One of the special programmes that ran out of Caringbah was a NASA supported space education programmes which had a Martian exploration context - looking for life on Mars. This has involved microbiology – looking at what is needed for life, mechatronics fun with a local university – remote controlling rovers, and use of the IMAX cinema to view Space exploration images on the BIG screen. The programme has also been extended into the local primary school with Year 5 & 6 kids visiting to have a similar course, this time supported by the Year 8 students at Caringbah. The programme appealed to me because of the way education became more seamless and links were made between the high school and both the university and local primary. I am sure all parties benefitted from the interactions and I feel all too often educational institutions work in isolation from one another when such links may prove very fruitful.

My next visit was Strathfield Girls, a successful state school with ESL students making up around 80% of the population. One special class I visited was a Year 10 ESL targeted class. This was team taught by a Science teacher and the ESL teacher. The teacher set up the practical work and the ESL teacher taught in the class with specially prepared resources. What amazed me was the ESL teacher was also a trained Science teacher. She was therefore able to create high quality resources with relevant science content and contexts and which specially targeted improving the language skills of ESL students. This team-teaching approach with ESOL students is a model I would love to see around any school I taught at.

Georges River College - Oatley Senior Campus is a senior college – Years 11 and 12. Senior colleges, like Selectives, arose from State attempts to stem the flow of students to private schools. The College formed about 4 years ago by drawing the year 11 and 12 students from three local schools. These schools have now become year 7-10 Junior Campuses. They are all Georges River College (GRC) but have different sites. School periods at GRC-Oatley Campus are 75 minutes long (this was common across Australian Schools), four of these on the average day split with 2 main breaks, each 30 minutes long. The campus was the site of an old teachers college and the school had a relaxed but mature feel about it (not dissimilar to a university). Students took responsibility for their attendance with the use of swipe cards - now there's an interesting idea!

One of the things I particularly liked about Georges River was their promotion of “The Oatley Way”. When I think of my own school, do we have a “Freyberg Way” and if we do, is it they way that we should be celebrating? I think articulating a school way could be a great way to highlight some of the values the school is focusing and promoting within the school community.

Next post...Queensland Schools.