Learning is just beginning

Learning is just beginning

What do you think this means?

To me, this statement refers to the way in which learning and the education system as a whole needs to constantly evolve and change as society changes. 'The Future of Learning' video talked about the ways in which modern technology has the capacity to change learning and the education system completely and to both engage and  enable students to learn. In the news recently there has been talk about how the jobs we are preparing our students for don't even exist yet and the technology they will be using hasn't even been invented yet. How then, can we as teachers make sure we are preparing our students adequately?

Firstly, we need to focus on the skills which they will need, regardless of their future career path. Our job as educators is not just to teach content. As ISPS mentions in its vision, we provide students with the skills to become lifelong learners who are responsible, productive citizens of the global community. To do this, we must look past the rigid learning outcomes on AUSVELS. All students will need some aspect of literacy and numeracy to function in society, they will need to know how to interact with others in a respectful and appropriate way, how to collaborate with others and how to resolve conflict as it arises. They will need to be confident communicating in both written and oral forms. They will need to be able to problem solve and deal with failure. In short, learning needs to prepare students for life - not for tests.


However, the education system itself is flawed. Whilst a teacher might have the best intentions in nurturing their students to achieve these skills, the demands of external forces upon teachers such as the rigid outcomes listed on AUSVELS and the 'one size fits all' approach of tests such as On Demand and NAPLAN dictate exactly what students should learn and place importance on a students ability to regurgitate information in the exact way the test requires. These tests don't measure the ability for a child to problem solve, or use technology to research an answer. They also don't value a student whose strengths lie in less academic skills. It doesn't celebrate the success of student x who has spent years struggling to make friends but can now interact appropriately and positively with his peers. As such, we see students become disengaged and less confident in their own abilities. We teachers believe our worth is based on the outcomes of our students test results and we unconsciously  pass this belief onto our students. The current education system is failing our students.


Luckily, it is not all doom and gloom. We are increasingly seeing a shift away from traditional thinking about education and the learning process. The education system is widely agreed to be an outdated system and innovative technologies and teaching programs are beginning to evolve. Whilst it is frustrating to still be working under the constraints of a rigid education system, it is also an exciting time to be a teacher as we experience the beginning of a dramatic shift in the education system. It may take time to change as radically as it needs to, but the interest in and emphasis on adapting teaching and learning to accommodate new thinking is evident not only in the ISPS community, but globally. If teachers and policy makers work together to re-think the education system, then learning really will be just beginning.

'The new pedagogies require students to create new knowledge and connect it to the world by using the power of digital tools.'

How could this Look at ISPS?

We, as teachers, would have to allow ourselves to lose some control over the exact content of learning - keeping in mind that the overall goal is based upon new aims for learning.  We need to get behind the idea that we want to develop students' ability to lead their own learning, however this will undoubtedly be a challenge. It will be hard to let go of wanting to control exactly what the students are working on and learning about, yet it will also be an enriching experience for both us and the students. Our focus should be on connecting learning experiences to children's own interests and aspirations by allowing students the freedom to explore their own interests. I am sure we will find ourselves in a situation where the students themselves are engaged in creative and connected learning with an authentic audience (potentially beyond the school) and where students themselves can work collaboratively without the assistance of the teacher. We might also find that students will become the teachers themselves as they will be able to speak authoritatively on learning they have undertaken without teacher assistance. In the 'Rich Seam' reading, they refer to teachers becoming partners with students and I think this is a key point to think about.

In addition to facilitating access to online learning within our classrooms, we will also need to ensure we are educating children on how to be responsible online learners. They will need to understand how to use the internet responsibly and carefully to find and share information. This will need to start as early as Prep. We must educate children on how anyone can write anything on the internet and on the dangers of sharing information with strangers. We should also be providing them with the tools to find reputable and trustworthy sites but equally we need to be open to students taking a certain amount of risk and allowing them to make mistakes - as this is where they will learn.

Another challenge will be for us to find digital tools that are meaningful and useful in the context of new learning - ensuring we are not just using technology for the sake of it. We will need to be constantly engaged in trial and error with new apps/websites and must be driven by a willingness to work collaboratively across the school. We will need to be open to trying new ideas and accepting that they will not always work. We will also need to become organised in planning for the use of technology - for example with two sets of iPads in the whole school, we will need to make others aware when we intend to use them and teach our students to be responsible for using and charging equipment so it can be used in other classrooms.

In summary, ISPS teachers will need to;

• plan for learning programs that allow students the freedom to explore their own interests
• take risks in implementing new digital tools
• be open to losing some level of control over learning
• encourage students to take risks and recognise failures as learning opportunities
• work collaboratively within and across teams.