Aussie schools punch above their weight: Pearson Report

 

20 June 2016

Two Australian schools feature among the top schools in the world in terms of successful innovation within the bounds of the curriculum, a report released in Australia today reveals. Broadmeadows Primary School and Templestowe College, both in Victoria, are highlighted in The Problem Solvers: The teachers, the students and the radically disruptive nuns who are leading a global learning movement, a report by education expert and global leader in innovation and creativity, Charles Leadbeater, commissioned by the world’s leading education company, Pearson. The report says both schools are “harbingers, [of] early and sometimes faint signals of what education systems worldwide will need to become.” Pearson Australia Managing Director, David Barnett said: “It’s great to see two local schools lead the way in tackling the challenges we must overcome as we as we shift from teaching students to follow instructions, to helping students solve problems.

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“Broadmeadows and Templestowe schools have managed to create a dynamic environment where students are able to take ownership of their own development, understand where their strengths, weaknesses and interests lie and – critically – be assessed in the more intangible skills.”

The report says at Broadmeadows Primary, children as young as five are able to reflect on their comparative strengths and weaknesses, and articulate what they need to personally focus on to improve.

Teachers build a set of behaviours in students that involve acquiring and testing knowledge, building personal strengths such as persistence, encouraging collaborative problem solving and taking action and responsibility.

“The results have been outstanding,” said Mr Barnett. “Even though Broadmeadows as a suburb ranks low on the social economic scale, they are meeting the statewide average which is remarkable.”

The report says Templestowe College is committed to ensuring every child leaves with good exam results as well as a deeply personal experience developing a real world business.

“They do this through offering seed funding for entrepreneurial ideas, allowing students to create their own study program from over 150 options, choosing their start times and collaborating with other students based on focus, not age,” said Mr Barnett.

“And most unbelievably, the school has signed a deal with several universities to accredit students as ‘ready for university’ regardless of test scores.

“The results at both schools are astounding and illustrate how national curriculum standards can be compatible with the development of the intangible, personal and collaborative competencies that we value, but which are hard to specify in detail.”

“Both schools show that the debate is not – nor should not – be ‘curriculum OR innovation’, rather than ‘curriculum AND innovation’.”

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