Seeing is Believing: The Future School is Here

More people have become aware of the need to change schooling in a significant way, moving away from knowledge retention to equipping students with capacities to solve problems, work with others, communicate and create opportunities.

But people asked us what would significant change look like?

The 30-minute lecture and transcript capture the learnings from a global scan of future schools commissioned by ALL, and the principles Valerie Hannon found as common to those schools and enabling true transformation of all schooling for our times.

The lecture sets out three priority areas for action. These are: building the public will for change, encourage a different professional debate and become leaders who really lead.

In late 2020, the lecture and a live Q and A session was held in New South Wales – led by Mark Scott, Secretary, NSW Department of Education and in Victoria led by Dr David Howes the Deputy Secretary, Schools and Regional Services, at the Department of Education and Training, in conjunction with Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership.

In early 2021, the rollout continued in South Australia – led by Professor Martin Westwell, Chief Executive of SACE Board of SA, and Western Australia which had a follow-up panel discussion with Valerie, Colin Pettit (WA Commissioner for Children and Young People), Jay Weatherill (Minderoo Foundation) and Conor McLaughlin (Futuristic Skills).

Feedback from all lectures was encouraging with calls for more information and exemplar school videos to be made.

Comments included:

“I will be putting a more futuristic outlook on my teaching methodology.”

“I am sharing with the leadership team and will reinforce that many of the elements are in place. It just needs us to prioritise.”

“It affirms the word we do on values and the importance of the individual, and then the importance of connecting learning to the real world.”

“We really do need to continue educating our parents and students about thriving learners and provide our students with the opportunity for agency in their learning.”

Please get in touch with us if you would like to hold a lecture session at your school or department.