Forum: Where now for public schooling in Australia?
How can we deliver fulfilling, inclusive and engaging education for every student?
Release date: IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Friday November 15, 2024, 09:00 – 14:00
Location: John Niland Scientia Building (G19), UNSW Sydney
G19 Library Road Kensington, NSW 2052
For a growing number of young Australians, the school system is no longer fit for purpose. Many feel they don’t belong, and that they’re not learning in the ways the system demands. For others, the curriculum doesn’t engage their interest, or they feel trapped in the classroom when they’d rather be exploring the world.
A recent report from the Productivity Commission found that rates of school retention are at a 10-year low, with one in five students (21%) failing to finish Year 12.
Multiple governments have put national school reform on the agenda, yet, as a society, we never question whether the way we ‘do’ school is actually the problem.
As Chris Bonnor, co-author of Waiting for Gonski: How Australia Failed its Schools, states: “Overwhelmingly we still have conventional schooling driven by inadequate targets and assumptions about success. It continues to fall short, as do our repetitive efforts to fix it. It’s a good time to look for solutions.”
This Friday’s forum brings together engaged educators, researchers and young people to consider the long-term strategic actions that could deliver safe, fulfilling, engaging and inclusive education for every student, within a generation.
The forum will be hosted by UNSW Sydney’s Division of Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement and facilitated by Big Picture Learning Australia.
Big Picture CEO and Co-Founder Viv White is the driving force behind the event: “Big Picture Learning is one approach to changing the way we do schooling and learning that has successfully been implemented in Australia for over 18 years. There are other educators out there advocating for big change and putting ideas into practice. Let’s give a voice to innovation. Our young people are worth it.”
The forum will combine discussion and debate with input from leading thinkers, including:
- Dean Ashenden, Author of Unbeaching the Whale: Can Australia's schooling be reformed?
- Verity Firth AM, Vice President, Societal Impact, Equity & Engagement, UNSW and former NSW Education Minister
- Chris Bonnor AM, Author (with Tom Greenwell) of Choice and Fairness: A Common Framework for All Australian Schools and co-author of Waiting for Gonski: How Australia Failed its Schools
- Viv White, AM, CEO & Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning Australia
In his new book, Unbeaching the Whale: Can Australia’s schooling be reformed?, Dean Ashenden argues that the ‘whale’ of schooling – 9,500 schools, tens of thousands of classrooms, 300,000 teachers and four million students - is beached.
Dean argues that the education system can be redesigned, but only with a coordinated commitment to change “It requires a reorganisation or ‘restructuring’ of the system of governance, of the sector system, and above all of the daily work of students and teachers,” he said.
Forum participants will debate:
- Is ‘big reform’ possible?
- What would an equitable schooling system look like?
- What are the long term strategic actions we should be working towards?
- How can work, workplaces and learning be reorganised for teachers and students?
- Can we achieve governance that supports schools and teachers, and trusts them to do their job?
Click here for the Schedule of Events.
More information:
UNSW Equity, Diversity & Inclusion https://www.unsw.edu.au/edi/about-us
Big Picture Learning Australia https://www.bigpicture.org.au/media
Contact details:
Joanne Pettit
0418603830