14 June 2023

Across the Nation

Good day Colleagues,

As Term 2 draws to a close across our country, I trust this newsletter finds you well.

As you may know, I intend to take Long Service leave from 3 October 2023 to 5 July 2024 – it is then my intention to retire.

The ASPA Board has elected Andy Mison, ACTPA Co-President as the incoming ASPA President. I know that Andy will serve us well and continue the important work of ASPA. Andy will assume this role on October 3, 2023. I will write more about my opportunity as President of ASPA next term.

I wish Andy well.
Until next time
Stay well.
Andrew

Advocacy

1. ASPA has promoted the notion of increasing the Principals voice – to politicians and the general community. This has been a long-standing objective of your Association. ASPA played a significant role in the development of the national Workforce Action Plan. We have now been invited to a seat at the table at the upcoming National School Reform Agreement - 

This is very good news for ASPA and government education.

2. I continue to work on the Prime Ministers Prize for Science committee. This is very rewarding work – examining the excellent work our science/IT teachers do in our schools. Application numbers are down a little this year – probably due to the increasing workload on all staff in our schools. In 2024 – please encourage teachers to apply – the application form is out early in 2024; keep an eye out for it..

3. ASPA late last year and early this year lodged two submissions (attached below) to the Senate –

• On classroom disruption and another on
• School refusal

ASPA was called before the Senate Education Committee to give evidence to these two inquiries. ASPA had a very good hearing and covered all points comprehensively.

4. I was a guest speaker in Adelaide at a Social Ventures Australia meeting. This group is working on developing networks between Principals.

5. I have been invited to/have spoken at the Board meetings of WASSEA, TPA, NTPA, ACTPA and SASPA. My thanks to each Association for hosting me – it is always a pleasure to interact with colleagues.

6. I attended a meeting with AERO to discuss ways in which ASPA can effectively work with AERO.

7. I participated in the ‘Creating’ Summit – created by Griffith University. This summit was around the theme of - Transforming InDigenous Education in practice.

8. I spoke recently at the QSPA Conference – Shifting Perspectives. Attendance was high – recognising a real need for the networks that only associations can bring. Thanks to the QSPA Conference team for the invitation.

9. I continue to represent ASPA in the research being conducted by QUT around the pedagogy and operations of vertical schools – Fortitude Valley State Secondary College (in Brisbane), Adelaide Botanic and Prahran High School (in Melbourne).

Opportunities

1. The following is from ASIC providing information for financial literacy in schools -

• Moneysmart
• tools or calculators
• Lesson plans - Moneysmart.gov.au
• Teaching resources: Home - Moneysmart.gov.au
• About Moneysmart for teachers - Moneysmart.gov.au
• A guide to creating lessons plans about Money -Teaching consumer and financial literacy - Moneysmart.gov.au
• Understanding the financial lives of Young Australians - Young people and money - Moneysmart.gov.au
• A guide for Parents and Guardians - Teaching kids about money - Moneysmart.gov.au
• Teaching kids about money - Moneysmart.gov.au
• Student life and money - Moneysmart.gov.au

     2. Digital technologies are changing the way teachers go about their work. But not much is known about this.

Our first project phase was to conduct a survey. Thank you to those who responded to our survey!

Now, we want to explore in more detail how you are learning as you work. 

We invite you to participate in a qualitative research study where you will reflect on how your work is changing due to digitalisation and how you are learning in this evolving context.

This will involve approx. 9 hours of your time over a 12-month period where you will complete a short survey, write reflections about your learning experiences, and be interviewed by one member of our research team.

Participants will receive a certificate, which may be used for recognition of professional development hours, and $150 as a token of thanks.

    3. The following program is used widely in some jurisdictions across Australia. The purpose is to address bullying through identifying student connection before the bullying occurs – it is an innovative way to address this problem we all face.

It was 2009. I was working as a student counsellor in two state schools. I noticed that complex bullying scenarios took a huge toll on my Principal’s time and emotions. By the time bullying was reported to them the damage was often irreparable. Even after their best efforts, families still left the school wounded and sharing negative experiences far and wide. It was discouraging and painful, for everyone.

When I considered all the energy & pain which occurred in a bullying situation I thought "what if we were able to put some of this energy into students before bullying occurs."

Instead of focusing on bullying I flipped the concept and asked “How can we understand student connection in an objective, data driven manner?” Working with Dr Ruth Wraith from the Melbourne Children’s Hospital I found that evaluating trust was the most direct signifier for relational cohesion. TrustMapping is what came out of this process. It was a data driven instrument for understanding relationships. Bullying is hard to understand because it happens at anytime (eg. 2am online on the weekend) but Trustmapping identified relationship problems rather than bullying interactions.

“The speed at which the Trustmapping survey is conducted is highly advantageous. Most surveys are
onerous and time consuming which leads to inaccuracy in student responses.” 

Dr. Brigitta Stevens Organisational Psychologist 

It wasn’t long before I realised the larger application for schools. When students feel connected to their learning environment, the outcomes improve. The most connected students can be great assets in schools. Huntingtower’s first cohort to use TrustMapping graduated with the highest VCE scores. I realised that schools that invest energy in strong relationships also get good educational results.

Professor Robert Lowe from Oxford showed me through data that students learn far more efficiently in trusting environments. Professor Girt Tingarrd Svendson from Copenhagen University pointed out to me the positive effect of trusting relationships on whole countries. It was becoming evident to me that TrustMapping was an important tool not just for triaging dysfunction but for inspiring greater cohesion and effectiveness in classrooms.

TrustMapping asks every student about every relationship in their class every term.

Trust mapping allows us to

• Pick up changes to student connectedness
• Identify ‘at risk’ students before problems arise
• Confirm that a student is travelling well
• Indicate whether what we’re doing is working (or not)

“We use this with our Year 3-6s and it is fantastic. You receive some great data which allows staff to be proactive with regards to student wellbeing.” Rowan van Raay, Head of Warragul Junior School at St Paul's Anglican Grammar School VIC

Practicalities

• 5 minute online survey 
• Optimal for Grade 3 to Year 9
• Conducted Once per term
• Undertaken in class groups
• Password protected data

“This tool has transformed the relationships our students have with each other in our school. It gives teachers insight into how their students are really travelling and helps them help their students.”

Robyn McCarthy, Head of Middle School at Riverside Christian College, Maryborough QLD

“Seriously - If you are interested in your children, their growth socially and emotionally - not just their grades, Trustmapping is the best data you can get to give you an understanding of what needs to be addressed and developed in each individual child and a way of assessing the effectiveness of your programs on an individual and whole group level. It even gives you a good understanding of the child's trust and relationship to adults in the school! We've been using it for over two years now. Hands down the best!” - Larry McKeown, Teacher, Glass House Mountains QLD

Examples:

Data allows us to not only see specific relationships but also larger issues
Consider the charts below

Consider the highlighted students in the chart above

Over the year you can determine how things change

    4. From the National Mental Health Commission –

I wanted to reach out about some important work the National Mental Health Commission is currently undertaking. We have an online survey open which we are hoping you can share with your networks. Please see below details of the project and survey, including links to further information.

The National Mental Health Commission is working to deepen the conversation around digital technologies and mental health to better understand what components of technology are helpful or harmful for young people (aged 13-25).

To investigate the impact of digital technologies, the Commission conducted desktop research, consulted with a Youth Advisory Group convened through the Office for Youth, and worked with a Technical Advisory Group of experts in children and young people’s mental health to create a detailed discussion paper. It covers nine topics relevant for broad feedback.

We want young people, and those who live with, educate and support young people, to complete a survey to share their views. The responses will help inform our policy recommendations to the Minister for Health and Aged Care.

If you would like to assist by completing the survey, and by sharing it with young people or other stakeholders in your networks, it would be much appreciated. The survey is anonymous and closes at 5pm AEST on 22 June 2023. It takes around 30 minutes to complete.

Read more including the this discussion paper or go to our website: Understanding how digital technology is impacting young people - National Mental Health Commission. Please email youth@mentalhealthcommission.gov.au if you have any questions on the survey.

5. The Federal Minister has initiated a process to establish a National ‘electronic device use policy’ for the jurisdictions to use a guideline to establish effective policies of their own. Yondr is a company producing lockable pouches for mobile phones that use widely by schools – there are two information attachments below.

'Yondr works with schools individually to create a phone free space from arrival to dismissal using our patented lockable pouch'

    6. Looking for a school uniform supplier – UMS. Information below.

Who are Uniform Management Services?

UMS is an established Uniform supplier with over 40 years industry experience. We specialise in the design and manufacture of custom-made school uniforms, tailored to provide a unique and striking image to each of our school customers.

As specialists in custom school uniforms, we have built an experienced team of design experts, allowing us to control the entire design process in-house. Our expert staff work face to face with our school customers at every step to create uniform designs that achieve the school’s vision.

UMS define ourselves in the school uniform industry by our dedication to quality and service. Our core value of ‘People before Profit’ directs our decision making at all levels, from our retail shop staff to our factory sewing staff. As a 2nd generation family business, UMS focus on long term relationships over short term gains.

One of our key strengths is that we maintain total control over the manufacturing of our school uniform items through our factory, UMS Vietnam. We directly employ over 300 people in our factory and proudly maintain international accreditations for quality control and ethical treatment of our staff though ISO9001, SA8000 and SEDEX.

    7. Msp are on of the largest school photography companies in Australia – I recommend them to you –

MSP Photography.

MSP is the preferred school photography provider for over 3,000 schools Australia-wide. MSP is made up of 25 small businesses located all over Australia, providing schools and communities with local knowledge, understanding and dedicated service. All backed by our national network providing leading technology, security and reliability.

Photo Day shouldn’t be stressful, which is why our focus is on providing you with hassle-free school photography. We offer an easy online proofing and ordering process, friendly administration teams, quality products and on-time delivery.

Did you know? We also have an exclusive partnership with Compass? So for schools using Compass with MSP, your school photo day becomes even easier for both schools and parents!

MSP Photography is your all-in-one school photography provider… we can also assist your school with marketing, yearbook and printing needs. Reach out to your friendly, local team to learn more about the MSP difference!

    8. ASCA - Better Buying Power for Schools, Free Membership for You, More Support for Aussie Charities

ASCA is a not-for-profit association of schools. We save our member schools precioustime and resources by sourcing and recommending the best value suppliers and utilising our buying power to access more competitive offers for our members. Our members collectively save around $10M per annum on their purchases from over 100 supplier partners.

Click here to register for an account with The Good Guys Commercial

    9. Jacaranda have provided information for latest version o the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum v9.0, covered.

Jacaranda’s new editions for the Australian Curriculum v9.0 are coming in 2023, for use from 2024. Your teachers will get access to 100s of ready-made and customisable lessons with Jacaranda’s most supportive resources yet.

Samples are ready to view now, check them out below:

• Jacaranda Maths Quest 7-10 AC
• Jacaranda Science Quest 7-10 AC
• Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7-10 AC
• Jacaranda Health & PE 7 & 8 and 9 & 10 AC
• Jacaranda Artwise 7-10 AC

Get unbeatable value with Jacaranda’s Whole-School Solutions

Jacaranda is committed to providing schools with trusted, high-quality resources, at a price that is accessible to every school. Check out their range of teaching and learning packages below.

• The Jacaranda eLibrary (for Years 7-12): every teacher and student will have access to Jacaranda’s complete collection of 60+ online learning resources for Years 7-12.
  • Price: just $100 per student, per year. Whole school uptake required. Add textbooks for just $30 per copy.

• The Jacaranda Digital Bundle (for Years 7-10): a digital learning package of up to 12 resources that cover all core subjects.
  • Price: just $125 per student, per year. Full year level(s) uptake required. Add textbooks for just $30 per copy.

• The Jacaranda Value Bundle (for Years 7-10): a digital and print learning package of up to 5 resources that cover Mathematics, Science and Humanities. 
            Price: from $160 per student, per year. Full year level(s) uptake required.
  

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    10. The National Australia Day Council has information

Olympics Unleashed - Bring an Olympian to your school!

Kick off Term 3 with an Olympian visit to your classroom. Olympics Unleashed is bringing Olympians to year 4-6 classes across Queensland and your school can be next!  

Free for schools, your students will learn directly from athletes how to set goals, overcome challenges and follow their passion to reach their own personal best. Find out more and register at 

Taylah O'Neill
Public Relations Coordinator Public Affairs & Communications
Level 4, 140 George Street, Museum of Contemporary Art
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
T +61 2 8436 2164  /  M 0433 450 010
E taylah.oneill@olympics.com.au

    11. I wrote an Op-ed for Education Matters recently – you can find it below.

Research Corner

Forum on Research into Teacher Retention

Teaching workforce issues are high on the agenda of governments and no doubt many school leaders. There have been recent calls for a focus on teacher retention as the numbers of teachers leaving their career seems to be at a crisis levels. 

In late April, the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre at the University of Newcastle hosted a forum to bring together Australian educational researchers who are looking into issues associated with teacher retention. Participants shared information about the six significant research projects that are underway across the country. The forum provided opportunity to discuss ways to connect and collaborate in order to have the most positive impact on these crucial issues for school education in Australia.

If you are interested in finding out more about any of these projects, please see the information below. I will also be sure to share any further developments from across this network of researchers over the coming years. If you are interested in contacting any of the project teams or have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me - fiona.longmuir@monash.edu 

Project: Strengthening induction through QTR
Researchers: Prof Jenny Gore, Dr Sally Patfield, Dr Leanne Fray and Dr Drew Miller (Teachers and Teaching Research Centre - University of Newcastle)

Summary:

Given the high rates of attrition among teachers in the first five years of their careers, this project will investigate the extent to which Quality Teaching Rounds professional development supports early career teachers and improves levels of confidence, belonging, and self-efficacy. This national, cross-sectoral project will attract 1,600 teachers, a combination of beginning teachers and their mentors or more experienced teachers over the next four years and will aim to inform and improve early career induction processes, build a strong culture of collaboration, and reduce attrition rates of early career and experienced teachers alike.

See: 

Project: Career change teachers: Addressing teacher shortages in Australia
Researchers: Prof Simone White (RMIT), A/Prof Theresa Bourke (QUT), Dr Reece Mills (QUT), Dr Craig Wood (QTUE)

Summary:

Career change teachers: Addressing teacher shortages in Australia. Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis. Consequently, there have been concerted efforts by governments to attract people into teaching from other sections of the workforce. However, career change teachers often do not stay longer than five years in the profession. There is little evidence on how their retention can be enhanced. This project aims to better understand the differing motivations and experiences of these teachers from diverse backgrounds, and to determine how they can be better prepared and supported through their early years of teaching. A clear benefit of this project will be the longer term success for career change teachers and their schools and will ensure young people are not disadvantaged by high teacher turnover.

See:

Project: Early career teacher induction: Supporting precarious teachers
Researchers: Prof Anna Sullivan (UniSA), Dr Neil Tippet (UniSA), A/Prof Stuart Woodcock (Griffith), Prof Andrea Reupert (Monash), Prof Simone White (RMIT), Prof Michele Simons (WSU)

Summary:

Early career teacher induction: Supporting precarious teachers. This project aims to investigate the ways in which Australian induction policies support precariously employed early career teachers to effectively manage student classroom behaviour. This project expects to generate new knowledge of workforce development and induction experiences of early career teachers employed on casual and short-term contracts. Expected outcomes of this project include alternative policy and practice recommendations to support the transition of insecure replacement teachers within the profession. The benefits of this research include, improving teachers’ classroom management practices; the retention of new teachers; improving teacher workforce development; and building a healthier education system.

See:

Project: Impact of teacher shortages on teachers remaining in hard to staff schools
Researchers: Prof Jo Lampert (Monash), Prof Bruce Burnett (ACU), Dr Amy McPherson (ACU)

Summary:

Impact of teacher shortages on teachers remaining in hard to staff schools. This project aims to investigate the lived experiences of teachers in a time of unprecedented teacher shortages. While previous studies have examined the causes of teacher shortages, the project is significant in its review of the issues of teacher retention focusing instead on those teachers who remain. By addressing the problem of retention this way, the expected outcomes of this project include developing a much deeper understanding of how educational systems, as well as individual schools, can support those teachers remaining in the profession. This will provide significant benefits such as informing policy on how to facilitate greater teacher retention at a time when maintaining support for a declining teaching workforce is urgent. 

See:

Project: Invisible Labour: Principals’ emotional labour in volatile times
Researchers: Prof Jane Wilkinson (Monash), Prof Lucas Walsh (Monash), Prof Amanda Keddie (Deakin), Dr Fiona Longmuir (Monash), Dr Christine Grice (USyd)

Summary:

Invisible labour: Principals’ emotional labour in volatile times. Schools face a major principal recruitment and retention crisis due to intensified workloads and the emotional labour of managing diverse communities. This project aims to improve leadership preparation and development for school principals to help them manage complex emotional workload demands. The project expects to generate new knowledge about principal workforce development and to create a framework for policymakers that identifies the knowledge and practices required to develop leaders’ emotional skills and build bridges across diverse communities. Anticipated benefits include reduced principal turnover, improved teacher retention, improved student outcomes and greater social cohesion.

See

Project: “I left the teaching profession… and this is what I am doing now”: A national study
Researchers: Prof Robyn Brandenburg (Federation), Dr Ellen Larsen (USQ), Prof Alyson Simpson (USyd), A/Prof Richard Sallis (UMelb)

Summary:

There is already extensive research on teachers who intend to leave the profession. We know the reasons teachers say they want to leave include work intensification, salary, increasing levels of administration and a general lack of respect for the profession – there's a lot of research that has been done in this area. But we really need to hear from the people who have already left and find out why they left, what they are doing now, and whether they intend to return to teaching in the future.

See

Transformative Leadership: Leading for Equity and Excellence

Amanda Heffernan (University of Manchester)

This article proposes that transformative leadership might be a useful theory for thinking about some of the challenges facing schools today, and provides some open-access links to anyone wanting to learn more about these ideas.

Australia’s public schools exist within policy, political, and social conditions that mean leaders’ work is deeply complex and often focuses on issues of equity, social justice, and access to quality education for the young people in their care. This is reflected in the Mparntwe Declaration goal of promoting excellence and equity, and in subsequent policies and strategic agendas of each schooling system around the country.

Traditional ideas of ‘Leadership styles’ are seen by many critical education researchers as problematic because they don’t necessarily take local context into account. Along with lists of ‘what works’ when leading schools, they can leave leaders and teachers wondering why the promises of what should work, might not be working in a particular context for addressing a particular issue. In the long run this can add to stress and burnout for leaders who are already working in intensely pressurised environments and, according to recent research I conducted in partnership with ASPA, feel that the types of support they receive from systems and communities can be insufficient.

More complex ideas need to be brought in to help leaders think about, and begin to address, these complex challenges. One possible approach is the theory of transformative leadership, developed by Carolyn Shields.  This theory has been developed to address inequities in education and rather than giving a list of things to do, provides a framework for thinking about actions that can lead to significant and long-lasting change.

There are eight key ideas within transformative leadership:

1. a mandate for deep and equitable change,
2. the need to deconstruct knowledge frameworks that perpetuate inequity and injustice and to reconstruct them in more equitable ways,
3. the need to address the inequitable distribution of power,
4. an emphasis on both private and public good,
5. a focus on emancipation, democracy, equity, and justice,
6. an emphasis on interconnectedness, interdependence, and global awareness,
7. the necessity of balancing critique with promise, and
8. the call to exhibit moral courage.

These tenets work together and emphasise long-term vision and strategy for leaders to make a difference in their schools. Shields emphasises in her writing (and in point 8 above) that this type of leadership requires moral courage – taking risks, and being actively engaged in working towards addressing issues of equity and inclusion.

It is important to note that transformative leadership is not the same as transformational leadership, though the two ideas can be confused due to their names. Transformative leadership is grounded in traditions of thinking critically about education, policy, and leadership, and asking questions about equity and social justice. Other frameworks or models have similarly used the word ‘transformative’, so if searching for more about this do make sure to focus on work either written by, or referencing, Shields.

Open access writing and research about transformative leadership

An open-access book review on a key text about the ideas of transformative leadership can be found here (this link will download a PDF) and provides a useful starting point:

Further open-access research about transformative leadership includes this article written by Shields in 2010, where some of these ideas were still being developed: Transformative Leadership: Working for Equity in Diverse Contexts. 

From Our Partners

Free Resources

Incidental financial life skills: If you would like students in your school to develop an awareness of financial life skills through incidental learning then consider making our e-zines freely available to students by email or download from within your school’s website.

You can download them for free from our brochure website. 

TWA produces two e-zines annually – the general Teenfinca® e-zine, designed especially for a teenage audience, and Teenfinca® Entrepreneur, designed for those students interested in business and entrepreneurial studies.

Online Courses

Students love these two resources. They provide an opportunity to read and listen to the views of other secondary students and discuss financial life skills topics that relate to their life.

All courses include:

• Facilitator notes and sample responses
• Supplementary extra activities
• E-posters to use as visuals around the classroom.

Peruse TWA’s online courses here.

Some Readings