Mrs Judith Tudball, Deputy Principal (Operations)
Most education occurs inside walls… Education, when it succeeds, breaks down those walls, opens doors and puts primacy on the connections between the activity inside the classroom and the broader world and society outside it’ (Fischer and Mazurkiewwicz, 2011, p. 6)
As a school devoted to the education of young women, Brisbane Girls Grammar School is constantly striving for new ways for our students to benefit and achieve a deeper level of personal growth through life-wide learning. Life-wide learning opportunities are designed to nurture the student to help them develop their potential in all aspects of their life: physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and cognitively. They complement the formal learning inside the classroom by promoting grit, tenacity and perseverance, and can ultimately assist in developing a growth mindset.
Knowledge is not static. It is ever-changing as new interpretations and discoveries push us to reconsider what we know about a topic or a global issue. In schools today, it is a rare moment to find a class sitting in silence behind desks completing skill and drill exercises from a workbook. O’Brien (cited in Favrin et al, 2011, p. 52) states ‘Schools are now looking to provide students with something educationally unique and life changing’. In other words, schools are now working to ensure they provide authentic learning experiences for their students to robustly prepare them for the wider range of life skills required to achieve success in the twenty-first century.
There is no denying the current spotlight on NAPLAN results, PISA testing and academic league tables. The test score accountability movement and conventional educational approaches tend to focus on intellectual aspects of success, such as content knowledge. However, educationalists have realised that this alone is not sufficient. If students are to achieve their potential, they must have opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills. ‘When students have opportunities to work towards goals that are meaningfully connected to their future success, cultural values, lives outside of school, and topics that are personally interesting and relevant, they are more likely to persevere when faced with challenges’ (Shechtman et al, 2013, p. 20).
In a world where research tells us that sixty-five per cent of the jobs primary-age students will undertake are yet to be imagined (Heffernan, 2011), a focus on building twenty-first century skills is well justified. ATC21S (Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills, 2014) is an international research effort based at Melbourne University that is aimed at empowering students with the right skills to succeed in the twenty-first century workplace. The organisation advocates that while formal disciplines such as reading, writing, mathematics and science are often considered the cornerstones of education, curricula must go further to include skills such as collaborative problem-solving and digital literacy to prepare students for twenty-first century employment. In particular, the development of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, citizenship, and personal and social responsibility have been highlighted as practical skills necessary for future-proofing our students. These skills can be developed through engagement in life-wide learning activities: the extensive suite of experiences that encompass learning opportunities outside the formal classroom. Activities commonly associated with, but not limited to, this include co-curricular sport, music, drama and service. In realising our aspiration to be a leader in exceptional scholarship, it is important to promote the scholarship gained through participation in these above-mentioned activities.
Authentic education works to continually gather new knowledge from a variety of disciplines and fields. It has been identified by Fischer and Mazurkiewwicz (2011) as placing the focus on designing learning experiences that broadly connect educational practice to the real world and they recognise the six key aspects to the conceptualisation of authenticity in education as being: rigour, real world skills, knowledge, communication, interaction and purposeful products. These aspects align strongly with the rich academic culture in our School and provide a natural springboard for the development of life skills in our students.
Tangible authentic education can take many forms. It might involve expeditionary learning via participation in an international study tour or the Marrapatta Outdoor Education programmes, or it might involve life skills developed through participation in leadership and service activities, skills which simply cannot be gained sitting behind a desk or from Facebook (Miller cited in Favrin et al, 2011, p. 52). According to Fischer and Mazurkiewwicz (2011, p. 7) ‘Expeditionary learning seeks to develop a deeper understanding of knowledge through the development of skills of inquiry’. It not only teaches subject matter, but it also provides a vehicle to explore moral and personal development and allows students to explore judicious and ethical decision-making. There is no better place to explore this authenticity in education than through the life-wide learning programmes offered by this School. Students who have opportunities to work towards goals that are meaningfully connected to their future success, cultural values, or lives outside of school are more likely to persevere when faced with challenges (Shechtman et al, 2013). This perseverance is linked to the development of academic resilience and tenacity.
Dweck et al (2011) advocate that students who are academically tenacious seek challenging tasks and are not derailed by intellectual or social difficulty. Rather, they see setbacks as opportunities to learn. They believe they belong in school academically and socially, view effort positively, and have great capacity to remain engaged over the long haul. In a recent life-wide learning strategy meeting involving Marrapatta staff and the School Co-curricular Committee, representing sport, instrumental music, drama, debating, service, study tours and all interest activities, committee members reflected on what academically tenacious students looked like. The following traits resonated with the group owing to the capacity for students to authentically engage and develop these behaviours through participation in life-wide learning activities.
| Teamwork | Perseverance | Accuracy | Risk-taking |
| Patience | Self-confidence | Responsibility | Pride |
| Respect | Self-esteem | Self-discipline | Creativity |
| Commitment | Life skills |
To explain this further, when students become aware that their sound is heard above the others and they begin to blend their sound, they learn teamwork; when they follow a conductor’s baton through a series of metre changes, they learn accuracy; when they support their debating team by researching material but they are not selected as a speaker and have to wait for another opportunity, they learn patience; when they are on time for drama rehearsals or for sports training sessions they learn responsibility; when they refrain from talking during training clinics and rehearsals they learn respect; when they choose to commit to a sporting fixture or performance or debate over a personal event, they learn commitment; and so forth.
While nobody would question the relevance and necessity of the formal component of education, students who have an active engagement with the co-curriculum and experiential learning opportunities are generally happy, contented, goal-oriented scholars. These students are engaged in their learning, are socially connected to their school, and value the opportunity to broaden their life-skills. They are embracing the life-wide learning opportunities provided by the School and are building great capability to succeed in their education.
References:
Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. (2014). Purpose: Empowering Kids to Succeed. Retrieved 23 April 2014 from http://atc21s.org/index.php/about/purpose/
Dweck, C., Walton, G. M. & Cohen, G. L. (2011). Academic tenacity: Mindsets and skills that promote long-term learning. Paper presented at the Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA. Retrieved 30 March 2014 from http://www.stanford.edu/~gwalton/home/Welcome_files/Dweck,%20Walton,%20%26%20Cohen,%202011.pdf
Fischer J. M & Mazurkiewicz, G. (2011). Expeditionary teaching and learning: one means of authentic education. Social Educator. 29(2). 5-11.
Heffernan, V. (2011, August 7). Education needs a digital-age upgrade, The New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/
Favrin, J., Genua-Petrovic, Hammond, J., R., Maniska, M., McGarry S., Paradise, J., Paterson, V., Robilliard, H., Sarantakos, A., Sarros, A., Shepherd, K., Wardrop, J., Williams, J., Wilson, L. & Winter Cooke, J., (2011). Whole world learning: How schools are approaching overseas student travel. Independence. 36(2). 52-76.
Shechtman N, DeBarger, A. H., Dornsife, C., Rosier, S., & Yarnall, L. (2013). Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical factors for success in the 21st century. (Draft). US Department of Education. Office of Educational Technology. Retrieved 27 March, 2014, from http://pgbovine.net/OET-Draft-Grit-Report-2-17-13.pdf
Published 24 April 2014