I’ve been reading a fascinating book by former poker champion Annie Duke called “Thinking In Bets” where Duke challenges us about the things we think we’re certain about. Duke questions just how certain we’d be about the things we say or believe should somebody confidently look us dead in the eye and ask “Wanna bet?” …
So, we find ourselves at a big, fat, media-fuelled fork in the road when it comes to this issue of teaching our students consent as a means for addressing the societal challenges around sexual abuse and misogyny. On one side of the fork, we have our tried and trusty method of plugging some behaviour change…
If you jumped into an Uber and found a child driving, would you stay in that vehicle? If you lay on an operating table and found a child hovering over you, readying to perform your important abdominal surgery – would you just lay back and let the anesthetic kick in? Of course, you wouldn’t. The…
Jane Boyle, the Principal of Brauer College, made a mistake when she asked her boys to stand and apologise to the girls of the school, on behalf of their gender, for the misogyny they experience growing up. But the response to it across our country has been embarrassing and far more damaging than Boyle’s error.…
It feels weird and counterintuitive to just give stuff away when you’re trying to run a business. At Real Schools, we chose to do just that rather fiercely in 2020. Around the time that various states, especially Victoria, went into extensive lockdowns and remote learning periods, we had a team conversation about what we needed…
Every school has a 6B. Yours might not be called 6B. They could be called 2A or 9J but they invoke the same type of reaction from those who come into frequent contact with them – a slight gasp and a visible shudder. I’m lucky. Having been around the block a few times, I’ve encountered my…
This week, I was interviewed in several media outlets regarding comments made by our Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge. Essentially, I was responding to the usual ‘doom and gloom’ rhetoric about how we need to focus on our glaring teacher quality problem, have them learning how to teach reading/spelling/grammar at university (as though we don’t)…
I’ve been thinking a fair bit over the break about how we can all contribute to the recovery of our school system in 2021. In the end, my key reflections are a small number of things that we need to stop doing and then some stuff to start doing. Stop: Obsessing over perfection and comparing…
This Wednesday morning just gone I stepped into my typical role as the oldest and least fit person in the absurdly early 5.15am class at Gym One22. They’ve commenced a specific fitness challenge where you attempt to complete 1km in under four minutes on four different exercise machines. The first week, I succeeded on only…
The Victorian Government has released a wonderful grant opportunity for schools. We reckon this is a fantastic initiative that responds to a current and genuine need. And who knows … perhaps there are similar opportunities emerging in other states too. Quite a few schools are already working with us around an application that would incorporate high…