I once read a great proverb that went along the lines of “When you get to a fork in the road, choose the fork”. I reckon it applies to the programs and approaches that support the improvement of student conduct in schools. You can have both. Specifically, this applies to questions I’m frequently asked about…
Ever been to a pantomime where the crowd shouts “He’s behind you?!” to the innocent starlet as the bad guy’s dark shadow creeps into the audience’s view? Well, this is roughly how Victorian teachers feel this week as the dark shadow of NAPLAN engulfs their existence. When you’re constantly looking over your shoulder at shadows…
Some days feel like Christmas Day. And not in a jolly way. Christmas Day can be a bit much for me to be honest. A gargantuan carb-laden lunch leaves me at a critically exhausted tipping point where there are really only two choices when it comes to energy replenishment: Go for a walk. Take a…
We’re stuck with a fair bit of complexity in schools. Coping with it requires a sophisticated approach to leadership and to teaching. That means that we’ll have principles that drive the way we make decisions and strategies that reflect those principles. But a nimble and respectful school, chock full of variables and complexities, also recognises…
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…