Professional
Learning

Overview

Poor social and emotional wellbeing negatively affects students’ school attendance, engagement, learning, and academic outcomes – threatening core education goals. By early secondary school, for example, students with a mental health problem can lag academically by almost three years, compared to their well peers. Yet evidence also shows that good social and emotional skills – such as learning to understand and manage emotions and establishing and maintaining positive relationships – developed by the age of 10, can predict a range of adult outcomes (age 42), such as life satisfaction, employment success, and overall health.

This presentation will summarise the latest school wellbeing research showing how and why explicit and implicit (academic care) teaching of social and emotional learning is critical to student health, behaviour and learning.

AITSL Standards addressed

Focus area 1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students

Focus area 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities

Focus area 3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process

Focus area 4.1 Support student participation

Focus area 4.4 Maintain student safety

Focus area 6.3 Engage with the parents/carers

Overview

INVITATION ONLY Event – teachers and educational chaperones

The National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC) is one of the major components of the Australian Government Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) program.  The NSCC is an annual peak event exploring the Australian Constitution for senior school students in Years 11 and 12.  A total of 120 students will be selected nation-wide each year to attend.  

Overview

The Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) is a proud supporting partner of the Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2024 taking place in Sydney from 19 – 21 March 2024.

The Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2024 is the first event in Australia designed for secondary and tertiary education leaders tasked with harnessing the power of generative AI while avoiding the risks.

These are unchartered waters and the stakes are high, so it’s critical that education leaders are equipped with the knowledge, tools and strategies necessary to navigate the continuously evolving AI landscape.

Join our ACSA President, Dr Deborah Price in a panel discussion on ‘How can institutions manage and minimise risk when using generative AI in education?’

Register with VIP code ‘ACSA15’ to save 15% off the registration fee for Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) members. Book online here or call +61 (0)2 9977 0565.

Overview

Australian teachers are expected to use a common curriculum framework as a foundation for learning experiences that enable all learners to participate and thrive. In practice, this means designing meaningful, engaging tasks in classrooms where students’ academic starting points may span the equivalent of eight or nine grade levels. Effective differentiation is essential. Yet, the concept of differentiation is often markedly oversimplified or overcomplicated to the point where it is virtually unattainable. In this webinar, we will explore some practical ways to think about differentiation and some applied strategies for approaching planning and teaching for academically diverse learners.  

AITSL Standards addressed

1.2 Understand how students learn

1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities

1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability

3.1 Establish challenging learning goals

3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs

4.2 Manage classroom activities

5.1 Assess student learning

Overview

Ngarrngga is a Signature Project at the University of Melbourne. It is a collaboration between the Faculty of Education, Indigenous Studies Unit and Indigenous Knowledge Institute. Our vision is for all Australian students to have the opportunity to connect with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems, histories and cultures.

To support educators in this work, we provide free, high-quality curriculum resources and professional development modules, spanning all subject areas from Years 3 to 10. 

Policy advocates for promoting reconciliation through the educating of all Australian students and youth about our shared history. In this workshop, we will explore the historical, social and political milestones that has led to the recognition and showcasing of Indigenous Knowledge in Australian classrooms. We will explore how Ngarrngga supports educators to learn about the contributions and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through a practical and sustained approach. The importance and potential impacts of this project will be shared inviting you all to join with us as we work to effect change in education.   

AITSL Standards addressed

~ 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds

~ 1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

~ 2.2 Content selection and organisation

~ 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

~  3.4 Select and use resources

Overview

Rethinking education in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) has profoundly disrupted the education sector. Whilst there remains caution with its implementation, it is an exciting time to explore the potential of AI to drive innovations in teaching and learning practices.

The Hatchery’s 2nd Integrating AI in Education conference will bring together key leaders, educators and experts to explore the positive potential of AI to transform education and enhance student learning and outcomes. This conference will unpack the present challenges relating to academic integrity, assessment and the ethical implementation of AI in schools, and in light of these concerns, explore practical solutions and best practices for leveraging AI as a tool to innovate teaching and learning.

This event will provide a thought-provoking and collaborative platform to share insights, exchange ideas and unpack the possibilities of AI to enrich the educational and learning experience for educators and students alike.

ACSA President Dr Deborah Price joins Sharon Foster (Executive Director Curriculum, ACARA) and Lauren Sayer (Director of Curriculum, VCAA) in a panel discussion on ‘Improving teaching, curriculum & assessment using AI’:

• Reflecting on the role of AI in supporting evolving 21st century requirements of teaching and learning 
• Leveraging AI to enhance the quality of assessments
• Uncovering the potential for AI to improve curriculum delivery

ACSA members can register for the event here and use the code ‘ACSA‘ at checkout for $200 off the current advertised ticket price. 

Overview

There is an ongoing focus on improving students’ academic, behavioural and wellbeing outcomes in the Australian education landscape. The recently released Independent Expert Panel’s final report, Improving Outcomes for All, emphasised the need to lift student outcomes, improve equity and improve student wellbeing. Alongside this are calls to address increasing disruption in Australian schools. While the factors informing these reports are complex and many, how teachers implement curriculum is one factor that can significantly impact on students’ behaviour and their opportunity to succeed in learning. In this webinar, we will explore how accessible curriculum implementation can enable student outcomes. We will further discuss the importance of obtaining and engaging with quality data, and how this can be supported by collaboration with colleagues.

AITSL Standards addressed

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of student

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds

1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

3.5 Use effective classroom communication

4.1 Support student participation

5.1 Assess student learning

5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning

5.4 Interpret student data

Overview

This session will highlight strategies used to maximise the impact of engaging with colleagues to improve practice.  A series of examples will be analysed to identify key moves that have made a difference in the transition from idea to action. Examples will be drawn from collaboration between colleagues, to whole school approaches, formal guided collaborative inquiry between schools, and whole of system co-design. From curriculum to learning, from data to data-informed practice, and from strategy and policy to strategic action, – we can make a difference when we work together effectively to support our students realise their potential.

AITSL Standards addressed

3.6, 6.3, 6.4

Principal standard = Leading improvement, innovation and change

Middle Leader Professional Standards

Overview

South Australia has been working as an educational ecosystem with shared vision and impact. The SACE Board has worked as a node in the system to drive awareness and desire to activate student agency and fairly and formally recognise more of what young people know and can do. A complexity-aware approach has been used, which acknowledges that transformational change cannot occur in isolation. Hence, they have built a coalition made up of schools, teacher and students, tertiary institutions, business and industry and national experts and first movers. What we have found over the last three years of progress has been a diverse group of stakeholders committed to leaning in and testing new ground for the better learning outcomes for our young people and better matching to post-school pathways.

AITSL Standards addressed

1.2 Understand how students learn

1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Overview

Increasing human displacement, migration and mobility of individuals and communities currently rub up against national mainstream curriculum in most countries. In Australia, like many ‘northern-facing’ countries, curriculum rests on a default design that assumes a singular view of theory, knowledge, and pedagogy. Despite discourses sympathetic to multi- or inter-culturalism and diversity, the education system rests on an imagined monolingual English-speaking society with shared values. Instead, Australian society exhibits complex diversity. Yet, the ways of being, believing and knowing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students remain largely invisible, and those of students from many settings beyond the anglosphere are met with varying degrees of marginalisation or exclusion.

There are three aims for this session. First, the relationship between language and societal multilinguality as conduits of ways of being, believing and knowing are discussed. Second, implications of shifting from singular assumptions of knowledge, language and faith to plural experiences and worldviews are scoped. Third, longitudinal research findings on the use of human and machine translation technologies are offered as a promising shift towards theoretical, pedagogical, curricular, and assessment pluralities. These offer reciprocal exchanges among students and educators, and seque to educationally sound use of generative AI tools.

AITSL Standards addressed

1.2 Understand how students learn

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious & socioeconomic backgrounds

1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

5.1 Assess student learning

Overview

All students deserve the right to succeed in and enjoy mathematics.

Sadly, not all students have this opportunity. A large proportion of our students miss out due to maths anxiety or the pervasive attitudes associated. Attitudes like “I’m not a maths person” or “maths is all about being fast” for example hinder countless schoolchildren worldwide. It’s more than just a fear of numbers; it’s a debilitating cycle that stifles learning and potential and cuts them off from a career in STEM.

To make matters worse, we have 30% of primary teachers with maths anxiety, an increasing proportion of maths teachers teaching out of field and parents who often, unknowingly, contribute to many of these attitudes.

This session will take a look at what Maths anxiety is and how teachers can reduce it.

AITSL Standards addressed

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students

2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies

3.3 Use teaching strategies

4.1 Support student participation

Curriculum Symposium Overview

Delegates will leave the Symposium with a refreshed and inspired understanding about

• What CURRICULUM is: what counts as knowledge?

• The purpose of CURRICULUM

• The way CURRICULUM permeates every aspect of education

• Their own role in working collaboratively in shaping CURRICULUM

• Best practice models that can inform CURRICULUM enactment for their contexts

Delegates will wrestle with big picture CURRICULUM essentials

• What is it? What is its purpose? What has it become?

• How do teachers and leaders understand it, shape it, use it?

Delegates will deeply explore current & contemporary CURRICULUM conversations and engage with rich CURRICULUM models in practice. Delegates will be challenged to reconceptualise CURRICULUM.

​Who is this Symposium for?

Those involved in or seeking to influence education through robust curriculum conversation. An opportunity to engage and wrestle with different points of view, in light of current research, and its potential impact on curriculum. A platform offering safety and respect for those sharing various perspectives.

Overview

Play offers children a powerful opportunity to build a disposition for learning that shapes the rest of their learning lives.  As children play, they strengthen their capacity to think, discover, create, improvise and imagine.  Play holds a critical place in the repertoire of educators as they design curriculums that prepare children for the being of today and the becoming of tomorrow.  

This session will explore the way play is understood in the early childhood classrooms of the 21st century and how this approach supports a continuity of learning. 

AITSL Standards addressed

~ 2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area(s)

Apply knowledge of content and teaching strategies of the teaching area(s) to develop engaging teaching activities.

~ 3.3 Use teaching strategies

Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving, and critical and creative thinking.

~3.4 Select and use resources

Select and / or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage learners in their learning.

Overview

AI/technologies are with us and the future… The last two years has seen a tremendous upsurge in the push to incorporate AI into teaching and learning practices.  Unfortunately, this push was done with little foresight and even less data.  Supporting educators with developing skills of critical and informed use of technologies is important.

AITSL Standards addressed

Yet to come

Schools are increasingly under pressure to deliver better student outcomes. Using evidence to inform teaching practice is essential to maximising the impact teaching has on student performance. However, with so much access to evidence and data, and educators poor on time, translating evidence into practice can quickly be overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be.

The Evidence Informed Teaching conference will provide you with practical insights and tools to support your school to not only implement, but sustain evidence informed teaching practices. Bringing together school leaders, experts, government education departments, and curriculum authorities to share and spotlight evidence based teaching strategies. This event will showcase case study examples and practical insights that will assist in building teacher capability and efficacy.

Dr Deborah Price will Chair the Panel following keynote 1 entitled: Exploring the latest in curriculum reform and evidence-based teaching practices.

The panel’s discussion will dive into pedagogy and how curriculum informs pedagogy.

Discounted registration for ACSA members: $200 off current advertised
conference registration. Registration link here 

Dr Deborah Price will facilitate the Panel on day 1: Exploring practical strategies for differentiated instruction

The panel will explore practical strategies for differentiated instruction. 

• What are the most effective methods for tailoring instruction to meet different student needs?
• How can educators implement dynamic grouping based on students’ abilities, interests, and learning profiles?
• How can teachers design tasks at varying levels of difficulty to ensure all students are appropriately challenged?

Implementing differentiated instruction to support diverse learning needs and growth.

Amid increasing pressure for schools to deliver better student outcomes, differentiation has never been more critical as a strategy for success. The Differentiation & Engagement in Teaching & Learning conference focuses on integrating differentiation into the curriculum and developing whole-school strategies to support tailored teaching practices that lead to engaged classrooms.

Attendees will explore how to achieve better outcomes by tailoring their strategies to the diverse abilities, learning styles, interests, and needs of students in their classrooms.. Through practical real-world examples that touch on inclusive classroom techniques, data analysis, and technology join us to discover how educators can implement these solutions to drive meaningful educational improvement.

Overview

The Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) is a proud supporting partner of the Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2024 taking place in Sydney from 19 – 21 March 2024.

The Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2024 is the first event in Australia designed for secondary and tertiary education leaders tasked with harnessing the power of generative AI while avoiding the risks.

These are unchartered waters and the stakes are high, so it’s critical that education leaders are equipped with the knowledge, tools and strategies necessary to navigate the continuously evolving AI landscape.

Join our ACSA President, Dr Deborah Price in a panel discussion on ‘How can institutions manage and minimise risk when using generative AI in education?’

Register with VIP code ‘ACSA15’ to save 15% off the registration fee for Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) members. Book online here or call +61 (0)2 9977 0565.

Schools are increasingly under pressure to deliver better student outcomes. Using evidence to inform teaching practice is essential to maximising the impact teaching has on student performance. However, with so much access to evidence and data, and educators poor on time, translating evidence into practice can quickly be overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be.

The Evidence Informed Teaching conference will provide you with practical insights and tools to support your school to not only implement, but sustain evidence informed teaching practices. Bringing together school leaders, experts, government education departments, and curriculum authorities to share and spotlight evidence based teaching strategies. This event will showcase case study examples and practical insights that will assist in building teacher capability and efficacy.

Dr Deborah Price will Chair the Panel following keynote 1 entitled: Exploring the latest in curriculum reform and evidence-based teaching practices.

The panel’s discussion will dive into pedagogy and how curriculum informs pedagogy.

Discounted registration for ACSA members: $200 off current advertised
conference registration. Registration link here 

Dr Deborah Price will facilitate the Panel on day 1: Exploring practical strategies for differentiated instruction

The panel will explore practical strategies for differentiated instruction. 

• What are the most effective methods for tailoring instruction to meet different student needs?
• How can educators implement dynamic grouping based on students’ abilities, interests, and learning profiles?
• How can teachers design tasks at varying levels of difficulty to ensure all students are appropriately challenged?

Implementing differentiated instruction to support diverse learning needs and growth.

Amid increasing pressure for schools to deliver better student outcomes, differentiation has never been more critical as a strategy for success. The Differentiation & Engagement in Teaching & Learning conference focuses on integrating differentiation into the curriculum and developing whole-school strategies to support tailored teaching practices that lead to engaged classrooms.

Attendees will explore how to achieve better outcomes by tailoring their strategies to the diverse abilities, learning styles, interests, and needs of students in their classrooms.. Through practical real-world examples that touch on inclusive classroom techniques, data analysis, and technology join us to discover how educators can implement these solutions to drive meaningful educational improvement.