Welcome to Leading today for tomorrow – from inequality to excellence in education, the second conference for educational leaders, which be held at Blundstone Arena, Bellerive, Tasmania – Tuesday 14 – Thursday 16 August 2018.
The Conference will focus on three key areas: leading learning; addressing inequality; and management.
The background themes are, facilitating delegate networks, and using technology to enable smooth and productive interaction between attendees. A variety of stimulus sessions and the use of a ‘home group structure’ will enable participants to contextualise sessions with one another.
Everyone will be assigned to home groups by facilitator Bob Phillips, and these groups will form the main organisational structure for the entire conference. As a member of your home group, you will select break-out options to suit you best, and you will be asked to share your insights with your home group.
The use of technology will be trialled using apps such as Sli.do and Plickers. These apps (and others) promote interaction and feature Q&A functions, live-polls and insights about audience members. You will be provided with downloadable information prior to the conference, so you’re all set and ready to go by the time you arrive!
This conference is designed to provide a supportive, intimate atmosphere with plenty of opportunities to connect and share.
| 1530 – 1730 | REGISTRATION | Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena |
| 1630 – 1730 | TPA Annual General Meeting |
| 1730 – 1900 | Welcome Function | Trade Exhibition, Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena |
| 0815 – 0850 | REGISTRATION | Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena |
| OPENING SESSION | Century Room, Blundstone Arena | |
| 0850 – 0900 | Welcome to Country Theresa Sainty |
| 0900 – 0930 | Opening Address Tim Bullard – Secretary, Department of Education Bob Phillips – Conference Convenor |
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Pasi Sahlberg will convene today with assistance from the conference facilitators. The day will be structured to look at international, Australian, then local school perspectives and will include presentations, work-shopping, and interactive discussion. |
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| SESSION 1 | Century Room, Blundstone Arena | |
| 0930 – 1030 | Keynote Address From inequality to excellence in education: The Big Picture Pasi Sahlberg A 45-minute presentation on the ‘Big Picture’ perspective will be followed by questions collected using ‘Sli.do’ – one of our background goals is to demonstrate how technology can assist in group participation. |
| 1030 – 1100 | Home Group Discussion Pasi will provide questions for groups to consider |
| 1100 – 1130 | MORNING TEA | Trade Exhibition |
| SESSION 2 | Century Room, Blundstone Arena | |
| 1130 – 1230 | The Australian Perspective Pasi Sahlberg What can Australia do to enhance equity and excellence in school education? This session will look at some key features of Australia’s education system from an equity perspective. It will also discuss some of the recent efforts to ‘fix educational equity’ nationwide, especially the Gonski 2.0 review and its potential to improve schooling in Australia. Again we will use ‘Sli.do’ or another tool to capture main themes which will be picked up in the next session. |
| 1230 – 1320 | LUNCH |Trade Exhibition |
| SESSION 3 | Century Room, Blundstone Arena | |
| 1320 – 1530 | Your School Perspective Pasi Sahlberg What can the schools do to improve equity? In the beginning of this session some concrete school-level building blocks will be presented. Then, the rest of the time school leaders will share their experiences and design new, concrete ways to make their own schools more equitable for all children. |
| 1600 – 1700 | Happy Hour | Trade Exhibition, Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena |
| 0800 – 0830 | REGISTRATION | Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena |
| 0830 – 0845 | Welcome to Day 2 Malcolm Elliott – President, Tasmanian Principals Association |
| 0845 – 0945 | Keynote Address Understanding Gen Z Claire Madden Director | Hello Clarity For Generation Z (born 1995-2009), a world of Wi-Fi is the only one they have ever known. Digital is their default, Siri is their personal assistant and with over 6 billion Google searches every day, access to any piece of information is only ever seconds away. They are digital linguists, social networkers, global collaborators and sensory engagers. In this session, Claire will unpack 5 key characteristics of this emerging generation, and equip you with keys to better understand, engage and work with the generation who are the most formally educated, technologically literate and materially endowed generation in history. |
| 0945 – 1015 | Home Groups Discussion |
| 1015 – 1045 | MORNING TEA |Trade Exhibition |
| ED TALKS |
Century Room, Blundstone Arena The Ed Talk format will allow for short presentations supporting the conference themes. Home Group discussion and collection of key themes, using apps will follow each talk. |
| 1045 – 1145 | Ed Talk 1 Digital Education – the path from Digital Consumers to Digital Producers Ben Wilson Assistant Principal | Cosgrove High School | Tasmania Technology is all around us, and it doesn’t look like it’s going away! Our current learners have been referred to as digital natives, and many of them are excellent consumers of digital content, but it’s the authentic production of digital content where we start to see a return on our investment in digital education. Based in current international research this interactive session further develops your understanding of the parts of Digital Education, who to listen to and how to strategically plan the path from digital consumers to digital producers. |
| Ed Talk 2 Four Parts Inspiration, One Part Perspiration Sally Gill Principal | Waimea Heights Primary School | Tasmania Sally will share a story of inspired/highly engaged students, courageous teachers and a supportive and resourceful community led by an inspirational school leader who captured an unexpected moment to build on a (digital learning) opportunity. This led to deepening the use of digital technologies as students solved real world problems. Building on a three year journey with the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning Project, Waimea had developed its own identity as a problem solving school when an unforeseen moment arose. A chance encounter, or even a misunderstanding, enabled students and teachers to grasp The Young ICT Explorers competition and made it part of the school learning culture as students engaged in making the world a better place. |
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| Ed Talk 3 Connected Hobart: An Innovative Smart Campus Pete Carr Director of City Innovation and Technology | City of Hobart Although Hobart, at 1,696km², is slightly larger than the average school campus, the boundaries between city campus and school campus are increasingly blurred. From stakeholders to technologies and partnerships to vision, the smart campus is a critical design thinking concept that will increasingly shape the success of contemporary education. Peter will explore some of the thinking behind the creation of the City of Hobart Smart City Alliance Innovation Precinct, a project in collaboration with the University of Tasmania, as a way of encouraging schools to engage and unlock the potential of their whole communities. |
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| WORKSHOPS |
45-minute workshops featuring Ed Talkers and today’s keynote speaker. Home groups will be asked to cover a range of workshops and share key insights in the final session. |
| 1145 – 1230 | Workshop 1 – Century Room Creating an engaging culture: Inspiring the next generation of staff and teams Claire Madden Director | Hello Clarity In a world of online networks and communities, increased mobility and constant transitions, creating a vibrant, dynamic and engaging workplace culture is key in attracting and retaining top talent. Gen Z are not only our students today, but make up almost 1 in 10 in our workforce. From creating ownership around a shared purpose and vision, to fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, in this session, Claire will outline 5 keys to facilitating greater engagement across multi-generational teams. |
| Workshop 2 – Chairmans Room Blended Learning, an introduction Ben Wilson Assistant Principal | Cosgrove High School | Tasmania This interactive session will provide some background for what Blended Learning is and why it is worth bothering with. Look at the various priorities and problems you need to address in your school where Blended Learning may be one of the answers. At the end of this workshop you should leave with a big picture view, some specific actions for your school for tomorrow and a virtual “showbag” of resources. |
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| Workshop 3 – Members Room Transferable Skills that are supported by Technology Rosemary Anderson Senior Project Officer – STEM | Curriculum Services|Department of Education – Tasmania Ken Price This hands-on workshop will provide practical suggestions and ideas to leverage the use of technology to develop 21st Century skills, in particular, thinking skills. Participants will examine why thinking skills are important for all students and explore ways to incorporate activities that build critical, computational and design thinking skills through the use of technologies. Participants need to bring a device (laptop/tablet etc.) |
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| Workshop 4 – Theatrette Putting the Pedagogy back in Technology with STEAM thinking Mark Gleeson Principal Education Officer | Extension School Program | Department of Education – Tasmania James Riggall Managing Director, Bitlink In Tasmania we have great schools, excellent teachers and wonderful young people, but sometimes there can be a disconnect between what we teach and how these experiences are delivered. Mark and James will talk about their experiences as STEAM educators, interrelating purposeful learning experiences with technology and collaborative learning cultures to produce powerful, innovative outcomes. Mark and James will emphasise that Tasmania has a great advantage in this area – access to partners in these learning journeys that can add enormous value to your school programs. |
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| Workshop 5 – Players Dining Room Technology Sandpit Sally Gill Principal | Waimea Heights Primary School | Tasmania Philippa Clymo Assistant Principal | Waimea Heights Primary School | Tasmania To follow up Sally Gill’s Ed Talk prepare to be inspired by attending this hands-on workshop, where a range of hands-on stations will allow you to try a wide variety of digital technologies. Learn about the potential pros and cons of each featured technology, gain ideas and resources to support their use, and talk with upper primary students about how they have used them. Featured technologies will include MaKey MaKey, Scratch, Arduino, Micro:bit, BeeBots, Bebras and other free and low-cost digital options. |
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| Workshop 6 – Suite #1 Innovation Precincts: A Model for Equitable Community Development Pete Carr Director of City Innovation and Technology | City of Hobart Peter will share some of the specific activities being undertaken within the city to establish Hobart’s own campus vision. From an initial narrative, to stakeholder consultation and practical strategic themes, this workshop will encourage ideas and discussion that may spark your school’s own smart campus ideation journey. |
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| 1230 – 1300 | Home Groups |
| 1300 – 1315 | Conference Close |
| 1315 – 1345 | FINAL LUNCH | Ricky Ponting Stand, Blundstone Arena Light lunch & there will be a takeaway option for those needing to depart. |