Compliance in itself is not a bad thing. It exists to ensure school systems and schools function within the rules and regulations set out by governing bodies. Just like when driving your car, everyone is very aware of the rules and regulations established to ensure driver and pedestrian safety. In a similar way, compliance helps … Continue reading Compliance And Accountability Do Not Need To Be Dirty Words
The employment of staff can make or break a school. The wrong person, whether it be a teacher or leader, can have a massive, negative impact on learning and school culture. An adjustment in mindset can help you get it right when it comes to employment. Generally, when employing we tend to focus on filling a … Continue reading Changing Employment Mindset: Employ People Who Are Better Than You
It is bewildering that education systems still exist within a structure created for a paradigm that has long outlived its 'due by date'. Educators continue to refine the creative art of teaching, but at the end of the day are constrained by the same claustrophobic structures borne out of a manufacturing mindset. One of the … Continue reading Exploring the Removal of Silos in Education
Some may assume that our Organic Learning Cycle is another version of an inquiry model. The truth is that it is purely a 'learning model'. Indeed the cycle is designed to help pose, find and solve problems in an inquiry sense, but the model just as brilliantly aligns itself with explicit/guided instruction, and in particular, … Continue reading Successful Literacy/Numeracy Instruction using Organic Learning
There are so many structures and processes in schools today that directly connect us to the old 'factory model' of education. Even with the construction of new schools, the model is still pretty much the same. There are some innovative practices in flexible learning spaces and methodologies for individualising learning, but our schools are still fundamentally … Continue reading It’s Time for Education to Let Go of its Autocratic Accountability Mindset
Innovation is a highly prized ingredient in any high performing school system. I find it interesting then, when government and/or school systems mandate school participation in 'innovation projects' and expect a significant impact on school-wide learning. Contrary to this approach is the idea of ground up innovation, where innovation occurs naturally based on an observed need … Continue reading WeLearn: By Teachers for Teachers (An Organic, Ground Up Innovation)
Organic Learning 