This article originally appeared on The Educator online.
An Educator’s profession is all about learning, but ironically, finding the time and place to learn is often one of a teacher’s greatest challenges. Educators are endlessly curious and love to learn, and discovering the right type of program for their career stage and learning goals is a vital first step.
Crafting programs with teachers in mind
The education market has many great learning providers, and Hills Grammar is one that has already made its mark. The Learning Centre is the professional learning engine of Hills Grammar, a comprehensive Early Childhood to Year 12 school in Sydney, Australia. Each year The Learning Centre develops and invites engagement in a signature program designed and delivered by outstanding educators and thinkers. Participants can attend live, or virtually from anywhere across Australia or the world. All are welcomed and valued, and registration is free to all.
During 2023, The Learning Centre ran its Success Series. This was all about guiding students through the complex environment in which they live and learn, and it received fantastic feedback from teachers and parents across the Hills region of Sydney and beyond. In the coming year, the focus will shift more towards educators – a decision underpinned by worldwide research into the learning needs of teachers and leaders in diverse school contexts.
“We’ve formed a program that captures what we think are some of the cutting-edge aspects of what teachers and leaders are looking for in their learning,” Dr Christine Furner, Director of The Learning Centre and Professional Learning at Hills Grammar, tells The Educator. The Educator Series, launching from The Learning Centre in 2024, will run across two semesters, from February to October. The first semester will focus on enriching the leadership practices of teachers and leaders at all career stages, and the second semester will be about teachers supporting students in both the classroom and the broader school context. Any NSW teacher attending the first session, Leadership in Learning: A Cognitive Psychology Approach, will be delighted to hear that the course is NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited, and by completing it they can obtain one hour of NESA Accredited professional learning.
Connected learning for educators
Furner says, “Hills Grammar is known in the education sphere as a very welcoming, collegial school which values the individual, celebrates diversity and encourages educators as unique originals, with much to share and contribute. At the Learning Centre we call it the three C’s of professional learning – Collaboration, Collegiality and Connection – and those are the hallmarks of our program.” Through The Educator Series, The Learning Centre seeks to provide learning opportunities that inspire discussion and the sharing of expertise to enable both individual and collective growth. Innovative ideas and blue-sky thinking are welcome. Finding ways to integrate virtual participants is also important, as it can be easy for them to feel removed from the overall experience. All participants are seamlessly integrated, which enables live and virtual participants to talk to each other and share a variety of perspectives and experiences. “People who are virtually connecting to our courses aren’t just going to watch; they’re an integral part of each session,” Furner explains. Teachers also get the opportunity to network and build connections with their fellow educators at the end of each session – a valuable addition, as networking opportunities can be limited in education.
Meeting both teacher and student needs
Professional learning for teachers has been identified globally in educational research as a top determinator in boosting student learning. The link between quality and effective professional learning that is targeted at the development stage of teachers and leaders, as well as their actual teaching and learning context, is also critical to teacher resilience, wellbeing and collective efficacy – helping them stay buoyant and inspired in the fast-paced, innovative environment of today’s schools. That’s why The Educator Series of 2024 seeks to meet teachers and educators where they are at, personally and professionally, providing them with an accepting and welcoming place to learn, grow and contribute and an easy way to find colleagues with whom they can share expertise and draw upon for encouragement. Furner adds that teachers need “time to be, time to think, time to learn!” The Learning Centre provides teachers and educators with a one-stop shop – somewhere they can trust to provide targeted, unique, stimulating yet practical professional learning that they can hook into conveniently either live or virtually. “There needs to be maximum flexibility and maximum learning in that one hour, and it needs to be fun!” Furner says. “Each presenter is a seasoned teacher and leader, and they have a sense of humour. The sessions are workshops, not death-by-PowerPoint talkfests. It’s very interactive, and that’s what teachers are really telling us they want.”
Underpinning learning with research
Hills Grammar’s The Educator Series has been carefully constructed with reference to educational research based on the learning needs of teachers today, and it covers a broad range of topics related to teaching, leadership, student learning and wellbeing. Research is embedded into each session, and a digital package of research and resources is provided as part of each course to inspire further individual reading and learning. The topic of leadership is particularly important, as great leadership has been shown to be one of the top determinants of student learning.
In response to this, The Learning Centre has developed the theme of Enriching Your Leadership for Semester 1 of The Educator Series. The sessions offer deep dives into cognitive psychology; high-impact leadership; how teachers and leaders learn across their career stages; conducting case study research in school contexts; and how to lead people. Research also consistently reminds us that supporting students as they learn is critical to their learning and wellbeing. So, in The Educator Series Semester 2, the Supporting Your Students theme explores both innovative and practical ways to boost teaching practice and enhance student learning. With topics such as social and emotional learning, understanding dyslexia, and the importance of high expectations, the sessions aim to provide a balance between student learning and wellbeing. Seasoned leaders will share research-based strategies for the school context of supporting students, including the importance of high expectations and the power of student agency.
The sessions are for all teachers and leaders.
“In relation to our High Impact Leadership session, an early-career teacher might be hoping to be principal one day and could very much want to know about what high-impact leadership looks like in a school,” Furner says. “Principals and system directors could want a rundown on what some of the worldwide literature is saying. It’s really a learning program that relates to teachers and educators across the spectrum and relates to what’s happening in educational research today.” In The Educator Series, “they can look for professional learning topics that enable them to grow and develop their expertise, their leadership and their love for learning, as well as their teaching practice,” Furner adds. “With the Learning Centre, our intention is to inspire, invite and welcome. It’s a soft place to land, a place where educators from all contexts are valued and accepted, and where their ideas are going to be shared.”