Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2012

The result has been the development and adoption of the School’s Philosophy of Teaching, a frame of reference for all teachers in all the contexts where our girls learn. The philosophy challenges the School’s teachers to create authentic and empowering learning environments through providing experiences for girls that: • Foster rigour and deep understanding • Promote higher order thinking skills • Engage in disciplined and critical inquiry • Create connectedness across different contexts • Engage students with their learning and the learning process, and • Develop sustained and substantive communication skills . The philosophy was developed from contemporary research into effective teaching practices and their impacts upon student achievement, with each of its elements supported by considerable bodies of work. In itself it is a scholarly basis for all of the School’s teachers to reflect upon how they deliver a curriculum to our students. The broad intention, to create authentic and empowering learning environments, summarises the ethic and atmosphere of how Grammar girls learn. Teaching is meaningful and purposeful and deals with significant concepts and skills at each stage. It equips girls with the ability to cope with the intellectual, physical and emotional demands they will face beyond the security of the School’s gates. This intention recognises that contemporary learning places are wide and varied irrespective of where or what they are. Each of the six key elements challenges us as educators to develop experiences that we know will work to maximise the achievements of our students and develop in them the skills of life-wide learning.

The philosophy has been a key focus for the start of the 2012 academic year. Prior to the girls returning to School, it was the stimulus for wide-ranging cross-faculty discussions about best practices in teaching and learning. It drew together an extensive analysis of what each of the philosophy’s elements entails for Brisbane Girls Grammar School and provoked the creative conversations that lead to innovative teaching. As teachers, it allowed us to reflect on the strategies that best focus our girls on drawing the most from themselves and required us to question how we can develop the School’s curriculum and our delivery of it. Brisbane Girls Grammar School has always sought to walk the fine line of upholding its traditions and embracing the challenges of the future. Irrespective of how or where girls will be taught and lessons will be learned, we can be confident that they are all experiences worth aspiring to have.

Mr Trent Driver Dean of academic development

References

Hattie, J. (2003). Teachers make a difference: what is the research evidence? Paper presented at the ACER Research Conference . Melbourne, Australia.

Hattie, J. (2010). Visible learning . Oxford: Routledge.

Ladwig J, (2005). Monitoring the quality of pedagogy. Leading and Managing , 11(2), 70–83.

Oxley D., (2008). Creating instructional program coherence. Principal’s Research Review , 3(5), 1–7.

Rowe, K. (2003). The importance of teacher quality as a key determinant of student experiences and outcomes of schooling. Paper presented at the ACER Research Conference . Melbourne, Australia.

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