This week saw the last tour of the 2022 Contemporary Learning Tour Program. It was wonderful to witness contemporary learning modes and programs within our LEQ community and extend this to the greater Lutheran community across Australia. Congratulations to our schools who showcased some of their fruits of contemporary learning transformation.
LORDS
LORDS, showcased their rich and rigorous Project Based Learning backed by years of experience and strengthened with deep service learning, design thinking, and inquiry. The tour highlighted a strong focus on students developing authenticity and agency in learning while maintaining strong rich community partnerships. During the classroom visits, we witnessed students richly developing contemporary skills and dispositions along with maintaining high standards in literacy and numeracy approaches.
Faith Lutheran College, Redlands
Our visit to FLCR showcased the school’s approach to challenging the status quo in terms of curriculum design, learning space design, and school structures. The ‘curriculum for the future’ allows students to design their course pathway which is mapped to the curriculum and necessary dispositions for learning. The student panel shared their learning journey and a strong sense of student agency, connection and meaning. The careful execution of change whilst balancing community buy-in, teacher upskilling, and structural changes has allowed the school to grow exponentially.
Faith Lutheran College, Plainland
This tour allowed participants to witness ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ and FLC’s philosophical change in direction towards student empowerment, global competency development, and student wellbeing. Staff at FLC are provided permission to take positive risks and challenge conventions to traditional schooling processes. We also explored their commitment to student empowerment and well-being, which allows students to pursue self-directed passion projects, participate in activities that focus on physical, mental, and emotional health, and approach their learning through a community-focused service lens.
Non-Lutheran School – Silkwood School
“Instead of the students revolving around the teacher and the school, the school revolves around the learner” summarises the Silkwood Difference and our experience during the Silkwood tour. Led by Principal, Terry O’Hanlon-Rose, our workshop demonstrated a true representation of what the vision does, not what the vision is. As part of our group reflection, we all agreed that schooling should help all students find and ignite their passions. Our role as educators is to continue to support students to craft their way to authentically serve others and the world that awaits them.
