Derek Bartels- Director of Innovation & Technology
Lutheran Educators from LEQ and LEVNT recently attended the Sydney Learning Tour.
“Thanks for an amazing few days. We have learnt so much and have been very inspired. Many thanks to you guys for doing such a great job on the learning tours and so glad I got to finally go on one”
“Thanks so much for taking us on this learning tour – we Love Love Loved it!!!”
“Thanks for organising the Sydney Learning Tour. Personally it has been a fantastic couple of days. I always believe that if you leave a PD feeling enthused and energetic about your job then it has all been worth it. I definitely am feeling this way at the moment. I feel like I have a definite plan going back to the College to begin to implement some of what we saw and learnt. The bonus was the other little bits and pieces that you can add to your school by talking with other educators. Keep up the great work you guys are doing with these tours, the watering hole and everything else as it is so important we do this for our students.”
First Stop – Hayball Architecture and Design Practice
We again visited the practice of Hayball Architects at Surry Hills. Kit Ku, Associate Architect shared some of the innovative educational work in which they engage. Not only do they design International Award winning schools but they immerse themselves in supporting appropriate educational research with a number of architects and designers completing their Phd as part of the ILETC (Innovative Learning Environments Teacher Change) and LEARN (Learning Environments Applied Research Network) Educational research into pedagogy, culture and school environments.
They shared applied work which they carry out with teachers, students and designers, such as Architects being part of a classroom for an hour at a time -“Educator for an Hour” https://issuu.com/…/docs/hayball_educator_for_an_hour_-_2018
Kit Ku reminded us, using some Harvard research, how important Soft (Essential) Skills are for thriving in the contemporary world.
The Lutheran Educators also spent much time roaming through the contemporary activity-based workplace across the Hayball Studio to understand space, place and modes of work.
Second Stop, Lunch and Visit – Woollhara Library Double Bay.
On the way to Lindfield Learning Village, we decided to stop for lunch and visit Woollhara Library. Woollhara Library is an inner city innovative hub for young and old. With so much live greenery, you could easily think you were in a greenhouse! The Library is one of Sydney’s successful community hubs with close to 3000 visitors going through the doors recently over one Sunday! Lots of research went into the design to allow play, multi-modal multi-level working, good amounts of light and massive amounts of greenery.
Third Stop – Lindfield Learning Village
We visited and workshopped with dedicated professionals and students at NSW Government’s most talked about recently opened school. It was inspirational and informative. Creating a contemporary school from scratch with the luxury of a renovated ex-university campus was the challenge for Principal Stephanie McConnell and the hand chosen staff. Their motto is to question everything we think a school has to have or be! E.g. – No school assemblies and no staff meetings unless there is a need for a rich collaborative exercise. We worked with many staff throughout the afternoon and evening lead by Deputies Mark Burgess and Lou Deibe (originally from NBCS). We analysed culture, leadership and many aspects of the experiential transformative pedagogies.
Fourth Stop Day 2 – St Luke’s Catholic College, Marsden Park
An enriching morning session was had at St Luke’s Catholic College Marsden Park. This new K-12 Catholic school is highlighted in the media and across educational circles as breaking traditional bounds of schooling and challenging the norms in pedagogy, environments, leadership, structure, time, community engagement and more.
Fifth Stop Day 2 – Westpac Tower Barangaroo
Westpac staff were keen to walk us through their impressive transformation in culture and physical space in contemporary working highlighting their driving force for caring for their staff and enabling work environments based on much research.
