From the Deputy Headmaster

SPSC academic leaders from across the Senior and Junior Schools were fortunate to spend the day attending an in-house Master Seminar with Professor Dylan Wiliam on Wednesday 2 April. Very few schools in Australia have ever had this sort of opportunity; Professor Wiliam is arguably the most influential education researcher in the world (along with Professor John Hattie, who visited SPSC as our Rex Lipman scholar in 2018) and is regarded as the global expert on student feedback, and I cannot think of another Australian school that has enjoyed this sort of a private audience with Professor Wiliam. This reminds me of how fortunate I am to work at SPSC; if you are passionate about the world of pedagogical research (and I am afraid St Peter’s College teachers fall into this terribly nerdy bracket), Dylan is a rock star.

Some of us were lucky enough to spend a couple of days with Professor Wiliam at both the Master Seminar and a subsequent independent schools’ conference (that SPSC also kindly hosted), and I feel confident we remain on the right side of history in terms of the educational literature around teaching and learning. Professor Wiliam’s up-to-the-minute, research-based insights were invaluable and provided both affirmations and challenges for SPSC. More specifically, I would argue our continuous reporting systems, professional development programs, pastoral values and approach to Artificial Intelligence in particular see us well placed to face the challenges of the years to come. We will need to continue to approach all these things with gusto, though; the exercise of education continues to evolve at a pace we have not seen for centuries.

You may be curious to know what a worldwide expert on teaching and learning says is most important when it comes to educational practice. Below is a brief list of some of Professor Wiliam’s insights. Please let me know what you think; every school is different and should exercise its evidence-base in different ways according to context, but I would be fascinated to know what you feel is affirming and what presents an opportunity for growth.

1. Feedback is most useful when it drives learning forward; it should be actionable and help students close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
2. Pupils should be active participants in their learning, including seeking to understand learning intentions and success criteria; assessment and feedback should help guide them accordingly. Good feedback works towards its own redundancy.
3. Feedback should be more work for a student than a teacher; it is most useful when pupils use it as a springboard.
4. Students need to become more confident constructively critiquing their own and their peers’ work.
5. Feedback will be most effective where a positive relationship exists between pupil and teacher.
6. Motivation may not always be as important as we think; the determining factor in successful learning is more often the cognitive effort a child puts into the exercise.
7. The integration of Artificial Intelligence with education is unavoidable but must be approached intentionally and cautiously. Schools need to continue to rethink some of their assessment practices not only to embrace a world in which AI is unavoidable but also to mitigate assessment integrity risks (so that students cannot outsource their learning to an algorithm).
8. Fostering a Growth Mindset in students is one key to achievement but it cannot be developed without students’ experiencing some kind of relevant success in their lives.
9. Sports and academic programs should be philosophically aligned. In sport, schools are often more concerned with winning trophies than trying to help every student be involved and learn something, which is risky. This imperative is identical in the classroom, even though the activities and trophies look different.
10. Focusing on grades arrests learning. Most students will not seek out or act upon feedback if a grade is present.

Spending time with Professor Wiliam was not just professionally enriching, but a timely reminder that great schools never stop learning. His insights have sharpened our thinking and affirmed much of what we are already doing at St Peter’s College, while also challenging us to keep pushing forward. The work of teaching is never finished and we are fortunate to be part of a school that invests so deeply in doing it well. We would also like to thank school parent Julie Tarzia, whose support through her role at AISSA was instrumental in helping bring Professor Dylan Wiliam to our School.

Mr Nick Carter
Deputy Headmaster – Learning and Teaching