Inspired by the vision to develop “self-regulated thinkers and learners who can solve complex challenges,” the educators at Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) continue to equip students with critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills.
Director of organisational learning Dr Hannah Campos-Remon told The Educator about the practices and programs that had led to BGS’s award as one of Australia’s Most Innovative Schools for 2022.
She said innovation is a challenge for many schools, but the teachers at BGS take it one step at a time and with consideration of the possibilities ahead.
“It’s really about commitment that when we work together collaboratively, we can engage in intentionally improving our practice all the time. And that’s part of our professional dispositions, no matter which role we’re in at the school,” she said.
One major innovation at BGS is its Effective Thinking Cultures program based on the idea that education must evolve as life becomes more unpredictable.
“We know that just possessing a canon of knowledge won’t be as relevant and as helpful to students in their lives as it has been in the past, and that it’s much more important that education equips them with the ability to what we call think effectively,” said Dr Campos-Remon. This approach is expected to have an impact on the students’ adaptability, wellbeing, and success.
Since 2017, BGS has espoused the philosophy of turning a boy’s intellect towards various pursuits in life, Dr Campos-Remon said. “We really sum this up with the focus on their ability to self-regulate as learners and those skills becoming transferable regardless of what life may bring.”
She cited evidence-based knowledge as the foundation of program development, which involved “formal monitoring and evaluation leading to a stage of strategising, leading to building new infrastructure, and leading to developing the program further”.
Over the past five years, other remarkable innovations at BGS include a continuous professional learning program where the educators have a fortnightly discussion of issues that affect their own learning and growth. Dr Campos-Remon said this endeavour called for openness, an experimental mindset, and willingness “to take principled risks and to be vulnerable at times”.
In 2023, BGS plans to retain its successful practices and explore new areas, such as getting more teachers involved in database development. It will also open its STEAM Precinct, a new building dedicated to “transdisciplinary problem-based project-based learning”. Moreover, the school will focus teachers’ learning towards refining its curriculum in accordance with the ACARA requirements.