Teachers, principals, young people, policymakers and employers from across Australia are coming together in Tasmania this week to discuss the future of education.
In particular, they are focussed on how the learning system needs to change to meet the needs of young people today so they have the skills for the jobs of tomorrow.
Learning Creates Australia is co-hosting a one-day event with the Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People, the South Australia Department for Education, Northern Territory Department for Education, Jobs Tasmania, The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Metrics and the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition.
We Are More is part of an ongoing series of events and action research focussed on how to improve recognising young people’s skills and capabilities beyond traditional marks, grades and ranks.
CEO Bronwyn Lee says families, teachers, and employers intrinsically know that young people are more than a rank or a number but more needs to be done to recognise young people for this.
“We know paths to further learning and work are becoming more flexible and broad, yet we define success at the end of schooling by narrow measures,” she said.
“The ATAR remains the primary representation of success in schooling, but it has no functional use for more than 75% of our young people. The measures we have are fit for the past.”
“There is significant power in recognising more of what young people know and can do, and there is growing momentum for this change.”
In the 21st Century, it is possible to recognise achievement in far more sophisticated ways than exams, tests and scores alone. That is how the We Are More Movement came to be. It is advocating for change in the system to recognise all skills and capabilities young people need for work and further learning.
Our measures of success haven’t moved across the education system. This is a problem, because measures drive what is taught in schools, as well as how learning is delivered.
It means young people have a narrower learning experience that focuses on easily measurable knowledge and skills. It alienates young people, who want their whole selves valued.
It also impacts teachers, who instead of inspiring passion for learning, spend their time managing the behaviour of young people who attend but aren’t engaged.
This week’s event will be about sharing what is working, discussing challenges and building a knowledge base for ways forward.
Media contact – Maggie Hill (0404 196 452, maggie@hillplus.com.au).
