​In the past week, you may have noticed two long-running education debates resurfacing on the lips of politicians and the pages of the popular press, raising questions about how to best ‘do school’. Their concern involves both what students are taught (the curriculum) and how they are taught (the pedagogy). The first is about teaching history, and specifically the approach teachers should take in addressing western civilisation’s good and bad aspects. Please read a very fine analysis from Dr David Hastie, one of our key lecturers in the Teaching Schools Alliance Sydney here.


The second is about teaching reading, and whether this is best done through phonics (systematically teaching words through their composite sounds and parts) versus whole-language teaching (teaching words in the context of sentences). There are many other debates in education – some new, some very old. Yet what is common to most debates is the subtext that to fix education, we need to be told ‘what works’ by academics and policymakers out there, beyond the school, and be held accountable for implementing it. It is as though teachers are fundamentally technicians, and if we can just refine their technique, then of course good outcomes will follow.


At Scots, we want to challenge this notion that teachers are merely technicians who ‘deliver the curriculum’ and reclaim a regard for their experience and expertise in the noble vocation of human formation. We have outstanding teachers at Scots who do not just deliver the curriculum but debate it; who do not just implement a pedagogy but adapt it to their context. Moreover, we are encouraging teachers to not only consume knowledge produced elsewhere, but to play their part in creating it through original research.


One aspect of this vision for reinventing the professional regard of teachers is encouraging further engagement in research. All our teachers are, to some degree, engaged in research through our Teaching for Character Program. In the program, teams design, implement and evaluate a new approach to teaching that deliberately develops one of our graduate qualities, such as creativity or service. Read more about it here. Over the years we have also seen a small number of staff undertake higher degrees by research (Masters and PhDs) connected to and supported by the College. This is a long and hard journey, but one that transforms the way teachers think about themselves and their roles as leaders in educational thought and practice.


This week our staff ‘PhD coffee club’ met online to share progress on various research projects. We celebrated the newly-minted PhD of Learning Enrichment Teacher, Dr Caroline Basckin, whose thesis explored ‘Evidence-based practices for students with special educational needs’. Coordinator of Student Experience, Mr Jeff Mann, shared his current focus on leading a global team to write a systematic review of research in outdoor education. Visual Arts Teacher, Mr Michael Whittington, reflected on a paper he is writing for his PhD about how COVID-19 has reshaped blended learning in the visual arts. Director of Cricket, Mr Greg Clarence, shared the exciting news of his submission to commence a PhD at The University of Notre Dame Australia, exploring how character can best be formed through sport. And Technology and Applied Studies Teacher, Ms Yogi Sewani, is at the point of inviting parents from the College to participate in her master’s research about cultural influences on parental perspectives of learning support – a project comparing Taiwanese and Australian parents. Read more about their projects and those of other staff here.


In October, we held a gathering of over 25 leaders in such schools around Australia to explore this phenomenon of schools taking ownership of building a research culture. Next week, I will be co-presenting a paper at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference entitled Accelerating Evolution? The rise of research-invested schools, in concert with my Scots colleague Dr Caitlin Munday (who also serves as Director of the Teaching Schools Alliance Sydney) and our partners at The University of Newcastle, Professors Peter Twining and Professor Allyson Holbrook.


Read more about our approach to research here. We look forward to sharing more, in the coming weeks, about how Scots is leading the way in repositioning schools – and teachers – as research leaders, not just passive consumers.

Dr Hugh Chilton
Director of Research and Professional Learning

In very large schools like Scots with boys from ages three through to 18, there can be the perception that most of the deep reflection on educational practice takes place in the Senior School, when things 'get serious'. When you look at the Early Learning Centre, however, that assumption could not be further from the truth. Under the leadership of Mrs Gaye Entwistle, the ELC has built a rigorous, reflection-rich professional culture, seeking to provide the best experiential education for our youngest boys in a critical stage of their development. That culture was on display this week as each full-time teacher presented the fruits of their action research on developing a philosophy for the ELC that integrates the best of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood formation. This project was conducted as part of a joint study with the Early Childhood Education team at Macquarie University. Mrs Entwistle explained the process of collaboration between academics, teachers, boys and families, the questions teachers explored, and the fruit of this research in enriching practice:

A focus group of families and boys were given opportunity to meet with the lecturers to discuss the heart of the Centre. What was the evident practice that made the Centre unique? How was the impact of the reflective Reggio Emilia practice part of the Centre's philosophy?

Each teacher then chose an action research question and became part of a practitioner inquiry to research the question in their class. The research was diverse and was refined over a year as small groups and teachers refined their thinking and saw evidence of change in their practice. Data was collected, practice changed and re-evaluation in teams and classes meant at the final presentation of the work, teachers had not only found some answers but continued with a further question or line of inquiry. Many felt it had finished with a new beginning. Shared ideas and experiences have provoked new directions with year levels and teams reexamining documentation, classroom designs, furniture, small group combinations and programs.

Parent participation has given us a great collection of ideas and information to rebuild our website and to offer different ways of communicating our learning while reinforcing the much loved portfolios and celebration materials we currently share.

Questions explored included:

Gaye Entwistle
What starts aggressive play in the playground?
Kindergarten

Deborah McMurtrie
How does the outside environment impact learning?
Cubs

Kitty Joson
How do we normalise IT in the Lions program?
Lions

Christa Sheaffe
Do parents value/understand our practice or do they think we should be more formal?
Lions

Kathy Gibson
How can I prioritise reading skills and strategies during guided reading time?
Kindergarten

Markie Calle
What strategies impact phonetic development in the EALD boys?

Sam Nealson
How do we build a class community?
Kindergarten

Sarah Jane Marmion
Can problem solving maths strategies be productive in low skill sets?
Year 1

Adelaide Brown
How can I utilise the best class arrangement with boy's voices to build community?
Year 1

Penny Ryder
What impact is fidgeting having on learning?
Year 1

Kate Stoddard
How can I encourage a student voice in curating the class displays?
Year 1


The research confirmed our list of essential philosophy components in the Centre.

• The agency of the child is paramount.
• Knowing the child deeply is the beginning to growing.
• Choice of the child is heard.
• Voice of the child in the environment of the room and Centre, in documentation and celebrations of learning is important for connection and comprehension.
• The environment must be a place of provocation to learning both beautiful and engaging.
• The experience of play is needed to reinforce and consolidate learning in a social, linguistic and physical domains.
• The environment is the third teacher.
• The differentiation of the program to meet the child's needs is foundational to design of programs.
• Connection and community are important for a sense of belonging, confidence and respect.
• All boys can contribute to learning.

These key points will now become the basis for our document outlining the philosophy for the Centre. We are not a Reggio Emilia 'all of us thinking a bit differently about it' school. We are The Scots College and we do Early Childhood Education this way. We seek to reflect world's best practice, influences and research, in an Australian context.

Scots is a unique school in many respects, not least in having a Research Centre supporting staff and students engaged in research-led practice and connecting the College to the best insights into boys' education. Over 40 staff members from across the College gathered for the ScotsResearch Open Afternoon last Friday to discuss their research journeys and to explore further areas of development. Staff had the opportunity to watch an interview with the Principal, Dr Ian PM Lambert, on his own research journey, and to see the scope of ways in which research is critical to enriching the quality of our educational enterprise. As detailed in the ScotsResearch Report coming very soon, focus areas for 2016 include embedding experiential education across the curriculum, action research with the International Boys' Schools Coalition, expanding the new Master Teacher Fellowship program, furthering research partnership projects on the Indigenous Education program and the Glengarry experience with the Australian Catholic University, and further engaging boys, families and old boys in the College's heritage and traditions.

The College enjoys a range of disciplinary and pedagogic research programs underway at the College and with leading researchers at Australian universities and an increased number of staff involved in higher degrees by research. World-leading academics are regularly visiting the College to work with students and staff, and there is great enthusiasm for public research-related events such as ScotsIdeas and the Clark Lectures. The marks of an enriched scholarly and professional culture abound. Research at Scots already makes the College a unique place in Australia: this rising tide of brilliant teaching and research connections promises to make it all the more so in years to come.
For more information about ScotsResearch, come and speak with us in the Research Office.

On Thursday 14 May a full Coote Theatre enjoyed hearing distinguished athletes, doctors and coaches reflect on the relationship between sport and holistic development at Sports Science: A ScotsIdeas Demonstration and Discussion. Drawing on the College’s extensive sports science research links with major universities and sporting programs, Mr Tenzing Tsewang, Director of Sports Science, brought together an exceptional panel which included: Dr John Orchard, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of Sydney and physician for top teams including Cricket NSW and the Blues State of Origin team; Dr Carmel Harrington, Managing Director of Sleep for Health and Honorary Research Fellow at the Children's Hospital Westmead; Dr Stephen Cobley, Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences at the University of Sydney; and Mr Brian Smith, Director of Rugby at Scots, a Wallaby in the 1986 Bledisloe Cup and 1987 World Cup, and a highly experienced coach. 

The panel discussed the questions guests had submitted on such topics as the relationship between sport and academic performance, the sleep needs of young people, the challenges and opportunities for boys keen on pursuing a career in sport or sport-related industries (including the growth of ‘big data’ analysis in coaching), and the importance of ‘playing the long game’ in looking after your body and not over-training. 

Guests at the evening also enjoyed the opportunity to see the College’s first-class sports science facilities and hear from researchers and students about the way research (often by Scots boys using their own maturation data) is shaping our approach to injury management, the relationship between body and brain, and the nature of adolescent development.

To watch footage of this ScotsIdeas event please follow this link: 

For more information about research in sports science, please see here.

We look forward to our final ScotsIdeas event in Term 4, ‘Well May We Say…: An evening of great Australian speeches’. We also invite you to join us at the annual Clark Lectures in August, featuring distinguished historian Professor David Bebbington. 

Scots seeks to be a place where teachers bring to the classroom deep knowledge of their discipline and deliberate reflection on their approach to teaching boys, drawing on and contributing to the best of pedagogical and discipline specific research. A number of staff at the College are engaged in 'action research', where the lines between theory and practice are broken down and teachers work collaboratively to design interventions in their own classrooms or programs. In the latest Research Bite, Dr Sarah Zitner, an accomplished artist (whose work includes the much loved statue of a Scots boy outside Aspinall House), formerly a lecturer in art theory and practice at the University of New South Wales and now a visual arts teacher at The Scots College, reflects on her own journey to bring together academic and artistic worlds, as well as recent experimentation with collaborative teaching practice in visual arts classrooms. See here for other Research Bites profiling staff research at The Scots College.

Why aren't boys reading as well as girls? And what can be done to counter underachievement? In response to the widely-documented 'boys' literacy crisis' and the gender gap revealed in Year 5 NAPLAN and PISA results, Scots Prep teacher Ms Donna Procter set out to tackle such questions. As part of The Scots College University of Sydney Masters of Education (Leadership) Program, Ms Procter reviewed academic literature on the problems of boys' literacy and conducted a research project examining attitudes to reading and testing a variety of classroom literacy strategies.

Ms Procter identified four factors influencing boys' reading ability: genes, cultural perceptions of 'real' masculinity, socio-economic status, and school-based programs. Using a wide-ranging survey, focus groups and teacher interviews, she gained detailed insight into the reading habits of Year 5 boys. She found that only 15 per cent of students were reading with parents/caregivers at home, and only three per cent with a father or older male figure - a significant concern given how much research points to the need for boys to read aloud to an adult every night and see good reading habits modelled to them. Vocabulary, intonation and fluency are greatly enhanced when students regularly read and are read to at home.

Utilising a number of interventions, including online reading programs, drama-based novel studies and cross-age buddy reading groups, Ms Procter explored strategies teachers could use to improve boys' engagement and effectiveness in reading. She found all three interventions equally increased boys' literacy abilities, with students especially engaging with the Drama Program, learning both literacy and empathy.

Ms Procter reflects on the opportunities in teacher-parent collaboration and classroom creativity for boys to enjoy and excel in their reading:

The full report on Ms Procter's research project is published in the Scots Research Papers series, no. 2 (February 2014), which can be downloaded here.