Building collective understanding is key for Insight
The Science of Learning and Reading underpins educational reform and innovation at a whole of system level for Catholic Education Tasmania. The Insight into Learning team have been working tirelessly to ensure that Catholic educators across Tasmania build collective knowledge around what the latest research in neuroscience reveals to us in terms of how students learn best. This bold initiative focuses on the teacher and their leadership in curriculum design and delivery through high impact teaching strategies. This is instrumental in delivering pedagogical change in every classroom across Catholic Education Tasmania.
The Three Year Journey of Insight into Learning:
In year one of this initial three year teaching and learning initiative, Insight into Learning will continue to evolve with professional learning and resources in place to build awareness, desire, knowledge, and practice. This transformational first year of the journey is about supporting the 21 participating schools in their adoption of this evidence-informed, contemporary method of teaching. Alongside their primary school colleagues, secondary educators at Marist Regional College, St Brendan-Shaw College, St Patrick’s College, and St Aloysius Catholic College have embraced Insight into Learning. These colleges are currently immersed in the Secondary Coaching model with their respective Principals as Instructional Leaders of Learning, supporting the process of knowledge building, understanding, rehearsing, and enacting high-impact teaching strategies.
By year two, Insight into Learning intends to move into the ‘embedded’ stage, where Science of Learning pedagogies are evident across CET classrooms. We envisage a strong rollout of Science of Learning strategies with associated best practice in innovation and excellence evident with High Impact Teaching practices that are constantly evolving.
In the third year, the journey will have reached the ‘sustain’ period, where coaches and teachers within our schools continue to champion and model the foundational elements of Insight into Learning. Educators at this stage will continue to confidently refine their skillset and forge strong and sustained best practice that exemplifies a pedagogical approach founded on Science of Learning principles.
Students using their whiteboards in the classroom
Insight into Learning’s Coaching Model:
Jordan O'Sullivan, co-Director of Shaping Minds Australia is at the centre of the coaching model throughout the Secondary space in Tasmania. Teaching can be an incredibly challenging and demanding profession, and Jordan believes that through Insight into Learning, educators will have access to, and be confident to, implement evidence-based instructional strategies that will help boost outcomes for students in Catholic education in Tasmania.
As Director and Lead Coach of Shaping Minds Australia, Jordan is supporting all 2023 Insight into Learning Secondary educators. He discussed the importance of decision-making in the classroom and how important the vocation of teaching can be. “An often-quoted statistic is that teachers, on average, make over 1,500 decisions every day.” Explained Jordan, “A persistent issue that has created unnecessary challenges for teachers, is a ‘research to practise gap’ whereby what happens in classrooms is regularly not supported by what research has found to be most effective.”
Students using their whiteboards in the classroom
How Insight into Learning is influencing our schools:
Marist Regional College in Burnie is a first wave Insight into Learning school and by the end of the year, Marist will have 18 teachers trained in Science of Learning High Impact Teaching practices throughout the Insight into Learning secondary model, designed and facilitated by Shaping Minds Australia. A Personal Learning Day, online and onsite coaching, and practical workshops, will combine to provide rich opportunities for teachers to practise new found knowledge.
Following a professional development session with Jordan and the team of expert teachers, Thomas Lamb, Head of Arts at Marist, reflected that the experience he had with understanding more about Science of Learning, was extremely positive. Putting strategies he was able to learn into practice the day after the professional learning, Thomas stated that he had one of the best classes of his career. Jordan explained how the Science of Learning helps our teachers grow in their teaching practice, “Through Insight into Learning, teachers are becoming armed with information about how humans learn, and the classroom practices that align with these processes.”
St Brendan-Shaw College in Devonport is earnestly transforming teaching pedagogies through Insight into Learning. They will have 15 teachers across their College trained in the Science of Learning teaching method by the end of 2023. There are currently five teachers who were a part of the first wave of coaching at the College. Crista Christie is one of the teachers who has been able to participate in the rollout so far. She discussed her experience with Insight into Learning's style of teaching, “Initially, the thought of asking students to write answers on a whiteboard felt foreign and I worried about the difficulties of making sure students use them correctly.” Said Crista, “The results have been completely to the contrary. I have been so surprised by the enjoyment and enthusiasm students display for individual whiteboards as a tool to show me their answers as we learn and revise content.”
Implementing the Science of Learning teaching methods
Crista’s experience is like many teachers, who were not previously exposed to the tools and evidence informed principles underpinning the Science of Learning prior to Insight into Learning’s launch in their school this year. She discussed many other positives that have been helping her students increase their engagement with her teaching. “Immediately, I can gauge how successful my explanations/examples were and I can reteach or provide alternate explanations before progressing. Of course, I was already asking questions and giving revision tasks to check for understanding, but the simplicity of ‘hold up your answers’ (phrased as ‘Chin It’) has been surprisingly effective.”
Insight into Learning continues to positively empower teachers in their classroom and support the growth of Catholic students across Tasmania. There is little doubt that as the year progresses we will see capacity flourish. Educators are sharing their learning with a collective moral purpose that challenges their teaching practices through the Science of Learning.
Learn more about Insight into Learning via our website: https://catholic.tas.edu.au/Insight into Learning