Insightful Teaching: A Pedagogical Revolution Transforming Catholic Education in Tasmania

As Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) moves into Term 4 and towards the end of the 2023 school year, Insight into Learning continues to influence educators and create positive learning outcomes for Catholic students across Tasmania. This pedagogical revolution is not just about teaching; it is about teaching effectively. Following on from the work of Literate Learners for Life, there has been great enthusiasm from educators for this style of teaching. At its core, Insight into Learning supports educators to teach more effectively and help improve student outcomes dramatically. 

Tasmania has one of the lowest education standards across the country and CET is looking to give students the best possible opportunity to succeed. Through high-impact teaching practice, the Science of Learning (SoL), and a knowledge-rich curriculum, educators are given the right tools to help implement this effective teaching style. Michael Roberts is the Managing Director of Mastery Schools Australia and the Co-Founder of COGlearn, and has been working with numerous educators in our system to help provide them with the necessary skills to become champions of the SoL. “We’ve seen incredible enthusiasm across all of the Insight into Learning schools. Some of the teachers are already starting to see some of the benefits with their students. That normally takes a while, but that’s starting to happen which fuels their interest and motivates them even more,” said Mr Roberts.

With the most recent release of NAPLAN results in October, schools are already starting to see growth in their results. The CET System had already been using this explicit method of teaching and lesson delivery in their schools and colleges, and this has been reflected in their stronger results. By 2025, Michael Roberts anticipates Insight into Learning schools and colleges will see their NAPLAN results dramatically improved, after experiencing two full years of teaching, as part of the SoL.

In 2023, 24 schools and colleges chose to partake in the Insight into Learning initiative. Their educators have shown a willingness to improve their own teaching practice and want to help support their students to achieve the best possible results. “There are some teachers who have taken to it really well,” explained Michael. “I think that is a really important piece in this for the system, to leverage off those people because they’re leading the way. It can really help speed up the adoption across all schools.”

Alongside several other schools within CET, John Paul II Catholic School was ahead of the curve when implementing the SoL for their students. Principal, Mr Brendan Gill, explained how they decided to upskill their teachers in 2020 and started using InitiaLit’s training the year before the Literate Learners for Life was implemented system-wide in CET schools.

“We invested in decodable readers and a lot of training to upskill our teachers,” explained Mr Gill, “The thing that we know is that you can make the biggest difference in the early years, it takes four times as much intervention to make a difference to a student in Year 4 as it does to a student in Year 1.”

Michael Roberts discussed how important it is for teachers to ensure they are focused on the teaching when using the SoL. “First and foremost, it’s about teaching. There tends to be a lot of activities and not a lot of focus on teaching,” explained Mr Roberts, “That’s the big thing that we talk about, not just asking kids questions to start with, but actually teaching them first before we ask them the questions.” 

The impact of the SoL, as facilitated by Insight into Learning, continues to resonate deeply within the CET community. As CET moves towards the conclusion of the 2023 school year, Insight into Learning's profound influence on educators and students alike cannot be overstated. In Tasmania where educational standards have faced many challenges, the adoption of this effective teaching approach, paired with a knowledge-rich curriculum and strong instructional leadership, has emerged as pivotal in supporting educators to provide the best possible outcomes for their students.