A speech by Terry Moran, Director-General of Education - 9 March 2000
Minister, Chris Banks, Tim Sandercock, Friends, colleagues and guests
I want to thank all of you here for agreeing to take part in today's workshop. You are busy people with many competing demands on your time, so your attendance is clear proof of the importance you attach to the purpose of the workshop.
In particular I want to thank Chris Banks, for his vision in supporting the notion of the workshop, and Tim Sandercock, who has been the driving force behind its organisation and the negotiations that preceded it.
The outcomes of the workshop, as Tim said in his letter of invitation, will directly influence the planning processes for two significant Delfin developments, at Springfield and Varsity Lakes.
I might add that from Education Queensland's point of view it may also be a model that could be adopted or modified for the future of State schools in Queensland.
Our task today is to influence those developments, and future planning for Queensland State schools, in ways that will help to achieve a particular goal:
Making Lifelong Learning for All a Reality.
Once upon a time the accepted wisdom was that for most people school was a sufficient preparation for life and the world of work, possibly augmented by an apprenticeship or a vocational certificate for some and by a degree for a tiny minority.
The concept of lifelong learning used to be little more than a gleam in the academic eye, a kind of ideal community of scholars to which a privileged few might aspire.
Relatively recently the idea of lifelong learning gained recognition among labour market economists and educators as a probable necessary condition for future members of our post-industrial society, if they were to be productive and active participants in the economic, social and cultural life of the community.
From there it began to permeate thinking at the political level, which is a precondition for action on a significant scale.
Importantly, in the course of the public consultations that preceded the draft strategy for Queensland State Education 2010; one of the documents in your pre-workshop reading package; we found that there was considerably more awareness of the concept among the general community than we had expected.
The problem is that for most people the concept remains just that; an abstract thing floating somewhere out there, a bit blurry round the edges.
They suspect it's pretty important, maybe more for their kids than for themselves, but they don't know what it means in practice. How will it work? Who will make it happen? Where will it happen? Who will pay for it?
I do not pretend to know the answers to all these questions, but I do know that you and I as policy-makers have an obligation to look for them. How will lifelong learning work? Who will be responsible for making it happen? What are the policy options that must be laid before the political decision makers so that abstract rhetoric can be transmuted into concrete actions?
We are not going to find the answers to such broad questions today, but I believe that we can develop genuinely useful understandings and policy directions in one particular area of the topic, that is, the role of the public school system in promoting lifelong learning.
Should Education Queensland remain aloof, or should it dive in headfirst?
Historically, schools have tended to see their task as finishing when students completed their schooling. We took them up to Junior, or Leaving, or Matric, or Senior, or whatever it may have been called at the time, and then they were on their own.
We recognise now that we cannot hope to convince them that they need to complete year 12 if senior secondary schooling has no more to offer than the traditional preparation for a traditional university course.
So Education Queensland has introduced more relevance in subject choice for years 11 and 12, with a large and growing VET in schools program.
VET in schools programs provide an alternative to the traditional university-oriented senior certificate that is more relevant to the seventy per cent of students who do not go on to university.
Programs such as VET in schools, School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships and School-to-Work Transition are essential if Education Queensland is to achieve its target for increased student completion rates. These will significantly influence future unemployment levels and the economic growth of Queensland. VET also raises the qualification profile of the Queensland workforce, a prerequisite to achieving the Government's goal of the Smart State.
Queensland State Education; 2010 is expected to be released shortly as a statement of policy and strategic direction for the next ten years. It is a response to the needs of business and industry for an educated workforce to support economic development and to parents; wishes to maximise the life chances of their children in a knowledge-based society.
The cornerstone of the strategy is the statement of purpose:
Over the next decade, the central purpose of schooling in Queensland should be to create a safe, tolerant and disciplined environment within which young people prepare to be active and reflective Australian citizens with a disposition to lifelong learning. They will be able to participate in and shape community, economic and political life in Queensland and the nation. They will be able to engage confidently with other cultures at home and abroad.
The fundamental aim of the strategy is to increase the proportion of the Queensland population that completes year 12 or its equivalent and to strengthen the coordination of school and post-school programs.
Completing school or its equivalent adds value to the competitiveness of individuals and the Queensland economy. Individuals who complete school are more likely to find employment than those who do not. That is no empty statement, but a fact backed by research.
Individuals who seek post-school qualifications will increasingly require year 12 or equivalent to gain entry to the institutions that award them. Queensland needs competitive levels of qualifications to develop a more skilled workforce and competitive industries.
By 2010, the proportion of young persons in Queensland completing year 12 in school or an equivalent qualification should match the level projected for leading OECD countries.
For Queensland schools, this will mean increasing the completion rate for year 12 from 68 per cent in 1998 to 88 per cent in 2010. Secondary school enrolments in Queensland will need to increase by 23.5 per cent over the period to 2010.
To do this we should have five broad approaches:
I posed the question earlier, should Education Queensland stand aloof or dive in headfirst?
I hope what I have just described makes it clear that we are not standing aloof.
On the other hand, we have no intention of attempting to supplant the role of the universities and the VET sector. A state school system cannot transform itself into the Universal Provider of Lifelong Learning and it should not try.
Our contribution to the task of promoting lifelong learning has four strands.
First, the early years of schooling must begin to prepare students with the multiple literacies, technical skills and motivation to learn that are the foundations of lifelong learning.
Second, we must engage students in learning that is relevant to the world they already know, so that they acquire at least the habit and at best the love of learning. We must help them develop that disposition to lifelong learning to which our statement of purpose refers.
Third, we must give them relevant preparation for life and learning in the world after school.
And fourth, we must engage the broad community more fully in our schools so that schools are perceived as active and willing members of the community. In that way we can contribute to making lifelong learning a reality by offering practical, collaborative help to the community.
Let me elaborate briefly on those four strands.
We need to look at a full-time preparatory year that is comparable with other states and appropriate to the needs of children of that age. There is new research becoming available and this needs careful consideration. This must be complemented by flexible approaches to other pre-school and childcare services. In years 1-3 we need to increase the ratio of significant adults to children and to focus on learning to learn, motivating to learn and early intervention programs.
We must develop a love of learning in our students, but it cannot happen if they find schooling irrelevant or boring. With this in mind, we are reinventing the curriculum into what we call the New Basics. Students need both basic skills, such as literacy and numeracy, and new clusters of skills including improved social and cultural skills, technical literacy and an understanding of the environment, as a foundation for lifelong learning through further education, training and employment in a changing economy and society.
The New Basics involve four new areas of interdisciplinary learning
We are already starting to make secondary schooling more relevant for the majority of students who are not destined immediately for university, through the VET in schools program. But much more needs to be done.
Now we aim to build on that foundation by developing what we are calling the New Pathways. These will trace new routes through senior secondary school to post-school destinations and must meet the following criteria. They must:
The consultation process which informed the development of Queensland State Education 2010 confirmed the importance of a long-held ideal for education - that of community involvement in the education process.
Throughout the consultations, five themes recurred -
The draft strategy makes a commitment to support schools in their development as community assets and learning communities through partnerships with their community. In this sense, community includes but is certainly not limited to students, parents, teachers and other school staff, businesses, neighbourhoods, established community groups and other government agencies.
The draft strategy also recognises that different models are necessary according to the nature of the school and the communities they are required to serve. Some potential models include:
The notion of different models that are responsive to community needs is reflected in another of the objectives in the draft strategy, which talks about distinctive schools.
The increasing complexity of society, the rapid social and economic change and the diversity of our student population mean that schools need to have flexibility in organising their learning programs. We want to encourage our schools to develop innovative responses to the identified needs of their students, the parents and local community, or to a specific market segment.
The discussions we are going to have today need to be informed by an understanding of why community partnerships are important.
Learning will always be our core business.However it is clear that in this day and age, young people need more from schools than purely academic outcomes. Whilst we are refocusing attention on the intellectual rigour of what we teach our young people, we need to complement this by strategies that enhance young people's abilities to respond to changing social demands.
The draft strategy paints a clear picture of some of the forces for change and external pressures to which young people are required to respond. These forces for change include put very simply - changes to families, increased cultural diversity in schools, economic change and the change driven by the explosive growth in the use of communication and information technologies.
In terms of curriculum that responds to these changes, I have spoken already about the New Basics. This new brand of learning is being trialed in some Queensland schools over the next four years.
One of the interdisciplinary areas of learning in the New Basics that is particularly relevant here is the one called life pathways and social futures.
Queensland students need vision, plans and tools to navigate and negotiate their relations within families, and with peers, community members and others. Life pathways and social futures refers to that cluster of practices students need to master in order to survive and flourish in a changing world. It involves understanding the self and relationships with others, mental and physical health, and designing a place for the self in changing contexts of work and community.
The social skills and networks that schools can provide for young people are not merely important; they are now essential for young people. It is imperative that schools embrace their local communities in order to draw upon the resources of that community for their mutual benefit. Traditional schooling concepts and mindsets where the outside community stops at the front gate are no longer acceptable.
Whilst there are numerous fine examples of Education Queensland schools actively engaging with their communities, it is fair to say that the concept of community partnership is not yet embedded in the culture of Australian schooling.
This concept of community partnership is not just a vehicle for delivering benefits to students. In addition to providing meaningful outcomes for students, community partnerships are a two-way street in which schools have an important contribution to make to the community. There is enormous untapped potential in schools to become a central locale for community development.
But now that we've articulated the need and the vision for community partnerships, what do we actually need to do to embed community partnerships in the culture of Queensland schooling?
Initial stages of our new investigation into community partnerships at Education Queensland are proving to be a rich journey of discovery. It is clear that there is a broad spectrum along which schools and communities can interact and collaborate to procure better learning outcomes for students, better use of government and private resources and the development of social capital.
In very broad terms, there appear to be at least three main styles of partnership along the spectrum of community partnership activity. The first, and our main priority, is to get parents past the school gates. Research repeatedly confirms that parental involvement in schools improves students learning outcomes.
Next, community partnerships can involve parents and the broader community in setting the strategic direction for a school, as happens under our arrangements for School Councils.
And third there are situations where schools proactively seek out opportunities to engage the community. Community here is used in its broadest definition and partnerships are sought not only among the students, parents and school staff but also with employers, business and industry. In this scenario we see examples such as full service schools and community hubs that involve the whole community in the life and use of the school.
In the fortunate circumstances where a new community is being established, it is possible to take a fresh look at the way the school is actually designed and built so that the community can have easier access to and use of its facilities.
These types of community partnerships not only enhance student outcomes, but also contribute to the development of social capital. An initial review of the literature on community partnerships and development shows social capital emerging as a central theme.
Whilst the term social capital has been part of the intellectual discourse since the 1980s, the concept has been known and valued under other names for much longer. It is why the old boy networks and old school ties are such formidable forces and why the yuppies of today instinctively network the modern manifestations of corporate social capital.
Modern definitions of social capital abound.
In very formal terms, Bourdieu and Wacquant define social capital as the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.
Eva Cox refers to social capital as the reservoir of trust and mutuality that holds people together, and the World Bank describes it as not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society, but the glue that holds them together.
Robert Putnam has said that social capital seems to be a precondition for economic development and effective government. In a forthcoming publication, he asserts that in terms of quality of life, the relative value of social connectedness (for example, attending one club meeting a month) is the equivalent of doubling your annual income.
While these definitions underpin the assertion that social capital is an essential ingredient in civil society, certain forms of infrastructure are vital for its development. Historical examples are the Greek agora, the Anglo-Saxon moot hall and the still-surviving Dayak long house.
Today's choices include telephones, meeting rooms, town halls, public spaces (like those at Forest Lake) and other opportunities to meet and network.
Property developers and schools both can exercise considerable influence over these forms of infrastructure. And whilst the responsibility for them is not exclusive to developers and schools, it is a responsibility of ours nonetheless.
But in practice, what does social capital look like? There are many examples of Queensland schools that have already engaged their communities for the benefit of both students and the community itself.
Some schools are doing this by establishing school councils with responsibility for setting strategic directions. As part of the process of change to embed community partnerships in school culture, Education Queensland will promote such arrangements so that they become the norm. It is essential that we pay more than just lip service to real community involvement in our schools.
The Community Access Schools program provides us with powerful examples of community partnerships. The aim of this program is to help schools provide better access to social services for their communities. The individual schools researches local level responses to local needs, as a precursor to tailoring a particular program for its community.
One example is Garbutt State School, which already runs programs in adult literacy and numeracy; basic sewing; cooking; childcare courses; and playgroups. The school has now collaborated with the Townsville City Council, the Police Service, and the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care to provide supervised access to the Police-Citizens Youth Club Swimming Pool on weekends.
Another example is the Cairns Consortium of Schools. Activities include an alternative campus classroom in a local shopping centre for students alienated from conventional schooling; an introductory computer course; increased use of school facilities by community groups; and a Boys to Men program which equips participants with social and life skills for the journey from youth to adulthood.
We are receiving success stories also from the Kingston Centre for Continuing Secondary Education. Here, extended families are getting involved in courses offered at the school, community links are improving employment outcomes and there is increasing recognition of the Centre as a community hub with real community spirit emerging.
While recognising the current hard work and commitment of some of our local schools, our study of best practice in community partnerships should also include lessons from our overseas counterparts.
In the United States, some full service schools are fostering cooperation among parents, students, and health, education and social service providers to link students, families and school faculties with community resources. For example, the Full Service School Program at Florida Northeast High School has facilitated a health clinic; an extensive volunteer program involving parents, community members and corporate employees; and an adult and community education program.
Similar examples emerge from the United Kingdom. In Bristol, a community learning centre has been established at a local school. The centre is equipped with up to date computer technology supplied by Hewlett Packard. Support is also received from other agencies in the form of equipment, conversion of the building, furniture and staff resources. Out of school hours the centre is used by students from other schools; the local community; and people returning to the labour market. Another example involves a Newcastle childcare facility on school grounds that has commenced out-of-school and holiday clubs.
These examples of community partnerships highlight the importance of identifying and responding to local needs. The more enlightened developers, like Delfin, have a deep understanding of local communities that gives them a genuine competitive advantage in the market place. It also places them in a prime position to contribute to the production of social capital.
Given the importance of community in social capital, Delfin's planning for Varsity Lakes and Springfield provides a valuable opportunity for deliberate community development. Schools cannot by themselves procure the social outcomes that modern society expects of today's young people and should not be expected to bear sole responsibility for social turmoil.
However, schools are ideally positioned to collaborate with their local communities be they property developers, businesses, government agencies, charitable organisations, parents or other schools to secure those outcomes and to develop the social capital, networks and community connectedness and understanding that schools owe young people.
Education Queensland and developers like Delfin have a common commitment that community is more than just a collection of buildings. We also have a shared responsibility to actively pursue a collaborative approach to social capital creation.
Fine words and good intentions are all very well, but how do we make it happen? That is why we are here today, to contribute to the task of making lifelong learning a reality for all.
I applaud Delfin's initiative in taking a deliberate and strategic approach to planning that recognises and values education as a key component of community. Today's workshop should help us identify some of the key characteristics of communities that are rich in social capital and then work out how to integrate those factors into planned communities.
We must look for characteristics that are achievable, sustainable, accountable and transferable. They should build on existing models and respect existing strengths. We are not aiming at revolution but at organic reform.
Planning processes that are informed by, and then integrate, these key ingredients will lay the foundation for environments that schools can both contribute to and benefit from.
This workshop has the potential to be a valuable planning tool not only for Delfin, but also for those of us in education policy development who are tackling the long-term goal of capitalising on schools as a public resource and focus of local activity.
The outcomes of today's workshop will be a valuable fillip for Education Queensland's current work on community partnerships and will add a new and practical dimension to our investigations. They will also be very influential in their impact on activities concerned with the development of future schools.
Today's discussion proves that discourse about community need not lament it as something from a past golden age, or idealise it as a characteristic of a utopian future. With foresight and a collaborative approach, we can build on the current examples of vibrant, dynamic and productive communities to embed the concept of community into Queensland schooling and urban development.
Thank you.
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and the Arts) 2002.