As I have shared previously, one of our school focus areas is to develop our students to be Effective Learners. The effective learners area of impact has 5 domains.
Curiosity
Creativity
Meaning Making
Strategic Awareness
Meta-Cognition and Self-regulation
We recognise that being an effective learner is more than being a knower of information. Clearly we need to develop in our students, the knowledge required to navigate education and future opportunities such as key literacy and numeracy skills. We are also committed to offering learning opportunities that develop the five domains so that our students are more than ‘knowers’ and that they have the skills and capabilities to successfully face life’s challenges.
For our teachers this means developing learning opportunities in the classroom that enable every child to develop the capabilities of an Effective Learner to their full potential.
Teaching for Curiosity
Teachers foster creativity by encouraging students to take an active role in their learning, designing inquiry learning tasks, asking open-ended or probing questions, initiating discussions or exploring topics beyond their immediate knowledge-base. This helps students develop critical thinking skills and a broader understanding of the world around them.
Teaching for Creativity
Teachers strive to create learning environments that promote creativity, where students may be given the opportunity to work on generating unique solutions, to ‘think outside the box’, and apply their creativity to real-world challenges. This encourages students to apply their knowledge in practical ways.
Teaching for Meaning Making
Teachers encourage meaningful learning connections and support students to make connections between subjects and ideas. For example, they might integrate knowledge learnt from different subjects to solve more complex problems. This approach helps students see the relevance of what they learn and fosters a deeper understanding of concepts.
Teaching for Strategic Awareness and Self-regulation
Teachers work with students to identify learning goals, developing problem-solving skills for situations and new learning they haven’t encountered before. Teachers explicitly teach students the skills for self-regulation and learning readiness as well as the independent habits for effective learning.
Effective Learners don’t just aim to memorise facts for tests. They seek to comprehend more deeply, the underlying principles and concepts. They avoid simply regurgitating information without grasping its meaning or relevance.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive summary, but more of a snapshot of the work our teachers are developing for Effective Learners at Hallett Cove East PS. We want our students to achieve well, and to build the skills, capabilities and expertise they need now and into the future.
With regards
Matthew Chapman
Principal
