Session A: Collaborative Learning Communities – ROOM

Session A: Collaborative Learning Communities – ROOM SYMPOSIUM Creating collaborative learning communities for teachers Catherine Tracey Head of VET, NPI – Part 1: The Challenge of Creating a Learning Community for our Teachers Clare McGrath Acting Director/Teacher Trainer, ATTC – Part 2: Case Studies of Learning Communities for Teachers Lucy Blakemore Head, L&T Communities and Networks – Part 3: Principles and strategies for building a sustainable culture of collaborative learning With a connected and engaged teacher community, problems are more efficiently resolved and innovative approaches to common issues can develop and grow with collective input. Research with NPI and other teachers around Navitas indicates they want to learn from each other, but that there is a kind of ‘sharing gap’ – not enough of us are currently sharing ideas, suggestions and experiences to enable a ‘critical mass’ of active community behaviour. Our challenges are familiar by now: a sessional workforce, geographically-dispersed networks of teachers, a fast-moving teaching environment and diverse systems and cultures. There are pockets of great professional development and teaching practice across contexts, but historically there have been limited opportunities for this to be shared. Over some years we’ve encouraged and supported social learning at Navitas, observing, analysing and experimenting. This session gives an overview of what we’re learning from various networks in and around Navitas from 3 distinct perspectives. We’ll conclude by suggesting some principles and a few practical strategies for supporting a culture of social learning building purpose, engagement, capability and ongoing analysis to empower a teaching community that’s more transparent, collaborative and ultimately creates better outcomes for our students. Symposium part 1: The Challenge of Creating a Learning Community for our Teachers Teachers are the face of our School yet they often state that they are isolated, lack support from the College and do not have mechanisms to develop a strong teaching community. Our largely sessional teacher body is required to continually build skills and knowledge, upgrade qualifications within the vocational education and training sector, and maintain currency in their industry. The challenge for the School is to create a sense of community and the peer support mechanisms to help teachers meet these demands by sharing good practice in their teaching as well as their discipline expertise. Teacher behaviours have a direct impact on student outcomes as evidenced in a recent study on Course Completions within the School of VET. This study highlighted the importance of teacher-student relationship building, engaging teaching Page 2 of 24 practices, and teachers’ ability to build the capacity of their students. Without their own learning community, teachers are unable to pool their experience and share problems, resources and solutions. Until now there have been limited opportunities for teachers to establish relationships with each other creating opportunities for shared learning, which would enable the ongoing exchange of ideas. These need to be provided and nurtured by the School. Part 2 of this symposium is going to explore some case studies from around Navitas and elsewhere as to how create a Community of Learning for our teachers. Symposium part 2: Case Studies of Learning Communities for Teachers Within the education sector, there are many different pathways to becoming a teacher or lecturer. There are many variations in the degree of focus on collaborative learning and peer support. We will look at some of the key messages from current teaching practice which can be applied to an NPI learning community. Taking advantage of the diversity within Navitas colleges, we can also look at what can be learned and adapted from those we work with across sectors. By looking at the affordances within the ELICOS sector, for example, we can highlight those features of the NPI sectors (HE & VET) which present a particular challenge and then suggest some solutions. Finally, using an example of a current, thriving cross-institutional network of teaching professionals called ‘AusELT’, we’ll examine how to establish a collaborative community and nurture its growth. This online group is entirely managed by volunteer members who have full-time jobs in teaching, training, management, research and writing. It illustrates how a well-managed approach can enable collaboration, creativity and sharing across states and educational sectors for the benefit of individual practice and outcomes for their students. Symposium part 3: Principles and strategies for building a sustainable culture of collaborative learning Our research with teachers across NPI and other Navitas colleges suggests that our teaching staff want to learn from each other and that their teaching practice benefits from doing so. However, it is becoming apparent that there is a kind of ‘sharing gap’: over 60% are looking to others for input, but less than a third are regularly sharing. Not enough of us are currently sharing ideas, suggestions and experiences to enable a ‘critical mass’ of active community behaviour, and when it comes to sharing online, the challenges tend to be even greater. This session briefly shares learnings from research and observations of teacher networks and communities at Navitas, drawing out some general principles underpinning successful community behaviours. These include generating clear purpose, reasons to engage, building capability (including ‘engagement literacy’ and the importance of ongoing input and analysis to understand what’s happening within a community. The session will conclude with some suggested practical strategies to take away and experiment with in your own contexts to empower a teaching community that’s more transparent, collaborative and ultimately creates better outcomes for our students. Session B: Mentoring and Wellbeing – ROOM SYMPOSIUM Career Development and Wellness Chair: Associate Professor Kathryn Nicholson Perry, School of Psychological Sciences, ACAP Speakers: Associate Professor Kathryn Nicholson Perry, School of Psychological Sciences, ACAP Early career academics: A view from the trenches Professor Lynne Harris, Professor and Head, School of Psychological Sciences, ACAP Early career academics: Breakthrough or burnout Professor Carolyn Noble, Foundation Professor, School of Social Work, ACAP Early career academics: a feminist view (a) Aims of the symposium: Explore issues and potential solutions for early career researchers (ECR) based in a teaching focused tertiary institution. (b) Relationship of the topic to the conference theme: Fostering the well-being being of early career researchers is an important contributor to retaining our talented staff. Their successful engagement in research provides the opportunity for research informed teaching and student research opportunities with significance for our community.