My child does not have any homework – EVER!
Fact: There is little evidence to suggest that homework, for homework’s sake, improves academic performance in students.
Fact: Students should develop a home study routine. This might include creating a quiet, settled space to complete assessments or assignments. Students should read regularly and include different text types, which will improve their literacy and comprehension skills.
Fiction: The school will never give homework.
Fact: Different streams will require students to complete tasks at home at different times. This will always depend on the stream, the task and the choices made by students. Students should catch up and review their work regularly. Doing this with their parents and carers also opens up the dialogue around what has been learned at school. It also builds the sort of skills that will be helpful as they progress through school and into their future endeavours.
How will students know they are on track with their learning?
Fiction: All students are motivated to do better by comparing themselves to others.
Fiction: The best way to check a student's understanding is to test them at the end of the unit or project
Fact: Students learn how to improve through effective assessment and feedback. This can be both formative assessment and summative assessment.
At Jerrabomberra High School, we primarily use formative assessment to collect evidence of student learning. This is ongoing and continual throughout the duration of a project. Students will have multiple opportunities to present information, skills and knowledge relevant to the stream and project they are working on. Teachers use pre and post-test data to ensure students are on track and working to the best of their abilities. Not only do we assess knowledge and skills from each of the KLA’s, but we also measure a range of learning competencies, including acting ethically, active citizenship, agency in learning, collaboration, communication, personal attributes and quality thinking.
School worked for me, so why change the way it’s done?
Fact: The world we live in has changed dramatically from the time parents were at school.
Fact: There is constant debate at national and international levels surrounding the future structures and design of education. At Jerrabomberra High School, we have created a design that reflects advice from the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 report. We also receive professional learning from School Learning Environments and Change (SLEC) around the delivery of future-focused learning and how this fits into the new design of schools.
Fact: We also have strong partnerships with educational researchers and programs, including Melbourne University, to ensure that we are developing assessments that not only align with our design of learning but also assess the skills and knowledge employers are asking for.
My child is happy and loves school, but I still don’t exactly understand what they are doing.
Fact: We are delivering most of our teaching and learning through a project-based learning model.
Fact: Teaching and learning (pedagogy) is delivered using 8 learning modes. These encourage a variety of opportunities to learn in different ways, catering for the diverse needs of all students. All programs and projects are co-designed and co-delivered by teachers from a variety of specialist KLA areas.