Don’t Keep History A Mystery

This year during National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), all Australians are invited to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories, to share that knowledge and help us grow as a nation. Santa Sabina College has a strong tradition of engagement in reconciliation. Each of the six College Houses bears an indigenous name that represents a natural element – fire (Yetinga), fauna (Weelya), flora (Mundawora), water (Kurrawa), earth (Teangi) and sky (Gunagulla) – and these Houses were instituted in 1997, the 30th anniversary of the 1967 Australian referendum that included indigenous Australians in the constitution.

Our connections with indigenous communities are in Strathfield and at Tallong, where they have been able to assist us with “Welcome to Country” ceremonies, and with understanding more about the history of place and people. Prominent indigenous leaders have been guest speakers for staff and students over the years. For more than 10 years we have had immersions to the APY lands of Central Australia for students in Years 9 and 10.

This year our school is participating in National Reconciliation week in a variety of ways. Our early childhood Learning Centre, Mary Bailey House, has its own Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), and has been accepted into the Ngroo Walking Together program which has been developed to help community preschools and long day care centres build positive relationships with their local Aboriginal community.

On the Primary Years campus, students are being called together with clapsticks rather than bells this week. They held a gathering in Warrami on Monday that was led by Ms Thompson and students to tell the story of the rainbow serpent as depicted on the poles in the Warrami space. We recalled that our former parent, Cassandra Gibbs, and her daughter Tjarna, led the project of creating this beautiful space, and assisted the Primary Years students with the artwork.

Students in Years 6 -12 will hold a special “Reconciliation Assembly” today with guest indigenous students from St Scholastica’s Glebe explaining why “acknowledgement of country” is an important sign of reconciliation. Year 10 History students are leading in the preparation of Assembly, and our visiting students will join the Year 10s as guests on a panel. We believe that these various activities are true to the spirit of the theme of reconciliation week – Don’t Make History a Mystery – and are authentic and age-appropriate ways of education students.

As I wrote in my last update, the NSW curriculum is set for review. One of the terms we’re hearing much about is “decluttering” or the need to reduce and refine what is actually taught.

Getting to a consensus on curriculum is a challenge as seen by the combative language used to describe curriculum reform. We’ve had “history wars”, “literacy wars”, we have been “back to basics”, and “forward to fundamentals”. This contest of ideas is linked to much broader questions about how we prepare students for an uncertain future – in relation to careers, as well as social, cultural, technological, and environmental changes.

The role of “general capabilities” as opposed to subject specific knowledge is also one of the vexed questions. Firstly, what are general capabilities, and how are they taught, assessed and reported? In the early 1990s we had both the Finn report and the Mayer Report identifying key competencies for all Australian students in preparation for employment. The historical context was one of rising unemployment reaching over 10% in 1992, decline in traditional manufacturing industries and agriculture, and the rise of part-time and casual employment. Youth unemployment was at an all-time high in 1992 of 20%. So, the focus on key employable competencies was very appropriate for the time.

The current Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians is coming to the end of its 10-year span (2008-2018). Its two main goals are commitment to excellence and equity, and young Australians becoming “successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens”. The Melbourne Declaration succeeded the Hobart (1989) and Adelaide (1999) Declarations. The recent Gonski 2.0 report argues that more attention should be paid to general capabilities such as problem-solving, social skills and critical thinking to prepare students for an uncertain future.

This very brief historical overview shows a consistent concern with identifying essential or general skills, capabilities, or attributes but not necessarily agreement on what they are, or how they are to be taught. Changing employment patterns, technology expansion, and shifting social attitudes and practices all impact on what is deemed “essential” capabilities. As educators we know that what is taught and how it is taught cannot be separated. A good teacher thinks as much about his or her approaches to teaching and learning as they do about the content. In other words, “general” capabilities or attributes are not an added extra.

If we value creativity, we will provide stimulating lessons, choice, debate, discussion and challenge. If we want students to be collaborative and cooperative, we will demonstrate that in the way we treat our colleagues, as well as our students. If we want to encourage critical thinking skills, we will pose thoughtful and open-ended challenges, and we will value students “having a go” rather than always striving for the right answer. In the 1994 Centenary Diary, Sr Judith Lawson OP, noted that “our story at Santa Sabina is one of change and adaptation to new circumstances”… but that words from the 1930s Constitution of the Dominican Sisters “still capture the heart of our task today. ‘The teacher must realise that her (his) training of the child is to prepare her (him) for independent life, not only by ensuring her possession of suitable knowledge, but especially by leading her to an intelligent use of liberty’…”.

In considering our challenges today, surely the “heart of our task” remains the same, as we change and adapt to new circumstances.

The creative and performing arts have a very strong and lively place in the College, and are arguably “essential” to quality education. The recent Year 11 Drama production of the children’s pantomime, The Twits (Roald Dahl), demonstrated why this is the case. I was lucky to be present with Year 5 students as the audience – and for many it was their first visit to the Black Box Theatre, and they were the ideal audience for this interactive, hilarious production. Congratulations to our Drama students and to Ms Ellis-Windsor, their teacher and the Head of Drama and Visual Arts. It was an exceptional performance.

Congratulations also to the students and teachers involved in the recent da Vinci Decathlon. The Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines. Last week we had 56 Santa students from Years 5-11 participate in this competition at Knox Grammar School. The students eagerly look forward to this event and really enjoy both the preparation sessions and the competition day. A large and diverse number of schools compete in this annual event. This year there were 132 teams from Years 5-6, 151 teams from Years 7-8, and 168 teams from Years 9-11.

Santa Sabina achieved commendable results. The top Santa Year 8 team achieved first place in Art and Poetry. The Year 5 team achieved first place in General Knowledge and third place in Engineering.

Commendable results.

The complete results are listed below:

Year 5
Overall Place 6th
General Knowledge1st
Engineering 3rd
Ideation 6th
Mathematics 7th
Codebreaking 8th

Year 6
Art and Poetry 5th

Year 7
Cartography 9th
Science 14th

Year 8
Art and Poetry 1st
English 10th

Year 9
Science 5th
Engineering 7th
Cartography 14th

Year 11
Engineering 5th
Creative Producers 5th
Art and Poetry 6th

This year the teams were fortunate to have so many members of staff across many subjects involved in the 10-week preparation. In addition to the academic staff, the students were also mentored by Year 12 student Courtney Cousins in Art and Poetry and an ex-student parent Mr Mike Larkin in Engineering. The collaboration of all to make this a rich learning experience for our students is Santa at its very best.

In this National Reconciliation week, I close this update with a prayer for healing and reconciliation.

In the midst of conflict and division, We know it is you
Who turns our minds to thoughts of peace.
Your spirit changes hearts:
Enemies begin to speak to one another,
Those who were estranged join hands in friendship,
And nations seek the way of peace together.
Let your spirit be at work in us.
Give us understanding and put an end to strife,
Fill us with your mercy and overcome our denial.
Grant us wisdom and teach us to learn
from the people of the land.
Call us to justice.

(Adapted from the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer for the Mass of Reconciliation 11)

Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, Prayer Card, 2006 
Permission for use granted by ACSJC

 

Dr Maree Herrett