Great Scot April 2018 GreatScot_153_April_2018_Online | Page 19

Upper School
Mr Tim Rayner – Head of Upper School
Exploring possibilities
and pushing boundaries
MR TIM RAYNER
HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL
Several elements of education have
not changed dramatically over many
years, like the timings of the school
day, final examinations and boys being
taught in year levels. Breaking away from
an educational system that seems so
resistant to change can be a challenge, but
that should not stop us from exploring
possibilities and pushing boundaries, if
change leads to improvements.
I recently received an email giving
guidance to students who wish to apply
to American universities. One of the
links included an interview with Doug
Christiansen, Dean of Admissions at
Vanderbilt University, who said, when
admitting students, ‘we look for an ability
to think, analyse, connect the dots and
at the end, see the whole picture …
memorisation is not what we are looking
for’. So one of our challenges, as teachers,
is to ensure we positively encourage our
boys to be creative, analytical thinkers:
that we prepare and equip them for
leaving school.
We need only to look at the opening
chapters in Charles Dickens’ Hard
Times to find evidence of what happens
in education when we are deprived
of the ability to think. In the novel,
when the school superintendent, Mr
Gradgrind, drills his boys to learn facts
as, ‘nothing else will ever be of any
service to them,’ it is evident that we are
entering a depressingly uncreative world.
Dickens was criticising a draconian and
linear education system, one which was
anything but geared towards producing
curious minds and independent learners.
Moving into the twenty-first century,
what activities are we doing to ensure
BOYS IN THE SPENCER CENTRE FOR DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
our boys meet the selection criteria set by
Vanderbilt and other universities in 2018?
Within our curriculum, Year 10
boys have the opportunity to select the
Scotch Enterprise Program, a Year 10
elective, where a small group of boys has
to identify a problem and work towards
finding a solution. Examples of previous
projects include developing technology
to help people who have had cataracts
operations. Also, in Year 10, the Global
Perspectives full year elective allows boys
to examine a variety of world issues. By
doing so, other perspectives are considered
and reasoned responses developed; skills
that can be used in a variety of other
curriculum areas. An added bonus is
that this course leads to an International
General Certificate of Secondary
Education (IGCSE) from the University
of Cambridge Internal Examinations.
By removing English examinations
for three semesters in Years 9 to 10, boys
will now have more opportunities to write
creatively and improve their writing by
drafting extended responses. Boys will
have to reflect more on what they have
written and will be encouraged to read
a broad range of literature, rather than a
narrow canon of works. This will lead to
greater appreciation of writing, that will
translate to better responses when boys
sit internal and external examinations in
their later years.
Providing boys with opportunities
outside of the classroom can also enhance
boys’ thinking skills. Computational
linguistics involves a set of problems that
four boys have to solve. Together they
strategise to find solutions, with team
outcomes being of prime importance.
This challenging work involves thinking
outside the square and learning skills
to enhance group work, like listening
and flexibility. Interest groups, like our
Chess group, also give opportunities
for boys in different year levels to work
together, make decisions regarding the
development of the activity, and, of
course, work on developing problem
solving through playing.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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