Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 6

PRINCIPAL
MR TOM BATTY
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
PERSONALISATION,
DIVERSITY,
ENTERPRISE AND
SUSTAINABILITY
As the mercury rose to herald the start of a school
year, boys and girls throughout Australia began
the process of shifting minds from the internal and
intimate to engagement with the world beyond. Such
alignment demands fitting setting, and along Morrison
Street, boys and staff, new and seasoned, stepped into
a campus bristling with colour, life and vitality thanks
to our exceptional Grounds and Maintenance teams.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags joined the
Australian and School flags as expression of Scotch’s
continuing commitment to the embracement of our
national identity. Teachers and boys stepped jauntily
into class, refreshed with new experiences and ideas, as
the dance of the next generation found its starting beat.
Both fruits and challenges of our connectedness (to
environment, and to those with whom we share it) had
been to the fore over the summer months, from time
with friends and family in exploration of new horizons
to the horrific fires and deeply troubling outbreak of
COVID-19. Consideration of the nature and effect
of our interactions, and points of balance between
benefit and cost, rest at the heart of a liberal education
and formed the founding premise for schools in such
tradition. It was, and remains, a tradition of bringing
young people together amidst those skilled in the art
to share and advance passions and hone mastery, by
pondering why things are as they are and how they
might be made better.
It is an approach to education that, in seeking to
develop the whole person, requires a nurturing of
learning relationships forged in the arts and crafts that
connect individual thought to a social setting (the
arts, reason, language and sport) and some prescribed
rigour to facilitate the quest. Alas, as we have learnt
more about the world, our part in it and the power
of education, such prescription, now referred to as
curriculum and qualification, has become dominant
in the development of each child to the person he/
she could become, leading, in an ever more connected
world, to the defence of learnt positions over reflection,
debate and consensus.
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Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
So minded, schools of the liberal tradition need to
consider what it is alongside such premise that makes
them different and fosters belonging. At Scotch much
is defined by our faith and heritage, our beautiful
single campus, our non-selective entry, our values
of egalitarianism, purpose and service and the belief
that we are not as good as we could be. Perhaps most
importantly, it has been (and is) defined by the people
of our community, and, in particular, that number,
who, since our foundation, have deeply loved and
cared for the School.
Such schools must continually revisit how the
liberal premise is reflected in that which makes them
different and in their principles and practices. Such
bond can be seen at Scotch through our foundational
teaching and learning principle: The inherent dignity
and value of each person; our foundational teaching
and learning question: How did the world evolve to be
as it is and how might it be made to evolve for the greater
good?; our commitment to the nurturing of passions
and honing of mastery; our commitment to relational
learning in a conversational context; our diversity and
commitment to each boy; and our confidence, desire
to improve and commitment to the evidence of good
research.
That all must be cognisant of the times was the
prominent theme as I joined 19 other participants
at the Judge Business School as part of Cambridge
University’s 18th Advanced Leadership Programme,
to ponder the change upon us: its causes, nature and
impact across sectors, societies and nations, and how
we best prepare to grasp and forge opportunities in
sustainable manner. Theory, case study, individual
experience and wisdom, and healthy group and class
debate provided the framework.
Key areas of discussion included: Strategy under
uncertainty – narrative and optimisation; Technology
and artificial intelligence; Data is king; Usage over
Ownership; Service over product; Globalisation;
Risk appetite and entrepreneurship – the need for
experimentation and cleverness over outcome and