Good Practice Blog

At the end of May, SASPA and DECD held a combined, full-day conference on STEM in SACE. On the day there were presentations from 12 metropolitan secondary sites. These presentations have been published on the SASPA website and are available here. There were also 2 keynote presentations. One by Neil McGoran, Chief Executive SACE Board […]

Two earlier posts have highlighted the importance of student voice in improving student achievement. The 2 schools involved were Craigmore High School and Streaky Bay Area School . At Streaky Bay AS the focus on student voice grew from a survey of senior school students to uncover the support students needed to improve their learning. […]

This post looks at Positive Education. It covers the value of Positive Education, as both educational theory and practice, at the secondary level. It briefly explores its genesis and key theoretical constructs. It highlights the success of the Positive Education initiative at Mount Barker High School. Lastly, it looks at the range of training options […]

    For the past 2 years, seven secondary sites in East Adelaide have conducted a collaborative exercise in the moderation of achievement standards in the Australian Curriculum. The joint effort of the 7 schools features in this post as an example of best practice. Their effort is an endorsement of the positive effects of […]

The last post looked at the work that Craigmore HS has undertaken with student voice. Craigmore’s successful initiative is taking place within the Teaching for Effective Learning (TfEL) paradigm. TfEL has provided the rationale and the tools, including some limited additional resources, for the school’s work. This post looks at what Streaky Bay Area School […]

  Over the past 18 months, Craigmore High School has been involved in a project that has focused on placing students at the centre of their learning. Specifically, students have been involved in the co-design of curriculum and the related assessment requirements. The school has been very impressed with the outcomes of the project and […]

Renmark High School One of the best received workshops at the recent SASPA conference was that presented by Renmark HS on Deprivatising practice through focused observations. The term ‘deprivatising’ in the context of teaching represents the intention to break down the notion that teaching is a private business carried out by the individual teacher in […]

This post looks at the efforts of  two metropolitan high schools – Woodville High School and Wirreanda Secondary School – to create a ‘learning hub’ from the existing library/resource centre. Both schools were keen to improve the education outcomes of the existing library/resource centre. In their view, the education outcomes did not line up with […]

This post looks at the success Kadina Memorial School has achieved in making mentoring a key focus across the whole school. The significance of mentoring has increased as the focus on teaching standards has grown over the past few years. The key development has been the introduction of the (AITSL) Australian Profesional Standards for Teachers, […]

Gifted Art Program at Seaton High School Many high schools have specialist or special interest programs – languages, music, sport etc – that contribute significantly to the school’s identity and culture. The Department [for Education and Child Development] supports such specialist schools and in effect ‘licenses’ their operation. This post looks at the Gifted Art […]