Breakout Sessions

Presenters: Thilan Legierse (Certified Leadership Coach & Mediator, PCC LLM)
Format: Participate & Share
Subtheme: Belonging

Description: In this interactive workshop we’ll explore how you can engage with and create lasting authentic connections with leaders, staff, students and parents in a meaningful way so you can build and/or maintain a positive culture in your school. Hanging up motivational posters in the staff room is great but creating and/or maintaining a positive culture takes more.

Your school culture is basically the way everyone does things in your school, be it according to written or unwritten rules. And whilst every member of the school community needs to positively contribute to the school culture, as a leader you need to create, hold and lead a vision towards a school community where everyone feels they belong.
This requires that you as a leader practice what you preach and are both strong and warm.

In this session Thilan will share some tips and tricks on how to get people on board, commit and keep them accountable. There’s also time to discuss, reflect and plan so you can walk out with some tangible action steps on how to improve your school culture in an inspiring way.

Presenters: Pam Kent (DfE) & Sam McCaffrey (DfE & Craigmore High School)
Format: Panel Q&A
Subtheme: Belonging

Description: Hear about the DfE plans for FLO redesign and the intentional shifts to support students at risk of disengagement.

This session will include opportunities for conversations with other schools about their strategies and plans.

Presenters: Tom Griffith (Seaton High School) & Sa Danh (Seaton High School)
Format: Presentation
Subtheme: Agency

Description: As a DfE Entrepreneurial School, Seaton High School has worked to integrate entrepreneurial opportunities throughout the curriculum. During this session participants will have the opportunity to hear the impact of developing entrepreneurial mindsets to foster wellbeing, engagement and academic achievement based on four key pillars:

• Building an ecosystem of support for students and educators
• Building school capacity to support entrepreneurial education
• Creating learning pathways for students to scaffold their skills
• Amplifying impact by sharing stories and success.

Presenters: Dr Kaye Price and Dr Caroline Dean
Format: Hands-on
Subtheme: Inclusivity

Description: This breakout session provides an opportunity for participants to experience a learning resource from the SA Aboriginal Contexts in Science Initiative developed by partnering with South Australian Aboriginal Nations to embed Aboriginal knowledges and ways of knowing into the Curriculum.

Come and explore what the learning looks and feels like with examples of curriculum resources that bring together the Aboriginal Cultural knowledge with the Science concepts and the pedagogy and the assessment criteria to support teachers to facilitate authentic teaching of deep and rich learning experiences for students.

Transforming the delivery of curriculum and learning through strengthening Aboriginal input, valuing and respecting Aboriginal knowledges, languages, cultures and histories is a key focus area of the SA Department for Education Aboriginal Education Strategy 2019-2029.

Presenters: Peter Kuss & Sarah West (Golden Grove High School)
Format: Participate & Share
Subtheme: Belonging

Description: In 2022 Golden Grove High School’s improvement journey was disrupted with the media suggesting the Principal should resign. In this session Peter Kuss, Principal and Sarah West, Assistant Principal (Culture, Parent Engagement and Communications) share what happened, how the school responded, and the collaborative work undertaken with the Department, outside agencies and the local community to rebuild a positive, safe and inclusive school culture.

Presenters: Chris Morrison (Kadina Memorial School)
Format: Presentation
Subtheme: Inclusivity

Description: In this presentation we will share and provide provocations around the work of our ATSI team across our R-12 school. We will highlight the challenges faced and the opportunities created for building a community of respect, opportunity and excellence for our First Nations learners.

Objectives:

• Participants will be provided with examples of PD initiatives to promote growth and learning amongst staff.
• Suggestions and examples of how to develop culturally inclusive assessment tasks.
• Participants will leave with tools to begin creating whole school reconciliation activities immediately.

Presenters: Tricia Richman (Principal at Whyalla Secondary College) Christina Nicholas (Deputy Principal at Whyalla Secondary College)
Format: Presentation
Subtheme: Inclusivity & Agency

Description: Whyalla Secondary College is an ATRiUM pilot school. Tricia and Christina will present an overview of ATRiUM philosophy, and the procedures designed by the team, to support students at the College to access a more inclusive approach to their learning. The school focuses on providing a differentiated curriculum that enhances student voice, choice and engagement, to make the most of every student’s learning journey. The curriculum has a central focus on the ATRiUM capabilities; Active Learning (A), Thinking (T), Relating to others (R), Use of language, symbols and ICT (iU), and Managing self (M). Competency in all five capabilities assist students in developing effective employability skills, setting young people up for success as empowered community citizens.

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the ideas presented in small groups.

(Bus transportation will be provided) 
Presenters: Dr. Lisa Bailey, Exhibition and Experience Design Manager – MOD.
Format: Hands-on
Subtheme: Agency

Description: MOD. at UniSA is Australia’s leading future-focused museum, provoking new ideas at the intersection of science, arts, and innovation. It’s a place to be and be inspired.

In this workshop Lisa will discuss how MOD. designs meaningful experiences for young people (aged 15-25). MOD. hosts Future Themes forums every two years to uncover the themes and topics that our audience are passionate about, to ensure that the exhibitions we design are relevant and meaningful. In this session participants will learn about the process of MOD.’s Future Themes Forum, which can be used as a blueprint for engaging with young people to understand what is important to them and apply it to learning design.

Come along prepared to talk about ideas and concepts that:

• What gets you excited about the future?
• What keeps you up talking or thinking at 2am?
• What are the critical issues we need to figure out – for today or for the future?
• What are we not paying enough attention to?
• And finally, where do you find hope?

(Bus transportation will be provided)
Presenters: Lot Fourteen – Space Discovery, Stone and Chalk, Cyber Security and Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML).

Description: Lot Fourteen is a world-class innovation district dedicated to solving complex global problem. The district, made up of a vibrant collective of innovators, has 153 organisations, 59 start-ups and a population of 1554 members. We have organised a range of speaker from Space Discovery, Stone and Chalk, cyber security and Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML) who will inspire, inform and motivate the audience to consider how the future of innovation can influence curriculum design in our schools.

Presenters: Dr. Vitomir Kovanovic, The Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L).
Format: Presentation
Subtheme: Agency

Description: Artificial intelligence (AI) and learning analytics have become increasingly hot topics in education in recent years. These technologies offer exciting possibilities for enhancing student learning outcomes, particularly around competency development, ensuring each child has the skills to succeed in the future. This session will explore how AI and data analytics can support student competency development, both inside and outside the classroom, specifically focusing on the South Australian context. A particular focus will be given to developing learner profiles and ATAR, which are attracting significant attention from state governments and educational regulators such as the SACE Board. We will also discuss the ethical considerations when using AI and data analytics in education, particularly around equity, bias and privacy. Finally, we will discuss the challenges and limitations of these technologies and how we can bring the student voice into the picture to further support their learning and competency development.

Presenters: Rebecca Moore (Principal, Goolwa Secondary College) & Lumination
Format: Hands-on
Subtheme: Belonging

Description: This workshop presentation provides an overview of the groundbreaking work in immersive learning achieved through the collaborative journey between Lumination, a leading educational technology company specializing in XR, and Goolwa Secondary College, a new and innovative state school in South Australia. Their partnership aimed to revolutionize education by leveraging immersive technologies, establishing the first-ever Lumination Learning Lab.

One notable project within this collaboration is Goolwa Secondary College’s “Empathy in VR Pilot Project.” Through immersing students in virtual reality (VR) environments, the project aimed to cultivate empathy and understanding. It integrated various subjects, fostering critical analysis and challenging biases. Initial results demonstrated increased empathy, cultural sensitivity, and improved communication skills among students.

Attendees will gain valuable insights into the innovative use of immersive technologies and the transformative potential of immersive learning. Lumination and Goolwa Secondary College’s collaborative journey exemplifies how education can be shaped innovatively through immersive technologies, paving the way for a future where learning becomes engaging, empathetic, and truly transformative.

Presenters: Danielle Elston
Facilitator: Eva/Jayne
Subtheme: Belonging, Inclusivity & Agency

Description: Contribute to setting new SASPA strategic directions for 2024-2026. Explore the big issues for education leaders of the next 3 years – workforce, wellbeing & equity and consider potential levers SASPA could have to influence these issues. Share perspectives on the opportunities and imperatives for SASPA given current state and federal political positioning in the education portfolio. This breakout session is for current Full SASPA Members to provide input and their voice for SASPA priority work commencing in 2024.