2024 Research Invested Schools National Conference
More than 70 delegates attended the two-day Research Invested Schools Network Conference held in Sydney in early August. The event was co-hosted by the Pymble Institute at Pymble Ladies College, the Barker Institute at Barker College and Scots Research Office at The Scots College.
The opening session, held at Pymble Ladies College, began with a warm welcome from our College Principal, Dr Kate Hadwen. With her rich experience as a Senior Research Fellow at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Kate challenged the RIS attendees to think about the ‘why’ we were in the research space and encouraged us to collaborate to leave a legacy for others.
Mr Philip Heath, Principal of Barker College, echoed this message by urging researchers to share knowledge and to be as ‘open access’ as possible. He recognised not all schools had the resources to have a school-based centre of educational research, like the Barker Institute led by Dr Matthew Hill, and those that did should be open to sharing their knowledge and resources.
On the second day of the gathering, Dr Ian Lambert, Principal of The Scots College, explained the bold intent behind their research centre: to radically reinvent education. Dr Rob Loe, Director of Research and Learning Innovation, announced that the Scots Research Office would be renamed the Caledonian Institute to reflect the school’s Scottish history. Its new home will be in the new library and thus embedded in student life.
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Nick Hopwood, at the UTS School of International Studies & Education addressed the group on an important question for many research-invested schools: School-university partnerships: How to partner for transformation. Nick’s presentation and experience across a large number of school and university research projects kicked off a vigorous discussion on the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of school-university partnerships in research.
Professor Matt Bower, Professor of Learning Technologies at Macquarie University, led the group to explore latest developments in AI and asked how schools and educators should be thinking about pedagogy and curriculum in this evolving framework. The discussion at each table created a collaborative set of topics and issues which are common across so many educational sectors.
Professor Tyler J. VanderWeele, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, asked the group to consider the outcomes of human flourishing, as it impacts all aspects of a person’s life, including happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose. The group considered Tyler’s question about the role schools play in the flourishing of children and young adults.
A diverse range of workshops also presented research at the two day conference:
Research Translation: How a Masters of Research Thesis, ‘Wellbeing of Children of Skilled Migrants to Australia’, leads to professional learning for staff. Victoria Adamovich, (Pymble Ladies College)
Research Skill and Mindsets: How an action research skills program can lead change in Junior School girls’ wellbeing programs: ‘Connecting with our feelings- Using collaboration to strengthen social and emotional skill development in Year 3 girls’ Kate Giles, (Pymble Ladies College)
Academic Research: How to use professional experiences to inspire a PhD in teacher wellbeing, ‘Compassion fatigue and sharing the emotional load’, and ways of translating academic research for colleagues in your own school and beyond. Mariel Lombard, (Pymble Ladies College)
Research Collaboration: How to work in partnership, within and beyond the school, to research a new initiative: ‘Assessing the impact of the the Vision Valley outdoor education program’ Vanessa Petersen, Tom Riley, Victoria Adamovich (Pymble Ladies College)
Research Skill and Mindsets: How to use academic literature reviews to support strategic initiatives. Dr Josh McDermott and Dr Sarah Loch (Pymble Ladies College)
Research and Growth: How to build intergenerational research relationships: the Inspiring Women in Science and Health program. Dr Louise McCuaig, (Matthew Flinders Anglican College) and Kristy Forrest, (St Catherine’s, Melbourne)
Integrating Lived Experience with Research in Education: How schools can integrate lived experience with research-based evidence to transform educational approaches, enhance outcomes and improve efficacy across the board. Amy Gill, (Youth Off The Streets)
Empowering Secondary Education through Applied Research: The Churchie Research Centre’s Learner’s Toolkit – Transforming 40+ Schools and 5000+ Students. The story of how the best Science of Learning is being deployed to help secondary schools and their students master the art of study at a pivotal time in their lives Vicky Leighton, (Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane)
Pedagogical alignment: the Holy Grail: Peter Twining, (University of Newcastle/Belief2Practice)
Embedding system wide implementation across Brisbane Catholic Education Honor Mackley and Nathan Richards, (Brisbane Catholic Education)
Research Conversations Conference series : A biannual online event that bridges the gap between educational research and classroom practice Prue Sommer, (St Andrew’s Cathedral School, Sydney)
Being Better Together! : How research-driven, evidenced-based classroom practices within the Shore Teacher Expertise Program (STEP) are driving change and creating a culture of collaboration and academic excellence among teaching staff. Matt Bentley and Doug Broadbent, (Sydney, Church of England Grammar School)
Special thanks to Emma Coupland (Pymble) and Susan Layton (Barker) whose behind the scenes work ensured the success of the conference.
The 2025 Conference will be held in Melbourne!
