Post pandemic school system: Catalyst for change or retreat to safety?

The continuing impact of COVID-19 on schools and school systems around the world, and more particularly in Australia, has (to paraphrase Mark Twain) been the best of times and the worst of times.

Teachers have been lauded for their front-line leadership capacity and innovation that has resulted in an unplanned pivot from face to face classroom-based learning to external and predominantly virtual learning located in the home.  While the professionalism and extended commitment of teachers been recognised across the country, the outcomes for students have been mixed at best.

What is remarkable however, is that almost all teachers and schools have been able to collectively change, almost overnight, the way they have traditionally taught students. It was immediately evident to all that it was the right thing to do, so without complaint or months of consultation, everyone just went ahead and created solutions on the run.

In a post-COVID world, would it be possible to use this new found momentum and capacity for change to address the endemic and prevailing problems with our education systems?

Could the proactivity and grass-roots leadership of teachers across the nation during COVID-19 be a catalyst for much needed educational reforms that were identified long before the pandemic or will we all retreat to the safety of the past once this challenge has been overcome?

How well prepared are Australian school systems to address the challenges of a turbulent world rapidly transitioning based upon the advent of artificial intelligence, robotics and digital process automation. With a growing anxiety and deep concern about the impacts of climate change, existential health concerns and geo-political destabilisation,

Join us for an overview of the current state of education in Australia, focussing briefly from a national perspective on the performance evidence, organisational constraints and the opportunities potentially available to significantly enhance the lives of our young people as they go forward into a globalised and continually uncertain world.