Town Hall Recap - Part 2

As a follow up to my post before the November Break, here’s a little more on the Town Halls we held in October. There were many more topics, but I want to focus on two more that garnered a fair bit of discussion…

AI and the future of education: This is a huge topic and one that I’m excited about, along with our Learning & Technology Support (LTS) and faculty. Educators have quickly moved past plagiarism fears and into a headspace of learning innovation. This topic has been at the forefront of CAIS and IB conferences this year, with discussions centering on how we best equip students and teachers to use AI tools productively and to support learning, as well as the complex impact on systems such as global grading for the IB. Most educational presentations have focused on the impending revolution in AI support for teachers which is quickly being integrated into school learning management systems, thereby enhancing the capacity for lesson planning, differentiation, identification of individual student need, administrative support, and tailoring communication. 

For students, we are already witnessing the impact of services such as Khnamigo that can provide AI-generated personalised tutoring services. Exactly how this will develop is difficult to predict but in an ideal world each ‘avatar tutor’ could play the kind of role an individual teacher assistant adopts helping students to unpack difficult concepts in lessons in a way that helps every student understand assignments and effectively break down tasks. Obviously, issues of equity arise - will these tools only propel those who have access and can pay, creating an even greater divide in society? What biases are embedded in these algorithms that might amplify unchecked? How do we move students from digital literacy (knowing how to use tools) to digital citizenship (examining ethical questions related to these tools)? 

In addition, the other looming changes related to AI will be in assessment. At the moment, it seems like the extended writing assignments that are typical of coursework tasks or IB I/As will come under pressure if left in their current form. Alternatively, there will need to be oral ‘vive voce’ style assessments to check that the thinking represented in writing is actually fully understood by the student.

Needless to say, Mulgrave School will want to be early adopters in this context and embrace the opportunities rather than sit back and wait and see. Innovation is in our DNA and we are excited by these advances knowing that our Approaches to Learning framework provides a robust foundation for the critical thinking and ethical considerations that require consideration. While we focus on these opportunities, we are also collaborating with CAIS schools across the country to help draft a framework for implementation and consideration in April 2024.

There is much to learn and our LTS team has been hosting sessions for our faculty and staff on the technology available and potential applications - watch for parent sessions and Connexions articles to come.

Uniforms: Many independent schools have uniforms as a means of supporting a sense of community. However, there have been a lot of discussions at schools around the world about the value of uniforms, particularly in an increasingly casual business world. Our approach is one of some flexibility to allow students comfort and some self-expression. We want to ensure that students are ready to learn and do not feel constrained by their clothing. It’s also important that faculty are not constantly having punitive conversations with students; we want them to build relationships around topics of greater importance and meaning. It is important for everyone to acknowledge that teenagers, in particular, have always found ways to disrupt uniform conventions and remain one step ahead of schools in creatively customising clothing to express individuality. This is why my personal view is to take every opportunity to simplify uniform choices to reduce the cost burden on families, increase comfort for students, and enhance the purpose of uniform which is for clothing to appear, well, ‘uniform’. Imagine, for example, if the only options were a dark blue polo shirt in the summer and a dark blue smart sweatshirt in the winter. Imagine also if our uniform provider made all clothing items from recyclable material reducing the carbon footprint of the school in the very items we wear.

We acknowledge that during formal external facing events, such as community gatherings, we will work harder to emphasise the proper adoption of ‘Number 1’ uniform so every student looks smart and respects the occasion. We appreciate parent/guardian involvement in this matter, too, as your child heads off to school on those rare but special days when we ask for formal uniform wear.

I will again pose the question as to whether we should include shirts, ties, and the choice to have a blazer when the occasions when we expect students to wear this uniform are so infrequent? I have worked in schools in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Beijing where students present themselves very smartly and ‘uniformly’ for special occasions with VIP dignitaries in attendance, wearing their polo shirts and/or long-sleeved sweatshirts rather than shirts, ties, and blazers. Just yesterday, I attended the Senior School Town Hall meeting where nearly every student was wearing a polo shirt and/or sweatshirt and the sea of consistent dark blue in front of me looked much smarter than on other occasions when we have a mix of shirts and ties, athletics tops, polo shirts, sweaters, cardigans etc. Often, too much choice can potentially undermine the very purpose of uniform in reducing student anxiety about what to wear every morning.  

Please also see the Recommended Reads section on Head Space for an interesting article on this topic.