Education Philosophy
For me, education is about believing that all learners are capable of learning. They might not learn at the same rate, but with different methods, strategies, and support, the sky is the limit.
Being parents of three young daughters, my wife Hayley and I are hoping that school is a place where students can discover what’s possible. We are inspired by schools that will empower every child to develop a great heart, an inspired mind, strong wings, and to make a positive contribution to society and the future. We value communities that will provide a wide range of learning opportunities for students to sample different experiences that allow young people to find their passion, their principles, and to make life-long friends. A school which provides the opportunity for students to explore a variety of subjects, be globally minded, embracing diversity, leading through service, and engage in learning that is meaningful to them. We anticipate every day to be engaging, enriching, and full of curiosity. We are inspired by teachers and learning mentors that will support students to be ready for the rapidly changing future through a focus on critical thinking, creativity, ethics and collaboration. Traits that we also as a family hold dear are honesty, fairness, respect and empathy, and we are passionate about helping these traits become normative in a school community.
As we move through this decade, we will continue to be challenged by the fast pace of technology adoption in an increasingly interconnected and complex world. The rapidly changing technological world in which our children are growing up in is a vastly more complex one than previous generations. Information on any given topic is now freely available. Our ability to visually communicate with people, anywhere and anytime, is available at our finger tips.
A major lesson I learnt from leading curriculum innovation across the K-12 spectrum was that no amount of measuring & assessing against a set of universal one-size fits all standards will make “better” learners. Instead if we try giving them the right amount of support through coaching, collaboration, time & resources they need, learners will build a love for learning, reflecting, developing & growing.
As a respectful school leader my bottom line is children’s learning. It’s not about the shiny new gadgets or the latest version of so and so app, rather, it’s the ability to work as a community and collectively mapping out the 'what, where, how, and when' so learning purposeful, sparks creativity, encourages collaboration, streamlines workflow, and most importantly, improve student outcomes.
What drew me to the teaching profession was the opportunity to design learning that invites students to clothe themselves in courage, to embrace and build their creativity, and offer learning that is different than what they have experienced to date. Learning where the pace is personalised, the content is personalised, and the products they are responsible for producing are personalised. Learning where students' strengths are nurtured and they develop an entrepreneurial and spiritual mindset whilst experiencing new learning environments. We don't start with the ‘what’ or ‘how’ first, but rather, we start with the ‘need’, the ‘why’. My hope is that each of these elements are strategically and deliberately embedded in their learning so it becomes a skill that they can pick up, load into their backpack, and carry those skills with them into their future. Fostering student creativity is a core skill we should build into all learning programs.
We have a ‘personal best’ approach within our family. To us, personal best is not about measuring yourself against another’s marks, but rather, it’s about overcoming setbacks to find the inner strength, to work more effectively, and to give back to the community. Our philosophy revolves shifting the mindset from valuing right answers as the purpose for learning to knowing how to behave when we don’t know answers, from valuing knowledge acquisition to valuing knowledge production. As a school community, we want to support our students to be curious, have strong character, and to be resilient. We want to ensure we continue to provide a wide range of opportunities for students to able to assess and understand their own strengths and weaknesses in order to best facilitate their own learning and to make learning a life-long journey.
Michael Ha