Learning From Each Other - US and Australian ties that bind

Big Picture Students in the US The big picture ideas are challenging…. Putting the learning of students at the centre of learning design has consequences. It can mean big change. Sometimes, even the best of us, can feel the going get tough.

That’s when we need inspiration.

Early this year, a group of Big Picture people made an inspirational visit to a number of Big Picture schools - Rhode Island, The Met Oakland, The Bronx Guild BP school, The San Diego Met, and Animo Theater Arts BP School LA.

The schools are prospering. They are a joy to see. Joining the school community, even for a day or so, restores enthusiasm for the challenge of change.

Paul Billings Here’s what Paul Billings, principal from Yule Brook College of West Australia wrote of the visit….

‘As the principal of a school implementing the principles of Big Picture, the opportunity to visit schools in the US which embody BP was invaluable. The structured immersion in BP schooling which I got at the Met allowed me to talk to practitioners who have actually confronted and addressed issues of school reform, all of which were relevant to my experience. The strength of what we did was that: 1. we participated in workshops enabling us to be introduced to and to debrief on important aspects of BP; and 2. shadow and participate in the life of school leaders, advisors and students - providing real opportunities to get a feel for BP practice in advisory and internships.

I was able to follow this work up with a visit to the Bronx Guild School which is a BP school in New York City. This was a significant learning opportunity for me. I was able to speak to a school leadership team which had undertaken the transformation of an existing school to a BP school, and observe the calm sense of industry which pervades the school.

Overall, I was convinced, more than ever, that this makes sense for my community and that it is possible for us to achieve great things with our students.’

Viv White and Sue French Here’s what Viv White, Big Picture Director, wrote of the visit…

‘I have now had time to reflect on the visit to Rhode Island and LA ….

I am now more than ever committed to trying to stay true to the distinguishers of the Big Picture. Two things convinced me how easy it is to push back to the middle. Firstly, the new Portfolio competency based assessment in Rhode Island which ironically at one level is a major win for BP US who convinced the state to mandate these portfolios for all young people in schools as an alternative to standardized tests is a new pressure for the Met Schools in Providence - how to keep them as a tool that supports rather than restrains their design.

Secondly, the other work was around algebra. I have had a great opportunity to watch from the edge as John Hogan works with Tim from US as they discuss and debate the Quantitative Reasoning goal. So much more work needs to happen with the teachers to see how the Quantitative Reasoning can be built into the Learning Through Internship’s and the project work in a way that is not token and low level. And they are making great progress here. But also if the algebra has to happen for the graduation then how can that work become creative and bold in a pedagogical sense and not turn the young people away from Maths altogether again

I am also now much more aware of the role that school design plays in the BP context. I spend a morning walking in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Elliot talked so often about the influence Frederick Law Olmsted had on him I thought I should see for myself .

Law Olmsted and Charles Vaux designed this and Central Park and many others in the US and led the international beauty movement in the field of landscape design. He talks of prospect, mystery and legibility in the design. I could see how Elliot became captivated by it and drew heavily on these ideas when designing the school.

Dennis Littky presenting Now the Met itself to many folk just seems like any other school, but with no full size classrooms, and plenty of open space that is flexibly used.

This time, as I walked through it with a different lens: Visual surprises around corners, offices that felt like personal studies not principals offices, young people working…quietly, not running through straight corridors yelling…no corridors to speak of…and lots of folk squashed into what seems at first glance to be rooms too small for the purpose…but I am not convinced of that.

‘keep the young people close, keep watch over them, keep close so you can see what they are interested in, keep close so you know when they need you...no one is invisible yet everyone can find a quite place to work alone (while someone watches over them).

So I am doing some more reading and thinking about that , but we need schools that look, feel and operate like productive workplaces… we not only need to invert the model of learning design but also the physical space and design as well. I think we may need architects who don’t design schools to work with us…to help us rethink the space stuff.

Communication through visits… That’s an ongoing strategy for Big Picture Australia. We learn from each other. It’s a living dialogue.

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