Newsletter 1, 2006


Learning Conversations News
The year has got off to a busy start especially at the Loftus Community Centre where Marie now spends some of her week. It’s proving to be every bit as exciting and challenging as she expected but already she’s made many new friends and contacts as well as acquiring some new skills.

AISWA has been successful in gaining some initial funding from PEET for the proposed project on the History of Small Independent and Community Schools in WA and so we are confident that this will start soon. Together with AISWA we will be seeking other sources of funds to ensure that the study is as comprehensive as possible. We would very much like to hear from people who might have documents about schools with which they have been associated but that might not be part of the official collections – or perhaps they were connected with schools that no longer exist. We will be formally contacting all those we know of soon but please treat this is a preliminary notice and contact us if you think you might have something that could be of interest to us for this project.

Since April 2005, Marie has worked with a group of children and their parents from the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to explore ideas about ‘boundaries’.  After walks to identify boundaries, discussions about visible and invisible boundaries, distinctions between rules and boundaries, explorations of personal space and boundaries between people, the children were invited to create a curtain for the doorway (the boundary) into the Meeting Room at Mt Lawley Meeting House. This led to discussions about Quakers, Quakerism and being a Quaker and what can actually be represented on a boundary to a Quaker Meeting Room. The nearly completed silk painting has a sky of hope, a forest of kindness and generosity, a shoreline of perseverance and a sea of peace. A parallel project of a tablecloth for the Fremantle Meeting Room table is nearing completion. Marie has kept a copy of the documentation of the process that you can see when you next visit us!

2006 has been declared by the United Nations Association of Australia as the Year of Community.  While Marie has found that one could be celebrating nearly 400 celebrations a year if one took on board all the designated days, weeks, months etc. we have decided that the Year of Community is one worth pursuing. Building and supporting ‘community’ is something we believe is important in many contexts and so we welcome this as an opportunity to use it as a vehicle for some of our own work in e.g. the Living Projects we’re be offering and in some of the Soirees we’ll be holding. Marie is also using it for some of the events she’ll be offering at the Loftus Community Centre. At a time when we here in Australia have had our own version of ‘race riots’, when ‘multiculturalism’ continues to be debated as though we could somehow turn back the clock and no longer have a ‘multicultural society’ (and which of us will not be on one of those ships to return us to …where?) and politicians of all hues seem keen to use such issues as political footballs rather than engaging Australians in debates on how we can all work towards building a sense of community we see it as more important than ever to be working for and with the many different communities that together make up the nations we call Australia.

Reflections

Evidence Based Research
Last year saw a lot of debate of the importance of ‘evidence based research’ in education and community services. The former federal Minister for Education Dr Brendan Nelson was enthusiastic about it and ARACY ran several valuable video-linked Access Grid Workshops in which many people from WA participated. At first glance the notion of ‘evidence based research’ seems eminently sensible – but what exactly is it? The most straightforward definition we have found suggests it is ‘systematic reviews of studies of effectiveness of social and educational policies and practices’. This comes from the Campbell Collaboration which is an international organisation established for this very purpose which in turn has been modelled on a longstanding operation, the Cochrane Collaboration, that does the same sort of work in the medical field. Excellent summaries and background information on all of this with links to the Cochrane and Campbell Collaboration websites can be found at http://www.ncddr.org/du/researchexchange/v08n02/1_evidence.html

While no-one can be opposed to the principle of using the best possible knowledge to inform policy and practice in any field, including education and community services, what is contentious is what counts as ‘evidence’.  The Cochrane and Campbell Collaborations only use what are called ‘controlled experiments following rigorous standards of science’ systematically reviewing only those studies that use randomised control trials. These have led to unquestionably powerful outcomes in medicine (e.g. on the use of various different vaccines)  and many other areas where it is possible to undertake randomised controlled studies, but the reality is that it is almost never possible to undertake randomised controlled studies of almost any intervention in education or community services. As Dorothy Scott at one of the ARACY videoconferences noted, quoting Lisbeth Schorr, ‘… it is the very nature of the most promising responses to persistent social problems that makes them almost impossible to evaluate by the methodologically elegant ways in which we evaluate drugs or electric toothbrushes.’  Scott argues for the value of what she and others call ‘practice wisdom’ – ‘Tacit knowledge that is inductively derived from cumulative observations and which leads to pattern recognition and responses by experienced practitioners.’  She is anxious to not dismiss the value of controlled experiments, where these are valid, but to also ensure that evidence is understood more broadly so that we do not ignore important advances that have been are made to our understanding and knowledge even when it is derived in very different ways.

The departure of Dr Nelson from his role as Minister for Education does not, we believe, make understanding and debating this issue of ‘what counts as evidence’ any less significant! All of us, as practitioners, are called upon, almost daily, to make judgements about the value of new policies, ideas and practices that are being advocated. We always need to ask not only ‘who is advocating’ this and ‘for what purpose?’ but also ‘what is the evidence for this change that is being advocated?’ To be able to assess the answers we are given we need to be clear in our own understanding of what we consider to be valid ‘evidence’.

Interesting Connections
The Seriously Optimistic On-line News (SOON) – an absolute must for people who want to keep in touch with the fact that good things do happen in life – and that we can all take some responsibility for making them happen. Published monthly at http://www.innovativeresources.org/soon/ it’s also the source of Innovative Resources who produce lots of wonderful books and other resources for working with children, families and communities from a strengths perspective.
The Children and Community Services Act 2004 ‘confers functions in relation to the provision of social services, the provision of financial and other assistance, and other matters concerning the wellbeing of children, other individuals, families and communities; improves the regulation of child care services; modernises Western Australia’s legislation relating to the employment of children; improves the mechanisms for the protection of children enabling Western Australia to be in line with contemporary practices. The Children and Community Services Act 2004 was assented to in October 2004. Two sections of the Act commenced operation on 22 January 2005 – section 3 (terms used in this Act) and section 102 (leaving child unsupervised in vehicle). The Department for Community Development will continue to operate under existing legislation until the remaining sections of the Children and Community Services Act come into effect, which is anticipated to be in March 2006.’  It comes with a number of Information sheets that can be found at newlegislation@dcd.wa.gov.au
The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a report ‘describing how the internet improves Americans' capacity to maintain their social networks and how they gain a big payoff when they use the internet to activate those networks to solicit help.’ The study found that ‘the internet and email expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the offline world. People not only socialize online, but they also incorporate the internet into their quest for information and advice as they seek help and make decisions. Disputing concerns that heavy use of the internet might diminish people's social relations, the report finds that the internet fits seamlessly with Americans' in-person and phone encounters. With the help of the internet, people are able to maintain active contact with sizable social networks, even though many of the people in those networks do not live close to them. The study The Strength of Internet Ties highlights how email supplements, rather than replaces, the communication people have with others in their network.’ http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/172/report_display.asp
Child Care Options
The Department of Community Development has a useful site with lots of information to assist parents looking for child care (long day care, home based care, nannies etc.). It includes a checklist or parents about what to look for in the different sorts of care options that are available and lots of other great information as well.
http://www.community.wa.gov.au/Resources/ChildCare/Choosing_quality_care_for_your_children.htm
PALS - Partnership, Acceptance, Learning and Sharing - is ‘an awards program designed to encourage Western Australian school students to create projects that promote understanding and awareness of the State's rich Indigenous heritage and culture and through this to advance reconciliation. PALS gives Western Australian students the chance to make a lasting difference to life for everyone in this State - as well as the opportunity to win prizes and respect for their schools.’ http://pals.dia.wa.gov.au/
The Equal Opportunity Commission (WA) provides training and community education to a range of organisations including public and private sector organisations, educational institutions (including schools), as well as community and voluntary organisations. http://www.equalopportunity.wa.gov.au/training.html
Board Café is an electronic newsletter exclusively for members of non-profit boards of directors. It offers a menu of ideas, information, opinion, news, and resources to help board members give and get the most out of board service. Some of their topics, which are also archived, include ‘The Board should Raise Money: True or False?’ and ‘What to do When you Really, Really Disagree with a Board Decision’. Its parent website, Compass Point Non Profit Services has lots of interesting information about boards, governance and everything to do with not for profit organisations. http://www.boardcafe.org.


Up and Coming Conferences and Events
NIFTeY Conference: Prevention: Invest Now or Pay Later 8th -9th February. University of NSW, Kensington NSW https://www.amlink.com.au/secure/eilite/niftey06.htm
ARACY ARC/NHMRC Seminar: Dr Jack P Shonkoff, MD - Early Childhood Investment: What is the evidence? What can we do? – the fifth in a series of capacity-building workshops and seminars using access grid technology. All ARACY members are welcome. Thursday, March 2, 12pm. RSVP to Sharyn Bant by 23 February
Harmony Week, 15th -21st March.  Theme: ‘Valuing the Contribution of our Diverse Community’. As well as promoting positive community relations, Harmony Week is about saying ‘no’ to racism and discrimination. More information: http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/hw_2005/hw_about.asp

WACOSS Conference: Shaping the Future: Social Services & Solutions for Tomorrow 4th -5th May  Sheraton Perth Hotel

1st International Middle Schooling Conference: Motivation, Meaning and Management in the Middle Years. 13th – 15th May, Perth, Australia www.msawa.asn.au
National Volunteer Week, 15 – 21 May, Theme: ‘Change your world …start now’. More information: http://www.volunteeringwa.org.au/
Empowering Individuals and Families in the Human Services, National Policy Conference 16th -17th May, Melbourne. http://www.partnerships.org.au/PolicyConference2006.htm

Dimensions of Learning – 9th -11th May, Melbourne. A  thinking and learning conference focusing on effective schools with Art Costa, Robert Marzano, Robin Fogarty and many others. http://www.hbe.com.au/Dimensions/info_frame.html

ACE National Conference: Teachers Shaping Futures: Futures Shaping Teaching, 25 – 27 May, Holiday Inn Adelaide. www.apapdc.edu.au

AATE/ALEA National Conference: Voices, Vibes, Visions 8th- 11th July, Darwin High School, Northern Territory

The Naked Facilitator – 29th Nov – 1st Dec, Deakin University, Geelong, Australian Facilitators’ Conference www.AFNGeelong06.org


Learning Conversations’ Professional Development Opportunities

Reggio Inspired Workshops will be offered in 2006 on the weekends of 25/26 February, 17/19 May, 19/20 August and 11.12 November.  These workshops are designed for people beginning their journey with inspirations from Reggio Emilia as well as those who have already worked with the principles for some time. The structure of the workshop will be negotiated, so participants will live the journey – working into the future with one third certainty! To run these workshops we need to hear from you well in advance of the dates – so we can negotiate them!  We already have bookings for the first one in February so please do get in touch.

Email Marie for a Reflection on My Teaching and Learning Journey (marie.martin@learningconversations.com.au)

If you have any other suggestions or requests for workshops for 2006 contact Marie (0409 034 692) to discuss them further.

Educational Soirées
Educational Soirées are held every Thursday evening (from 4:30pm) at 272 Oxford St, Leederville. Everyone is welcome. Sometimes there are topics scheduled for discussion and sometimes there are not. Bring anything you would like to discuss with you or just come and listen! In the meantime, why not pencil these dates into your diary?

February 9th -  No scheduled topic

February 16th – Adopt-a-School

February 23rd - Irma Lachmund from Multilingual Minds talking about multi-lingualism

March 2nd - Jan Phillips talking about her PhD. Topic – ‘Crisscrossing the Landscape’: An Analysis of Dilemmas in Early Childhood Education from a Socio-Constructivist Perspective.

March 9th - How do we move from schools and classrooms that are focussed on work to those that focus more on learning? This is a question begin explored at Bialiak College as part of the Cultures of Thinking  Project in Melbourne being conducted in collaboration with  Project Zero and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It has been suggested to us that if they can talk about it, so can we!

March 16th - No scheduled topic

March 23rd – Sally Russell, Literacy Service Area Curriculum Consultant at West Coast District Office of DET talking about the First Steps Second Edition.

March 30th - What is Racism - and how do we challenge it? For two rather different approaches see http://www.esrnational.org/challenge.html and http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4015

April 20th – Jane Merewether and others from Bunbury - Creating and maintaining a network - the Bunbury experience
 
May 18 - Megan Paull talking about her PhD research on Involving Older Volunteers

Contact Us
Call Anna on 0438 902 586 and Marie on 0409 034 692
Or email to Anna.Alderson@learningconversations.com.au or Marie.Martin@learningconversations.com.au

Subscribe
If you know of anyone who would like to be put on our mailing list, please pass the newsletter on to them and ask them to contact us. They can just send an email saying SUBSCRIBE

Unsubscribe
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please let us know. You can just send an email saying UNSUBSCRIBE

Updating email lists
If you have changed your email account, please let us know so that we can update our lists!