Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute

*(Djoowak – a Noongar word meaning ‘proceeding, following generation’)

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As All Saints' College strives to achieve the goals set out in Benang: Strategic Plan 2019 - 2023 (Benang is a Noongar word meaning ‘Tomorrow’), we know we must continue to significantly evolve, develop and reach beyond our current structures to facilitate the nurturing of independent, future-enabled young people.

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To help us in this work we were pleased to establish in 2018, Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute (BBI) to support and guide us in our core business of providing a world-leading Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 teaching and learning environment for students and staff.

 

Future-focused and dedicated to innovation and leadership in educational practices, BBI comprises a team of College staff who will work alongside partners from the wider educational community and from industry.
 

BBI explores and implements new and flexible structures and practices for learning that recognise, and are focused on, our diverse student cohorts’ interests, abilities, passions and skills, and that are committed to nurturing future-enabled young people.

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The BBI assists us in our continued focus on:

• an integrated approach that acknowledges effective teaching and learning does not take place in 'silos' or isolated departments;

• providing a ‘personalisable’ education;

• acknowledging that much rich learning occurs before 8.30am and after 3.30pm, and that much rich learning also occurs informally as well as formally;

• recognising that online and offline learning are important educational tools;

• the notions of flexibility and hybridity - that there is no one 'pathway' to a tertiary education or to a range of futures;

• the fact that our students are interacting and learning in local, national and global contexts;

• preparing our students not just for an exam, but for a fulfilling life;

• the increasing blending of traditional secondary and tertiary boundaries.

 

In this, BBI recognises the work of Harvard University / Project Zero's David Perkins in ‘Beyonding Education’:

 

• beyond content –focusing, as well, on 21st century skills and competencies;

• beyond local – embracing, as well, global perspectives, problems and studies;

• beyond topics – transforming topics into tools of broad understanding;

• beyond disciplines – embracing interdisciplinary topics and problems;

• beyond academic engagement – striving for the even greater goal of personal significance, commitment and passion.

 

Committed to remaining abreast of world's best practice in education, BBI is fuelled by the synergies that come from its various partners including the Beyond Boundaries Advisory Group (BBAG). To help steer and guide the BBI, the BBAG includes a diverse range of educational and corporate leaders. The group acts like a ‘think tank’ and provides guidance as the BBI works to develop world-leading educational practice that is future-focused and responsive to global trends, not only within education, but in the world beyond the College.

 

The Director of BBI, Ms Esther Hill (also our Director of Teaching and Learning), works closely with all teaching staff across the College and liaise with a range of key personnel, including the Assistant Director of BBI, Mr Jim Shackleton (our former Head of Science).

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Mr Shackleton specifically assists Ms Hill in the delivery of the Senior School teaching and learning program. Mr Shackleton brings a great deal of experience to this new position, having taught and held leadership positions across different sectors and organisations, giving him a unique set of skills that benefit a curriculum leadership role.

 

The Institute is an important way in which the College further strengthens our quest to provide the optimal teaching and learning program and environment for our students and staff, and we look forward to continuing sharing with you its work.