Teaching & Learning

As noted by van Manen (1991),

'Pedagogy is not just a word. Pedagogy is not just found in observational categories, but like love or friendship in the experience of the presence … pedagogy is cemented deep in the relationship between adults and children.'

This is a rich and dynamic space, in which the interrogation of complex concepts, both practical and theoretical, underpin genuine learning and creative problem solving. Our curriculum centres on a faculty-based, discipline-specific approach to deep learning. These two fundamentals, relationship and disciplinarity, have evolved over many years to become the bedrocks of our six-year secondary school learning experience.

Underpinning this approach is our commitment to visible thinking as developed by Harvard University’s renowned Project Zero, which since being established in 1967, has sought to understand and nurture learning, thinking, ethics, intelligence and creativity.

Stemming from Project Zero is the richness of Dr Ron Ritchhart’s concept of Cultures of Thinking, which focused on visible and valued thinking. The eight cultural forces of Cultures of Thinking focus teachers’ attention on language, time, environment, opportunities, routines, modelling, interactions and expectations. By engaging teachers in such dynamically reflective classroom practice, Cultures of Thinking has supported Girls Grammar’s teachers, no matter their stage of career, to grow and develop their concept of both teaching and learning.

As Ritchhart and Perkins (2005) conclude:

'The idea that deep and lasting learning is a product of thinking provides a powerful case for the teaching of thinking. Indeed, we venture that the true promise of the teaching of thinking will not be realized until learning to think and thinking to learn merge seamlessly’.

At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, our teachers and students learn together as they interrogate the knowledge, information and misinformation so essential for robust citizenship in this ever complex 21st-century environment. Through this, students develop the lenses of wisdom, imagination and integrity that are so essential for the effective, creative and dynamic understanding that is needed to learn effectively and well in such uncertain times.

Further reading

Adie, L. Addison, B. & Lingard, B. (2021). Assessment and learning: an in-depth analysis of change in one school’s assessment culture, Oxford Review of Education.

Claxton, G. (2021). The Future of Teaching and the Myths that Hold it Back, Routledge.

Crowther, F. Andrews, D. & Conway, J. (2013). School Wide Pedagogy: Vibrant New Meaning for Teachers and Principals. Hawker Brownlow.

Ellerton, P. (2021). On Critical Thinking and Content Knowledge: A Critique of the Assumptions of Cognitive Load Theory. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 17 November 2021.

Marzano, R. & Kendall, J. (2007). The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Corwin.

Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools. Jossey-Bass.

Ritchhart, R. (2023). Cultures of Thinking in Action: 10 Mindsets to Transform our Teaching and Students’ Learning. Jossey-Bass.

Ritchhart, R. & Perkins, D.N. (2005). Learning to think: The challenges of teaching thinking. The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning 775-802

Stobart, G. (2014). The Expert Learner: Challenging the Myth of Ability. Open University Press.

van Manen, M. (1991). The tact of the teaching: the meaning of pedagogical thoughtfulness, Suny Press.