QUALITY ADVENTIST SCHOOLS Presentation CSA Policy Forum 2014 Dr Daryl Murdoch National Director - Adventist Schools Australia

Adventist Schools Australia National Office based in Melbourne 9 School Companies across Australia 48 school campuses across Australia Employing over 1000 teachers Educating around 13,000 students

Our Past Practice - Accreditation Every 5 years – 2 day visit Panel of external teachers and administrators Focused on compliance and improvement Despite our best efforts it came across as something done ‘to’ a school, rather than owned ‘by’ the school. The ‘ball’ was dropped after the ‘banging on the chook shed’ stopped!

Need for Change We recognised that current processes were not building an improvement culture and this was reinforced by a key note speaker at one of our educational leaders’ conferences. “The most effective way of improving the quality of education for individual pupils is to expect schools to take responsibility for their own quality assurance. Quality should be built into a school’s day to day work and not bolted on.” Ian Gamble

Developing a culture of continuous improvement To develop a school culture where leaders and teachers engage in continuous improvement, leaders and teachers must know: Exactly what objectives/outcomes they are responsible and accountable for executing i.e. what is expected. How their current performance rates in relation to what is expected of them. What professional learning and support is available.

Our Aim To build a school review and improvement framework for schools to self-assess how they are going and develop a culture of improvement and excellence to ensure our schools are quality sustainable schools.

Establishing a Culture of Continuous Improvement Achieving excellence requires a commitment to continuous improvement & quality assurance. The QAS Framework is more about a ‘culture change’ than a ‘process’. The process is only a means to an end. Developing quality does not ‘steal’ time from teaching – it is the core business of the school. The whole school community (staff, parents, students) need to take ownership and responsibility for their own quality assurance processes.

QAS Framework Structure – ‘20 Components’ COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS ADVENTIST IDENTITY LEARNING & TEACHINGLEADING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT These Components are the ‘Pillars’ of the Framework Leading the Learning & Improvement Culture Improvement Processes & Planning Human Resources Finances, Facilities & Resources Compliance & Accountability Special Character Vision, Mission & Values Sharing Faith Pastoral Care Students & their Families Church Wider Community Professional Partnerships Rationale for Teaching Student Learning & Engagement Teaching Practices Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Student Achievement Professional Learning

QAS – School Review & Improvement Process 80% Internal Process20% External Process QAS Framework Validation QAS Cyclic Review Professional Conversations Review 20 Components over 5 yrs Rate Components (1-7 scale) Set Improvement Plans where applicable Critical friend validates internal rating for each Component Visit by ASA team every 5 years

QUALITY ADVENTIST SCHOOLS