Introduction
 Dynamic, information rich and continuously changing is how UNESCO describes the world that we are preparing our students to enter. What skills and understandings do our students need to participate effectively in this world and how do we facilitate their development?
In fact, these question really aren’t new but what is new is the remarkably different set of skills that our students are now bringing into school. They really are growing up digital and there is an increasing disconnect between the way in which they are learning at home and the way in which they are learning in school.
Hugh Mackay believes that students, especially those in secondary schools, are becoming outraged and angry at what they perceive they have to go through at school. They see school as boring and preventing them from learning in the relational, technology rich way they prefer and which they chose to use outside of school.
This is the background to our conference. The digital world is requiring teachers and administrators to develop new skills and understandings; to build on our knowledge and experience to engage with our students and school communities in new ways.
Kolbe and Tranby are both successful schools and the Conference is an opportunity to build on that success for the future. We hope that this will be an opportunity for us all to develop further insights into the nature of the world that we are all operating in, and for teachers and administrators alike to develop new skills to augment what we are already doing in our offices and classrooms.
With a mixture of keynote speakers and a range of workshops to choose from there should be the opportunity for every participant to learn something new. Furthermore the daily worship, conference dinner and coffee, tea and lunch breaks should help us all to develop richer collegial relationships both within and between our schools.
Best wishes for an engaging, stimulating and rewarding two days.
Jo Bednall
Tranby College
Principal
Caroline Payne
Principal
Kolbe Catholic College |
