Recordings of QuEST 2022 and 2023 online courses
QuEST short courses 2023
Leading for wellbeing in your school, with students and staff, means knowing the research and the evidence. In this session the presenter will outline the foundations of wellbeing science, including the PERMAH Framework of Wellbeing. The focus is on the elements of PERMAH which impact positive teaming at work – positive emotion, relationships, engagement (character strengths), and achievement (habits, goal setting). The framework can be applied to staff and students and will enhance your capability to lead a successful wellbeing program in your school.
Psychological safety exists when individuals or groups feel free/safe to take risks, raise problems, disagree, ask questions, and admit mistakes. This course will explore what psychological safety is, how it can benefit those working in schools, and how leaders of schools can create cultures of psychological safety.
Character strengths are a significant initiative emerging from the positive psychology movement. When used thoughtfully they can make an important contribution to student wellbeing. In this workshop the presenter will introduce the character strengths, demonstrate the mechanism for identifying them and explore with participants how the strengths can be incorporated into your regular classroom teaching strategies.
The quality of relationships in the classroom influences student learning. A teacher’s responsibility is to create shared expectations about positive behaviours and to plan transparent and predictable routines that promote optimal learning conditions. In this session the presenter will walk through positive, practical steps that every teacher can include in their repertoire to create effective learning communities in the classroom. This session will focus on routines and relationships in the primary classroom.
The quality of relationships in the classroom influences student learning. If you plan for success, you can create positive, safe, and inclusive learning environments that minimise off-task and disruptive behaviours. If you plan for success then you can encourage students to take appropriate responsibility for what is happening in the management of the class and in their own learning. In this session the presenter will walk through positive, practical steps that can be included in a teacher’s repertoire to create effective learning communities in the classroom. This session will focus on routines and relationships in the secondary classroom.
This course addresses the basics of behaviour management, examining the role that content, relationships and teaching and learning strategies play in creating a conducive, positive learning environment. This session is designed to support teachers in strengthening their approach to classroom management. The focus will be on what to think, say and do to address the minor or irritating or off-task behaviours that minimise learning time in the classroom.
There are times when all classes get off track; routines are lost, relationships are strained, and tiredness sets in. This session focuses on strategies that a teacher can implement to get things back on track for the whole group. As the trained and skilled person in the room the teacher has the responsibility to initiate the change; restoring relationships is always the first place to start. The session will use examples of working with secondary students. The presenter has an international reputation for working on classroom management strategies with experienced teachers and graduates.
There has been an increase in the numbers of students who are suffering from anxiety in today’s classrooms. Feelings of anxiety will prevent students from engaging in learning or achieving their potential. In this course the presenter will explore techniques that you can use when you are working with students who suffer from anxiety, helping you to re-engage the students while they deal with their condition. An important session for teachers and it will also be helpful for Education Support staff working one to one or with small groups of students.
In this session the presenter will outline five strategies that any teacher can use to differentiate for the diverse range of abilities in the classroom. The strategies are practical and classroom focused - and can be applied across range of subjects. The session will focus on secondary classrooms.
When teachers understand students, their cultural and linguistic background, their gender identity and the significant experiences that have shaped them, for example disability, a learning disorder, or trauma; then teachers can shape an inclusive environment that promotes high quality learning opportunities for all. In this session the presenter will explore different routines and practices that teachers can use to create a more inclusive classroom culture.
What happens when students in our class become disengaged? What is within our control as a teacher to respond to the disengaged student? In this session the presenter will explore some of the common manifestations of disengaged students and then suggest different approaches, to re-engage those students in the learning community.
Students with dyslexia will encounter difficulties with reading and spelling, and therefore are more likely to struggle with reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Teachers can create a learning environment and use instructional practices that maximise the learning outcomes for all students, those with and without dyslexia. This session will focus on strategies that a teacher can use to create that positive learning environment. It will also be helpful for Education Support Staff who may be working one to one or with small groups.
Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can struggle to engage with the learning that is happening in the classroom. This session will provide background knowledge about the condition of ADHD and how it typically manifests in the classroom. The presenter will then explore practical classroom strategies that can be used to promote engagement in the learning environment for those students with ADHD. While the focus is on teaching strategies, it will also be helpful for Education Support Staff working one to one or with small groups.
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder may experience difficulty when planning,
preparing for, getting started and completing work tasks. The mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully are often challenging for students with ASD. In this session the presenter will outline specific teaching strategies that they use in the classroom that benefit not only students with ASD but all students in the classroom.
Students with English as an Additional Language (EAL) may experience challenges in their learning. Teachers who are equipped with resources and strategies to support EAL students can assist these students to overcome barriers to their learning. The evidence shows that teaching practices that support EAL students also enhance the learning of mainstream students. This session will model successful teaching practices that have worked with students in the middle years (upper primary and lower secondary). The session will also be helpful for Education Support Staff who may be working one to one or with small groups.
This session will explore the educations systems and societal assumptions that underpin the approach to curriculum formation It is an important starting point to ensure that First Nations perspectives can be engaged with authentically throughout the curriculum.
This is the first part of a two-part workshop. If you attend this session you should also attend STLN2332 on 24th August. In part one, the presenter will outline yarning circles; what is a yarning circle, their use as a learning experience and their potential for the contemporary classroom. Participants will be encouraged to explore opportunities for the inclusion of yarning circles in their own teaching approaches.
As teachers we have a professional obligation under AITSL standard 2.4.2 to teach about the Uluru Statement and a Voice to Parliament. In this session the presenter will explore the issues around the Uluru Statement and the Voice to Parliament and outline the teaching resources available for the classroom.
As teachers we have a professional obligation under AITSL standard 2.4.2 to teach
about the Uluru Statement and a Voice to Parliament. In this session the presenter will explore the issues around the Uluru Statement and the Voice to Parliament and outline the teaching resources available for the classroom. This session will focus on secondary classrooms across many subjects.
We have all encountered students who excel as writers and those who are keen to develop as mature writers. It is rewarding when we experience the creativity and skill of students who produce high quality imaginative, informative or persuasive writing. In this session, the presenter will present five techniques they use when they encounter gifted and talented writers in their classroom, with the focus is on practical classroom ready techniques that you can readily implement in your classroom, whatever subject you are teaching.
All teachers need to build their capability to support the development of students’ writing skills. Adding to your repertoire of techniques can help you become more effective in your work. The presenter is an experienced secondary literacy teacher who will present five techniques that they use when they encounter reluctant writers. The focus is on practical classroom ready techniques that you can readily implement in your classroom, whatever subject you are teaching.
Essay writing is a common assessment method in English and the humanities subjects. It is particularly important for senior secondary students. In this session, an experienced secondary English teacher will work through five techniques they have used to build student essay writing skills. The focus is on practical classroom ready techniques that you can readily implement in your classroom, whatever subject you are teaching.
There is some anecdotal evidence that boys in secondary settings are reluctant readers. If this is the experience in your classrooms then this session will have some strategies that you can trial. The focus of this session is on practical classroom ready techniques that you can readily implement in your classroom, whatever subject you are teaching.
Every curriculum decision we make, including the texts we use in our classroom, makes a difference to student learning. When we make conscious choices about the texts we use, and how we teach with those texts, we make a statement about what is important to us as a teacher. In this session the presenter, an award-winning teacher who has published widely on the role of schools in promoting democracy, will outline how they make choices about the texts they use in the classroom. Texts can include the books we use in English classrooms, the textbooks across any subject, the visual and audio material we select, and the short extracts from media sources and other printed material. This session is about how you make a difference in your curriculum choices.
All teachers need to build their capability to support the development of students’ writing skills. Adding to your repertoire of techniques can help you become more effective in your work. The presenter is an experienced secondary literacy teacher who will present five techniques that they use when they encounter reluctant writers. The focus is on practical classroom ready techniques that you can readily implement in your classroom, whatever subject you are teaching.
In this session the presenter will explore teaching techniques that you can use to support students who are struggling with Mathematics. The presenter, an experienced teacher and Maths leader in his own school, will present ideas that you can use to promote engagement with mathematical concepts among students who are struggling with the subject.
Students’ numeracy development will be enhanced if teachers and parents are working in partnership. However, many parents have low levels of confidence in numeracy and Mathematics. In this session an experienced primary teacher and school leader will outline some approaches that they have used to increase parent confidence and to bring parents into the numeracy partnership. This session focuses on working with parents of students from Prep to Year to Year Three.
The success of STEM activities occurs when students can engage their thinking skills and pair it with creativity to problems solve and explore familiar and unfamiliar concepts. Teaching STEM can be incredibly fun and rewarding. However teachers sometimes find that incorporating STEM into the schedule can be difficult. Ryan Evans will outline some simple strategies for using building materials in the classroom to engage students and encourage the development of experimentation and critical thinking.
All teachers are now familiar with the construction of rubrics for assessment. In this session the focus will be on extending that skill to construct analytic and holistic rubrics that assess non-cognitive skills, including higher order thinking skills.
Formative assessment and feedback are closely linked, (more than is the case with summative assessment). With formative assessment teachers are seeking to give frequent and low stakes feedback (potentially several times in a lesson). In this session the presenter, who has experience working with both primary and secondary students, will share their approach to formative assessment and feedback, including tasks that can be used across the curriculum.
QuEST short courses 2022
Teachers collect and collate mountains of data, from standardised test to in-class assessments and observations. However, the essence of assessment data is what it tells teachers about the progress of students towards learning goals. The data informs teachers about what they need to change or adapt in their own practice to support students to reach those learning goals. It can be complex. Selena Fisk, a teacher and the author of two books on data, including Using and Analysing Data in Australian Schools, has developed techniques to support teachers to make informed judgements about their teaching practice.
Data informs teachers about the students they are teaching, about what they know and can do. Teachers need this information to provide feedback to students about where they need to go next to meet their learning goals. To do this well and efficiently teachers need techniques to collate and interpret the data to develop feedback for the students. Selena Fisk, a teacher and the author of two books on data, including Using and Analysing Data in Australian Schools, will demonstrate how teachers can collate and read the data to improve feedback to students.
This session explores classroom and school routines and their role in creating positive, calm, safe and inclusive routines/learning environments and minimising off-task behaviours.
The presenter focuses on the importance of relationships and encouraging students to take appropriate responsibility for what is happening, both in the management of the class and in their own learning.
The past two years have had a momentous impact on wellbeing of school staff and students. While wellbeing in the workplace is everyone’s business, this course recognises that school leaders hold a unique position that enables them to support and enhance others’ wellbeing at work.
Over three sessions, participants will come to understand the breadth and depth of wellbeing science and how they can embed evidence-based strategies at the individual, collective and system levels.
Core content includes wellbeing assessment and management, creating a culture of psychological safety, leading with strengths, fostering connections and trust in teams, job crafting, compassionate leadership and more.
This is the second of three sessions supporting school leaders in supporting and enhancing wellbeing of school staff and students. Over these three sessions,
participants will come to understand the breadth and depth of wellbeing science and how they can embed evidence-based strategies at the individual, collective and system
levels. Core content will include wellbeing assessment and management, creating a culture of psychological safety, leading with strengths, fostering connections and trust in teams, job crafting, compassionate leadership and more.
This is the third of three sessions supporting school leaders in supporting and enhancing wellbeing of school staff and students. Over these three sessions, participants
will come to understand the breadth and depth of wellbeing science and how they can embed evidence-based strategies at the individual, collective and system levels.
Core content will include wellbeing assessment and management, creating a culture of psychological safety, leading with strengths, fostering connections and trust in teams, job crafting, compassionate leadership and more.
Feelings of anxiety will prevent students from engaging in learning or achieving their potential. These barriers can be frustrating for the teacher and the student and can often lead to the student removing themselves further from the learning community.
In this course, the presenter will explore techniques that you can use when you are working with students who suffer from anxiety, helping you to re-engage the students while they deal with their condition.
This course will help both classroom teachers and teachers in support roles.
Students with ASD frequently have sensory processing issues, meaning that they have difficulty managing sensory inputs such as sound and touch. In this session, an experienced special education teacher will explore how students with ASD might be impacted by sensory processing issues and how that might manifest in your classroom. There are well-researched approaches that can be implemented in the classroom to assist students to manage these difficulties. The session will include practical examples of teaching techniques, adaptations to the classroom environment and the resources that can be used to assist students and enhance learning for all.
Teachers should be constantly engaged in adjusting their teaching to create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for all students. This is frequently described as differentiation.
In this session the presenter identifies the three areas within a teacher’s control where differentiation can be introduced - curriculum planning, your approach to classroom instruction (or teaching strategies) and assessment. All differentiation begins with evidence of student understanding, then recognising the opportunities to differentiate as they arise in the lesson.
Engaging with the curriculum can be difficult for a student when they experience challenges with literacy skills. For students with dyslexia, this is not something that is addressed by simply doing more work. Teachers can create a learning environment and use instructional practices that maximise the learning outcomes for all students, those with and without dyslexia. This session focuses on strategies that a teacher can use to create that positive learning environment. It will also be helpful for education support staff working one to one or with small groups.
This session focuses on inquiry learning as an approach to promote differentiation. Inquiry promotes differentiation of both the process and products of learning as students make decisions about how they work. An inquiry learning approach needs to be carefully designed and the role of the teacher is essential – there must be a strong understanding of student proficiency and clear goals established. Teachers must also know when and how to support and intervene in the inquiry process. The presenter has experience in working in both primary and secondary settings.
Teachers of students at all levels and ages have an obligation to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and perspectives in the classroom. This session will explore opportunities that are available for teachers to integrate First Nations perspectives into daily teaching routines. This will include resources, people, stories and content that can assist teachers to build student awareness. Building the confidence of teachers will lead to more inclusive learning environments for all.
It is rare for a kindergarten child to be disengaged, but common among adolescents. What happens in those intervening years and what is within the control of a teacher when responding to disengaged students? This session will explore some of the common manifestations of disengaged students and then suggest different approaches, within the control of the teacher, that can be used to re-engage those students. The key, as with so many behavioural issues, are preventative strategies and then restorative approaches once things have gone awry.
In this session, the presenter will explore techniques to manage challenging behaviour using calm and assertive dialogue rather than reactive and aggressive responses. It is important to understand the foundations of these techniques, so the presenter will also outline the principles behind developing classrooms built on healthy relationships that minimise challenging behaviours. No teacher looks for a crisis, but the best teachers are prepared with strategies if it happens.
This session supports secondary teachers in their approach to classroom management, including practical ideas to create healthy expectations, establish productive learning relationships and focus on the teacher’s role in achieving this.
The presenter focuses on encouraging students to take appropriate responsibility for what is happening, both in the management of the class and in their own learning.
Students who have experienced trauma will have disrupted learning patterns. These students benefit from a trauma informed approach to teaching.
This session will focus on supporting teachers to implement strategies that will help manage the behaviours that result from trauma and bring a focus back on to learning. Understanding the principles of trauma aware teaching can lead to healthier engagement with individual students.
Greater awareness of mental health conditions in society has increased the importance of teachers and education staff being able to recognise and understand the various issues that students may be facing and how to deal with these issues when they occur. In this session, the presenter will unpack and explore the different aspects of mental health that may manifest within a school environment and discuss appropriate guidelines around how to be a first responder and provide effective and helpful support. It is a course for leaders, teachers and education support staff.
QuEST long courses 2022
There are many pathways to progress toward a leadership position in schools, and while each comes with unique expectations, there are some common factors to these leadership roles. This program is designed for teachers who are aspiring to, or have just been appointed to, their first leadership role. The presenter will cover the transition from teacher to leader, ideas for building a team culture, and setting goals for yourself and the team you are leading.
It is important that school leaders create environments where teachers engage in professional conversations about their core work, identify common approaches,
celebrate success, and identify areas for improvement, as well as understand when and why a particular practice is more effective.
This session includes a range of approaches to instructional practice and skills for building a team of teachers committed to constant improvement.
Psychological safety exists when individuals or groups feel free/safe to take risks, raise problems, disagree, ask questions, and admit mistakes. This course will explore what psychological safety is, how it can benefit those working in schools, and how leaders of schools can create cultures of psychological safety. This leadership course will be especially helpful for new and emerging leaders who may have to have challenging conversations with more experienced colleagues in the team they are leading.
This leadership course is an opportunity for you to establish yourself as an innovative leader. The focus is on “servant leadership”, a well-researched term that is not yet widely used in schools. This program invites you to explore what you can do to get the best from your team and how you can lead in a way that builds the skills, knowledge and capabilities of others? This holistic approach is based on ethics, relationships and responding to the rational and emotional in yourself and others.
When teachers understand students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds, their gender identities, and the significant experiences that have shaped them (e.g. trauma, disability or a learning disorder), they can shape an inclusive environment that promotes high quality learning opportunities for all. It is a complex task, but there are simple weekly and daily routines that you can implement in your teaching practice that both build your knowledge of students and create a respectful classroom environment. In this session, the presenter will explore the different routines and practices teachers can use to create a more inclusive classroom culture for all students.
How as a school leader do we know if the professional learning we are supporting is making a difference? In this session, the presenter will explore research on professional learning and development and pose questions and criteria you can take back to your school to challenge your own practices. There will be opportunities for discussion, exploration and questions throughout the session.
The Australian Curriculum includes a “education for sustainability” cross-curriculum priority. This workshop will support teachers to develop the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. You will be provided with resources and teaching approaches that will support you to confidently teach this important cross-curriculum priority.
QuEST full day courses 2022
This course will support teachers to increase their learning about the major learning disabilities and to broaden their teaching strategies to support these students. In this full day program, one of Australia’s leading teachers on working with students with learning disabilities will outline issues experienced by students with learning disabilities, including self-regulation, sensory processing, behavioural issues, and knowledge acquisition. This is a practical, classroom focused course. The teaching strategies are tried and tested. There will be opportunities to develop and share resources, programs and behaviour plans during the session.
This presentation will support you to think beyond the lesson plan and engage effectively with First Nations pedagogical approaches. The 8-ways pedagogy is “a culturally safe point of entry for teachers to begin engaging with Aboriginal knowledge and cross-cultural dialogue in the community”. This course will increase your understanding and knowledge and provide practical examples for the classroom. You will also be given some ideas of where to find additional professional reading and teaching resources to support you.
The collection of data is something that all teachers do, but interpreting data accurately and leading colleagues through the narrative that data presents can be challenging. This full day session will establish the importance of using meaningful data to analyse impact and leading a team to use data more effectively. The course will cover both effective use of data across a cohort of students and approaches that you can use with a team of colleagues to identify helpful data and how that data can be used across a cohort of students, whether for an age group or across a curriculum area.
This session brings together the teaching strategy of metacognition with the emerging research on neuroscience. Metacognition teaches students about their own thinking and their own learning, and thereby promotes greater control over their own learning. Participants will be better placed to support all students to become independent learners, from those who have experienced trauma through to gifted students. This full day session draws on practical experience and includes substantial discussion, exploration and question time. The aim for the session is that you will leave with new resources and/or an implementation plan for your classroom.
This session is for teachers in middle leadership roles in schools or who aspire to these roles. Teachers in these roles need to work effectively with their colleagues to build skills and knowledge, model effective teaching practices and respond when things do not go right. In this session, one of Australia’s leading classroom management specialists will take you through his “seven steps to success” for creating an environment where students can learn and thrive. An effective classroom environment does not happen by accident or magic. Middle leaders are uniquely positioned to support teachers on this journey.
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Contact: quest@qtu.asn.au Phone: 3512 9000 www.qtu.asn.au/quest