A visit to an Australian school

Notice the school uniforms. Every school here requires a uniform, and not just a particular color of golf shirt and khaki colored pants or skirt. One must buy the correct shoes, socks, sweater, coat -- the whole ensemble has to be school approved. I was told today that there's actually one school that's chosen pink as the school color. Bet the boys love that!

Gavin Grift, from Hawker Brownlow and Sue Goodall, the principal of Somerville Primary School

Gavin took me south into the Mornington Peninsula area to visit a school. I talked for quite awhile with Beth, a 1st grade teacher about Professional Learning Communities and how they look here. I learned a lot that made me wonder about what we do in the U.S. For instance, here there are no required text books. A teacher knows what the essential learnings are for their grade level and can use whatever resources they'd like to get there. A principal has much more autonomy here than in the U.S. She's given a budget and she can decide if she wants to hire an assistant principal or not; she can decide how many teachers to hire. In the public schools here there is compulsory Christian education for 20 minutes a week. I happened to be in a classroom today where the kids were getting their lesson, which is provided by "a well-meaning sweet older woman who doesn't know much about teaching kids but tries her hardest". In all the classrooms I visited, the kids were all VERY well-mannered and quiet while the teacher was chatting with the three of us. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time today!