All System Day Delivers Global Expertise to Enhance Learning for 2025

The highly anticipated initial All System Day for 2025 took place on 4 February, bringing together over 1,700 educators across three different locations for an exceptional day of professional learning.

Catholic Education Tasmania was fortunate to engage Tom Bennett; a world-renowned educator and academic from the UK and the founder and director of researchED as the first keynote speaker. Tom has extensively studied behaviour in over 1,500 schools of varying socio-economic status across the globe.

In his presentation titled The Culture that Nurtures, Tom challenged the audience to define good behaviour in all common classroom situations, setting clear parameters from the outset. He encouraged a pedagogical approach to behaviour, with expectations proactively taught and insisted upon, so that they become habitual. He also stressed the importance of teaching students why it matters, so that they value the behaviour.

Tom explained that behavioural outcomes are achieved through establishing norms and routines. These are reinforced by clear and consistent sanctions for unwelcome behaviours and sincere, proportionate and targeted praise for positive behaviour. Through clear and consistent application at the whole school level, the right culture is created to enable students to flourish.

Following Tom’s insights, established linguist, author, and CEO of Lifelong Literacy, Lyn Stone, showcased her mastery of language in her presentation on The Writing-Learning Loop. Lyn explained how writing enhances all areas of learning, and how structure, content and process is essential to establish writing fluency.

Lyn’s use of practical examples and Explicit Direct Instruction created a highly engaging session as our educators were presented with a number of techniques to generate genuine interest in writing in the classroom.

“It was an honour to be able to share my learnings with Catholic Education Tasmania’s network of educators. I hope attendees left feeling empowered with the tools to encourage writing fluency in their schools,” says Lyn.

Dr Gerard Gaskin, Executive Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, was “absolutely thrilled to commence the year by coming together as a system to share best practice.”

“It was a pleasure to be able to kick-start proceedings by presenting our new Insight into Learning program, The Teach First Initiative, a means of upskilling our own educators to mentor our teachers and support our students in sustaining lasting change.”

The Teach First Initiative enhances teacher practice through collaboration, learning and growth. Each term, teachers work in small teams to explore a Rosenshine principle, coming together at the end to share insights.

In an exciting first for All System Day, educators from within Catholic Education Tasmania’s system were given the opportunity to share their Insight into Learning journey with other schools. Educators from six different schools presented across the three regions and offered helpful advice to those at an earlier stage.

Jennifer White, System Lead: Curriculum & Pedagogy said “As we welcome more schools into the Insight into Learning program, the willingness of our Educators to share lived experience has been delightful to witness and we are grateful for their valued contribution to our All System Day.”

The Insight into Learning team would like to thank the following schools and their educators for exchanging their knowledge on the following topics:

• Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School – joining Insight into Learning and their continuous improvement model
• Mount Carmel College – strategies to help boost students’ confidence in learning
• St Finn Barr’s Primary School – facilitating classroom norms and how this helps establish a culture of success
• St Patrick’s College – teacher practice and why setting routines and expectations can help students thrive
• Marist Regional College – how to implement evidence-informed practices in everyday teaching
• St Patrick’s Catholic School – how to build a culture of success through professional learning, embedded norms and student feedback

Feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive, with many educators referencing the school presentations as useful insight for their own journeys.

Thank you to everyone who came together to attend and contribute to this extraordinary day of learning. The next All System Day on Monday 21 July 2025 will be facilitated within schools.

All System Day October: Empowering Practice

Educators from across Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) virtually gathered for the October All System Day, creating a space for engaging discussions around a shared vision of ‘Empowering Practice’. The day’s primary objective was to provide teachers and leaders with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the educational theories they’ve been upskilled in and explore how to practically apply these concepts in the classroom.

To start the day off, educators had the privilege of hearing from Tom Sherrington, who travelled from the UK to deliver his highly anticipated presentation. Tom brought a wealth of expertise on the TAPPLE framework and Rosenshine’s 17 Principles of Instruction, offering valuable insights into how these concepts can transform classroom practice. His ability to break down complex theories and demonstrate their practical application resonated deeply with CET teachers and leaders, providing them with clear, actionable strategies to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.

“Tom Sherrington’s practical advice for good pedagogy was exceptional. He explained the importance of the strategies well and the implications for their use. Tom’s address enabled reflection of my current practice and also provided strategies for future focus.”

All System Day Attendee

To follow on from Tom’s session, our educators were treated to a thoughtful and informative presentation by University of Tasmania, Speech Pathologist Dr Sam Calder. Dr Calder provided educators with valuable perspectives on the critical role of oral language as a foundation for student success in the classroom. His presentation deepened understanding of how strong oral language skills can support learning across various subjects, equipping educators with knowledge to better support their students’ development.

Our educators then split into three focused groups: Early years, Primary, and Secondary. In these sessions, participants had the opportunity to hear from Oral Language experts who tailored their presentations to meet the specific needs of each cohort. Early Years educators were guided by Anna Taylor and Dr Anna Desjardins from MultiLit, while primary educators benefited from a session led by Curtin University lecturer, Laura Glisson. Dr Emily Jackson, also a lecturer at Curtin University, continued the conversation for secondary educators, exploring how oral language supports learning in older students.

After an insightful morning, educators had the chance to reflect and recharge over lunch in preparation for a Q&A session with Tom Sherrington. During the Q&A, teachers and leaders were able to delve deeper into Tom’s earlier presentation, engaging in meaningful discussions and gaining additional practical strategies for applying the TAPPLE framework in the classroom. This interactive session provided a valuable opportunity for educators to clarify concepts and explore how to implement TAPPLE techniques effectively.

To conclude the October All System Day, Primary and Secondary teachers broke into their respective cohorts to engage in self-led lessons from Tom Sherrington on the TAPPLE framework. Concurrently, Teacher Assistants participated in a session with Dr Lorraine Hammond, focusing on effective methods for teaching spelling to small groups of children. Additionally, Kindergarten educators benefited from a presentation by CET’s Early Years Subject Matter Expert, Tash Williams, who provided guidance on supporting Early Years students. 

The final All System Day for 2024 successfully delivered on the objective of Empowering Practice for our teachers and leaders. Educators enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate in their professional learning and have been readily equipped with new approaches and fresh ideas to enhance their teaching practices. The event enriched our professional knowledge building system wide, while reinforcing a shared commitment to empowering student learning and achievement.

System-wide assessment results demonstrate Insight into Learning’s early success

Catholic Education Tasmania is delighted to see early indicators of the success of Insight into Learning implementation across schools, with a measurable outcome of improved student achievement.

Executive Director Dr Gerard Gaskin said he was thrilled to see the early impact of Insight into Learning as identified by student achievement demonstrated in 2023 Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) results.

“Let’s celebrate the early indicators of growth and redouble our efforts to see every single student grow in knowledge, wisdom and service.”

“Let’s all take great encouragement from these results. We are setting all of our students up for continuous growth in their learning across all the core subjects,” he said.

In the domains of maths, reading, spelling and vocabulary, CET Schools have seen an improvement in the average scale score. A significant component of this forward progression is the scale scores from students from Insight into Learning schools that have embraced the Science of Learning and Science of Reading methodologies.

Students from schools that have embraced the Insight into Learning, Science of Learning and Science of Reading methodologies over the past 12 months achieved better growth results on PAT results across all domains from 2022 to 2023.

This progression is notable when comparing the percentage increase in average scale score. Across the domains, Insight schools outperform non-Insight schools by as much as 11 per cent.

For more information, read our Becoming the Most Improved Education System in Australia brochure.

PAT has been implemented across all CET schools, offering a system-wide view of student progress in maths, reading, spelling and vocabulary. CET will continue to use the common assessment data to measure student progress as a means of monitoring growth in teaching and learning practices over time, providing a strong evidentiary foundation on which the Insight program can build.

Teaching Matters Summit: Day Two unveils Varied Perspectives and Innovative Ideas

After a knowledge rich first day, the second day of the Summit saw delegates enjoy a relaxed breakfast accompanied by engaging conversation with the experts. This provided an opportunity for delegates to ask questions stimulated by day one’s presentations and draw on the vast national and international expertise.

Day Two’s headline keynote speaker, Jan Hasbrouck PHD, presented on how comprehension can impact the success of fluency. Her key tip to for developing students’ comprehension skills was to ensure educators focussed on letter, letter-pattern and word levels plus semantic and syntactic processes at the word, phrase, and sentence level. She also delved into automaticity, whereby reading becomes as fluent as speaking, which can be assessed by using Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), a tool which Hasbrouck highly recommends that educators use to help predict comprehension ability.  

Dr Hasbrouck was then joined by Dr Lorraine Hammond to address questions that arose from her keynote. The conversation started with a discussion around recommended assessment tools for fluency. Both Dr Hasbrouck and Dr Hammond agreed that the most important element of literacy was to continue to practice phonics, fluency and comprehension. The pair recommended daily reviews to check for understanding before moving on to more challenging content.

Host of the podcast Knowledge for Teachers, Brendan Lee, provided practical strategies to support teachers in achieving productive learning in mathematics. Brendan acknowledged that while mathematics is a complex subject, the role of the teacher is to make connections in learning for students. A framework he believes is useful when understanding how to teach mathematics is Instructional Hierarchy: Stages of Learning. The three steps to follow are acquisition, fluency and generalisation. It is important for educators to remember that mathematics is like learning another language.

Brendan was followed by author and educator, Toni Hatten-Roberts who continued the numeracy theme, informing delegates on how to increase student confidence, understanding and achievement through embracing maths fluency. Toni delved into the key insights from her published paper ‘The Need for Speed: why fluency counts for maths learning’, including the impact of using the hierarchy of maths learning, the three stages modelling (Explicit Instruction), immediate corrective feedback and practice for sufficient accuracy.

The afternoon session commenced with an insightful presentation from Rebecca Birch, an English Teacher and Director of Research and Practice, that focussed on student wellbeing in implementation of a Science of Learning (SoL) teaching approach. Rebecca emphasised how explicit teaching structures can mitigate behavioral issues, enhance student self-confidence, and reduce stress through effective study strategies. Delving into the self-determination theory, Rebecca encouraged educators to prioritise meeting all human needs, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness. She elaborated on her personal implementation of these strategies within her college.

The concluding keynote address was presented by Dr Jennifer Buckingham PH.D FRSN,
Director of Strategy and Senior Research Fellow, focusing on the significant reforms in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Dr Buckingham commenced her presentation by providing an overview of the educational landscape in Australia, noting the extensive array of higher education programs available. She delved into the insights of the Strong Beginnings: Report of the Teacher Education Expert Panel, and emphasised the recommendation to enhance ITE programs by enforcing core content mandates and augmenting them accordingly.

As two insightful and inspiring days of education drew to a close, Glenn Fahey, Program Director at The Centre for Independent Studies, led the second panel discussion on the Science of Learning. This panel included Rebecca Birch, Lyn Stone, Dr. Nathaniel Swain, Brendan Lee, Dr Jan Hasbrouck and Michael Roberts. The discussion commenced with a vibrant exchange on the challenges of implementing the Science of Learning, with Lyn Stone highlighting the importance of finding a supportive school environment conducive to growth. Subsequently, the panel explored the primary considerations essential for understanding the Science of Learning within a classroom context, elucidating the advantageous aspects observable in such environments.

To close out the Summit, CET Executive Director Dr Gerard Gaskin took to the stage to thank and acknowledge all staff, experts and delegates for their involvement.

“You can see from the talents and enthusiasm of generations of speakers, we are part of a ground swell that is the Science of Learning and Reading” he said. 

Insight into Learning’s All System Day February 2024: Reaffirming Knowledge on the Science of Learning

Over 1,500 educators from across Catholic Education Tasmania came together at five different venues across the state to explore and refresh their understanding of the Science of Learning.

Dr Gerard Gaskin, Executive Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, said All System Days enhanced educational development by providing access to global and national teaching expertise.

“We are blessed to have accessed experts in the Science of Learning. This will provide our educators with an even deeper understanding and appetite to apply the principles of the Science of Learning in our daily work,” he said.

The focus of the Professional Learning Day was ‘Questioning’, a key element of Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.

The team was thrilled to welcome Tom Sherrington (UK) a former Head Teacher with over 30 years’ experience who now has a successful education consultancy. Tom presented virtually on the key components of Questioning and how it can apply in the classroom setting. Natalie Wexler (USA), a well-known Education writer and the author of “The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—And How to Fix It”, also joined the event virtually from New York. Both guest speakers tuned in live to field questions from participants.

The middle portion of the day involved interactive workshops, differentiated by year-level (early years, primary and secondary teachers). Dr Nathaniel Swain, a teacher, instructional coach and researcher, curated a dynamic virtual workshops series based on Checking For Understanding (CFU), drawing upon his experience in his own school, and in schools across Tasmania.

The afternoon session involved two in-person presentations featuring Rebecca Birch, a leading English teacher and the Director of Research and Practice at a top 20 independent school in Sydney, and Toni Hatten-Roberts, a leader in the Science of Learning and bridging the gap between theory and classroom practice.

The event boasted an impressive set of highlights, including:

• Tom Sherrington’s session, which explored the connections between Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, particularly around questioning and the process of supporting writing, particularly in more technical subjects and complex classroom environments, to ensure the success of every student and educator.
• Natalie Wexler’s session, which emphasised the importance of writing in improving reading comprehension and analytical thinking. Her insights helped educators understand the importance of basic comprehension skills.
• Toni Hatten-Roberts’s session, which focused on how best to support students in maths fluency, particularly the need for speed and automaticity in mathematics learning.
• Rebecca Birch’s session, which encouraged all teachers to understand the power of writing and why it is essential for secondary teachers to teach writing to achieve the sophistication needed for upper secondary levels, ensuring that students can express their knowledge with clarity and confidence.

The Insight into Learning team would like to thank everyone who attended and contributed to the event. We are looking forward to delivering the next All System Day in July 2024.

International Literacy Specialist Headlines Teaching Matters 2024

An international literacy specialist has said that approximately 95 per cent of all Grade 1 and 2 students have the ability to learn to read at their grade level standard.        

Dr Jan Hasbrouck is a renowned educational consultant, researcher and author from the United States, who will discuss these research findings in Catholic Education Tasmania’s Teaching Matters 2024 ‘Science of Learning’ National Summit.  

Registrations are now open for Teaching Matters 2024, which will be held at Wrest Point in Hobart from March 24-26, with early bird discounts available until 9 February. 

With declining literacy rates across Tasmania and Australia, Teaching Matters 2024 Headline Presenter Dr Hasbrouck said these heartening statistics provide encouragement for our dedicated teachers. 

“Compelling evidence from a convergence of reading research clearly indicates that approximately 95 per cent of all students can be taught to read at or approaching grade level proficiency in Grades 1 and 2,” Dr Jan Hasbrouck said.  

“The actual percentage is limited primarily by students’ oral language abilities.”

These statistics also include students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities, meaning that with the right support and educational techniques they can also attain grade level reading proficiency in Grades 1 and 2, Dr Hasbrouck said. 

“Early instruction makes a world of difference for our students. Early success breeds continued success and early struggles makes what is already a challenging process for many students seem impossible, and they are discouraged to even try,” Dr Hasbrouck said.

“Young children are hungry to learn and fascinated about language. We use that curiosity and voracious hunger to deepen their knowledge about their language and how the new skills of reading and writing make connections to that language for exciting and purposeful activities.” 

Dr Hasbrouck’s presentation at Teaching Matters 2024 will focus primarily on the complexities of reading fluency, and its essential role in reading comprehension. 

“Too many people think reading fluently means reading fast. While ‘rate’ is one component of fluency, it is not the only nor the most important component,” Dr Hasbrouck said.

“This is a topic I’ve been studying for many decades and I want to share some practical understandings about how to help our students become fluent readers.”

An expert in the field of literacy education, Dr Hasbrouck has provided educational consulting to schools in the US, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica, has been a university teacher and professor, consulted and advised to US state-level reading initiatives, undertaken significant research, authored and co-authored several books, and was a co-founder of the non-profit organisation Read Washington. 

Dr Hasbrouck has decades of professional experience and knowledge which she is looking forward to sharing as Headline Presenter of Teaching Matters 2024.

Hundreds of educators from all teaching backgrounds will participate in this knowledge-sharing Summit, which will feature an engaging program of keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and the opportunity for networking.

Teaching Matters 2024 is centred around the scientific, evidence-based, high-impact teaching practice called the Science of Learning.

The premise of the Science of Learning is to break down educational tasks into small, bite-sized pieces, which are then taught sequentially, with frequent check-ins for student understanding. 

In late 2022, Catholic Education Tasmania launched their Insight initiative, which equips teachers with knowledge of the Science of Reading and Learning and high impact teaching practices.

In 2024 there will be 31 schools within the Archdiocese of Hobart that have embraced the Insight initiative.

For registrations and further information, visit: https://teachingmatters.au/registration/

Early bird discounts are available until February 9. 

Photo caption: Renowned international literacy specialist, Dr Jan Hasbrouck, will present at Catholic Education Tasmania’s Teaching Matters 2024 ‘Science of Learning’ National Summit in March.  

Media Contact: Damita Whiteley – 0437 721 466

Educators from across the State come together to deepen Science of Learning knowledge

Almost 1,300 educators throughout the State gathered to learn from some of the Nation’s most innovative educational thought leaders and practitioners at the second All System Day for 2023.

The event comprised an innovative mix of keynote presentations, interactive sessions and curated masterclasses, with elements presented live and streamed across venues in Devonport, Launceston, Hobart, Queenstown and Rosebery.

The Insight team were delighted to welcome education experts Leila Bothams, a leading Principal from Western Australia, Jordan O’Sullivan, HITP In Action coach for Secondary Colleges, Oliver Lovell, Toni Hatten-Roberts and Michael Roberts, HITP In Action coaches for Primary and Dr Lorraine Hammond AM as our All System Day presenters.

The presenters were supported by our Insight team Subject Matter Experts: Rebecca Prenter, Simon Eade and Lisa Fenning, who led the interactive sessions.

Dr Gerard Gaskin said the event was designed to deepen knowledge in the Science of Learning and Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction to inform the teaching that happens in every classroom across the system.

“We join with our educational peers today because we want to grow in our content-knowledge and pedagogical capability – to embed the Science of Learning in every dimension of our work,” he said.

Thank you to all those who attended and contributed to making this professional learning day such a success.

Feedback from both staff and presenters in attendance has been uplifting and we look forward to seeing everyone again for the next event in October.

Highlights

Leila’s session covered the vision and strategies she employed to establish a high-performing, high-care secondary school in outer metropolitan Perth. Her case study evidenced that when a compelling vision for excellence in learning and teaching is backed up by an uncompromising focus on high-impact strategies, school performance can exceed expectations.

Jordan O’Sullivan presented a masterclass on Sequencing Concepts and Modelling, which included a deep dive into Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction which aim to reduce working memory burden: Present New Material Using Small Steps (Principle 2), Provide Models (Principle 4), and Provide Scaffolds for Difficult Tasks (Principle 8).

Oliver Lovell’s masterclass highlighted “What’s the point of questioning?”, and how educators can use accountable questioning. Participants had the opportunity to create their own hinge question as part of the complementary interactive session.

Toni Hatten-Roberts followed with a masterclass on effective questioning and the myriad strategies teachers can embrace when refining and modelling checking for understanding.

In her keynote, Dr Lorraine Hammond discussed the intricacies of teaching spelling, and how explicit direct instruction supports student learning.

Finally, Dr Gerard Gaskin’s masterclass detailed the meticulous work of one of the most influential educational thinkers of our time E.D Hirsch Jr.

High Impact Teaching Practice kicks off at 24 schools

Over 133 teachers and leaders across Catholic Education Tasmania’s schools have commenced the highly anticipated High Impact Teaching Practice (HITP) In Action course.

Participants will work closely with education experts and exemplary teachers to learn about effective teaching pedagogy based on the Science of Learning, and how they can implement these approaches in the classroom.

All teachers will receive several days of professional learning over the course of the year, which includes learning more about the science of learning theory, watching exemplar teachers demonstrate practices, rehearse using the methodologies themselves and then receive specific coaching feedback on how they could improve.

Between the formal sessions, teachers will be encouraged to continue implementing the practices in their classrooms and reflect on how they might use their new approach across all subject areas.

Secondary Schools and Colleges will be working with Jordan O’Sullivan from Shaping Minds and his team of expert teachers.

Primary Schools will be working with Michael Roberts and Toni Hatten-Roberts from COGLearn. Primary School leaders have also commenced their leadership mentoring with Michael Roberts, a former principal who has implemented Science of Learning teaching in several schools throughout Queensland, to assist in planning the roll out at their school.

To learn more about HITP In Action and the journey at your school, speak with your Principal, or the INSIGHT team.