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Showing posts from July, 2014

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The Puppet Master

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  Puppet Master The narrow, high-walled passage swallowed the sound of my boot scraping a broken cobblestone, the echo sharp in the dry air. Above, a sliver of unforgiving sunlight cut down, carving deep shadows where the damp, mossy scent of the gully was now replaced by the smell of dust and ancient stone. I paused, looking not just at my gloved hand—the leather scuffed from my descent, but at what was attached to it. Thin, nearly invisible lines, like high-tensile wires , stretched from the articulated cuff on my wrist and disappeared into the air above the path. I tracked them with my eyes until they converged on a small, stone figure standing motionless in the centre of the walkway. It was a crude marionette , barely a foot tall, carved from the same pale, cracked stone as the surrounding walls. Dressed in a simple tunic, its blank, oval face held a radiating sense of expectant waiting. Its arms were held out, palms up. I held the strings. Yet, the feeling was not one of cont...
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Origins of school leadership

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I am particularly interested in the origins of industrial-based educational values and the operational systems that emerged in the late 19th century. Despite a century of teaching and learning the structural design, values, and operational outputs continue to display a lingering influence on 21st century education. Ironically, we are in similar conditions where technology is revolutionizing society, and significant educational reform is required. The birth of the industrial era presented societal leaders with a complex problem and this problem called for educational reform. A on-mass educational system was required to output a supply of disciplined workers to satisfy the production needs of factories demanded by the emerging manufacturing economy. 21st century nations (such as Australia) are now presented with a new problem and this problem is also calling for educational reform. Whilst we do have a mass and comprehensive educational system it’s rooted basis, the manufacturing era, i...
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Australian Standard for Principals reflection

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Reflection My understanding of the Australian Standard for Principals, as compared to the Standard for Teachers is that it is not a regulated nor a compliance framework. Principal registration is not based on meeting standards identified within the Principal Professional Standards. Principals are expected to meet standards identified within the Standard for Teachers to maintain teacher registration. An essential criteria with Northern Territorian Principal  J ob  D escriptions is have teacher r egistration. Whilst, the Australian Standard for Principals doesn't have a compliance mandate, the strength of the standard is the explicit and descriptive understandings/expectations gained through (what I call) a common language statement of expectations. The Australian  Standard for Principals ensures a common understanding of what is expected across Australia. The benefit of a common understanding is that it explicitly describes 'standard based expec...
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Innovative Learning Environments and Transformative Schooling

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Transformative Pedagogy, Platforms and Digital Technologies Author:        Bennett, John, J Alias:        JJFBbennett.com University:     Charles Darwin University (Casuarina) Course:        Masters of Education International Title:              Innovative Learning Environments and Transformative Schooling. Purpose: Apply analytical and critical thinking to promote innovation in the context of global demands on educational performance. Apply theoretical concepts to an analysis of international, national, regional and local media representations of education and training. Topic Theme:       Transformative Pedagogy, Platforms and Digital Technologies. Completed:    May, 2014 -------------------------------- Index Introduction 21st Century Autonomous Schools, Learning Culture and Technology Transformative and Constra...
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