The Essington School Darwin

School profile

The Essington School Darwin is located in Nightcliff, approximately 10 kilometres from Darwin’s city centre. It is an independent, non-denominational, co-educational school with 820 students and a teaching staff of 60. Part of the school’s vision is to take ‘a holistic view of each child’ in order ‘to plan an effective and challenging educational program, developing within each child the diverse skills necessary to function as a member of a rapidly changing society’. It provides a fully inclusive program catering to children with a diverse range of needs and is committed to the provision of internationalised education experiences for all students.

School website: www.essington.nt.edu.au

Principal, David Cannon

For many years we have sought ways to assist students to develop knowledge and understandings of Asian countries, cultures and the importance of Australia's proximity and connections with Asia. Our school continues to grow, with planning now underway to establish senior Years 11–12 classes. We continuously review and refresh our teaching and learning programs and school practices to ensure that students develop cultural awareness and skills to enable them to operate confidently, effectively and successfully in an increasingly globalised and internationalised world. We recognise the importance of students learning the Indonesian language and the value of our sister-school relationships with Thailand and Japan. We see access to engaging teaching and learning resources as essential to successful program delivery and learning outcomes. We see the continuing need to provide high-quality professional learning activities and overseas study opportunities for teachers. Importantly, we place a premium on the incorporation of Asia-focused activities into classroom programs and recognise our responsibility to provide learning experiences, which will assist students to develop an understanding and empathy for the diversity of cultures.

View video of an interview with David Cannon at the 2009 L21CS Forum

Participation in the L21CS project

My participation in the Leading 21st Century Schools: Engage with Asia (L21CS) project has given me the opportunity to reflect on our current progress and to focus on ways in which school programs can be expanded and strengthened. Working and sharing with other Principals has been a strong feature of the project and has led to a joint initiative focusing on the development of teachers’ knowledge of Asia and strategies for classroom use.

Our objective is to strengthen our current approaches to studies of Asia and to continue to build and sustain a school culture characterised by international-mindedness and openness to new ideas and practices, enabling the progressive implementation of studies of Asia across the school.

Building and sustaining an international mindset

I have been Principal of The Essington School Darwin for 11 years. I have developed strong connections with Asia through tertiary education, travel and subsequent opportunities to engage with Asia. I believe that in a rapidly changing world our schools must provide students with rich learning experiences that will lift their horizons and provide them with knowledge and skills that will open up the future for them. Asian countries are our nearest neighbours and our major trading partners and provide many opportunities for our students. Students need to develop cross-cultural awareness and an understanding of the opportunities that engagement with Asia will give them. Over time, and as a result of the leadership team, staff and school board discussions, our school has embraced the concept of international education as one of our defining characteristics.

We have introduced a broad range of programs and activities with an Asian focus. Our aim has been to develop a strong sense of collective ownership of the need to internationalise programs and create an environment in which Asia-focused activities and programs reflect an attitude to planning and implementation of ‘this is the way we do things here’.

Our school is an accredited member of the Council of International Schools. Through our programs we constantly strive to achieve and deliver the highest standards in international education and to continually improve student learning outcomes. The school’s studies of Asia program has significantly strengthened our approach to international education.

Focused leadership

There is an expectation within the school that programs and practices must overtly demonstrate a focus on Asia. It is also important to have visible symbols in the form of displays, statues, gardens, flags and special sections in the library. These are all obvious symbols around the school of our engagement with Asia. Leadership of the studies of Asia is a shared responsibility in the school. A Studies of Asia Coordinator, working with a small team of teachers, has responsibility for planning and overseeing the implementation of school-wide initiatives.

School Section Coordinators work closely with their teams to ensure that teaching and learning programs incorporate Asian content and engaging learning activities. There is a culture of sharing and collaboration among teachers who are encouraged to report on Asia-related activities through staff meetings and the weekly school bulletin.

I take an active interest in all aspects of Asia education in the school. At the beginning of each year, I outline my expectations regarding the coverage of Asia in teaching and learning programs. I have shown the 2020 Schools: Engage with Asia DVD at the beginning of each semester as a reminder and prompt for staff to ensure studies of Asia is covered in their classroom program planning.

Monitoring of progress

We recognise the importance of monitoring the implementation of studies of Asia across the school. We are committed to the development of units of work of the highest quality, thereby enabling students to broaden their knowledge of Asia and to gain deeper understandings of particular aspects of Asian cultures and their historical and geographical contexts. Coordinators have a responsibility to work with their teachers to evaluate progress. I take a continuing interest in talking with coordinators and teachers about the coverage of Asian content in the curriculum. I strongly believe that collectively, we should be vigilant about what is happening in all classrooms.

This provides us with continuing opportunities to review our approach to Asia literacy and importantly, to affirm good practice, recognise our growing strengths and to identify gaps in our knowledge and resource provision. This has led to the development of new units of work, acquisition of new resources, and the provision of professional learning opportunities for teachers.

Quality assurance is integral to the implementation of studies of Asia. There is a focus on the Asia Scope and Sequence perspectives and content across all years of schooling and on the levels of understanding to be demonstrated by students. Evidence gained through our evaluation processes assists us to look continually at how we can push the boundaries for engaging students with Asia.

Encouraging student leadership

We have established a Student Ambassador Program giving students the opportunity to become ambassadors for specific Asian countries for a year. Student ‘ambassadors’ welcome overseas visitors to the school, report on activities to school assemblies and prepare reports for publication in the school bulletin.

Resourcing our program

Teachers require high-quality teaching and learning resources to assist in the development of units of work and implementation of classroom programs. Resources developed by the Asia Education Foundation and available through Curriculum Corporation have been welcomed and extensively used by staff. The school library houses a broad range of teaching and learning materials. Asia-focused resources have been consolidated into a central and highly visible section of the library containing books, audiovisual resources, class sets of materials, artefacts and displays.

We have also placed a high premium on teacher and student use of ICTs as integral components of classroom program delivery. Web-based resources have become an important feature of learning activities in classrooms.

Using an Asia lens for curriculum planning

Teachers are encouraged to revisit their curriculum programs to explore ways in which classroom topics and themes can incorporate Asian perspectives and content. We believe it is important to integrate studies of Asia into classroom programs and not to add Asia education as a separate subject in the curriculum. For example, in The Arts it has been possible to introduce students to traditional and contemporary Chinese art forms, styles and techniques. Students are encouraged and challenged to apply new knowledge and skills to their own experiences of Australian life and culture.

Together with four other schools, we have designed a cross-sectoral project with the aim of developing teachers’ knowledge of Asia and strategies for use in classroom programs. We have engaged a Japanese postgraduate student to work with teams of teachers from each year level. These teams develop units of work around particular topics requiring deeper teacher knowledge of Asia for effective program delivery. This is proving to be a very powerful model for building the capacity of teachers to plan effective classroom programs.

Symbolism in the school environment

Asia has a visible presence in our school. Three flag poles are located at the front of the school, making it possible to fly flags from other countries alongside the Australian flag. This signifies our connections to Asia and gives us the opportunity to include relevant articles in the school’s newsletter.

With assistance from a private sponsor we have established an International Study Centre. This has become a museum-like centre for art, sculptures, artefacts and displays. It is also a centre for teaching the Indonesian language. An Asia garden complements the International Study Centre.

These projects significantly symbolise within the broader community our commitment to studies of Asia.

Links with other schools

Through the L21CS project eight principals in the Darwin area have joined together to share ideas, promote studies of Asia and explore ways of strengthening school and classroom programs and practices. An initial step has been to develop a catalogue of Asia-focused teaching and learning resources held in school libraries. This has led to the establishment of a resources loan scheme for schools and teachers.

Our next steps

We are committed to the development of a systematic approach to expanding teachers’ knowledge and understandings of Asia and will continue to build on our current sister-school relationships for this purpose. We are also looking to increase opportunities for teachers to participate in study tours of Asia.

We recognise the need to sustain our studies of Asia program and will continue to provide leadership opportunities for staff as an important aspect of succession planning.

Importantly, we are planning to incorporate programs for Years 11–12 students. We have negotiated an agreement to establish a senior campus for these students at the University of Darwin. The senior student programs are planned to include four-week study/work experiences in Asia. This will contribute significantly to our continuing objective of assisting students to connect with Asia.