Students as Partners

This session is all about sharing what we’ve come to know are core design principles of activating agency in students, and those who teach them to become true partners in learning. John Cleary & Summer Howarth, along with Damian O’Brien will showcase the work of the Northern Territory Learning Commission, a data-driven design initiative that has influenced policy and practice in NT schools for over 5 years. Students from the Learning Commission will be participating in a live workshop and will join us to explain in their own words the power of having agency in their learning. Alongside students of the NT, members of the NSW Minister’s Advisory Group (DOVES) will be actively participating in this session and also joining us in learning throughout the conference. This is a profound opportunity to not only learn how to embed agency in your own context, but bounce ideas off students who are leading the way for every learner at a system-leadership level..

JOHN CLEARY

John Cleary is the General Manager of School and System Improvement within the NT Department of Education. Prior to establishing the School and System Improvement Unit within the department, John was the Principal at Casuarina Street Primary School in the town of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Alongside this role, John was also the lead principal in establishing the NT Learning Commission, an initiative which has built the place of student-led research and the use of the Impact Evaluation Cycle across 16 schools from across the NT. He was named one of 12 National Schools Plus Teaching Fellows for 2018, has been recognised nationally for his achievements as a principal and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Melbourne.