
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
Flinders University Logo Flinders University Logo
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Computer science and information technology
    • Creative arts and media
    • Criminology
    • Defence and national security
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanities and social sciences
    • Innovation and enterprise
    • International relations and political science
    • Languages
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing and midwifery
    • Psychology
    • Science
    • Social work
    • Sport

    I am...

    • a high school student
    • a non-school leaver
    • a future honours student
    • a future postgraduate student
    • a future research student
    • a future online student
    • a future Indigenous student
    • an international student
    • a parent
    • a school counsellor/teacher
    Explore
    Admission pathways
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Creative arts
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Health sciences
    • Humanities
    • Information technology
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing
    • Psychology
    • Public health
    • Science
    • Social sciences
    • Social work

    International websites

    • China
    • Vietnam
    Explore Flinders
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research creating a better world

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research@Flinders
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research creating a better world

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research@Flinders
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Engage

    I want to...

    • Engage with us
    • Connect with students
    • Locate a clinic
    • Book a campus venue
    • Find a tender
    • Give to Flinders
    • Work at Flinders
    • Participate in a research study
    • See what's on
    • Shop Flinders merchandise
    • Register as a contractor
    • Explore Indigenous education

    Related links

    • Flinders New Venture Institute
    • Alumni
    • Health2Go
    • Flinders University Museum of Art
    • Flinders One Sport and Fitness
    Business and government
    Community
    Culture
    International
  • Alumni

    I want to...

    • Join an Alumni network
    • Establish an Alumni network
    • Share a memory
    • Access career services
    • Order a transcript
    • Give to Flinders
    • Update my details
    • Find a classmate
    • Shop Flinders merchandise
    Our alumni
    Benefits and services
    Get involved
    Stay connected
  • Giving

    Donate today

    • Donate online
    • Donate by mail
    • Staff Workplace Giving Program
    • Contact us

    Ways to give

    • Give in celebration or in memory
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Giving from overseas
    • Give a cultural gift
    • Get involved

    Donate to
    Why give
    Our donors
  • About

    The 2025 agenda

    • Vision and mission
    • Our strategic plan
    • Our values and ethos
    • Flinders Village
    • Festival Plaza

    Governance and leadership

    • University Council
    • Chancellor
    • Vice-Chancellor

    Our organisation

    • Colleges
    • Library
    • Professional services
    • Staff directory
    • Sustainability at Flinders

    Campus and locations

    • Bedford Park
    • Tonsley
    • City Campus
    • Flinders in the NT
    • Health and Medical Research Building
    Fast facts
    History
    Structure
    Contact us
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
  • You have no saved courses.

    Continue to explore your course options.

     
    Explore our courses

    Your saved courses

    {{{courseName}}}
    mail_outline
    delete
    View all saved courses
  • Quick links 
    • Current students
    • Staff
    • Library
    • Flinders Online
    • Flinders dashboard (Okta)
    • Ask Flinders
    • Parking
    • Campus map: Bedford Park
    • Staff directory
    • Jobs at Flinders
    • Shop Flinders merchandise

 

The changing face of SA education

How innovation inside (and outside) the classroom is setting our kids up for success

↓

How do we help young people thrive at school? How are digital technologies and innovations influencing learning and what are the benefits of learning outdoors?

An inclusive education system that embraces innovation, new technology, and Industry 4.0 is the key to the growth and flourishing of young people, says Flinders academic Dr Andrew Bills.

Dr Bills, a Lecturer in Educational Leadership and Management, says the skills and capabilities to thrive in the digital age will be needed by our youth as they continue to make their way through this “rapidly changing world”.

He recently took part in a recent Fearless Conversations event on innovative education and pedagogy, where he was joined by fellow academic Joss Rankin and Department for Education Chief Executive Professor Martin Westwell.

Dr Bills is a fearless critic of the South Australian Education Department’s McKinsey-inspired World Class education agenda which the Flinders academic says is based on a NAPLAN-centric measure of school quality.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a series of tests undertaken by Australian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The scores are then used to determine the quality of schools.

Fearless_conversations_education_advertiser.jpg

From left, Professor Martin Westwell, facilitator Sarah Walsh, Dr Andrew Bills and Joss Rankin. 

“If the quality of school and pedagogy is defined by NAPLAN centric measurement and growth and with principals tenured … based on NAPLAN growth, I would say that is a far cry from the kinds of innovation that we need as we are entering the fourth industrial revolution, the digital age, new technologies and growth and the kinds of skills and capabilities that young people are needing,” Dr Bills says. 

Prof Martin Westwell, former Chief Executive of the SACE Board, was appointed to the role at the Department of Education in April 2022 and says the education system is complex and needs to be both “tight and flexible”.

“To have that balance between the two and knowing where the boundaries are, can be quite tricky,” he says.

“What's our narrative right now, where are we, where do we want to be and what's our best chance of getting there as a system?

"Some things are non-negotiables for us; we want our students to have their learning entitlement, the things that you really can't leave school without developing.

“But then there's some flexibility on how that's enacted. So we want fidelity to the principles but the way in which those principles are enacted might be different … because our schools are in an enormous range of context with a range of students.”

Prof Westwell says educators should not be measuring student success by asking how well they are doing but instead “how the student is doing well”.

"We are not backing off the expectation of our students to be literate and numerate, to have social skills, interpersonal skills and ethical understanding," he says.

“There are other ways of being successful and we know that our students who go on to do vocational education are incredibly successful in that pathway in the same way that students who go on and do an academic pathway can be incredibly successful."

Dr Bills welcomes this "new narrative" and says the equity and excellence agenda presents new frontiers for Flinders research with the Department into school redesign and pedagogical innovation to uplift public education.

Innovation in the outdoors

Flinders academic Joss Rankin is of firm belief that outdoor learning was one of the solutions for keeping children safe at school during the COVID pandemic.

The Senior Lecturer in Physical and Outdoor Education says outdoor learning quickly became a solution for teaching during the pandemic and presented schools with a new way of learning.

“The requirements from government and recommendations around schooling were saying, ‘if you (can) teach some things outside, do it’. It was a piece of advice from a convenience standpoint rather than anything else,” he says.

“All of a sudden doing some things outside is appearing as potentially new for quite a lot of people.

“The changes we’ve made might address some of the problems that existed before the pandemic.”

The need to adapt and change to meet students' learning needs during challenging times is important, and outdoor learning presents an "incredible" opportunity.

However, we must broaden our understanding of outdoor education and know that it goes beyond typical kayaking, rock climbing and surfing activities.

"If we view it (outdoor education) as a pedagogical approach that’s when we start to make this broader understanding of what we are actually discussing - a way in which to explore learning," Joss says.

"It’s about being on country it’s about connecting with the real-life application that we are engaging with, it’s about the need to ask others for help, the need to explore... a space to play around in the unknown."

fearless

Discover more Fearless Research stories ➜

Flinders University Logo

Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042

South Australia | Northern Territory
Global | Online

Information for

  • Future students
  • Alumni
  • Media
  • Business and community
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • External contractors

Directories

  • Contact us
  • Campus and locations
  • Staff directory
  • Colleges
  • Library
  • Research Institutes and Centres

Follow Flinders

Facebook - Flinders University
Instagram - Flinders University
TikTok - Flinders University
LinkedIn - Flinders University
Bluesky - Flinders University
YouTube - Flinders University
Brand SA logo Innovative Research University logo Indigenous communities

Website feedback

Disclaimer

Accessibility

Privacy

CRICOS Provider: 00114A      TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12097      TEQSA category: Australian University

Last Updated: 27 Jul 2022

FOREVER FEARLESS

This website uses cookies

Flinders University uses cookies to ensure website functionality, personalisation and a variety of purposes as set out in its website privacy statement. This statement explains cookies and their use by Flinders.

If you consent to the use of our cookies then please click the button below:

Accept all cookies and continue

If you do not consent to the use of all our cookies then please click the button below. Clicking this button will result in all cookies being rejected except for those that are required for essential functionality on our website.

Reject all non-essential cookies and continue