How often do you attend an educational conference where a key note speaker receives a standing ovation? Such was the response of  Sir John Jones’ presentation at the 2011 Scottish Learning Festival. There were plenty of laughs, some tears, some poetry recitations, and also stunned silence at times. The visuals provided were excellent in supporting [...]

Throughout the study tour, we were challenged to think outside the square. We have also focused on areas for recommendations and implementation. Some changes would mean significant thought and time to implement. Others, however, are low cost, high-impact changes. One of the recommendations we should all be taking back to our schools is involving students [...]

The Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland has been a major overhaul to the Scottish curriculum over the past few years. One of the major changes has been the introduction of ‘Outdoor Learning’. Historically, schools in Scotland have sent their children off to Outdoor Education Centres for a week long program that primarily focused on adventure [...]

Does the learning space effect student learning? Between Denmark and the UK we have seen a variety of different learning spaces. There have been very traditional spaces with a central focus, and very non-traditional spaces where students can “work anywhere”. Of course there have been common elements of learning within these spaces. The majority of [...]

Throughout discussions with rural education leaders in Victoria the issue of increasing administration and management requirements are often referred to as a key element in detracting from leading education discussion and dialogue. On a visit to rural UK, the CEP education tour came across an approach that has been developed by a cluster of six [...]

Sitting in Hellerup Skole reminded us of being in a big house. There were kitchens, lounges, stairs and a “mess” everywhere. The idea for Hellerup Skole, Copenhagen came about in 1993 when the Danish Laws for education were changed to take in account students with different learning styles and abilities. It was decided that all [...]

Today was day one of the CEP’s European Tour. We kicked everything off with a visit to the town of Silkeborg , where we visited Buskelundskolen. The school is a 3 to 16 year old school with three areas: Børnehaven – Kindergarten with 3-6 year olds Lilleskolen – Small School with 7-12 year olds Projektetskolen [...]