Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to stand in this space and talk about the great work being done at some of our fabulous local schools. Today, I'd like to focus on what is occurring at Bethania Lutheran School, just one of the many great primary schools in my electorate of Forde. I'd like to take this opportunity to mention the great work of their teachers who are working together to develop a culture of innovation, motivation, collegiality and trust, because the school has identified its students as contemporary learners and understands it needs teachers who embrace the importance of aligning effective learning spaces with relevant high-quality learning to promote positive outcomes for students. The school achieves this by incorporating agile learning spaces with experiences that use a variety of digital technologies and progressive approaches to teaching to transform the way students learn.

Every year I make the effort to catch up with the schools and the principals around my electorate to keep in touch with what they're doing and how we can provide support. Visiting Bethania Lutheran School, it was great to see how the teachers are engaging with students and how they are open to new ways of learning. If we want our next generation to be creative thinkers, risk-takers and problem solvers we need teachers who are prepared to give them the tools, the resources and the environment to do that. Bethania Lutheran School has successfully created a culture of collaboration, collegiality and continuous professional growth for its teachers. The teachers have become role models for their students as they demonstrate how they themselves never stop learning. With a shared vision of learning and growing as professionals, the students are always winners.

At Bethania Lutheran School, the kids are free in certain classrooms to not sit at desks. They are free to sit around in classrooms and work on various pieces of technology, to get used to the idea of working together in groups. They can even go and sit outside and work together in a group. What is so valuable to these kids is that they have the opportunity to learn in an environment that they are comfortable in, because it doesn't always need to be sitting at a desk in a row, like many of us did when we were at school. The opportunities now for children to learn in different ways are so much greater than ever before.

Equally, there are schools like Hume Anglican Grammar, with the new pod that was recently opened—that interactive visual experience, including the drone-flying room for kids to learn how to fly drones. And there is the work being done at some of our high schools with trade and technology hubs to improve the students' learning capacity in those areas before they go on to university or to work.

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