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The 26th to 30th July 2004 was an historic week. A major international conference - Transformation through Global Networking - was held in Melbourne.
The conference was held in partnership with VASSP (Victoria Association of State School Principals), the University of Melbourne and the Catholic Education Office. The conference celebrated the launch of the Trust's international arm - iNet - in Australia.
The aim of iNet (international Networking for educational transformation) is to create a world-wide movement of leading educational practitioners and academics, to speed up knowledge creation and transfer through distributed innovation.
The conference was attended by the largest ever contingent of headteachers, senior managers, practitioners, academics and policy makers from England to participate in an event held in the State of Victoria.
The significance of the event was emphasised by the involvement of the Hon. Lynne Kosky, Minister for Education and Training (Victoria). Delegates from the UK, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Chile came together to start work on the five themes of the conference: Teacher Capacity Building/ Workforce Remodelling; New Technologies; School Improvement/Transformation; Leadership, and Customisation.
These themes are part of the personalising learning agenda. Professor David Hargreaves is leading the Trust's work in this area and has identified that personalising teaching and learning is realised through nine interconnected 'gateways': curriculum, learning to learn, workforce development, assessment for learning, school organisation and design, new technologies, student voice, advice and guidance, and mentoring. All of these gateways demand leadership.
The theme of leadership and the development of young leaders were very much to the fore at the conference. Twenty Developing Young Leaders from the state of Victoria attended the conference and met with four Developing Leaders from England. The twenty Victorians will be coming to England in November 2004 to attend the Trust?s National Conference and to visit schools affiliated to the Trust. Working partnerships between the Developing Leaders of both countries are currently being developed.
The challenge for us now is to ensure that we build on the excellent foundation of the conference week and develop partnerships that impact positively on the lives of students.
Sue Williamson Specialist Schools Trust