From 4-7 September 2022, the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) Conference took place in Melbourne, with presenters from all around Australia coming together to share knowledge and expertise in Catholic Education.
Patrick Ellis, Education Lead, Catholic Education Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn, presented an enlightening session on the Catalyst program to implement the Science of Learning approach in the classroom to realise our bold goals
Every student is a competent reader
High Impact Teaching Practice is visible in every classroom
Patrick shared the background of Catalyst, which is grounded in evidence-based research of how students learn, with the Science of Learning, Cognitive Load Theory, Science of Reading and High Impact Teaching Practice (HITP), developed aligned with Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.
The session also identified that the most important learner in the system is the teacher. Professional Learning commences with program efficacy through to system-wide events illustrating the journey to high impact teaching. The components of the program are then delivered through online learning and theory sessions. Teachers can then practically apply their knowledge to their practice, supported by HITP coaches.
The outcomes of the systemic approach to teaching and learning are witnessed in early improvements for student academic outcomes and engagement. Teachers have detailed increasing confidence with their teaching practice and satisfaction with knowing and being able to better respond to student needs.
With over 700 teachers participating in HITP coaching at 100% of Catholic schools in the ACT and NSW, along with over 350 teachers trained in evidence-based literacy instruction, Catalyst is leading an education revolution.
Andrea de Carvalho, Master Teacher – Education and Research Directorate, Sydney Catholic Schools said, “Excellent presentation Patrick. Thanks for sharing the tremendous efforts of all at Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. So many synergies with approaches taken in Sydney Catholic Schools program Mathematical Expertise and Excellence. Would love to continue the conversation!”
Beth Murphy – Assistant Deputy Principal Pedagogy and Practice at Mazenod College in Western Australia said “A fabulous session from Patrick Ellis with some big takeaways on moving forward with teacher development.”
On Thursday 25 August, Patrick Ellis, Education Lead, travelled to Tasmania along with Trazel Scott, Senior Teaching and Learning Officer, Leah Taylor, Principal from St Thomas Aquinas and Michele Bezuidenhout, Catalyst Program Manager, to meet with Catholic Education Tasmania’s Principals and system leaders.
Patrick Ellis, CECG Education Lead, presenting on Catalyst
The purpose of the visit was to discuss the Catalyst program for professional learning, unpacking the knowledge of Science of Learning and Science of Reading and what it means for the classroom with High Impact Teaching Practice. The professional learning approach is a four-stage process with professional learning grounded in theory, supported by demonstration which is then put into practice and supported by coaching.
The informative and interactive sessions really embedded the goals of the program and how the Science of Learning based approach can make a real difference, with High Impact Teaching Practice empowering teachers to guide students to successful outcomes.
Principal Leah Taylor, presented the impact of Catalyst in the primary school context, showing how the implementation of InitiaLit, The Writing Revolution and High Impact Teaching Practice in Mathematics and English has delivered measurable improvements across all subjects.
The Secondary education perspective offered by Trazel Scott, illustrated the drive to achieve the goals of competent literacy for all students and the visibility of HITP in every classroom. Feedback was presented from students, teachers and leaders, all commending the value of Catalyst and the benefits of a consistent approach.
Patrick Ellis, CECG Education Lead, Trazel Scott, CECG Senior Teaching & Learning Officer, Anita Cunningham, CET Director Teaching and Learning
One teacher said of the program, “I have been blown away by the increase in student ability. The use of daily reviews and active participation have led to significant increases in the content retention of my students.”
Following the presentation, there was plenty of opportunity for questions and discussions within small groups, which offered further insight into the practical application of the program.
Patrick Ellis said of the event, “It was great to present the CECG Catalyst approach to Catholic Education Tasmania’s Principals and system Leaders this week with the ability to share knowledge and learn together. We look forward to a shared Science of Learning journey ahead.”
Catholic Education Tasmania staff attend the Insight into Learning meeting
On Thursday 25 August, Patrick Ellis, Education Lead, travelled to Tasmania along with Trazel Scott, Senior Teaching and Learning Officer, Leah Taylor, Principal from St Thomas Aquinas and Michele Bezuidenhout, Catalyst Program Manager, to meet with Catholic Education Tasmania’s Principals and system leaders.
Patrick Ellis, CECG Education Lead, presenting on Catalyst
The purpose of the visit was to discuss the Catalyst program for professional learning, unpacking the knowledge of Science of Learning and Science of Reading and what it means for the classroom with High Impact Teaching Practice. The professional learning approach is a four-stage process with professional learning grounded in theory, supported by demonstration which is then put into practice and supported by coaching.
The informative and interactive sessions really embedded the goals of the program and how the Science of Learning based approach can make a real difference, with High Impact Teaching Practice empowering teachers to guide students to successful outcomes.
Principal Leah Taylor, presented the impact of Catalyst in the primary school context, showing how the implementation of InitiaLit, The Writing Revolution and High Impact Teaching Practice in Mathematics and English has delivered measurable improvements across all subjects.
The Secondary education perspective offered by Trazel Scott, illustrated the drive to achieve the goals of competent literacy for all students and the visibility of HITP in every classroom. Feedback was presented from students, teachers and leaders, all commending the value of Catalyst and the benefits of a consistent approach.
Patrick Ellis, CECG Education Lead, Trazel Scott, CECG Senior Teaching & Learning Officer, Anita Cunningham, CET Director Teaching and Learning
One teacher said of the program, “I have been blown away by the increase in student ability. The use of daily reviews and active participation have led to significant increases in the content retention of my students.”
Following the presentation, there was plenty of opportunity for questions and discussions within small groups, which offered further insight into the practical application of the program.
Patrick Ellis said of the event, “It was great to present the CECG Catalyst approach to Catholic Education Tasmania’s Principals and system Leaders this week with the ability to share knowledge and learn together. We look forward to a shared Science of Learning journey ahead.”
Catholic Education Tasmania staff attend the Insight into Learning meeting
Teachers at many schools across our Archdiocese commenced Term 3 by participating in Catalyst professional learning.
HITP In Action Day 3 with Dr Lorraine Hammond
The largest professional learning event was HITP In Action Day 3 with Dr Lorraine Hammond, which gathered together the following schools to further explore how High Impact Teaching Practice looks in the classroom. The schools involved were –
St Anthony’s, Wanniassa
Holy Family, Gowrie
St Clare of Assisi, Conder
St Mary’s, Moruya
St Bede’s, Braidwood
Mother Teresa, Harrison
St Francis of Assisi, Calwell
Catalyst presenter Dr Lorraine Hammond delivers HITP in action day 3
Feedback from the day found that teachers were keen to continue to implement high impact practice in their class, showing a keen interest in accessing Daily Review resources to assist.
St Francis of Assisi Principal, Sean Rutledge said “as educators, the knowledge and insight imparted on us by Dr Lorraine Hammond, supported by the research of Cognitive Load Theory and the work of other key academics is critical in understanding the way our students learn best. If we invest in our educators, our students will thrive.”
HITP In Action for Secondary Schools
Some of our secondary schools including St Mary Mackillop College also participated in HITP in Action with Catalyst presenter Teach Well, with a strong focus on teaching practice in the context of secondary classes.
Teachers learned about the importance of daily review in their specialised areas of teaching and how they could utilise technology to simplify their lesson delivery, including using M365 tools such as PowerPoint.
Staff from St Mary Mackillop participating in professional learning with Catalyst presenters from Teach Well
Online Unit Collaboration & Learning
Many other schools chose to select from the online learning materials available in the Catalyst Resource Hub. Rosary Primary school completed the newly released HITP Theory & Practice 4 – Lesson Design and Delivery and one of the 8 available Catalyst Online Units.
“We have been integrating Daily Review into our teaching practice and Theory & Practice 4 was a great way to move forward from this to start looking at explicit lesson design,” said John O’Brien, Assistant Principal.
St Jospeh’s Primary School, Grenfell also completed HITP Theory & Practice 4, with Principal Melissa Hotham noting that the session was highly beneficial to consolidate the learning that had already undertaken through Catalyst.
“It was also helpful to lay the foundation for the focus of our HITP In Action day this term. It provided teachers the knowledge and skills of how to plan and deliver explicit lessons, in a highly practical manner,” she said.
Leading HITP In Action
Meanwhile, schools including Batlow, Adelong, Gundagai, West Wyalong and Lake Cargelligo, were visited by Catalyst presenter Michael Roberts from CogLearn, to deep-dive into leading High Impact Teaching Practice in their context.
The bespoke sessions focused on planning and implementing Explicit Instruction lessons in Mathematics, and included demonstrations, practice and coaching.
Catalyst Presenter Michael Roberts with staff from St Patrick’s Primary School, Gundagai
To learn about the various professional learning sessions that your school will be involved in, speak with your Principal.
Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn’s (CECG) teaching approach, which is based on the Science of Learning, has been featured on Education HQ, a national hub for teachers to access the latest news, jobs, resources and professional learning events.
Author, Sarah Duggan, spoke with CECG Director Ross Fox to learn more about Catalyst.
He said, “it was very clear to me, very quickly, that we had excellent teachers who are very dedicated to the task, but weren’t always well supported with clarity about what effective learning and teaching was.”
A “period of reflection” ensued, Fox explains, where the research behind best practice in pedagogy, curriculum and assessment was scoured. A series of ‘intensive’ school visits followed. There were gatherings of school leaders and numerous talks from educational experts.
A new understanding of what high quality teaching entails emerged, he says. Now, explicit instruction and cognitive load theory forms the bedrock of teachers’ approach in the classroom, he adds.
CECG teachers and leader’s across the system share the impact Catalyst has had on their teaching practice and their students with Catholic Education Tasmania executives.
Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn’s approach to teaching and learning has been featured in the Canberra Times, highlighting a positive impact on student learning and engagement in the classroom as key benefits.
Canberra Times journalist Sarah Lansdown was invited to visit St Thomas Aquinas Primary School, West Belconnen to view the Catalyst teaching and learning approach in the classroom. She also interviewed CECG Director, Ross Fox, and Catalyst presenter Dr Lorraine Hammond to better understand the research that informed the approach.
View the article online at the Canberra Times (Subscription only)
St Thomas Aquinas Primary School year three students participate in a daily review with teacher Ella Barry. Picture: James Croucher
Catalyst continues to gain national interest, featuring in a national education event focused on building knowledge and practice in implementing and sustaining Science of Learning informed change in schools. The Science of Learning Leadership Accelerator (SOLLA) event was hosted by Primary Focus, the Crowther Centre and Knowledge Society and facilitated by Ollie Lovell. It brought together enthusiastic teachers, leaders and system representatives from across the country, with leading education experts including Pro. Pamela Snow, Dr. Jenny Donovan, Dr. Lorraine Hammond and Toni Hatten-Roberts.
Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn presented a keynote on the system change of 56 schools to a Science of Learning backed teaching approach, through Catalyst. Watch the full presentation below.
Reflecting on the Catalyst journey so far, Mr Fox spoke to the challenges of managing pedagogical change at scale, and the successes the system has achieved in 18 months.
“This event allowed us to showcase the terrific work happening at each of our schools to ensure every child has access to a quality education,” he said.
“It is great to see the interest in Science of Learning based teaching and learning in schools across Australia, and I hope our story can assist schools to implement their own evidence-based approaches.”
Mr Fox warned that educators are defining the teaching profession in a totally unsustainable way, comparing it to the vastly different medical profession.
“We’re saying, here’s your classroom after four years of education at a university where they’ve probably taught you critical and comparative approaches, not the reading science and the learning science – choose your own curriculum.”
“And then you’ve got an eight year trained doctor, who when you go in to see them, they have a scripted diagnosis path facilitated by interaction with a computer. When they find out you’ve got something that needs antibiotics, they don’t whip out the back and say, ‘oh, just get some and I’ll just mix up some antibiotics for you’. There’s a whole industry that validates the efficacy of the treatment,” Mr Fox said.
So, what can we as educators learn from this? Watch part 3 below to learn more.
To this end, Mr Fox said that it was important to understand that the teacher, not the student, is the most important learner in our learning system – because when we know better, we do better.
“In our context, we did a lot of research and reflection on what it meant to deliver exceptional learning experiences. It all boiled down to excellence in curriculum (What we teach), pedagogy (How we teach it) and assessment (How we know the student has learnt it).”
Another key point in Mr Fox’s presentation was that explicit teaching played a core role in student learning.
“At the core of what I think we should be trying to do as educators is teach the most efficient way possible. Because every minute that the student hasn’t learnt something, they have missed an opportunity to learn the next thing and I believe very strongly that means we’ve always got to ask what is the role of explicit teaching in this pedagogy or direct instruction, i.e. teaching first.” he said.
Thoughout the event, SOLLA participants engaged in presentations, discussions, and targeted workshops on evidence-based models for change in both Primary and Secondary contexts. Every participant will be supported to develop their own action plan to implement in their school.
For more information on the Catalyst program, visit the About page or reach out to a member of the team.
Watch the full presentation below –
Part 1 – Introduction and context (6min)
An introduction to the Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn context, and the journey to understanding and shaping the learning approach for the system.
Catalyst has earned national interest and recognition, with Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) visiting schools in the Archdiocese to learn more about the program and find out how it has been implemented at-scale across a system of 56 schools.
CET has drawn parallels between the Catalyst program and their strategic priorities for 2022. Executive Director, Dr Gerard Gaskin, and Director of Teaching and Learning, Anita Cunningham, visited four schools in Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) Archdiocese to learn more about Catalyst. They were hosted by CECG’s Education Lead, Patrick Ellis and Catalyst Program Manager, Michele Bezuidenhout, along with Leaders at each of the schools.
This trip showcased the Catalyst journey at Merci College, St Thomas Aquinas West Belconnen, Holy Spirit Primary School Nicholls and St Thomas More’s Campbell.
Each visit involved lesson observations where High Impact Teaching Practice was demonstrated and discussions with Leaders about their Catalyst journey; their challenges, successes and how change is managed to support continuous improvement.
The schools visited shared key insights on their Catalyst journey based on their unique contexts, providing a holistic and authentic view of how evidence-based teaching could be embedded in a schools’ teaching and learning program within a complex system.
“The school visits were amazing. I can’t wait to take my learning back with me to the CET team to discuss,” Anita said.
Patrick Ellis said he was proud to showcase the progress CECG had made in just over a year, but acknowledged this is a journey and there was still work to be done.
“Catalyst is alive and well across the system, and I’m thrilled to share our journey with other school systems who are thinking about implementing an evidence-based teaching approach,” he said.
For more information on Catalyst visit the about page.
Visit to Merici College
L-R: Anna Masters – Principal, Anita Cunningham – Director Teaching and Learning Catholic Education Tasmania, Renee Taylor – Assistant Principal, Patrick Ellis – Education Lead CECG
Visit to St Thomas Aquinas Primary School, West Belconnen
L-R: Michael Roberts – Director COGLearn (HITP Coach), Anita Cunningham – Director Teaching and Learning Catholic Education Tasmania, Gerard Gaskin – Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, Leah Taylor – Principal, Patrick Ellis – Education Lead CECG
Visit to St Thomas More’s Primary School, Campbell
L-R: Anita Cunningham – Director Teaching and Learning Catholic Education Tasmania, Luke Donnelly – Principal, Gerard Gaskin – Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, Patrick Ellis – Education Lead CECG, Michael Roberts – Director COGLearn (HITP Coach), Michele Bezuidenhout – Program Manager CECG
The start of Term 2 for 2022 saw many schools in the Archdiocese participate in Catalyst professional learning.
The largest professional learning event was HITP In Action Day 2 with Dr Lorraine Hammond, which was held at the Rex Hotel and had over 250 attendees from 7 different schools. Participating schools included
St Anthony’s, Wanniassa
Holy Family, Gowrie
St Clare of Assisi, Conder
St Mary’s, Moruya
St Bede’s, Braidwood
Mother Teresa, Harrison
St Francis of Assisi, Calwell
Feedback from the day found that over 80% of participants felt the session provided clear and actionable strategies that they could use in their classrooms.
Holy Spirit, Nicholls also welcomed Dr Lorraine Hammond to facilitate Let’s Decode training, which provides impactful teaching practice to build the reading ability of our youngest learners.
Many other schools chose to select from the numerous online learning materials available in the Catalyst Resource Hub. Merici College completed the newly released HITP Theory & Practice 3 – Reading Instruction and one of the 8 available Catalyst Online Units.
To learn the various professional learning sessions that your school will be involved in, speak with your Principal.
