Centre for higher education studies professional learning

The challenge

In April 2022, in partnership with the Department of Education Victoria, the project team hosted a design summit for primary and secondary teachers and school leaders. The aim of the summit was to identify the professional learning needs of teachers of high-ability children:

Schools and school communities* don’t feel equipped to recognise, plan for and support high ability students to learn (within the classroom and beyond).

*with acknowledgement that students, parents, teachers, school leaders, etc. are integral to a school community.

Project overview

The project has moved through a number of stages. In 2022, the project included a design summit, course design and pilots with focus groups and participants, in addition to a scoping review of the literature into high ability teaching and learning. The scoping review has since been published in Gifted Child Quarterly and is available via Open Access: ‘Meeting the Needs and Potentials of High-Ability, High-Performing, and Gifted Students via Differentiation’.

Included in this scoping review is an infographic of 15 approaches to differentiation that teachers have effectively used with high ability learners over the past 20 years:

In 2023–2024, the project has continued to include course delivery and data collection and analysis, seeking to address the challenge identified by the key stakeholders.

Outcomes

The project team have worked in collaboration with various stakeholders from the Department of Education Victoria to design, develop and deliver professional learning courses focused on supporting school-based staff (primary teachers, secondary teachers and school leaders) to better meet the needs and potentials of their high-achieving and high-ability students.

Delivery occurs via the newly established Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES) using a ‘Hy-Flex’ (hybrid-flexible) delivery model. Hy-Flex is a learner-centered model of class delivery that combines face-to-face and online learning. The use of innovative technologies including gamification technologies and 360-degree video of classroom practices ensures that those on-site and those participating virtually across Victoria have an equitable learning experience.

Course participants become members of a professional learning community who conduct their own research projects within their school contexts and share their learnings via an interactive online virtual platform, contributing to a resource bank to which all attendees have ongoing access.

The professional learning has continued into 2025, with ongoing refinements and enhancements, including using case studies from past participants’ action research projects, and hearing directly from students. These additions build on the past workshops, used to showcase what their colleagues have recently been doing in Victorian schools in regard to high ability teaching and learning, and as a catalyst to aid attendees to reflect on the possibilities.