Term 2 – A Term Like No Other
Welcome to Term 2. As I sat down to write my article for the first week of ‘The Rock’ I was hoping that physically we would be welcoming students back on campus. Unfortunately, as well as Australia is tracking in terms of dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic, this is not yet possible. We will need to be patient and persevere with the ‘new normal’ for a little while longer – as challenging as that might be.
The COVID-19 crisis has been described in the media is a variety of ways – unprecedented, fluid, uncertain, challenging, disruptive, unsettling etc. It is all these things and more. It is easy, and perhaps natural to see all the negative impacts this situation is having on us. There is however, the potential for good things to come out of the situation we are facing.
First, it presents us with the circumstances to build resilience – ours and that of our children. Over the past decade or so, concern has been expressed in some quarters that the current generation of children and young people were growing up with limited capacity to deal with life’s disappointments and challenges. As a result, the teaching of resilience has become an important focus in schools. The reality is that resilience is most effectively developed as we work our way through challenges. Franklin D Roosevelt, the American President during the Great Depression and World War II, was right when he said, ‘a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor’. The COVID-19 challenge provides us with the opportunity to help our children develop resilience – to teach them the importance of persisting, of problem-solving, of adapting to the circumstances, of trying new ways. If we do, they will come out of this stronger at the other end.
Second, it is an opportunity for students to increase their agency in relation to their learning. Agency relates to the sense of control students feel over their learning. At Home Learning will, by necessity, provide students with the need to take greater control of what, how and when they are learning. It will provide them with more opportunity to pursue and research topics they are learning. It will require them to follow up with teachers when they are unsure of things. It will require them to really engage with what they are learning to help them truly understand it. This increased agency will stand our students in good stead both for the remainder of their time at St Peters and their learning beyond the College. One of the things that has struck me over the years is the frequent comments that I receive from university lecturers along the lines of, you can always spot the St Peters student in your lecture because they are so well prepared and cope so well with the demands of university. The agency of our students has the potential to be multiplied because of our current experience.
Third, this pandemic which has imposed restrictions about how we live, work and learn, reminds us of the importance of community, the importance of belonging, of our shared humanity. We have already seen communities coming together, and rallying around others. The ‘Care Army’ which consists of volunteers providing support for the elderly and vulnerable in our community is a striking example. More than ever we need to show care, compassion, empathy, listen to each other, and be there for others. Community was the glue that held our nation together during both World Wars and the Great Depression. It is what will see us through this historic challenge. We have the opportunity to be community together through this, and I look forward to the day when we can again be community face to face in the future.
Tim Kotzur
Head of College
