Wooranna Park Primary School (Melbourne) - Research and Innovation

Wooranna Park Primary School - "In primary schools today, where the curriculum is prescribed, the outcomes of learning are determined in advance, and children's progress is judged in terms of age grade norms and standards, it is difficult for teachers to have the courage to trust in the potential of children and to foster this potential through exercising their professional judgement. However, my research (Surman 2003) is revealing that this is exactly what a team of dedicated educators in a Victorian school have the vision and determination to do as they move from teaching through instruction to practices based on the 'pedagogy of listening' (Rinaldi 1998). Wooranna Park is a government primary school located in a culturally diverse, but economically disadvantaged, community in outer suburban Melbourne. For nearly a decade, now, the school has engaged in a deliberate and systematic process of research and innovation in order to make education more relevant for children in the 21st century."