Deputy Head of College

The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 is a global project aiming “to set goals and develop a common language for teaching and learning”. You can find out more about the project via this link, but a particular quotation struck me in light of the launch last week of the Oxley College Centre for Ethics, with our inaugural lecture from Prof Toby Walsh:

“As trends such as globalisation and advances in artificial intelligence change the demands of the labour market and the skills needed for workers to succeed, people need to rely even more on their uniquely (so far) human capacity for creativity, responsibility and the ability to “learn to learn” throughout their life. Social and emotional skills, such as empathy, self-awareness, respect for others and the ability to communicate, are becoming essential as classrooms and workplaces become more ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse.”

It aligns well with our aims for the Centre for Ethics. Below is an extract for the proposal for the concept of such a centre that I wrote in August 2023:

“Accelerated climate change, the rapid emergence of AI, the risk posed by nuclear weapons alongside the stalling of global democratisation and growing distrust of science – the very discipline that has sustained our ongoing success – are all existential threats; not just to our culture and way of life, but to the continuance of our species. Humanity is only around 200,000 years old, with remarkable advancements in human knowledge and technological development in the past 200 years that are now increasing exponentially. Human potential is virtually incalculable, however to survive the crises we face will require creative, critical, ethical and collaborative thinking.”

Oxley’s vision is one of a vibrant, inclusive and enlightened learning community. Critical, creative and ethical thinking is central to this. For a non-denominational school – untethered to ideology, but with values that are grounded in the wisdom traditions – such a Centre aligns perfectly with who we are. It also aligns with our potential status as a Round Square school. It would appeal to families well beyond the Oxley community and establish us a pioneering leader in education in the Southern Highlands. The benefits for our students, families and staff are only the start.

Our next lecture from Professor AC Grayling on “Philosophy and Life”, promises to be as thought provoking and fascinating as our first lecture.  Professor Grayling is the Principal of Northeastern University London and co-author of the Northeastern University London School Certificate in Philosophy, which we offer to our Year 9 and 10 students this year as part of the Stage 5 Philosophy elective course.

In recent years, NESA has endorsed a 1 year Philosophy course for the Preliminary HSC (which was taught at Oxley from 2020-2022). However, from 2023 NESA changed the rules for such courses, requiring a school to have a minimum candidature of 100 students for Board Endorsed Courses. This has been prohibitive for schools, and with no plans by NESA for a Board Developed Course in the subject, NSW students will continue to be denied the opportunity to study the subject for the HSC. Unfortunately, we appear to be in a chicken and egg situation – the absence of a Board Developed Course in NSW at Stage 5 or 6 means there is a lack of demand for an HSC course; and without demand there is, it seems, insufficient justification for change.

State	School Qualification	Philosophy Course Offered
New South Wales	HSC	–
Queensland	QCE	Philosophy & Reason
South Australia	SACE	Philosophy
Tasmania	TCE	Philosophy
Western Australia	WACE	Philosophy & Ethics
Victoria	VCE	Philosophy

“If we are serious about teaching children to think, then we need to be serious about structuring the curriculum around thinking.  This requires us to pay attention to the general thinking strategies and broad conceptual understandings that find a natural home in philosophy. By looking to the concepts and procedures of philosophy, we can help to integrate the curriculum and at the same time make children more effective participants in the process of learning.” – Professor Phil Cam, Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales (Philosophy for a ‘thinking curriculum’ – Philosophy in Schools NSW)

Alongside our distinctive Cornerstone program for all students in Years 7-10, at Oxley we will continue to offer Philosophy as an elective for Stage 5. Students can also pursue their interest in philosophy through membership of our newly formed and popular “Gibraltar Society” in Years 10 and 11, which is linked to the Oxley Centre for Ethics. As the OECD Future of Education 2030 project shows, philosophical and ethical enquiry, developing empathy and appreciating a diversity of responses to the question of what it means to be human have never been more important.

Senior School: Winter Sport Pick Up – Tuesday & Thursday afternoons

Given the number of students being picked up in the Senior School Pick Up Zone, the Traffic Management Plan will be in operation on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 5.00pm-5.15pm from the start of Term 2. Please do not wait in the pick up bays or attempt to overtake vehicles waiting in the pick up bays. From 5.00pm, drivers who are waiting for students who have not yet arrived will be asked to exit the campus and re-enter.

Yours sincerely

Mr Mark Case
Deputy Head College