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ManUP nominated for an ACOSS Award – Haseeb Riaz

The team at the Foundation are excited to see that ManUP, a venture co-founded by UWA Fogarty Scholar and current FSA President, Haseeb Riaz (Scholar 2017 – ), nominated as a finalist in the Western Australian Council of Social Service, 2023 Community Services Excellence Awards.  https://www.wacoss.org.au/news/community-services-excellence-awards-2023-finalists-announced/

ManUP is one of 4 finalists in the “small organisation providing collaborative, innovative or creative programs or services”.  Man Up aims to redefine masculinity through workshops and presentations that engage young boys in high school to investigate their ideas of masculine culture, mental health and relationships.

The Awards are a longstanding partnership between the Western Australian Council of Social Service and the Department of Communities WA, with the support of Lotterywest.  They recognise and celebrate the work of organisations and individuals in the community services sector, who have demonstrably made a positive difference to people, families, and communities through innovative and creative practice.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony on 1 May.  Fingers crossed!!

We were delighted to see our new alumni Racheline’s (Scholar 2019 to 2022) name included in the impressive list of 24 talented young women released in honour of International Women’s Day by Young Australians in International Affairs.  Every year the list recognises, celebrates and promotes the next generation of women achieving success and making an impact in international affairs; whether that be in government, academia, think tanks, the private sector or civil society.  Follow this link to read about Racheline and this group of outstanding young people.  https://www.youngausint.org.au/post/2023-young-women-to-watch-in-international-affairs

Racheline currently works in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, where she develops policy advice for the Prime Minister on immigration, multiculturalism, settlement, and humanitarian programs to achieve the best possible outcomes for new arrivals and the Australian public.

She is the Chief Partnerships Officer of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership and also directed ‘Where Oceans Meet’ in 2021, a charity concert featuring traditional music of the Indo-Pacific region and music written by composers of Asian descent, with proceeds donated to the Australian Red Cross Global COVID-19 Appeal.  

Racheline plays clarinet and speaks Indonesian, Mandarin, and Japanese.

Improving curriculum planning should be a national priority given the urgent challenges in Australian school education.  This approach takes the lottery out of learning, because it guarantees that all students receive common, high- quality teaching that supports them to build knowledge and skills through their school years.   The benefits of adopting a whole school curriculum can be significant.  As one Serpentine Primary School literacy leader said “We don’t miss students. You know you’re not going to get students in Year 3 that can’t read. We have high expectations, we want all kids to be at grade level.” (page 25).

Tackling this problem will require action from school leaders and teachers, as well as governments, and Catholic and independent school sector leaders.  Grattan’s 2022 report, Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools, sets out what governments and sector leaders should do to help tackle this problem.

School leaders should not wait, however, for government action.  The new Grattan Guide (insert link to PDF) sets out practical steps they can take now to establish an effective whole-school approach to curriculum planning.  

The Guide draws on lessons Grattan learnt studying five schools across Australia that have embraced a whole-school approach to curriculum, the two of which from WA are both Fogarty EDvance schools – Serpentine Primary School and Aveley Secondary College.

The paper presents the six key features of a whole-school curriculum approach:

This helpful report also provides links to materials prepared by other schools to help exemplify what this looks like in practice – and can provide a fast-track way to get started. 

Grattan is also hosting an online event series with school leaders from two of the case study schools in our Guide. You can register for these events here:

The Foundation joined with the Executive of UWA at the start of the new semester to welcome the eight, 2023 UWA Fogarty Scholars at the annual breakfast held at St Catherine’s College on 3 March.  

This year the State’s highest achieving students include Jessica Doan who was awarded the UWA Fogarty Beazley Medallist Scholarship.  Together with current Fogarty Scholars and Alumni the new Scholars were formally welcomed to the prestigious program.  

The 2023 UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarship recipients are: 

In 2023 we mark the 20th year of partnership with UWA, under which the Scholarships were established.  The Scholarships are offered to the State’s brightest and most committed students, who receive a full scholarship for the entirety of their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Scholars are selected based on their academic excellence and outstanding achievements in leadership, community involvement, enterprise, the arts and/or sport. 

 “By empowering and enriching our high performing students, we are encouraging them to shine, and use their vision and direction to enable positive change in society,” explained Caitlyn Embley, Executive Director of the Fogarty Foundation.  

“We need innovative and inspiring leaders and businesses in WA, which is why the UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarships continue to be a key element of the Foundation’s work,” she said.  

UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholars are provided with $10,000 per annum to assist in university tuition, accommodation and general living expenses. They participate in a tailored leadership and enterprise program, academic mentoring, leadership opportunities, support for initiatives and they become valued members of the Scholars and Alumni network.  

The Scholarships are available for Undergraduate and post graduate study at UWA and Scholars wishing to pursue postgraduate studies in specialist areas are also able to be supported, in partnership with Australian National University (ANU), to undertake their studies at ANU in Canberra. 

Since 2004, the scholarships have educated and supported 187 outstanding young people who are now contributing to their communities, our State and our nation. The UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarship Program is one of Australia’s premier scholarship programs. You can read about some of the exceptional Scholars at fogartyfoundation.org.au. 

Life’s Lottery:  Backing Kids is a new series of the Paul Ramsay Foundation’s podcast where experts, young people, advocates and policymakers discuss how we can improve wellbeing by putting children at the centre of government policy and budgets. 

The podcast was highlighted in an article in The Australian on Wednesday 30 March 2022.  Authors Anne Holland National Children’s Commissioner and Glyn Davis Chief Executive of the Paul Ramsay Foundation said that, “children’s voices often go unheard in decisions that greatly affect them.”

As an Ambassador for Children and Young People in WA, I agree that we need to change the way we make our policies: For each policy that is discussed, consideration needs to be made in how children will be affected by these policies and decisions. 

Annie Fogarty AM

Jacqueline McGowan-Jones has recently been appointed as the new Commissioner for Children and Young People WA.  The Commission works closely with children and young people, their families, communities and government to make WA a better place for 0 to 17-year-olds.  As well as advocating for children’s rights, they have a range of resources and projects including the ‘Speaking Out Survey’ which last year spoke with more than 16,500 children and young people from all regions of WA who shared their experiences and views on safety, mental health, engagement in education, connection to community and how they access sources of support – www.ccyp.wa.gov.au 

The UWA Fogarty Scholars joined Kate Chaney, independent candidate for the seat of Curtin, for an informal conversation on Wednesday. Kate said she was eager to speak with young people about the issues they are interested in. 

Kate opened by explaining her background and what brought her to stand for a seat in Federal Parliament. She noted that a driving factor was her involvement on the board of Next 25, which is working to ensure that Australia maximises and shares its success across current and future generations, and her desire to play a more proactive part in addressing complex issues facing Australian society. 

Kate believes her diverse career background in management consulting, law and strategy, as well as her senior corporate and not-for-profit roles, will enable her to contribute on several complex matters. She also acknowledged that there will matters she won’t know about. In talking about her decision to take the plunge to stand for Parliament, Kate said that she realised, “you only have one wild and precious life, so just go for it.”

Kate shared her four areas of focus with the Scholars, which were often touched on during the conversation with the group. These include:

The Scholars raised a wide range of topics important to them, spanning the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and how to achieve climate change through the creation of economic opportunities, to the provision of greater funding for sports beyond those with a high profile, the structural re-adjustment of industries, addressing and reducing the incidence of sexual harassment and gender inequality, to food and water security and homelessness.

How to find candidates aligned with Scholars’ individual values was also explored, and it was suggested that sites such as Vote Compass could be helpful in this regard. Kate also mentioned the site, They Vote for You which allows one to see how your electorate’s representative – or any member of Parliament – voted on various matters. Kate explained that only 0.4% of the population is a member of a political party and 50% of members of Parliament have only ever worked in politics.

The role of independents in Parliament was also explored, and Kate was asked what she hoped might result in 15 years. Three options she suggested were:

  1. Independents could cause the major parties to re-think their approach to various policies and their electorate.
  2. There could be a critical mass of independents, allowing them to work in different coalitions on various topics of interest. She noted whilst this could be logistically ‘messier’ than the two-party system, it could allow the larger, more complex issues to be dealt with more effectively (noting most of the matters before Federal Parliament are complex issues by their very nature); or
  3. The emergence of new parties, providing a viable alternative to the current ‘red’ vs ‘blue’ team, two party model.

The closing discussion centred on how young people could become more involved, with Kate providing several pointers. Whilst not suggesting that young people head straight for parliament, she stressed that, at a minimum, everyone should be thoughtful about their vote, because every vote counts.

Many thanks to Kate for addressing the group, and for Georgie Carey, Fogarty Scholar (2014) and now Deputy Mayor of the Mosman Park Town Council for being facilitator.

Ten of the state’s highest achieving students have accepted UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarships, including Lawrence Nheu who was also awarded the UWA Fogarty Beazley Medallist Scholarship. Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming them to the UWA Fogarty Scholars family as they enjoyed breakfast at St Catherine’s College. 

UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarships offer the State’s brightest and most committed students a full scholarship for the entirety of their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Scholars are selected based on their academic excellence and outstanding achievements in leadership, community involvement, enterprise, the arts and/or sport. 

Winners of the 2022 UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarships include Lawrence Nheu, Beazley Medallist (Perth Modern), Ben Scott (Scotch College), Daniel Zhou (Christ Church Grammar School), Peter Bruce (Wesley College), Joel Peiris (Perth Modern), Shantelle Jeyakumar (Woodvale Secondary College), Naveen Nimalan (Aquinas College), Phoebe Dyson (Methodist Ladies’ College), Caleb Adams (Perth Modern) and Josh Snow (Busselton Senior High School). 

Phoebe Dyson said she applied for the UWA Fogarty Scholarship Program because she saw it as an invaluable way to connect with inspiring, like-minded individuals while making the most of opportunities to grow and flourish as a leader. 

“I would love to make a difference in this world, and I see the UWA Fogarty Scholarship Program as a tangible way for me to instigate purposeful change,” Phoebe explained. 

“I am particularly looking forward to meeting other students in the Fogarty Scholars community and immersing myself in the range of mentoring and leadership opportunities that are provided,” commented Ben Scott, 2022 UWA Fogarty Scholar. 

UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholars are provided with $10,000 per annum to assist in university tuition, accommodation and general living expenses. They participate in a tailored leadership and enterprise program, academic mentoring, leadership opportunities, support for initiatives and they become valued members of the Scholars and Alumni network. 

 “By empowering and enriching our high performing students, we are encouraging them to shine, and use their vision and direction to enable positive change in society,” explained Caitlyn Fogarty-Embley, Executive Director of the Fogarty Foundation. 

“We need innovative and inspiring leaders and businesses in WA, which is why the UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarships continue to be a key element of the Foundation’s work,” she said. 

“We want our brightest students to call Western Australia home, where they can enjoy a world-class education and be inspired to lead, innovate, support and build the West Australian economy.” 

Through the Leadership and Enterprise Program, the Foundation hopes to empower young people to be entrepreneurial creators. Many Scholars have started enterprises and not-for-profit organisations which the Foundation continues to support. 

“The Scholars Enterprise Investment Program supports Scholars as they build their businesses, while enhancing WA-wide support for the next generation of enterprises, growing the number of jobs and diversity of businesses across WA and Australia,” Mrs Fogarty-Embley said. 

Since 2004, the scholarships have educated and supported 176 outstanding young people who are now contributing to their communities, our state and our nation. The UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarship Program is one of Australia’s premier scholarship programs. You can read about some of the exceptional Scholars at fogartyfoundation.org.au. 

One hundred and fifteen West Australian teachers and 100 students have cut their holidays short, returning to school for the fifth annual Fogarty EDvance Teaching Intensives.

Initiated by the Fogarty Foundation in 2018, the intensives are run in partnership with Dr Lorraine Hammond, Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University, and hosted at Dawson Park Primary School. Each year the intensives have grown, supporting more than 365 teachers to implement high-impact instruction practices. 

The intensive week of professional learning provides early childhood, primary and secondary teachers with the opportunity to observe expert teachers, practise key skills, and obtain feedback and coaching as they finesse their high-impact instructional strategies. Steered by Dr Hammond, the program was created following evidence-based research into how to effectively support teachers to adopt new practices.  

“Research confirms that ‘one shot’ professional learning does not work. Instead, educators can transfer new skills to their teaching practice when they have access to theory, quality teaching demonstrations and have the opportunity to practice instructional strategies with ongoing support, guidance, feedback and coaching,” Dr Hammond explained. 

“We are creating a community of teachers who have developed high-impact instructional strategies they can share with their peers and implement in their schools. By sharing best practice and collaborating with their peers, our teachers will create a ripple effect that will improve the quality of teaching in Western Australia,” she said. 

High-impact instructional strategies integrate lesson delivery and design where content is explicitly taught with frequent checks for understanding. Lesson delivery relates to how content is presented (i.e., read with me) and includes continual checks for understanding by indiscriminately selecting students to take part in discussions. Lesson design refers to how new content is organised, presented and modelled (i.e., Guided Practice followed by Independent Practice). This includes daily reviews of previously learned knowledge and skills to reduce cognitive load and build automaticity. 

High-impact instructional strategies have been used by teachers at Dawson Park Primary School since 2014. The school has seen significant improvements in NAPLAN scores since the inception of these teaching strategies. 

“Our dedicated and professional team use high-impact instructional strategies in all areas of the curriculum. There is low variability in instruction, expectations are clearly communicated and as a result, our students come to school feeling comfortable and confident in their abilities – they know what to expect,” Pauline Johnson, Principal at Dawson Park Primary School explained. 

“We’ve seen significant improvements in student results. Our students perform well above the average when compared to similar schools and they have a positive attitude towards their learning,” she said. 

Georgie Wynne, Program Director at Fogarty EDvance reiterated the importance of innovative professional learning for educators and schools. 

“It is vital for teachers to be knowledgeable about evidence-based pedagogical research so they can develop an innovative ‘toolkit’ for successful and impactful teaching,” Ms Wynne explained. 

“Fogarty EDvance aims to inspire excellence and high-quality instruction in schools by investing in teachers, school leaders and school principals to ensure that all students receive a high-quality education, regardless of their background.” 

UWA Fogarty Scholars participate in a range of programs, conversations and events to develop leadership skills and encourage enterprising mindsets.

On Thursday 23 September, the Foundation hosted an Innovation Panel with Danail Obreschkow, Astrophysicist and Head of the International Space Centre UWA, Olivia Humphrey, Founder and former CEO of Kanopy, and Brodie McCulloch, Founder of Spacecubed. The purpose was to encourage Scholars to have an enterprising mindset and see opportunities rather than barriers, learnings rather than failures and make the most of their experiences and connections.

Danail Obreschkow spoke about his journey, including his experiences at Oxford University and his love of Astrophysics. He encouraged the Scholars to take chances, fuel their minds with inspiration and learn from others through positive connections and conversations. 

Olivia encouraged the Scholars to have a challenge mindset; that is, a mindset that encourages inspiration and excitement when faced with a challenge. She spoke about building strong networks and the importance of having enterprising friends and/or peers to workshop and develop business ideas. 

Brodie shared his experiences as Founder and CEO of Spacecubed. He explained how the organisation was supporting entrepreneurs and innovators with enterprise skill development, peer support networks, innovation workshops and spaces to develop a business. He encouraged the group to try out their ideas, talk to people and make the most of assets like Bloom.

Many thanks to Conor McLaughlin, Fogarty Scholar and young entrepreneur, for moderating this inspiring panel.

The quality of student learning is inherently dependant on the quality of the school curriculum.  The proposed new Australian National School Curriculum has met with a lot of discussion and feedback. In our opinion, the proposed curriculum does not prioritise evidence-based learning, nor does it set aspirational yet achievable standards. The introduction of key concepts, particularly in mathematics, fall far short of many other OECD countries.

We, along with hundreds of others, have submitted feedback to ACARA.  You can read our submission below, with links from other regarded educationalists.

The Fogarty Foundation’s submission to ACARA regarding the proposed new Australian Curriculum

The Fogarty Foundation is a social purpose organisation, providing educational opportunities in Western Australia.  I write to you with our 21 years of experience in education and particularly, through our 10 years of delivering Fogarty EDvance, a three-year school improvement program for school leaders in challenging communities. 

Through Fogarty EDvance, we are working with over 100 low socio-economic schools (both primary and secondary schools) throughout Western Australia.  We know that there is a high proportion of students who have difficulties with literacy, predominantly in their ability to read.  Thirty-five percent of students in Year 7 in these schools (this equates to approximately 17% of Year 7 students nationally) are reading at a Year 3 level and below, which means they are not independent readers or able to read with fluency. At this level, these students are not able to access information in their books or on their screens in their classes. They lack confidence and no longer identify as a ‘learner’ in their school. As a direct result, many students disengage with education and for some, finish 13 years of school, illiterate and innumerate.

Many of the schools with which we work as part of the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program, set out on a journey to make significant improvements in the educational outcomes of their students – starting with reading. These schools set out to use evidence-based teaching and learning approaches to the teaching of reading. This typically involves using high-impact instructional strategies (such as explicit instruction) across the school with a strong focus on effective reading instruction in the early years. Effective reading instruction requires students during the early years of school to master the alphabetic code via systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension strategies (Department of Education, Science and Training 2005, p.25). 

The schools strategically plan to implement effective reading instruction as part of their school improvement work and in doing so, know that the evidence that supports this type of instruction is solid. However, many of their teachers do not have the necessary skillsets to be able to teach reading in this way. As a response to this, the Fogarty Foundation established a teaching intensive in 2019, for schools to send teachers (both new graduates and experienced teachers) to receive a week of intensive coaching and demonstrations in explicit instruction. This included a focus on effective reading instruction in the early years. The teaching intensive was carried out during school holidays, with students at the low socio economic primary school giving up a week of their holidays to take part in the intensive. Demand was so great that we ran two intensives the following year, three in 2021 and are planning four for 2022.  Again, there is no shortage of school students and teachers who want to be part of this program. In total, 250 teachers have been trained through our EDvance Teaching Intensives (using 200 students, 15 expert teachers/coaches and 2 program leads, Dr Lorraine Hammond and Brooke Wardana). 

The demand for these skills is great, but the supply is low: skills which are not being taught in most Initial Teaching Education university courses. A previous EDvance staff member has now established a business to help address this need.

Given our work with school leaders over the past ten years and more recently, our work with teachers, our strong submission is that only evidence-based teaching approaches should be included in the proposed curriculum. The inclusion of whole language in the revised Australian 

Curriculum is out of step with research and is failing our children. We concur with the submission made to ACARA by Emeritus Professor Max Coltheart on behalf of the members of the Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy (DDoLL) network dated 7 May 2021, including the attachment of the article written by Dr Jennifer Buckingham that was published in The Australian on April 30, 2021. 

We draw your attention to our website and in particular, the Report Card for Cohort 4 which can be located here. What school leaders and teachers need to improve reading for their students is clear guidance from the Australian Curriculum on effective reading instruction. It is our strong belief that with evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning, all schools can improve academic (and ultimately, life) outcomes for their students.

You can read additional feedback at the following links:

Curriculum takes backward step on the path to literacy – Five From Five

Open letter to Mr. David de Carvalho, CEO of ACARA, and the ACARA Board