Denise Lofts

I, too, would like to acknowledge Deputy Chancellor, Provost, Dean of Faculty, presiding Director, Chair of Academic Board, members of the University Executive, staff, family, friends and graduates.

I, too, would also like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land in which we meet, the UTS campus, of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, a strong and resilient nation.

Firstly, I am grateful for the opportunity to join you on this auspicious occasion. To the graduating students in front of us today, you are the future leaders of our schools, of our organisations and of our governments. You will make a difference. You are joining an incredible alumni who’ve made an impact in our world. Teachers, leaders and school leaders indeed shape the future, the hearts and minds of our tomorrow.

In preparing for today, I began to reflect on the incredible current educational thinkers, such as Sir Ken Robinson, challenging us to think differently about schools and education; Professor Yong Zhao, who encapsulates the entrepreneurial spirit in learning; Professor John Hattie, making learning visible; Professor Pasi Sahlberg from Finland, whose voice on educational equity resonates with me; and to the many incredible colleagues and progressive universities like UTS who shape tomorrow.

‘Education is about human agency for all,’ said Jelmer Evers. School leadership and student agency equals strong heart, clear mind. This week, I received a very quick email from my school captain. ‘Hi miss, thank you so much for your support. Jade, Lachlan and I really appreciate it.’ This was the end of an email chain from my school captain, an incredible young Aboriginal woman, telling me that I could listen to her speech given to council about the rescission motion for climate change, letters to be sent from council to Parliament House in Canberra, and how she was representing the youth of the Shoalhaven, along with two other students from Ulladulla high school.

The speech was on the back of a Change the Conversation on Climate Change rally at UHS on the 15th of March during school lunch time. When other students were missing school, our students clearly articulated their stand, not by missing school, rather to ensure the focus was clearly on the issues not the point of missing school. This clear, succinct, mindful, deliberate protest by the students could not be ignored.

This is only the surface of what Takesa has done and the Student Environment Council. From removing plastic bottles, introducing composting across the school, established a community twilight market in the school grounds that sells locally-produced produce and focus on sustainable processes, along with advocating for fish tackle bins to be located at our local harbour by the council to protect our ocean sea life. They can now be seen on our harbour.

This type of agency is mirrored across many schools and many young people. Student agency, I believe, will continue to influence the way we do business in schools and beyond. How will you see student agency in your school or your classroom or your organisation?

We unite culture across our schools and understand our influential collective efficacy. If you’ve ever looked at the calendar of any school, whether it be primary or high school, it’s a mosaic of events. My own school is no exception. On a closer look, these events reflect the culture in our schools, workplace or organisations. They influence how students and colleagues think about themselves – about their learning, their world and their work.

When teachers and school leaders believe that what we do influences change and together we can change the trajectory of each and every student, this is very powerful. I mean every student, no matter their background, their ability, their heritage, their socioeconomic, their educational disadvantage or gender. There’s no excuse. This is pivotal to our success as an education state and as a nation. Ensuring that my teachers, parents, community understand that they are influential despite any other factors is central to my role. I call it deep authentic action, high expectations. As graduating students, do you have that belief? You must believe that you can influence positively every young person’s future who is in your care.

Technology and the human spirit – and I’m glad this has come up before. What impact is technology having on our society and particularly on our young people? I’m the leader of a public school that embraced the bring-your-own-device program. We have almost 98 per cent take-up of a device for learning. Equity is transparent – those who forget theirs on a day can borrow a device from the library. We have 200 permanently on loan to students. My school is 1256 students with 11 special education classes. They, the devices, are merely learning tools. We endeavour to normalise the digital.

Teachers approach online learning as just an aspect of a learning experience, supporting co-teaching, collaborative, flexible learning environments. Digital portfolios, collaboration online. We endeavour to teach self-regulation explicitly. Despite this, what is going on with young people in terms of the digital world is certainly raising alarm. Amongst parents, amongst educators, across the world, wellbeing is in question.

Richard Glover, social commentator, eluded that when the motor car was first introduced, what a great invention. It had no seatbelts. People were killed. We quickly responded with seatbelt and legislation that enforced this. The Alberta Teaching Association in Canada, led by Phil McRae, has been conducting research, ‘Growing up Digitally.’ This is revealing some alarming statistics – today, more things are connected to the internet than there are people on the planet.

Our current Department of Education Secretary, Mark Scott, in his book ‘On Us’, a flyover innovation and technology as he reflects on his role at the ABC and the Department of Education, the notion of shiny and new needs rethinking. This is a brave move, providing leadership and thinking to consider what we might be heading in this conundrum. Your thoughts on that?

Finally, in my finishing remarks, yesterday I asked Pasi Sahlberg, an international thought leader from Finland who has recently moved to Australia to continue his work on equity, ‘Pasi, what advice would you give a graduating education student?’ And this is what he said, in his Finnish accent: ‘Believe in your own knowledge and skills, particularly when you have feelings of inexperience from the community, from parents, from colleagues. You know more than you think. Feel confidence in your own professional judgement and your own skills as a teacher.’

When I asked Pasi’s wife the same question, interestingly, she said, ‘Turn on the light of all of your students and remember to turn off the lights when you leave the classroom for our planet,’ said with a beautiful Finnish accent. What a clever, succinct idea.

I thank you all today for listening and leave you all with this thought: What are you going to do to influence and support your students in their learning journey through student advocacy, technology and culture for tomorrow’s world? And of course, remember to turn off the lights when you leave the classroom.

Thank you.