Introducing Dr Adrian Johnson
Dr Adrian Johnson with (L–R) Annabelle Creer, Vice-Captain; and Matthew Overton-Clarke and Lydia Murray, Captains
Interview by Mick Bunworth, Communications Manager
You decided to leave the Gold Coast in the middle of winter to come to Canberra. What were you thinking?
Log fires … hot chocolate … a good book!? Weekends skiing? And the promise that, arriving in the depths of winter, the weather can only improve!!
What led you to education as a vocation?
Unlike many others, I did not have my heart set on a career in education when I started my undergraduate studies. I was just keen to start working and truly fell on my feet landing a position in an independent boys’ school in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. It wasn’t until I completed my teaching qualifications and had worked in schools for a few years that I realised how lucky I was. Learning alongside young people is energising and ensures no day is the same as the last. I’ve met lifelong friends, been on overseas tours, gained new qualifications and a wealth of life experience through my working career. I am inspired by the accomplishments of both my current and former students, and by the professionalism of my colleagues in always wanting to do things better for the young people in their care.
You have had a wide range of roles – academic, pastoral, co-curricular and cultural. Which has been the most fulfilling?
Am I allowed to choose a mix of them all?! My wife, Leanne, and I lived in a boarding house in a school in the United Kingdom for three and a half years in a role that combined all of these things! Our week was long with supervising ‘prep’ into the evenings, Saturday morning classes followed by games against other schools, and Chapel on Sundays. The Christmas Term included a very serious competition: House Singing. Following a 20-year drought, there was utter jubilation as Phillpotts won House Singing in 2004 – the Head Master was very understanding when we were all a little late to school the following day! Another aspect of the role was producing the House Play; and, in 2009, this was an episode of ‘Allo Allo’! Eighteen members of cast and crew, five weeks of rehearsals and boys fighting one another to dress-up as women culminated in 40 minutes of hilarity and rave reviews … well … 40 minutes of mayhem and a short mention in the newsletter!
I was also Director of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at this school. Attracting almost half our DP students from Europe made this a truly international experience. The Diploma is an outstanding qualification – some would say the global ‘gold standard’ – and it was thrilling for our teaching team to see at least one student achieve the perfect 45/45 each year.
If you walked into a classroom during an outstanding lesson, what would you expect to see and hear?
Excited students all completely engrossed in an activity that offered them all a degree of challenge. Teachers are increasingly becoming facilitators – not a ‘font of all knowledge’ sitting at the front of the classroom. Employers want graduates with 21st-century (soft) skills: such as the abilities to critique, collaborate, create and communicate. So, the challenge for schools is to cover a crowded curriculum but still develop these skills and prepare students for their next steps in either further education or industry.
You’ve worked in overseas schools. Did that experience change your perspective on Australian schools?
Yes, remarkably. GCSEs and A-Levels are, by nature, very prescriptive; and so, there is a lot of ‘teaching to the test’ in preparing students for Oxbridge entry. This style of learning can become somewhat traditional – and is in stark contrast to the skills focus outlined above. I am passionate about developing skills that students will find useful long after the content has been outdated. And, in my view, this is what is so worthwhile about the Australian Curriculum. Despite what we might read in the press about the performance of Australian schools when compared to those in other countries, it is reassuring to know that students in the independent sector here give students in the often-quoted small European countries a real run for their money!
What’s the most innovative project you’ve been involved with at a school?
This would have to be the Wellbeing Programme at my most recent school, Somerset College, on the Gold Coast. Rather than adopting someone else’s programme, our team developed our own to promote student wellbeing. Based on survey feedback from the students, we developed a range of experiences that were delivered by our 50 House Tutors. The fact our staff felt confident in working with our students in this way was truly heart-warming – they really cared about the young people with whom they worked – and so, irrespective of their teaching discipline, the promotion of student wellbeing was something to which everyone was committed. Over time, our activities evolved and were adapted to the needs of our students – proving to be a far more nimble programme than might have otherwise been the case. Such grassroots programmes are exciting for all concerned.
Do you have a hobby or skill outside school life that you like to pursue?
I have SCUBA dived in some remarkable parts of the world. Probably the most extraordinary was taking a school group to dive on the Former SS President Coolidge in Vanuatu. If you can imagine a ship similar in style to the Titanic in 90 metres of water, you might gauge the proportions of this wreck and the challenges in diving on it. In recent times, stand-up paddle boarding, with our dog(!), has been the go on Tallebudgera Creek on the Gold Coast. And they tell me we can SUP on Lake Burley Griffin?! However, I might be looking to add a snowboard to the collection now that I am living so close to the ski fields.