Scotch Oakburn College announced as National Innovation Winner

The Educator's 5-Star Innovative School Award recognises schools at the forefront of change, something Scotch Oakburn College principal Andy Muller said was a recognition of the program's unique approach to learning.

The school scooped up the National Innovation Winner award through its intensive holiday pilot program, The Enterprise Workshop, which challenged year 9 and 10 students to develop and refine an entrepreneurial concept in partnership with the University of Tasmania.

Seven students across two groups completed the workshop, with one group developing a concept for a refugee employment assistance program, and the other proposing a specialised space which combined education providers with childcare.

"It gives our students an opportunity to find something in the community they want to provide some possible solution for, and actually work on that intensively" Mr Muller said.

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Director of Curriculum Sarah Lillywhite said the workshop aimed to develop an entrepreneurial skill set for the students.

"For some time now we've recognized the importance of those skills in terms of changing employment requirements and the capacity to work through an idea or problem, to work with others, and to collaborate," Ms Lillywhite said

"It wasn't a case of them simply dropping their ideas into the abyss and then walking away - there was an engagement with the ideas and explanation of how those ideas could be practically applied."

Ms Lillywhite said it was a step towards fostering new skills in students, among them curiosity, innovation, agility and collaboration - skills that Mr Muller said were integral to developing future leaders, but often overlooked in mainstream curriculums.

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As the effects of the pandemic continue to ripple across the education sector - reframing ideas around course delivery and curriculum - Mr Muller said the Australian government's advisory body on school affairs had highlighted that "education is ripe for disruption".

Following comments from the advisory body Deputy Chair Alex Robson that "the traditional model in schools or universities could change drastically over the next 10 or 20 years", Mr Muller said the program was intended to meet these changes.

The program will run again next year over the holiday period, with the aim of eventually integrating the workshop into the curriculum as an elective over the following years.

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