NSW principal who introduced flexible learning says Australia shouldn't ditch traditional school hours yet
A pioneering principal who introduced flexible learning to his school, offering four-day weeks for some students, said he does not believe Australia should ditch the traditional 9am to 3pm model yet.
Greg Miller, principal of Chevalier College in NSW's Burradoo, told 9News the school's "flipped learning" trial, which sees senior students study remotely on Mondays, has been mostly positive.
But he said it was not tried and tested enough for it to be considered a "stunning success" and doesn't see any radical changes to traditional five-day school weeks any time soon.
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Greg Miller, principal of Chevalier College in Burradoo, said the future of education is still in-person. Supplied
"To use very plain English school vernacular, we got a pass mark," Miller said of the flexible learning model, known as "Best Use of Time, Flipped Monday".
"It's a satisfactory start, I've seen it been reported elsewhere as a stunning success, it's not my take on it."
The change for senior students at Chevalier is simple: if approved, they can work remotely and independently on Mondays.
Junior students, from year 7 to 9, will also have the opportunity to engage in "self-directed" learning on Mondays, but from school grounds and under teacher supervision.
"Essentially we have repackaged our five-day week – it's not a four-day week," he explained.
"On some of those Mondays, they're not doing flipped learning, they're engaging in mandatory excursions or other school events.
"We know certainly in the older year groups, learning is not limited from 8.30 to 3.30, Monday to Friday."
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Students at Chevalier reported positive responses to the flipped learning model. Supplied
Miller said remote work for senior students would be allowed after an "extensive qualifying process".
While full-time remote work and shorter weeks are popular in Australian workplaces, Miller said he didn't think it was the right move for all schools in Australia.
He said he didn't want to see full-time remote learning become the norm.
"I certainly would detest seeing all schools going online for five days like we experienced during COVID," Miller said.
"There was a lot more fallout than benefit from that."
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The college allows senior students, if approved, the opportunity to learn remotely on Mondays. Google Maps
He added: "But there were some ideas that came from that that informed us that we could have a little bit of mixed mode learning."
Miller said the traditional in-school 9am to 3pm model would not shift anytime soon.
"That's what people are used to or what they're comfortable with," he said.
"Learning is hugely relational, we learn together with peers and colleagues… we know the teacher makes the single biggest difference and they can probably make a bigger difference in person than they do online."
Chevalier College decided to make their trial phase of "flipped Mondays" permanent after having it in place from February to July.
The trial was conducted to research the benefits of remote and self-regulated learning led by Dr Phil Cummins.
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