Last year, College staff undertook externships: immersive learning designed to enhance their teaching practice at Scots. Business Studies Teacher and Master-In-Charge – Debating, Mr James Cooper, documented his experiences at the following companies:
- the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- BresicWhitney
- The Australian Army
- Tom’s Hair Salon
- Shine Lawyers
- Do Film! Lab
- The University of Sydney
Here are some excerpts from his reflections. His observations highlight how teachers can learn from other professions, to encourage a vibrant learning atmosphere for students.
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My first stop was a visit to the offices of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), where my wife, Ms Rebecca Adams, works as a Senior Data Analyst. In her time at the AIHW, she has been lead author and an editor of reports relating to Injuries in Australia, Injuries in Children, and Head Injuries.
Ms Adams explained that the AIHW’s audience includes students, journalists, politicians and other government organisations. As such, they wrestle with content that cannot really be made much simpler and have developed a multitude of ways to make it more readable, including dot points, headings/subheadings and different types of content, e.g. infographics. This was incredibly interesting to consider when designing learning materials for accessibility in the classroom.
Contemplating mathematical and numerical concepts well above my capabilities was hungry work, so my next stop was breakfast with a good friend of mine, Mr Arden Savio from BresicWhitney real estate. Mr Savio spoke to me about the role of trust in helping others – while still growing one’s customer base. The key to successful sales, Arden feels, is building genuine trust. Trust leads to happy customers and long-term relationships. He reminded me, several times, that today’s buyers are tomorrow’s sellers. For him, valuing trust so highly has emphasised the role of strong ethical performance in all settings, even competitive and often ethically challenging situations like real estate sales. To my classroom, I bring back the story of a successful salesperson with a focus on trust, ethics and relationship building.
I then sat down with an Australian Army Multimedia Technician (MMT), Sergeant Cam Sykes and an Army Education Officer, Major Shaun Moroney, to learn more about professional development in the Australian Defence Force. Sergeant Sykes expressed a clear passion for keeping learning materials engaging and considering the end-student experience right from the genesis of a [multimedia] production. Will the materials be shown to a crowd? Or will they be accessed by students at their own pace, alone? This, he felt, was key to a successful education product. For Major Moroney, education is, ultimately, about empowering individuals to achieve and make decisions, with an understanding of the context in which one operates. The more leadership understands staff and the better educated staff are, the more empowered they will feel, and the better the outcomes will be, organisation-wide.
Now, my Business Studies students will tell you, Mr Tomoyuki Yamazaki, owner of Tom’s Hair Salon in Potts Point, has become my favourite example of a sole trader and micro business, making the perfect case study. Mr Yamazaki feels that one of the biggest challenges he faces in business is also one of his greatest strengths – his lack of staff. He concedes that some aspects of his business would be easier if he had employees, but for the most part, he prefers keeping his costs (and therefore, prices) low and not having to manage any difficult personalities. As a regular customer, I certainly appreciate the way Mr Yamazaki keeps his prices low and his service quality high!
After a haircut with Mr Yamazaki, I headed to Shine Lawyers to meet Mr Paul Tatarov. Mr Tatarov is a solicitor who deals with criminal defence matters – a complex and often emotionally draining role that may see him supporting vulnerable members of society. Being a Business Studies teacher, my conversation with Mr Tatarov was largely centred around the various legal structures of businesses and their advantages and disadvantages, administrative law and the way the firm operates (as a public company), compared to many firms that operate under the partnership legal structure.
To journal my day, I photographed it on my trusty Nikon F90x. This camera, being a little older than I am, shoots film, so while having my photos developed, I spoke with DoFilm! Lab’s managing director. As it turned out, he is not only an artist but an entrepreneur who has been involved in a number of successful startups. My key takeaway from an interesting (and initially unplanned) conversation was the joy and fulfilment that can come from making a passion into a thriving business. This is a lesson I was thrilled to take back to my Business Studies classes.
I finished my day with dinner with Student Teacher, Mr Matt Robinson – who had recently concluded his practicum at Scots. He enjoyed his time in the classroom and noted that it was interesting to see the different challenges that Scots boys have compared to boys at his previous school.
I am grateful to the people who talked me through what they do and to the College for allowing me to undertake professional development in such a unique and interesting way. I look forward to applying this experience to my classroom teaching.
