Why “The Understanding Collective”?
One of the hardest parts of creating a new business was the title, “What’s it called?”
I went through so. many variations before I happened to come to the one. And it came from simply saying “I want to make sure. that there is a collective understanding among parents and schools” BAM…….
Whittling that idea down from 20+ years in education to a defined business focus was difficult. Simply because there’s so much to understand when it comes to educating kids. From a naive 27yo to a hardened and somewhat tired 47yo, I learned so many things in a wide range of contexts that I felt had to be made common knowledge.
what is the poverty cycle and how does it affect education?
what does family separation do to a kids education?
what is the process to get my kid diagnosed? and then what?
what do catholic schools do differently to department schools?
and on on and on and on
I could write for days about the instances that have changed my mind about kids and education; about the moments that will either comfort or haunt me for the rest of my career; or about the people who have inspired me to do better through their own brilliance and those who proved to me that there is always more to do.
These are the schools I’ve taught at
St Monica’s in Oakey QLD
Sacred Heart in Palmerston NT
Tennant Creek High NT
Our lady star of the sea Esperance WA
Wilson Park, Collie WA
Laverton WA
Jameson Campus Ngaanyatjarra Lands School WA
Glen Huon PS Eaton WA
and a few relief spots in between
and the common thread in every of them is a lack of consistent communication to and from the schools. Principals and teachers giving different messages to families; specialists and families giving different messages to schools; separated parents giving differing messages to the school; and all manner of similar communication breakdowns.
I fully believe that all issues in the world, be it a disagreement over which movie to watch or the imminent WW3, can be resolved with effective, honest and respectful communication. We all have the ability to be compassionate, therefore we can all learn to compromise and consider different perspectives. And sometimes that’s all it takes to have a collective understanding.
be nice to your mum
Mick