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College hosts 13^th Annual VCE Transnational Conference in Chengdu, China 

At Thomas Carr College we think it takes a global village to educate a child! And that is why, for the 13th time, we were pleased to bring together educators from Australia and China with one purpose; to create opportunities for global engagement among educators for the mutual benefit of our students. 

Reflected in this year’s conference them, “New Features, New Paradigms, New Paths”, our conference explored the similarities and differences in China and Australia high school curriculum and assessment and the transformations underway toward Education 4.0.  

Integrating the whole VCE transnational education ecosystem, we are grateful to so many for their involvement including our offshore partner schools, Australian mentor teachers, policy makers, Victorian Government, Australian Embassy and China MOE representatives, the VCAA, Australian University sector and VCE alumni. 

Congratulations to Chong Zhou, Natalie Matiszak and Catherine Bellair for the wonderful workshop sessions they delivered at the Conference and to Damian Bernardo for his involvement throughout the three-day conference. 

The VCE Transnational Conference is an annual event that brings together approximately 200 educators from Australia and China over a week in the July term holiday. It first commenced in 2012 and since been held in Wenzhou, Lianyungang, Suzhou, Harbin, Tianjin, Nanjing, Xian, Haikou, Shanghai, online, Jining and now Chengdu.  

Throughout the Conference both formally and informally, teachers within the VCE transnational network learn from each other and in so doing improve the quality of learning experiences we are able to provide our students, regardless of their location. 

The conference is co-hosted by Thomas Carr College, Aide Education, Firbank Grammar and Caroline Chisholm Catholic College. 

Thomas Carr College VCE students from China attend classes in Melbourne  

As the VCE Transnational conference closed, the College welcomed our VCE students from China to the College to attend classes with their Thomas Carr College hosts.  

Students from across the college were involved in different aspects of the visits including the Student Voice Global Ambassador group undertaking cultural immersion activities in the city, Year 11 students hosting visitors in their VCE classes and Chinese language students attending classes together. 

As hosts, the visits provided our students the opportunity to develop new intercultural perspectives, insights and skills essential to seeing and grasping opportunities within an increasingly mobile and interconnected world. 

The aim of these visit is to help students to – 

• Understand the interdependence of the global community 
• Build emotional intelligence 
• Learn to suspend judgment and be flexible in new and different cultural contexts
• Apply effective strategies to deal with ambiguous situations
• Communicate and collaborate more effectively and appropriately with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and identities

Well done to all our students who hosted our visitors and were wonderful ambassadors! 

Tom Bridges
Assistant Principal – International and Community Partnerships