Academic Culture

Academic culture at Macarthur is far more than the processes of learning and teaching. Our aim is to develop within the students curiosity, imagination, innovation and a willingness to take risks in a safe and secure environment. Learning from both success and failure is encouraged and creative and critical thinking is promoted.

Importantly at Macarthur, academic success is not measured by how well a student recalls content (what has become known as summative assessment). There is a strong focus on assessment being used as a tool for learning (assessment for learning) as well as a seeing assessment as integral to the process of learning (assessment as learning). Further to this it is recognised that much informal learning of ‘soft skills’ takes place outside the classroom. According to educational research ‘soft skills’ include such things as leadership, humility, collaboration, adaptability, loving to learn and importantly re-learn. It is within this context that Macarthur encourages all students to engage with co-curricular activities. Just as learning a wide range of subjects within the classroom environment expands the development of brain pathways, so too does a breadth of experiences outside the classroom. With more complex brain pathways comes greater mind agility, collaboration skills, creativity is enhanced and critical thinking optimised.

The academic culture of the School is significantly the co-responsibility of the Dean of Studies, Mrs Kylie Elling and the Dean of Students, Mr Timothy Cartwright.

Further information about the Academic Culture at Macarthur is available below: