Empowering Girls, Advancing Education
Every educator at Ruyton is supported to take on the role of researcher; to reflect on and refine their own practice; to contribute to the advancement of girls’ education locally and globally.
Ruyton Research takes many different forms. Our Teacher Inquiry Group model engages educators in a year long, action research project linked to a theme linked to one of the School’s annual goals. This project is undertaken in collaboration with Dr Ron Ritchhart, Director of the Worldwide Cultures of Thinking Project and Former Senior Research Associate at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education to explore one of the eight cultural forces which impact learning and thinking.
In collaboration with researchers Dr Andrew Martin and Rebecca Collie from the University of NSW, we sought to develop a deeper understanding of the positive and negative dispositions impacting our students’ motivation and engagement, and how we can provide an optimal learning environment. Our research has led to the explicit teaching of the Academic Buoyancy Cycle as an effective strategy to support and empower girls in successfully managing academic adversity, and has been presented at local, interstate and global educational conferences.
Building on our culture of research, we recently participated in a pilot research collaboration between a small group of academic staff at Ruyton and Kambala School (NSW). Working with academics from the University of Sydney, staff developed shared action research projects exploring student leadership and agency.
We are additionally proud to have had four staff accepted as Fellows of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools ‘Global Action Research Collaborative’. The Collaborative is the world’s first action research program that engages girls’ school educators from around the world in informed, collaborative, and disciplined, action research. The program builds both a network of girls’ school educators from around the world and a library of valuable and relevant research on girls’ education.
Girl centred research is a key priority in Ruyton’s Strategic Plan 2023 and Beyond, playing a pivotal role in ensuring that we remain future focused in our commitment to educating students for the world we live in, both now and into the future.
