Moving further into the 21st Century Age The start of any school year is busy for any educational organisation, and Future Problem Solving Australia is no exception! The early Easter date made deadlines a little more difficult for everyone involved, but as Term Two is about to commence in most mainland states, the FPS Program is in full swing. Practice Problem One in the Global Issues Problem Solving (GIPS) option -known previously as the ‘Booklet Program'- is about to be evaluated by Murray Gill, Simon Casinader and their team of national evaluators, and schools should be receiving those results in the next few weeks. The champion teams of 2009 are also in the process of preparing for the International Finals in mid-June, with the added excitement of homestay visits with American families prior to the event.
Long time coaches will know that, as an organisation, we have worked steadily towards making communication between us and schools as easy and efficient as possible. The launch of our new website was one stage in that process, and I encourage all coaches to check it on a regular basis. This newsletter is now delivered electronically, and can be subscribed to anyone with an email address. We are moving towards the creation of a coaches' forum on the website, and also intend, at some stage, to have more picture galleries of various FPS events online. Registration for all FPS coaching and student workshops nationally is now conducted online using the Cvent system, making the process far more efficient. This, of course, is in addition to the online administration system -FlexiComm- that has been in use for some years.
The same process of electronic administration is also being conducted as the international level. FPSP International is paying an IT firm based in India (an excellent example of how globalisation has affected our Program!) to develop an entire administration/submission/evaluation system for FPSP affiliates worldwide. A key issue in this process is the ability of individual affiliates to modify the parameters and content of the system modules to suit our own needs, including evaluation scoresheets. The first module, which is based around the GIPS option, should be available by 2011. FPSP International has also purchased the New Zealand online evaluator training system, which should also be available to us by the end of the year.
National Finals - present and future As has been announced previously, the 2010 National Finals will be held at the University of Melbourne between October 15th-17th. Unfortunately, a change of university policy has meant that the University will not sponsor the entire cost of the venues, as has been in the past, and this will mean that the per capita registration costs in 2010 have to cover this. Please be assured that we are doing all that is possible to reduce all other costs to make up for this unexpected development.
On a brighter note, I can announce that the venues for both 2011 and 2012 have recently been finalised, following negotiations with the principals of the schools involved. In 2011, the Finals will be held once again outside Victoria, and I am delighted to announce that we will be returning to AB Paterson College in Southport, Queensland, the venue of a most successful Finals in 2009, which also saw some key events being held at Sea World. We thank Mrs. Dawn Lang, Principal of AB Paterson College, for her continued support of the FPS Program in Australia.
Please note that the dates for 2011 only will be one week earlier due to clashes with Tournament of Minds; that is, Friday October 7th- Sunday October 9th 2011.
The next time that we are in Melbourne (2012), the National Finals will be hosted by Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School between October 19th and 21st 2012. We are most grateful for the support of Dr. Heather Schnagl, Principal of IGGS, in the establishment of this new partnership, and I would also like to acknowledge the work of Christine Burley, staff member at IGGS and a member of our National FPSP Australia Association as the FPS Vic State Convener, in initiating the concept in the first place.
Niranjan Casinader National Director
From the Evaluators' Department
With the first booklet problem of the year behind us, many teams are facing the prospect of dealing with the criteria sections of the booklet, Steps 4 and 5, if not for the first time, than the first time in a number of months. Therefore, it is a good as time as any to focus on the intricacies involved in these steps. A reminder of the basics in Steps 4 and 5 can be found at the end of this article.
From all accounts, it has been the usual very busy start to the year in our FPS schools, with hard-working teacher/coaches paddling hard to stay afloat and on top of everything!
Here in Tasmania our ‘regular' schools are currently working steadily through Problem Two. An information session held earlier in the year attracted significant interest from new primary schools, but unfortunately this did not, in the end, lead to new registrations. It seems that there are too many opportunities offered to bright students in grades 5 and 6, and that students are uncomfortable with the FPS emphasis on fluency and flexibility, being more familiar with a more closed approach. To me, this is a powerful reason for taking up FPS and I believe that teachers agree with me, so there is a real challenge in place for we in Tasmania to problem solve!
Call of Expressions of Interest: FPS NSW State Convenor
With Jan Hales' impending retirement from this position, I would like to ask all NSW coaches to consider joining the NSW Committee, and therefore the National Committee, in this role.
This is a time when the NSW Committee is undergoing generational renewal, and the National Executive is looking for FPS adults (coaches and evaluators) to be part of this process. It is hoped that a growth in the size of the NSW Committee will enable greater spreading of the State Committee's functions, so that, for instance, the roles of being the NSW National Representative, the holding of coach training sessions, and the organisation of network meetings can be evenly divided, thereby reducing the individual pressure on all concerned.
As the school year draws to a close, this is the last issue of Future Talk for 2009. Once again, this has been another eventful year in the history of the Program, but we are very grateful for the continued confidence and belief that Australian educators have placed in us. The first Finals held in Queensland - and the first to be held with dolphins upstaging everyone at the Awards Ceremony! - were a resounding success and showed the benefits of a slightly more relaxed approach to the event, something that we will look at more closely next year. A number of successes at the International Final, including a first place in the Senior Division of the Global Issues Problem Solving section for Queensland's St Joseph's College (Gregory Terrace), were also highlights of the year.
If you are one of our existing coaches, I would like to thank you and your school for your support of the Future Problem Solving Program in Australia, and look forward to your continued involvement.
If you are a teacher who is new to the Program, who is thinking of participating next year, or a former school FPS coach who is looking again at the Program, I would like to introduce you to the modern version of the Future Problem Solving (FPS) Program in Australia, in the hope that you will look positively at becoming part of the FPS Community in 2010. Whatever your school's situation, and whatever the degree of your experience in Future Problem Solving, I am sure that there is much that we could offer your students as part of your school's educational strategy.
Over recent years, and also in our plans for 2010, the National Committee has made the direction of the Program a major priority, with the aim of ensuring that we continue to provide schools with options that reflect the world of the 21st Century in which our current students will live and work. In 2009, we introduced the Scenario Performance option, for thinkers who excel in oral storytelling. This will continue next year, and it is our intention to run it as a full competition for the first time.
In 2010, we will also give schools the new option of registering for four future scenes for use throughout the year, rather than the usual three. School teams will be able to select which of the four problems they send in for their three annual evaluations, or pay a nominal amount for a fourth problem to be evaluated. One advantage of this is that it will enable teams that are not invited to the National Finals to continue learning the process right until the end of the school year, particularly at the younger grade levels. There will be other changes introduced over the next year or so, so look out for news in your email or on our online newsletter.
The next year will bring more challenges, including the already advertised need to raise registration fees in order to maintain the financial stability of the FPS Program in Australia. Be assured, however, that the National Committee has made the future direction of the Program a priority, and we are confident that this will enable us to bring you an FPS Program that is geared even more to the needs of those who are the future citizens of the 21st Century.
Finally, please note that the National Office will be closed from Monday December 7th until Tuesday January 20th. The email system will be then checked from mid-December until the end of the school year.
On behalf of all of those involved in Future Problem Solving Program Australia, may I wish you and all of your school communities all the best for a safe and happy festive season, and we look forward to working with you all again in 2010.
Future Talk
