Melbourne Convention Centre
Thursday 16 – Friday 17 March, 2017
www.pearsonacademy.com.au/mbecon
DAY 1
AT A GLANCE
Thursday 16 March, 2017
TIME
SPEAKER
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
9:00am - 9:30am
Mimma Mason, BEd MCogSc, SEL and
Cognition, Pearson
Welcome and
introduction
9:30am - 11:00am
Greg Whitby, Executive Director of
Schools Catholic Education Diocese of
Parramatta
How do you sing a
new song in a strange
land? A challenge for
schooling.
1. U
nderstand the new mindsets needed to
create innovative and collaborative learning
communities that respond to the signs of
the times
2. L earn about the new ‘teacher DNA’ required
for transforming schooling and how this
underpinned by what we know about how
people learn
3. L earn about schools that have transformed
their approach to learning and teaching
11:00am - 11:30am
Morning Tea
11:30am - 1:00pm
Dr Stuart Shanker, a distinguished
research professor of Philosophy and
Psychology at York University, the CEO
of the MEHRIT Centre, and acclaimed
author.
Calm, Alert and
Learning Classroom
Strategies for
Self-Regulation
1. Come to understand the meaning of
“self-regulation”.
2. Develop an understanding of the
difference between “misbehaviour” and
“stress-behaviour.
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Lunch
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Professor Lea Waters, Psychologist,
researcher, speaker and author who
specialises in positive education. Listed
as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women
of Influence in 2015 and featured in
the ABC TV documentary Revolution
School.
Positive Education:
Science and Practice
1.Have a broad overview of the field
of positive education.
2.Understand the link between wellbeing
and learning.
3:30pm - 4:00pm
Afternoon Tea
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Kate Pascale, Occupational Therapist,
trainer, consultant, and author.
How do our sensory
preferences affect
classroom learning
opportunities?
1.Gain an understanding of the way that sensory
preferences impact on the way we learn, play
and interact.
2.Identify a range of strategies to support students
with a range of sensory preferences to learn
effectively in the classroom.
3.Be provided with a range of resources to
support ongoing learning.
#MBECon
Mind Brain Education Conference 2017
DAY 2
AT A GLANCE
Friday 17 March, 2017
TIME
SPEAKER
9:00am - 10:30am
Professor Selena Bartlett, an award
winning neuroscientist and Group
Leader in Neuroscience and Brain
Fitness.
10:30am - 11:00am
Morning Tea
11.00am - 12.00pm
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Neuroplasticity and
the Growth Mindset
1.Get to know the brain behind the growth
mindset.
2.How to help students develop a growth
mindset.
Professor Pamela Snow, professor and
Head of the Rural Health School at the
Bendigo campus of La Trobe University.
Language and literacy
in the early years:
Inseparable best friends
1.Gain a framework for thinking about oral
language – what it is and what its subcomponents are, receptively and expressively.
2.Develop a deeper understanding around the
transition to literacy – who succeeds and why?
3.Explore common myths and fallacies in
classroom literacy education.
4.Identify co-occurring language and behaviour
problems as red flags for further investigation.
5.Applying best evidence in early literacy
instruction.
12:00pm 1:00pm
Dr Michael von Aster, head of two
clinical Departments for Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry at the German
Red Cross Hospitals Berlin and the
Ernst-von-Bergmann Hospital Potsdam.
Maths Anxiety and
Developmental
Dyscalculia:
What counts?
1.Gain insights into the developmental dynamics
of math learning difficulties as well as related
educational special needs and specific
interventions.
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Lunch
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Learn from five different schools to hear
about their success in implementing
Mind Brain Education ideas.
School showcase
1.Participants will have the opportunity to meet
their peers, share and collect ideas to try in
the classroom.
2.Participants will also get an opportunity to
identify and evaluate a variety of research
methods.
3:30pm - 4:00pm
Afternoon Tea
4:00pm - 4:30pm
Greg Whitby, Executive Director of
Schools Catholic Education Diocese of
Parramatta
Leading a collaborative
and innovative learning
community – where to
next?
1. Recap on key learnings from the past two days
2. L earn about the collective responsibility to lead
and drive change from within and a delivery
framework to support this
4:30pm - 4:45pm
CLOSE
#MBECon
DAY 1
SESSIONS
Thursday 16 March, 2017
DAY 1
How do you sing a new song in
a strange land? A challenge for
schooling.
From improvement to transformation,
this session will challenge the way we
imagine schooling for a knowledge age.
Greg Whitby
Overview
Can you imagine a world where the
students are in control of their learning
and teachers are in control of how and
where they do their work?
Learning objectives:
1.Understand the new mindsets needed
to create innovative and collaborative
learning communities that respond to
the signs of the times
2.Learn about the new ‘teacher DNA’
required for transforming schooling and
how this underpinned by what we know
about how people learn
3.Learn about schools that have
transformed their approach to learning
and teaching
Calm, Alert and Learning –
Classroom Strategies for
self-regulation
Dr Stuart Shanker
Overview
In this session you will discover classroom
strategies for self-regulation. Topics
covered will include:
• fostering development of self-regulation
• the domains of self-regulation
• supporting/interacting with children
who have more difficulty regulating
• supporting children dealing with anxiety
• developing the social and emotional
regulation skills integral to learning.
Learning objectives:
1.Come to understand the meaning of
“self-regulation”.
2.Explore the difference between
“misbehaviour” and “stress-behaviour.
Positive Education:
Science and Practice
Professor Lea Waters
Overview
This presentation will provide an
introduction to the science of positive
psychology/positive education. What’s
making the biggest impact on learning?
How do you measure it? Where do
you start?​
Learning objectives:
1.Have a broad overview of the field of
positive education.
2.Understand the link between wellbeing
and learning.
How do our sensory preferences
affect classroom learning
opportunities
Kate Pascale
Overview
Discover how sensory preferences
impact on learning and how they can
create successful learning environments
for students.
Gain an overview of how everyone’s
sensory systems impact on their ability to
pay attention, focus and learn effectively.
Learn a range of practical strategies and
tools to put that knowledge into practice
including:
• Setting up a successful learning
environment
• Designing multisensory activities that
support everybody’s learning style
• Using your senses to organise your body
and brain for learning
• Practical tools and strategies that can be
used in one-on-one and group learning
environments.
Learning objectives:
1.Gain an understanding of the way that
sensory preferences impact on the way
we learn, play and interact.
2.Identify strategies to support students
with a range of sensory preferences to
learn effectively in the classroom.
DAY 2
Neuroplasticity and the
Growth Mindset
Professor Selena Bartlett
Overview
How can we use what we know about
the biology of learning to improve social
and emotional learning and educational
engagement across the lifespan?
This interactive workshop is designed to
deepen our understanding of the brain,
and in particular, how it is affected by
stress. Understanding how to train your
brain to manage stress is one of the keys
to improving social and emotional learning
skills. We often hear that having a growth
mindset and SEL skills are essential for the
21st century, but how do you implement
these ideas in our daily lives, schools and
communities? Humans have the capacity
to change our thinking and behaviour
using the principles of neuroplasticity. The
course will focus on five principles that will
help you handle stress, improve learning
and develop a growth mindset.​
Learning objectives:
1.Get to know the brain behind the
growth mindset.
2.How to help students develop a
growth mindset.
#MBECon
Mind Brain Education Conference 2017
DAY 2
SESSIONS
Friday 17 March, 2017
Language and literacy in the
early years: Inseparable best
friends row
Professor Pamela Snow
Overview
Humans are uniquely equipped to
communicate via the spoken word. From
early infancy, we produce sounds that
connect us to those around us, and we
rapidly acquire the ability to understand
the language that others direct to us. By
the time children reach school, they have
typically acquired remarkable skills in
verbal expression and comprehension,
allowing them to form friendships, share
experiences, and develop an emerging
understanding of the complex world in
which they live. These early language skills
are important in their own right, and also
form the basis of the transition to literacy
in the first three years of school.
Reading and writing however, are learned
skills and those children who enter school
with well-developed oral language skills
are generally well-positioned to “cross
the bridge” to literacy. What is involved in
acquiring literacy? Why do some students
struggle with this transition? How does the
way we use language affect learning and
behaviour?
Learning objectives:
1.Gain a framework for thinking about
oral language – what it is and what its
subcomponents are, receptively and
expressively.
2.Develop a deeper understanding around
the transition to literacy – who succeeds
and why?
3.Explore common myths and fallacies in
classroom literacy education.
4.Identify co-occurring language and
behaviour problems as red flags for
further investigation.
5.Applying best evidence in early literacy
instruction.
Maths Anxiety and
developmental Dyscalculia:
What counts?
Leading a collaborative and
innovative learning community –
where to next?
Introduction to aetiology, cognitive
neuroscience, assessment and treatment
of Developmental Dyscalculia.
Greg Whitby
Dr Michael von Aster
Overview
Maths skills play a key role not only in
academic success but in everyday life,
occupation and emotional wellbeing.
Number processing and calculation
abilities are a specific but complex
cognitive domain that relies on different
number representations (i.e. words,
symbols, spatial representations) that are
located in a widespread neural network
across several brain regions. Learning
maths concepts and building up these
correlating neural modules begins early
in childhood and is linked to the
development of senso-motor and
visual-spatial abilities, language, attention
and working memory. Developmental
differencesat at each stage can lead to
different kinds of specific learning
disorders.
This session will examine developmental
dyscalsulia and the evidence that
biographical learning experiences with
increasing math anxiety and avoidance
play a major role in contributing to the
maturational delay of math neural
networks. Dr von Aster will share the
current neuro-cognitive theory and
evidence that heped his team to develop
a training system to help overcome
maths anxiety.
Learning objectives:
1.Gain insights into the developmental
dynamics of math learning difficulties as
well as related educational special needs
and specific interventions.
Overview
How do we keep learning once the
conference concludes? How do we
implement what we’ve learnt? This session
will provide a summary of what we’ve
learnt over the past two conference days
and focus on the ‘how’ of implementing
these learnings in our schools and system.
It will explore an example delivery
framework that is can be used to
implement what we’ve learnt and
transform schooling.
Learning objectives:
1.Recap on key learnings from the past
two days
2.Learn about the collective responsibility
to lead and drive change from within and
a delivery framework to support this.
#MBECon
SPEAKERS
Dr. Stuart Shanker
Dr. Stuart Shanker is a Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at
York University, the CEO of the MEHRIT Centre, Ltd founded in 2012. and author.
Over the past decade, he is best known as one of the world’s leading authorities on self-regulation
and the impact of excessive stress on child development and behaviour. Dr. Shanker’s five-step
Self-Reg model - The Shanker Method - is a powerful process for understanding and managing
stress in children, youth and adults.
Stuart commits considerable time to bringing the research and science of Self-Reg to parents,
educators and communities.
Professor Lea Waters
Professor Lea Waters (PhD) featured in the ABC TV documentary Revolution School and is
a psychologist, researcher, speaker and author who specialises in, positive education, positive
parenting, and positive organisations.
She was listed as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Financial Review and
Westpac Bank in 2015. Professor Waters has been a researcher at the University of Melbourne
for 20 years and is the first Australian to be appointed as a Professor in Positive Psychology. She
currently holds the Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne and
was the founding Director of the Centre for Positive Psychology, University of Melbourne, from
2009 to 2016.
Professor Waters is the president elect of the International Positive Psychology Association, has
affiliate positions with Cambridge University and University of Michigan and has been listed in the
Marques ‘Who’s Who in the World’ since 2009. She has published over 90 scientific articles and
book chapters.
Professor Selena Bartlett
Professor Selena Bartlett, an award winning neuroscientist, is a Group Leader in Neuroscience
and Brain Fitness at the Translational Research Institute at the Institute of Health and Biomedical
Innovation and a Research Capacity Building Professor in the School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty
of Health, QUT.
She is a trained Pharmacist and completed her Ph.D. in neuropharmacology in 1995 and then
completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Neuroscience at the John Curtin School of Medical
Research, Canberra, Australia in 1998.
From 2004 to July 2012, Selena was the Director of the Preclinical Development Group at the
Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Centre, one of the world’s top alcohol and addiction research
centres, at the University of California in San Francisco. Dr Bartlett focused on the translation of
basic research discoveries into druggable targets and new treatments for neurological diseases such
as addiction, pain, stress, anxiety and depression.
In 2014 Selena launched a Brain Vitality mobile app and presented a TEDx talk about brain fitness
and the neuroplasticity revolution. The brain fitness programs are designed to enable companies to
improve innovation, decision-making and performance; aid children to improve learning outcomes;
assist women and men improve brain health and for retirees to have more vital lives. Selena
recognised this work has the potential to be transformative and ultimately disrupt the cycle of
trauma, poverty and incarceration.
Kate Pascale
Kate Pascale is an Occupational Therapist, trainer, consultant, and author.
Kate is passionate about understanding people and working with individuals to achieve their
potential. Kate soon found that understanding sensory processing theory enabled her to better
understand the way that each of us sees and experiences the world and that this had the potential
to transform her practice and deliver more individualised and effective services.
Fundamental to Kate’s practice is a commitment to an inclusive, strengths based approach. Working
with children, families and staff to identify and build on every individual’s talents and capabilities in
order to achieve their goals.
Kate is the Director of Kate Pascale and Associates – a consultancy firm that specialises in
supporting health and community services develop and embed client centred models of care.
She has led a broad range of projects across a number of service types, building the systems, tools
and skills to embed effective person centred care at an agency, partnership and sector level. Kate
is also actively involved in the ongoing development and review of policy and practice standards.
She remains in high demand as a professional speaker sharing her knowledge through workshops,
training and consultations.
Professor Pamela Snow
Professor Pamela Snow is a Professor and Head of the Rural Health School at the Bendigo
campus of La Trobe University.
Her research has been funded by nationally competitive schemes such as the ARC Discovery
Program, ARC Linkage Program, and the Criminology Research Council, and spans various aspects
of risk in childhood and adolescence:
• the oral language skills of high-risk young people (youth offenders and those in the state care
system), and the role of oral language competence as an academic and mental health protective
factor in childhood and adolescence;
• applying evidence in the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school;
• linguistic aspects of investigative interviewing with children/adolescents as witnesses,
suspects, victims in criminal investigations.
She is a Fellow of the Speech Pathology Association of Australia and is a past Victorian State Chair
of the Australian Psychological Society. She has over 120 publications, comprising refereed papers,
book chapters, monographs and research reports.
Professor Michael von Aster
Professor Michael von Aster is the head of two clinical Departments for Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry at the German Red Cross Hospitals Berlin and the Ernst-von-Bergmann
Hospital Potsdam.
He has degrees in Educational Sciences and Medicine, training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
and Psychotherapy. He is also the Associated Professor for Clinical Psychology at the University of
Potsdam and for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning Disorders at the Children’s
University Hospital Zürich.
In 1996 he was a co-founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Bilingual Lakeside Schools
Zürich. In 2008 he founded and was Co-Director of the Center for Educational and Psychological
Rehabilitation (ZSPR) Berlin. And in 2012 he Co-Founded and Co-Edited the German Jounal
Learning and Learning Disorders.
Greg Whitby
Greg Whitby is the Executive Director of Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta. He has
been involved in education in both government and non government sectors for over 40 years as
a teacher and school leader as well as lecturing for 10 years in the faculty of business at the
University of Western Sydney. Greg has led large systems of schools for over 17 years. He is
recognised internationally as a thought leader, educational commentator and author.
Greg has been recognised for his work in Catholic schooling and contemporary education and in
2013 was awarded a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St Gregory the Great. He is an Apple
distinguished educator and a fellow of both the Australian College of Educators (ACE) and the
Australian Council of Educational Leaders (ACEL). He received a presidential citation from ACEL
and in 2006 was named Bulletin’s Most Innovative Educator of the Year. Greg is a passionate and
relentless leader who drives innovation and change in education.
Melbourne Convention Centre
Thursday 16 – Friday 17 March, 2017
FEATURING
Dr. Stuart
Shanker
Kate
Pascale
Professor
Lea Waters
Professor
Pamela Snow
Professor
Selena Bartlett
Greg
Whitby
Professor
Michael von Aster
www.pearsonacademy.com.au/mbecon
www.pearson.com.au/pl
16PA09
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