Using the rich intellectual resources of the Barker College to facilitate learning and growth through the School and wider community.

Around about this time each year, I write a post commenting on the last “big push” to finish editing the Barker Institute journal, Learning in Practice. In the past, I've tended to focus on a specific article that will feature, or a common thread that might have emerged in the collection of articles, or a key finding from the Barker Journey project. However, with this post I focus on just how collaborative school-based educational research work really is. As we move into the final week of preparing the journal for publishing, I am reminded again of this. From the outside, there are certainly elements of editing Learning in Practice that can appear to be solitary tasks: long hours with track changes, cross-checking references, smoothing phrasing, and coaxing coherence out of promising drafts. Just you, a manuscript, and a mug of cooling coffee.

Scripture reminds us that “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). This moment invites families to reflect not merely on restricting technology, but on forming hearts that are discerning and resilient, compassionate and wise.

Each year, The Barker Journey provides a unique window into the experiences of our students as they move through school, capturing their voices and insights at each stage. Since beginning in 2019, the project has followed the same group of students from Year 3 into early adolescence, building a remarkable picture of what it means to grow up and learn in today’s world.

Character Education empowers students to pair talent with integrity, resilience, and purpose. Through programs like Barker’s Character & Enterprise program, we equip learners not just to achieve, but to lead with empathy and confidence—an ace up their sleeve for life.
Our annually published document identifies high-level priority domains bringing together our rich intellectual resources to facilitate learning and growth throughout the school, and the local and global community.