Evidence-based learning.
Close-to-practice research.
Using the rich intellectual resources of the Barker College to facilitate learning and growth through the School and wider community.
Monthly Update: Taking AI seriously by bringing theory and practice together
July has been a month of looking both inward and outward. At the Barker Institute we've continued asking practical questions about how schools should respond to artificial intelligence, while also exploring the bigger questions of what AI means for education.
- Barker Institute
- 27 July 2026
What are humans becoming with AI? Crowned Creatures or Sovereign Slaves?
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly woven into everyday life, we face an important question: not simply what can AI do, but what is AI doing to our understanding of what it means to be human?
- Rev Craig Tubman
- 27 July 2026
A School That Takes AI Seriously | Reflections on Barker's Second Annual AI Conference
Term 3 opened this week with the whole staff (teaching and non-teaching) gathered together, thinking carefully about one of the most important questions facing education today.
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 24 July 2026
What Story is AI Telling Us? Reading and Responding to the Gospel of Tech
A gospel tells a story. It explains what the world should be like, what has gone wrong, and how salvation can be achieved. Increasingly, the AI movement presents its own version of this narrative.
- Rev Craig Tubman
- 23 July 2026
The Confident Parent Course - Cohort 4
- Term 3 2026 - 3, 10, 17 and 24 August
- 7:00 - 8:30pm
- The Piazza, Kurrajong Building, Barker College Junior School
The flagship offering of the Parent Institute. A free, four-week course where parents grow, discuss and connect around parenthood.
Colin's Favourites! Parent Institute Event
- Thursday 6 August
- 5:30 - 6:30pm
- Leslie Hall
Colin is coming to Barker - and everyone is invited!
Public Launch: Young people, learning, and generative AI: A rapid literature review and implications for PreK–12 education
- Session 1: 11 August 2026 7:00 - 8:00 PM
- Session 2: 12 August 2026 12:30 - 1:30 PM
- Online Webinar
As part of a large reserch program on AI, Learning and the Developing Person, the Barker Institute has partnered with the University of Sydney to produce a rapid literature review. This review is a synthesis of emerging evidence on the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on young people in PreK-12 settings. Focusing on implications for learning, development, and educational practice, …
Flourishing in an AI-rich future with Futurist-in-Residence Anders Sörman-Nilsson
- 18 August 2026
- 6:30 - 7:45 pm
- Barker College
Increasingly students (and families) are uncertain about the world that young people today will be inhabiting and shaping. The Barker Institute and Barker Careers are proud to be partnering with Barker Futurist-in-Residence Anders Sörman-Nilsson to ensure students and families are prepared for whatever is to come.
Research Agenda 2026-2027
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.