Brad highlighted important areas such as ‘Thinking about Thinking’ and managing time, combined with the development of clearly set goals that connect to successful learning and are driven by the process, not just the product. Underlying success in all that we do is the ability to grow our mindset, rather than allowing our capacity to be fixed. This is key if we aspire to achieve beyond our current level of operation and grow capacity. Key examples were referenced from Professor Carol Dweck and her book “Mindset: The new psychology of success”. Throughout this presentation, Dr Merrick referenced a number of leading educators and psychologists such as Dr John Hattie, Albert Bandura, Daniel Goleman, Daniel Pink and John Dewey.

Dr Brad Merrick

Brad Merrick is the immediate past Director of the Barker Institute & Director of Research in Learning at Barker. He has a keen interest in emerging technologies, professional learning and creative pedagogy. His doctorate investigated the relationship between student self-efficacy and self-regulation in creative learning environments. His professional experience in education has also involved casual academic roles at the University of Sydney, University of NSW, UWS and the UQ. He has held the post of President of the Australian Society of Music Education and also sits on the Committee of the International Commission for Music in School Teacher Education. He is now a Senior Lecturer (Music and the Arts Education) at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne.