2022 sees the study in its fourth year with the students in Year 6. The Barker Institute annually publishes an article based on the findings of each year’s interviews and discussions in its journal Learning in Practice. This is made publicly available on the Barker Institute’s website.
Rationale
The project helps to identify what the next generation of students’ value and contributes to mapping what effective learning and teaching may look like in the future. While the generation that constitutes the current Barker Journey cohort are still revealing their own key attributes and characteristics, social research has identified five emergent traits: global, digital, mobile, social and visual. This information has implications for how education might develop to meet this generations’ needs authentically.
The Barker Journey project may explore questions such as:
- What will schools need to do to meet authentically the educational needs of this generation and the next?
- How does the current generation of student perceive learning and what does this current generation of student expect of their school experience?
- How does the Barker educational journey shape this generation?
Publication of the Barker Journey and further development of the project
The analysis and findings of each year’s study will continue to be published in the Barker Institute’s journal Learning in Practice and made available to the public via the Barker Institute’s website.
Both the concept and progress of the Barker Journey project has attracted international attention. Educational leaders from schools in Europe and Africa have taken interest in the project’s conclusions and the approach that underpins it.
This has opened up the exciting possibility of partnering with schools overseas in consultancy as they look to undertake a similar study within their own contexts.
The Barker Journey project may explore questions such as:
- Australian Journal of Education
- Australian Educational Researcher
- Oxford Review of Education
AI, Learning, and the Developing Mind Publications
Augment, Not Replace: Reframing AI’s Place in the Classroom
There is a growing sense that artificial intelligence is reshaping the conditions under which students learn. Yet, amid the excitement surrounding its capabilities, a more fundamental question remains: what is happening to students’ thinking in the process? A recent report by Lodge and Loble provides a timely opportunity to pause and consider this question more carefully, shifting attention away from the novelty of the technology and towards the cognitive work that sits at the heart of learning.
- Dr Timothy Scott
- 18 March 2026
Keen Kid or Cognitive Innovator?
Earlier this week, my Year 8 History class was practising paragraph writing in preparation for an upcoming assessment. As I moved about the room, a student asked me to review a response he’d written for homework. It was excellent, but it addressed a question I hadn't set or asked him to complete.
- Claire Butler
- 04 March 2026
Continuing the balancing act: AI and education in ongoing conversation
The importance of teachers and students engaging critically with AI is already well understood in schools. It is the starting point for any conversation about AI in education, even if only tacitly acknowledged. Our recent PD conference began from this shared understanding and then pressed us to go further: what does it look like to equip students to use AI as a tool for learning, while preserving independent thought and academic integrity?
- 30 September 2025
Balancing Innovation with Integrity: AI in education
Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from hype to reality in schools. No longer just a futuristic idea, AI is now reshaping how we teach and learn—from personalised learning pathways to automating routine tasks for teachers. But the key question is no longer whether AI has a place in education. The question is: how do we balance innovation with integrity?
- Dr Timothy Scott
- 22 September 2025
Avoiding and breaking free from tech-enabled addiction
Technology, particularly personal devices have created so many opportunities for connection, however they open the door to corporations and advertisers who are not acting in the interests of our children.
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 25 June 2025
When human outshines machine
In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, we are often dazzled by what machines can do. They can generate lesson plans in seconds, answer complex questions with fluency, and tailor learning pathways with breathtaking precision. But there are moments in every school day—quiet, unmeasurable, irreplaceable—when it becomes clear that education is still, at its core, a deeply human enterprise.
- Dr Timothy Scott
- 27 May 2025
AI in Education: Transformation or Transformation of Form?
Artificial intelligence is undeniably transforming how we teach and learn. Its capabilities—from personalised learning paths to automating administrative tasks—offer exciting opportunities for innovation. Alongside such transformations a question that has emerged in my mind has about the real extent to which we have been witnessing a fundamental shift in the way knowledge is created and understood. Or are we merely dressing up time-tested practices in new digital garb?
- Dr Timothy Scott
- 25 February 2025
AI in schools: Staff professional development Term 3
In a world where AI is here to stay, how can AI be used to enhance thinking and learning in an educational context?
- 13 August 2024