PRESS RELEASE: Faith Lutheran College Redlands MyPath Program Redefines Secondary Education

On Friday the 12th of August, the Australian Education Awards 2022 were held at Doltone House in Sydney. Schools from all across Australia entered and Faith Lutheran College Redlands was nominated for awards in Innovation in Curriculum Design, and Innovation in Learning Environment Design. The College took home the award and is now recognized as the top school in Australia in Innovation in Curriculum Design for their revolutionary MyPath@Faith Program. Principal Shane Altmann describes the award as a ‘watershed moment’, not only for the College, but for Education in general and the way schools may look at Curriculum Design in the future. Mr. Altmann describes their new program as ‘the change that Secondary Schooling has needed’, and states that they believe they have ‘cracked into how to deconstruct and rebuild the Australian Curriculum in a way that is better for kids and centralises students in the learning process’.
When asked about how the MyPath@Faith Program was conceptualisedmbn, Mr. Altmann recounted his entry to the College in 2017, in what he described as an environment that was ‘stiff, tired and in sore need of revamping’. Together with the Head and Deputy Heads of Secondary and the Secondary Teachers at the College, they spent the better part of 4 years pulling apart the Australian Curriculum with a fine-toothed comb and then reconstructed it with a program of 72 individual units that combine multiple elements of the curriculum, are transdisciplinary and structured into 3 Levels of difficulty. The program is designed for Years 8-10, and students select 5 courses per semester, completing 30 units throughout the 3-year program. The units are highly specialised compared to traditional schooling subjects, and apart from select compulsory units, students are allowed to move freely within the 3 Levels based on their aptitude, interests and comfort.
The units are also project based, and students are assessed on their learning throughout the entire unit rather than fixed assessment tasks, offering students the chance to really embed their focus in the learning rather than stressing over rigid and unforgiving assignments and tests. 2022 is the first year the College has launched the MyPath@Faith program and already they are seeing increased levels of engagement and participation, and Teachers are reporting positive outcomes from their classrooms. Mr. Altmann says he is extremely proud of what they have achieved, and he believes that if more schools were to adopt a similar approach, they could change the face of Secondary Education and move into an era where students are excited to come every day into an environment where they are central to and in control of their own schooling experience.