Empty Seats – a toolkit for strategic resilience planning
REVISED VERSION AVAILABLE – after several requests from and conversations with educators following the release of the original paper in January 2023, I have revised the document to include the topic of extreme weather events and natural disasters as another area to be considered as we plan strategically to make our schools more resilient in the face of disruption.
What if the disruption we experienced in 2022 continues into 2023? What if there are more of those empty seats? Will we cope?
This paper identifies six key areas of strategic focus for schools striving for resilience in their day to day operation. These ‘signals’ provide an opportunity to consider the scenarios that may play out if one or more of them were to eventuate.
A basic risk assessment framework is used to assist educators to consider the challenges they may face in 2023, and provides some practical steps to plan for how these might be addressed. Whether it is none, one or even all of these things that eventuate, it is our responsibility as educational leaders is to ensure our learners can continue with their learning with the least amount of disruption or disadvantage – not just for our students, but for our teachers as well.
This paper provides a toolbox approach with practical activities designed to guide whole staff and/or community gatherings through the process of determining the appropriate steps to take in your context.
The video below provides a brief introduction and a download link for the full document follows that.
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