---
title: "Education that counts"
site: "Scotch Global Thrive"
url: "https://global.scotch.wa.edu.au/thrive/news/education-counts"
description: "As a parent, choosing the right school to educate your child is perhaps one of the most considered decisions you will ever make. Knowing that your child is a unique individual who needs to be challenged, nurtured, extended and, perhaps in a different way to the next child, makes selecting a single institution a near-impossible task."
published: "2023-07-04"
updated: "2023-10-06"
---

# Education that counts

As a parent, choosing the right school to educate your child is perhaps one of the most considered decisions you will ever make. Knowing that your child is a unique individual who needs to be challenged, nurtured, extended and, perhaps in a different way to the next child, makes selecting a single institution a near-impossible task.
Path: News › Education that counts

## Education that counts

What makes a child's experience at school
As a parent, choosing the right school to educate your child is perhaps one of the most considered decisions you will ever make. Knowing that your child is a unique individual who needs to be challenged, nurtured, extended and, perhaps in a different way to the next child, makes selecting a single institution a near-impossible task. To add to that complexity, if you are also considering forward-thinking opinions, insisting the current model of education isn’t building our children’s ability to make it in this changing world, you would not be alone in feeling a little concerned.
Often a school will be measured by its performance *when it really counts*. And, if you believe the loudest voices, it counts when NAPLAN scores are high, the median ATAR places you up the league tables and the number of subject awards is at an all-time high. But, I think we all know that providing a true, holistic education is much more complex than that. These indicators are limited. The correlation between rankings and success beyond the classroom is weak at best, and what’s more, they are only relevant in an Australian context. I believe that if this is the way we measure the quality of our learning we will be falling short of what education can and should be in this modern era.
Education is the engagement in the classroom, it is the connection with the teacher, it is the deep level of understanding that is developed when young minds are allowed to inquire. But more than this, true education is concerned with the learner. It is designed to draw out their social capabilities, to teach them the magic of concepts that academics have worked hard to uncover, and at the same time create a space where they feel this discovery was all their own.
A child can only reach their potential when they feel safe, nurtured and supported and a progressive education respects this. A child needs to know that their community cares more about them than their performance. This doesn’t mean that schools must discard high expectations, these are important too, but a child’s wellbeing is paramount. Without a sense of self and a place to belong, a child’s ability to focus and engage disappears. Setting goals and providing feedback gives students the opportunity to own their learning and places their growth at the core. In turn, this introspective journey will help them discover their worth and how they can offer so much to others as part of a global community.

If we can let this idea of education guide opportunities to discover strengths in co-curricular areas, like academics, sports, or the arts, we will find an education system that *really counts* all the time. It’s not easy to explain to another parent the value you see in the education you have chosen for your child because it offers something different for everyone. I would argue, this *is* the value.

**Cara Fugill**

**Head of Scotch Global**

## Topics

- Thrive
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