Big Picture Learning - Clonard College Geelong

Posted on 18 February 2025
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Big Picture Learning is coming to Clonard College in 2026

In 2026 Clonard College will introduce two Big Picture Learning Advisories: one at Year 9 and one at Year 10.

Reimagining Learning – One student at a time in a community of learners

What is Big Picture Learning?

Big Picture’s philosophy is grounded in educating “one student at a time” in a community of learners. To this end, Big Picture promotes the creation of personalised educational programs that are uniquely tailored for each student. Underpinning Big Picture Education’s approach is the belief that each student has a unique set of interests, needs and capabilities around which personalised learning can take place.

How is it different from the usual experience of secondary school?

Big Picture Learning is an entirely different way of ‘doing’ school. Learning is not organised around subjects, timetables, multiple classrooms and teachers, or exams. Instead, students develop their own personalised learning plans in consultation with their family and their advisory teacher.

Instead, students:

Learn through Interests

Students pursue a range of different personal interest projects, and also participate in social action initiatives, field trips and internships. Their curriculum is a personal one that reflects and expands their interests and aspirations. They connect their learning to the 6 Big Picture Learning Goals which are designed to broadly cover the key areas of learning that a young person needs to be successful in life.

Learn in Advisory groups

Students learn in a small group of 17 students known as an ‘advisory’, with a single advisory teacher. This becomes their learning community, and a major contributor to their sense of wellbeing. Every student feels known, supported and respected for who they are.

Their advisory teacher guides and scaffolds their learning while helping them to identify opportunities for learning outside school. Advisory teachers also have their own specialty areas and are highly trained in the Big Picture Learning Design.

Learn through Internship

Students leave school one to two days a week to learn through an internship in the community with an expert mentor in an organisation, business, art, sport, industry or trade that interests them. This allows them to test out their interests in real-world settings, to interact with a variety of adults and to start to build their networks of useful contacts for life after school

Are Assessed by Exhibition

As every student is pursuing individual interests, there are no standardised exams. Instead, at the end of each term, students present what they have learned at an exhibition. They invite family, peers, mentors and teachers to attend. It’s often a joyous event (though daunting at first for students) as they get to share their strengths and achievements with a variety of people as they reflect upon how they have progressed against their personal learning plan.

What is a Big Picture learning plan?

The Big Picture Learning model promotes intellectual rigour as well as critical and creative thinking.

Big Picture Learning design is a dynamic approach to learning, doing and thinking. The program is based on three foundational principles:

first, that learning must be based on the interests and goals of each student;
secondly, a student’s learning experiences must be relevant to people and places that exist in the real world making connections to the communities in which they live;
finally, that a student’s abilities are demonstrated authentically by the quality of her or his work.

The Big Picture Learning program is founded on flexible and negotiated, highly individualised learning plans. Parental involvement is encouraged to support the learning and real-life immersion of students.

The Learning Plan (LP) covers the 5 learning goals and drives the student’s learning. The LP is developed by the student, Advisor and the family together. It is highly individualised to ensure each student is provided plenty of opportunities to grow and develop.

Students are supported to explore their interests, combine academic work with real-world internships, and plan their own pathway to future employment, study or enterprise.

Are you a Big Picture Learner?

Big Picture Learners

Identify, explore and pursue their interests and passions
Leave school for out-learning experiences
Explore the 6 learning goals with your Advisory teacher
Complete the learning in your personalised learning plan
Exhibit your learning publicly each term – no tests or exams
Build a portfolio of work that reflects what you have come to learn about your areas of interest
Attend Advisory each day being on time and ready to learn at your own pace – become a member of a supportive learning community
Take responsibility for your learning process – steer your own learning
Develop independence

Student Stories

What happens after Year 10?

International Big Picture Learning Credential – IBPLC

Big Picture students in Years 11 and 12 work towards the IBPLC. Check out this link for the IBPLC Explainer PDF

The International Big Picture Learning Credential is a new, personalised form of assessment. It evaluates and recognises the capacities, experiences and qualities of secondary school graduates from diverse cultures and backgrounds more comprehensively than exam-based certification systems.

As no two Big Picture students have the same interest-based learning pathway, a personalised approach to final-year assessment is required to provide a fair and balanced assessment that adequately portrays a student’s distinctive learning, achievement, competencies and potential.

Unlike other forms of assessment, no attempt is made to rank or scale students against each other. Their achievements are judged on demonstrations and observations of performance throughout their schooling against six specially constructed assessment frames in the areas of: Knowing how to learn, Empirical reasoning, Quantitative reasoning, Social reasoning, Communication and Personal qualities

The International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC) offers a rigorous non-ATAR pathway from secondary to tertiary study that is currently accepted by 17 universities around Australia, including La Trobe University, RMIT University, Swinburne University, Victoria University.

Graduates are studying: