General News
30 April, 2026
Terang College makes a regional impact
TERANG College principal Kath Tanner will be among the leaders uniting to shape the future of education this week at a forum packed with industry leaders.
Mrs Tanner will represent the Great South Coast Network (GSCN) as chair at a Treasury Place forum with Minister for Education Ben Carroll, in addition to chairs from school networks across Victoria and a wide range of stakeholders.
She said the forum will be an opportunity to learn more about reforms and practice to help enhance outcomes for students across the region.
“The department has been very keen to make networks the driver of improvement,” Mrs Tanner said.
“Rather than having a central team based in Melbourne disseminating information downwards, it’s instead coming straight down to networks.
“The networks contextualise it and deliver what best suits its schools.”
Mrs Tanner said the forum would provide an opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the direction of educations across the state, which compiles information to be shared with the GSCN schools and implemented with local knowledge.
“I love the day of networking and hearing from all the different networks in the state what is happening there,” she said.
“It’s always interesting to network with key stakeholders, where you can make connections.
“We also have a meeting once a term with all the network chairs in the south west region.
“As a south west region of schools, we hear about what initiatives the department are wanting to use to help improve student outcomes.”
Networks comprise principals from across the region, spanning all government schools across Corangamite, Moyne and Warrnambool, which collaborate to drive improvement, share good practice and resources, and collectively seek to enhance student learning and wellbeing.
“It’s a big geographical area,” Mrs Tanner said.
“As principals we commit to meeting twice a term with two full days designed around building connections with each other, to support each other in our work and also improve our professional learning about things.
“For example, at the moment there is a new Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM), so we can use the day to learn about new teaching and learning models.
“It’s also an opportunity to involve some of our corporate regional staff and keep building our knowledge of certain initiatives.”
Mrs Tanner admitted she’s “a bit of a nerd” for new initiatives and ways of heightening student outcomes.
“I think what I love about being a principal is having the influence to make a change that leads to improved outcomes,” she said.
“The same thing applies to that next level in the system, where you have an opportunity to make change that leads to improved outcomes at a systemic level.
“It’s pretty motivating, particularly with the introduction of the VTLM.”
Mrs Tanner said she was a firm believer in the positive impact networks could have on student outcomes due to the collective work of principals across schools.
“We’re doing some amazing things in our network with a huge amount of system power evolving because of the connection,” she said.
“Networks driving improvement is a more organic way of driving improvement.
“It is relatively new for education in Victoria to have networks driving change, where the power sits within the network.
“This is the power in government schools where we have so much expertise within our system, but we just need to share it.
“What I’m really passionate about is sharing because what we’re doing at Terang College is renowned, which is brilliant for our school, but we’re also committed to sharing that with others.”
Terang College has been an adaptor of explicit learning – an approach rooted in cognitive psychology which is designed to go beyond simple retention of information and ensure students have a deeper understanding of what they’re learning.
“Our teaching is based on understanding how the brain works,” Mrs Tanner said.
“For so long we’ve never taken what was in cognitive research and put it into education.
“We’ve just delivered things based on what we as teachers believed was good practice but we’re probably the ones that have always liked school and been good at it.”
The forum is the beginning of a busy period for school staff in sharing the work which has led to strong outcomes for students.
“We were successful in getting a spot to speak at the state principal conference,” Mrs Tanner said.
“We’ll be going down at the end of May to Melbourne to speak on our approach to delivering English.
“We also recently had the maths team presenting at Deakin University.
“I’m so proud of the work we’re doing and the expertise we’re building here.
“You can see it happening at all levels, which is really satisfying and really exciting.”
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