(Lecturer, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music)
I recently had the pleasure of working with John Hendry in a professional development day for tertiary and secondary teachers. In the lead-up to this event, John and I met up several times to discuss how we would structure the sessions and to share the nature of the content we would be conveying. The conversations we had about teaching, learning, and relationships in schools led to further email exchanges, idea sharing, book loans, and plans for future collaborative research work.
It is not an overstatement to say that I have been greatly inspired by John’s passion for connections and his cultivation of a holistic, humanistic, child-centered approach to education. Accompanying John’s authentic concerns for students and teachers in schools is his deep knowledge of the importance of relationship-building in learning environments. Backgrounding the practical applications of building relationships and trust is a robust, research-driven, and informed set of principles that lay the foundation for John’s work.
John’s work is not only important: it is essential to bringing positive change to the landscape of quality education. I therefore highly recommend his workshops and professional development sessions.