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From the National Director |
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Future Talk Article Vol 21 No 1 March 2009
Dealing with reality, now and to come…
In the aftermath of the terrible tragedies that descended upon Victoria in recent weeks, there have been many analyses of how to prevent, or at least, mitigate the effects of such a disaster in the future. The sobering events of February 7th were a stark reminder that the issues of our time are not always global in nature, but are, instead founded in the here and now.
There are some issues that are eternal, never quite going away for generation after generation, whatever strategies are adopted. In the context of south-eastern Australia, bushfires are a perfect example. It is the role of each new wave of citizens and leaders to build on the knowledge of the past, using the optimism of the new and the benefit of a new perspective to improve on what has gone before.
However, if our younger generation is to be successful in meeting these challenges, it is the responsibility of the older generations to ensure that young people are equipped with the tools to take on such a task. And it is here that Future Problem Solving plays its part.
The coming year will inevitably see some refinement of the Program as we, as with all organisations, learn to cope with the effects of the Global Financial crisis. That being said, it remains the goal of FPSP Australia to continue to make the Program as accessible as possible to as many children as is feasible so that all Australian youth have the opportunity to challenge their own ideas. In that vein, I, along with the Association and the Committee of Management, wish all of our returning coaches and our many news all the best of FPS in 2009.
See you in October for our first Queensland finals.
Niranjan Casinader
National Director
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Improving your coaching: Hints from the Experts |
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Future Talk Article Vol 21 No 1 March 2009
From the Evaluation Coordinator
With the first Practice Booklet Problem coming up, teams and coaches (especially ones new to the program) should aim to focus mostly on the completion of the first 3 steps, which includes the sometimes tricky Underlying Problem (UP).
From the evaluators’ point of view, here are a few things that we really like to see, step by step:
STEP 1 – Clearly stated problems within or as a result of the Future Scene (FS). Try to describe problems succinctly and avoid over-wordy problems with excessive detail. Evaluators love clear, to the point statements from a variety of areas of the categories. Clear writing helps immensely – if the evaluator can’t read the writing properly a good problem may end up rated as a “P” (Perhaps) instead of a “Y” (Yes). Also, for those teams who have done research on the topic, it is important to remember to use that information to support your problem ideas and not just state the facts you know.
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Future Talk Article Vol 21 No 1 March 2009
New South Wales
NSW Training Day will be held on Saturday 7th March at Loreto Normanhurst. The flyer is available on the website, or interested coaches may contact the NSW State Convenor (Jan Hales, at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
) for further details.
A large group of NSW students is preparing to attend this year’s International Conference at the State University of Michigan in May and June. Good luck to the three booklet teams ( Knox and Loreto Normanhurst), two Individual booklet competitors ( TIGS), two CmPS teams ( Loreto Normanhurst and TIGS), and Scenario writer (Reddam House) for their travels and the competition.
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Directions for Future Talk |
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Future Talk Article Vol 21 No 1 March 2009
One of my task as the new Deputy Director is the editor of Future Talk. I would like to make Future Talk as useful as possible. At the moment I am planning two more volumes for this year but this can change depending on your feedback.
Volume 2 is to be released in June. In this edition there will be a focus on preparing for the National Finals. I will be asking the Evaluation Co-ordinators for the Booklet, Scenario and CMPs to thinking about providing feedback and strategies to help your teams in the final weeks of their preparation. I would also like suggestions from experienced students about strategies they use in any aspect of the booklet competition.
Volume 3 should be released in November. This edition will contain a report of the finals and changes and directions for 2010.
If you have any other suggestions or comments could you email them to me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Louise Sutherland
Deputy Director FPS Australia
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From the National Director |
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Future Talk Article Vol 20 No 3 November 2008
Beginnings and Endings.....
Welcome to the last issue of Future Talk for 2008, one that marks the twentieth anniversary of Future Problem Solving in Australia. The last three months have seen a number of momentous events, many of which were connected with this milestone in the history of the organisation and centred on the 2008 National Finals at the University of Melbourne in mid-October.
If we are to go by the comments of the students who attended the Finals, this year’s event was the most memorable in the FPS lives of many of them. The results of the Finals can be found elsewhere in this issue and I look forward to meeting our international representatives next year when I will be able to attend the International Finals at the University of Michigan. We are grateful for the University of Melbourne for sponsoring the venue facilities and, as Professor Field Rickards, Dean of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education indicated during his address at the Sunday Awards Ceremony, the University is delighted to be associated with the Program and sees itself as the ‘home’ of the National Finals when it is held in Melbourne every two years. It was also a Finals of ‘firsts’ and ‘lasts’: the last Finals attended by Singapore before their full independence from January 2009; the first Finals for which FPSP Australia offered a Facebook site to encourage student interaction; the last Finals to be attended by Dr Valerie Volk, Deputy National Director, before her retirement; and the first finals to be attended by a team from South Africa.
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