Over the holidays I accompanied a group of Year 9 students to their Global Exchange at Buffalo Seminary School (SEM), an independent day and boarding school for college-bound girls. Founded in 1851, SEM is among the oldest schools for girls in the United States. 

The Masters School in New York has Harkness Tables in every classroom

I then travelled to New York where I had the good fortune of visiting The Masters School. Founded in 1877, Masters is a private, co-educational boarding school and day college preparatory school located in Dobbs Ferry, New York. The motivation for this visit was to observe their Harkness Program which commences in Year 5 and is developed throughout the school right up to Year 12. This school has been embracing a Harkness inspired pedagogy since 1996. They have embedded an approach where they teach and learn around a singular, oval table. A feature within every classroom. 

This approach challenges students to achieve a higher level of engagement, to extract and construct their own meaning from the content. Students share courageously and articulately with their peers and teachers. Around the Harkness Table, students strengthen their own thoughts while gaining respect for the voices of others. I was able to observe Harkness classes at all Year levels and gain an understanding of how this approach is visible both in the classes and more widely outside teaching. The school has developed a Harkness spirit that is seen in how students interact in their relationships outside their learning.  

At St Catherine’s we have commenced a Harkness-inspired approach within our Year 9 Critical Conversations Program Humanities classes. This methodology of teaching and learning sees students lead critical conversations. The central purpose of our approach is to develop student capacity to use questioning and dialogue to direct their own learning. The Harkness-inspired discussions revolve around students engaging in challenging aspects of Geography and History. There is no doubt that the response from students has been extremely positive, and we are now looking at ways to extend this methodology in our School. 

The Masters School clearly showed the positive impact of Harkness on the students. Their commitment to this methodology has led to Harkness being so much more than just the table. It really is a spirit that has been developed and embedded at all Year levels. 

At St Catherine’s we will continue to develop our Harkness-inspired approach and as always prioritise our methodology of learning around innovation and developing agency, independence, and creativity in all our students. A question we will be asking is ‘How to Harkness?’ as we examine ways to expand this program in 2023.