BPLA does not operate schools, instead we partner with schools, at the invitation of the principal, to offer an innovative and personalised design for learning and school.
The most common form of BPL campus is the ‘academy’ within a larger mainstream public high school, though there are also stand-alone schools in most states.
The majority of our schools are public high schools in order to offer an important choice of learning design to those young people who may have fewer resources to access other types of schooling.
BPLA operates largely on a fee-for-service basis through Service Agreements with schools. We keep costs to a minimum because many of our member schools are already stretched in terms of resources. That said, there are costs associated with the start-up phase, where schools receive intensive support from BPLA over 12-18 months. This covers: school visits, briefings to the executive, staff and parents, and assistance to build new structures and practices that will prepare a school to implement the learning design.
Running costs
- Service Agreements cover ongoing professional learning support from a BPL School Coach each term, along with membership, access to online staff training, classroom resources, promotional materials, and an IBPLC processing fee for senior students. (Currently NSW and Tasmania cover the IBPLC fee on behalf of its schools.)
- A permanent classroom is required for each advisory that contains a group table as well as individual work spaces for each student.
- The full time equivalent student to teaching staff ratio is 17:1. This compares to a national ratio for government schools of 13:1 (Source: ABS Schools, 2024 Table 53a).
- Once an academy grows to five advisories, it will also require a Head Teacher.
If your school is interested in creating a BPL academy in your school, you will need to be prepared to:
- start with a minimum of two advisories,
- be confident about resourcing and sustaining the academy from your existing school budget,
- ensure that you are not competing with another local school that currently offers a BPL academy.
NSW schools
Big Picture Learning Australia (BPLA) offers an innovative learning design for engaging students at over 20 public high schools in NSW with the full support of the NSW Department of Education (DOE).
The goal is to offer an important choice within public schooling to young people who are looking for a personal and flexible approach to learning that enables them to:
- learn through their interests and passions inside and outside school,
- build independent learning skills and a rigorous approach to researching and presenting their work,
- develop ideas about their futures and, importantly,
- choose the pathway of the International Big Picture Learning Credential to successfully enter university, further training or employment.
While BPLA does not operate schools, we work with public high schools and the NSW Department of Education to establish a Big Picture Learning Academy within existing high schools.
Schools in other States/Territories
We invite all schools to become Exploring Schools.
Becoming an Exploring School allows you to explore our design, and allows Big Picture Learning to explore your school.
You do not need to be ready to commit to implementing the design, merely curious to explore how it works. Big Picture Learning responds to interest, one school at a time.