Published on: 21 August 2014





Year 11 boys and girls from Christ Church and MLC came together recently for a special event to explore issues related to gender equality. The event took the format of a hypothetical fictional scenario, which challenged an unrehearsed panel from each school.

The panel included the heads of each school, Garth Wynne and Rebecca Cody; a teacher from each school, Patrick Guggisberg (MLC) and Nicky Garside (CCGS); and Year 11 students Dana Throssell, Zoe Oldfield, Daniel Pelkowitz and Monte Nathan.

The scenario explored the fictional lives of Amy and Jamie, twin siblings raised in a gender-neutral household, who graduated from MLC and Christ Church ready to embark on their careers.

The panellists got into the spirit of the occasion, taking on challenging and amusing points of view as the scenario advanced. Among many highlights was Mr Wynne playing the role of West Coast Eagles Head Coach interviewing Amy, ably performed by Zoe, for the role of trainee skills coach.

Panellists Monte and Daniel said they both enjoyed the experience and thought the format was entertaining. “I really enjoyed exploring the concepts on gender equity in a different way to what we normally do,” Daniel said. “I think having MLC students involved provided a much needed woman’s view on the topic, and I definitely felt that it gave me insight that I haven’t previously thought of.”

“Overall it was definitely thought provoking and really had me thinking about what gender equality is today, how it’s much better than before, yet still a lot has to be done to ensure equal opportunity for all.”

Monte added: “I think the concept is very clever, I know people enjoyed seeing people such as Mr Wynne debating and having fun. I hope this concept continues on with Christ Church and MLC.”

Mr Wynne said the schools wanted a forum that would help engage students in a different way. “This is why we invited Elisa Williams and Katrina Berkov, from Strictly Hypotheticals, to help us create an entertaining scenario to draw out some of the challenges,” he said. “They did a terrific job and it was good to hear some student views and see how engaging the format can be.”