Karen Yager | Principal
Hills Grammar School

Karen is passionate about ensuring that students and staff are enabled to flourish. She is the Principal of Hills Grammar School, president of PTC NSW, vice president of APTA and the president of AATE. Karen has been awarded the NSW Premier’s Scholarship, the 2020 National Reading Australia fellowship, a 2020 leadership fellowship to China, the Singapore Ministry of Education International Teaching Fellowship in 2011, the NSW PTC award for education in 2009 and 2021, the APTA award in 2014 and in 2021, and is a NSW Teachers’ Guild Fellow. Karen is currently doing a PhD.
Karen believes that students are more than a grade. She has introduced micro-credentialing for kindergarten through to year 12 students that recognises their skills, achievements and knowledge beyond the classroom. Her skill is focused on developing enterprise skills in all students and encouraging them to have the skills and courage to develop their own start-ups.

Appearances:

Day 2 @ 13:00

Fostering enterprise skills for a dynamic future

When young people leave school, they will be facing a complex, dynamic and uncertain world that will require them to be resilient, courageous, and agentic. According to the World Economic Forum (2021), half of today's work activities could be automated by 2055, posing even more challenges for their future work choices. According to the Foundation for Young Australians (2020), enterprise skills are needed for young people to thrive in an uncertain future. What is needed in schools is a focus on entrepreneurialism that teaches students the crucial enterprise and life skills of creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, citizenship, and collaboration. The Hills Grammar School has embedded entrepreneurial education across the whole School – Pre-K to Year 12. Our student Tech Crew are learning how to use technology to improve their enterprise skills, such as podcasting, videography and web design. We will share how we are fostering enterprise skills across all year groups and already have numerous successful student start-ups.

Karen Yager, Principal, Hills Grammar School

Jason Milner, Assistant Head of Junior School, Hills Grammar