1.2 Language, learning and literacy: Transition to school
Back |
Description
This is a continuing activity from 2007. The project will focus on providing quality professional learning for school-based teams (executive, teachers in K-2 classrooms and teachers from a prior to school 'feeder' setting) supporting teachers to work with their students and communities to raise student achievement levels in the early years of schooling. School teams will use an inquiry-based approach that reflects the dimensions of the Quality teaching model to set targets for teacher professional learning and student achievement.
The activity will be managed by a designated officer who will take responsibility for the activity meeting the professional needs of teachers.
Contacts
| Yvonne Mitchell email: Yvonne.p.Mitchell@det.nsw.edu.au Ph Ph 02 9886 7734 Fax 02 988 67741 Sector: DET |
|
Outcomes
Through participation in this project, teachers will have strengthened the currency and depth of their pedagogical knowledge and skills.
Through participation in this project, teachers will in their interactions with students, have an increased capacity to provide all students with opportunities to access and apply relevant learning in literacy, numeracy and ICT.
Access
Targeted NSW Department of Education and Training schools
Design
The professional learning strategy for this activity includes:
- school-based projects to engage teachers in workplace learning that is based on a model of continuous improvement that will incorporate the principles of Quality teaching framework
- clusters of schools from South West Sydney and Western Sydney regions working in collegial networks
- improving student literacy performance by identifying and addressing the literacy needs of pre-school students in the semester prior to commencing school
- workplace mentoring and coaching aligned to meeting the NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards
- flexible learning that includes components such as face-to-face workshops, video and teleconferences and discussion groups centred around pre-school learning
- encourages and supports continual reflection on how teacher professional learning impacts on student literacy achievement at school and classroom level. This will ensure meaningful transfer from literacy to other Key Learning Areas
- local, regional and state workshops and conferences that enable participants to have their work publicly celebrated and critiqued.
Feedback from participants that will inform the 2008 project was sourced from teacher surveys, reflective journals, comment during discussion, and collection of student data through the assessment of student conceptual understandings of print using the Concepts about Print section of An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement
Responses include:
- teacher survey responses indicating that the ongoing planned professional development had significantly broadened their knowledge of how children learn
- teacher comments that their choice of text and response was more purposeful, had more meaning to the children and were more detailed and focused on childrens level of development
- notwithstanding costs involved, the shift in student outcomes has made significant inroads into previously acknowledged and documented variations between high and low socio-economic communities.
_________________________________________________________________________-
(1) Clay M.M. 2002 An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement Heinemann
Implementation
The implementation of the activity will be supported by the following personnel: designated project officer, regional literacy personnel and the school based professional learning team.
Delivery
Online learning, mentoring, action learning project, workshops/course, conference
Timeline
By June 2008:
- employ project officer
- develop project planning materials to use with schools
- develop criteria for school targeting
- identify the schools in consultation with regions
- set up project evaluation framework
- progress report submitted in June
By December 2008:
- support target schools to form school project teams
- provide specific/training/support for school executives who provide ongoing mentoring and support to target school teams
- provide support for project schools to:
- analyse data
- set targets for student literacy achievement
- set targets for teacher professional learning
- build monitoring/evaluation strategies into school plans
- engage in ongoing communication with relevant regional personnel e.g. school education directors
- provide support for school teams to reflect, analyse and evaluate their professional learning progress and the progress of their students
- work with schools (particularly school executives) to plan for ongoing sustainability
- annual report submitted in November
Sectors
