1.12 (09) Quality teaching in the middle years - Sci_Tech
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Description
Description
This has been a continuing activity. It links to and expands on the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations funded Literacy in the Middle Years Initiative. The focus for this middle years activity is support for teachers to engage in professional learning to achieve quality pedagogy and improve student engagement and learning across the middle years of schooling (Years 5/9) in Science and Technology.
Clusters of schools have engaged with a curriculum focus on Science and Technology.
Through action learning processes, school project teams have implemented the NSW Department of Education and Training model of pedagogy for application across the middle years, engaged in change management processes to build the links across schools, and undertaken common project evaluation procedures.
The activity has been managed by a designated project officer who has been responsibile for the activity meeting the professional needs of participating teachers.
Contacts
| Lorraine Greenhill email: Lorraine.Greenhill@det.nsw.edu.au Ph 02 9886 7201 Sector: DET |
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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 have strengthened the currency and depth of their learning area knowledge and understandings.
Access
Targeted NSW Department of Education and Training teachers and per schools.
Design
Action learning teams will be established to address individual professional development needs and school needs through an inquiry process involving planning, acting, evaluating, observing, reflecting, recording, sharing and celebrating. Collegiality is essential to the effective operation of these action learning processes.
Action learning will be used by all project schools to reflect on current teaching, share existing expertise within and across schools, and improve teaching practice. Data/information will be collected and analysed throughout the project to monitor changes in school culture, and in teacher and student learning.
To stimulate their growth in professional learning teachers will engage with the following frameworks, experimenting with new ideas and taking planned risks:
* Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme framework of professional learning principles
* seven organisers of middle years action in NSW
* action learning/research framework as the change model
* Quality teaching framework, influencing pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge and assessment, and establishing consistency in the quality of pedagogy across the middle years of schooling
* curriculum planning framework, including BOS syllabuses and Department of Education and Training middle years strategies, providing continuity of student learning experiences and outcomes across the middle years of schooling
* project evaluation framework, including evaluation criteria and data collection, analysis and reporting procedures.
A web site developed for the middle years project will provide professional learning in areas such as the links between assessment practices, classroom-based teaching and learning and curriculum development at the school level. The web site can facilitate reflection and professional dialogue around these issues as schools engage in online discussion with an online mentor about their action learning.
A web site developed for the middle years project will provide professional learning in areas such as the links between assessment practices, classroom-based teaching and learning and curriculum development at the school level. The web site can facilitate reflection and professional dialogue around these issues as schools engage in online discussion with an online mentor about their action learning.
Implementation
The implementation of the activity will be supported by the following personnel: designated project officers, academics partners, sector and regional consultants, school based professional learning team.
Delivery
Workplace learning, action learning project workshops.
Timeline
By June 2009:
* school clusters identified
* planning workshops conducted with clusters of schools
* web site functionality built
* progress report submitted in June.
By December 2009:
* project officer visits to schools to support action learning processes
* action learning team visits across schools
* action learning teams analysis of student data to inform next cycle of professional learning
* annual report submitted in November.
Sectors
