1. PERSONALISING LEARNING IN VCAL Carlie Case

2. IF A CHILD CANNOT LEARN THE WAY WE TEACH MAYBE WE SHOULD TEACH THE WAY THEY LEARN Ignacio Estrada 3. I would like to thank the staff, students and teaching team for their continued support and active participation in the project. Especially 9/10C! The school has asked not be named. 4. Research Question How does personalising learning in VCAL affect the following: Student attendance Student behavior Student results 5. Context of the Study School Setting A small Community House, in Outer Eastern Melbourne (Victoria) Offers VCE, VCAL & VET programs Youth education program is attended by students who have disengaged with main stream education 6. Student Participants Student participants are aged from 15 years to 16 years They have all disengaged from main stream education Many have large gaps in their educational histories 7. BASELINE DATA 8. Pre Testing Pretesting - Literacy & Numeracy (Max 60 marks) 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 ABCDEFG Pretest scoreH Pretest scoreIJKLMN 9. Classes missed by students in the 3 weeks prior to trial Total 32 Classes N M L K J I H G F ED C B A 051015202530 10. Behaviour in the three weeks prior to trial Times each student is removed from classes 706050403020100 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNCoordinator visits during class times 11. Interviews Key points raised by Parents/Guardians: How will personalising learning improve my childs abilities? Will the new style allow my child to build their skills in all areas of learning or will they be able to pick what is easy and leave the rest out? How are you going to ensure my child is still meeting the required levels of English and Math to be able to function in the workplace? Why is personalising learning needed? 12. Interviews with staff Staff concerns for the project: Behavior management Literacy and numeracy levels of the students undertaking the trial Attitudes of students undertaking the trial Engagement of students Staff knowledge and experience of personalisation of learning 13. THE PROJECT Community Garden & Pizza Oven 14. Some of the work carried out by the trial group 15. POST TRIAL DATA 16. Literacy & Numeracy Post Test 6050403020100 ABCDEFG Posttest scoreH Posttest scoreIJKLMN 17. Attendance incidents Attendance within the participants improved, throughout the trial. Data was taken in regards to the attendance of the students in the three weeks prior to the trial, which showed significant absences for a number of students, and was then compared to the attendance data of students throughout the trial. There is a clear difference in attendance between the two time periods which again raises the issue of needing to tailor curriculum to the needs of students in order to engage them with what they are learning. 18. Behaviour Similarly to attendance, the use of personalizing learning within the groups show a distinct change in behavior. Once again, data was provided for the three weeks prior to the trial, which counted the times removed from class by individual students. There was a distinct reduction in class removals in 9/10C 19. Achievements Prior to the undertaking of the trial, the sample of students undertaking VCAL all displayed disappointing Literacy and Numeracy results in the standardized testing. However, once the three week trial had been undertaken, and students undertook post testing (that was testing the same knowledge as the pre-test, however was delivered in a personalized manner), the results began to show distinct changes. Many students had significant increases in their literacy skills, with more than half increasing their scores dramatically. A few students scored worse on the post testing model than the pre-test model, however there are a number of variables that must be investigated when interpreting the data, which may have impacted on the negative results for some students. 20. POST TRIAL INTERVIEWS 21. Student interviews The insight given from students throughout the trial period, in the opinion of the author, the most important data that was collected. Albeit difficult data to analyze, the students prior to the trial expressed the following themes in their responses: Dissatisfaction in their classes Frustration with the lack of flexibility Frustration in the similarity to main stream education Disappointment in their results and abilities in classes After the trial, student responses changed, moving from dissatisfaction and frustration, to a reenergized and interest towards school, with the following key points raised by students: Increased interest in topics covered More willingness to attend and participate in classes Empathy to teachers in regards to poor behavior and effort in developing resources for classes. 22. Staff interviews Similarly to student reviews, staff attitudes towards the teaching of 9/10C changed, with an increase in the willingness to teach and develop resources for the group.The drop in removals from classes for the students, allowed for less down time and distractions within the classes, and therefore teachers were able to deliver more content and achieve successful outcomes more efficiently. 23. ANALYSING THE STUDY 24. Strengths This research project has highlighted the need for the adaption of current teaching practices within the organization and its teaching team. By providing a supportive environment, that had open communication between the teaching team, researcher and students, all parties were able to understand (or attempt to) the views of other stakeholders. The study also allowed for the students of 9/10C to prove themselves, to be confident and capable young people, instead of the poor reputation that precede the group. 25. Problems with the project The project highlighted a number of problems including: Research question was too big Trial period too short Sample size was too small to find conclusive results The research project was able to identify (or further cement) the need to research and innovate curriculum within the centre. However the trial also highlighted the need for substantial professional development for the teaching team as well as the need for updated resources and sufficient planning and development time allocations for teaching staff. Further to this, the study highlighted the substantial gaps in education of the students attending the centre, which could have impacted the data. As work as modified to be at the level of students undertaking the trial, and results may be substantially different in another setting, or with another sample group. 26. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE STUDY 27. Professional Development for the teaching team Continuing the trial on a larger sample group and over a longer period Implementing applied/personalized tasks wherever possible for the students Involve students in curriculum planning/development 28. FEEDBACK FROM ORGANISATION 29. The study has opened my eyes to endless possibilities with the young people TeacherI enjoy coming to school now The teachers are really trying to make school ok StudentI was sceptical to begin with. But my son is learning things he needs to know and he is going to (and staying in) class. Parent