second generation middle schooling where to now

SECOND GENERATION MIDDLE SCHOOLING:

WHERE TO NOW?

Dr Catherine Hart Luther College, Croydon

OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION

• The research study – the evolution of middle schooling at Luther College

• The Middle Schooling Movement in Australia: An overview

• First generation middle schooling

• Towards second generation middle schooling – opportunities and challenges

• Where to from here?

Premise of study

First generation middle schooling is unfinished and exhausted

Second generation of middle schooling emerging

Focus on transformative pedagogies to promote lifelong learning needed

Research Aims

Exploration of polemics of middle schooling at Luther College with specific focus on:

Examining the principles and practices underlying the establishment of middle schooling at Luther College

Exploring the current principles and practices of middle schooling at Luther College

Identifying the opportunities and challenges of second generation middle schooling at Luther College

The Research Study

Small-scale pilot study: single case study site – two ‘snapshots’

Data collection: Literature review, document analysis, key informant interview, participant observation

Time frame: March-September 2011

The Middle Years

Defining the ‘Middle Years’

Distinct learning needs

Concept of risk – deficit model?

Middle Schooling

Middle schooling does not have one generic meaning, in the Australian context it is generally taken to mean a progressive approach to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment (and sometimes organisational) practices that are responsive to the developmental needs of young learners in their social context

The Middle Schooling Movement in AustraliaFirst Generation Middle Schooling characterised by:

• A range of specific middle years projects across Australia• The inclusion of middle years schooling in broad national

educational initiatives• The production of middle schooling ideas and resources

by a range of formal agencies• Research on middle schooling by Australian academics• The rise of middle schooling professional associations• The introduction of middle schooling units and programs

in pre-service and postgraduate teacher education courses

• The recognition of middle schooling in the policies and activities of a diverse range of school education agencies

• The increasing adoption of middle schooling in educational institutions across the spectrum in most Australian States.

Beyond the Middle

First generation middle schooling was unfinished because it had not secured systemic approaches or high intellectual demand. It also found that the movement was exhausted as it was a decade old and had not kept apace with the rapid changes in students’ lives

Beyond the middle: A report about literacy and numeracy development of target group students in the middle years of schooling (Luke, Elkins, Weir, Land, Carrington, Dole, Pendergast, Kapitzke, van Kraayenoord, Moni, McIntosh, Mayer, Bahr, Hunter, Chadbourne, Bean, Alverman, & Stevens; 2003)

Luther College

Established in 1964 by the LutheranChurch of Australia as a Year 7-12 Co-educational Boarding school

Luther College offers a program of “Christian education which serves students, parents, the church, the community and strives for excellence in the development and creative use by all students of their God-given talents”

Snapshot 1: 1997-2001

Victorian context

1997: Middle School Planning Group [MSPG] established and Terms of Reference for middle schooling at Luther identified:

1. Improving school family relationships, teaching and learning and student involvement for the middle years

2. Improving its transition program and the education offering for the middle years

Snapshot 1 cont.

1998: Luther College Middle School Report (Independent Education Consultant) endorsed suggestions of the MSPG

Middle School Unit established – years 7-9, staged implementation (1999-2001), Head of Middle School, Year 7 Transition Coordinator, Year 8 and 9 Coordination subsumed into other roles, introduction of Focus Teachers in Year 7

Characteristics of First Generation middle schooling at Luther

LEADERSHIP

I just read the literature and immersed myself in it … Now as I read the literature and got on top of the area I started to draw some broad directions around things that we needed to do… a lot of the literature just spoke to me about good principles of learning … I also was and do believe that Middle Schooling if it is done well, is the answer to a whole lot of the other chestnuts of schooling like boys education and a whole lot of things that provide literacy across the curriculum.


LEADERSHIP cont.

it takes a lot of patience and it takes minute chipping away and persistence and a determination that you are going to get there but you will have a hundred different ways of getting there and so the change process is messy and tricky and you will have lots of fights and tussles along the way with people who think they know better or believe there are other realities that need to be dealt with.


LEADERSHIP cont.

a metaphor that works for me was this tumbleweed that I started rolling and what I had to do all the time was pull the other bits of the weed in as it kept rolling and make sure that when I made a strategic decision, the whole ball kept moving and that all the parts of the ball sat in relation to one another


TEACHER TEAMING

• The role of the Focus teacher • Primary teachers within a perceived

secondary school setting – the prevalence of ‘two-tiered’ thinking


INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

I started with nothing, I had to bring people around to understand what integration was because none of these things were in place in the school. What I did know was that I had some good teachers in the school and I had to re-culture them and get them to understand the foundations. I did an enormous amount of PD [professional development]. Everyone who was a Focus teacher in those days went to a lot of PD and conferences, to begin to talk the language, you had to have a common language.


LEGITIMISING MIDDLE SCHOOLING

• The Middle School • Varied teaching and learning strategies

Snapshot 2: 2010-2011

Luther College today: 1200 students, 160 staff, no boarders, significant demand (significant increase in Luther education across Australia – 85 schools, over 35,000 students), laptop school, arrival of new Principal April 2010, a new 5 year strategic plan

A decade later the social milieu is quite different

I arrive at Luther College as a Year 7 Focus teacher and Senior English teacher in July 2010

Middle Schooling at Luther College today

Significant ‘wins’

Significant challenges – significant growth of school population, change fatigue, staff attrition, interrupted learning continuum, competing curricular demands, erosion of Focus teacher role….

First generation middle schooling still evident?

Moves towards whole school pedagogical renewal

• Leadership restructure to allow greater focus on pedagogy

• Time for depth of learning

• Professional learning communities

• Research and evidenced based practice

Where to now?

• Re-visioning of a shared philosophy of Middle School

• Forecasting rather than backcasting

• Learning spaces

• ICT

• Blurring Curriculum boundaries

• Signature pedagogies?