Week 27 - APC - Broader Professional Context

Activity 3: 'Contemporary issues or trends in New Zealand or internationally'

Technology and global trends are changing, but our education system is not keeping up with these changes.  Sir Ken Robinson discusses that we still teach in very structured environments in 'batches' of students and the question is 'why'? Standardisation of the education system affects how students learn by not viewing the student with individual learning needs.

The standardised testing and framework  impacts on teaching practice and how we teach our students (The RSA, 2010). The implementation of National Standards restricts the opportunities of the curriculum document - where the curriculum document allows for flexibility.  Individual learning plans and individual assessment allows purposeful learning based on students learning needs. I often differentiate during sessions to ensure learners are able to have success. The Education Review Office suggests that we need to focus on 'student centred learning'. Last year, our school introduced a positive behaviour programme: 'Huakina Mai' (see week 26 blog) that focuses on partnerships with the school, students and whᾱnau, supports relationships and learning experiences that meet students needs. In our technology team and with consultation from our contributing schools we have strong collaboration to support our students.

https://propelsteps.wordpress.com/about/our-story/critiques-on-indian-educational-system/education-system-cartoon/

Another challenge with our education system is lack of funds or access for digital technologies;  even though digital technologies are developing globally at great advances they are not always available to all students in schools. Many students own their own device, so opportunities for students to bring their own devices to schools (BYOD) has allowed more access.

The future global trends students require a new range of skills to be able to have a chance in the competitive global market. The demands of the global trends (National intelligence council, 2012) where students will be faced with many issues around sustainability, cyber safety, world views, climate change and policy makers.

During technology sessions our aim is to do our best by teaching some skills for the future: developing positive and design mindsets, collaboration, problem solving, innovation and communication skills. These skills are taught during sessions through the various practical experiences. The practical experiences are the merely the platform to teach these skills and I really not sure whether the actual practical skills will be valuable for the future? Students also have opportunities to share their ideas with each other to learn that there are different ideas and ways of experiencing learning (divergent thinking).


'Circle time' sharing has also provides opportunities for students to share their ideas and sometimes it will be an alternative subject, which allows students to provide their 'global' view. Students responses often surprise me with their knowledge, interest and understanding on such subjects and the fact that they have very strong opinions and views.


References

Education Review Office. (2012). Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools. Retrieved 18 May 2016, fromhttp://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Releases2/The-three-most-pressing-issues-for-N

National intelligence council.(2012). Global trends: Alternative Worlds. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved fromhttps://globaltrends2030.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/global-trends-2030-november2012.pdf

The RSA.(2010, Oct 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.

Shonkoff's Three Cultures - Scientific research vs policy makers?

Scientific research vs policy makers?

Shonkoff (2000) discusses child development research in regards to science, policy and practice:
Science - Scientists dissect data with a quest for knowledge - new research and what they do not know.
Policy - this is influenced by social and selected knowledge or data is used to form decisions or agendas.
Practice - scientific knowledge and data is influenced by policy. Practitioners are keen to act on research, where policymakers prefer it to be simple and scientists would rather reflect.

In practice we have opportunities to research such as scientists but are bound by policies. Shonkoff (2000) discusses human rights of the parent and the child and privacy issues, which impact on the way we carry out our research practices. This also may not provide the best outcomes for our students by not having all the information that we require. Policies protect us but may also affect and reduce opportunities to provide innovation outcomes. Shonkoff (2000) also mentions that incomplete information  impacts on guiding policy.

Ethical guidelines for educational research to protect participants includes their rights and privacy, the responsibilities to the researchers and the policymakers. The document is elaborate and sets out the guidelines and rights to withdraw.   https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers

Where policy has been implemented it is important for this to be consistent and be assessed over time (Shonkoff 2000). This is true to be effective and for changes to be made for the desired outcomes.

A blend of the three: science, policy and practice allows a multi perspective approach and this is important in a complex subject such as child development.

 http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irpweb/initiatives/trainedu/igrfp/readings05/Shonkoff2000.pdf)

https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers

https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers

Week 26 - APC - Professional Context

The challenges:

We are a Technology Centre within a primary school. We are 'two cultures' (Stoll, 1998) within the school, as we operate with different contexts and timetables.  The timetables are not aligned due to the contributing school slots and we operate session by session, as we only see our students one session per week. 

We operate under our own budget and becoming more independent from our school with our own support staff and equipment. We tend to not share our equipment due to the specialist nature and health and safety issues, which are becoming more accountable.

These structures and constraints restrict collaboration with the greater school staff and is generally limited to the weekly staff meetings. Where possible involve ourselves in our school community to develop these relationships by attending 'picnic' days. We offer our expertise to support the school for school wide projects. 

The eight contributing schools are another part of our community of practice that is vital to develop relationships with these schools. Recently we have  encouraged  teachers and staff to attend sessions and this has reduced challenges by allowing 'collegiality' (Stoll, 1998) to support students for success (TedED, 2012). Teachers are able to experience our 'culture' but at the same time share their school's culture providing 'mutual respect' and 'openness' (Stoll, 1998). 

The changes:

Huakina Mai was introduced to our school beginning of last year. Huakina Mai is about 'getting it right for Maori' especially for learners who are having behavourial challenges at school (Savage, Macfarlane, Macfarlane & Hēmi, 2012). It involves a partnership with the community whᾱnau, students and teachers, developing an awareness of the culture and Te Reo, mana inhancing interactions with students, and ways of behaviour is 'normalised' through dominant discourse. 

We have noticed improvements in student relationships with implementation of using Te reo and developing cultural awareness and implementing culturally appropriate protocols in classroom practices. 

However, further development and  strategies are necessary to underpin the main focus of Huakina Mai - developing partnerships with whᾱnau. This connects to above challenges for us: a Technology Centre with the many schools and students by finding the opportunities for this to happen. Mind Lab has given some insights into this and simply a 'blog' or digital newsletter reaching out to our greater whᾱnau could be options. We offer open days for whᾱnau to join with students and share their learning experiences. 

References

Savage, C., Macfarlane, A., Macfarlane, S., Fickel, L., Hēmi, T. H. (2012). Huakina Mai. A whole school strength based behavioural intervention for Mᾱori, University of Canterbury.

Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved fromhttp://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

TEdEd(2013, Jun 21). Building a culture of success- Mark Wilson. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8Bjz-OCD8

Quantitative or Qualitative?

Which is better to use qualitative or quantitative data?
Reflecting on my practice I use both. The purpose of collecting data to improve practice, raise achievement levels and student success. It is important to have a clear understanding of what you want to find out and to refer back to your research questions (Easton, 2012).

Qualitative:  I ask students for feedback in the form of mini interviews.  I want to try and get as much information as possible and work hard to ask open ended questions (Barker, Pistrang & Elliott, 2016) and if a student is reluctant to offer their opinions in front of others I will ask them individually. Qualitative provides detail about why something is happening with 'why' questions, but does not provide a greater evidence over numbers because usually conducted over smaller groups.

Quantitative:  I use google slides for surveys on iPads that are quick and provide me with a 'big picture' of what students think. Google slides provide great visuals with pie charts and graphs to easily view the break down of the results. The results provide evidence of 'what' and 'how many' but not the greater detail of why something is happening (Easton, 2012). I often select some groups to participate in the surveys, but not always all due to time restraints. I may select groups depending on their cultural, ability, or engagement for specific findings.

http://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research-whats-the-difference/

Both have advantages and disadvantages, so I will continue to use both. To further develop my practice I need to try different types rather than doing the same.

References

Barker, L., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2016). Research Methods in Clinical Psychology An Introduction for Students and Practitioners. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Easton, C. (2012) Data for Self Evaluation. Retrieved from http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/data-for-self-evaluation-seced.pdf

Week 25 - APC - Reflective Practice

Introduction:

I am a technology teacher at Kaiapoi Borough School. I teach Creative Textiles 4 days a week and 1 day a week in Robotics.

Defining my ‘Community of Practice’

This is hard to define because of the context I teach and the eight contributing schools, the many students, colleagues and support staff. They all form part of the COP as we ‘engage’ with them all to create the best learning outcomes for students and the sense of ‘joint enterprise’ (Wenger, 2000). Students are at the forefront of our COP from the feedback we receive from them and the fact we actually ‘learn’ from the students! They provide valuable information that helps shape the learning programmes and to provide a more purposeful learning experience.  The contributing schools’ practices provide us with insights how we can improve and differentiate our programmes to best suit the needs of their students. Our home school provides opportunities for flexibility and professional development in other curriculum areas.  As a Technology team we are very strong on collaboration and share our ideas that we receive from students, peers and schools.

Contributions to my community of practice

I am constantly reflecting on my practice, which has its ups and downs. However, both are shared with my team to provide a new perspective. Often the positive experiences are taken up and used by another team member – it may be just another way of teaching a concept or a simple ‘circle time’ topic. The not so positive experiences actually end up being a positive because the team learns from these too. If I have had a session that has not gone to plan with a particular group some strategies may be suggested and these may be adopted by another team member when they have a similar experience. 

I share my planning and programme to my team which allows feedback to improve on the development of this and also as a team we borrow each other’s ideas.

One of the most important contributions to my community of practice is the students. I give the students the opportunity to give me feedback at the end of the session: “How did I do?” “What do I need to change?” The students are very forthcoming and provide honest feedback, and sometimes it hurts. Alternatively, I might ask: “How was the session today?” and do a PMI  (positive, minus and interesting). The feedback sometimes surprises me and is vital in how I can forward plan (Findlay, 2008) and teach the next sessions. The students appreciate the fact that I ask them for feedback and value their ideas.

Core values and principles that underpin my profession
The Teaching standards:
 https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/gts-poster.pdf in particular standard 3: understanding contextual factors; students cultural needs and the influences. 

The 'values'  that are developed by each school that have connections to the NZC by embedding these during technology sessions. Students understand their school's values and relationships with students are developed by using their own values.

The principles from the curriculum document (MOE, 2007) – they are all important I have just highlighted these:

Coherence- we gather as much information about students to provide a ‘big picture’ to support their individual learning needs. Sessions are differentiated to provide extra supports or independent learning depending on the students learning needs. Individual learning plans are also developed to provide student success and information is provided to the contributing schools, so they can have an input. The student learning information is passed between the technology teachers to ensure that students are provided with easy transition between the technology areas and to also encourage progression.

Inclusiveness – Each of our students’ groups is a ‘team’. Every team member has the right to be respected and have opportunities to learn. We have ‘circle time’ at the start of the session to encourage this and at the end as a reflection. Students are encouraged to support each other (tuakana/teina). We collaborate as a team using a ‘rights and responsibility’ agreement at the start of the term to build positive relationships and for the students to understand their responsibilities.

Learning to learn – I encourage students to be independent and think for themselves. The key is for them to problem solve and discover solutions by trial and collaboration with peers. The learning experience is much more valuable and they feel proud of their achievements. It is awkward as a teacher to step back sometimes and allow for this to happen, it is so easy to ‘fix’ the problem. They often explain that they actually enjoyed the experience and learnt more. It is essential for students in their journey of ‘lifelong learning’ (Findlay, 2008).

High expectations – I have high expectations of students and sometimes this is challenging. Some students are often nervous and anxious when they initially use the equipment. I know that they can overcome their feelings, but this does take some encouragement. It is often knowing when to let go of the training wheels and walk away, so they can go solo and feel that they are in control and gain the confidence they need. Some students need extra scaffolding to complete learning outcomes, but the expectation is that they will need to ‘give it a go’. Students that can achieve greater levels are encouraged to self-assess their learning and asked: What could they do differently?

References

Finlay, L. (2009) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved fromhttp://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Ministry of Education (2009) Principles. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Principles

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press