2005: A pilot Year 13 programme
Area to be landscaped outside school canteen and careers room
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Careers Centre main entrance
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Existing school canteen building
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Area to be redesigned
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Area to be landscaped beside canteen (click to enlarge)
Design ideas developed after consultation with local architect
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With teacher release time available as part of the Beacon Practice contract, Jean set about establishing a Year 13 'Technology' course which would operate outside of the existing timetable structure in 2005 and help raise the profile of the subject in the school.
"I wanted to get out of the classroom. I wanted to show that Technology wasn't just sewing, woodwork and metalwork – to take it out of those little boxes, and get students to look at what I was trying to do in a different light."
Establishing a Year 13 group
Jean's immediate task was to attract enough students to make the course viable. " I just asked for volunteers. I had no problems getting girls from my senior classes, but I wanted to try to pull in others who weren't doing technology."
A group of ten enthusiastic students emerged from the selection process. "Some had worked with me since Year 11: some had done hard or soft material options in Year 11 and then moved into different courses, some had a graphics background and some had no technology experience outside of their Year 9 and Year 10 optional Technology programmes. Only two of the students were boys, both of whom I had taught before.
"They all had some idea of what technology was about but almost all of them saw it in a very rigid and 'boxed' way. It didn't surprise me that the ones who had done Technology all the way through from Year 9 tended to be the ones who took on the leadership roles."
Planning the programme
Jean was aware of the importance of choosing a context that would give this first course the best chance of succeeding. Landscaping was a topic that had gained considerable local media attention at that time, so she selected an area of the school that would provide a suitable context for a landscaping project.
Jean chose the area outside the school canteen for the makeover. "It was an ugly place and the canteen was definitely on the list of buildings due for redevelopment. The issue that I gave the group was to create a space where people could sit down and eat once they've got their food. It was a big space and it had real problems, but with the careers room in that area as well, it was a space that Year 13 students were familiar with and they were well aware of the problems."
While bringing students in contact with a range of 'expert knowledge' outside of the school was an important part of Jean's planning, she also wanted to make students more aware of the expertise available within their own school environment. "The caretaking staff and the grounds people proved particularly helpful. Once the students got used to talking with them, they interacted very well and were able to ask the right sort of questions. Students quickly realised what they could and couldn't do, and began to see the people working within the school in a completely different light."
The teamwork nature of their project was emphasised when the group addressed the criteria for achievement of a Team CREST award. "They weren't working as individuals. Right from the start it was planned as a genuine team project and the prospect of a CREST award was a motivating factor for them."
Managing the programme
Although the students had no timetabled Technology periods, a weekly study period was available for the group to come together. Wednesday lunchtime was also blocked in as regular meeting time and Jean admits to frequently providing snacks at morning interval as an incentive to gain additional contact with the whole group.
"If required, we were also able to take a bit of regular class time, such as when visitors could only come at a specific time. But managing the contact was difficult and the students became very good at texting to remind each other where they should be."
After students had talked in detail with caretaking staff and the principal, and had surveyed staff and students for their thoughts about the area, Jean organised for a young landscape architect to come and work with the group.
"She exposed students to a job that had never occurred to any of them," says Jean. "It opened their eyes to principles of design, which was especially helpful to those doing graphics. She also talked to them about some of the big projects she's been working on, and about the compliance issues and codes of practice that had to be followed in landscaping commercial projects."
Outcomes
The group worked collaboratively through the design process and successfully developed a range of conceptual designs that were presented to the Board of Trustees for consideration.
(See photos and display material Jean will be sending)
In terms of student learning, Jean could reflect on many positives from the year's programme, including the rapid development of social and communicative skills within the group.
"These students had never had to interact like this before. They've had to go out and talk to people, listen to what they have to say and then work out how it will impact on what they are doing.
"Having to stand up and do the presentation really scared some of them at first. They knew they couldn't just stand there say what they did, they had to be prepared to justify the decisions that they made – and they found that a big ask."
By the end of that year the main aim of pilot programme had been achieved. A stand-alone Year 13 Technology class was timetabled for 2006 and the goal of establishing a genuine pathway in Technology through from Year 9 to Year 13 became a reality.
"In the past there had never been a clear purpose for following through with the subject into the senior school. We now had a idea of the skill and knowledge base we wanted to push and a purpose for it."
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