2006: An embedded Year 13 programme
Existing Staff office space in Learning Centre (click to enlarge)
Existing staff office space
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Ramp access to careers room
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Modelling proposed area for staff
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Design Concept (click to enlarge)
Inside view of model of proposed layout (click to enlarge)
Presentation display for Career staff (click to enlarge)
The new Year 13 class for 2006 was timetabled for four one-hour periods a week, taught jointly by Jean and Hard Materials teacher Graham Skudder. The year started with a group of 11 Year 13 students – largely comprising boys who had come through from Graham's Year 12 programme in 2005, where they had worked on the design and construction of seating for the landscaped Canteen area.
In their planning, the teachers decided to build on the success of the previous year's programme by choosing another context within the school for the students' major project. This time it was the Careers/Learning Centre block. "The Careers Room is just behind the canteen which hides it a bit," says Jean. "Most students don't actually know the room is there and it was definitely in need of upgrading. We'd looked at decking and seating outside the Careers Room as part of the landscaping project, so working on an upgrade of the room itself seemed a logical next move."
The course was structured to start with a minor project in which the boys and girls worked together on group projects in both the materials areas. This acted as both a practical skill-building exercise and also provided an opportunity for the teachers to work on the practice requirements for the development of the student outcomes in the major project.
"We assessed the work using a couple of unit standards, but it was important just to get some literacy awareness within the group – talking about the terminology we would be using which some students may not have come across before."
For the main project proper, students were asked to develop a range of conceptual designs reconfiguring the interior of the school's Careers/Learning Centre block. The students looked at all the issues relating to the use of the area and spoke to the senior management to establish how much extra building could take place. They also looked at other departments in the school, to explore such things as refits, systems for dividing rooms and lighting considerations.
Because all the students were working in the same major project context, a significant amount of group work was able to be done, including the sharing of individual research. "We didn't need to have everybody finding out the same information, and so we'd get students to go off and interview people – sometimes in groups and sometimes on their own. We tried not to make it too threatening at first, but they'd have to come back and share the information they'd got with the rest of the class – which is an important skill."
The space they were working on was shared between two departments and resultant conflicts in areas such as kitchen and toilet requirements were discussed and addressed as they started modelling their conceptual designs.
"It was good for the students to see that staff all had different levels of aspirations for the building. It helped keep them aware of the reality of the situation – that there was no point in them designing something that was never going to be a possibility."
The students made models of their final developed concepts, and then made an aural presentation to Careers/Learning Centre staff.
"This outcome was a real one – staff in this area now have some well developed concepts they can use. We're hoping they will take the information, discuss it as a group and use it as the basis for the future redevelopment of the area."
Over the year, students not only learned range of specific skills, but also developed an extensive range of generic skills. "A lot of this was gained through the way students interacted and communicated with others in the group. But they also learned how to plan and be semi-organised. That wasn't a big aspect initially for this group of students, but actually having to plan how to get things done, and how to meet deadlines became more important as they worked through the project.
"They didn't all get it one hundred percent right – some of them were still sticking their sheets on their display board as they were walking up to present. But they realised they had to learn those skills and its obvious that they're not necessarily getting that in some of their other subjects."
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