EMR Secondary Curriculum Coordinators

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EMR Secondary Curriculum Coordinators Discussion
about the implications of the new guidelines
Karen ODonnell Assistant Manager Student
Learning Transitions Pathways EMR 2009 9265
2417
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There is a growing consensus that whatever else
is done schools must become places where it is
easier for students and teachers to know one
another well and for students to connect to the
school and its purposes. Schools must be caring
and learning communities. (Sergiovanni, 2000)
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Blueprint for Education and Early Childhood
Development

• Strategies
• System Improvement - excellent school education
• Partnerships with Parents and Communities -
  working with families, communities and businesses
• Workforce Reform - a culture of strong leadership
  and professional learning

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Every Child, Every Opportunity

• Our aspirations for children and young people are
  that
• they thrive learn and grow to enjoy a productive,
  rewarding and fulfilling life, while contributing
  to their local and global communities
• So how do we
• avoid disengagement from positive opportunities?
• minimise negative experiences for all students in
  schools?
• ensure that all students enjoy learning and
  actively
• participate in their education?

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What does the evidence say?
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Without first developing a proactive school-wide
system of management to support appropriate
behaviour, any educational efforts to meet
individual student needs are likely to be met
with limited success (Lewis, 2000).

• School-wide systems to address
• Disengagement and early school leaving
• Challenging behaviour
• Classroom discipline
• Teacher perceptions and expectations
• Attendance and suspension in Victorian government
  schools

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Protective factors which support student
engagement

• Positive behaviour support
• Clear, fair and consistent rules and behavioural
  expectations
• Understanding of individual student needs
• Accessible staff support
• Positive and supportive parent, teacher and peer
  relationships
• Feeling safe and valued at school
• Reasonable, consistent, non-arbitrary
  consequences
• Some level of academic success
• Professionals developing understanding of
  Victorias most vulnerable young people

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Victorian government school data

• Significant increase in absences between year 8
  and year 10
• Highest levels of student absences in year 9
• Biggest spike in suspension data from year 6 to
  year 7 peaking in years 8 and 9
• SFO is a key factor in suspensions - 3.4 in
  advantaged areas compared to 13.4 in more
  disadvantaged areas
• Expulsions appear to be a middle school issue
  with the majority of expulsions post primary
  school and secondary school transition

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2008 Attitudes to School Survey
Correlation to Attitudes to schools survey
Victorian government school suspension data

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Student Engagement
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Components of student engagement
Behavioural engagement Participation in
education, including the academic, social and
extracurricular activities of the school.
Emotional engagement Emotional reactions in the
classroom and in the school. Students sense of
belonging or connectedness to the school.
Cognitive engagement Investment in learning and
their intrinsic motivation and self-regulation.
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Four domains of influence on student engagement
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School-wide strategies to improve student
engagement

• Broad curriculum provision
• Challenging and stimulating programs
• Early intervention for literacy and numeracy and
  low achievement
• Pathways and transition planning
• Smaller class sizes
• Team-based approaches teaching, learning and
  pastoral care
• Attendance policies and programs
• Initiatives to improve connections with parents

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Student focused strategies to improve student
engagement

• Student case management
• Mentoring
• Programs to improve social skills
• Targeted assistance for skill development among
  low achievers and students at risk
• Tutoring or peer tutoring
• Pathways planning for at-risk students
• Targeted financial support
• Targeted project-based learning
• Targeted creative arts-based programs

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Effective Schools are Engaging Schools Student
Engagement Policy Guidelines

• A new policy direction that
• embeds student attendance and behaviour support
  within whole school approaches to
• student engagement
• supports a school system that pays close
  attention to vulnerabilities
• All Victorian government schools will develop a
  Student Engagement Policy, aligned with
• the School Accountability and Improvement
  Framework, to promote
• student engagement
• student attendance
• positive behaviour support
• The policy is to be developed in partnership with
  the whole school community, including
• students

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Key aims of a Student Engagement Policy

• Each schools Student Engagement Policy should
  aim to
• Create a positive school culture that is fair and
  respectful
• Build a safe and supportive school environment
• Expect positive and respectful relationships that
  value diversity
• Promote pro-social values and behaviours
• Encourage student participation and student voice
  
• Support schools to proactively engage with
  parents
• Implement preventative and early intervention
  approaches to support student engagement and to
  address individual barriers to learning
• Respond to individual students
• Link with the local community

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Element One to Element Five

• Element 1 Effective schools create positive and
  engaging school cultures
• Element 2 Effective schools promote engagement
  and wellbeing
• Element 3 Effective schools promote school
  attendance
• Element 4 Effective schools promote positive
  behaviour though staged responses
• Element 5 Effective schools align shared
  expectations with support
• structures

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Policy frameworks

• School-wide Positive Behaviour Support and
  Student Engagement
• establishes a school climate in which appropriate
  behaviour is the norm for all students
• provides school communities with an effective,
  evidence-based approach to creating safe,
  positive and engaging school environments
• Restorative Practices
• Best incorporated within a whole-school approach
• Represented by a range of informal and formal
  strategies such as use of affective language,
  class circles and community conferencing.
• Involves the use of transferable values and
  principles to promote social equity in
  relationships, empathy and personal
  accountability.
• Vulnerable Youth Framework
• Prevention and early identification (existing
  prevention strategies available at the state and
  local level are coordinated and easily accessible
  for young people identify vulnerability early in
  the onset of a problem
• Engagement in education, training and employment
  (earlier identification of young people,
  including those truanting retaining or
  attracting young people back to school
  individual planning for vulnerable young people
  improving connections with the broader services
  system and other training or employment options)

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Components of a strengthened Student Support
Services model
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Expectations
Every Victorian government school will be
required to develop a Student Engagement Policy
which will replace their Code of Conduct and
attendance policy by the end of 2009.
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We know we are successful when
Student engagement

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Implications for Curriculum Coordinators

• Leadership role in developing the Student
  Engagement Policy
• Curriculum design / pedagogy to promote student
  engagement
• Student engagement in learning
• Differentiated curriculum
• Student voice in curriculum design
• Individual learning plans
• Using assessment to inform teaching
• Identification of at risk students embedding
  understanding of Literacy Numeracy as
  foundations for learning
• Student learning levels integral to response to
  behaviour
• Potential role on Student Support Groups
  prevention, Student absence learning plans
  (supporting ongoing link to learning), Return to
  school plan (post suspension), Attendance
  Improvement plans
• Educational role of the consequences in the
  school policy