NSWSPC - Futures Project White Paper, Appendix J (3)

APPENDIX J:
REPORTS FROM FUTURES TEAMS

TEAM: Student Learning
TEAM LEADER : Ann Newman
DATE: 15/02/99

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Holistic Approaches to Learning, Thinking - Purpose of School.

1. ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Strategic Options	Implications for: System / Government	Implications for: Principals / Schools	Action to be taken
The Physical Learning Environment: * Work with Department to plan the reconfiguring of learning spaces / places / schools etc.	- Consider funding and resourcing - investigate needs and issues. Plan for the future.	- Promote flexibility in the use of existing space.	- Set up models / trials - Cost analysis
The Learner: * Develop and monitor methods of assessing learning which reflect standards and competencies, ie a common set which demonstrates what a learner can do. Integrate assessment and learning. Reporting models aligned with assessment practices and the user in mind.	- Train staff, community (parents) to become assessment literate. - Mandate and support change.	- Clarify approaches, support for staff. - Implement mandates. - Announce to the learning community. - Plan and develop approaches. - Implement and support.	- Develop and trial in units across the curriculum.
The Teacher: * Re-define the holistic role of the teacher. * Work with Department and universities to build ongoing training of teachers as a condition of employment - training to be futures focused.	- Negotiate with teachers, unions and training institutions. - Set up opportunities for movement of staff to and from schools, training organisations, inside and outside the system.	- Promote Training and Development opportunities for and with staff. - Set up monitoring procedures to evaluate training. - Promote professional reading and networks.	-Set up models of best practice (time frame needed). - Establish networks to share expertise inside and outside the system. -Encourage ongoing exploration and research into futures.
The Curriculum: * Develop a critical core of functional knowledge and skills to create a process driven curriculum essential for life-long learning.	- Identify a critical core. - Set policies / procedures to allow and ensure critical core is contemporary, relevant and dynamic. - Set standards framework for assessing the core curriculum.	- Build flexibility into school thinking and planning. - Involve students in curriculum planning and mapping. - Establish curriculum standards referencing. - Use technology to track students learning in the core.	- Identify current core knowledge and skills across the curriculum and the curriculum that could be. - Department and BOS set up and provide the technology to implement the critical core. - Provide training for staff and parents.

2. LEARNING and WELFARE

Strategic Options	Implications for: System / Government	Implications for: Principals / Schools	Action to be taken
The Physical Learning Environment: Provide opportunities for flexible structured student learning to occur 24hrs a day from a linked range of environments. Liaise in the short term to increase links between places of learning.	- School system becomes an educational learning central system with many routes to learning. - Re-define who the learner is and how, when and where learning occurs.	- Promote the concept of lifelong learning and everyone is a learner. - Tailor our services to suit the learner. - Learners will move in and out of learning environments. - Tailor policies to cater for flexible learners. -Review and evaluate curriculum, organisational to meet learning needs. - Consult with community. eg transport.	- Set up structures to acknowledge the variety of learning providers. - Identify all possible places and the nature and type of learning possible in each. - Coordinate findings. - Link to curriculum.
The Learner: * Shift paradigm from content based teaching / learning to focus on holistic approaches using processes, skills. * Employ para-professionals in schools to support welfare, social, emotional development - the human side.	- Move from a centrally organised and controlled teaching system to a co-ordinated learning system, streamlined to allow for an individually planned system. - Build employment of para-professionals into a learning system and/or provide for in school budgets according to the needs determined by the learning community.	- Remove age progressive learning. - Focus on learning - how to learn. - Redefine the responsibilities of Principals, Staff, Parents. - Implement and encourage networking.	- Align syllabus documents (and assessment) procedures to allow for holistic integrated teaching / learning. - Develop role statements that reflect the central purpose of schooling as being for teaching/learning/thinking. ie. role statement for all the people in the business of educative learning.
The Teacher: * Train teachers to develop a team ethos and use integrated holistic approaches to teaching and learning * Teachers focus on teaching skills, processes in the new flexible the curriculum.	- Develop supportive packages and provide ongoing training for teachers. - Work with the unions to remove demarcations for teachers. - Work with universities and professional bodies to create relevant training. Clarify responsibilities.	- Provide a climate/culture that supports teamwork.	- Provide for ongoing teacher learning and resource and encourage teacher professional growth.
The Curriculum: * Create new courses to link with new skills (eg teamwork, systems thinking, cross cultural awareness etc. etc.)	Work with business, employment, community based systems to create generic skills etc. to provide the purpose of schooling.	- School provides relevant and appropriate courses and opportunities for learners and teachers.	- Provide the technology and training needed to free leaders to spend more time analysing student needs and designing individualised programs to meet them.

3. SHAPING the FUTURE of LEARNING

Strategic Options	Implications for: System / Government	Implications for: Principals / Schools	Action to be taken
The Physical Learning Environment: * Encourage, monitor and build schools as learning communities.	- Develop a learning society. - Define life long in an educative community. - The community participates as educators contributing to learning.	- Build practices into the school to ensure community members participate in the learning at different levels.	- Government / system initiate structures to implement the concept of the community as a coordinated learning society.
The Learner: * Develop ways to identify and value all learning models. * Develop authentic assessment processes that show what has been learnt.	- Establish the best conditions and learning environment to allow all learners to learn in an inclusive way to bring about equity. - Eliminate system failures for learners.	- Build expectations that all can and will learn - reward and celebrate it. - Accept responsibility for all learners and teaming. - Build expectations for life long learning for all. - Have clear learning objectives / outcomes for all students. - Give meaningful and relevant feedback.	- Resource school to establish the best learning environment based on best practice studies and standards. - Allow pilot programs to run in each school. - Encourage sharing of best practice.
The Teacher: * Allow teachers to shape learning for the future. * Allow the future to shape learning fornow.	- Provide mandatory training for all teachers to ensure practices have appropriate currency in respect of learning. - Research and provide information, time and other resources to support schools.	- Supervision and professional development monitors the learning focus in schools.	- Ensure that teaching/learning practice aligns with teaching/learning theory to meet learner outcomes.
The Curriculum: Provide a multifaceted curriculum based on how students learn, think and know.	- System policies / programs focus on / centre on the learner. - Development of curriculum documents is based on life long learning skills, problem solving, creative and critical thinking processes and futures thinking.	- Schools implement practices which access and reward learning skills. - Learning skills programs are mandatory in all learning environments / centres.	-Develop a learning to learn program and integrate it into a holistic curriculum.

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