Quality Learning and Teaching

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“Done that!” Making that pendulum shift work for you.

May7

“Done that!”

How often do we hear people saying this, when confronted with a new change? Often, they are quite correct. It has been tried before. Sometimes someone will see an idea for a change and think they should or could implement this in their school setting. This can mean a real change in direction and cause a great deal of frustration for staff as they are still trying to implement the last change. Not to mention the students where this is likely to have the greatest impact.

I don’t think anyone implements a change because they think it is a bad idea. One of my favourite sayings, however, is that you have to get the “right things right”. A change can be implemented in a school and it can be done really well but it could be the “wrong” thing and will not bring about the improvement needed. “Open learning spaces” is a good example of a pendulum shift. It was big in the70’s and has been tried by various schools since then with varying degrees of success. It is on the agenda again.

Unfortunately, opening up a learning space does not necessarily mean that there will be improved learning outcomes. Open learning spaces provide opportunities that a single classroom doesn’t but if it doesn’t provide an orderly learning environment with sound pedagogy it is not going to be successful. It is not the space we should focus on but what goes on in that space.

I was very fortunate to be involved in the development of a Year 7 Learning Centre at Mordialloc College. In response to the Quality Learning framework we had made many changes in the College, including processes and pedagogy but had found that the physical structure and traditional process of a secondary college was preventing us from achieving more. The Leading Schools Fund provided us with the opportunity to bring about improvement in the College. It allowed us to knock down walls of 8 existing classrooms and an assembly space to create one open space. We purposefully avoided the term of “open space” learning because of the predicted response of “done that” and because what we wanted was flexible learning spaces, not just an open space. Our journey is documented on the Quality Learning website and is an example of getting “the right things right.http://www.qla.com.au/videos/csv023-quality-learning-in-year-7/2112871206

Things that helped make this open “flexible” space successful:

  • There was a reason for the change
  • A shared purpose, vision and school values/philosophy already existed
  • A learning and teaching framework existed
  • Change framework and practices implement to bring about the change
  • Planning, preparation and reflection time was provided
  • Implementation of the change took priority
  • Time to implement and evaluate the change
  • Professional learning provided
  • A critical friend utilised to advise and provide feedback

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