What next? Senior School
Shelley Smith and Sandie Anderson, ICT teachers: "We really like what we've come up with and the changes we've been able to bring in. The Year 9 course is really working well for us and our students are definitely enjoying it. We were able to stay fully involved in the development process through the regular department meetings. The development work was presented and discussed by the whole department. Our feedback was then incorporated in to the material being produced."
The group is working on getting more students at senior level; there are five Level 1 classes, three Level 2 classes and three Level 3 classes. Although Technology is a core subject at Years 9-10 it is still timetabled as an option, which possibly adds to that barrier technology teachers are trying to break through.
Teachers have detailing the scaffolding of the key technology competencies for Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13. Generic units of work have been developed for each level – see Year 11 Generic Unit; Year 12 Generic Unit; and Year 13 Generic Unit. Specific senior units of work are being developed: Kate McLennan will be working with food technologists; Jeff Arnold with an inventor with expertise in plastics; John Foster is integrating electronics into his senior courses; Andrew Hughes continues to develop key design ideas in his classes and Doug Sutherland is exploring the benefits of functional modelling.
Success has meant that the whole department is constantly seeking to improve the delivery of their programmes, and with a new curriculum on its way there are further challenges ahead.
The increased collegiality in the group is leading to more effective responses to whole school initiatives such as literacy.
Principal Bill Adam: "Our technology department was doing very well under the existing system, but Carol and Doug recognised that the new technology curriculum brought with it an opportunity to move the department from what many on the outside thought was a pre-industrial training ground to deliver a subject which would have real academic integrity. And that's what they've done."
"Other staff in other departments doubted whether the adjustments required could be made. The proof is there to see – clever kids are now taking the subject, and they do well. They find that technology extends them and is as demanding in its own way as any of the other 'academic' subjects they can do."
"Our students appreciate the challenges the technology staff put in front of them, their insistence on excellence and the support they are prepared to give them."
Some schools retain an expectation that technology can be a dumping ground for lower ability kids. You need to focus on the needs of the top 10-15% of students and ask yourself how we can best accommodate their needs in the subject – these are the ones that will set the high standards and bring other students through the doors. It's these high grades that give a subject its credibility in the school.
