Laying the foundations (2004-2006) – Brian Allen
When Brian started at St Pat's in 2004 he found a Technology department undergoing rapid change. The two relatively inexperienced teachers there, Chris and chemistry graduate John Davidson were doing their best to square away their expectations and training with departmental reality. The department's other teacher, who had been at the school 20 years, was on an extended leave, which became permanent around the time Brian arrived. Other teachers had left earlier, having lost motivation due, at least in part, to their disenchantment over the G3 qualification issue. Chris was the only teacher remaining of the four who had been in the department when he began there 18 months earlier. (Despite this disruption, Chris says he had received good support and encouragement from the previous HOD, and had considerable professional development over the period, attending electronics courses, and several NCEA jumbo days.) However, the department lacked direction and was in need of a rejuvenated vision.
Brian saw the two young teachers had potential and set about helping them to realise it more fully.
"The very first thing I did when I arrived was to run my training programme." This is a teacher training programme that identifies the key issues in Technology teaching practice. It breaks down the original Technology "Brown Book" into small pieces and reassembles them "like a blocklayer" into a planning document that teachers can use to plan work units. Brian originally developed this programme during his time at Otaki College, where he had been challenged to turn technical teachers into teachers of Technology. At that time it was three pages long; today the programme runs to over 15 pages.
Planning for progression
Brian wanted to establish a seamless progression for students as they moved from Year 9 through to Year 13. To achieve this, he needed Chris and John to understand how to plan for progression and appreciate why this was important. He wanted them to work together and design their lessons both vertically (in terms of progression) and horizontally (in terms of context). Each lesson was to be part of a continuum rather than stand-alone and in isolation. Brian credits Beacon Practice Professional Support Facilitator Cliff Harwood with providing the academic basis for the changes he had in mind.
Chris had entered teaching with this same strategic approach, and had already planned his whole-year Year 10, 11 and 12 Graphics programmes in which skills and knowledge were scaffolded through the year levels. He had also planned a number of junior Technology units within the structure provided by the previous HOD. Chris was pleased to find that Brian was providing the structure and environment for this approach to be implemented across the whole department, with involvement from each of the teachers.
Chris and John "soaked up" these ideas, Brian says. "I think Chris saw that my management style and the change in direction I was proposing sat more comfortably with his previous training than with his experiences as a first-year teacher."
Planning for progression, Brian says, is a process of reverse engineering – of knowing where you want Year 13 students to be at the end of their studies and working backwards from that point. Brian, Chris and John broke this down and identified the areas Years 9 and 10 students had to develop in before moving into Years 11 and 12.
Chris comments that this was not entirely new ground, but there were definite areas of weakness that needed addressing. "It must be remembered that NCEA was in its early stages, with the rapid introduction of Level 2 and 3 causing more than a few difficulties in terms of adjusting programmes of learning to suit this style of assessment. The change to standards based assessment was a positive one, but the way it was introduced had a negative impact on workload and on addressing inconsistencies in particular."
Brian wanted students to approach their first NCEA year armed with confidence, knowledge and skills. Chris says that to any teacher this is common sense, but it takes time and a process of 'stepping back' and looking at the big picture before working out the details of a programme. He likens the approach to painting a picture or creating an image in Photoshop, where the large areas are 'blocked in' first, before standing back (or zooming out) and checking the work as a whole, from a distance, then returning to the detail.
In putting the theory into practice, Brian reorganised the deployment of his teachers. Instead of having each Technology class go to a teacher for a term then move onto another the following term, each class was assigned a teacher for a year.
Managing relationships
Teaching is all about relationships, Brian believes, and that managing changes in teaching styles and approaches is all about managing relationships. Consultation and collaboration are key: "Teachers must see themselves as part of a team. This is absolutely critical."
Teachers must be given the confidence to change their teaching programmes to best suit the needs of their particular students while delivering the curriculum effectively and giving them the confidence to deal with classroom issues, he says. "You have to empower them to be better teachers."
Chris agrees and says it's important to have a clear understanding of the strengths of each individual teacher in a department. A leader must understand what motivates his or her teachers and understand how they derive enjoyment from their vocation. A happy teacher who feels supported and valued is, he says, more likely to be a productive teacher. "We all have strengths and weaknesses – there is no perfect teacher! Making the most of each teacher's strengths, and, as a team, supporting each other in the weaker areas, assists in creating a department that functions effectively and moves forward."
Change must also be brought about through working well with senior management and clearly outlining a strong vision and direction, Brian says. "When I was appointed there, I had a meeting with the principal and a BOT rep and we talked about my vision of Technology education and how I wanted the school to become one of the top Technology schools in the Wellington area. I wanted it as a model, so that people could look at the school and say: 'I can learn from this school and apply it to my own school and my own teaching in terms of Technology education.' That was the driving force behind it."
To Brian, the key to smoothly managing change is to always see (and have those around you see) change in a good light, in a positive way. "It's an attitude. If you see change as negative, it will be."
Chris concurs, and adds that positive change is not about saying 'what we are doing is rubbish. Let's scrap it all and start again'. "Rather, it's about recognising what we are doing well, being realistic about our failings, and formulating a plan that will move us forward, that will take us closer to the goals we have set ourselves in line with our vision. That vision needs to be developed collaboratively, by the team, rather than imposed by one person. The best leaders, in my opinion, are the ones who understand that they are one part of the team."
A new Vision Statement
Brian's vision is encapsulated in the Department's 2006 Vision Statement:
"We want boys to succeed in Technology and Graphics at St Pat's College. So our goal of the Technology department is to create an environment that boys want to work in such that they:
- Are empowered to engage in their own learning.
- Are allowed to take risks in a controlled environment.
- See that learning also takes place within the community.
- Understand that striving for excellence is a process that they can be involved in.
- See that learning can impact on the world they live in.
