CP808-A-new-combined-senior-Technology-programme

Reference: Case Study CP808
Title: Establishing a new combined materials senior Technology programme
Teacher practice: Establishing a Year 13 Technology programme
Overview: With no existing pathway for students from Year 9 through to Year 13 in Technology, teacher Jean Wallace set out on a long-term course of action to create one, by establishing and embedding a new Year 13 Materials Technology programme in the school curriculum.

Jean Wallace started teaching at Mount Maunganui College in 1995. After a Diploma in Home Science in textiles and clothing design from the University of Otago, Jean had moved straight into teacher training at Auckland Training College, graduating in 1987. She taught Home Economics in two Auckland secondary schools before travelling overseas for three years, teaching food and technology courses in two London schools. Her return to New Zealand in 1995 coincided with the release of the new Technology curriculum. On her appointment at Mount Maunganui, Jean found herself teaching Textiles, Food and Science courses across the curriculum. The teacher she replaced had put in place a Year 11 Design Technology – Textiles programme, and Jean had to quickly come to terms with "a course that didn't even exist when I left New Zealand". After teaching and assessing textiles within the Design Technology programme for a couple of years Jean turned her attention to the new Technology curriculum.

"Having taken what, for me, was a big step into Design Technology, the move to NCEA Technology didn't seem such a threatening one. I'd been introduced to the 'technology' approach in UK so what the new curriculum was asking wasn't entirely new to me."

As NCEA assessment became established at all three levels in the school, it became clear to Jean that Technology courses were widely perceived as being 'less academic' than other courses and that the number of students taking the courses at the senior levels was being influenced by the lack of an established coherent 'Technology' pathway from Year 9 through to Year 13. Jean applied to become part of the Beacon Practice project with the goal of successfully addressing this issue.

Area to be landscaped outside school canteen and careers room

Careers Centre main entrance

Existing school canteen building

Area to be redesigned

Area to be landscaped beside canteen

Design ideas developed after consultation with local architect

With teacher release time available as part of the Beacon Practice contract, Jean set about establishing a Year 13 'Technology' course which would operate outside of the existing timetable structure in 2005 and help raise the profile of the subject in the school.

"I wanted to get out of the classroom. I wanted to show that Technology wasn't just sewing, woodwork and metalwork – to take it out of those little boxes, and get students to look at what I was trying to do in a different light."

Jean's immediate task was to attract enough students to make the course viable. " I just asked for volunteers. I had no problems getting girls from my senior classes, but I wanted to try to pull in others who weren't doing technology."

A group of ten enthusiastic students emerged from the selection process. "Some had worked with me since Year 11: some had done hard or soft material options in Year 11 and then moved into different courses, some had a graphics background and some had no technology experience outside of their Year 9 and Year 10 optional Technology programmes. Only two of the students were boys, both of whom I had taught before.

"They all had some idea of what technology was about but almost all of them saw it in a very rigid and 'boxed' way. It didn't surprise me that the ones who had done Technology all the way through from Year 9 tended to be the ones who took on the leadership roles."

Jean was aware of the importance of choosing a context that would give this first course the best chance of succeeding. Landscaping was a topic that had gained considerable local media attention at that time, so she selected an area of the school that would provide a suitable context for a landscaping project.

Jean chose the area outside the school canteen for the makeover. "It was an ugly place and the canteen was definitely on the list of buildings due for redevelopment. The issue that I gave the group was to create a space where people could sit down and eat once they've got their food. It was a big space and it had real problems, but with the careers room in that area as well, it was a space that Year 13 students were familiar with and they were well aware of the problems."

While bringing students in contact with a range of 'expert knowledge' outside of the school was an important part of Jean's planning, she also wanted to make students more aware of the expertise available within their own school environment. "The caretaking staff and the grounds people proved particularly helpful. Once the students got used to talking with them, they interacted very well and were able to ask the right sort of questions. Students quickly realised what they could and couldn't do, and began to see the people working within the school in a completely different light."

The teamwork nature of their project was emphasised when the group addressed the criteria for achievement of a Team CREST award. "They weren't working as individuals. Right from the start it was planned as a genuine team project and the prospect of a CREST award was a motivating factor for them."

Although the students had no timetabled Technology periods, a weekly study period was available for the group to come together. Wednesday lunchtime was also blocked in as regular meeting time and Jean admits to frequently providing snacks at morning interval as an incentive to gain additional contact with the whole group.

"If required, we were also able to take a bit of regular class time, such as when visitors could only come at a specific time. But managing the contact was difficult and the students became very good at texting to remind each other where they should be."

After students had talked in detail with caretaking staff and the principal, and had surveyed staff and students for their thoughts about the area, Jean organised for a young landscape architect to come and work with the group.

"She exposed students to a job that had never occurred to any of them," says Jean. "It opened their eyes to principles of design, which was especially helpful to those doing graphics. She also talked to them about some of the big projects she's been working on, and about the compliance issues and codes of practice that had to be followed in landscaping commercial projects."

The group worked collaboratively through the design process and successfully developed a range of conceptual designs that were presented to the Board of Trustees for consideration.

In terms of student learning, Jean could reflect on many positives from the year's programme, including the rapid development of social and communicative skills within the group.

"These students had never had to interact like this before. They've had to go out and talk to people, listen to what they have to say and then work out how it will impact on what they are doing.

"Having to stand up and do the presentation really scared some of them at first. They knew they couldn't just stand there say what they did, they had to be prepared to justify the decisions that they made - and they found that a big ask."

By the end of that year the main aim of pilot programme had been achieved. A stand-alone Year 13 Technology class was timetabled for 2006 and the goal of establishing a genuine pathway in Technology through from Year 9 to Year 13 became a reality.

"In the past there had never been a clear purpose for following through with the subject into the senior school. We now had a idea of the skill and knowledge base we wanted to push and a purpose for it."

Existing Staff office space in Learning Centre

Existing staff office space

Ramp access to careers room

Modelling proposed area for staff

Design Concept

Inside view of model of proposed layout

Presentation display for Career staff

The new Year 13 class for 2006 was timetabled for four one-hour periods a week, taught jointly by Jean and Hard Materials teacher Graham Skudder. The year started with a group of 11 Year 13 students – largely comprising boys who had come through from Graham's Year 12 programme in 2005, where they had worked on the design and construction of seating for the landscaped Canteen area.

In their planning, the teachers decided to build on the success of the previous year's programme by choosing another context within the school for the students' major project. This time it was the Careers/Learning Centre block. "The Careers Room is just behind the canteen which hides it a bit," says Jean. "Most students don't actually know the room is there and it was definitely in need of upgrading. We'd looked at decking and seating outside the Careers Room as part of the landscaping project, so working on an upgrade of the room itself seemed a logical next move."

The course was structured to start with a minor project in which the boys and girls worked together on group projects in both the materials areas. This acted as both a practical skill-building exercise and also provided an opportunity for the teachers to work on the practice requirements for the development of the student outcomes in the major project.

"We assessed the work using a couple of unit standards, but it was important just to get some literacy awareness within the group – talking about the terminology we would be using which some students may not have come across before."

For the main project proper, students were asked to develop a range of conceptual designs reconfiguring the interior of the school's Careers/Learning Centre block. The students looked at all the issues relating to the use of the area and spoke to the senior management to establish how much extra building could take place. They also looked at other departments in the school, to explore such things as refits, systems for dividing rooms and lighting considerations.

Because all the students were working in the same major project context, a significant amount of group work was able to be done, including the sharing of individual research. "We didn't need to have everybody finding out the same information, and so we'd get students to go off and interview people – sometimes in groups and sometimes on their own. We tried not to make it too threatening at first, but they'd have to come back and share the information they'd got with the rest of the class – which is an important skill."

The space they were working on was shared between two departments and resultant conflicts in areas such as kitchen and toilet requirements were discussed and addressed as they started modelling their conceptual designs.

"It was good for the students to see that staff all had different levels of aspirations for the building. It helped keep them aware of the reality of the situation – that there was no point in them designing something that was never going to be a possibility."

The students made models of their final developed concepts, and then made an aural presentation to Careers/Learning Centre staff.

"This outcome was a real one – staff in this area now have some well developed concepts they can use. We're hoping they will take the information, discuss it as a group and use it as the basis for the future redevelopment of the area."

Over the year, students not only learned range of specific skills, but also developed an extensive range of generic skills. "A lot of this was gained through the way students interacted and communicated with others in the group. But they also learned how to plan and be semi-organised. That wasn't a big aspect initially for this group of students, but actually having to plan how to get things done, and how to meet deadlines became more important as they worked through the project.

"They didn't all get it one hundred percent right – some of them were still sticking their sheets on their display board as they were walking up to present. But they realised they had to learn those skills and its obvious that they're not necessarily getting that in some of their other subjects."

Jordan's desk project

Video of student's gate in operation

Student gate project

In 2007, 17 students opted for the Year 13 Materials Technology programme – a testament to the success of the preceding year.

"That was a good number for a Year 13 class," says Jean. But she was disappointed in the relatively small number of girls coming through. "Most of those students had come through the Level 2 soft and Hard Materials courses, but a lot of my girls tend to leave school at the end of Year 12 – that's just the reality with the students we have tended to attract into the subject. But it does show that progression through the levels was starting to build up."

After two years in which the outcomes from the major project had been presented in the form of conceptual designs, Jean and Graham decided that a 'refocussing' should occur.

"For the first time, most of our Level 3 students had come through Level 1 and Level 2 Technology courses, so had built up a better skill base than in previous years. They were in the class because they enjoyed working with materials and we wanted to give them more opportunity to develop high quality outcomes."

The course was divided into two parts: a minor skills-building project with unit standard assessment followed by a major project in which students had the opportunity to develop an outcome through the use of advanced materials skills using achievement standard assessment.

"Students had free choice of materials with which to work, based on the facilities we've got and the expertise of the staff – between the two of us, they get a good range of options. For their minor project some of the boys opted for textiles, quite happy to cross over and pick up some new skills in that area. In order to exhibit advanced skills, they all went back to more familiar materials for their major project. But it did give them that opportunity to work in a different area, and students who were not familiar with using machinery adapted pretty quickly, which was good for their self confidence."

The aim in the major project was for students to find clients outside of the school, but it was recognised that some students may still be uncomfortable with this aspect of the coursework. "Students need to feel comfortable with a client and it was obvious some of them weren't quite mature enough. So we also needed to provide a range of client-related options for them to choose from."

"By the end of the year class numbers had dropped to 10 of which seven completed the main achievements standards project and the remaining three gaining the appropriate unit standards on offer. So it was a two tier course really."

Jean noted that the quality of the student outcomes was matched by the success of students working collaboratively in a co-educational environment.

"I've had Year 13 students for years, but its not really the same as having a Year 13 class where they're actually working together in a co-ed environment. That's what the real world is like, so it's much better socially. Also they can work together, examine each other's projects and bounce ideas off each other. I like that team approach and it's good to see it in the classroom as, again, it reflects what happens in the real world. There were two or three that just floated in and out but the majority were good at helping one another and working together."

In 2007, most clients ended up being family members or friends, with students not having the confidence to work with someone less familiar.

"That's something we're working towards. We've got some kids coming through next year whom we may be able to push more in that direction, up to that next level of interaction. But you've got to know your kids before you push them too far. It's a progression, and it's going to take time

The effectiveness of the working relationship that Jean and Graham have developed is evidenced in the number of their Level 1 and Level 2 students now coming through into their Year 13 Materials Technology programme. They started the 2008 programme with a roll of 21.

"Some have to make a little adjustment to have both of us teaching them, but its actually a very good learning experience for them for them. They come to realise that both teachers don't have to be equally expert in the materials they are working in... and that they both know about Technology. So both the boys and the girls have just got just used to working with the two of us. We expect them to know what they're doing and to be able to get on with it with supervision from either of us, and there's always other staff around as well, so that gets those staff more involved in what the students are doing at L3."

With a Technology pathway that incorporates University Entrance accreditation and the opportunity for Scholarship awards now in place, both are confident that a different group of students will see value in "taking our subject, and staying with it through to Year 13". However both recognise that "it may take a bit of time to get that message through".

"If I look at my list for Year 12 for next year, half the group I've never taught before," says Jean. "That's the way it is every year. You have to work to get half the class up to a decent skill level, because they've never touched a machine before."

Because of this ongoing problemshe is planning to cut back on the number of projects she will be doing at each year level in the senior school. "I will be using the first term to concentrate on building up those skills more, across all the senior levels, so that students have the knowledge and skills base they need when they have to make decisions for themselves."

Jean is also re-evaluating the structure of her Year 9 and Year 10 programmes to more clearly establish the desired progression in moving from Year 9 to Year 10 to Year 11.

"We need to look at where we should be at, at each level, so we can consciously lift our performance a notch. We also need to pay attention to the 'take-home' value of the outcomes that students are producing, because that's what the community sees and reacts to. It's probably harder for the textiles teacher because students have to buy their own materials, and there's also an expectation that kids who've never touched a sewing machine before can produce something like a ball dress."

"This really depends on the ability of the group of students. Doing that minor project first gives me a chance to assess the students I haven't taught before. But, now, many will have done both Level 1 and Level 2 technology so we'll spend some time during that minor project working out those who could be benefiting most from that outside help."

Both Jean and Graham recognise that their major challenge will remain working effectively with both boys and girls.

"The culture of the classes in many technology departments like ours is single sex – if it's a woodwork class it will be full of boys! So what we've tried to do involves a significant culture shift – a really hard thing to do. It's not just the staff and their perceptions that we have to work on, its in our wider community as well. When parents come to open days and evenings, all the talk is of woodwork and sewing – and boys don't do sewing and girls don't do woodwork, do they! We know it's going to take a long time to change that attitude. But that's what we want to happen – and it is progressing."