Background ...
St Margaret's College is a composite (Years 1-13) independent girls' school in Christchurch, with a roll of approximately 740 students. The Technology department is headed by Claire Wood. Technology is taught at every year level.
Primary School
At the Primary level (up to Year 6), a range of Technology units is delivered by classroom teachers. The planning of these units is usually undertaken in consultation with the HOD Technology. This enables resources to be shared and an overview of Technology teaching in the school to be maintained. The primary school has access to specialist rooms and equipment at the senior school.
Middle School (Years 7-10)
In Years 7 and 8, students study two areas of Technology per year. Year 9 students choose three areas of Technology and spend approximately eight weeks in each. Year 10 students choose two Technology options for half of the year each. Middle school teachers meet regularly to discuss topics being undertaken in Integrated Studies in order to forge links between Technology and the other learning areas students are studying.
Senior Secondary (Years 11-13)
Senior Technology was progressively introduced into the school, as NCEA Technology units became available: Technology Level 1 was introduced in 2002; Level 2 in 2003; and Level 3 in 2004.
Year 11 Technology is taught by three specialist teachers with a class in each of Communication Technology and Materials-related technologies. Students study Communication Technology for a full year with one teacher. The focus of this context is Media and Communications. The Materials-related Technology programme is taught by two teachers with the class swapping teachers after approximately two terms – this approach was profiled in Beacon Practice case study BP606 Teaching as a Team. In 2008, the programme focussed on shelter and fashion design. Achievement standards are used for all assessment.
Year 12 Technology also focusses on Materials-related technologies. As in the previous year, students study each technology for two terms and swap between teachers at the end of term two. The course focusses on Fashion (accessories – bag design and garment construction), and the students are given a variety of contexts in which to formulate their own briefs. Achievement standards are used for assessment. In 2009 Communication Technology will progress into Year 12 and into Year 13 in 2010.
The Year 13 course focusses on materials-related technologies (Fashion) for a whole year.
Assessment is completed using NCEA achievement standards through to Level 3.
The Technology Department at St Margaret's was seen as an early leader in Technology teaching and has been visited regularly by teachers, HODs, Principals and Boards of Trustees from schools around the country.
In 2004, the Technology Department applied for Beacon Practice funding, outlining a number of broad aims:
- to raise the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in senior secondary Technology courses;
- to increase secondary school student participation in Technology courses;
- to improve the alignment between secondary and tertiary Technology education; and
- to increase interaction with business and industry.
Another very important aim of the Beacon project was to organise the department and bring a sense of coherence to the school's whole Technology programme, from Year 1 through to Year13. Despite the obvious strengths of the department – its strong staff, delivery of well structured and engaging teaching units, effective recording and assessment systems – and the success and recognition the department had achieved, Claire Wood shared a feeling with the rest of the Technology staff that a sense of progression was missing from the programme.
"Before we started [Beacon] we were all delivering sound Technology programmes but we didn't have seamless progression right through. We sort of did but it wasn't official or logged; we didn't have the paperwork."
Claire wanted to introduce a consistency of approach through the entire Technology programme:
- consistent teaching pedagogy;
- consistent understanding of key Technology concepts;
- consistent assessment through shared understandings of these key Technology concepts and the curriculum's achievement objectives; and
- consistent recording systems to enable the passing on of evidence of student achievement to successive teachers to activate 'next step learning' and enable true progression in student learning in Technology from new entrant to senior secondary.
Claire wanted the whole staff to "sing from the same hymn book". The vision she had and shared with her peers was to move from delivering good one-off units to delivering excellent units that linked across and within levels. The pedagogy behind this vision is outlined by John Edwards/Bill Martin, educationalists who have written about the transference of learning between different concepts.
To achieve this vision it was clear that a formal plan was required; a single unambiguous plan to guide all the teachers involved in leading students through the Technology levels. The school's principal Claudia Wysocki endorsed the application, which was granted in October, 2004.
