Implementation
Development of the strategic plan proper began with the teachers clearly defining what they wanted to achieve in their teaching of Technology. Cliff Harwood believes that this early step is a critical one: "Establishing that common vision up front is very important. It's got to be a shared understanding, a shared belief around the importance of where you are going and what you are doing."
Defining and establishing a common vision requires common understandings of the language of Technology and Technological practice. It became obvious early on that jointly creating a glossary of Technology terms would be a good way of achieving this.
Putting the glossary together was a no small undertaking, Claire says. "It took forever to develop. We brainstormed all the words and set things up so we had Primary, Middle, and Senior School definitions. We went away with ten words each, then got back together and discussed each word. We decided in the end to have a single definition."
The process was also invaluable in terms of exploring one's own understanding of Technology terms and concepts, Claire says. "It really made people think, and the discussions that ensued were great."
The group also shared understandings of what constituted effective learning and achievement, through general discussions and the sharing of teaching strategies and consequent student learning outcomes. 'It's one thing to look at a student's portfolio and do a joint moderation exercise, but it's another thing to understand how a student got there and the teaching strategies that were used to enable it," Cliff says.
The teachers listed the outcomes they wanted to achieve. Besides the key competencies outlined in the Technology curriculum, and the NCEA and International Baccalaureate qualifications, the list included the values outlined in the school's vision statement and the qualities listed by the Habits of Mind (HOM) programme which was in place throughout the school.
The plan was also to embrace a number of other positive but intangible qualities. Independent education consultant Dr Julia Aitken was invited along to speak to the staff, and she posed the question: 'What did the teachers want the Year 13 students to be like when they left school?' The answers provided further criteria for the developing framework.
Over the course of several full-day meetings, the group cut-and-pasted the attributes and goals on to a long roll of paper and developed headings and categories around them.
Initially, the group planned to simultaneously develop the framework for the Year 9, Year 11, and Year 13 levels. However, the group started at the Y13 level and 'reverse engineered' their way backwards, asking themselves: 'If that's what we want students to achieve at Year 13 what do we have to teach earlier to make that possible?' The results of this brainstorming were transferred to computer and further refined into a guide.
Cliff believes that a strategic plan should not only be clearly understood by everybody concerned but should also provide clear pointers about how to proceed:
"It's important to break the statement down so people don't just see it as a piece of paper on the wall but come to see it as something that is actually achievable; something where they can see the incremental steps required to turn it into a reality."
The detail of the plan was refined until it consisted of numerous discrete steps.
