Waikato Cluster
Waikato schools Hamilton Girls' High School, Tauranga Boys' College and St John's College (Hamilton) worked together as a cluster during Phase 2 of the Beacon Practice initiative to improve learning outcomes mainly in the areas of Food and Materials Technology. One goal was to develop systems of evidence gathering that effectively support student learning and that are appropriate for national assessment purposes.
St John's College
In 2006, teacher Steve Andrew experimented with evidence recording, identified and implemented domain skills progression in Materials Technology and implemented a Year 13 mentoring programme.
In 2007 the area of mentoring was further developed and a the way evidence is gathered simplified.
"One of my goals was to simplify the evidence required and methods used for recording progression of domain skills," says Steve. "This should started to have a positive effect on our Year 10 and 11 classes in 2007. The Year 9 technology programme was also further developed and assistance provided to teachers of junior classes to implement extension activities for high achieving students."
Hamilton Girls' High School
In 2006, teacher Jenny Mangantrialled evidence-gathering techniques and has begun to identify the essential requirements to improve student enjoyment, achievement and ongoing participation.
"We made a lot of progress in developing teaching, learning and assessment materials," she says. "This has improved our own knowledge and resulted in ongoing improvements to programmes and student outcomes both at junior and senior level. There were also spin-off benefits for wider department staff in terms of PD and support. We have made a start and will continue to work on progression and recording strategies.
"A major focus for us in 2007 was to establish several classes in Technology at the senior level including Food Technology and a generic Technology programme. We established some industry /professional links in 2006 and continued to expand on these in 2007 especially to include more contacts to support the Food area."
Tauranga Boys College
Over the first year of the project a new approach has been tried in the Year 11 Technology programme, giving students more choice in the context they wish to practice in. This worked well in terms of the diversity and complexity of the solutions produced and also raised some management issues which were addressed in 2007.
Significant progress was also made to create a scaffolding document for all levels that includes components of practice and domain knowledge descriptors.
"One of the key aims for us was the development of smarter strategies for the collection of evidence," says teacher Steve Ronowicz. "This has been achieved through better use of CAD and the school ICT suite. All senior programmes are now digitally formatted from day one and linked to the school's website. Web resources are linked to this and students have 24-hour access to all resources, support and other possible research sites."
Final reflections of the cluster
According to the cluster's final report, the Beacon Practice initiative has been highly successful for all participants. Each of the teachers have made significant advances in their own learning, teaching and assessment practices, department-wide practice has been enhanced and Technology is enjoying a higher profile and greater support within the schools.
"Our programmes and teaching practice have been enriched through our deeper understanding and the many resources and ideas that have been developed and shared at regular cluster meetings and through contact with other Beacon teachers and industry. The time for greater reflection and discussion has enabled us to critique and improve our practice and provide more support and quality feedback to students.
"We have all widened our use of ICT and digital resources. The Beacon teachers at Tauranga Boys' are now use ICT in their senior classes for research, design, planning and collecting and presenting evidence for assessment and they are well resourced for this. We have all learned a lot from their developments and will continue to expand in this area as resources allow.
"Ongoing PD for our departments continues to be a valuable spin off of the Beacon Project as we continue to share our learning and resources. We have improved programmes that focus on progression of skills and knowledge and consistency across all classes at junior level and developed support materials that have enhanced delivery and confidence throughout the department.
"Establishing links with industry to support and enhance both teacher and student learning has been a major focus and this is now a valued and integral part of our programmes."