1. Who are the stakeholders of your professional community? In what ways do they influence your practice?
Within the professional community that I work in there are many stakeholders. At the forefront there are the students and staff, and the Board of Trustees, but this actually extends out to the families, whanau and aiga and local businesses within our community.
Our students are the reason we do what we do. The way we teach and the opportunities we provide. The skills, values and attitudes that we foster within them. Their interests, personalities and backgrounds have a major influence on the what and how we teach.
The staff at my school also make up a significant proportion of stakeholders in that they are the most valuable resource we have to offer our students and other staff. We are fortunate enough to have a strong team of teachers who all bring specialized skills and who are all willing to bring their “A game” into the classroom every single day. These people influence my practice as I can draw upon their knowledge and expertise as a way of improving my own teaching.
Our board of trustees, families and local businesses impact on the culture of the school. They work alongside teachers as we all have the same goal of ensuring that our students get the best education that they deserve.
2. What are the current issues in your community? How would you or your community address them?
Our community is multicultural with many of our students being Pasifika, Maori or African. As a result, many of our students our second language learners. Our school is situated in a low-socioeconomic area. While our students come from a variety of backgrounds, our school and community aim to promote:
- Achievement and success for all students (by catering for individual abilities)
- An emphasis on high quality literacy and numeracy programmes
- Provide a wide range of sporting and art opportunities
- Integrate and regular use of information technology to support children’s learning
- High quality professional development for staff
Our community makes a conscious effort to provide our students with the best possible education and that means allowing them opportunities to develop 21st century skills through access to digital devices with the support of the Ako Hiko Education Trust.
3. What are the core values that underpin your profession and how?
Within New Zealand, the core values that underpin education are those that help foster and develop 21st century citizens who can contribute effectively to society.
At our school, the values are a combination of those set out by the The New Zealand Curriculum, our school’s strategic plan and our stakeholders.
Our school’s mission statement of “Value yourself, Value your learning, and respect all others” is embedded throughout everything we do within our school. These values have been established in consultation with our community and are culturally responsive.
Our mission statement is upheld and expressed through everyday actions and interactions within the school. As part of being a PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) School, our students, staff and whanau collaborated on establishing what an “Ideal Student” looks like in our school. This very much drives the what and how we teach as we foster and nurture our global citizens of the future.
Hodkinson and Hodkinson (2004) identify that “learning and social practice are seen as relational” (p. 3) - a change in one contributes to a change in the other. As a professional community, we are faced with challenges constantly, but strive our best to work cooperatively and collaboratively to overcome these issues as we aim to best cater for the lifelong learning needs of our students.
4. What are the challenges that you face in your practice?
There are many challenges that I (my students, and colleagues) face daily.
Some of these include:
- Cultural factors - our learning community is multicultural with over 14 different ethnic groups. Different cultures have different ways of learning, so it is important that I know my learners and their backgrounds. With such a diverse community, this is also means that most of the students within our school are second language learners, with many of their parents being born overseas.
- Political factors - in terms of teaching, learning and assessment, there are issues and concerns around reporting back to parents against national standards, particularly for migrant and refugee students with very limited English skills.
- Social factors - our school is situated in what is deemed to be a low-socio economic area, and as a result social inequalities exist.
- Resourcing - our professional community is proactive in obtaining quality resources for the students at our school. As a result of determination and dedication by individuals, the Ako Hiko trust was established in order to provide equal learning opportunities through digital devices.
Hodkinson and Hodkinson (2004) identify that “learning and social practice are seen as relational” (p. 3) - a change in one contributes to a change in the other. As a professional community, we are faced with challenges constantly, but strive our best to work cooperatively and collaboratively to overcome these issues as we aim to best cater for the lifelong learning needs of our students.
5. What changes are occurring in the context of your profession?
Within education, changes are happening as we strive to prepare our students to compete in a globally competitive world. This essentially means changing how the profession thinks about learners and learning, with a move towards future-oriented learning.
So how can we address these changes and what can we do?
The change needs to begin with learners and teachers working together to generate new solutions to complex problems, as well as developing relationships with communities as students undertake challenges within real world contexts.
Innovation needs to occur in order for a shift to happen. This can be done partially through the use of digital devices. Technology is a tool that has an important role in enabling and creating new learning opportunities.
At this stage some of my next steps for me to contemplate include:
- Personalising learning - meeting the learners needs and interests and catering for these through classroom programmes (while I already do this, I'm sure I can improve on this!)
- Diversity - providing opportunities and experiences for students to develop interpersonal and interrelational skills by working collaboratively with a variety of people
- Curriculum - equipping students to use, find and apply knowledge, rather than recalling knowledge, thus developing the skills of lifelong learners.
- Rethinking the learners and teachers roles - developing the concept of Learn, Create, Share by extending the community locally, nationally and globally. Flipping classrooms, allowing opportunities for students to be the teacher, teachers undertaking professional development.
References:
Bolstad, R. & Gilbert, J. with McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S. & Hipkins, R. (2012) Supporting future-oriented learning & teaching - a New Zealand perspective. Minstry of Education, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/109317/994_Future-oriented-07062012.pdf
Haydon, R. & Percy, E. (2015). May Road School: Community Engagement with Blogging. Retrieved from http://mrscommunityengagement.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/ethnic-breakdown-of-students-who-attend.html
Hodkinson, P. & Hodkinson, H. (2004) A Constructive Critique of Communities of Practice: Moving Beyond Lave and Wenger. Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Leeds, UK.
May Road School. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.mayroad.school.nz/
May Road School (2015) May Road School Strategic Plan.
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