Co-location of schools: out of adversity—some new thinking?

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School hours

Strange things happen in times of adversity. Things out of the norm become acceptable—even essential. Laws and protocols evaporate, and necessity rules.

Merivale shop fronts destroyed in earthquake

I have an abiding memory from February 22, after the big earthquake, of walking through the Merivale shopping centre down the centre of Papanui Road, along with cars and bikes and hundreds of other pedestrians. It was impossible, or too dangerous, to walk on the footpath with teetering shop fronts in danger of spewing out onto the road. Bricks punched the pavement with each aftershock. We all understood that the road rules no longer applied—despite the law. Men in suits and women in high-heels clambered over locked gates and walls into people's homes without being questioned—they were checking to see if anyone had been caught in the rubble of a collapsed wall of a house. We all understood that these things were right for the moment.

How co-location is working for Papanui High School and Shirley Boys High

Recently, I was chatting to a schoolteacher, Justin Warren, from Papanui High School, at one of our CORE Breakfast seminars. Papanui High is one of the schools co-locating because of the Canterbury earthquakes. They share their school facilities with Shirley Boys High School, and will do so until early August at the earliest, I understand.

I asked Justin how the two schools were finding the co-location arrangement. He said that the second "shift" school, Shirley Boys High, is finding that the students aren't coping as well as Papanui High School students in the first "shift". When you look at the times, you can see the picture:

  • 8.00 a.m.–12.55 p.m. Papanui HS
  • 1.15 p.m.–5.55 p.m. Shirley Boys HS.

But Justin was excited about this because the experience has been enlightening. The school is so pleased with the results of the earlier school start and finish times that they are looking at starting school earlier once Shirley Boys have gone!

Benefits for the earlier school start-time

He said that the benefits have been enormous. For example:

  • Teachers are focussing on the essentials of what students need to know and be able to do.
  • Students are, therefore, more focussed and working better, having less downtime.
  • Behaviour has improved.

Initially, there were concerns about lateness. But that hasn't proved a problem. Well, there's still a problem with lateness: the kids that were late before are the same ones turning up late under the new timetable.

There are also some side-benefits. For example, the students and teachers have much more energy for after-school activities such as sports, scholarships, and teacher prep-time.

Law changes required for coping with the disaster may be catalyst for future changes

None of this would have been "discovered" if it weren't for the earthquakes! Schools are  bound by law to be run within certain hours. Co-location being one of the only options open to the many schools affected by the earthquake, the Ministry of Education had to think outside the norm. Emergency (temporary) laws had to be put through including laws concerning half-days. Justin mentioned that a Ministry official who spoke to both schools' staff, no doubt wishing to encourage distressed and disrupted teachers, mentioned that new possibilities may arise out of the disruption.

Justin said that the school was moving to start earlier. The staff has already met to discuss the matter, and voted on it. "Staff have voted for an 8:30 a.m. start and a 2:30 p.m. finish. All meetings would be held in the mornings from 7:30 a.m to 8:30 a.m. This would make staff available in the afternoon for extra tutorials, sports and co-curricular activities." The next thing is to discuss this with parents and the wider community.

There are some issues. Childcare is one of them. Kids returning home earlier from school may present new challenges to working parents and guardians. It highlights the need for the wider community—parents, business, education authorities, and government—to take a good look at this.

Another is, this discovery by the staff at Papanui High School bucks the research trends—at least from overseas. They have been telling us for some time that teenagers are better off starting school later (read: they need more sleep before school). But then, that research has been done in the USA, and they are talking about school start times of 7.15 a.m. I think, even Papanui High would baulk at that, co-location or not!

What other revelations are there? New research may reveal

Are there other things that could come out of all this disruption? What about the very issue of co-location of schools?

Since I started writing this post, I have heard that my colleagues here at CORE Education have been commissioned to do research on the effects of co-location on Christchurch schools on behalf of the Ministry, not only in the secondary sector, but also in early childhood, and primary. Who knows whether the temporary legislation for Canterbury schools affected by the earthquake may open up new possibilities for the whole country!

As Disraeli (1804–1881), a British prime minister, once said: "there is no education like adversity."

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Another ‘age of discovery’ in primary school science (Jolly good fellows – Part two)

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Discovering science

Is there a downward trend in primary student attitudes towards science?

There used to be.

In 2008 a report by the National Education Monitoring Programme drew attention to the downward trend in attitudes of primary school students towards science.

In response to this, a new model was developed for the Primary Science Teacher Fellowships with the aim of developing a community of confident science educators. They would facilitate better science experiences and science learning outcomes for primary age students.

This is the second in a two part series on Fellowship programmes CORE Education is involved with. The first considered the CORE Education eFellows programme. This will consider…

The Primary Science Teacher Fellowship Programme

The programme is run by the Royal Society of New Zealand, and funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Royal Society has for many years run a teacher Fellowship program during which teachers were seconded to science-based host organisations for periods of up to one year. The objective? To get a taste of what "real" science is like. And of course, this gets passed on to their students.

Nature of Science appreciation, curriculum development and leadership: goals of the course

The six-month programme involves three elements:

  • Work experience involving placements in a science-based organisation, working alongside people who use science in their everyday work. The goal is for teachers to gain an appreciation of the Nature of Science, and relate this understanding to the New Zealand curriculum.
  • Attendance at curriculum development days where teachers develop on their own schemes of work, using science facilitators to give guidance on how the science content could be improved.
  • Participation in a leadership program that has been tailor-made to help these teachers return to school and take on a leadership role in science.

Curriculum development workshops

CORE Education is involved in developing and delivering the curriculum development workshops, and facilitating an online community to support the programme. Our team is made up of Dayle Anderson of Victoria University, Wellington; Michael Fenton of the Open Polytechnic, and from CORE Education Brigitte Glasson and me.

The curriculum development workshops focus on teaching science through the lens of the overarching Nature of Science curriculum strand. This curriculum strand has four sub-strands:

  • Understanding about Science
  • Investigating in Science
  • Communicating in Science
  • Participating and Contributing.

Hands-on science activities suited to teachers, students, and schools

Primary Science Teacher Fellows engaging in science activity

The workshops involve plenty of hands-on activities, and consideration of the nature of scientific investigations, which is far wider in scope than just "fair testing". We also include at least one visit to an off-site organisation which can offer students a valuable out-of-the-classroom experience. In the past we have visited organisations such as Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch, and Kelly Tarlton's aquarium in Auckland.

Practical sessions during the workshops focus on simple activities that can be run at minimal cost to schools, and which are designed to encourage questioning and wondering about "why?" and "what if?" There is always a buzz of excited activity during these practical sessions—teachers excited about science!

It was a very full and stimulating couple of days. Thanks everyone.

2010 Primary Science Teacher Fellow after a Curriculum Development workshop.

We believe that it is important for teacher Fellows to be able to relate their experiences in their host organisations to the science curriculum, and to exploring science with their students when they return to the classroom. To this end, we encourage them to relate their experiences in their host organisations to the nature of science strand of the curriculum. We have noticed teacher fellows actively reflecting on this relationship in their posts to the Fellowship's online community, which currently takes the form of a Facebook group.

The end of the programme is only the beginning

At the end of the six months Fellowship, the teachers are expected to return to their schools and to play a leadership role in the development and nurturing of science within their schools.

CORE Education provides ongoing support for the 12 months following the Fellowship. This consists of two in-school visits by members of the CORE Primary Science Teacher Fellowship team, and two cluster meetings. We do this in order to provide support to the individual teachers, and to help them retain a feeling of being part of the greater science teaching community.

Is the programme successful? We'll find out soon.

Primary Science Teacher Fellows January 2011

We are currently working with the fourth group of teacher fellows. The total number of teachers who have been through this programme is approximately 60, with a further 12 to 13 in the second half of 2011.

It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of such a program, which is designed to have positive outcomes both for schools and for students. We intend to carry out an evaluation of the impact of the programme during 2011 to 2012.

I count myself very fortunate to be working with both the core E-Fellows and the Royal Society Primary Teacher Fellows. Both groups are made up of highly motivated and innovative teachers, who are stimulating company and a great pleasure to work with.

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Explosion of data

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Where do we put all this data!

There's certainly a lot being written at the moment about the significance of data in our lives. With the advent of advanced networks, virtualisation and cloud computing, massive (and cheap) storage etc., together with the ever-increasing demands for storing large, multimedia files, we're beginning to see a completely different perspective on data stemming from concerns such as…

  • what data do we need to store and manage?
  • how long do we need to keep it for?
  • where will it be stored?
  • what format(s) will it be stored in?
  • who can access it?
  • what about backup, support, failover etc.?
  • what can we do with it (combinations, mash-ups, visualisation etc.)?

Christchurch earthquakes highlight data issues

The recent earthquakes in Christchurch have brought many of these issues sharply into focus with several schools and businesses losing access to their data when their servers were lost or damaged in buildings. This infographic showing read more

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NetHui 2011— something worth making a fuss about

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NetHui 2011: Shaping our future together

There's a lot of fuss being made about the coming NetHui 2011. And there's good reason!

The inaugural NetHui will be held from 29 June to 1 July at Auckland's SkyCity Convention Centre. It will bring together all those involved in Internet issues around New Zealand in a streamed event format. It will cover:

  • Access & Diversity
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Governance & Legal
  • Government & Openness
  • Innovation & Emerging Issues
  • Education

CORE Education facilitating the education stream—naturally

I'm privileged and excited to be taking an active part in the hui. I and senior ICT consultant Douglas Harre will be facilitating the Education stream, in which the following topics will be discussed:

  • The changing nature of education provision
  • Building a national education network (NEN)
  • Ubiquity in learning
  • Teaching the teachers
  • The 'data' explosion

Accepting the role of leading this stream was a natural fit for CORE Education, which has provided leadership in future-focused thinking about the use of the internet in education for many years now. The themes of the education stream at the hui align well with several of the key themes identified in CORE's 'Ten Trends", published annually on the CORE Education website.

NetHui 2011 is about the future of New Zealand and New Zealanders

Lawrence Lessig
NetHui 2011 is all about participation and is an opportunity for your community to focus on Internet issues. The Hui will provide New Zealanders from a range of sector groups with an opportunity to share ideas and experiences as we anticipate the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband in New Zealand, and what this may mean in terms of how we work, communicate and educate our citizens.

Keynote speaker at the event is Harvard University Professor of Law Lawrence Lessig, widely known in the global Internet community as a vocal proponent of reduced legal restrictions on digital copyright, and a champion of notions of 'fair use' and 'free culture'.

Do you want to attend? Why not!

Registration for this event is only $30 as it is being highly subsidised to make it accessible to as many people as possible to attend.

I encourage educators from across the sector to consider attending this event to take the opportunity to contribute to the education stream discussions, and to learn from what those on other sectors are thinking about as we prepare for a world of ultra-fast broadband.

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Bringing PLD to your staffroom—a blended approach

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CORE Achieve courses

Professional learning and development opportunities can be a dilemma

Providing effective professional development opportunities for all staff can be a perplexing task at the best of times.

To begin, there’s the issue of whether PLD should be used to benefit individual staff members, or whether it should be coordinated to address a school-wide need. Then there’s the issue of finding approaches that will suit the particular needs and stages of development of staff—the old ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach simply doesn’t cut it. Finally, there’s the proverbial challenge of making the PLD investment ‘stretch’ far enough, and the fact that the best PLD is that which is sustained over time, providing opportunities for practice and reflection – rather than the old model of a single workshop here and there.

A blended learning approach provides answers…

These are not easy issues to resolve, particularly if you are looking at a PLD resource that is ‘fixed’ in terms of time and space—for instance, a specialist facilitator, or particular premises on a particular day etc. This is where a blended approach can be useful. By combining the best of face-to-face facilitation, with the benefits of well designed online opportunities, PLD can be provided for staff that is engaging, sustained, and targeting identified areas of need.

Experience using the blended learning approach with secondary schools

During 2010, a team from CORE Education worked with a group of staff from nine secondary schools in the Canterbury region to assist them in the development of in-school approaches to implementing the NZC.

The approach used a combination of face-to-face seminars, together with a series of online ‘modules’, providing access to expertise and resources that could be used by individuals or groups at a time. The online materials were used as a ‘stimulus’ for staff meetings held in the various schools, and from time-to-time, participating teachers joined together for an online ‘webinar’, where they had the opportunity to hear from and interact with ‘experts’ who had been involved in the writing of the document or in the development of supporting resources.

CORE Achieve online professional learning courses—set to go

CORE Education has recently announced the launch of its “Achieve” online courses—the first of a list of courses being developed to be made available completely online.

The intention is that individual teachers may choose to enrol for their personal development, or schools may choose to subscribe and use these courses to underpin their locally-facilitated PLD of a set period of time. For some, the idea of being able to log in and access their professional learning at a time and place that suits is very appealing. For others, the idea of working with a group in a local context is more appealing. CORE’s blended approach supports both methods, and others besides.

Check out http://www.core-ed.org/services/achieve to find out whether there’s something here to meet your needs.

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