iNet - Futures Vision - Mount Waverley School, Australia

Mount Waverley Secondary College is a traditional, co-educational school. It has a student population of 1800, split over two sites. Years 7 and 8 are at the junior school, less than a kilometre up the road from Years 9 to 12 on the middle/senior campus. Our students come from diverse cultural backgrounds with over seventy different ethnic groups represented. The college offers an extensive curriculum and provides camps at all year levels. Side by side with the daily routine the college also offers many varied and challenging co-curricular programs such as Challenge, Flying Start, Civics and Citizenship, CORAL (Culture of Respect and Learning) and Careers Forums.

Centre for Professional Education and Learning Research

Mount Waverley Secondary College values a close relationship with Melbourne University, and the college is now a Centre for Professional Education and Learning Research. We take up to eighty student teachers per year, and are able to offer internships to training teachers. The college is also the base for the delivery of subjects in the university’s Masters of Education course in eastern Melbourne.

Getting started

The focus of establishing the college as a Centre for Learning has been an evolving yet exciting process. Like many schools, Mount Waverley had dabbled in the thinking-oriented curriculum since 1995. In the ensuing years we had many staff attend inspiring on-site courses and workshops given by educational leaders such as Carolyn Coil, Art Costa, Janet Aaker-Smith and the Deakin Middle Years Program. These created a sound cohort of staff well versed in the concept of the thinking-oriented curriculum and in 2002 it was decided that it was time to take a more unified approach.

In March 2002 Michael Pohl (Thinking Education and Lecturer in Gifted Education, Flinders University, SA) was invited to the college to address staff on the thinking oriented curriculum. Staff agreed that a range of thinking tools, skills and strategies should be taught explicitly, across the curriculum, from years 7 to 10.

The process had begun!

The thinking-oriented curriculum

A thinking-oriented curriculum is one that engages students by embedding thinking and learning strategies in the delivery of the content. It is important in preparing our students to fully and effectively participate in the communities of the future.

The thinking-oriented curriculum benefits students through the focus on building:
strong social competencies, resilience and self-esteem

creative and critical problem-solving and decision-making skills
an ability to adapt to change
a desire for lifelong learning.

Implementation

This was a significant commitment for the college. There was a determination that this initiative was too valuable to be allowed to disappear after the training period in the hustle and bustle of everyday school concerns. This has not been the case and there have been several key factors in the success of the program since that day in March 2002.

Value
The research-based belief that the teaching and learning strategies delivered through a thinking-oriented curriculum will benefit the whole school population, both students and staff, has been the single most important factor in implementing a whole-school approach. This belief was, indeed, sorely tested in January 2003 when over half of the senior campus went up in flames. Work with the middle school staff on thinking skills was due to start that very day. Despite the stress that the circumstances of the fire inevitably caused it was decided to push on with the thinking-oriented curriculum but with care.

Leadership
A supportive, knowledgeable and actively involved leadership team has been essential in providing time for professional development and allocating considerable funding to the process. It has also been important through the staff review process in valuing the work of staff in the classrooms.

Leadership is not just about the formal administrative structure of the school. A supportive, dedicated and passionate staff have led and supported the implementation of the program both in staffrooms and, most importantly, in classrooms.

A three year plan facilitated by external presenters
A three-year plan was facilitated by external presenters with credibility and experience in the area.

Michael Pohl was contracted to facilitate the process over 2002-2003.

Working with Key Learning Area (KLA) leaders at the junior school in 2002, and at the middle school (years 9 and 10) in 2003, the thinking tools were allocated to be the teaching responsibility of a particular KLA.

Figure 1 Explicit Teaching of Thinking Skills as at 2004.

KLA	Years 7 & 8 2002-	Years 9 & 10 2003-	KLA	Years 7 & 8 2002-	Years 9 & 10 2003-
English (Explicit teaching)	DeBono’s six hats	Caring, creative thinking	Science (Explicit teaching)	Ryan’s thinker’s keys	Graphic organisers
Technology (Reinforcing)	DeBono’s Six Hats	Caring, creative thinking	Health/PE (Reinforcing)	Ryan’s thinker’s keys	Graphic organisers
SOSE (Explicit teaching)	Gardner’s multiple intelligences	Critical thinking	Maths (Explicit teaching)	Bloom’s taxonomy	William’s taxonomy
LOTE (Reinforcing)	Gardner’s multiple intelligences	Critical thinking	The Arts (Reinforcing)	Bloom’s taxonomy	William’s taxonomy

This just means that the KLAs nominated are responsible for the explicit teaching and reinforcement of that strategy. Explicit teaching involves a thorough explanation of the tools and strategies so students know what the purpose of the strategy is and reasons for using it. This is not a restriction on the use of thinking strategies. All staff can use any of the tools or strategies in any of their classes.

Staff were in-serviced on the strategy being used by their KLA, and later introduced to all the strategies.

The tools and strategies that seem to have been the best implemented, or seem to have best caught the imagination are De Bono’s six thinking hats, Ryan’s thinker’s keys, critical thinking and, across all areas, graphic organisers. Some areas and strategies require substantially more background work prior to full implementation.

Support for classroom implementation
One of the most productive strategies has been the appointment of a consultant to work with individuals or small groups of staff to develop classroom materials. In 2002 Karen Green worked one day per week with staff in the junior school. All members of staff developed units of work, reviewed lessons or discussed issues with Karen who began work with the middle school staff in 2003, and maintained support for junior school in 2003. This introduced a highly supportive form of accountability and reinforced the expectations of a whole school approach.

Another vital support for classroom teachers has been the appointment of an educator when the college became a phase one school in the Innovation and Excellence Cluster initiative. Robyn Rivett has supported the implementation of a thinking-oriented curriculum with her experience and professional expertise in middle-years literacy and numeracy. The establishment of Professional Learning Teams will continue this active involvement of staff in this process.

Successful …?

IIt will be difficult to provide quantitative evidence that our Centre for Learning is working. We have anecdotal evidence of year 12 students using Venn diagrams to plan their English essays and selecting fishbones to summarise their Physics topics. Our staff are using six thinking hats and think/pair/share in leadership and KLA meetings. Innovative programs such as CORAL have begun surfacing as staff look for different ways to involve students in their learning. Sharing work has become an enjoyable part of staff meetings and teachers are growing in confidence to share their work they are doing.

2004 and beyond…

The University of Melbourne will be conducting a research project to analyse the implementation of thinking in the curriculum. Consultant support will continue for development of classroom materials and staff mentoring for training new staff in thinking-oriented curriculum.

Contacts

For further information on any of the information provided please contact:

Mr. Jeremy Beard, tel: 0419 349 934, email: bea@mwsc.vic.edu.au
Mrs. Glennis Manners, tel: 9887 9290, email: man@mwsc.vic.edu.au

Register today

Useful links

5th iNet International Conference, 26 28 November 2008

Futures Vision - Mount Waverley School, Australia

Centre for Professional Education and Learning Research

Getting started

The thinking-oriented curriculum

Implementation

Successful …?

2004 and beyond…

Contacts

Login

Register today

Useful links

5th iNet International Conference, 26 28 November 2008

Futures Vision - Mount Waverley School, Australia

Centre for Professional Education and Learning Research

Getting started

The thinking-oriented curriculum

Implementation

Successful …?

2004 and beyond…

Contacts