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document.docGlobalism Research Centre

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Catalyst: Changing PracticeCase study of Wangaratta High School

December 2008

Peter BurrowsLes MorganHelen Smith

Globalism Research Centre RMIT


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Wangaratta High School

About the school

At Wangaratta High School, learning is student-centred. Students ‘learn how to learn’ and curriculum programs seek to differentiate curriculum and personalise learning within the framework of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. A

key aim is to develop greater learning independence so that students are equipped to move into the adult world.

A range of curriculum programs is offered, which draw on traditional disciplines of knowledge and transfer the learning into day-to-day situations. This is so that students may learn from the past and the present, enabling them to prepare for

the future.

http://www.whs.vic.edu.au/curriculum/overview.html

Wangaratta High School (WHS) is in the DEECD Hume Region and is located about 240kms North East of Melbourne. It is one of three secondary schools in the area, and the only public secondary school serving the rural city of Wangaratta’s 25,000 people. WHS is also a regional school which means some students are bussed in from smaller towns, hamlets and farms in the surrounding district. The school has a current enrolment of approximately 1400 students and more than one hundred teachers, administration and support staff.

Wangaratta High School is a ‘merged school’ – Wangaratta merged with Ovens College in 2007 – it now has three campuses. The original Edward Street campus offers a Year 7 to 12 program with a focus on academic learning in Years 10 to 12 for students who want pathways that lead to tertiary education, particularly university. The Ovens campus offers a Year 10 to 12 program with a stronger focus on applied learning for students


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more interested in taking on apprenticeships, TAFE courses or entering the workforce immediately following school. The third, much smaller campus, is for year 9 students involved in a program that is centred on community learning projects.

When the merger was announced in 2006 the Minister, Lyn Kosky, said that Wangaratta had been chosen as a site for one of the Government’s four new Technical Education Centres. These Centres were aimed at boosting applied learning programs such as VCAL, pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships and traineeships. Kosky noted that: “This will significantly boost the vocational training programs available to students in this region and help local industry address local skill shortages."

Catalyst goals and directions Feb 2008

The Principal’s view

Debbie Moore is the Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning at Wangaratta High School. Her initial interview-observations relate to the differences between the two school campuses – the academically focused Edward St campus and the vocationally focused Ovens campus. She noted that the two campuses had very different timetables and approaches to learning which created ‘a pretty diverse school’.

In terms of ICT skills at WHS, Moore perceived there to be a wide range of different abilities in both the teachers and the students. She noted that some students came from homes where there were no computers or access to the internet while other students ‘are incredibly savvy users … we can’t get them out of the computer rooms at lunchtimes’. Moore also highlighted some of the issues that had arisen around the use of ipods and mobile phones ‘videoing fights in the school ground and so on’. Moore perceived a similar range of abilities in the staff, noting that this did not relate to issues of age or gender.

Some staff are unbelievably savvy users … they just love it… they try very hard to develop new and interesting lessons for students using IT… perhaps sometimes frustrated by the infrastructure we have in the school. Through to staff (who are) using it because it is part of school policy, because they (must). … But they are probably not using it much in the


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classroom. We have had to develop policies to try to move people forward … to get the staff a little more similar in their abilities.

Moore noted that this was happening in parallel with the design of a new school, ‘with open flexible learning spaces’. She saw this as being a great challenge for staff,

…because we are going to move from the old prison model of corridors and cells to a more deprivatised model which is going to be open spaces where teachers will teach with one another and it will be very ICT rich. We need to move our students and staff in that direction so we can move into those new buildings (which we will begin to) next year. So we have plans and policies and processes in place to try and get teachers more ICT savvy… not just in terms of using technology but making sure that it is embedded within a pedagogy that works for the kids.

She saw the Catalyst program as being part of this process and noted that WSH was already involved in a lot of coaching. She was hoping that involvement in the program would lead to another level of development for staff and help ready them for the new school which she thought was ‘going to be scary for a lot of people – they are going to move out of the room that they own, the room that they don’t have to have other people watching them teach, to a more cooperative model with other teachers’.

Moore’s observations about the school were dominated by this impending transition.

We think it will be great. A lot of staff think it will be great because of the informal PD that will happen when teachers are working with one another but, there is a nervousness about… numbers of kids… being watched by other staff … and there are no doubt a number of staff that are a little bit nervous (that) their ICT skills may not be as good as others and will be compared.

This was consistent with the evaluation team’s visit to the school where staff were seen to be preoccupied with this impending shift, the design of the new school, and how teaching would be practiced in these ICT-rich, open-plan settings.


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Moore’s interview closed with her views on peer coaching at WHS. She noted that the school had been involved in a process of peer coaching and collegiate peer observation as a consequence of their initiatives to be accredited as a ‘Performance and Development Culture School’.

Performance and Development Culture in Schools accreditation recognises that:o The school culture supports the personal professional growth of staff;o The school culture contributes to the capacity of the school to

continuously improve student learning outcomes;o The school has very good processes for developing and managing staff;o The school culture is open to personal growth, continuous improvement

and the use of data;http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/schoolimprovement/panddc/faq.htm

Moore also noted that teachers are divided into Professional Learning Teams that meet regularly. ‘And we have put a lot of resources, thanks to the Leading Schools Fund, into eLearning Mentors – we have an eLearning mentor for each of the old eight KLAs and we have an eLearning Coordinator and another eLearning Catalyst coach – all of which have significant time allowances.’ Moore also highlighted the impact of the individual Performance and Development Plans which required every teacher to have an Action Research Project with an ICT focus supported by the eLearning Mentors. She ended by observing that the course accreditation process in the school ensured that there was a measure of ICT in every course because the school wanted to ensure it was addressing the ICT requirement in VELS.

The action research plan

Wangaratta’s action research plan is aimed at developing and tracking the ICT skills of nine Year 7 teachers – via their uses of ICT tools and software - and how they use these tools and software to encourage their students to become independent learners. The teams (a different team each term)

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/schoolimprovement/panddc/faq.htm

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/schoolimprovement/panddc/faq.htm


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comprise three Year 7 teachers engaged in team-teaching, supported by the Catalyst ICT Peer Coach, Jacquie Tinkler.

WHS chose Year 7 teachers and students because of their existing involvement in the Building Learning Power (BLP) program – a program designed to help students develop learning skills, self awareness and to work independently. The creator of the program, Guy Claxton, says BLP ‘systematically helps students develop the general habits of mind that underpin confident, curious, creative learning.’ The WHS Catalyst team saw this as a good base on which to build their ICT initiatives.

The WHS plan addresses the essential question ‘How can we teach and encourage our students to become independent learners?’ which they link to the school’s Annual Implementation Plan and to the imminent move to an open-plan school:

Our school is currently being rebuilt and the new buildings have been designed to use open and flexible learning spaces and this will require students to work in much more independent ways and will have implications for teachers who will need to develop their lessons in a way that will encourage this.

The building of a new school is a daily-life-altering phenomenon that looms large in the thinking and planning at WHS. The purpose of their project, and what they are trying to achieve in terms of students and teachers, is reflected in their guiding questions which relate to helping students to develop various abilities; to think and work creatively; plan and organize; make decisions and solve problems; work collaboratively with others; review, reflect and revise; and, to learn how to learn.

It is not clear to the evaluators as to how the development of these various abilities will be tracked and monitored or how these abilities are related to the teacher initiatives.

The guiding question in relation to teachers relates to finding ways to improve ICT-related pedagogy and teaching practices as a means of developing independence in students. Interestingly the tools-and-software-focus of the teacher-related questions suggests that tools and software offer pathways to student independent learning.

In what ways can we use ICT tools to promote independent learning such as:


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thinking and analysis software online learning and assessment systems collaboration and communication tools design and creativity software publishing and broadcasting tools and software

Again, the means of tracking and monitoring the development of these ways of working with, and using ICT tools and software, and the connection to promoting independent learning are not clear.

The WHS action research plan is commendably detailed and specific however, as with the guiding questions, it is difficult to see how the desired changes will be tracked, evidence of change captured, and research outcomes demonstrated. This can be seen when examining Wangaratta’s success indicators. The following are indicative:

In the first year of the project the students of the teachers involved in the Action Research Project will:

Begin class work without unnecessary direction and are organised for class and for the day

Access and use the online learning tools available on our Moodle site to undertaking learning tasks both at home and at school

Be able to select from a range of learning tasks that have been developed around their learning styles and needs

How will these success indicators be reflected in the data captured and linked to evidence of changes in teacher practice? Wangaratta’s current research strategy suggests that evidence will be collected via multiple means: interviews and a staff-survey; videos and photographs; analysis and evaluation of teacher resources and strategies; records of Peer Coaching sessions; and, samples of student work.

However these strategies do not map well to the above-mentioned success indicators.

A compounding issue relates to the project scope and details of the school-based researchers which are not clearly identified in the Action Plan. At times the plan appears to suggest that the Catalyst project is addressing the development of all teachers in the school. It is only by referring to the School Support Agreement that details of the project scope and the participants are revealed. This could indicate a need to review and amend the scaffolding provided by the planning template.


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In the section headed ‘Commitment to Act’ where the prompt is ‘What we will do to investigate our questions’ Wangaratta have misunderstood the purpose and instead concentrated on what they will do to develop the teachers’ skills – the ‘Commitment to Act’ scaffold has been used as an action plan rather than a research plan. This means that it is unclear as to how the data that is to be collected relates to the guiding questions or to the intent or purpose of the project. Again this could indicate a need to review the design of the planning template.

The peer coaching plan

The peer coach at Wangaratta, Jacquie Tinkler, is working with nine Year 7 teachers, independently and in small teams, on integrated projects. She is focusing on the development and study of a different team of three teachers each term.

These groups of staff will be coached individually but coaching as a team will also be included for reflection and revision. Incorporating a team-based approach will enable us to examine and reflect on the variety of skills, KLAs and ICT use within the team.

The peer coach and teachers will meet in the school's Professional Learning Team time which is scheduled weekly. The coach has also added a section to the WHS online learning system dedicated to Peer Coaching which enables the teachers to communicate online, keep records and share resources.

In terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the Catalyst ICT peer coaching program WHS will undertake surveys of the students involved and the teachers will be asked to keep a written professional learning journal and contribute to the Peer Coaching Forum on the Learning Management System. The teachers involved are also expected to collect and contribute samples of student work for analysis.


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Critical friend feedback

Wangaratta High School did not identify or engage a critical friend school in 2008.

The recruitment of a critical friend school for Wangaratta in 2009 could provide them with opportunities for dialogue and support missing this year.

Progress and key issuesIn the mid-year review the evaluators noted that in order to understand the progress and key issues at Wangaratta High School it was necessary to understand their context. This remains true as WHS is a complex entity with three separate campuses, dual academic and applied learning agendas, 1400 students and further significant organizational and cultural changes imminent. Hot on the heels of the 2007 merger with Ovens College, Wangaratta High School is in the midst of a collaborative process of curriculum redesign ‘redoing the whole curriculum…and figuring out how that's going to relate to the new learning spaces’. A new, open-plan, flexible, ICT-rich school is presently being built which ‘some staff think will be great’ while others are ‘a little bit nervous’.

When the evaluation team first visited WHS in May Catalyst team members were asked how it felt to work at Wangaratta High School the immediate response was 'frantic, really frantic.' Another teacher said 'yeah it can be a bit like that...there always seems to be a lot happening' A third teacher added 'there is a lot happening alright, so much going on'. We were meeting in a room with a long whiteboard that had been used to map out the evolving curriculum plan – the whiteboard evoked some of the complexity of WHS.


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In the lunch room we observed a sheaf of blueprints and plans spread across a large table for the staff to examine. The new school and its implications dominated the discussion:

VELs and VCE are so different and teachers are wrestling with open learning spaces and VCE...and we are thinking really deeply now about how the new building is going to work with the strict structure of VCE. Whereas with VELs you can be a little bit more flexible… and it may well emerge that we need two separate timetables…

Although our agenda was about Catalyst and project progress the teachers’ collective attention was caught up in uncertainties about the new school and how it would affect them. One teacher then explained that these differences between the demands of the senior curriculum and the junior school ‘was reflected in the elearning stuff as well…the junior school teachers are much happier to be learning, practicing and testing things whereas at the senior level they say I don’t have time to learn new software and test it because if it doesn’t work all hell will break loose because VCE is so results focused’. Another teacher added that this meant ‘they were reluctant to give way to independent learning’ and that the learning was ‘much more teacher-centric’. Such comments help explain why WHS chose to focus their research on Year 7 teachers and students.

It became clear during the evaluation team’s visit that the school was making progress on their project. It was also apparent that they were looking for help, for advice and guidance about their research. For example, after some prompting from the evaluation team, the teachers identified an ICT skills test that the students had already completed which could serve as a possible source of baseline data. However without prompting it is unclear whether the teachers would have recognized this possibility. After some further discussion around what kinds of data might be collected the teachers were asked ‘Do you see yourselves as researchers?’ After a long


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contemplative pause and when it seemed that no-one would respond one of the teachers was asked directly whether he saw himself as a researcher. He hesitantly agreed that he saw that as part of his job ‘to find out what works and what is not working’ but he wondered ‘whether I do it enough’. The peer coach observed that all staff had a research component in their professional development plan which involved the creation and enactment of an action research project with ‘pre and post data’. This suggests that at the school level the idea of the teacher as researcher is valued, which is affirmed by the school’s involvement in the Catalyst project.

Following this initial meeting the evaluation team formed the view that the team at WHS needed further support and coaching, particularly in relation to the skills necessary to address the research responsibilities of the project. Research-work requires specific skills and sensibilities and these take time to develop. Unfortunately the complex circumstances at Wangaratta High School, which included the departure of the original project leader, meant that this coaching and support did not eventuate.

The August 18 Catalyst workshop in Melbourne was attended by the incoming Catalyst project leader who was also responsible for ‘eLearning’ at WHS, Marie O’Brien. Marie attended the workshop alone. She described her situation in relation to the project at Wangaratta High School as being ‘in transition’. The previous project leader would be leaving the school ‘at the end of term’. Marie did not really know what had been happening in relation to the project ‘I was handed a big folder of papers but I am not sure what has been happening…if anything’. When the evaluators asked whether it would be useful if a support visit were arranged, perhaps including a meeting with the assistant principal, the incoming project leader responded that she felt it would be better to wait until after the former project leader had left and she had had time to figure out where things were up to.

At the subsequent follow-up meeting in October the situation at the school was described as being ‘chaotic … it’s all over the place’. The original Catalyst project leader had left WHS a few weeks earlier and her replacement said she was just trying to find her feet, ‘I don’t know which way is up and which way is down at the moment.’ The new project leader described progress on Catalyst as ‘almost non-existent’. She said that there had been two major problems with Moodle, the software which the school


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was using as its Learning Management System. It had crashed twice in the first few months of use losing all the data which teachers had previously loaded. The project leader said this had destroyed the confidence of some teachers’ in the system. She evoked the experience of these teachers with an interesting aural metaphor ‘click, click, clunk, click, clunk, click’. In speaking with the project leader the evaluators formed the view that the unreliability of the technology was affecting her ability to carry out her role as an ICT coach and that this was compounded by not having dedicated release time to work on the project. ‘I was appointed as the contact person since I am the e-learning coordinator but was given no time allocation as I was fully allotted in [teaching] Library, Technology, Textiles and e-learning.’

At the time of the October meeting the principal was on long term leave and the assistant principal was also on leave. Building works were continuing to disrupt school routines.

However a phone interview with the project leader at WHS in December painted a much more positive picture. A new principal and two new assistant principals had commenced at the school and there had been a lot more interest in, and support for, what the project leader wanted to do.

This more positive outlook was reflected in some parts of the end of year report.

It has been an EXTREMELY busy time at Wangaratta HS. The place has been in a state of near chaos since mid 2008 for various reasons and is just now beginning to settle following the arrival of a new Principal … and a near complete turnover of the Assistant Principals.

I have been working with a small team to get assorted systems functioning in the school again, amongst which are Moodle (the school's LMS) and elgg (Digital Portfolios), following a complete crash of servers and one or two people with them. There was only partial backup of data and no written procedure, so it has taken a while to get things back to working order and to win teachers' confidence back. There will be a new approach to Catalyst in 2009, with the e-learning mentors playing a greater role in the Catalyst project. They will need to be skilled up in Peer Coaching, as will I. I have the 2008 manual and will distribute it to the coaches when appropriate.

Another very positive sign at WHS is the return of their web-site which ‘disappeared’ for most of 2008. It has returned with a detailed overview of what the school has to offer and includes a welcoming message from the


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new principal. There is also an entry which addresses the school’s elearning initiatives and a reference to the Catalyst project.

Wangaratta High School is a leading school in the use of computers for learning in our classrooms. Students and teachers are now using our new online Learning Management System to develop lessons and provide teaching and learning materials online, so that students are able to access their class work from home or anywhere else that they have an internet connection.

Our school has also been chosen by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to be a ‘Catalyst School’ which means we are a leading school in the region for the use and development of eLearning in schools. This project involves working with, and training our staff, to most effectively use computers in their classroom with their students.

Other eLearning projects and tools we are developing and using with our students include ePortfolios, the use of online tools and resources, Personal Digital Assistants, digital video, podcasts and many other new and emerging technologies.

There is clearly an impetus for being involved in the Catalyst project and a recognition of the benefits of this involvement.

In the end of year report the project leader sketches out her plans for next year. The Catalyst project team at WHS will need a significant level of support in 2009, particularly in relation to the research agenda, identifying sources of evidence and key success indicators. They are more or less starting their project again.

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