Towards a school curriculum
Lynfield College, a co-educational secondary school in central-west Auckland, recently held a teacher only day focused on The New Zealand Curriculum. We also recently celebrated our 50th Jubilee. As part of this celebration, the college motto “Learn to Live” has taken on a renewed relevance. A group of students incorporated this motto into the original school song. They composed a new melody which was then performed at assemblies and reunion events.
In a similar move, the college crest was the focus of a dramatic presentation scripted by students as the introduction to our teacher only day. The components of the crest were coloured to reflect the different learning areas. During their presentation these components were symbolically attached to the crest outline and a personal explanation was given by each student representing a specific learning area. Student voices were also captured in videoed interviews about their experiences of success and learning.
The educational significance of the ‘student voice’ in each of these events became the scaffolding around which teachers were able to discuss and develop their responses to the review questions about the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum. Visual and written records of these staff and student ‘voices’ have been posted on the school’s network for use in our ongoing reflection and development. This record shows our awareness and appreciation of the tasks required to move from the New Zealand Curriculum towards a Lynfield College curriculum.
Some key feedback included:
- an interest in how a shared vision helps to link the community to the school curriculum
- a desire to explore how further acknowledging cultural diversity helps recognise values
- a suggestion to offer more structured collaborative learning environments to enable students to develop the key competencies.
Spreading the responsibility for leading the activities of the day ensured that feedback was relevant and meaningful. Senior managers, faculty leaders and heads of departments were all involved in facilitating discussions based on the review questions and were able to keep a record of the feedback to allow the next steps to be developed. Staff involved in a variety of current professional learning projects shared their experience of pedagogical developments, cross curricular activities and learning strategies to encourage, inspire and challenge their colleagues. The focus on looking ahead towards a Lynfield College curriculum emphasised the framework and guidelines provided by The New Zealand Curriculum document and the strengths and qualities of the current teaching programmes at our school.
A strong start has been made in progressing towards a Lynfield College Curriculum.
- Tags:
- secondary
- student voice
- vision
Published on: 18 Sep 2008
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