Engaging students, teachers, schools and communities in enriching learning experiences

1
Beyond the classroom
.

• Engaging students, teachers, schools and
  communities in enriching learning experiences
• Workshop presentation for the Senior Schooling
  Conference 2009

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Who is FYA?

• The Foundation for Young Australians is
  Australias largest youth-focused philanthropic
  organisation
• Our vision is an Australia where all young people
  achieve their full potential and are values by
  all
• Our mission is to empower young Australians to be
  successful learner and confident, active and
  valued citizens
• We will do this by supporting innovative
  approaches, rich learning opportunities and the
  development of resources that inspire and
  challenge young Australians and improve their
  wellbeing

3
Our values

• EQUAL ACCESS we need to ensure opportunities
  are attainable for all young people, regardless
  of cultural, racial, social or economic
  background
• WORKING TOGETHER together we have the
  responsibility to find impactful solutions to
  issues that are important to young people
• BEING COURAGEOUS - whether an idea is new or
  old, we have the courage to push the boundaries
  and learn from experience
• HIGH IMPACT we want to create outcomes for
  young people that make a difference on a large
  scale, both socially and systemically.

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Education Foundation

• Education Foundation was founded 20 years ago and
  became a division of FYA last year.
• Its focus is on equity and access to an excellent
  education system in Australia. Its core functions
  are developing and incubating innovative programs
  for students in public education that are
  exemplars of pedagogy, curriculum, best practice
  and based on research. Education foundation also
  has a strong focus on educational research,
  scholarships and school and community
  partnerships.

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Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for
Young Australians (Dec 2008, MCEETYA)

• As a national Australia values the central role
  of education in building a democratic, equitable
  and just society a society that is prosperous,
  cohesive and culturally diverse, and that values
  Australias Indigenous cultures as a key part of
  the nations history, present and future.
• Goal 1 Australian schooling promotes equity and
  excellence
• Goal 2 All young Australians become
• Successful learners
• Confident and creative individuals
• Active and informed citizens.

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Beyond the Classroom professional learning for
educators

• Beyond the Classroom is a synthesis of research,
  theory and practice and has been heavily
  influenced by the work of the Education
  Foundation (a division of FYA)
•  Beyond the Classroom is a professional learning
  package targeted at teachers and school leaders
  from Prep to Year 12.
•  
• The central concept for Beyond the Classroom is
  to enable schools to effectively engage their
  community to develop learning beyond the
  classroom in order to improve student outcomes.
•  
• There are three core conceptual strands to this
  package
• Understanding Community
• Innovation in Programs
• Building Sustainability through Partnerships.

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Strand One - Understanding Communities

• how can we learn to live together in the
  global village if we cannot manage to live
  together in the communities to which we naturally
  belong the nation, the region, the city, the
  village, the neighbourhood. Jacques Delors
• Learning the treasure within
• UNESCO Report, 1996
• Essential Questions
• What is a community?
• How is school a community?
• What is a learning community?

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Community

• What is community?
• A community is a set of people with some shared
  element in particular a group of people who
  live in the same area is a community. The
  substance of shared elements varies widely, from
  situation to interest to lives and values. The
  word community evokes a sense of collectivism,
  shared interests and values, and a common
  purpose.
• You cannot learn to play tennis if you have not
  seen it played. You cannot teach children the
  power of wonderful ideas if they have not been
  immersed in a community that cares about
  wonderful ideas, that believes in them. That
  explores them, and that puts them into practice.
• Meier, D.
• Transforming schools into powerful communities.

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Strand Two - Innovation in programs

• Real learning gets to the heart of what it means
  to be human. Through learning we recreate
  ourselves. Through learning we become able to do
  something we never were able to do. Through
  learning we re-perceive the world and our
  relationship to it. Through learning we extend
  our capacity to create, to be part of the
  generative process of life. There is within in
  each of us a deep hunger for this type of
  learning.
• Peter M. Senge, Educator and Author
• Essential Questions
• How can we construct a learning program where the
  community is the classroom?
• How could your learning community look different
  for your students?
• How might this constitute innovation?

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Learning Communities

• Learning communities are made up of people who
  share a common purpose. They collaborate to draw
  on individual strengths, respect a variety of
  perspectives, and actively promote learning
  opportunities. The outcomes are the creation of a
  vibrant, synergistic environment, enhanced
  potential for members, and the possibility that
  new knowledge will be created.
• Sue Kilpatrick, Margaret Barrett and Tammy Jones
• Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania

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What is a BTC program?

• It is one that supports the development of an
  enterprise learner through engaging in
• Civic Responsibility and Contribution
• Social Action
• Academic Curriculum
• A teaching and learning experience where guided
  or classroom learning is deepened through working
  with others beyond the perimeter of the
  classroom. It is a process that provides
  structured time for reflection on the experience
  and demonstration of the skills and knowledge
  acquired.
• Adapted from the work of
• Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A. 2004

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Identifying learning approach for BTC program

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Multiple approaches multiple outcomes

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Education Foundation programs

• ruMAD? (are you making a difference?)
• Cityscape
• Worlds of Work

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Strand Three - Building sustainability through
partnerships

• Where school is of their community, that
  community is automatically richer for it.
• Essential Questions
• What is a school/community partnership?
• How might we build school/community partnerships
  to
• Support the development of innovative programs?
• Improve student learning outcomes?
• Support school based strategic plans?
• What is the relationship between partnerships and
  sustainability?

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Importance of working together

• Communities and schools that share the belief
  that education is the responsibility of the whole
  community and work together drawing on skills
  and knowledge of the community as a whole
  experience benefits that extend far beyond simply
  producing a well-educated group of young people.
• Kilpatrick. S, Johns. S, Mulford. BUniversity of
  Tasmania. Maturing school-community partnerships

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The Rs of school-community partnerships

• Recognition Effective partnerships require each
  partner to recognise their own culture intimately
  in order to understand the other partner more
  fully. (We have attempted to do this by focusing
  on My Learning Community in Strand One).
• Respect A respect for each other implies a
  willingness to share skills, knowledge, personnel
  and resources
• Review Critical review and reflection sustain
  effective partnerships
• Resilience Strong leadership that has an
  acceptance of challenges and a willingness to be
  flexible is crucial
• Responsibility Each partner must recognise and
  accept responsibility for their contributions. A
  commitment to sustainable success, socially,
  culturally, environmentally and economically is
  crucial.
• Reward Benefits should be mutual to all
  partners, acknowledging that different partners
  will measure success in different ways
• Resolve At times other priorities will emerge
  putting time on time and energies.
• Reference What will good look like? Measurable
  outcomes for all partners will need to be
  identified and articulated. Partnerships and
  projects need to be differentiated and outcomes
  will differ accordingly. Partnerships will be
  long term where projects will have determined
  timelines.

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Building sustainability

• Maintaining and demonstrating the quality of a
  program and adherence to good practice
• Establishing succession plans to minimise
  dependence on one special person
• Developing a resourcing strategy as a permanent
  feature of the school-community environment
• Maintaining a spirit of innovation and enthusiasm
  in program leadership process of reflection and
  evaluation are important for program evolution
• Establishing processes for reflection and
  evaluation so programs evolve to met changing
  needs or policy shifts

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FYA and Education Foundation examples

• Initiatives
• Back to School (schools, community and past
  student connections in partnership with Coles)
• Schools First (in partnership with NAB, ACER and
  Australia Cares)
• Research
• Beyond the Classroom Building new school
  networks (Rosalyn Black), ACER Press, 2008
• Corporate Australia and schools Forming
  business class alliances and networks (Rosalyn
  Black and Lucas Walsh), CSE Seminar Series Feb
  2009

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End

• Thursday 19 March, 2009