Science
   Updated: Feb 2000


Education Department of WA


 
Teaching & Learning | Case Studies of Integrated Teaching | Clarkson Community HS


Case Studies - Clarkson Community High School
A Learning Community Approach

Clarkson Community High School

Clarkson Community High School opened in January 1996, drawing students from the north western corridor of metropolitan Perth city. The school is one of the Education Department of Western Australia's Technology Focus Schools and students have access to an information technology network inside and outside the school. The school's population is drawn from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

The ethos underpinning all the structure and organisation in this school is care. The school is also a Community High School meaning that parents and care givers are welcomed into the school, learning is extended beyond the classroom to the wider community, and the community is encouraged to utilise the school facilities.

School Purpose Statement

Our purpose is to ensure that all students develop the understandings, skills and attitudes relevant to individual needs, thereby enabling them to fulfil their potential and contribute to the development of our society.

(Clarkson Community High School School Charter & School Information Guide, 1997)

The students in Years 8 and 9 are organised as a middle school within four Learning Communities. The curriculum is based on the draft Western Australian Curriculum Framework (Curriculum Council, 1997) covering eight learning areas. The curriculum programmes within each Learning Community are collaboratively planned by teachers with a consistent emphasis on cross curriculum outcomes such as literacy, numeracy, technology skills, and an understanding of the environment.

These concepts are integrated into teaching and learning practices which focus on a developmental framework with concentration on process skills and co-operative learning skills. Teachers and students are encouraged to work together with a student-focussed approach to learning where students are encouraged to be active learners.

This case study examines the integration framework in place at Clarkson Community High School with particular focus on the learning areas of Science, Mathematics and Technology education. Particular attention is given to the procedures that initiated the integration system, the methods used by Science, Mathematics and Technology teachers to create an integrated learning program for their students, enabling factors, and perceived advantages and difficulties with the integrated system. The case study is centred around the teaching and learning practices in Grey Learning Community.

Getting Started

The inaugural Principal, Robyn White, played a key role in deciding on and implementing the integrated program of work at the school. Robyn suggested that the notion of transferability of skills from one learning area to another was an important reason why the integrated approach was adopted.

As a former Science teacher one of the issues that keeps coming back to me is the lack of transferability of skills which the students seem to learn at high school... It just seemed that if we had teachers working together then some of those simple skills could transfer better when using them in one context and using them in another, and actually recognising that it is the context that was different, not the skills.

According to the Principal, two factors enabled integration of the curriculum through a middle school delivery approach. The first factor was the school's care ethos. This ethos underpinned the way in which teachers and students worked together. Students accessed fewer teachers than in traditionally organised high schools, allowing for the development of strong relationships between teacher and students. The value of positive relationships between teachers and students was critical in supporting the needs of each student.

We understood that learning would be improved if students and their teachers knew each other better, so that our structures enabled students to see more of fewer teachers and teachers are able to commit to a greater extent to the same students.

The second factor that supported integration of the curriculum was the publication of the draft Curriculum Framework (Curriculum Council, 1997). The draft Framework helped the staff to create consistency in teaching approaches for concepts and skills, to prevent excessive overlap in outcomes between the eight learning areas, and, at the same time, to create appropriate links between these learning areas.

Overview of the Integrated Approach

To facilitate the integrated program, the learning communities utilised a thematic approach. Four themes, one for each semester, were decided on by the teachers in each of the learning communities at the end of the previous year. Grey Learning Community's themes for 1997 were decision making, enterprise, environment, and conflict. Every Wednesday afternoon the teachers from the Grey Learning Community met to plan and negotiate their programs of work. The whole school staff met once per month.

Every Wednesday afternoon we finished early. We worked a little extra time every other day so that we were able to meet. Most weeks the learning communities met as a team and then each month had a staff meeting. It is a collaborative approach here.

Themes were rotated each term around the Learning Communities in the school during 1997, and the expectation from teachers is that there would be a two year cycle of themes in each Learning Community.

Well next year... we will have some new [Year] 8's and we will have four new themes and then the following year, when the 8's have gone to 9's, we will start to use it again. So we will basically have 8 themes... We can always change the themes. If like conflict and decision making, they are a bit close, we would have to meld them and get another one.

The teachers decided on the content or process outcomes they wanted the students to achieve each term and then the program of work was developed with the theme guiding each teacher's selection of specific content or activities. The Level 3 teacher (Learning Community Coordinator) in each team was responsible for supporting the team of teachers in their collaborative planning process. This person then collated the information from each of the teachers into an integrated program of work for the students and submitted this to the Principal.

At the beginning of each term we submit to our level 3 teacher, a general outline and then he will compile it all. That way we find out if there are any features that are missing. We need to incorporate them somehow... That was one of the concerns we had last year, about content.

In summary, the teachers in each learning community worked in a collaborative way and used the outcomes and the themes to plan a program of work that would develop appropriate understandings, skills and attitudes for the students.

Student Learning Outcomes

The Principal and teachers said that after only six months on the new school site, it is too early to effectively evaluate the approach taken at Clarkson Community High School. In the long term they hope to be able to see credible retention rates and career paths as the students move through their years of secondary schooling. Overtime, the school aims for enhanced learning outcomes including students' enjoying school and learning, improving students' literacy skills and key competencies.

We want our students to enjoy being in school and it is reflective of our neighbourhood that many young people want to leave school as soon as possible. They are locked out of higher education. We aim to concentrate in Years 8 and 9 on contexts that develop learning skills like literacy skills, numeracy, problem solving, using technology, working cooperatively, and so on. Content is taught as the context in which these process skills are practiced.

It is not that different, but the emphasis is on the process first. The approaches used by teachers in the classroom are also different. The qualities of recognition, negotiation and relevance help to make the difference.

Where to Next?

The Principal focused on the imminent publication of the new Western Australian Curriculum Framework and Student Outcome Statements and the role of the newly formed Curriculum Council. With these developments in the Education Department of WA, the principal sees the school as having a focus on curriculum over the next few years.

The draft Curriculum Framework has now been accepted state-wide and the Education Department has decided that it is time to move into the outcomes-focused curriculum. With our establishment problems having been solved we will now all learn more about working effectively in an outcomes framework. We look forward to being able to concentrate on that curriculum framework.

With this focus the school looks forward to addressing student assessment comparability as student outcomes are levelled. The outcome statements will provide the basis for reporting to parents. The teachers also hope to address the whole breadth of outcomes (cognitive and social) and to document the essential learning at various stages of development while retaining their flexibility of curriculum delivery.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Principal, Robyn White, and teachers, Tracy Pickering, Michael Lynch, Jan Ashdown, Dougal Patullo, Rob Reece, Rod Langlands and Lyn Havard for their time and commitment to the preparation of this case study.

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