Educational Methods: Pedagogy

The Global Connections design involved youth-led strategies that aligned with Plan’s philosophical commitment to the program (see sections 1.5 & 3.2). Plan’s belief was that the young people participating in Global Connections should be empowered to make their own decisions about what the communication pieces would focus on, and how that focus would be developed and represented.

A corollary to this belief, was that the young people would more authentically create understanding about their global identity than if the program were ‘delivered’ by adults (Wierenga et al.,2008).

Student-led learning using inquiry-based pedagogies is well established in education literature and endorsed in the policies of Victoria’s Department of Education (see section 2.3.5; VCAA, 2010b). One significant application of a student-led learning approach has been the use of innovative ways of structuring the learning environment for Years 9 and 10 in secondary schools. Historically, a body of both documented and anecdotal⁶⁴ evidence has been concerned with the level of engagement of

64 During my years teaching in a variety of secondary schools a very common staffroom and subject-based departmental topic of attention was the problematic nature of student engagement at these year levels. The tendrils of these

conversations extended way beyond my own direct experience and folklore ‘wisdom’ declaring these years ‘difficult’ was featured when I was first training to be a teacher.

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students in these year levels. To this end, two of the schools involved in this study had just completed major building projects and implemented a significant internal restructuring to create dedicated ‘Learning Centres’ designed to accommodate the students of these Year levels (In one school it was purely a Year 9 Centre and in the other it was Year 9/10).

The specific design of the Centres was different, but in both schools the Centres were designed around inquiry learning and student-led project work:

The guiding principle (of the Centre) is that we deliver the curriculum through inquiry-based learning and group work.

Additionally, the students’ projects in the Learning Centres were often directed by the ‘Physical, Personal and Social Learning’ Strand of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards⁶⁵ and as such actively encouraged social and personal learning purposes of education. The Assistant Principal in one school emphasised the social purpose of the Learning Centre:

One of the guiding principles of our program (in the Centre) is to develop community links and liaisons, whether it’s local, national, global.

Two of teachers involved with Global Connections were working in these Learning Centres and the program was incorporated into the Centres’ activity. As a result, these teachers talked extensively about the work they were doing in the Centres and were enthusiastic supporters of student-centred learning. One teacher produced evidence that it was positively influencing student outcomes:

Initially, we had data which showed our dip in engagement was at Year 9 and since the (Centre) has been running, the last two surveys have shown improvement, definite improvement.

The two other teachers working from traditional classroom environments were also active

supporters of student-centred learning. These two teachers suggested that although there was not a formalised whole-school approach with an embedded structure to support such learning it was embedded in their own classroom practice. Therefore all the teachers went into the program

65 See section 2.3.2 for an outline of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards and the different foci of the strands that make up the key components of the curriculum.

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supporting the basic student-centred design of Global Connections by equating it to their own experience.

A commitment to student-centred learning was endorsed by the school management people interviewed. As one of the school management team commented with regard to the teacher’s explanation of communication pieces as underpinning the Global Connections approach:

It’s a truly constructivist approach; you construct something that is concept-based, not content based. And so you go away from the textbook and you come into an area where kids are actually doing real stuff.

As the quotes above illustrate, the student-centred approach of Global Connections was not necessarily transformative with regard to these teachers’ ‘usual’ practice but mirrored an approach that was being systematically supported as a whole school transformation.

However, the use of university students to ‘facilitate’ the program rather than the teachers did appear to be transformative. Unequivocally, all of the teachers in 2008 initially interpreted discussion of the ‘youth-led’ nature of the program in terms of the facilitators. The pedagogy discussion above was connected to student-centred teaching and learning, but the teachers equated idea that Global Connections was a youth-led project to the facilitators’ role. Specifically, they saw the facilitators as youth and as leading the project.

At this stage ‘leading’ the program seemed to be interpreted as ‘running the classes’. The teachers did not have well defined ideas about the program’s structure at the outset of the program and so they were framing the program in their minds as being ‘delivered’ by the facilitators⁶⁶. There was some anxiety expressed about what it would mean to have young people ‘running’ classes. It was clear that the main concerns with regard to the facilitators were whether the facilitators would be able to control the class and whether they would be able to keep the students engaged:

Will they be able to control the class?

66 The facilitators’ backgrounds are included as Appendix Two

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We have to sort of see how it goes. I’m a bit nervous about that bit because I’ve noticed in the past when we’ve had people in that sometimes it works fantastically and sometimes it doesn’t.

I think a lot of outside presenters come in and they get a bit disappointed that kids don’t take up on what they’re delivering.

Nevertheless, these general uncertainties notwithstanding, the teachers were all accepting and generally supportive of using facilitators. With regard to issues and problems that might arise they were unanimously but cautiously optimistic.