Middle Schooling Organisation

How schooling is organised impacts on the quality of learning students demonstrate and sends powerful messages to students about what is important to learn.  The NT Curriculum Framework describes schooling that:

  • Acknowledges developmentally appropriate approaches
  • Focuses on the learning esseNTial for students to
    • adapt constructively, and respond creatively and ethically to the diverse challenges posed by rapid global change;
    • successfully negotiate and develop socially just, ethical and sustainable lives;
    • sustain a strong sense of self and connection with the communities to which they belong
  • Builds productive partnerships and connections within, across and beyond the school community
  • Provides educational pathways that are flexible and inclusive to accommodate the diversity of student needs.

Such a vision for schooling requires school leaders and teachers to consider the current and future needs of their students, to explore how school environments can be better organised to facilitate this and most importantly to constantly reflect on current organisational practices in line with the educative purpose described within this vision.

“The world our young people will live in will be very different from the world of previous generations.  It will be characterised by a globalised economy, workplace and community, and rapid shifts in career, relationships and technology.  Knowing something about the future helps teachers and school leaders to identify what students in the middle years need to know and be able to do if they are to achieve their goals and contribute positively to their communities.”

(Reference Middle Years Matters, School Organisation, Victoria Dept of Education www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/my …)

Organising Learning

The NT Curriculum Framework describes outcomes from which teachers plan, deliver, assess and report student learning.  The Middle School Teaching and Learning Model is based on organising learning into five forms.  These forms support schools to organise programs so that students:

  • Experience rich, real, rigorous and relevant learning experiences
  • Build connections between what they are learning with their current and future lives
  • Achieve the performance standards described in curriculum outcomes
  • Build and sustain strong relationships with peers, teachers and community members
  • Maintain healthy social, emotional, intellectual and physical well-being.

Organising Learning Time

The research findings from the Middle Years Research and Development Project (MYRAD, 2001) found that the more students feel that they have time to explore and understand new ideas, the more they:

  • Feel they are in control of their learning
  • Value understanding their work
  • Feel motivated to learn
  • Believe their school is showing them how to be better learners

Middle schooling organisation of learning time is underpinned by the principle of flexibility.  Flexible organisation of learning time often leads to schools organising students and teachers into learning communities so decisions concerning learning time can be localised and therefore empowering teachers to be responsive to the individual and collective needs of students in their community.  Localised decision making enables teachers and students to prioritise how learning time will be allocated, enabling teachers to facilitate learning experiences using blocks of instruction time appropriate for the task at hand, allowing for both short and precise focus on specific skills and in-depth study aimed at harnessing student interest and enabling hands-on, authentic experiences. 

The use of a learning community model also enables teachers and students to work collectively to build and explore connections between different aspects of learning.  It allows students to undertake challenging and extensive real-life-problem-based learning tasks and to access a range of authentic learning environments from across the school and the community.

Organising Students

Middle schooling approaches to grouping students is focused on all aspects of student growth and development.  It requires consideration of groupings within the classroom and across the school. 

The grouping of students in the middle years is underpinned by the principles of flexibility and inclusivity. 

It requires schools to question how they will accommodate the range of student needs.  Models of student organisation therefore aim to:

  • accommodate student diversity across a number of considerations such as social connection, gender, English language development, learning styles and preferences, rates of development and academic progress. 
  • focus on students becoming independent learners
  • provide opportunities for extra support or assistance in identified areas of growth and academic development
  • ensure student have contact with a small number of teachers to enable stronger relationships to be sustained
  • provide access to specialist teachers as appropriate to area of learning and the needs of the students

Student-centred organisation encourages school leaders and teachers to consider options such as:

  • Vertical timetabling
  • Grouping students into sub-schools or hubs or teams
  • Home groups
  • Multi-age or cross age groupings that encourage students to learn from each other through formal and informal mentoring relationships

Organising Staff

Middle schooling approaches to organising staff are based on sound understanding of the needs of adolescents and evidence based practices to engage them and build connections between what and how they learn.  The Principles and Policies Framework requires that staff are organised so that

  • teaching teams form to collaborate to plan, deliver and monitor teaching and learning programs
  • teachers teach more than one discipline to improve their knowledge of and relationships with students
  • teachers can develop, trial and share examples of effective practice within and across the school
  • teachers are organised to have common non-contact time, allowing for collaborative planning and connections between what students are learning
  • teachers are provided common time to set baselines for the evaluation of teaching and learning programs using student work to inform decisions that are taken
  • Students of particular groups of students have planned time to share their knowledge and understanding of individual students with each other, and the wider school community focused on improving student well-being

Organising Learning Space

  • timetables and school learning spaces provide opportunities for collaborative teaching including team teaching models, specialist classes and an integrated curriculum