Teachers and students enthuse over new course

Press, 18 March 1987, Page 21

Teachers and students enthuse over new course

By

JENNY LONG

Some Form 5 students at Christchurch secondary schools have found a new way of learning this year — and students and teachers are loving it. In place of their usual timetable with five separate subjects, they have an integrated course taught by one or two teachers. The class, which has a wide ability range, is together all the time.

The integrated course covers four School Certificate subjects (English, mathematics, science, and geography) plus computer studies and research skills.

The course is being run this year at three schools. It is the first year for Aranui and the second year for Hagley and Mairehau. Most of the Mairehau course is taken by one teacher who has experience in most subjects. At Aranui and Hagley, two teachers at each school are responsible for the classes. At Mairehau, the course is based around project work — students working in groups and doing a lot of their own research. Ms Jenny Shiel, who works with the Mairehau students, is enthusiastic about the course.

“This offers a logical approach to learning, because subjects naturally flow into one another," she says. "Students are realising that learning is on-going, and something they can take responsibility for.”

The Mairehau class has already visited the Public Library, and some members have also used the university library. At Mairehau last year, all Form 4 students and their par-

ents were told about the course. A final 23 students were selected from those who volunteered.

The students all say they are happier at school this year than in the past. For most, this is because they helped to decide the work they wanted to do. Ms Shiel had several meetings with them at the end of last year, and asked for topics they wanted to study. Most popular choices were animals, children, and skills for work.

Students at present are busy on a “Behaviour” project. Some are looking at animals and how they protect their young. Others are studying human behaviour, such as immigration patterns, or housing or population trends. Over the year, a variety of methods to report group findings will be used, including written reports, speeches, graphs, or performances of dance or drama.

Skills taught to other School Certificate classes are being used in the I.T.P. (integrated transeducation programme). Study technique, comprehension skills, poetry appreciation, and some geography and science topics are part of what has been taught in the first month of school. The difference is that it has been integrated — not put into subject compartments. The idea for the project came after research by the University of Canterbury education lecturer, Dr Hugh Lauder. His study of school leavers found that many students left before achieving

their potential. Schools were not offering programmes which would encourage students to stay at school, or trans-education programmes which would prepare them for work. Able students from lower so-cio-economic backgrounds were particularly unlikely to achieve to their level, Dr Lauder found. Families of these students expected less, and so these students often did not believe higher education was within their grasp. The Mairehau High School principal, Mr Garry Jeffery, says: "We’ve always known that some able kids who could do quite well in School Certificate either don’t turn up to the exam or leave early because their mates do.” The research had confirmed what teachers already knew, but showed the problem was widely spread. The I.T.P. classes, now being given a three-year trial, may be one way of helping the students. They are allowed to develop their own talents, but at the same time meet the requirement of examinations and employers, says Mr Jeffery. “It’s not an easier curriculum. It’s a different one. Some students will go on to Form 7.” Of the 39 students from the two schools involved last year, 26 returned to school and nine left to go to job training or employment. Two students left during the Form 5 year to take up jobs, one emigrated, and one is not accounted for.

At the end of their Form 5 year I.T.P. students receive a “leaver’s profile” which gives a detailed account for each student of his or her skills or abilities, and lists job and community experience. A personal file is completed by students in which they give their character, work experiences, and interests.

Ms Shiel'and others involved in the programmes see the profile as crucial because it sets out what students have learned, and

the students have help to complete it.

A Canterbury doctorate student who is monitoring the course, Abdur Razzak Khan, says that integrated programmes have been running in Australia, the United States, and Britain for some years, and New Zealand has been able to take advantage of research already done.

“I.T.P. is not for all students, but it is a way of helping some,” he adds. Mr Khan will be moni-

toring New Zealand I.T.P. students for some years. Mairehau class members are enthusiastic about the course. “We’re doing something for ourselves — we’re not being told to do it,” says Michael Acland. “We get the information we need, and Jenny Shiel helps us with it.” Michael says that he had not enjoyed school at all last year. Doing subjects by the hour meant being controlled by bells, and “running round like a turkey with your head chopped off.”