A 2012 report by the Education Review Office (ERO) titled Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools has identified three key issues that it says are the most urgent for our country’s education system. The report indicated that evidence shows that these issues are “acting as impediments to New Zealand Schools lifting their practice and, in particular, to raising the achievement levels of priority learners”. Although ERO has focused their report on priority learners, I believe these themes are important for all learners.
The first issue or theme that the ERO report has revealed is ‘Shifting the focus to student-centred learning’. According to O’Neill and McMahon, there are other terms associated with student-centred learning, such as experiential learning (Burnard, 1999 in O'Neill and McMahon, 2005), flexible learning (Taylor, 2000 in O'Neill and McMahon, 2005), self-directed learning and therefore “the slightly overused term ‘student–centred learning’ can mean different things to different people.” Confusion is one of the main reasons hindering implementation.
My classroom practice has become more learner centred after I put my learners at the centre of my planning. I thought more about what their interests and needs were, and less about what I wanted or was going to teach. I found that the paradigm shift away from the focus on myself the teacher to an emphasis on learning, has supported a power shift from the teacher to the learner (Barr and Tagg, 1995 in O’Neill and and McMahon, 2005). Learning is not unidirectional, from me the teacher to the learners. The inclusion and valuing of learner voice and choice and collaboration were also key components to my classroom changing from teacher-directed to student-centred.
In New Zealand, we have a document that guides our teaching and students’ learning. The New Zealand Curriculum is “a statement of official policy relating to teaching and learning in English-medium New Zealand schools. Its principal function is to set the direction for student learning and to provide guidance for schools as they design and review their curriculum,” (Ministry of Education, 2007). As a teacher, I have the professional responsibility to familiarise myself and understand the intent of the document. Does The New Zealand Curriculum document reflect ERO’s findings that we should shift the focus to student-centred learning? I believe it does.
To improve my teaching practice around student-centred learning, I need to explore ways in which I can reflect and plan for the following aspects of the curriculum in my classroom:
The Principle of Learning to Learn “encourages all students to reflect on their own learning processes and to learn how to learn,” (p.9)
Lifelong Learners are informed decision makers (p.8).
Effective assessment involves students, developing their capacity for self and peer assessment, “which lead in turn to increased self direction” (p.40).
Effective assessment also clarifies for learners what they know and can do and what they still need to learn (p.40).
The Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching-a New Zealand perspective (Ministry of Education, 2012b) report states that personalising learning is an emerging principle for a 21st century education system. Personalising learning means that the education system is built around the learner, rather than the learner being required to fit with the system.
Both reports call for teachers to genuinely involve students in shaping their own learning and to be partners in learning. These notions are in line with our curriculum document. However, as a teacher I must reflect on how deep or shallow my personalising of learning is for my learners. Do I really value my learners as co-investors in their own learning? I know in my own practice, “there is still more work to be done before [my] practice reflects the spirit of reciprocity” (Ministry of Education, 2012). I will continue to identify opportunities for my learners to own their learning.
In my school context I am unable to greatly influence a pedagogical shift such as this when I am not in a leadership position to do that. However, I can make the changes in my own classroom by firstly developing a deeper understanding of how to implement the front half of The New Zealand Curriculum, and be open to being observed or discussing why and how I have changed my practice. As a member of the Year 2/3 Classroom Planning Team, I can respectfully question my colleagues when we plan and “take up the role as provocateur[s] and advocates for students,” (Ministry of Education, 2012a), encouraging and guiding my team to plan from our learners needs and interests.
With the shift to student-centred learning, so too must come the shift in rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles. According to Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching-a New Zealand perspective report (Ministry of Education, 2012b), if we now believe that “the main role of education is not just to transmit knowledge but also to cultivate people’s ability to engage with and generate knowledge, then teachers’ roles need to be reconsidered.” Similarly, if we no longer think that a learner’s main function is to allow their heads to be filled with knowledge to then regurgitate for use in the future, then a learner’s role and responsibility in learning must also be reimagined.
The word cultivate reminds me of a blogpost I have read online by Grant Lichtman likening teaching to farming. A good farmer cultivates conditions that will optimise growth. The soil and the environment must be prepared. Lichtman states that the farmer’s role then is two-fold. “To provide nutrients to growing plants and to do some judicious pruning and weeding. The plants do the rest.”
The fear that some teachers may have is that of chaos if learners are left to learn on their own. However, as with the farming metaphor, the farmer does not step away from the growing plants. The farmer, like the teacher, still has an important role to play in ensuring the plants grow well and possibly produce fruit. After adopting this metaphor, I began to see that the shift to student-centred learning did not mean my role was redundant. It only meant that my learners need me in a different capacity. But they still need me.
My classroom practice has moved from being teacher-directed to the beginnings of student-led and student centred. I am trying to deliberately plan opportunities that give my learners choice and scaffold each individual learner by helping them to reflect on their learning. Self-reflection is an area that I want to explore more with my class this year.
When addressing this trend with my colleagues, I need to first respect that some will be firstly confused about the purpose of sharing power with the learners. Letting go of the power associated with holding all the knowledge will be hard for some. We need to realise that knowledge exists irrespective of the teacher. Teachers too may feel that changing their role from font of all knowledge to guide on the side is too dramatic a shift, and fear losing ‘control’. Teachers may feel threatened by a change in the same role they may have held for many years-that of teacher in a teacher-led classroom. What teachers need is a shift to 21st century ways of thinking about learning. They probably need to see it in action where theory and practice intersect.
Continuing with the farming theme, teachers who have made the shift from teacher-centred to student-centred learning and teaching must sow the seeds of change as best they can. As a classroom teacher, I can question my colleagues about their planning decisions, and explain why and how I teach in a student-centred way. However, as we know, “long-term, system-wide change is extremely difficult. It requires a culture shift,” (Ministry of Education, 2012b). I can only make changes in my classroom and hope that other teachers ask me about my practice.
A question Lichtman ends his blog post with is “How might we develop a professional growth pathway for teacher-as-farmer? What skills must we hone?” I think the first step is for teachers to ensure they are lifelong learners themselves, and be open to learning from each other. Our teaching practice must be more visible to our colleagues. Discomfort, risk and a growth mindset are needed for change, and our learners are worth it.
References
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum.Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education, 2012b. Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching - a New Zealand perspective. New Zealand: Ministry of Education.
