Claire Amos

These are rough and ready notes but great to see a traditional school taking the initiative to transform their school. Education doesn’t need to be reformed - it needs to be transformed! The key is not to standardise education but to personalise it. Prioritise the acquisition of skills over content. Community buy-in is needed. Started with staff, then students, then parents. What do we believe about how kids learn best? Conditions for powerful learning do not describe our current system. There is a major disconnect between what the research tells us and what we continue to do in schools. Provocations included OECD - Four Futures and the reality that we may not exist if we don’t change things. From the OECD: https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/Brochure-Four-OECD-Scenarios-for-the-Future-of-Schooling.pdf Scenario 1 | Schooling extended Scenario 2 | Education outsourced Scenario 3 | Schools as Learning Hubs Scenario 4 | Learn-as-you-go Think Learning Studio was another source of provocat...

Contemplating silver linings... There is one thing for sure. We are living in complex times. As teachers, and educational leaders we are in the throes of planning how we might deliver remote teaching and learning when and if we need to. Personally, I am quite excited as to how we are going about this and get the sense that whatever the outcome, whether we go remote or not (I very much suspect we will), the kind of urgency this situation has created is exactly the context needed for innovation and all teachers willingly becoming agents of change. Don't get me wrong, I am not thankful for the crises we are experiencing, I am simply thankful that teaching and learning has the potential to be moved forward and improved exponentially in the coming months. But what about NCEA? Would now be the perfect opportunity to alleviate a whole lot of pressure on students and teachers alike whilst also imagining a definition of success that is actually fit for purpose?? I say - HELL YES! W...

When I applied for the role of Principal of Albany Senior High School, one of the points I covered in my pitch at the interview was my ability and desire to build powerful partnerships and networks for ASHS students: And finally, I am leader who can build powerful partnerships and networks.  I have experience in developing productive and warm relationships with local schools to establish a highly effective Kāhui Ako. I bring in depth experience gained as a Projects Pathways and Partnerships Leader and as an Impact Project Guide, having worked with the community and business sector to create rich and authentic learning partnerships for our students. As Education Advisor for the 21st Century Skills Lab and as a board member of NetSafeNZ I have experience that spans across the education and business landscape. I have fostered a vast education, community, innovation and business network that will support the growth and expansion of powerful partnerships for this school and it’s...

HPSS has prioritised project learning from day one. Inspired by the likes of The Met School, High Tech High and Albany Senior High School we decided very early on that projects would be an important part of our curriculum design and to that end Learning Projects became one third of the HPSS curriculum story. HPSS Curriculum Learning Projects evolved over the last five years (first led by Sarah Wakeford and more recently overseen by Liz, Jayne, Rebecca and Cairan) to become a differentiated range of offerings including Big Projects (more teacher led projects aimed at Years 9-10), Impact Projects (more student led projects based on the ASHS model) and Pathways Projects (aimed at Years 12-13 with a focus on pathways beyond schools such as gateway, work experience and tertiary studies). Whilst the focus may change there is a common learning design model and framework that underpins them all, with students going through a kick off phase, planning, action, review and finally showt...

For the last 20 years I have been an English teacher and have spent much time happily rolling around in the English Curriculum, unpicking the strands and unpacking the achievement objectives, all part and parcel of the the learning design process for any English course or module. This year I am, for the first time, taking on the role of Project Guide for Impact Projects, with a specific focus on Independent Innovation Projects. Whilst we do have a brilliant Projects Curriculum and a very clear framework for teaching and learning the projects process I did find myself wondering about the specifics of an Innovation Project. How can we teach students to be innovative? Can you even teach innovation? Or should it simply about providing the conditions and space for innovation? What if Innovation became a learning area? What might an Innovation Curriculum look like? Notes from the meet up On Saturday I was lucky enough to be part of a meet up which bought together innovators,...