Leading Schools Fund

Applied Learning Centre

Sebastopol College applied for and gained funding through the leading schools fund to develop a centre to deliver Applied Learning as a vehicle for enhancing student learning, self-esteem, personal skills and connectedness with education and training. Improvement targets that needed to be addressed by this program are literacy, student engagement, retention and attendance.

The Applied Learning Program initially involves students in years 8 and 9, with the intention of expanding to include year 10 at a later point. The initial program takes up almost half of each student’s normal class time for a whole year, although students have the option of moving out of the program at the end of semester one. Working with the broader community, students undertake projects selected to focus on real life problems and have real audiences and products. Intensive skills lessons will be undertaken to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed as the projects develop.

The aim of this program is to change the ways students and teachers work together. Instead of teachers relying on texts or delivering pre-packaged curriculum materials, they work with students to identify areas of interest, develop strategies to address problems and explore solutions. Working in interdisciplinary teams provides a positive context for professional learning as teachers undertake shared curriculum planning, classroom activities and devise processes for monitoring and assessing students’ work. Staff learn how to sustain learning in a context that is not driven by the timetable and is not primarily teacher centred and directed.

As the program evolves, the approaches developed within the Applied Learning Centre environment will become integrated within the overall College approach to teaching and learning. Professional development, team planning and reflection, colleague observation and feedback and ongoing professional interaction will all contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of teachers across the College to sustain student engagement with and enthusiasm for challenging and authentic learning.

A large component of the funding obtained is for the building of a facility for the program to be located in. The facility itself will provide a large and flexible working space that will enable us to overcome the limitations of small classroom spaces. As one hundred students at any one time will be involved in the program, the space must provide a comfortable and welcoming environment where students can work together or divide into flexible groups depending on the task at hand. The centre will incorporate ICT as an integral tool for research, preparation of materials and delivery of skills sessions.

The other major component of the funding is for the Implementation employment of three additional staff. Staff time will be needed to negotiate with community and industry groups, to plan and develop effective projects, to undertake training and research effective practices, to promote and explain the program to all stakeholders, to manage and oversee the day to day running of the facility, to reflect on current practice and to plan for further improvement.

Resources

 LSF Report  

Key Stakeholders

 Student Feedback

 Enquiry Learning Information       

 PoLT Principles and CC Task Table

 LSF Applied Learning Centre Plan

Community Challenge Review 

 Community Challenge Reflection Results