Pathway leads to all students learning at

Pathway leads to all students learning at the same level

Timaru Ka -hui Ako comprises 17 schools and 21 ECE centres in South Canterbury. For three years, it’s been developing coherent pathways of the Digital Technology curriculum to ensure all students enter high school with the same level of digital skills – and now it’s sharing the results and resources with everyone.

In 2019, as a group of lead teachers within the Timaru North and South Ka -hui Ako, we got together to discuss Digital Technology in our area. Initially, we all knew the disconnect at transition points within our group, along with schools all working at differing levels and stages, which led to students turning up to Technology and then onto high school at hugely variable levels of ability, experience and knowledge. From an initial hui stemmed the idea of developing a Coherent Pathway that would address the key learning that we want children to gain as they transition throughout our Ka -hui Ako. This would recognise the importance of students entering secondary schooling having had exposure to similar learning experiences and tools within the digital technology curriculum. Timaru is unique in having a Technology Centre that most Year 7/8 students use. Engaging with teachers from here was key to the initial work for our Coherent Pathways to form a clear understanding of the learning happening across this age group.

Planning stages

Following this, a core group of kaiako (primary, technology and secondary) began the planning stages for developing a Coherent Pathway. Then, just as we started to gain momentum, COVID hit! Ultimately, this proved a blessing in disguise as we had the time to meet online and continue the mahi. With guidance and facilitation from ImpactED, our accredited PLD provider, over several Zuis (Zoom huis), we began to flesh out what the pathways could look like. We wanted to ensure that the document was easy to understand and could be used by any teacher. As most of our schools run in two-year cohorts, we set about framing it to align with these key transition areas, feeling it was important to break down and simplify the Progress Outcomes in both CTDT and DDDO.

Feedback and clarification

A Ka -hui Ako initiative that began in 2021 saw teachers participating in Collaborative Projects twice a term based on an area of personal interest. We were able to utilise the Digital Technology Collaborative Project group to provide feedback around the document. We also shared it with local Principals for their feedback and thoughts. It was important to get the voice of our wider Ka -hui Ako network.

We then realised that it was all very well having this documentation but, all along, we highlighted the importance of Digital Technology being integrated into an Authentic Context. Having the rebuild of Antarctica’s Scott Base in our local area was a perfect way to tie in our Local Curriculum and an authentic context with the DT curriculum. We began exploring resources that aligned with the Progress Outcomes, with the aim of having them available for teachers to pick up and run with in their classroom.

Once we were satisfied with the Coherent Pathway Document, we launched this at our Ka -hui Ako Teacher Only Day. Following this, we were able to start to share our work with others at the INTERFACEXpos throughout New Zealand in May. We want this to be a framework that’s accessible to help others to support the development of their own coherent pathways in any curriculum area. The feedback has been really positive. The Scott Base Minecraft project, especially, has created heaps of interest from teachers and students, and this will continue to evolve as the actual build begins in Timaru. Schools are keen to engage with us to see how they can implement this document. Teachers were thankful to have the Progress Outcomes simplified and were excited about the resources.

ACCESS ALLOWED: DOCUMENT AND RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL

Article by Hayden Inkster, Bluestone School, Rebecca Best, Gleniti School, and Steve Fennessy, Grantlea Downs School. To view the Coherent Pathway document and other supporting resources go to timarukahuiako.nz If you have any questions, contact Rebecca, rebeccab@gleniti. school.nz, or Hayden haydeni@bluestone.school.nz