PRINCIPAL SPEAKS
Images courtesy of Prospect North Primary School
Student agency is a powerful lever for improvement By Marg Clark, Principal, Prospect North Primary School, SA
Prospect North Primary School embraces all community members, and I believe that innovation and Agency is key to giving students from complex backgrounds the tools they need to be successful learners. Increasing student agency in the learning process is instrumental in transforming learning at Prospect North. Students articulate their learning through goal setting and teacher conferencing. We have also begun to credential students as they learn through our SECRET Powers framework, which is designed to develop General Capabilities.
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SECRET Powers refer to our learning progressions across the curriculum. Our school has an incredibly high level of student agency, so we wanted a way for students to build their capabilities but be in control of the process. As such, we teamed up with students and parents to co-design our SECRET Powers framework. Our students receive credentials as they hit milestones, adding to their SECRET Powers. We are currently building a student portal, where students will upload their evidence for credentialling, and this is then checked by staff or older students before the child can be awarded their badge or credential. This work is incredibly important in our community as with such diversity, we needed to develop a common language to celebrate learning growth that moved beyond A- E grades. Overall, I believe students learn
best when they are in control and understand the learning process, which is why Prospect North prides itself on being a hive of learner agency. Our students track and monitor their own progress in partnership with staff and learn by solving real-world problems. They lead and contribute at every level of the school and drive community
EDUCATION
partnerships for the benefit of all learners through our Student Parliament, for instance. All students at our school undertake long term projects called Personal Investigations, which are interest-led but problem-based. They must follow a process to dig deeply, engage with different perspectives, and develop their SECRET Powers. Term 4, 2022 | school-news.com.au
