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First Draft - Summary of Notes from Brainstorming Sessions at Waterford Second-Level Educate Together Public Meeting, May 17th 2008, 10am – 1pm, WETNS, Tycor, Waterford
These key questions were considered at the brainstorming sessions:
- What do you as parents want from a second-level ET school?
- What will make this school different?
The responses received to the above two questions can be categorised under the following main headings (in no particular order):
Each of these headings is described in more detail below, based on the feedback received in the brainstorming sessions.
Parental involvement
This is a key issue for parents. Parents want to be involved in all aspects of the second-level school, as they are in the primary school. They want to feel that the teachers’ and the principal’s doors are always open to them and that parent-teacher-student communication is open and encouraged in the school. Parents should be encouraged to actively help in the school in a variety of ways and their life experiences should be utilised.
Student involvement
Students should have a clear voice in this school and always feel that that voice is listened to. The child-centred element of the ethos is central to this. At the same time, child-centredness is to be always age-appropriate and mutual respect between all parties in the school is seen as crucial.
Students are to be involved in decision-making in the school and could be represented on the Board of Management. A Students’ Council that includes all classes is also an important element of student involvement.
Continuity from primary level to second level
This a major issue for parents. Continuity of ethos from primary to secondary is seen as a crucial factor in the success of a child’s progress through the educational system. Parents are keenly aware of their need and right to choose a second-level education for their child that provides this continuity from the ET primary school. At the moment, this option does not exist in Waterford.
Some parents gave accounts of their own experiences of a child progressing from an ET primary school to a non-ET secondary school and the highly detrimental effect this has on the child. If the ET ethos is no longer there at second level, evidence shows that the child becomes discouraged, disillusioned, and even branded as a “trouble-maker” and a “difficult student” in the non-ET second-level school.
The second-level school should be regarded and run as a logical extension of the primary school. Students should be supported in making the transition from primary to second level.
Continuity is also a key factor in the issue of ethical education. The ethical education curriculum taught at ET primary level is designed to be continued at second level. At the moment, this continuity is not there and so ET students’ ethical education is truncated and left incomplete once they enter (non-ET) second-level education.
Focus on critical thinking
Parents are keen that their children be prepared for third level, the workforce and entrepreneurship by being encouraged at second level to be “critical thinkers”. Achieving a balance between academic development and personal development is a key aspect of this. Rote learning as an approach should be avoided in the school, as this is seen as detrimental to critical thinking. Instead, an active learning approach is seen by parents as the best one.
Facilities in keeping with school ethos
The idea of a school canteen with a healthy eating policy received general support. The idea was also mooted of a school vegetable garden which could be tied into home economics and science classes.
Students will not be permitted to leave the school at lunchtime, or possibly the senior students only.
Other important facilities are language resources, science facilities, learning support, sports facilities, wheelchair accessibility, and music and art facilities.
Cater for all abilities
The school will facilitate students of all abilities, from those striving for high points in the Leaving Certificate to students of lesser academic ability to special needs students. A balance must be achieved between the needs of all kinds of students; no one group should dominate.
School as community
School will both be a community in itself and will also be integrated into the wider community, on the local, national and international levels. The school facilities will be open to the local community; for example, the school hall could be used for adult education classes in the evenings. Links with the local business community and neighbouring schools would also be important elements of school life.
Continual career guidance
Career guidance and life guidance are seen as crucial elements of the school programme. Rather than starting at senior cycle, parents would value the commencement of career guidance in first year, as an integrated part of the school programme, in order to prepare students as thoroughly and supportively as possible for life after second-level education. Parents see life skills as crucial; the school is a microcosm of society and this environment can be used to teach life skills.
Curriculum, school size and school day
The school curriculum will be the standard second-level curriculum as taught in other schools. At the same time, the curriculum is to be broad-based and targeted towards producing critical thinkers. In the initial years, it might be a good idea to have teachers who can teach up to three subjects to ensure full subject choice from the start.
Parents are keen that the school size be kept to a manageable level. Correspondingly, class sizes should be minimised.
It was acknowledged that the traditional model of a series of 40-minute classes throughout the day is not the most conducive to learning. It was proposed that the school day be re-structured to facilitate academic classes in the mornings and activities in the afternoons, such as PE, music, art and extra-curricular activities. Teachers should be very much involved in these afternoon activities. International models should be examined to determine the best school day structure.
Breakfast clubs, homework clubs and a “squashy couch” facility were also proposed as a useful method of binding the students into school life and encouraging a school day that is campus-centred from start to finish.
It was also proposed that the school day (start and finish times) be coordinated with that of the primary school in order to facilitate parents who have children in both schools.
Teaching staff and principal
Parents recognise the key importance of recruiting the right staff and principal for a second-level ET school. The staff and, in particular, the principal set the tone of the school. Parents are keen for teachers to be non-judgemental, approachable and open to communication with parents and students. The principal should have the ability and will to nip problems in the bud.
Parents also have a key role to play in supporting teachers.
Parents would like teachers to use active learning methodologies and to avoid the rote learning approach, as mentioned elsewhere in this document.
Some parents also brought up the subject of the complaints procedure in the case of a problem with a particular teacher. The related question was also raised of how to handle the case of a teacher who may prove to be unsuitable for teaching in an Educate Together school.
Ethos and culture of the school
It is crucial that the ET ethos is reflected in the culture of the school. This applies to everything from teachers’ approach to students’ attitudes to extra-curricular activities. One way in which this would be reflected in the school would be in the bilateral respect shown between teachers and students. Parents are anxious that students respect the teachers as much as the teachers respect the students. The “child-centred” element of the ET ethos does not mean that students do not have to show respect and this element should always be age-appropriate. The question of who will teach the ethical education programme will be examined.
The child’s personality must come first in the school’s approach – in other words, the child is not fitted into the school mould; rather, the school fosters and encourages each individual student.
Other keywords that characterise the school culture are openness, shared partnership, respect for all belief systems, integration, learner-centred, and diversity.
The enrolment policy is to reflect the needs of all children. The same applies to any possible streaming of classes within the school. Multi-intelligences are key to the ethos of the school.
An image of the school that appropriately reflects its ethos and culture is to be fostered from day one.
Lastly, the physical environment of the school is to reflect the school’s ethos. Having a green school campus encompassing the principles of sustainability, care for the environment, cohesion between the built and the natural environment, and so on, will foster the ethos of the school.
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