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Until recently, Key College maintained a small but consistent staff team, who had been instrumental in setting up the school and establishing its directions. The recent staff changes have meant that the College has needed to select a new coordinator and to employ a new full-time teacher who has been working part-time there for a couple of years. These processes have been smooth, building on existing experience.
In addition to issues of succession, approaches to staff development and support have been vital to the consistent operation of the school. "We spend a lot of time talking about what we are doing," said one staff member; another noted: "I took notice of how previous staff did things - they seemed to have the runs on the board."
It is also important that staff get 'supervision' from someone who knows and understands the school and can talk with them, not about the students ("We try to take them on face value, without probing too much into backgrounds"), but about how they are teaching. Such supervision is also essential to the management of what can be intense emotional situations.
To read accounts by two teachers of their work at Key College, follow these links:
Louise
Penny
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Louise:
I started here a couple of years ago, teaching one day a week while I also taught at another school. Then gradually I increased my time here: last year it was two days a week and now I'm fulltime.
I'm trained as an Art teacher, but I've also got qualifications in English - so those are my main teaching areas. But I'll find myself teaching other areas as well. This is really different from the other school I taught at - way different! Because the school is small, you can build relationships more here. I have to be a lot of other things: counsellor, careers advisor, making appointments, arranging accommodation. As well as answering the phone all the time.
You really have to want to teach here - you have to have compassion and want to help these kids. I was told that I was accepted to teach here because I was 'calm', but also I think I know when to leave situations alone and when to push them further. That means that kids are free to be themselves without being judged, but that doesn't mean I condone some of their behaviour - and I confront them on this.
I try to teach in ways that link with their experience. For example, I choose books in English that they can relate to, like one book about a kid living on the streets - it's not so far removed from their situations. And another, about the past affecting the future: I chose that carefully, and they had to do summaries of it, analyse the characters, relate it to their own opinions. While they might say it's 'boring' - and that's a cool thing to say - I think they're enjoying it. I've sometimes given them choices, but that can lead to lots of arguing, so I think it's better if I don't. I guess my negative experiences mean that I don't try it again. In Art, which is more expressive, there's more choice, and in Years 11 and 12 you can suggest but you have to be more open for input and choice from them within the overall scope of what is required.
You've always got to expect them to achieve. And they accept that they have to do things because of the School Certificate. So I try to tie together things about their own lives and the external syllabus requirements.
Because attendance is sometimes uncertain, it's hard to do an extended unit of work, so I use stand-alone lessons, sometimes giving them catch-up exercises. There's also a small group in the room - two or three - who are doing the HSC, so that needs lots of organisation. They work more individually - for example, two Year 11 girls are writing their own children's book, so I can work individually with them, while the others are writing down from the board. They sometimes take part in general discussion … though sometimes they are very involved in what they are doing and totally oblivious to those discussions.
We encourage communication a lot: working in groups, discussing things together. What we aim at is for people to be in a workplace where you have to work with other people. So it's not just about their School Certificate work - it's about socialisation as well.
I guess you can learn all of that through practice, but I know I never learned any of this stuff at Uni. It's important that the two of us learn from each other - we're able to talk with each other a lot and have debriefing times - and also talk with someone outside the school about what we are doing.
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Penny:
I'm a part-time volunteer teacher at Key College. I'm also a University lecturer, and I come here to take a Biology-focused Science class every week for an hour.
I try to make the class very interactive and try to make it relate to biological and even health issues that they're interested or involved with.
The problem is you never know who the students are: while there's a little core group who's consistent, the others change. It's very hard to develop an on-going syllabus for all of them; because I've been on syllabus committees, however, I know what the overall requirements are.
What I do is that I take a concept and try to go to the next level with them. That means back-tracking a little - revision, re-orientation - then do the next bit. I try to make each one a stand-alone lesson. Then I give them a quiz after each lesson. When they do eight quizzes at a certain level, they get a certificate.
They're bright: they're smart enough to get here, so they're really quite a smart group!
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