Kaiapoi Borough School – Future-focussed technology provision

The school has been supported in the brief development process by Catherine Johnson of CORE Education, who has a background in technology education and has been a staff member at three different schools undergoing rebuilds of their technology facilities.

Catherine worked with the technology centre staff on a design thinking process, which closely resembled the design process outlined in the technology learning area:

“Design is characterised by innovation and adaptation and is at the heart of technological practice. It is informed by critical and creative thinking and specific design processes.”

The New Zealand Curriculum, p 32

Staff undertook research, visited other technology centres, and reflected on their own pedagogy and practice. Catherine commented that going through the design process as teachers was valuable for focussing on the experiences of the learner:

“Looking at the team, one of the biggest wins was taking them through the process themselves, which is what they teach the children. The areas that people sort of back off, the more challenging aspects of the design process. To take the team through that and say this is what we ask of our children, so we need to model, has been quite good learning.”

Catherine Johnson, CORE Education

Early in the design process, the group developed three key priorities which they called the three P's:

• people
• pedagogy
• place

The people priority refers to the importance of relationships and effective transitions. The pedagogy envisioned by the brief is an inquiry-based pedagogy that is inclusive, responsive, and sustainable to current and future learner needs.

These priorities were essential for ensuring that the group maintained a focus on users of the technology centre first, and then the type of learning that users should experience.

“What is important to this place? It is people, pedagogy, place – the three P’s but in a Venn diagram. Which of these is important? It was people and the pedagogy, and the place was what supported those learning interactions.”

Catherine Johnson, CORE Education

Maintaining a focus on the first two P’s means that place, or the physical building, facilities, and equipment can then be discussed through the lens of empowering learners and enabling pedagogy. This has allowed the buildings and facilities themselves to become part of an authentic learning experience. The brief describes this:

“With the aim for the building to become self-reliant within a few years, use of grey water for washing, solar power for electricity, and for these systems to be clearly on show so learners can see how they are operating. All structural components of the building as far as possible, be also on show. For the purpose of Technology education, these aspects are important to be included as they demonstrate the context, the ‘real-life’ authentic technologies, they are what we teach.”

As well as providing technology education to Year 7 and 8 students from Kaiapoi Borough School, the centre also provides technology education to Year 7 and 8 students from eight local client schools.

In giving effect to their key priority of people, all client schools had opportunities to contribute their aspirations, ideas, and values through consultation early in the process. Each client school was visited so that their needs and values could be better understood. An online survey of whānau and students from client schools generated almost 100 responses, with a range of aspirations and practical suggestions for consideration during the brief development process.

The school invited staff members from client schools to visit the existing technology centre to help build relationships and allow teachers to develop a deeper understanding of the technology learning area. This year’s trial has led staff to further refine the visiting concept for next year, so that there is more clarity around the purpose and focus of the visits.

“The idea is to bring client school teachers in and the thinking was if they were here by 8 am in the morning, they could talk to the tech team before they get programmes up and running, they could be onsite to see the delivery to their students, understand the process that is being worked through, and then they will go away with a better understanding.”

Murray Overton, Principal of Kaiapoi Borough School

The centre is continuing to strengthen relationships with client schools and explore ways that the values and beliefs of the client schools can be integrated. Murray reflects that client school students should be able to “”see the values of the client schools up on display and recognise a little bit of their school within there”.

Learn and iterate – This year’s client school visits have not been as successful as the technology centre had anticipated. Rather than discontinuing these visits, the centre has clarified the purpose and allocated staffing to support an amended visiting concept for next year.

Keep the end goal in mind – It is important not to be influenced or restricted by what currently is, but rather to maintain a focus on what could be.

Consider repurposing existing furniture – In any new space, there is a strong temptation to purchase new furniture and equipment. However, there is usually a lot of existing furniture and equipment that can be strategically repurposed. This ensures that furniture and equipment funding can be invested in technology equipment and other high priority purchases.

Help staff grow their skill sets across technology areas – The technology centre team leader has been running integration days so that teachers can develop their ability to teach across different technology areas. Murray explains:

“We want our centre to be staffed by people who can teach across any of the areas depending on need and programme delivery and where the school is at. If people can only teach one thing, then we’ll have children who can only do one thing. We expect children to be multidisciplinary and agile, so our teachers have to be too.”

Dr Julia Aitken – Spaces and resources
Through this series of videos, Dr Julia Atkin discusses the positive impact that physical design can have on learning outcomes. She also highlights the need for space and resources to support effective and innovative pedagogy.

Planning an innovative learning environment
This Inclusive Education guide provides strategies and suggestions for developing innovative learning environments (ILE) that work for all learners. It focuses on supporting schools that are planning a new build or building modifications.

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In this video Mark Osborne explains that a good solid first step in in considering modern learning environments is to consider your school’s vision for student learning, then identify the strategies and environments that will make that vision a reality.

Grow Waitaha Pinterest boards
The Grow Waitaha Pinterest page has a range of board and pins to stimulate ideas for designing spaces.