Sydney Region
Key features
Connecting community/volunteer service to syllabus outcomes.
School context
Service Learning has been successfully used in other countries. Sydney Region is exploring ways to incorporate the concept of community service connected with learning in a variety of ways and school contexts. The project involved mostly primary and secondary Priority Schools. Each participating teacher examined ways of adapting existing curriculum with aspects of local community improvement and enhancement.
Planning
As a pilot project, schools were invited through expressions of interest. Schools were also surveyed in relation to existing community service activities. Several early meetings explored ideas about what Service Learning was and could be. Schools made a commitment to the project in Semester 2, 2005. The project is ongoing in 2006.
Objectives
- improve student engagement and learning outcomes
- provide new learning opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom
- support teachers with quality teaching strategies
- build community and interagency partnerships.
Targets
Targets relate to participating schools as exemplified below:
(i) Year 3 class with students from low SES and LBOTE backgrounds, including some new arrivals – aimed at achieving Science and HSIE outcomes through community gardening
(ii) Years 8 and 9 Aboriginal Languages class with students from low SES and LBOTE backgrounds – implemented syllabus content and outcomes by reflecting about communities they are serving.
Strategies
- attend Service Learning information meetings
- in-school planning support – PSP Consultant, CI Consultants
- planning and information meeting - network meeting to share and discuss project implementation
- professional learning related to aspects of Service Learning. Relief time for preparation of project outline and other resources related to the project
- implementation – ongoing reflection by students and teachers
- progress report meeting – network meeting to share progress, concerns and strategies
- professional learning related to aspects of Service Learning
- relief time for preparation of project resources and documentation
- evaluation and celebration network meeting – present, share and evaluate progress of project. Consider future directions.
Resources used
Philip Hart, PSP Consultant
Katrina Stomann, PSP Partnership Officer
Margaret Hunter, PSP Co-ordinator, Partnership Development
Michael Genner, Curriculum Implementation 7-12
Sarah Hay and Lorraine Simmiss-Taylor, Curriculum Implementation K - 6
Margaret Richmond, Empower
Sandy Lynch, University of NSW
State Equity Centre resources
Various local councils, service providers and businesses
Parents and community members
Quantitative outcomes
Too early to quantify. The project will support teachers with data collection and analysis in 2006.
Qualitative outcomes
Extracts from one project as an example:
Student reflections
It was good to ask for help because so many people helped us.
We couldn’t have made the gardens without the help.
Lots of people will help us if we ask.
It was good to work together in groups and plan something that we could do.
Maybe the art teacher can do some art lesson about our plants.
We made the garden beautiful for everyone to enjoy.
Teacher reflections
It became part of my everyday teaching.
It integrated into the units that I had already planned.
The students benefited from and enjoyed the control of certain aspects of the project.
It took some time to be comfortable with relinquishing control but it was a rewarding
experience.
I was pleasantly surprised by the students’ responses.
The students’ learning was enriched by including a service component to the program.
Future directions
The project is an on-going one, and teachers had a short time frame in 2005. It was agreed that to achieve sustained results, schools need to carefully plan and set up the systems to support this. Other schools will also be invited to participate in 2006.
Concept building, ‘big-picture ideas’ and higher order thinking skills are aspects of learning and reflection that can be accessed in Service Learning. This area needs further development.
Implications
The pilot project indicated that Service Learning had real potential for supporting students’ engagement and achievements in a variety of ways. Quality teaching was embedded in all aspects of the project. It also has the scope to be applied in a variety of ways in different school situations. It is equally relevant and effective in schools with low SES communities and has been very effective in providing successful learning for students who have been disengaged from school. It provides possibilities for students to become active participants and stakeholders in their communities and enables them to be proactive agents of change.
Further information
Philip Hart, PSP consultant, Sydney region
Telephone: 9582 2833
