Western NSW Region
Key features
Developing understanding of the Quality teaching in NSW public schools materials with parent and community groups.
Implementing the NSW Quality Teaching framework in low socio- economic classrooms in Western NSW.
School context
The initiative was developed to support all parent groups and teachers in Priority Schools in Western New South Wales.
Planning
After initial workshops with teachers it was recognised that parent and community groups were not being exposed to the Quality Teaching in New South Wales framework.
A workshop was developed by the PSP Consultant and PSP Partnership Officer that addressed the introduction for parents/community groups to the Quality Teaching framework. Parents were offered a number of workshops that developed their understanding culminating in parents coding lessons from the Phase 2 materials.
At the same time teachers were developing their understanding of the framework and coding lessons presented by the PSP Consultant using the Quality Teaching framework.
Objectives
- developing an understanding of the Quality Teaching framework for parent and community groups
Targets
Parents and community members of Priority Schools.
Principals and school executives.
Strategies
- development of a day long interactive workshop using consultancy tools and the Quality teaching in NSW public schools materials
- development of a consultancy package for the PSP team
- delivery of the workshop at: Priority Schools in Western NSW, PSP consultancy team training, PSP Schools for Specific Purposes conference, Western NSW Quality Teaching Forums, 2005 PSP Partners 4 Learning Conference
- in response to school demand and following reflection, the workshop was redesigned into a 1½ to 2 hour timeframe
- a ’What QT looks like at home’ workshop was developed to increase parents’ knowledge of the QT elements
- a Phase 2 (Coding) workshop was developed to provide parents a greater understanding of the elements in action in a classroom.
Resources used
PSP Consultant and PSP Partnership Officer
Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the Quality teaching in New South Wales public schools resources
Quality Teaching parent workshop package
Consultancy Tools (David Langford, Tool Time)
Quantitative outcomes
This workshop offered and delivered to 33 primary and secondary Priority Schools across Orange, Bathurst and Mudgee.
Package distributed among the 18 PSP Partnership Officers.
Information on the workshop was provided to Principals of Western NSW. Principals were provided with a package to support the workshop (this was part of the Quality Teaching Forums in Western NSW).
Delivered to 25 community members at the PSP Partners 4 Learning Conference.
Qualitative outcomes
Parents have found the workshop very beneficial.
The PSP team have had many requests for the regional PSP consultancy team to deliver the workshop.
Future directions
A Phase 3 material (Assessment) workshop will be developed for parents. Understanding the development of rich assessment tasks and explicit quality criteria will be the emphasis of this workshop.
Implications
The regional PSP team has been requested to send these workshops to Priority and non-Priority Schools across NSW and school principals have requested copies of the QT parent packages.
It has been suggested that these workshops would be beneficial for teachers.
The outcomes demonstrate that parents want to understand and interact with the Quality teaching in NSW public schools materials. Parents have seen the importance of this knowledge to support their children in achieving improved learning outcomes.
Further information
Donna Quinn, PSP Partnership Officer, Western NSW region
Telephone: 6334 8200
Meryl Tremain, PSP Consultant, Western NSW region
Telephone: 6334 8219
