Middle Schooling Philosophy

 
Schools are organised on the principles of Monopoly while our kids live in the Nintendo World.
 
More than just bricks and mortar.
Setting up middle schools does not guarantee that middle schooling will occur
 
Changes to philosophy- not just bricks and mortar
Appropriate:
 Leadership
 Resources
 Support
Regardless of physical structure.
 
Establishing a separate institution for students in the middle years and naming it a middle school
does not guarantee that the education provided will be consistent with the philosophy, curriculum
and pedagogy of middle schooling.
 
Middle schooling is the adoption of a whole philosophy to accommodate the physical, social,
emotional and educational needs of a unique group of students.
 
Middle schooling
Middle schooling refers to a particular types of pedagogy and curriculum such as:
 Cooperative learning
 Collaborative teaching
 Integrated curriculum
 Authentic assessment
 Small learning communities
 Smooth transitions
 
A platform
This topic:
 Highlights positive learning that can take place in effective middle schools
 Introduces you to recommend practice to achieve this progressive education
 
A contentious Issue
There are a multitude of reasons:
 Teachers with failed or poorly planned middle school experiences
 Lack of curriculum support
 Inadequate professional development
 Reluctance to work with adolescents
 Inadequate middle schooling philosophy
 
Understanding the concept
Understanding the terminology
 Middle years: generally students between the ages of 10-15 years.
 Middle school: it's the structure that houses the education for middle years students.
 Middle schooling: education which is characterised by a philosophy, curriculum and
pedagogy based on constructivism
 
What is Constructivism
A theory:
 Learning becomes relevant to students
 Helps them become
 Problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and lifelong leaners
 
Piget's Cognitive Constructivism
 Development precedes learning
 Students need to be at the correct stage of development before they can learn
 Learners must construct their own knowledge which is changed through a process of
assimilation and accommodation to achieve equilibrium
 
Vygotsky's Social Constructivism
 Learning precedes development
 Student do the learncing and then development follows
 Learning through interaction with the teacher and others influences in the student's social
and cultural sphere
 Social interaction is the integral part of this learning
 Zone of proximal development
 
Zone of proximal development
 Our present state of development is enhanced with a new task just out of reach of our
current abilities
 Students learn more effectively when their learning is scaffolded (structuring the learning in
order to support the student towards the next level of understanding)
 Charts the space between what they can do developmentally and what they can so with help
 
Australian Perspective
 Our middle school education follows united states
 Since the early 1990s Australian has seen the growth of separate middle schools
 Some restructuring traditional schools
 Others are new purpose-built middle schools
 
South Australian Perspective
 Students in Year 7 in SA are moving to secondary school
 2018-2022 Year 7
 Most SA government schools will transition their Year 7 students across into the
compartmentalised existing secondary school system
 Some very exciting and innovative things happening in middle schools around SA
 Learning that perfectly suit MS paradigm
 
Catholic Education SA- pedagogical leadership for the middle years network
 15 like minded schools
Network aims and outcome to:
 Build capacity of schools to intentionally focus on student learning and wellbeing in the
middle years
 Enable network participants to support and learn from each other as they inquire into
learning, pedagogy and wellbeing, and lead reflection and pedagogical change in their
schools
 
Middle schooling
 Is not going away
  We need clarity, dedication and passion to enable out middle schools flourish
 There remains steady development in this area
 
How are we doing this?
By providing leaders of learning in the middle years with what they needs:
 An understanding od adolescent learners
 Opportunities to further develop educationally appropriate teaching and learning activities
that cater for the young adolescent learner
 Opportunities to review and reflect on current practices
 
Middle schools are:
 Designed to cater specifically students in the middle years of schooling
 For students in the middle of the development continuum from childhood to adulthood
 Also meant to be based on the philosophy of middle schooling
 
In conclusion
 Departments of education in Australia recognise the need to address and support early
adolescent development
 Middle years policies and action plans have emerged from state education departments