Category Archives: school structures

Teachers not getting quality feedback and recognition

Posted on June 1, 2010 by mwalker

I have just finished hearing a report on the state of teacher performance reviews in Australia completed by the Grattan Institute. Its a fairly controversial report as reported in the education review, ABC in South Australia, Australia ‘fails in teacher … Continue reading →

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Support in schools arguments

Posted on June 1, 2010 by mwalker

This is the second post on the issue of support for teachers. In the previous post “What constitutes support for a teacher?” I set the scene that we have been re conceiving our workforce plan with the loss of 50% … Continue reading →

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Sustainability in schools – a broader view.

Posted on May 25, 2010 by mwalker

This week as part of Masters Leadership course we visited Collingwood College looking at the broad theme of sustainability. Collingwood College was the first center for the now nation wide Stephanie Alexander’s school kitchen gardens. These photos show the gardens … Continue reading →

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School Transition Programs – Do they make a difference?

Posted on November 22, 2009 by mwalker

During our school review we identified student transition as an area to improve student engagement and connectedness to school. Our transition program aims to provide smooth pathways for students moving from one year level to the next or from location to … Continue reading →

Posted in school, school structures, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

School Regeneration Projects

Posted on October 14, 2009 by mwalker

School regeneration projects engage schools and their local communities developing a sustainable educational provision plan that covers educating young people from birth to adulthood. The school communities usually agree to reduce the number of sites and organise the provision of education … Continue reading →

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“teacher roles defined as covenants should be at the centre”

Posted on October 6, 2009 by mwalker

Sergiovanni in this book gave me one of those precious light bulb moments, as a school leader, when he defined roles as “the most sacred obligations and commitments we have towards each other, toward the school and toward its purpose” [p … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Masters in Education Course, Monash University, school, school structures, Teaching | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Web 2.0 tools and communication expectations?

Posted on September 17, 2009 by mwalker

Thanks to Greg Carroll from New Zealand for the link. I’m talking more and more in the staff room and off the cuff comments about the social medium of web 2.0 at staff meetings these days. There seems some tensions … Continue reading →

Posted in Protocols, school, school structures, Video Clips | Tagged | 5 Comments

Learning to Change and Changing to learn

Posted on May 20, 2009 by mwalker

I have been hanging onto this clip for a while not knowing what to do with it – in re-looking at it – again – its challenging. I heard some really interesting comments: “nearly now” space created by technology where … Continue reading →

Posted in school, school structures, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 1 Comment

Teacher challenges in setting up creative, collaborative and competitive learning spaces in classrooms.

Posted on December 17, 2008 by mwalker

It’s near the end of the school year here in Victoria and the pressure is on to finish the school year [student reports have been distributed, class lists finalised with the transition session tomorrow morning, the roll over of our … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Communities, Leadership, school, school structures, Teaching, Video Clips | Leave a comment

Parent input into and understandings about school structures and class lists

Posted on December 4, 2008 by mwalker

Each year I invite parents to contribute information into the class list formation for the following year. I have felt that we as teachers do not know everything about students and an opportunity to have additional information was valuable. Of course I … Continue reading →

Posted in school, school structures, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Elephants on the Table!

Posted on December 4, 2008 by mwalker

Ever been to a meeting where some “elephants” were raised from under the table?  Well at a recent staff meeting two elephant type issues were raised: student’s repeating classes and teacher roles and how allotment decisions are made.  I have previously made … Continue reading →

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