Learning Model for the 21st Century and the new MLC Junior School

Mrs. Barbara Stone, Principal answers Frequently Asked Questions on how the new MLC Junior School will accommodate future learners.

• Why the new Junior School building? How will learning improve?
• Where is the evidence that this will work? Who else is doing this?
• How will the Learning Studios operate?
• How do you ensure the best staff for a 21st century learning environment?

“Why zig when you can zag!” MLC is daring to be more in building a future school. We are continuing to reshape our Junior School teaching and learning model to ensure that our students are prepared for the 21st Century. MLC is actively engaging with the future rather than waiting for it to happen. Our community, country and world are changing rapidly. MLC’s new Junior School building design and our wonderfully diverse learning community, will allow our 21st century curriculum design to be even more effective in improving learning. How is 21st century learning characterised and how is it different to education of the past?

Our Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten children will probably be retiring in the year 2067. MLC is part of implementing a 21st century learning model to ensure their future is a relevant one.

In Australia and globally, MLC Junior School is at the forefront of change, with a number of future oriented schools that are ‘taking down the walls.’ Future focused schools seek to make learning environments relevant to their students and not just use schooling methods developed for a factory model of education.

These schools are responding to respected educational visionaries, who argue that the 20th century learning model is dangerously irrelevant and who describe a more relevant learning model for the 21st century. As a parent, if you would like to do further reading about 21st century learning models please refer to resources below.vMLC has a well respected tradition of collaboration with educational leaders and university researchers. This partnership has led to some outstanding and well embedded innovations in education.

It is certainly true to say that future oriented schools need to document this kind of innovation as future schools research is relatively new. The evidence that exists locally and globally to date is mostly anecdotal. However, anecdotal evidence is a powerful way to assess a learning model’s progress. This progress is under the watchful eye of Mrs. Barbara Stone, Principal of MLC School, PK-12 and Mrs. Diana Drummond, Head of MLC Junior School, PK-5. It is through the process of rigorous review with the MLC learning community, that this innovation will continue to flourish.

It must be remembered that the Kent House site (the former Junior Campus) had already implemented many features of the 21st century learning model described above. Our ‘Transforming Learning,’ intent is to make education even more relevant for your daughter in the 21st century in our new junior school building.

‘Two factors to continuing this tradition for 21st Century learners- tailoring learning to individual needs and the integration of computer technology-are difficult to achieve in traditional classrooms. Now we have taken the need to build a new Junior School as an exciting opportunity to translate our vision for ‘a school of the future’ into reality.’ (Junior School Prospectus Booklet)

For further exploration on 21st Century Learning Environments please refer to:

• Beare, H. (2006) How we envisage schooling in the 21st Century: Applying the new ‘imaginary.’ Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, London: Dexter Graphics
• Loader, D. (2008) The Reflective Principle: Futures-focused schools. Teacher October 2008
• http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm
• Pink, DH. (2005) A Whole New Mind: Moving from the information age to the conceptual age. Australia: Allen and Unwin.
• Stone, B. (2008) Transforming Learning: Building a School for the Future. Principal MLC School Burwood: MLC Website
• MLC’s New Junior School Parent Prospectus Booklet.

• Students will be in an open plan learning space with girls in the same grade. There are no walls in each studio to separate one class in a grade from the other. Students will be in a home class with an allocated grade teacher. The student's home class will work as a class for some parts of the day and in grade groups for other parts of the day.
• Two or more teachers will be teaching students at the same time in each studio. Student teacher ratios remain the same.
• Every grade has two main class teachers. Year 5 has three main class teachers. These teachers regularly plan, implement, assess and evaluate learning and teaching in teams.
• The students will be grouped in various ways for different purposes. The following types of groupings are choices that teaching teams might make:
• Differentiated groupings, which involves dividing the grade into smaller groups according to learning needs. This could include: learning support groups, gifted groups, core grade groups and interest based groups.
  
  • Individual learning
  • Friendship groups
  • Whole grade groups
  • Home room groups
  • Collaborative Learning Project Groups
• Classroom space usage will reflect purposes for learning and teaching. Studios are mapped out to allow for individual, group and class learning and teaching. Modern tables and chairs are organised into groups for inquiry-based learning. For example a small Year 5 group may be having a Skype discussion with a group of students in a Californian based school entitled, ‘The Eureka Stockade was a defining moment in Australian history.’
• Group and individual progress will be monitored through various forms of assessment.
• Teaching teams will establish negotiated studio agreements with students. These agreements will be developed as part of our three main school rules which are:
  
  • Respect yourself
  • Respect others
  • Respect property
• Studio agreements will reflect how to operate respectfully in an open learning space. These agreements will be put into place to ensure that all students can learn effectively.

• Timetables will reflect NSW Board of Studies expectations. The following Key Learning Areas are included as part of timetabling:
  
  • Religious Education
  • English (Development of talking, listening, reading and writing strategies and skills)
  • Mathematics
  • Collaborative Learning Projects incorporating English, MLC’s Junior School Teacher- Librarian, Human Society and its Environment, Science and Technology, Specialist Visual Arts and Specialist Drama/Dance and Technology connections.
  • Stand-alone library sessions with MLC’s Junior School Teacher-Librarian
  • Specialist Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
  • Specialist Music including Classroom Music and Instrumental
  • Languages Program for Year 5- Italian
  • K-2 Choir directed by Infants Teachers
  • Years 3-5 Choir directed by Specialist Music Teachers
• Parents are important members of MLC’s learning team. At the beginning of each year, parents will be invited to assist teachers with small group and individual learning, where appropriate.

• Selecting teachers who have had extensive experience and training in team teaching and who are familiar with setting up 21st century learning models.
• Providing professional development and training for existing teaching staff in team teaching and setting up 21st century learning models.