Winter 2005

The Assessment agenda

From tough start to high point

How did a remote amalgamated college provide a challenging curriculum as well as provide for the diversity of needs of students attending its four campuses? BRUCE HOUGHTON and DONNA TIMM report from Queensland.

They’re non-Indigenous, they’re Indigenous, they’re from 16 different culturally diverse backgrounds and they’re taking the challenge of New Basics in their stride.

The impetus for the establishment of the Western Cape College was the signing of the Western Cape Communities Coexistence agreement between the traditional owners, Comalco Ltd and the Queensland Government. This, on top of dismal learning outcomes for Indigenous students in the Western Cape region, set the scene for a change agenda that went from schooling structures through to the adoption of the futures-orientated New Basics curriculum. Weipa is a mining town and the communities of Napranum, Mapoon and Aurukun are Aboriginal communities. Spread out over 300 kilometres of the world’s best bauxite, the schools of Aurukun (P–10), Mapoon (P–6), Napranum (P–6) and Weipa (P–12) were combined into a college structure with heads of campuses at each campus.

With the amalgamation of the four campuses, it became evident that a consistent curriculum, catering to the diversity of needs, learning styles and the range of abilities of students was required. One of the four campuses, Aurukun, was already a Phase 1 New Basics school. This, as well as the fact that the Weipa campus had not yet made any developmental steps towards the writing of programs to implement the KLA syllabus, gave reason for a serious consideration of what the New Basics curriculum had to offer. New initiatives, including staged schooling, as well as year 10 being a ‘stock take’ year, closely tied with the grouped suites of Rich Tasks offered by the New Basics curriculum. Concerns had grading of student work, the reliability of this information and to State-wide comparability. A combination of all of the above led to the implementation of the New Basics curriculum at Western Cape College.

Initial trials of the New Basics curriculum in 2002 caused much consternation among the teaching staff in the college, especially in the secondary area of the Weipa Campus. With only the Rich Tasks to work with, no examples of finished products, a lack of curriculum development and resources, and a feeling of loss of the ‘traditional KLA subjects’, morale on the secondary campus was low. The primary school teachers readily adopted the transdisciplinary approach; however, they were concerned with the immensely challenging tasks and the time frame for completion.

Late 2002 saw the realisation that for New Basics to not only be developed, but implemented successfully, college management, finances, resources, IT facilities, staffing and timetabling would have to be completely driven by the New Basics curriculum. Two systems were used across the college to develop and implement the curriculum, namely teachers as trans-disciplinary agents based on the traditional primary school model with support from secondary specialist teachers and teachers as leaders in the upper middle school years 7–9. This system involved a lead agent teacher being assigned a Rich Task. The lead agent then ‘subcontracted’ out various components of the Rich Tasks to other faculties who worked toward the completion of the task. It became the job of the lead agent to monitor the progress of the staff and keep the tasks on track. The trans-disciplinary approach and use of specialist staff was the key to developing and implementing the New Basics curriculum.

The completion of the tasks demanded a huge investment in technology, professional development for staff and changes to facilities. New film and television suites were purchased for the years 7–9 sector to cater for the demands of the Rich Tasks. Teachers were released weekly in their horizontal teams (year level) for planning, while the regular weekly staff meeting focused on the curriculum issues of the vertical teams(years 1–3, 4–6 and 7–9). The teachers really flourished under this structure and their hard work paid off with a consistent delivery of the curriculum and the collegial support needed during times of massive curriculum change.

As the Rich Tasks are essentially the assessment and reporting component of the New Basics curriculum, the three-year curriculum plan for years 1–9 was developed through focused backward mapping of the suites of Rich Tasks. Sequenced learning experiences were collaboratively developed by teaching staff, allowing students the opportunity to develop the Targeted Repertoires of Practice and operational fields of knowledge that contribute to high-quality performance on the Rich Tasks.

Keeping parents informed was the key to successful curriculum implementation. The Rich Task upped the intellectual ante and to complete tasks students were required to involve their parents and community members in many aspects. Parents were unsure of the new terminology and the new demands of the tasks—this was so unlike anything that they had been involved in at school. The assessment was in a different format and the fact that the bar was raised in relation to grades was a major concern for staff and parents alike. At each stage of the development and implementation, parents were kept informed via meetings and information booklets. Parents were certainly convinced on the new curriculum when the final products started to flow and the quality of student work increased dramatically.

The New Basics curriculum has addressed the concern of parents regarding the State-wide comparability of student work. Teacher collaboration across campuses and the matching of their judgements against State-wide standards has ensured comparability. As a result of this moderation process, parents receive a report on the Rich Task performance of their students in the juncture years 3, 6 and 9. The New Basics reporting complements the school-based assessment and reporting that is carried out in every year level. The school-based reports provide parents with individualised information on literacy, numeracy and social and emotional development, as well as all other areas associated with curriculum delivery.

The three-year curriculum plan has taken a lot of work to develop. Continuous revision of the curriculum structures will ensure that the Targeted Repertoires of Practice are being sufficiently developed in the lead up years to the juncture years and that sufficient ‘scaffolding’ is occurring. The development of a college website, containing detailed curriculum planning documents relating to both Depth Studies and Rich Tasks will make available the necessary documents for the implementation of the curriculum. The availability of such documents, as well as samples of Rich Task moderated samples, is vital to ensure consistency in delivery at a campus that is affected by a transient teaching staff.

Improved Indigenous and non- Indigenous student outcomes, a satisfied and supportive school community, as well as a convinced staff, means that the New Basics is definitely here to stay at the Western Cape College. The revitalisation of the curriculum, improved pedagogy and a vigorous assessment and reporting framework has certainly put the Western Cape College on the map. In 2004, the college was awarded the title of Excellence in Indigenous Education—a title that we are all very proud of.

Bruce Houghton is the head of the Middle School at the Western Cape College, Cape York Peninsula.

Donna Timm is head of department, Middle School at Western Cape College, Weipa Campus.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au