Staff
professional development
Case
study of a secondary school technology team
This material was produced by the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ)
under contract to the Ministry of Education in 2000 and 2001. It was written
to assist teachers and schools in their delivery of the technology/ hangarau
curriculum statements. The project was jointly coordinated by personnel
from the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ)
and National Association of Māori Mathematicians, Scientists and Technologists
(NAMMSAT) networks. Monitoring and evaluation of the material was carried
out by a national project advisory group.
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The
challenge
This case study outlines an approach to the task of providing appropriate
on-going professional development across a team of technology teachers
in a secondary school.
Professional development is seen as one of the three key areas for
development in the department. It is essential that enthusiastic staff
are allowed to acquire the professional tools necessary to develop technology
education.
There are 4 main problems with technology education professional development
at our school.
- Transient staffing in the teaching area,
- Teachers very 'part-time' in technology,
- Access to appropriate external PD,
- Wide range of prior technology education experience and curriculum
knowledge.
Our major challenge is to deliver appropriate professional development
in order to meet individual, department and curriculum goals. It is
a mixture of ongoing and overt professional development. What follows
is an overview of the staff and the strategies we used to professionally
develop a fairly disparate group. This is a planned and targeted exercise
with individual goals and strategies to reach those goals.
Staff
profile
Specialist
teaching area: Food technology
Position:
HOD Food Technology and Hospitality
Background:
Home economics, hospitality, tourism.
Professional
development needs/requests: Achievement standards, programme
development (year 9 and 10 programmes toward technology education),
assessment.
Specialist
teaching area: Food technology
Position:
Assistant – Food Technology and Catering Unit Standards
Background:
Trained chef, hospitality, year 1 teacher.
Professional
development needs/requests: Achievement standards, assessment,
technological practice.
Specialist teaching area: Workshop technology –
metal
Position:
HOD Technical
Background:
Electronics, control systems
Professional
development needs/requests: Achievement standards, year 10 programmes
toward technology education, ETITO unit standards – electronics,
assessment.
Specialist
teaching area: Biotechnology, science
Position:
Assistant Science, Technology
Background:
Biology, year 1 teacher
Professional
development needs/requests: year 9 and 10 programmes toward technology
education, technological practice, assessment.
Specialist
teaching area: Text information management, ICT
Position:
Assistant commerce, technology
Background:
ICT, TIM, year 1 teacher
Professional
development needs/requests: year 9 programmes toward technology
education, technological practice, assessment.
Specialist
teaching area: Technology, Science
Position:
HOD Technology
Background:
Science
Professional
development needs/requests: Assessment, achievement standards.
Specialist
teaching area: Text Information Management, ICT
Position:
Assistant Commerce, Technology
Background:
ICT, text information management, year 1 teacher
Professional
development needs/requests: year 9 programmes toward technology
education, technological practice, assessment.
Specialist
teaching area: Carving
Position:
Assistant Workshop Technology
Background:
Māori Arts and Craft, year 2 teacher
Professional
development needs/requests: Achievement standards, year 9 and
10 programmes toward technology education, technological practice, assessment.
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