Learning and Teaching

Goals & Intended Outcomes

Our major goal for 2022 was to embed high expectations in all learning endeavours informed by our revised learning and teaching framework and guiding principles. There was a particular focus on explicating the key principles of ‘Explicit Teaching’ as our advocated primary instruction method.

Mazenod College educates young men utilising the principles of the Visible Learning framework, with a focus on explicit direct instruction and a Visible Wellbeing approach.

Our Learning and Teaching framework at Mazenod College recognises that young men have particular learning needs, drawing on research commissioned by the International Boys School Coalition, of which the College is an active member.

We use a Visible Learning Framework based on the research of Professor John Hattie to ensure that we are making a positive difference to maximise the learning outcomes of our students. Visible learning occurs when learning is the explicit and transparent goal. By making learning visible, teachers are more empowered to intervene in meaningful ways to enhance student achievement.

The advocated principle instructional practice is ‘Explicit Teaching’ as outlined in the research of Anita Archer and others. Archer (2010) explains that:

“Explicit instruction is characterised by a series of supports or scaffolds, whereby students are guided through the learning process with clear statements about the purpose and rationale for learning the new skill, clear explanations and demonstrations of the instructional target, and supported practice with feedback until independent mastery has been achieved.”

While direct instruction is the principle teaching method, teachers are given autonomy to explore other teaching methods, including scaffolded student led research where appropriate. To further support teachers in the design of their lessons and instructional practices, the ten research based principles of instruction outlined in the work of Professor Barak Rosenshine are used as a source of inspiration.

Guiding principles underpinning Mazenod College’s learning and teaching

In 2022, the Learning and Teaching Policy was more clearly explicated, with a sample lesson plan and key principles of Explicit Teaching.

Unchanged are Mazenod College’s guiding principles that are followed by all teachers in all subjects. Teachers collaborate to achieve a consistent approach to these principles:

• Respectful relationships: these underpin our learning and teaching. All members of the community display courtesy and respect for one another.

• Discipline: Mazenod College values and seeks to instill a discipline towards learning, with resilience and a willingness to learn as features.

• High expectations: in regard to behaviour, attitude, commitment, and academic performance.

• Equity: a set curriculum and course delivery and preparation for assessment and assessment tasks that is common across classes within the same subject.

• Continuity and progression: are seamless across the year levels with evident pathways for student development in particular subject areas.

• Personalised: provision for all students including those with individual needs and those with particular gifts and talents. Enhancement pathways, special needs, modified programs, and options in assessment for mainstream are all provided.

• Rigorous and relevant: a robust curriculum that is thorough and challenging. The curriculum is regularly reviewed and updated with reference to State and National requirements.

• Lifelong learning: a curriculum that is designed to be relevant as both preparation for future learning demands and for a happy and prosperous adult life.

• Explicit and scaffolded lessons and tasks: explicit step-by-step instructions are provided, that graduate learning, building from simple tasks to more complex tasks. Our lesson design seeks to provide a scaffold that enables students to complete tasks, together with a clear understanding of what students are learning and why they are doing so. This is further articulated in rubrics for the assessment of tasks and projects.

• Regular feedback: Mazenod provides regular assessment for students in many forms including both formative and summative. Feedback is provided in a variety of forms including marking sheets, rubrics, written, audio, or video teacher comments, peer feedback and self-evaluation. Student work is returned in an appropriate time-frame, typically within two weeks.

Achievements

A shared framework was developed in 2020 and updated in 2022 to outline what Learning and Teaching at Mazenod College looks like:

Mazenod College teachers educate young men by cultivating strong relationships with and between their students. Cultivating strong relationships involves:

• Maintaining high standards of boys' conduct promoting high expectations of work quality;

• Acknowledge students' academic, social, and cultural backgrounds;

• Encouraging them to respect differing viewpoints and to take responsibility for their own beliefs and actions;

• Stimulating engagement and imagination through the sharing of interests and passions using humour, story, discussion and focused games.

Mazenod College teachers utilise our visible learning framework that involves:

• Setting clear learning intentions and appropriately challenging goals for our students providing success criteria and modelling what success looks like;

• Employing a selection of research-based high-impact teaching strategies using evidence-based techniques to inform pedagogy;

• Adopting a differentiated teaching approach using data collected via a formative and summative assessment;

• Using a range of regular and continuous feedback methods to enhance learning.

Mazenod College teachers implement an explicit direct instructional practice that involves:

• Structuring lessons with clear learning objectives and success criteria strengthening previous learning with regular review;

• Presenting new material in small explicit steps involving direct instructions modelling exemplar responses and guiding student practice;

• Using a variety of formative assessment tools to ascertain student progress, altering the lesson trajectory accordingly;

• Implementing a range of strategies to support mastery learning in the classroom.

Mazenod College teachers incorporate a visible wellbeing approach to implementing strategies into their daily classroom practice that use the SEARCH framework to foster student wellbeing in the following domains:

• Strengths

• Emotional Management

• Attention and Awareness

• Relationships

• Coping

• Habits and Goals