Hello -week two...love how my heading comes up as the Weekly Wee.....oopsie daisies

Task - Critically analyse issues of socio economic factors, school culture and professional environments in relation to your practice.
So, Clark and Guba’s model of the stages of educational change is:
Research — advance knowledge to serve as a basis for development
Development — invent and build a solution to an operating problem
Diffusion — introduce the innovation to practitioners
Adoption — incorporate the innovation into schools
Based on House (1974) 36

This is as relevant to our whole Intermediate school culture as it is to my desire to reconstruct the teaching of hard materials technology in the Hardtech environment.

Currently the research stage is key. I have aligned my teacher inquiry around the strategic development-trying to invent and to build my solution. TIME and the Utopian element aside, I can see that the shifting forward will be gradual (The Japanese saying “Ipo ipo” is the key - gradual-very- small incremental slight steps upwards and forwards).

Identifying the socio economic status of the community...Some Census Background.(2013)

46,437 people were resident in Nelson (estimated Nelson population in 2017 would be: 66 336*).

More children but fewer teenagers. The number of people aged under 10 years of age rose by 564 to 5,736, an increase of 11 percent since 2006.

The median age increased to 42.5 years.

Most of the population (89.3 percent) identified themselves as being of European ethnicity, higher than the New Zealand average of 74 percent.  

An increasing percentage of people identified themselves as belonging to the Māori ethnic group, 9.4 percent.

The number of people identifying as Asian ethnic groups almost doubled between 2006 and 2013, growing to 1,956 (4.4 percent).

The unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, compared with the unemployment rate for New Zealand of 7.1 percent.  

There was a big increase in employment for people aged 65 years and over, of which half were employed full-time.  

The median household income in Nelson was $54,300 (National median household income of $63,800).

We are a South Island Small Town with a Cathedral.

Our Intermediate School Organisational Culture and Professional Environment.

Six feeder schools contribute their Year 6 students into the Year 7 cohort at the start of each year. ERO - This Intermediate has 421, Year 7 and 8 students. The roll is ethnically diverse and includes 25% whom are Māori; 3% Pacifika students, and students from refugee communities. Learners of the English language are provided with additional support in a dedicated space. Staff involvement in a wide range of in-depth external and internal professional development contributes to effective Teaching and Learning.

Whaia te Aratika - Our Vision

We aim to have tamariki who follow the right pathway in life to become positive, contributing and worthy citizens.  Whanaungatanga Is about interacting with other people on a personal and genuine level.  Authentic relationships respect - differences, cultures, learning and backgrounds.  Rangitiratanga... Leader of Learning-Using knowledge.  Manaakitanga... Celebrating each other with care and respect. Kaitiakitanga... Guardianship of learning and environment.

The professional Environment is: Collegial; Collaborative; Changing; Humorous and Positive - 10 new staff in 2017...due to promotions including a DP to Principal, appointment of new DP, (the usual hatches, matches and dispatches)!

New teachers, to kick off a whole new year. We are part of a COL.

Also included... Mindlab; Gail Loane; PB4l; Rich Arts and Talents programmes all enhance.

Show AwesomeNIS is our focus for all (Currently).

Nelson Intermediate is a Positive Behaviour for Learning School.  We are passionate about ensuring students are successful, respectful, responsible people at NIS, and this means knowing how to behave in ways that set them up for success.  We believe in the power of positive relationships and work hard to create strong links between home and school environments. This allows us to remove barriers to engagement and improve students chances to achieve at school and beyond.

We embed /I embed the Norms of Improving Schools as prescribed below - they are in place and evolving:

• Shared goals
• Responsibility for success
• Collegiality
• Continuous improvement
• Lifelong learning
• Risk taking
• Support
• Mutual respect
• Openness
• Celebration and humour—“we feel good about ourselves”

Stoll and Fink (1996)25

As stated “The norms are interconnected and feed off each other. They do not just

represent a snapshot of an effective school. They focus on fundamental issues of how people relate to and value each other.” Thrupp also argues, that the social mix of the school plays a major role in how it functions, largely because of the cumulative effect of how the pupils relate to each other as a group. Essentially, pupils who attend the school flavour it in a particular way, through their own pupil culture. This takes on added significance when they reach adolescence and their identities and values are shifting. The Intermediate environment is a two stage, two year on transition to College and independent learning.

We are a functioning developing Thang!!

My next step is to action my teacher inquiry... it will be important to follow the thinking of Clark and Guba’s model of the stages of educational change, as well as Dr Murray Gadd (NZ) said ... As in any writing... the heading and the ending should tie in ..... "The eyes should look down to the feet... and the feet look back up".