Monday, January 27, 2014

A new year, a new intent.

This blog has become stagnant, and my mind often races with ideas and processes I would like to share. The mismatch has been a result of me breaking from the concept as a psuedo edtech leader into what I believe my role is now about. It will be easier for me to share here what occupies my mind the most. At this stage that is the leading of a faculty of teachers through a period of significant change.

So this blog will share successes and failures (or at least my perceptions of these).

To start; a little context. I am a Head of Department which essentially translates to middle management. The faculty is Health and Physical Education which has the implementation of a National Curriculum from the beginning of next year. My school is a large public school that this year will implement a pedagogical framework, is in a period of change in regards to teacher planning and reflection, and will expand to include another year level in 2015. In reality, this makes me little different from every other Head of Department for HPE.

My school is in a phase of significant change, from student management to teacher practice. We have over 120 teachers, and are predicted to have over 2100 students on day 8 (the day in Qld where school population is counted and funding is based on.) There are over 20 teachers teaching HPE this year, three staff on maternity leave, one on unpaid (travel) leave and one on extended sick leave and another 20 HPE trained teachers in the school who want to teach HPE.

My staffing presents its own challenges. Some of these will be discussed here. However I am so very fortunate that in the 2 schools I have worked in I have been blessed with dedicated staff. This is the single reason why I continue to commute an hour each way to my workplace.

So I plan to think out loud here this year. Feel free to comment, criticise or question.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Shane,
Just because you don't blog as often as some of the "eduspammers" doesn't mean your work isn't as important. Quality over quantity, I say. Your school situation has parallels and points of difference to mine. We face the same AC implementation challenge as you and your staff, but we have declining numbers of students and thus less staff to maintain what we do. I'm guessing we will have to make some hard decisions about what we should do and what we have to do. I'll be following your progress - good luck on your journey!