As a current principal of a school with a roll of 368 students I see myself as an advocate for every child on the roll. This can involve working with a variety of different agencies and support networks. These include Ministry of Education, Oranga Tamariki, Social Workers in School, RTLB, RtLit, Salvation Army, Chomondeley House, Police, Children's Team amongst others.
At times I work with more than one organisation at a time to try and ensure the best outcome for the child or family involved. This often is harder than it should be due to various confidentiality clauses or one particular entity having different values to another.
I was fortunate in 2008 to work with Dr Heidi Hayes Jacobs, an author with expertise in an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum. She states in her 1989 book that "No matter what the content we can design active linkages between fields of knowledge". I see this statement is being as ever true today than it was in 1989 and it concerns me that individuals and individual schools continue to work in silo's.
Currently Linwood Avenue School is in the process of establishing a school wide curriculum that is relevant to our school and our community. I see this as a driver for interdisciplinary connections within school and within the community.
As a school we understand that this is a process and the initial importance was to show that this creation would be more than just another 'thing' on top of a mounting workload but instead essential in the ongoing development of our children and in time would create less work by maximising the strengths within the organisation(s). We also saw the importance of developing this with the voices of the relevant stakeholders which include staff, students and the community. This establishment of goals and expectations will create buy-in and sustainability.
The other big driver for interdisciplinary connections is that of our Tamai Community of Learning. A Community of Learning (Kahui Ako) is defined by the the Ministry of Education as a group of education and training providers working together to help learners achieve their full potential. (Retrieved from MOE).
We are currently in the early stages of development and I see the potential for opportunities as an exciting proposition for the community. We have recently appointed a lead principal and are currently working on filling the vacant 'Across School Teacher' positions.
As a COL we are working with similar demographics and with a wide range of success (based on NS data) it seems to me we have the skills within the COL to improve the outcomes for all 2500 students that we cater for within this group.
In time this interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning will better prepare students and teachers who currently have a mounting workload.
Reference List
Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.
Hayes Jacobs, H. (1989). Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design and Implementation. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED316506.pdf
MOE (2017). Retrieved from https://education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/col/
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