Extension project enhances teaching practices in Year 11 and 12 colleges

The Year 11 Southern Catholic College Extension project was designed to give students an opportunity to stay at one college for their entire Year 7 – 12 schooling. Whilst student engagement was a key factor in the project, there are many other people within our school communities that benefit by this extension. One of the key members of the Catholic Education Tasmania community whose day-to-day has been positively influenced by this extension, are the educators.

The project is seen as an opportunity for students to grow, but it should also be seen as a great chance for the educators at the colleges to grow their own capacity and experience by being able to teach across the entirety of a secondary school. While it is a new experience for an educator who hasn’t had the opportunity to teach a Year 11 and 12 curriculum before, our Colleges have ensured that support has been prioritised for the educators as this transition has taken place. With more teaching positions available in our Year 11 and 12 extension colleges, over time this will create better teachers and greater opportunities for the students of Catholic Education in Tasmania.

St Aloysius Catholic College students

Olivia Jinadasa is the Faculty Leader: Religious Education at St Aloysius Catholic College and teaches a Year 11 Religion class at the College. She has found it beneficial to improve her teaching practices, now having the opportunity to teach senior classes and become familiar with the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (or TASC, as it’s more commonly known). Olivia has loved learning a new curriculum, and how it has helped grow her own practice and knowledge. “I think if you're passionate as a teacher about a particular subject, be it English or Psychology or whatever, you've got the capacity to then grow that from, say, grade nine and ten with your course electives to then preparing students for their TASC subjects." 

St Aloysius is in the unique position of being a young and modern college, and will be Southern Tasmania’s only co-educational K - 12 College, so there is a great opportunity to grow a strong culture of learning at the College. Olivia was invited to specific Personal Learning opportunities with TASC, and was welcomed by other colleges, specifically St Mary’s College and Guilford Young College to support her delivery of Religious Education to Year 11 students this year, and Year 12 students moving into next year. “We've had PL delivered to us specifically from TASC, which has been really nice, and we've had a lot of support from the wider network, from staff who have taught those courses for a long time.” Explained Olivia, “Being able to engage in moderation processes, even just as observers, has allowed me to feel confident in the criteria and really confident in the course before we deliver them.”

St Virgil's College Year 11 students with Principal Jon Franzin

At St Virgil’s College, they are excited to be returning to Senior Secondary education for the first time since 1996. Their new buildings are providing students with a new feel to their education at the Austins Ferry campus of the College, and Head of English Ivan Dowding-Hopkins loves teaching his pre-tertiary (University Entrance Level Course) Year 11 group. He discussed the support that he has been given by members of the College’s Leadership Team to ensure that the best possible curriculum and outcomes are developed for his students. “I know that I have several colleagues who I can brainstorm with when it comes to teaching Year 11. Being able to ask Rohan [Rohan Mitchell, Director of Learning and Innovation, SVC], who’s my main go-to for all things English, what do you think about this? Or how would you go about doing that? It’s nice to have that support there if I need it.”

Ivan looks at ways to continually improve his own teaching practices and understands the importance of teaching his students in Year 11 which are some of the most formative years of schooling. “At the end of this year, there’s going to be a group of young men who get a score from their English and that’s going to be, partly, because of my teaching.” Said Ivan, “I want to teach the best that I can so the students can do the best that they can do.  I can feel comfortable that I am a part of giving these students the best possible education.”

Lorraine Wolffe is the Deputy Principal of MacKillop Catholic College and has been at the centre of the development of the College as it became a 7 – 12 school. She has had the experience of being part of Year 11 and 12 schooling in her previous roles in Queensland, so she has been able to bring her own perspective as MacKillop hosts Year 11 students for the first time in their history. Lorraine explained, “I bought a lot of my own experience from the schools that had Year 11 and 12 in Queensland. So, it's been a great opportunity to expand those skills into a new jurisdiction in Tasmania and to be able to lead and have people believe in themselves.” Explained Lorraine, “We might not have had many teachers teach Year 11, but they all definitely have that capacity to teach, they’re good teachers, so working as a leader to help them to be able to become successful has been a great experience.”

The confidence that the families of MacKillop have in the College’s ability to deliver a high-quality Year 7 – 12 education is also improving. Lorraine believes that the parents are growing in confidence that MacKillop can provide a cohesive 7 - 12 community for their students from the start of high school right through to when they graduate Year 12 six years later. “They have a lot of trust in us, and I think they now have the belief in what that trust means.”