Driving innovation through key language leaders in Western Australia.

Menager, Simone

Introduction

In our Increasingly Interconnected world, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with each other defines success In relationships, In the workforce and In our personal pursuits. (AFMLTA More Leaps, 2012) There Is an impetus In education, therefore, to Improve the quality of language teaching and learning programs In schools and to Increase the numbers of students studying languages. (Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, Students First, Strengthening the Australian Curriculum, Improving the take up of foreign languages.)

The Key Language Leaders Initiative (KLL) was developed by the Western Australian Department of Education's Statewide Services division to strengthen the learning of languages In WA public schools. The division Is responsible for delivering support services to students and schools across WA to Improve educational outcomes for all students. Support Is delivered through regional networks, providing policy advice, allocating resources, and monitoring programs and services to ensure high standards. The services and support delivered through the Teaching and Learning Services Directorate are Integrated with all other functions of Statewide Services to support schools and networks to deliver high quality teaching and learning In every classroom; and creating expanded opportunities for students to develop the academic, personal and social competencies they will need to participate In the future workforce and society.

The KLL initiative Is one way the Department Is supporting the delivery of high quality languages programs In WA public schools. A consultation with current language teachers, led by Statewide Services Identified a clear need to establish a shared knowledge base that recognises the values and diverse understandings, experience and expertise of language teachers throughout Western Australia. The purpose of the KLL Initiative Is to strengthen teaching In primary and secondary schools by building the capacity of key language leaders to support their colleagues. Language specific officers worked closely with project participants to develop their plans and oversee their development.

The project brief

In WA, the Department's Focus 2015 document outlines a strategic direction for high- quality teaching and leadership. The KLL Initiative promotes continued collaboration amongst schools, In networks and with the community. The Department's leadership priority emphasises developing whole-school approaches to Improve teacher quality using the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership's (AITSL) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the standards) as the basis.

The AITSL standards define lead teachers as:

   recognised and respected by colleagues,
   parents/carers and community members
   as exemplary teachers. They have
   demonstrated consistent and innovative
   teaching practice over time. Inside and
   outside the school they initiate and
   lead activities that focus on improving
   educational opportunities for all students.
   They establish inclusive learning
   environments, meeting the needs
   of students from different linguistic,
   cultural, religious and socio-economic
   backgrounds. They continue to seek
   ways to improve their own practice and
   to share their experience with colleagues.
   They apply skills and in-depth knowledge
   and understanding to deliver effective
   lessons and learning opportunities and
   share this information with colleagues
   and pre-service teachers. They describe
   the relationship between highly effective
   teaching and learning in ways that
   inspire colleagues to improve their own
   professional practice.

The KLL initiative explores these standards and opportunities for participants to further develop both within and beyond their school community. The initiative provides the space and time for participants to grow their leadership skills in languages and to develop attributes outlined in the lead teacher definition. The participants have the opportunity to develop these skills both within and beyond their school community.

The KLL Initiative objectives are aligned with the AITSL standards and are listed below. At the conclusion of the year-long program, It Is expected that participants will have:

* further developed leadership skills within languages

* learnt and constructed new ways of leading

* identified strengths and areas of expertise

* further built capacity to drive Implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages

* fostered awareness and cooperation with key stakeholders, and

* built their own change management skills and the capacity to support others in managing change.

Teachers teaching teachers

Teacher Development Schools (TDSs) are a key component of the Department's support for teachers, acknowledging that teachers learn from other teachers. The TDSs initiative is a school-based system resource that promotes the sharing of high level curriculum expertise and innovation across schools, networks and professional learning communities.

TDSs provide state-wide support to teachers, schools and networks to:

* implement the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline

* collaborate to improve teaching and learning practices in Kindergarten, preprimary and Year 1 to 12 classrooms

* prepare for the smooth transition of Year 7 students to secondary settings

* maximise the number of students who leave school eligible for university or having completed vocational qualifications, and

* meet the requirements of the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) 2016.

This platform was used as a construct for the KLL initiative and was designed in collaboration with the TDSs Language coordinators to best support language teachers in public schools in Western Australia. In 2015, the TDSs Languages schools are East Manjimup Primary School, the Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) and Willetton Senior High School. Each school nominated one coordinator who was responsible for overseeing professional learning In languages and who was the main contact for project consultation. The coordinators represented language teachers across language areas and from early childhood to late adolescence phases of learning.

Implementation

Program eligibility was determined by the Department's Statewide Services Teaching and Learning directorate. The Statewide Services Centre Is responsible for the central portfolios that deliver support services to students and schools across WA to Improve educational outcomes for all students. This includes closely collaborating with regions to ensure that there is a state-wide integration of support to schools and students delivered through regional networks, providing policy advice, allocating resources, and monitoring programs and services to ensure high standards. Six leaders were selected on criteria Including:

* expertise in the teaching, learning and assessment of languages

* ability to collaborate with others to build capacity, and

* experience In establishing language programs that seek to maintain pathways from primary to secondary.

Once selection had occurred, a letter of Invitation was then sent to participate In the initiative via the principal.

The six nominated key language leaders were allocated funding to support relief costs to attend workshops, to develop project plans and to engage in action research to improve the quality of languages education in Western Australia. Seven days of teacher relief were allocated per participant: comprising three days of workshops and four days for project development and Implementation.

In terms of accountability, the six participants are required to report on their projects and include measures of success such as how they engaged with other language teachers and provided leadership support to others. In Term 1, 2015 the identified key language leaders submitted a detailed project plan with clear strategies to build capacity of colleagues. Details of these proposals are outlined in the Action Research Overviews section of this report. Each plan was reviewed, refined and endorsed by Statewide Services.

During Term 3, 2015 each participant was contacted by Department officers in relation to project progress. The aim of these visits or telephone calls was to ensure that participants had clear action checklists, were maintaining momentum with their projects and had the support they needed to continue. Before the conclusion of Term 4 2015, leaders presented their projects to identified stakeholders and submitted a report that demonstrated how the objectives of the plan were met. Each of the leaders' project findings are detailed In the following overviews.

Program structure

The KLL initiative explored leadership theory and its application in driving innovation in languages education through action research. (Pathways to Leadership in the public sector course, Australian Institute of Management, 2014) A number of leadership theories were explored Including appreciative Inquiry based approaches, the ontological model and the emotional intelligence framework. The projects were researched, planned and implemented by the participant, using methods specific to their action research and are detailed below. The projects supported their teaching and learning programs and were reported as being helpful to other language teachers as per the outlined initiative objectives including drawing on identified expertise to build capacity in others to manage change.

The program was structured over one school year, with the first two workshop days occurring in Semester 1 and the third day in Term 4, Semester 2. The program is outlined below:

Day 1

Session 1: Introduction and program objectives

Session 2: Leading languages teaching, learning and assessment

Action session: Developing an action plan, based on a model devised by Statewide Services, which included: Program title and aim, project objectives, stakeholders, conclusion including future actions

Day 2

Session 3: Growing leadership in others Session 4: Planning for the future with innovation and creativity

Action session: Review and refine action plan

Action: Plan implementation, progress reports due

Day 3

Participant project presentations and Q&A panel

Session 5: Sustainable leadership in languages

Session 6: Open space technology: looking ahead, maintaining connections and momentum, ongoing support, final report. Open space technology is a way of leading a conference which is focused on a specific purpose. There is no formal agenda to begin the session beyond the overarching theme. The use of open space technology to conclude the program provided an opportunity for participants to have the time and space to address possibilities for the continuing their support to language teachers beyond 2015.

Action research overviews

Each participant developed and refined an action plan on the basis of planned implementation, available resources and timelines, over the course of Semester 1, 2015. During Semester 2, the projects were implemented and have evolved with the support of principle stakeholders. Using a buddy system, each participant worked in partnership with one other course participant. Outlined below are the six projects. Permission was sought and granted for each participant and school to be identified in this report.

Ms Hiroko Shioji, Aboriginal languages teacher, Broome Primary School

Project title: Yawuru language resources curriculum audit

The Yawuru people are the native title holders of Broome, Western Australia.

The Yawuru language is the language of this area.

The project objectives were to:

* establish an archive of existing Yawuru teaching resources in relation to the Yawuru scope and sequence document, developed in consultation with the Kimberly Regional Office of the Department of Education Western Australia.

* determine which areas of the scope and sequence are lacking in resources

* ensure that language teachers and workers at the language centre have easy access to Yawuru language teaching and learning resources, and

* oversee ongoing maintenance of the resources archive by adding new resources as they are created. A quality assurance process will need to be undertaken and is the next step in this audit. This will be run separately by project participants.

Ms Shioji attended a national linguistics conference which focused on archiving protocols for the conservation of Aboriginal languages throughout Australia. She will present at a national language conference in Melbourne on her project and the language teacher training she undertook.

Ms Shioji met with key stakeholders at the Kimberly Education Regional Office and the Yawuru Language Centre to discuss the project and to find ways to collaborate which would enable further refinement of the audit. Suggestions included following a nationally recognised archiving system to ensure consistency amongst all archived Aboriginal language documents. These conversations have been invaluable in improving ease of access to resources through a process of classification depending on type of Yawuru language resource. There are clear areas of cross-over amongst the different roles Ms Shioji plays in the community, from teacher to mentor and now in a state-wide support role and therefore her project benefits go beyond her school to that of the wider community. The aim of the curriculum audit will be to establish a resource base through a process that can be implemented by other Yawuru language teachers and by Aboriginal languages teachers. The project objectives were developed by Ms Shioji in collaboration with officers at the Statewide Services Centre, the Kimberly Regional Office, the Yawuru Language Centre and with teachers of Aboriginal languages to ensure maximum benefit to all stakeholders.

Ms Helen Kuehs, German teacher, Baldivis Primary School

Project title: Implementation of Australian Curriculum: Languages, programming with cross curriculum priorities (CCPs) in primary schools

The project objectives were to:

* develop a greater understanding of the Australian Curriculum: Languages so that knowledge can be transferred to other language teachers

* develop planning documents to support the integration of CCPs within the target language of German. These documents would also be produced in English and therefore transferable to other languages, and

* encourage language teachers to experiment with the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach to increase whole school relevance.

Ms Kuehs presented her research and project findings at the 2015 Australian of Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association's (AFMLTA) national conference. She is a key leader in reporting to teachers on the conference, through her committee role with the Modern Language Teachers' Association of Western Australia. In this role, Ms Kuehs co-facilitated a state-wide initiative for familiarising members with the Australian Curriculum: Languages. Since presenting at the national conference on her KLL project, Ms Kuehs was also requested to present on behalf of the Department at the state German conference. This has sparked a lot of interest from educators Australia-wide and since then she has had requests to share her project with other networks at conferences and coordinated visits to her school for the purpose of work shadowing from teachers across languages. This is a wonderful example of how building leadership skills in language teachers can be of benefit to teachers of different languages and the skills learned are transferable.

Ms Kuehs reported that the program has given her confidence In leadership and has grown skills In mentoring others. She has been keeping her principal informed and has had the opportunity to present to colleagues at a staff meeting.

Future actions for Ms Kuehs Include meeting with Statewide Services stakeholders and then documenting guidelines for Including the CCPs In language lessons. It Is planned that the project will begin with the priority of sustainability and will expand to Include all priorities.

Ms Kim Daymond, Indonesian teacher, SIDE E-school

Project title: Moodle Face2Face

Moodle Is an open source learning platform which can house dynamic teaching and learning courses. Content can be accessed at any time and teachers can add gradable quizzes and assessments to the courses they create.

The project objectives were to:

* increase the use of Moodle language courses in face to face classrooms

* encourage language teachers to more fully embrace online technologies in their delivery of language classes

* encourage language teachers to become leaders in information and communication technology (ICT) Integration In their own schools and to work across learning areas

* equip language teachers with the skills and knowledge required to present language courses at the forefront of current ICT use, and

* further develop language courses with teachers by drawing on the Western Australian Curriculum ICT general capability by addressing the key questions, what does it mean to be capable in ICT, and what support do language teachers need?

Ms Daymond's action research revealed that many schools are already using Moodle as their online content management platform. She met with stakeholders Including school administration and drivers from other public schools to discuss infrastructure requirements surrounding the use of Moodle and implementation possibilities. Ms Daymond has identified the opportunity to share her expertise with teachers in a way that can facilitate efficient language teaching and learning both face to face and In a flipped classroom mode. Her project has the potential to provide a means to better link language hub schools together and to facilitate effective collaboration and resource sharing.

Mr Peter McKenzie, Japanese teacher, Wanneroo Secondary College

Project title: Integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (ATSIHC) into the Languages learning area

The project objectives were to:

* raise the profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures within the school and amongst language teachers statewide

* create the space for discussions amongst school staff regarding the Implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures CCP

* develop units of work that allow students to explore Aboriginal experiences worldwide and that promote opportunities for discussion and reflection, and

* share experiences and resources at a variety of teaching and learning forums.

By the middle of Term 3 2015, Mr McKenzie had already noted a cultural shift within the school, amongst staff and students since beginning to run a suite of professional learning to Improve understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures within his school community. This has occurred through whole-school events he facilitated In collaboration with school staff. He has the support of other staff to run whole-school professional learning next year and to circulate a staff survey about teacher engagement with cross-curriculum priorities. A student exchange with a sister-school allowed for the facilitation activities that integrated different cultural and linguistic perspectives as well as a reflection on ATSIHC.

The Initial project plan continues to evolve with the involvement of other staff members and has been easier for Mr McKenzie to implement In English as an additional language classes rather than in his Japanese classes. In the Japanese language classes, it was most effective to draw on the CCP of Aboriginal histories and cultures where most appropriate and suited to the teaching context, rather than as a complete unit of study as he had Initially planned. For example, a whole-school approach was taken to Involve students with the wider school community for NAIDOC week. This project has led to Mr McKenzie working closely with Ms Shlojl, another Key Language Leader to further collaborate on the Initiative. This has given Mr McKenzie further Insight into Aboriginal cultures, from the Yawuru perspective and the Noongar perspective. The approach taken by Mr McKenzie has created opportunities to Investigate and celebrate Aboriginal culture as appropriate and relevant to his students and colleagues. In support of the TDS Initiative, he has presented at one of the most popular language events on the school calendar, the Willetton Senior High School Languages School Big Day Out and will also present an online session about his Key Language Leader action research Into Integration of CCPs Into language classrooms, In collaboration with SIDE.

As Mr McKenzie looks towards the end of the year, he has realised that the project will not conclude In Term 4. His knowledge continues to grow and so do his ideas for Integrating the CCPs Into the classroom.

Ms Jieqi Zhang, Mandarin immersion teacher, Oberthur Primary School

Project title: An innovative language teaching approach: integrating languages across the curriculum in Western Australian public primary schools

The project objectives were to:

* document how to begin a bilingual/ immersion language program

* share expertise on teaching methodologies to improve student language proficiency and multi-task ability for second language learners, and

* explore and share ways of maximising the use of the target language In the classroom for both teachers and students.

Ms Zhang endeavoured to keep the purpose of the Initiative at the forefront of her mind as she embarked on extensive research into immersion language education throughout Australia. Her research is based on the principles used to found the bilingual program at her school and Is drawing on the experiences of her colleagues and students In the best ways to Implement a bilingual program. As this method requires significant time allocated to the teaching of content as well as language consecutively, not all schools will be In a position to follow the same implementation process. For this reason, Ms Zhang Is also documenting how units of work can be taught through the target language, rather than entire subjects.

It is reported that there is significant interest In a university continuing research Into bilingual education In WA In collaboration with the school. She is now In a position to create case studies through video snapshots of teachers at her school using a CLIL approach In their classrooms and Is considering establishing a state-wide bilingual education network.

Ms Priscilla Prince, Mandarin teacher, Bannister Creek Primary School Project title: 21st Century Education: Guiding students to become self-regulated learners

Ms Prince based her action research on devising ways that primary school students could maintain their language learning whilst their teacher was away on leave. She noted that her language teaching colleagues were unable to find qualified relief teachers to continue with the scheduled language learning program If they were III or away from work for professional learning or on extended leave.

The project objectives were to:

* shift to a 'teacher as facilitator' model of teaching, supporting students to learn with greater autonomy, self-direction and increasingly Independent acquisition of languages

* Increase student motivation to learn an additional language, building a positive learning environment Inside and outside of the 'Chinese lesson', and

* create differentiated learning opportunities within a mixed ability class, with special needs, background learners and second language learners.

Ms Prince's driving question was: does changing the language teacher's role to that of a facilitator increase the effectiveness of language acquisition? The Initial project was trialled over a four week period while the teacher was on leave. A relief teacher with limited Mandarin language experience led the class through a number of learning centre style stations. For the project to be successful, Ms Prince needed to establish effective collaborative learning groups with the students prior to her leave and defined individual learning goals with the students. The classroom organisation was integral to the success of the collaborative learning strategies and the space was arranged in a way that incorporated a number of separate learning stations.

It was reported that upon returning to school after extended leave, the trial project worked well to consolidate students' learning In Mandarin but that It was not an appropriate approach for teaching new language content. Ms Prince met with the school administration to discuss the project outcomes and realised that there needs to be clear ways of measuring project achievement. It is desirable to run a trial period of longer than four weeks to allow for measuring the effectiveness of an alternative pedagogy. Ideally, it would be more appropriate to set up a control group and an intervention group.

Ms Prince has researched online content management and learning platforms and has decided to create two Connect Classrooms, through the Department's Connect Community. The Connect platform Is an Integrated online environment or learning management system developed by Department staff for staff, students and parents In public schools. The online classrooms have been established to encourage students to progress their language learning at their own pace and can be accessed outside of the language classroom. Currently the classes and sharing are facilitated by Ms Prince, with the goal that in the future, the sharing will be between students and then shared with other teachers.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

We have found that the KLL initiative has encouraged teacher participants to develop their skills in line with AITSL's standards for lead teachers. In particular, the leaders focused on Standard 1: Know students and how they learn, Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it, Standard 3: Plan for and Implement effective teaching and learning, Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments, Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning and Standard 7: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/ carers and the community. The initiative has enabled teachers to lead processes to Improve student performance by evaluating and revising programs, analysing student assessment data and taking account of feedback from parents/carers.

Aligned to the standards, participants have:

* represented the school and the teaching profession in the community

* contributed to professional networks and associations and built productive links with the wider community to improve teaching and learning, and

* taken a leadership role in professional and community networks and supported the involvement of colleagues in external learning opportunities.

The KLL initiative culminated In a presentation day during Term 4, 2015. Participants presented their projects and findings to an audience of key stakeholders, including Statewide Services officers, school principals and community members. Presentations were followed by a question and answer session run by a panel of stakeholders and directed to each participant regarding their projects. In particular, co-ordinators of the TDSs were interested in continued collaboration with the Key Language Leaders into 2016, to cooperate in leading professional learning for primary and secondary languages teachers. The 2015 cohort of leaders will be mentors for the 2015 group of aspiring language leaders.

Throughout the program, participant feedback has been built Into each stage of the process. Feedback has been provided in formal and informal ways from other participants, principals, colleagues and Statewide Services officers. Through these processes, participants have ensured that they are meeting program objectives in projects that draw on their language expertise and skills in mentoring others. A focus of the year has been ensuring that program objectives are centred on expanding support to teachers and finding ways to share the leaders' expertise.

Future directions

Project goals have evolved throughout the year. This has led to developing ongoing aims for continuing targeted support of language teachers beyond 2015. The KLL participants have been actively involved with more opportunities to build their expertise than they had initially expected.

The KLL initiative for 2015 concluded in Term 4, 2015. The research undertaken by project participants is, in most cases however, ongoing and participants have reported the continuous nature of their projects. Leaders are at the stage where they have developed their projects, conducted the necessary research and are now in a position to draw on the skills to mentor teachers and pre-service teachers, using activities that develop knowledge, practice and professional engagement In others. They will promote creative, innovative thinking among colleagues (AITSL standards, April 11 2016). The Statewide Services division is considering ways of continuing to build the capacity of current language leaders as well as building the capacity of others as lead teachers. In this way, the outcome of participants' action research to date is not lost but further developed Into the future and reinforces the need to have more leaders in languages education.

In the first year of implementation, It was reported by participants and TDS coordinators that the Key Language Leader initiative had visibly helped to improve the quality of language teaching and learning programs in schools through the number of teachers benefiting thanks to the drive of the Key Language Leaders. With projects continuing into 2016, it is hoped that the advantages of the initiative will continue to reach broad networks of language teachers and fundamentally, contribute to the aim of building the quality of languages teaching and learning in public schools in Western Australia.

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References

Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, n.d., More Leaps. Available at http:// moreleaps.afmlta.asn.au/materials.php

Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, n.d., Students First, Strengthening the Australian Curriculum, Improving the take up of foreign languages. Available at www.studentsfirst. gov.au/strengthening-australian-curriculum

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, n.d., Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Available at www.aitsl.edu.au/australianprofessional-standards-for-teachers or http://www. aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst-resources/ australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, n.d., Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, career stage lead teacher. Available at http://www. aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-forteachers/standards/career-stage/lead

Australian Institute of Management. 2014, Pathways to Leadership in the public sector course. Available at https://intersector.wa.gov.au/article/asplring-leadersgraduate-foundations-and-pathways-programs

Department of Education Western Australia, n.d., Connect platform. Available at http://connect.det. wa.edu.au.

Department of Education Western Australia, n.d., Curriculum support. Available at http://det.wa.edu.au/ curriculumsupport/detcms/portal

Department of Education Western Australia, n.d., Recommended resources, languages. Available at www.det.wa.edu.au/recommendedresources/ earlyadolescence/detcms/navigation/languages

Department of Education Western Australia, n.d., Focus 2015, policy document. Available at www.det. wa.edu.au/detcms/district-education-offices/webreferences/focus-2015.en

Department of Education Western Australia, n.d., Teacher Development Schools. Available at http://www. det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/primary/detcms/ navigation/teacher-development-schools

Oberthur Primary School, n.d., Chinese language immersion programs. Available at http://www. oberthurps.wa.edu.au/chinese.html

Open Space Technology, n.d. Available at http://www. openspaceworld.com/users_guide.htm

Simone Menager is the Languages Consultant for Statewide Services within the Department of Education in Western Australia. She coordinates a range of programs and initiatives for languages education in public schools and manages the School Languages Program to deliver projects and resources that support language programs throughout the state. Prior to this, she taught senior secondary French at the School of Isolated and Distance Education and English as an additional language at l'Institut Universitaire de formation de maitres de Chartres. Simone has a passion for understanding the role of emotions in multilingualism and supporting language educators to reach their goals.