Most Significant Change Story

Principal: Gillian Phillips School: Mordialloc Beach Primary School

A Chance to Develop Cross Curricula Planning In Asian Studies

Beginning (situation before the change) small preamble:

In 2011 Mordialloc Beach PS had just embraced the teaching of Korean language and culture to its students but prior to this the teaching of Asian cultures was ad hoc-ie The Chinese in the Goldfields. It was superficial and the quality of inclusion depended on the skills and interest of staff. If it wasn’t obvious, it was not included. Often cultural days were held in recognition of all the cultures from where our students hale.

Middle (what happened) tipping point:

Two things assisted us to truly review our teaching and planning practices in studying Asian cultures. Firstly, after consulting with the school community the decision to take up Korean, and secondly, the Principal had been at briefings which outlined the 3 cross curricula areas the Government was advocating; These were Asian studies, Indigenous Australians and sustainability. The opportunity to participate in L21CSV also coincided with this. The planets had aligned. We posed the questions-How can we link these cross curricula areas to current Inquiry areas? How can we work smarter and make it part of the curriculum and not in addition to it?

Staff had several of our Professional Development sessions to tease these questions out and to try to gain agreed understanding of what it might look like. We used the audit tool supplied through L21CSV and had some very fruitful conversations about where these cross curricula areas fitted in naturally to our curriculum and where, if we though more laterally where we could build them in. We also asked was there anything in our current Inquiry areas that was now irrelevant? Staff adapted our current planner to incorporate the cross curricula areas and worked together to develop a unit of Inquiry that incorporated all. A schedule of focus Asian languages was built in to the framework beginning in 2013. This includes Korean across the board but includes two Asian cultures per year as a separate focus for each year level. At this stage each study would cover a semester.

Now (situation after ) aspect of impact:

Staff are now thinking far more consciously about where Asian studies fits in to all areas of the curriculum. It is an expectation that each planner includes the Asian focus. In 2013, each year level will focus on specific Asian cultures. The teaching of Korean continues to provide a healthy guideline as to how you can embed a language into the curriculum and how it engages the children in a rich way. That is the model that staff are following.


Why did you choose this particular change? Why was it significant?

Our school’s mantra is do it smarter and do not throw out the baby with the bath water. Keep what is working and build current best practice into it. If we had gone to the staff and said we are going to study Asia and you have to do it this way, we would have a shallow approach. Rather, we all worked together and discussed the pros and cons. We all had input and continue to modify the processes together. The impact is significant in that we did have some naysayers at the beginning of the process and now we have commitment.

Which domain from the Asia Literate Rubric does your MSC best address? Please select the best fit for ONE DOMAIN ONLY from Policy and Leadership, Teacher Capacity, Curriculum

Curriculum Implementation p Implementation Plan

p Curriculum Leadership

p Content Inclusion

p Language

p Sister School

p Review and Evaluation

Based on materials from Jessica Dart & Rick Davies – Clear Horizon Consulting – Most Significant Change Model.