Improving Junior Secondary learning outcomes via a separate Year 9 campus

Improving Junior Secondary learning outcomes via a separate Year 9 campus

In Australia, Year 9 generally represents the third year of compulsory secondary schooling and caters for students aged 14-15 years. Year 9 has emerged as a distinct sub-group within the broader sphere of middle years’ education, with research on Year 9 identifying worrying levels of student disengagement, absenteeism and teacher stress (Dinham & Rowe, 2007; Middle Years of Schooling Association, 2008). As a means to improving Year 9 education, some schools in Australia have instigated Year 9 reform involving a separate campus with segregated learning spaces for Year 9 students; dedicated Year 9 teaching teams; and alternative curricula.

This qualitative case study explored a Tasmanian school’s efforts to improve junior secondary schooling outcomes via a separate Year 9 campus. An emphasis was placed on the teachers’ perspectives in this study because teachers are key agents in enacting school change. The study examined the case school’s rationale and vision for Year 9 reform; the professional learning needs of teachers engaged in reform; and importantly, factors that could assist schools in building capacity for meaningful change. The study was conducted over a 2½-year period with the primary researcher gaining full access and participation in the reform as a teacher employed at the case school. The study was underpinned by constructivist inquiry and used multiple data collection tools including: full participant observations recorded in a reflective journal; semi-structured interviews with teachers and leaders; school document analysis; and Email dialogues with teachers and leaders.

From the teachers’ perspectives, this study identified Year 9 as a critical group of learners influenced by perceptions that Year 9 is insignificant; high levels of student disengagement; and difficulties associated with the life stage of adolescence. The study found that teachers’ difficulties and stress associated with Year 9 correlated with their poor knowledge and understanding of adolescent development (Caskey & Anfara, 2014) and the principles of middle schooling (Pendergast, Main, & Bahr, 2017). In addition, the on-going professional learning and development [PLD] of teachers was not explicitly linked to the case school’s reform process. A key recommendation from this study, therefore, is that in order for meaningful and holistic change in Year 9 to occur, it is vital that PLD for all junior secondary teachers includes a thorough grounding in middle schooling principles and forms an intrinsic part of the junior secondary reform agenda.

Abstract only published.