Clustering
Collaborating trhought Learning Communities
Discussion Paper Draft #1
CountryEducationProject
cep.org.au
0428171145
POBox1255
Wangaratta,VIC,3676
Patron:MrBailieuMyerAC
RURAL LEARNING SUMMIT 2012
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RURAL LEARNING SUMMIT 2012
2012
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Introduction
It gives me great pleasure to present to you the outcomes of the deliberations that have occurred through the Rural Learning Summit 2012; cluster and network discussions, and forums, held across rural Victoria; and the experience of interstate and international rural communities as to the potential that collaborative approaches provide in supporting learning development and provision within rural communities.
It takes into account the state governments policy of local autonomy and flexibility especially across the areas of
-Empowering school leaders and staff, in partnership with their communities, to be the drivers of change and determine the local approaches that will achieve improvement.
-Supporting education organisations to trial new approaches to enhance learning provision.
-Greater emphasis on partnerships between education organisations and between such organisations and the wider community.
-Supporting the provision of learning within a Lifelong Learning framework.
This Discussion Paper has been based on the deliberations held as part of the Rural Learning Summit 2012 where the theme focused on:
“Clustering – Collaborating through Learning Communities”.
Rural education communities throughout Victoria have had a long involvement in clusters for a range of reasons and needs. Within CEP, we have a strong philosophy of supporting rural learning communities in the utilization of clustering and working collaboratively across the 0-18+ spectrum as an effective way in enhancing and improving learning opportunities and outcomes for rural communities.
Ithas been developed to examine the potential clusters and clustering can provide as a future strategy for rural education communities across Victoria and calls for a rethink of how they can again be a key strategy in providing quality learning across the 0-18+ years spectrum.
I hope that through the discussions and actions identified at the Rural Learning Summit; discussions with clusters of rural communities; our learnings of past experience; analyzing the research and case studies on clustering within Australia and overseas; and through in depth discussions, we are be able to identify the opportunities that clustering can provide our rural communities.
I encourage all interested people involved directly in rural learning, or in supporting rural learning, to provide feedback on the information, and ideas, outlined in this Discussion Paper and to think creatively about how clustering can enhance and strengthen the provision of learning from 0-18+ learning within our rural communities.
The ultimate purpose of this Discussion Paper is to present the ideas and concepts to education sectors; governments; and rural communities how we can improve the learning opportunities and outcomes for rural learners from 0-18+ years through the use of clustering
I look forward to your input into this important Discussion Paper.
.
Wendy Graham
Chair
Background:
The Discussion Paper has a strong focus on exploring the real potential that collaborative approaches through clustering (across education organizations; between education organisations and their communities; and links to other regions, states and countries) can provide in enhancing and improving the learning opportunities and outcomes for rural young people, as well as build the capacity of rural education leaders and staff across the 0-18+ years spectrum.
For the purpose of thisDiscussion Paper, the following guidelines will be utilized in defining a rural community:
-located at least 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne CBD
-located at least 15 minutes drive from a population centre of more than 10,000.
-Less than 5,000 population in their own right
-Limited, or no, access to public services.
Itexplores the potential clustering provides across four key areas:
- Enhancing learning provision
- Workforce utilization and professional development
- Education leadership support and development
- Governance, management and administration
Rural Education in Victoria
Within Victoria there are 388 schools (10 Independent; 60 CEO; and 310 DEECD) currently providing learning within rural communities, along with numerous preschools and early learning centres managed by local government, community management committees, health services and a growing number of rural schools. In addition, there are a small number of vocational training facilities (often campuses of regional TAFE Colleges) and Adult and Community Education Centres within these communities.
Rural Victoria has changed over recent times, and to provide a quick overview of these changes we have outlined information specific to the school sector over the past five years:
Schools:
-The schools comprise:
- 43 Prep to Year 12 Education Settings – a number of these also have pre school and early years services included
- 35 secondary schools
- 310 primary schools
-There have been 15 rural schools close over this time and 16 rural primary and secondary schools merged into P-12 education settings.
-While there are a number of rural communities have seen this decline in student population being a reflection of the general population decline, there are a growing number of rural schools who are reporting that young people within their communities are “bypassing” their local community school and travelling to larger population centres based on the perception that a better education is provided. This is also occurring within the pre school learning area.
Young people are travelling on buses for over an hour one way in some rural communities. In some rural communities, this growing trend could involve around 30% of local young people. While this is a concern to the local education communities, it is also having an impact on the broader local community, especially in areas of community activities, sporting activities and part time employment within local businesses.
Student Enrolments:
-Approximately 43,746 young people are enrolled in the three school sectors across rural Victoria. Over the past five years these enrolments have decreased by approximately 8,700 students.
-While there is a general view held that enrolments in rural communities are decreasing across the board, over the past five years we have seen 96 rural schools increase their student enrollments.
-The size of rural schools varies significantly:
School Size / Number of Rural SchoolsUnder 100 students / 247 schools
100 – 200 students / 70 schools
200 – 300 students / 36 schools
300 – 400 students / 19 schools
400 – 500 students / 8 schools
Over 500 students / 8 schools
Key Challenges:
Over the past five years, CEP has undertakentwo surveys across rural education communities (one in 2006 and one in 2011) to identify the key challenges and opportunities rural schools see in relation to learning provision. The following table provides a brief overview of thechallenges identified and also provides a picture of the changes that have occurred over this time.
2006 / 2011Rural Communities
•Changing Demographics
•Drought and Fire
•Aging population
•Declining populations
•Pressure on finances
•Deferral rates high for further education / •Changing demographics
•Declining population across some areas while some areas experiencing increases
•Drought, Floods and Fires still impacting
•Limited access to community services
•Significant increase in mental health issues amongst young people
Rural Industries
•Number of communities experiencing industry change
Learning Provision
•Declining enrollments in drought affected communities
•Decreasing parent involvement
•Difficulty to provide breadth of learning – especially in specific curriculum areas
•Post compulsory provision a challenge / •Need to develop cluster approaches from 0-18+ years
•Desire to understand contemporary learning approaches within a rural context.
•Increasing administrivia expectations
•Decreasing community and parental involvement
•Decreasing enrolments in some locations
•Access to engaging and diverse learning programs
•Increasing challenges of special need students
•Challenge to provide pre school and early years programs as detailed by the commonwealth guidelines
Workforce
•Recruitment of Teachers
•Changing role of principal
•Aging staff profile / •Retention of quality teachers
•Professional development for alleducation staff and leaders
•Interest to develop cluster approaches to workforce utilisation
•Increasing age profile of rural teachers
Clustering to Enhance Rural Learning
Clustering over the Past 35 Years:
Within rural communities across Victoria the concept of clustering has been seen as a valuable tool to broaden learning opportunities and improve the learning outcomes of young people.
Clustering was a key strategy utilized within two key initiatives developed at a commonwealth level as a result of the Karmel report in the late 1970s – Disadvantaged Schools and Country Area programs.
Based on the key principles of school community partnerships; local flexibility and decision making; devolution of authority to local communities; and cross sectorial approaches (both sector and from 0-18+) many specific initiatives were developed to enhance and improve learning within rural communities through clustering.
At this time rural education was seen as a leader in a number of areas within the education sector.
This was especially the case in broadening the opportunities for learners. One example of this was the development of the Wimmera Language program that utilized a combination of a shared specialist teacher and the use of communication technology to deliver four languages to over 20 rural schools (both primary and secondary and across sectors) throughout the Wimmera.
In addition, many rural student learning outcomes especially within the post compulsory area were often seen in the top school performances across the state.
With the introduction of concepts such as Schools of the Future and Self Managing Schools many of these cluster arrangements and initiatives decreased with many ceasing. The re allocation of education resources through individual education organisations was seen as a key contributor to these changes at a local level and also resulted in an increased competition for student numbers in rural communities thus resulting in less focus on providing a whole of community approach to learning.
Clustering and Local Autonomy:
Since the last state election within Victoria, the government’s policy has been based on a “local autonomy approach” where local education organizations are entrusted to provide a leadership role,in partnership with their communities, in the development and provision of learning.
Many education jurisdictions across the world have also embraced the local autonomy approach and can provide us with some valuable information on how it impacts on rural education communities.
Within such an approach it raises the question of what is the best approach to local autonomy within a rural context. Does it focus on individual education organsiations or can it be seen as a collaborative approach across education organizations within a given community?
Within a rural education context, it could very well be worth exploring the concept of “collaborative autonomy”.
We believe in a concept of ‘collaborative autonomy’ – schools working together with common aims under a common banner they all believe in whilst retaining, at a local level, a sense of autonomy and uniqueness. Research suggests that sustainable school improvement comes from support and challenge from other schools and other partners. Accelerated progress for students comes through a mixture of support on a personal scale, great classroom teaching, a sense of success and aspiration within the alliance, and the ability to shape a ‘personal’ program that suits abilities and talents.”
(Collaborative Autonomy Trust)
Within this policy framework, many rural education communities are revisiting the potential that clustering can provide in supporting learning within their communities. This has also been evident in rural communities in other states who have embraced the local autonomy approach. Many overseas education systems have reported a similar response.
As a result, there is a growing base of information and research that reflects on the learnings of thesedeveloping cluster arrangements. The National College of Leadership within the UK has undertaken some useful research in this area. CEP has also begun to explore the learning’s from clusters throughout Victoria and other states along with the experiences of cluster arrangements in the past.
What Makes an Effective Cluster?
Reflecting on the work of CEP; the research being undertaken interstate and overseas (eg National College of Leadership); along with the think pieces developed by David Hargreaves focusing on Self Improving Schools there are two underpinning principles that indicate successful clustering arrangements:
(i)the need for individual education leaders to focus on “system leadership” through collaborative arrangements above focus on individual education settings and their operation.
(ii)a firm focus on enhancing and improving student learning and life chances.
Within these two key principles, the learning from the past and recent research indicates four key areas that exist within successful clustering approaches:
(i)Strategy: a clear shared vision based on needs and evidence
(ii)Leadership: strong leadership with shared capacity organized around clear aims
(iii)Activity: compelling collaborative activity focused on clear purposes and centred on enhancing/improving student learning
(iv)Culture: collaborative learning and collective responsibility through a culture of professional generosity.
“A recently reported Department for Education study of 400 schools in 30 local authorities (regions) showed that sustainable school improvement is accelerated through the development if collaborative leadership and learning within and between schools – with schools across the three strands of the project achieving 5% better improvement in Maths and English combined at level 4 compared to non cluster schools.” (DfE 2011).
A New Paradigm for Clustering?
Based on the learnings from the deliberations held at the Rural Learning Summit 2012; recent discussions within forums of rural education clusters; the experience of past whole of community cluster arrangements developedas a result of the Karmel Report; the research and reflective work undertaken by the National College of Leadership in the UK; the think pieces focusing on Self Improving Schools developed by David Hargreaves; and the growing globalization of learning, this paper proposes the development of a “new paradigm” for clustering in providing high quality learning for rural communities from 0-18+ years.
It consists of two levels of clustering:
(i)Cluster:
Education settings working collaboratively, and in partnership with their communities, to develop relationships and programs that enhance and improve student opportunities and outcomes as well as build the capacity of leaders and staff. These in the past have been referred to as “natural clusters”, or “generic clusters”.
These clusters would generally have a geographic base where they would concentrate on the community (as defined by the local community) in which they provide services.
The historical cluster arrangements within the Victorian context have generally been of a “loose” nature and Hargreaves would suggest that a more formal alliance (based around an agreement) is required to ensure a quality and sustainable clusterframework result in school improvement. The core focus of such arrangements needs to build the capacity of each education organization and have a focus on all learners needs and aspirations.
(ii)Cluster Links:
Clusters (or individual education organisations within clusters) would develop links to further enhance and enrich what is provided within a cluster arrangement. Such links could be developed either:
-within “natural clusters” with a focus on a specific interest, or
-outside the “natural cluster” to other “natural clusters”; regional/metropolitan centres; other states; or other countries.
Such links could be utilized to access expertise, specialist programs, cater for areas of need or interest and expandprofessional development and learning of staff and leaders.
Cluster Links would generally have a specific purpose and focus, and in most cases have a defined timeline.
Within the growing global learning environment that is available to learners and staff today, these links are not necessarily restricted to local geography. The development of communication technology and the evolution of blended learning approachesalso allows real potential for the cluster link approach to be extremely valuable to rural communities.
Key Areas for Clustering
Clusters have historically provided a valuable tool for supporting Victorian rural communities in exploring educational challenges as well as developing initiatives to address them.
These initiatives have generally covered two key areas:
-broadening learning opportunities for rural young people
-improving learning outcomes amongst rural learners.
The development of a “new cluster paradigm”, within a local autonomy environment in accommodating the needs and aspirations of rural learners in todays learning environment requires us to consider four key areas:
-learning provision
-workforce utilization
-leadership
-governance and management
This paper provides an outline of the ideas, possibilities and potential that clustering provides rural communities into the future and details the support that would be required to ensure that they are successful in enhancing and improving learning opportunities and outcomes for rural communities.
It is by no means a comprehensive list of issues and ideas, but it provides a starting point for discussion within them.
Clustering as A Framework:
Clustering provides a real opportunity for rural communities to work collaboratively to provide learning from 0-18+ years.
With the ever developing learning environment and the growing internationalizing of learning, the concept of a two tiered cluster approach, as detailed earlier, has been recognized in the various deliberations as a worthwhile strategy for supporting the provision of learning within rural communities into the future. As part of these deliberations, there have been a number of of elements; benefits; and support strategies identified.
Key Elements: