Action+Research+Context

The Need for Research into Teaching Effectiveness And so the story begins…

 Coburg West Primary School is located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and reflects a vibrant yet ever changing community. Over the past 10 years the multicultural mix has declined whilst the socio-economic level has increased. The area now attracts high working class, dual income, professional families. Coburg West Primary School has a reputation in the local community as being the school for your child to attend. As such each year there is a waiting list for prep enrollments and with a consistent 500 students it is unlike other schools in the immediate area who struggle to maintain enrollments.

 Whilst student numbers have held steady, so has the composition of the staff in the school. 50% of the staff have remained in the school for 10 years or more. A number of staff have spent the majority of their careers at the school. Each year there is a small turnover of staff due to a number of contract positions. The staffing profile of the school is balanced with a number of staff at each teacher classification level. 90% of the contract staff actively seek ‘on-going’ employment status within the school, with most ultimately being successful in their endeavour.

 Even with stable student numbers and staff, there has been a gradual decline over the last five years in student achievement results as presented in the School Level Report each year. Five years ago results were consistently at or above the state mean level, whilst now the majority of results sit just below the state mean and are trending downwards. None of the results are achieving anywhere near the standard indicated by the School Family Occupation (SFO) percentile range for Coburg West Primary School.

 So what is going wrong? Dedicated teachers, articulate students yet declining results. Each year as the data arrived in the school, it was presented to staff for analysis and discussion. Each year the same comments were heard: - • I don’t understand this! • How can this be so? • I thought it would be better this year! • It’s not a true reflection of our students’ ability! ||