Our school is divided in Divisions and also in to grade levels. We are in the process of setting up Learning Areas but I’m not sure if we should keep the Learning Areas broad (i.e Division 2) or make them smaller (Grade 5)? What are the benefits of being in a specific learning area?
Mel, good question. The intention of Learning Areas is less that they are year/age divisions (as Gibbon already does this through Year Groups), and more that they are content/organisation focused. So, in our school we have Science, English, Maths, etc. Now, you might want to have Maths - Division 1 and Maths - Division 2, if those groupings of teachers work isolation. In short, Learning Areas are used as a way to group people and content into logical groups. Make sense?
Yes, makes sense. Are there benefits of being in the same learning area? This will help me determine whether we make larger groups or smaller ones. Or is this function merely used to group people?
Larger groups afford more collaboration, whilst smaller offer protection against confusion and mayhem. Wonder where the sweet spot is?
OK, I’m getting there. What types of collaboration are available between members of the same Learning area?
Primarily shared unit plans, shared outcomes and some shared resources/text on the Learning Area homepage, but I would imagine this will grow over time.