Learning Philosophy and Skills
Learning at South Island
Our vision for learning at South Island is informed by our school aims and values. We truly want students’ learning experiences at South Island to be personalized and very special. We want our students to enjoy and be passionate about learning throughout their school career and beyond. We want them to understand themselves and how they learn and be genuinely active and reflective in the learning process. We want them to be increasingly independent in their learning, especially being able to use ICT confidently, whilst at the same time being able to collaborate and be genuine co-constructors of knowledge and understanding. We want them to be self-directing, enquirers and risk takers. We want them to be creative and innovative in the way they work and think. We want them to be supported, challenged and cared for by their teachers and each other. We want their learning to be experiential, relevant and authentic. All this so that they can achieve personal best but more importantly take with them skills and qualities to have better lives, for lifelong learning and to ultimately make a positive difference in the world.
The South Island Skills Framework
The aims of our school clearly indicate that as a school we are concerned fundamentally with the continued development of our students personal qualities and the skills, especially their skills as learners, to prepare them to thrive in their future lives.
The school community spent some time in 2008.9 re-articulating the skills and qualities that we would aim to overtly develop through the South Island educational experience. The skills framework we have adopted and reproduced below is based on our stated community values and embraces the qualities in the IB learner profile.
As we undergo the process of curriculum review it is our intention to more clearly audit map the development of these skills as students go through the school. This kind of skill development is rarely a progressive developmental exercise and while learners can demonstrate a skill well in one learning context they may find this more challenging in another.
The overt and planned development of these skills will initially take place through the new ‘Learning Futures’ course in years 7-11 that replaces the former PSE course. However other subjects do and increasingly will contribute to this.
Attitudes and skills we want to develop in our students
Self Management
“Know thyself”
- I ... manage impulsivity and defer gratification
- I ... am responsible for my own actions and their consequences
- I … show confidence in myself and my contributions
- I … can be open minded, resourceful and resilient
- I ... can take informed risks and seek feedback from others
- I … am well balanced and healthy
- I ... am principled
Learning
“Seize the day” [Carpe diem]
- I ... am knowledgeable, can manage information and be accurate
- I ... ask questions and have strategies for solving problems
- I … can prioritize actions and be organized
- I ... can be creative and think out of the box
- I ... am enquiring and can think critically
- I … can identify how to improve
Working with and relating to others
“I’m OK, You’re OK”
- I ...am caring, have sensitivity and empathy for others
- I … can work collaboratively and am a team player
- I … am dependable and reliable
- I … am able to communicate clearly and am an active listener
- I ... behave with integrity
- I … can be independent minded and explore issues from different perspectives
- I ... can mediate and can negotiate successful outcome
- I … participate in the life of the school and community
- I … can demonstrate leadership skills
Stewardship (participation for sustainability)
“If you want to see an endangered species, get up and look in the mirror”
- I … seize opportunities for taking responsible actionand for affiliation
- I ... participate in making improvements for a sustainable future
- I … participate in activities that benefit others
- I … respond to the world with awe and wonder
Making a difference
“You can't wake a person who pretends to sleep”
- I … have passion and ambition
- I … can inspire others and have the courage to make a difference
- I … can plead or arguing for something I believe in
- I … am enterprising and innovative
John Wray
June 2009
