A Catholic secondary school in New South Wales will permanently adopt a flexible timetable that allows senior students to learn remotely one day a week following a year-long trial. Source: ABC News.
The board of Chevalier College recently voted to adopt the model, which includes a suite of changes to student schedules.
As part of the changes, all students will have self-directed learning on Mondays, while senior students have the option to learn from home.
A research program that ran alongside the trial found the changes helped students become more independent and improved their time management.
However, some parents questioned the suitability of the flexibility for younger students.
“We didn’t land it as well as we could have and there is more work to be done when doing this moving forward,” Chevalier College principal Greg Miller said.
“Certainly, the parent feedback added weight to what was evolving as we observed and interviewed students and reviewed their survey data as well.”
Feedback from younger students, who have a half day on Monday when they work out of the school hall, expressed a desire for more interaction and clearer instructions on Mondays.
The parents of students in years seven and eight reported their children struggled with the “lack of structure and support”.
Lead researcher Phil Cummins said self-regulated learning can often seem “a bit boring” to younger students.
“It might be a little bit more stressful that you don’t have your teacher there to hold your hand all the time and you actually have to work your way through and do it,” Mr Cummins said.
In response to the feedback, Chevalier College will make year seven students take part in an induction program around flexible learning, while all junior students will take part in self-regulation and time management training.
Most of the students surveyed throughout the trial reported improvements in their organisation and self-regulation.
The benefits were particularly noticeable for older students.
“Data gathered across the research period suggests that learning from home has been very successful for senior students who took up this choice,” the report said.
FULL STORY
Chevalier College adopts four-day face-to-face learning permanently after year-long trial (By Tim Fernandez, ABC News)
