Sharing success of student partnerships in learning

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Image by Brody Grogan Photography

The Lakes College Secondary Teacher Nattalia Godbold will share the college’s journey with a ‘student partnership’ approach to learning at the National Education Summit later this month.

Dr Godbold will be presenting during the Diverse Learners Symposium component of the summit in Brisbane on July 31.

“My presentation will be on student partnership and how partnership pedagogies with students create more accessible learning environments for kids,” she explains.

The long-time The Lakes College teacher took a couple of years off at the start of 2020 to finish her PhD and worked with the University of Queensland on the student partnership model with a higher education focus.

“It’s big in universities at the moment and, when I came back to teaching, I wanted to implement some of those projects at The Lakes College when I came back in 2023,” Dr Godbold says.

“We’ve implemented partnership projects in the school since then. What we’re doing here has had significant benefit to the students.

“The students love being involved in their learning. A part of partnership is … instead of the teacher always being the expert in delivering education, we actually involve the students in their learning. They make decisions in co-creating their assessment items and their learning experience.”

The approach engages students to identify their strengths in learning – the best way they can absorb, comprehend and retain information – as well as the method of assessment that suits them.

“I’m hoping that by sharing best practice (at the summit) we will get other schools to think about what they’re doing and start to implement these things as well,” Dr Godbold says.

The college is already seeing the benefits of the student partnership approach.

“The big one is a sense of belonging. They definitely feel like they’re part of the classroom, they’re part of their education. That ownership has power in how they engage in their lessons too. They feel like they’re part of developing them,” Dr Godbold says.

“They can demonstrate their knowledge based on how they would like to. That’s really powerful. Students learn who they are as a learner … students have a choice in how they actually want to learn and demonstrate their knowledge, and be present as a co-collaborator and co-designer in the classroom.

“That’s really important for students to have autonomy and authenticity in their learning, especially when they go to university where they are adult learners. We’re giving them that opportunity here at school.

“They’re quite capable of it. They step up and take that ownership and they’re far more engaged in classes.”

Better outcomes

Dr Godbold says this approach translates into better results and education outcomes.

“I think it creates connections with industry and the wider community as well. They (students) are thinking about how their learning impacts others and more broadly the community,” she says.

“Having these opportunities helps them step outside of The Lakes College and think about what they want to give back to society, where they actually want to be with their career and their purpose in life which is really a significant part of it.”

So, how much flexibility is there in the Australian Curriculum for the student partnership model?

“There are actually a lot of ways we can do that. One of the priorities of the Australia Curriculum is that student-centred learning,” Dr Godbold explains.

“It’s part of the Melbourne Declaration and Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Declaration, which says: ‘Students are finding a sense of self and require investment in their emotional wellbeing and a voice in and influence over their learning’.”

She says there are content areas the curriculum focuses on, but the way in which students want to explore that content can be tailored.

“For instance, in technologies they are learning about algorithms and coding principles … how they would like to engage with that is where they can have choice,” she says.

“We have a number of different technology tools they can engage with – different robots, different designs, different programs. We had one student who 3D printed and created a robotic arm. They were then talking about how that could have benefits for different industries – medical, prosthetics … all sorts of things like that.

“Yes, we’re hitting those key content descriptors but we’re also giving an opportunity for students to research and extend their knowledge in those areas.

“They have a criteria they have to demonstrate their knowledge to different standards, but if they would like to do that presentation verbally or they would like to write a report, or video what they are doing … all of those types of choices.

“It’s more about how they would like to demonstrate that knowledge … we give them some choice and flexibility in that.”

She says this student partnership approach to education is breaking down barriers to learning.

“I think learning sometimes can be something that is ‘done to them’ and traditionally that’s how it has happened with the teacher in the classroom as the expert,” Dr Godbold says.

“It actually gives students an opportunity to be an expert as well. They are an expert in how they learn best and that’s where they are starting to come to the party.”

For more information, visit thelakescollege.com.au