Covenant Christian School

School context

Covenant Christian School is located on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. It is an Independent Christian Parent Controlled School (CPCS) with a school population of about 700 student from
K-12 or 740.

There is a Staff Induction Program and new staff attend a staff development day in January each year. New staff meet with their direct supervisors, usually their Heads of Department, and their mentors, who act as “buddies”.

Project outline

Three new scheme teachers and two supervisors, as well as, an academic partner worked as a team in the project, Scaffolds to support new scheme teachers. The team attempted to discover what worked and what didn’t work well for new scheme teachers in their first year of teaching particularly in regard to classroom management. A key element of the project was time spent on planning, evaluation, reflection and video interviews with new scheme teachers and supervisors.

New scheme teachers maintained a learning log. The development of proformas such as questionnaires, checklists, supervisors review sheet and an induction checklist to assist with the planning and observation sessions as well as regular team meetings. Designated collegial days Follow the links below to view a lesson observation proforma were instigated, during which classroom relief was provided for new scheme teachers, this enabled them to visit the classrooms of colleagues.

Collegial team approach

Collegiality and working as a team was a very effective form of professional development for all teachers. When everyone’s voice is heard, everyone can learn something new. Working as a team to discover the gaps in the induction program and developing professional dialogues guided by the academic partner was a strategy that produced long term benefits. For new scheme teachers, working towards accreditation is a lonely job without support and encouragement, so the collegial approach worked well. The whole process has engendered a sense of ownership and an increased sense of worth of one’s contribution to the school body and organisation.

Project outcomes

Project outcomes include:

• working professionally as a team and both the experienced teachers and the new scheme teachers
• being able to reflect on and discuss teaching practice, ideals, hopes and frustrations
• greater input by new scheme teachers into  professional support processes relevant them
• being able to produce documentationFollow the links below to view a lesson observation proforma suitable for new scheme teachers
• providing guidelines and more helpful induction and accreditation support