Hagley Farm School

Building the Evidence Base for Improved STEM Learning

Hagley Farm Primary School

Established in 1855, Hagley Farm Primary School is a Department of Education (DoE) co-educational school (K-6) located 20 minutes west of Launceston, in the central north of Tasmania, and is deeply embedded in the local community. Students are offered places at the school on the basis of their residing within the school catchment area.

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2021).

TEACHING STAFF
32.0
FTE TEACHING STAFF
24.8
NON-TEACHING STAFF
26
FTE NON-TEACHING STAFF
16.3
STUDENTS
358
ICSEA
992
INDIGENOUS
6%

Hagley Farm Primary School (HFPS) is a member of the Prospect School Cluster (inclusive of Summerdale Primary and Prospect High Schools), within which they collaborate on particular educational focus areas and the transition to secondary education.

The school also participates in ‘Launching into Learning’ for children from birth to 4 years.

The school is unique in that it comprises three distinct elements:

a Primary School of ~ 360 students;
a commercial farm on 63Ha; and
a Field Studies Centre, also known as the Visitor Centre (VC), focussed on animal awareness, farm environment and heritage, which is visited by up to 6000 students (K – 12) and adults each year. Staffed by DoE teachers (n=2.5).

In Tasmania, there has been a focus on agricultural education since 2018, and this has had a very big impact upon the ways in which the government has imagined and supported school farms, and the curriculum offered. See, for example, the Tasmanian Agricultural Education Framework (Tasmanian Government, DoE, n.d), and Agricultural systems and Agricultural enterprise, (Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards & Certification [TASC], 2018).

At HFPS, teaching and learning is undertaken predominantly in the school building cluster within the 63Ha landholding, but the teachers use farm buildings and land adjacent to the school grounds for learning purposes.

The school maintains an active Facebook page in which they share both organisational information (such as parent-teacher interviews; canteen opening hours) and students’ activities (for example, working with the farm operator; cross-country races).

Hagley Farm Primary School's Visitor Centre proudly received an Education Award (Round two of the 2020 Australian Biosecurity Awards).

To find out more about the awards and other recipients, click here.

What is distinctive about the school in relation to pedagogy, assessment, curriculum and equity?

At Hagley Farm Primary School, STEM is perceived as encompassing the development of discipline knowledge, skills (such as inquiry, problem-solving and collaborative learning, and pedagogical practices) and learning activities centred around problems within an agricultural context.

Key to the plans for STEM at HFPS was the appointment of a 0.5 Advanced Skills Teacher (AST), Scott Watson. The duties of AST employees are instructional and classroom based, and include additional curriculum and administrative responsibilities.

Only those staff who have demonstrated exemplary teaching practice progress to this level. Scott is skilled in strategic thinking and project planning, and his remit is to develop appropriate curriculum materials and to work with teachers in the implementation of STEM activities.

Scott has a Bachelor of Education and has been teaching in primary schools for the Department of Education in Tasmania since 1993. He is an experienced, innovative and well-regarded classroom teacher/educator, with skills in curriculum development and educational leadership.

Scott applied for the position of AST at HFPS as he was excited about experiential learning and wanted to know more about STEM, and Agricultural Education - the Food and Fibre curriculum (ACARA, n.d).

PEDAGOGY

Current practice and planned changes

Since 2018, the focus has been on engaging the students utilising the farm environment and to assist the VC to be more innovative in its role in student learning. From 2019, Scott currently (2019) has worked with teachers to enable purposeful learning and curriculum connections in STEM – particularly learning in the outdoors and using the outdoor classroom (site within the school grounds) for classes. He models unit/lesson planning aligned with the curriculum, including the Design and Digital Technology strands, and STEM-relevant pedagogies.

Scott mentors teachers for STEM teaching with the aim of exciting them about leading the STEM learning outdoors themselves. He also leads discussions with staff to support their understanding, so they are able to talk with parents about what their students have been doing in the STEM space, and on the farm. Students from every class work with Scott for five lessons per term (10 weeks duration) and maintain a STEM workbook/journal of their work with him.

The school has a broad improvement plan that includes a focus on quality teaching in Mathematics, supported by an instructional model, which is in the early stages of implementation. The plan is that, in future, teachers will engage in something similar to their own initiative, for purposeful STEM learning – STEM learning framework – implemented through a professional learning team (PLT) approach. Brainstorming during the interview, the principal, Jeanagh Viney, suggested she could use the PLTs (run in grade groups) to look at specific curriculum areas, with respect to student learning. This could assist in determining how learning outcomes can be improved through planning for integrated STEM learning in the outdoors and farm environment. She believes it would be useful for teachers to incorporate a specific focus for STEM learning in their grade groupings (for example, Grades 3 to 4).

To find out more about Hagley Farm Primary School's pedagogy practices, download the complete case study report here.

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING

Current practice and planned changes

The work that the school is doing, to align the school, farm and VC for purposeful learning, is not yet included in the normal assessment practices in the school. Scott informs the classroom teacher of the learning that he has undertaken with the class, but these lessons remain outside the formal assessment process.

All participants (Jeanagh; Scott; teachers) highlighted this lack of practice/assessment articulation as an issue. Ways in which the assessment of learning undertaken with Scott can be integrated into classroom teacher reporting practices is a point for future discussion. Jeanagh noted the need to, quarantine, time for planning and developing formative and summative assessment in STEM. Currently, the STEM focus is in addition to normal classroom teaching, rather than being an integrated component of all classroom teacher practice.

Suggestions for improving the assessment of STEM learning include a reporting framework that aligns with the STEM programs. Achievements in integrated STEM are seen as a ‘nice to know’ rather than a ‘need to know’.

CURRICULUM

Current practice and planned changes

In his role as AST, Scott creates a suite of resources to share across the four schools he works with under the Tasmanian government run ‘Revitalising School Farms’ initiative (RSFI) (Courtney, 2018), resulting in a network of schools that will implement a contextually sympathetic curriculum.

In his curriculum development, Scott is very clear about the learning intentions of each of the activities he develops. He talks to the teachers individually, so they can keep track of the aspects of the curriculum with which the students are engaging. At the time of writing, his teaching is not incorporated into the teachers’ planned curriculum and, although he leaves work for teachers so they can continue work with students, these opportunities are yet to be integrated.

EQUITY

Current practice and planned changes

The school catchment draws from farmers, town people, and professionals involved in agriculture. Hence, there is a diversity of student capabilities, needs and interest in STEM and/or farming and/or STEM learning. Jeanagh ensures there is regular publication of school activities through Facebook and the school newsletter, so parents can see their children involved in purposeful and aspirational learning in the outdoors, in the VC and farm setting.

Jeanagh’s premise is that agriculture has not been perceived as requiring the sophisticated use of STEM knowledges and skills; rather, it has been seen as requiring only manual skills. She wants to challenge these assumptions. In her experience, the more academically-abled and STEM-interested students were not given aspirational opportunities in agriculture or may have been turned off it as a possible career during their schooling.

Jeanagh’s goal is to ensure that agricultural pursuits and ‘working’ on the farm at HFPS are seen as STEM-rich learning opportunities by teachers, students and their families, and the greater community.

What role has leadership played in the school's STEM journey?

For four years prior to her appointment as school leader at Hagley Farm Primary School, Jeanagh had been principal at another rural primary school approximately 23 kilometres away from Hagley.

Jeanagh had known the previous HFPS principal and had always been interested in the work he had been undertaking at the school in regards to agricultural education.

Jeanagh does not come from a farming background herself and admits to not having much farming knowledge, but she is a tactical thinker and was known for her ability to implement strategic approaches to school improvement. Upon her appointment, Jeanagh took the time to work with the outgoing principal to gain an understanding of what he had been trying to achieve during his tenure at the school. Hence, there was a handover and the continuation of the vision for the school.

Leadership at HFPS has been evident at various levels: systemic (macro) and internal to the school (meso and micro)and is experienced differently by school staff.

SYSTEMIC LEADERSHIP

Jeanagh is entrepreneurial and has taken full advantage of this focus and the school has benefited financially from the ‘Revitalising School Farms’ initiative (RSFI) (Courtney, 2018), which has paid for the AST and upgrades to the VC and farm facilities.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Staff recognise the principal as enthusiastic about science and STEM, and passionate about HFPS, particularly using its resources for learning to the fullest extent.

Jeanagh, sees the school as a key part of the community and has committed to leading the school for the next ten years.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The school community remains very involved in the school and this focus was highlighted for Jeanagh during her interview for the position.

At HFPS, community members continue to be involved with the school, even if their children are not students; for example, through purchasing produce at the school’s front gate. Hence the culture of close community engagement with HFPS for which valued and valuable prior to her appointment is being maintained.

VISIONARY AND SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP

Jeanagh is experienced and aspirational, with a clear vision for food and fibre in HFPS; she resources her vision (AST and two Teacher assistants) and communicates it to the staff. She has a clear presence within the school, frequently seen walking the grounds talking with staff, the children and their parents.

Jeanagh also participates in the weekly school operations meetings with the VC leadership team and regularly visits the school farm. She has clear expectations about how Scott should work within the school and with individual staff, and has delegated the program rollout to him and trusts him to do the job. Jeanagh supported Scott as he became familiar with the school and as his plans developed.

DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP

Jeanagh has created a leadership team, including Scott, who is equally involved and communicative in regards STEM plans. Scott communicates the focus of his work to staff and students each term, including when and how much time teachers and their students get to spend on the farm. He talks to staff individually, sharing student journals and lesson plans, in grade level groupings and at staff meetings, and provides documents outlining his goals and activities for the year and term as appropriate.

Scott exhibits leadership in the way he builds relationships with students and seeks their feedback as he develops his program. He is also happy to integrate his plans with the teachers’ plans, for example, “this is what I’d like to do, is it possible to weave that into what you do?”. Scott is conscious of the role/place he has within the school and schedules involvement on a grade by grade basis, in sympathy with term activities (such as term 4 being busy for Grades 5/6).

The principal recognised, very early on, that a key focus on communication was essential for the successful implementation of her plans.

MANAGEMENT

During the interview, Jeanagh noted that HFPS has a solid risk management plan that encompasses enhanced student engagement with the farm. The food and fibre plans are incorporated into the school improvement plan and are reviewed in relation to the extent they had met those goals.

The complexity of the three aspects of the school (school, farm and VC) requires teachers and school leadership to juggle schedules and avoid other specialist lessons (such as Physical Education, music, library). This is perceived as very well coordinated, flexible and adaptable (working around teachers’ daily routines).

Teacher workload was of concern to both Jeanagh and Scott when introducing STEM connections with the farm and VC. Both were keen not to overload teachers during the trial year. This level of consciousness was heightened due to recent ongoing experiences of change within the school/sector. Their goal was to keep the food and fibre experience positive, and they recognised that STEM can be scary for some teachers.

Two models were therefore implemented to incorporate STEM learning:

Classes held within the classroom, drawing on information from the farm and so on. Scott runs the class, with the intention that his time with students is not perceived as an imposition on teachers.
Classes held out on the farm, in which the teacher participates and goes out with Scott and children.

Although early days, these two models seem to have allayed any teacher fear of the principal’s goal for a food and fibre-driven integration of STEM within HFPS.

DATA-INFORMED PRACTICE

Feedback about the STEM program’s outcomes will be sourced from the children, the principal and leadership team. Scott is interested in generating effective evaluative data, including data about impact of the food and fibre program; student continuation with STEM subjects; and the development of 21st century skills. At present, the data that are drawn upon in this regard are confined to student journal completion and observations.

Jeanagh expressed the long-term goal of tracking children over time to see if/how many continue along the agriculture/STEM path in their studies, and hopefully potential careers.

COMMUNICATION

The school’s newsletter and growing social media presence on Facebook provide regular communication about the farm and learning within the farm and VC environment. This displays Jeanagh’s commitment to the program and speaks firmly and positively about the benefits of integrating the school, farm and VC, in alignment with the STEM focus.

Want to learn more about this school's STEM journey?

Download the complete case study report to read the full story.

PASL Case Study TAS FV

7.9 MB

OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia.

© 2021 Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment, unless otherwise indicated.
Creative Commons BY-NC 3.0 AU, unless otherwise indicated.

For more information, visit the Terms of Use page.

Licensed third-party content (images):

Page banner image. Aerial photo of Hagley Farm Primary School and surrounds. © 2019 Andrew R Harris, Hagley Farm School. CC BY-NC 4.0

Licensed third-party content (text):

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d). Curriculum connections: Food and fibre. © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2010 to present. CC BY 4.0
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2021, March 18). My School: Hagley Farm Primary School. © 2021 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

References

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