Week 30 : The Broader Professional Context

This week in reflecting on the Trends that have changed or affected my practice I will use Rolfe model of reflection.
What:
 As stated in National Intelligence Council. (2017) change is upon us, globally, with many of these changes bringing further problems that are difficult to address and resolve with a collective action, because Technology has brought its own dilemmas in trying to deal with the new order.  We have become more global and aware of others. While in New Zealand we see this in our workforce, demographic movement and our schools' intake, in a very short time we have become multi-cultural and a stage has been set for change. I think we as a nation are fortunate to be a 'young' country previously settled by immigrants and our bi-cultural awareness through our treaty has modelled how to be more accepting of new people. Demographically our population has also changed with shifts to new cities and areas of large population growth emerging in new areas to accommodate the influx of people.While it has affected and strained our existing infrastructure it has also brought opportunity for a rethink on the future and our future needs.
At our school, we have been witness to this influx and in the last decade addressed the changing educational needs of our students. 

So what:
As stated OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education. The development of information and communication Technology is a Trend that has changed our world and lifestyle forever! While progress has brought benefits it has also brought its own problems that cannot be addressed with the old model of education. An awareness of the  21 Century skills, (advanced digital skills, innovation, effective communication skills and social and emotional intelligence ) was essential for the student to both utilise and understand this new order in their future. 
My school began to encourage and support innovative learning and allowed changes in the classrooms and curricular content along with the redesigning of our classroom spaces. It supported I.T. infrastructure development and associated P.D.and implemented support 'time' and fees for the Mindlab Course.  Over the last 6 years to try and provide an environment that addressed both the larger numbers and limitations of the old school classrooms. The refurbishment and purchase of flexible furniture, took into account the changing face of education as we began to teach and plan collaboratively. Dedicated Arts and Internet suites do still exist and we are now in the process of designing and building a STEAM  lab to provide a flexible space for innovative and creative projects to support the Inquiry approach to learning. 

Now what: 
Our school continues to provide support for new staff to attend the Mindlab Course on Digital Leadership and the implementation of the new Technology Curriculum and associated Key competencies and 21Century skills. Constant reflection on our practice through our Teacher Inquiry does help to keep us informed on digital practice and developments but the commitments to providing a child-friendly innovative learning space was an important trend for me in facilitating change, along with the ongoing upskilling and upgrading of personal devices for student learning in the classroom. 


References:
National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf

NMC and CoSN Release the Horizon Report: 2017 K-12   Edition [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-rPhEltg9o

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en