ACCESS & EQUITY.

ACCESS AND EQUITY IN THE CLASSSROOM.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?.

When people look at the cultural issues that can arise in the classroom this can get very complicated. If you read the text below that is attached to the link further on it clarifies what we need to know when teaching students of different origins, cultures.

HUI TAUMATA MĀTAURANGA IV

Increasing Success for Rangatahi in Education

Insight, Reflection and Learning

This taught me a lot as a tutor to be aware of cultural differencs.If we want to teach fairly for everyone then we need to teach so everybody becomes involved and feels part of it.

I have Maori students in my classes and they seem to enjoy the interaction with the tutors and other students .If you read the link it says of Maori students needing good feedback from their peers, teachers and whanau.I believe we have this in our workshop/classroom and we make sure that our Maori students along with the other students always get good feedback and positive comments after they have achieved their necessary credits or projects.

  Maori achievement: Anticipating the learning environment

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO PROVIDE BETTER ACCESS AND EQUITY?

Other students that need equity are the ones who don’t have a good understanding of L&N. We include them in the decision making in the team environment so as to not single them out. We also give them extra tuition in L&N to give them a better understanding, this helps them out for when they have to do some of their theory and we try and include a buddy system depending on the individual’s requirements.

At the start of the course we put all the students through the Harassment and Bullying procedure so that they are aware of any prejudices that they   might have towards others. This makes the equality start off well.

If I look back on last year’s students then I think they were not as fortunate as this group because they were put into teams straight away and this could have made them feel exclusive, what I mean by this is rather than the guys doing each task themselves they would let a team member do it for them.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE TO HELP OVERCOME EXCLUSIVENESS.

This year for the first eight weeks we started with the individual underpinning projects, these have been well received with the guys building toolboxes, step punch’s, car ramps and of course exploding cubes that they have had to weld together. They have nearly completed all of these and when they have they will be split into teams to build their karts, this will then enable each team member to be able to do a given task and thus become more inclusive with the team and lift their capabilities.

As you can see all the learners can access this so nobody gets left behind or feels undervalued, some will always be better than others but at least the guys who were left behind at school will actually feel part of and participate more., another strategy we are implementing is recording key tasks. This will mean that  if the student does not fully understand say a machining task then if we film the procedure and edit it correctly they can then access it through a touch screen in the workshop and have the ability to reflect on the task and then proceed especially if it is a complex task. This also lets the tutor get around the workshop easier knowing that the students have the relevant

One of our students machining his axle for his kart.

ACCESS & EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSIVITY.

INCLUSIVE ACCESS TO COURSE MATERIALS.

For the Automech youth guarantee boys we have an inclusive set up for them to cover all the aspects of the course.

When in Automotive they do set procedures on the vehicles supplied, under body checking, auto electrical, steering geometry, brakes and transmissions and of course engine stripping and management.

These are all in paper form and are in turn installed onto Moodle, which gives them access whilst they are at polytechnic and access when they are away.

This system we also use in our engineering side of the course with them writing in a work log book and recording their evidence, (what they did, what materials were used, were there any hazards involved, the tools and the machinery they also used). This gives them access and also evidence to what they have been doing especially later when they need to reflect on what they have been doing.

Moodle is also used here for our machinery use and potential hazard and to maintain the knowledge for when they come to operate the machinery.

This makes it very inclusive for all our guys no matter what their level is or their background.

When we come to actually design the karts we first use basic sketching on white boards and paper, this gives everybody a basic understanding of the requirements needed, the more we do this the better the understanding and it is progressive as the next step is to use a Google App called Google sketch up. This tests everybody’s skills for designing but is also inclusive as they are in teams and they can decide which design they can go with.

  

This is a basic kart design but the students elaborate more on Sketch up which makes it an all inclusive tool.

Dimensions of flexibility in a block course.

DIMENSIONS OF FLEXIBILITY IN A BLOCK COURSE.
KEY COMPONENTS.		NON FLEXIBLE		FLEXIBLE
TIME		CONSTRAINED TO 10 DAYS
CONTENT		UNIT STANDARD BASED
PACE				WE OPERATE UNDER A TIMEFRAME BUT ARE FLEXIBLE IN OUR DELIVERY.
ASSESSMENTS		THEY HAVE TO BE
		COMPLETED.
PRACTICAL				THEY HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE WITH EACH STUDENTS CAPABILITIES.
TECHNOLOGY				THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN MACHINING AND WELDING,
				AS WELL AS USING TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS BEEN USED IN INDUSTRY FOR A WHILE.
SPACE				CLASSROOMS AND DIFFERENT WORKSHOPS ARE USED.
STAFF				DIFFERENT STAFF USED FOR DIFFERENT CLASSES.

Flexibility in the Easter block course.


This Easter we are running a block course for our year 3 apprentices where a lot of them are from out of town.
The flexibility comes with having to deliver all of its contents in a two week window.Above is a CNC lathe, computer numerical control that they get to learn how to programme.. This is delivered in three days 16-18th and is full on with theory,programming a dummy console and then finally being able to complete a programme and then let the machine do its work.The flexibility here comes with making sure not everybody is doing the same all at once so there is no waiting or standing around, the learning also varies with the different tasks that are delivered and in different ways like i mentioned before.They also have to do welding and fabrication exercises in the second week with lots of different tests for them to complete, again we start them on different tests so there are no bottle necks.

 
Some of the tests  that they do include four different kinds of welding techniques with different materials, MiG wire,MiG flux core,Tig and Arc.Time in delivery and flexibility are at a premium but we ensure they all get through and hopefully complete the course. If the course wasn't flexible and the learning wasn't flexible then it would be difficult to complete.

What does flexible learning mean to me when using project based learning with Youth guarantee.

We have to be indeed flexible with this concept,a lot of these guys were disengaged with the school system, they didn't come to poly tech to follow the same formula as school.That is why because of the style/type of learner we introduced them to project based learning where they learn all the different facets of engineering and automotive but they don't have a lot of theory and paper work.They do literacy and numeracy throughout the day even though we disguise it in a manner in  that they are busy working.(measuring,calculating,using digital readouts and equipment,pricing up of components for projects,etc).If we sat them down in a classroom and loaded them up with lots of theory then we would not be as successful as we are now with this type of learner, project base really works with these guys.You can then introduce them to the theory after you have applied the practical.

Choices

Hi Sarah,
another example of the flexible learning that goes into the building of the go karts is choices.The students have choices on what designs and styles they want in conjunction with race rules.
They do sketch design sketch work and also use the net for other designs.For easy reference they use older karts from previous years for tips about handling and steering geometry and footage from previous grass kart challenges. The learning here comes from the choices.

Future flexible learning.

Future flexible learning.
I think that when we take our students on trips to industries that are relevant to what they are learning here then that has got to be beneficial, old places like Hayes eng and more modern techniques like Mcraes mining.This kind of stimulus i would like to see more of as they ask more questions and the interest level definitley does rise, field trips are a useful tool and the flexibility is paramount.More of this in the future please!!!