This guide discusses the things that principals, teachers, parents, students and community members do to improve a school and education. Based on the ideas and experiences of schools and their communities and supported by the research, these good practices are grouped into four key areas:
Some schools create a school improvement team - a group that may develop recommendations for the school council/board. This team may produce an in-depth picture of the school’s strengths, needs and challenges and a set of practical recommendations. Schools report that building an effective school improvement team involves a balance between two things:
Through local creative efforts backed up by adequate resources and suppport from governments and education departrments, schools and their communities work toward achieving the educational goals in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. These goals are:
– successful learners
– confident and creative individuals
– active and informed citizens.
A practical example of the four key areas of school improvement is provided in the Languages education – four great practices paper. This paper is relevant to all learning areas. Corresponding to the same four areas but using a single word for each area, the four practices discussed are: