Learning Policy

Learning and Teaching (L&T) is the core business of every school and College. There is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest that while schools have developed policies to cover a wide range of school activities, very few schools have formally developed a Policy for Learning.

A key development tool will be the creation of a Learning Policy – not one to gather dust on a high shelf in the Principal’s office but one which will always be a work in progress, subject to on-going discussion and review, but which, critically, will remain a focal point for continuing exploration of Learning and Teaching by staff.

The Policy will capture the most strongly held views and cherished beliefs about what is important for effective Learning. There is no one template for constructing a Policy and it makes no sense to copy others – schools are very different and so are their policies.

There is general agreement by those schools that have produced a Learning Policy that the policy itself is of less value than the process of staff engagement during its construction.

The quickest way to develop a Learning Policy would be for the Principal and Deputy to set an afternoon aside and put up the “Gone Fishing” sign. By 5pm, armed with Google and a basic ability to copy and paste, a Learning Policy could be ready to issue to the staff next morning.

The problem, however, is that with no staff engagement with its development, there will be no staff engagement with the Policy - compliance, perhaps, to some extent but lasting change in practice? – very unlikely.

The Policy must translate the Principles into Practices. It is relatively easy to determine the “WHAT” of the important ingredients for effective learning and of our core beliefs around this. The challenge comes when we try to develop our beliefs into actions – if something is important to us then exactly HOW will this be carried out? WHO is responsible, WHEN and WHERE? This missing step alone is the key reason why most Learning Policies have little or no effect on daily school practice.

In creating a Policy we will also ask: what are the rights, entitlements, expectations and responsibilities of students? Teachers? Post holders? Principal/Deputy? BoM? Parents? Community? Others? How will our Policy make these explicit?

If our school is to have a meaningful statement of Mission, Vision and Aims, how can these be reflected in the Policy?

In exploring learning there is no final destination, no time when we know all there is to known. The challenge for school leaders will be energise a critical mass of innovative and enthusiastic teachers committed to their own and their colleagues’ professional improvement.