All staff need to be included in this gathering and sharing of information. The scope of the school plan (or its review) needs to be defined early on, especially if there is to be a complete re-assessment of current arrangements or a major change, such as alterations to teacher release time (RFF).

Current situation

In evaluating a school plan, or to commence a new planning process, begin by getting a good feel for the current situation. This must include teaching practices, organisation, resources, as well as teachers’ understandings and attitudes about science & technology education.

The 'What is SciTech?' section of this resource has focussed on establishing some shared understandings of S&T and the desired outcomes of the school program.

Other information needs to be gathered concerning implementation and organisation. This will be different for every school, depending on the nature of current programs, the needs of teachers and students and the systems currently in place. Issues and areas for appraisal and data-gathering might include:

Teaching and learning

• How is S&T currently taught in the school? Class organisation? RFF? By designated units of work? Decided by individual teachers?

• What are the strengths of current programs?

• How could they be strengthened? (Where are there gaps?)

• How do teachers feel about S&T? What are their personal strengths, and needs?

• What are the major professional development needs?

Organisational opportunities and constraints

• Identify the constraints that limit how Science & Technology may be undertaken within the school, e.g. geographical location, expertise of teachers, RFF provision.

• Identify the positive forces that benefit the teaching of S&T, e.g. local environment of resources, expertise of teachers and the community, vertical class structures, etc.
  
  Sometimes the same item or influence will be identified in opposite groups by different people. These are the items that especially need to be talked through.

• Identify current safety policies and procedures.

Resources

• Equipment: Identify, locate and publicise all equipment owned by the school that may be useful. Think across all content strands and learning processes, e.g. digital video camera, hand lenses, thermometers, hand tools, scanner, magnets, tape recorders, construction materials.

• Consumables: Identify those materials needed frequently or on call and consider systems for their collection and storage. A very useful designing and making task for students is to devise a collection and storage system for maintaining supplies of reusable materials such as yoghurt pots, cardboard rolls or egg cartons.
  
  It is helpful to establish which new materials should be purchased centrally and which should be purchased as required for specific units.

• Computer software, Internet resources and projects: Students will increasingly use electronic sources of information, including CD-ROMs, Internet resources, specific application software. They will participate in Internet projects that require communication with other people, and they will need to be able to create web pages and other electronic texts for themselves.
  
  Refer to Computer-based technologies in the primary KLAs ¹(Curriculum Support Directorate, 1997) for further assistance in selecting valuable resources.
  
  In all cases, systems for storing, accessing and monitoring usage of equipment and materials will need to be established to assist all teachers in the convenient location of resources.

• Expertise: The most valuable resource in any school is the expertise of its teachers. Start by identifying existing teachers’ strengths and weaknesses in S&T in the classroom. Professional development should focus on teaching methodology as well as the development of knowledge of specific content.
  
  Identify and value the skills of individual teachers and consider how they might be shared.

• People and places beyond the school: Local communities are full of parents, relations, friends, businesses, industries and other organisations that may be available to share their expertise with students of all ages. School communities should make the most of local environments, services and cultural groups or organisations.
  
  Establishing good relationships with local businesses and professionals can have long-term benefits, facilitating visits and promoting an understanding of the contribution they make to the community.
  
  Compile a register of local people, places and organisations that may be resources for S&T.
  
  It is important to acknowledge the support provided by local businesses, contributors and volunteers.

• The library as a learning resource centre: Libraries are changing in their appearance, their content and the way they can be used to support learning. Any planning for S&T should specifically identify the role of the library, outline how it can be made more useful and include details for development and use of library resources.

  Identify existing arrangements including:

  -  independent access by individual students

  -  storage and use of electronic resources

  -  purchasing and cataloguing S&T resources, especially electronic resources

  -  topic-based bulk loans

  -  use of library lessons to complement S&T activities,  etc.

[1] Curriculum Support Directorate (1997) Computer-based technologies in the primary KLAs NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney.  Distributed to all Departmental primary schools in 1998.

This document can be purchased at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au:80/learning/resourcesforsale/yrk12focusareas/learntech.php

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