Case Studies Case Study 3: We've got commitment across the whole staff ]
The school caters for students from pre primary to Year 10. It is 600 km from the State's capital city with a population of 1100. About 12% of the students are from Aboriginal families. Most of the students live in town with about 10% coming in from surrounding rural areas. There is a lot of unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and a general acceptance that a high level of violence exists in the community.
Needs analysis was based on
It was so strongly related to the violence and masculine dominance in the community ...
In the school there were high levels of violence and disruptions. Female teachers had been harassed by students and, in turn, students themselves were victimised. There were lots of `put downs' of girls and so programs had been introduced to develop their assertiveness skills. However, a survey done with students showed that the biggest problem remained victimisation with boys against boys. For example, Year 10 boys would `get' the Year 8 boys after school. The boys' toilets were the worst area for incidents within the school. This was carried through into after hours activities such as at the swimming pool. The principal made contact with people in different community locations and the police to help to break down the violent culture that seemed to be acceptable within the town.
It was just so obvious ... It hit us over the head
For this principal, her own observations of student behaviours, together with those of other teachers, was the starting point. This was supplemented by listening to students, particularly through work done by a secondary teacher who was also committed to gender issues. Surveys of the students were done to determine what they were subjected to and staff on playground duty recorded behaviours in `incident books'. Students were encouraged to report and discuss incidents, confident that the staff were supportive and would act to change the environment.
Challenging staff to think about learning and teaching
Staff awareness of the issues was raised and whole staff commitment was gained through professional development days and workshops, often with visiting speakers. This sharpened the observations of the teachers and helped them provide more opportunities for student discussion and feedback on their concerns. Gender (and racial) perspectives are now explored in all school operations including surveys, teaching, curriculum, and program development.
The school was viewed as a collaborative community with input from students, parents and teachers being valued. A forum structure was put in place providing weekly class reviews to enable issues from students to be raised. Students also have a voice through the student council. Parents have been encouraged to become involved and strategies to include Aboriginal parents in education processes and decision making have been beneficial to the school community.
We have specific programs in place
Programs developed at the school address staff and students' understanding of gender construction; issues of gender and violence; and, the implementation of inclusive curriculum and teaching practices. Every opportunity has been taken to encourage students to critically examine, from a gender perspective, what is happening around them. For example when a local football team gained some notoriety for destructive behaviour when visiting another town for a football wind up the school ensured that the students challenged this behaviour and the attention it was given. The incident was used as the focus for discussion of damaging male behaviours.
The focus on gender has been from the earliest years of school to the secondary level and teachers have been encouraged to use action research methods. The school was involved in a number of State and national gender projects, including trialing materials. Resources, such as Enough is Enough (Department of Education, Qld, 1995) and No Fear (DEETYA, 1996), provided teachers with valuable support materials.
A tremendous decrease in the level of violence in the school
Student attitudinal surveys were administered as a review strategy and these indicated significant improvements in students' perceptions of the school environment, their feelings of safety, comfort and of freedom from harassment. The school feels confident that a lot of valuable changes have been made, particularly in the primary years. They are continuing to work in a range of areas including the major concern with boys and literacy and are examining this concern in relation to the impact of gender construction. The resource kit Boys and Literacy: Meeting the Challenge (DEETYA, 1996) provides the basis for this focus.
