Ngutu College

Context

Ngutu College is an independent, non-denominational, socially just school based in South Australia that opened in 2021 with reception to year 7 expanding to Year 12 by 2026. The college’s vision and philosophy are to redesign school to be genuinely equitable, culturally informed and authentically child centred that links the cultural linguistic intelligences of the child to learning through the curriculum. The school has grown from offering primary schooling to include OSHC services, kindergarten, transportation options and senior schooling.

• The school principal is Kamilaroi man, Andrew Plastow. The school employs 78 educators.
• 18% (14) of staff are Aboriginal. The teaching staff is superdiverse, from multiple gender, class and cultural backgrounds.
• In 2024 total school student numbers were 228 not including kindy or mid-year receptions). Student diversity at the school includes 44% Aboriginal students, with 17% of our young people in the care of a non-biological carer (i.e., incl DCP, Foster and Kinship). Student diverse disabilities include: 115 social emotional, 47 cognitive, 5 physical and 1 sensory.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait student diversity derive from the following Aboriginal nations: Adnyamathna, Kamilaroi, Narungga, Arrente, Kaurna, Tiwi Islands, Arabana, Ngarrindjeri and Kurnai nations.
• Learning programs acknowledge and engage all children and young people in an experiential environment with an emphasis on Aboriginal knowledges integrated with formal curriculum.
• Values: Creativity, Hope, Duality (two world thinking), Empowerment, Sustainability

The school aims to provide learning opportunities that acknowledge and engage the individuality of all children and young people in an experiential environment in which Aboriginal knowledges are seamlessly integrated with the formal curriculum.

How The School Ran Professional Learning

Ngutu was involved in the CRS program to implement the school’s vision to improve leadership and teaching pedagogy that support superdiverse students to achieve academically, socially and culturally. The school’s approach was to work with learners to create meaningful and long-lasting improvement. This happens when learning brings together the emotional, physical, social, cultural, spiritual, creative and cognitive selves in connected ways. See the following.

Our Leadership Team comprises, Aboriginal Head of College, Head of Junior Campus and Head of Senior Campus, Lead Educators for Early Years, Years 1, 3, Years 4 6, Years 7-10, The Arts and Diversity & Engagement, Finance and Operations Manager.

• The whole intent of the school involvement in the CRS project was to become a whole of site learning organisation for productive pedagogies to meet the need of diverse learners, parents and community. All leaders, co-educators, and teachers are supported by the school that encourages widespread practice and productive leadership.

The year 4-6 professional learning team was used to enact the professional development pedagogy redesign work over four terms. Three teachers and two teacher-leaders were involved in the team with assistance from university researchers.

• • Term 1 CRS reading and theorising into our own classroom practice.
  • Term 2 Honing the pedagogical challenge, teacher as researcher using action research practitioner inquiry.
  • Term 3 Implementing pedagogical redesign and change in classroom. 
  • Term 4 Collecting data

Analysing data and presenting findings to school

Two teacher-leaders ran and mentored the PLT. Both attended university CRP external workshops reporting back to school in facilitated school training. Effective use of data to redesign pedagogy toward culturally responsive practice in all 4-6 classroom.

• School established professional learning teams across the school.
• Teams met weekly with CRP focus every three weeks to share planning, learning and practice improvement.
• The PLT was a safe inclusive and reflective place to share challenges and co-construct pedagogical solutions.
• The PLT involved collective and dialogic problem solving around curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
• The action research project was used to improve practice through evidence-based practitioner inquiry drawing on the CRS literature invoking teachers’ practice from reading theory.
• The PLT involved a PhD student to guide action research in collaboration with teachers.
• Teacher-leaders reported back regularly to senior leadership on pedagogical improvement via PLT and using action research data effectively across the school.
• Teacher support materials included the action research online case studies, and internal resources developed by the school.

Plans for the future

• Embedding a cultural expectation of practitioner research by educators.
• Building an internal library of action research documentation.
• To become a model for the redesign of schooling on the back of this documentation.

Conclusions

The quality of teaching was linked to the following key practices which were seen to be instrumental in influencing the overall quality of their service:

• Sustained teacher led professional learning training (PLT) that enabled extensive engagement with theory and scientific literature of CRP and enable all teachers to confidently articulate alignment with AITSIL and ACARA.
• Growth of the team was affirmed.
• Evidence based skills were developed for pedagogical redesign.
• Commitment to an asset-based view of all learners was achieved.
• Extension and engagement of the image of the teacher as a researcher practitioner.
• Valuing inclusive, dialogic and relational pedagogies.
• Use of pedagogical challenges and solutions during PLTs was used to co-construct with teams and to collectively problem solve.
• Alignment of pedagogy to school improvement plan .
• Developed extension and activation of CRP across the school.
• Commitment to the CRS program, systems, structures evidence-based school improvement produced a marked shift in classroom pedagogy.
• Teachers were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the value of the program’s professional development.
• Students overwhelmingly felt good in classrooms of CRP trained teachers.
• CRP schooling was retaining Aboriginal students at a much higher level than were comparable schools.
• Student academic results in Phase 2 were starting to appear.
• Teachers as well as principals saw these changes as a direct result of the CRS program.
• Committed to developing a comprehensive model of effective implementation of whole school common code of pedagogical practice in Australian context.
• Improvement in institutional patterns and practices were seen to be instrumental in influencing the overall quality of their CRP.
• CRP embed in strategic improvement plan.
• Reorientated existing PLC infrastructure improved practice owned by teachers as researcher practitioners.
• Cascading distributed model of whole school leadership by middle school years 4-6 to all staff.
• Effective communication; supportive management structure.