“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they shall not turn from it”.
Proverbs 22:6
Today, teachers from Catholic Cathedral College, Marian College, Middleton Grange School and Villa Maria College gathered to discuss the teaching of Scripture within our Catholic and Integrated Schools. At the heart of our purpose is to engage students in education of faith and knowledge. The centre of our schools is the person of Jesus Christ who we look to share with our students through our witness as Religious Educators.
The Why?
We began the meeting with the question of "Why are we here and what is important to us as Religious Educators". The purpose of this was to recognize our shared values with many outlining responsibility to the community, collaboration and learning as key reasons. By doing this we are encouraging a sense of community. We discussed how mutual trust and respect is needed to create a community that can only come by interaction and dialogue.
For the teachers gathered, we discussed a focus on relationships where, Jansen (2010) notes " when relationships are prominent within an organisation they promote self regulation, a process that leads to high innovation". Each member of the Network also has an equal voice with Peck (1991) suggesting, "a healthy organisation is one in which all participants have a voice".
An important aspect of this Network is to include our nation's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi as a format for engagement. This focuses on three key principles created by Janelle Riki - Waka from CORE Education. These are:
- Partnership - Equitable, Reciprocal and Empowering
- Participation - Inclusive, ensures accessibility and visibility, voices heard and acted upon.
- Protection - early, authentic and meaningful, on- going.
Appreciative Inquiry
The Network is following Appreciative Inquiry a organisational development tool. Appreciative Inquiry focuses on supporting people getting together to tell stories of positive development in their work that they can build on (Reed, 2004, p.42). Information collected in this sharing is utilized in the learning space, continuing the developing knowledge of the participants and the growth of the group as a whole. Appreciative Inquiry can also include interviews, reflection on relevant literature, leadership consultants analysis of emerging themes.
https://goo.gl/gWR5LV
For our Network Appreciative Inquiry involves:
- Discovery - Sharing our stories of what is going well and exploring reasons why it is going well.
- Dreaming - Setting a vision of what we would like to achieve. This focuses on: What might be?
- Designing - Planning what will be according to the vision and the positive features already identified. This focuses on: What should be the ideal?
- Deliver - Creating what will be. This involves empowering each member of the Network to share their individual skills/ genius for the benefit of the Network. It involves learning, doing and adjusting based on experiences.
An Adaptive Challenge
A reason for employing this model is due to the Network discussing collaboration as an Adaptive Challenge. An Adaptive Challenge is one in which "solutions require experiments and new discoveries" (Jansen, Cammock and Connor, 2011, p.66). We have recognized that to be truly collaborate across schools in our development of Scripture resources, we need to reconfigure our roles, relationships and approaches to work for the "slices of genius in each individual to come out"
( Hill, Brandeau, Truelove and Llneback, 2014 ,p.96).
We where aware that treating teacher collaboration across schools as a technical challenge would lead to limited success. A technical challenge is one which is often solved by authority and relatively quickly. This view of the Network's work would have limited outcomes as we are working not only across schools but across faiths.
To explain the framework around Technical and Adaptive Challenges created by Dr. Chris Jansen click here.
The Network then created a collective vision of what might be. We had three focusing questions that each member contributed to:
- The WHY - Developing Scripture topics for students that are..........because......
- The HOW - Through learning experiences that are.............
- The WHAT - By implementing initiatives like..................
Due to completing this reflection we now have a Network vision and a focus that all members agree to. This vision will involve our designing phase, (occurring in Term One, 2017) where we will start planning Scripture topics and resources that align with this vision.
Informal Interactions
We also discussed providing a 'sandpit' area for the Network to have informal interactions. A Google Community has been created where before our Term One workshop teachers can ask questions, share ideas and find similar areas of interest. This operates on a Network model whereby it is fast, connected and creates innovation quickly. As noted previously this Religious Educators Network will focus on:
Collaborating: We will work together to form solutions and incorporate advice/ recommendations to maximum extend possible.
Empowering: Working together to implement what the Network decides.
Why should I collaborate?
It is important to note at this point why should we as educators collaborate? Dr. Cheryl Doig from Christchurch discusses the need for 'T- Shape' worker. T - Shape workers are teachers who develop a deep understanding of their practice, can collaborate with others across and outside of the education sector, and make decisions that benefit all learners.
As teachers we are often consumed with what is happening within our own school community. A question to ask yourself is: When was the last time I talked or collaborated with someone outside of my department, school or industry?
You can read my reflection on this here.
Wrap Up
This Network is open to Religious Educators at any level. We see the importance of developing the capacity of teachers regardless of experience or position, as each we have slices of genius that we can share in this Network. We are having our planning meeting in Term One, 2017 and please join our Google Community to be part of a journey as a witness of Jesus Christ to create innovation and change!
Left - Right: Sylvia, Sarah, Andrea, Rosemary, Anita and Sarah. Note: Ruth and Jeremy are not in the picture.
References
Heifetz, A.R. & Laurie, L.D. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, January, 124- 134.
Hill, L., Brandeau, G., Truelove, E. & LIneback, K. (2014) Collective Genius. Harvard Business Review, June, 94-102.
Jansen, C., Cammock, P., & Conner, L. (2011). Leadership for Emergence: Exploring organisations through a living system lens. Leading & Managing, 17(1), 59-74.
Katzenbach, J., Steffen, I. & Kronley, C. (2012). Culture change that sticks: Start with what's already working. Harvard Business Review, July, 110-117.
Peck, M. (1991). A Different Drum: Community - making and peace. (New York: Simon & Schuster).
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