Why the Middle Years?

"The middle years of schooling should be so busy, so demanding, so active, so adventurous, so spectacular that young adolescents should barely have time for brooding introspection or watching soap operas" ( Barber, 1999)

• The middle years is an important phase in the life of students and is used to describe young adolescents at the end of primary school and the beginning of secondary school
• Students in the middle years generally identify strongly with their peers and experience heightened emotions, seek greater independence and develop their individual identities and value systems
• Intellectually these students have a growing capacity for reflective and abstract thinking and begin to make decisions about adult roles
• It is a time when some students "switch off" from schooling, they disengage and see no relevance in their learning
• Students in the middle years often feel alienated and underachieve, especially boys
• These students are often referred to as the "click and go" kids and research shows that they are information rich and experience poor
• The project – opportunity to engage
• The middle years is a focus for this project allowing Stage 3 and 4 students and teachers to work collaboratively together to achieve higher order learning outcomes
• This project aims to provide a learning environment which engages students in authentic learning experiences by working together to solve a community need
• It also aims to develop enterprising attributes and address the five R's – resilience, relationships, rigour, relevance and responsibility
• Enterprise learning in the middle years should focus on curriculum, pedagogy and work practices – using quality teaching principles
• Curriculum needs to be outcomes focussed and real-life, community based and negotiated with students
• Pedagogy should be learner-centred, where student responsibility, accountability, co-operative learning and reflective practice are key features
• Assessment is collaborative and outcomes based
• Work practices need to display flexibility and collaboration and learning needs to extend beyond the school and involve team teaching, parent and community support and mentoring

Futher information can be found from the Public schools NSW Middle Years webpage.