Kids in the middle

Early adolescent students are in “no man’s land” — the upper end of primary school (currently Year 6 and 7) and the lower end of secondary school (Years 8 and 9).

In both cases, kids are stuck in systems that were designed for those at the other end of the spectrum. They’re getting too old for the structure and educational approach of a primary school, but throw them into a traditional high school environment and they often flounder because they lack the skills and maturity to cope.

[It’s worth noting here that within a few years, Queensland primary schooling will end at Year 6. The exact date is uncertain at this stage because of changes to budgets caused by this year’s natural disasters.]

About twenty years ago, Australian education researchers identified some particular problems common to the young adolescent age bracket, says Susan Hearfield, Executive Officer of the Middle Years Schooling Association (MYSA):

“One of the concerns was absenteeism for students aged 12, 13, and 14. Another thing they found was that, through primary school, the graphs of the kids’ engagement and performance would go up, up, up, then plateau out at the end of primary school, and in the first year of high school there’d be a real dip.”

International research was also pointing to the same kinds of problems with the kids in the “middle school” years, i.e. aged around 10-15.The slump in literacy and numeracy levels was found to be even more pronounced in boys than girls, and although many students found their feet and went on to successfully complete high school, others did not.

And the problems were more than just school-related. According to the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association: “Students who fail to prosper in the middle years… sometimes develop strong anti-social attitudes”.

As a result, educators started looking at ways to engage these students and overcome some of the problems they were having.

Although research is still continuing, the most effective approaches to teaching this age group have now been brought together and are known as middle schooling.

As Susan Hearfield points out, this doesn’t mean necessarily creating a separate set of buildings and calling it a middle school; it means that whatever school you’re in, you adopt the kinds of methods and ideas that have been identified as being the best way to keep kids in this age group interested and on-target with their learning.

Why do the middle school years need a different approach?

• Kids in this age group are undergoing so many changes at once, and their rate of development varies widely from one individual to another:

• As well as the fairly obvious physical changes brought on by the onset of puberty, there are all the accompanying major emotional upheavals.

• Society has changed, too, so young adolescents are under new and different pressures as they form their own identity, values, evaluate friendships and relationships, and develop a sense of independence.

• And from a purely cognitive point of view, their brains and intellectual processes are also rapidly changing. Although teenagers are often stereotypically portrayed as lazy and self-centred, it’s actually in early adolescence that kids become more interested in how they fit into the world around them, developing their ability to think in abstract terms about things like politics and social issues.

Phew! If it’s exhausting reading about it, spare a thought for the teachers who are expected to take these hormonally-charged mixed-up children-in-transition and turn them into interested, motivated students!

What does good “middle schooling” look like?

In some ways, studying what works in the middle school years has simply confirmed what good teachers had already instinctively figured out.

“A lot of the things that we now promote with middle schooling were things that…I knew worked, but I didn’t know why,” says Susan Hearfield. “Now we know the practices that are most effective,” she says.

“You can’t continue to teach the way you always have,” she adds.

“Kids are different, and they’re a lot more global, and socially aware; the world, the Internet, is their encyclopaedia. So you do want teachers who are interested in all the latest methods.”

According to the experts, ideal middle schooling involves a unique and targetted approach to:

Curriculum (what’s being studied)

Pedagogy (teaching methods)

Organisation (the structure of the school and classroom)

Environment (social and developmental support)

The more you look into it, the more you realise these things can’t really be neatly separated, as they’re all intertwined. Bear in mind, too, that this stuff hasn’t just been plucked from thin air; it’s backed up by numerous studies and reports of actual schools and students. (Google “middle school” if you’re interested in reading some of them.)

Okay, but enough of the educational jargon – what does that mean in real terms for your child? Well, to break it down further:

Curriculum – what’s being studied

To keep students interested, motivated, and able to achieve their best results, a middle school curriculum should be relevant, engaging, and challenging. Uh-oh, more edu-speak buzzwords. But they do make sense once they’re explained further.

Relevant: Because kids in this age group are developing their sense of autonomy, they need to feel like what they’re learning has some connection to their life. No longer content to just absorb information for the sake of it, they’re increasingly looking for real life examples and connections between the classroom and outside world.

Engaging: It’s easy to feel bored and disconnected at school if you’re old enough to watch the news, but teachers stand and deliver lectures about algebra or 19th century history and you’re supposed to sit down, be quiet, and rote learn. However, when you’re actively involved in selecting and investigating the answers to a topic that interests you (“how can I use algebra to figure out the number of Lego bricks I need to make various constructions?” or “how are today’s political protests like those of the 19th century”?) it’s a whole different ballgame. That’s not to say direct instruction has no place in middle schooling, it’s just acknowledging that it must be tailored to what students need, rather than what teachers find easiest.

Challenging: Contrary to what some parents and teachers may have thought, research has identified that students don’t simply want to ditch school and head for the local milk bar. What they need is the chance to develop their skills and expertise in a way that gives them realistic challenges, has high expectations, and provides constructive and honest feedback. For example, as well as understanding the subject and being able to show that they’ve learned new information by, say, passing a test, they want the chance to develop their skills further – for example, by creating a professional-looking website that helps others learn about the topic.

Pedagogy – teaching and learning methods

Young adolescents flourish in a middle school environment where rights and responsibilities are both heavily emphasised.

“Kids are active participants – they’re given empowerment,” says Susan Hearfield. But this doesn’t mean they spend the day making paper planes. “They take more ownership of their own learning, and they’re taught how to do that,” she explains.

A democratic classroom environment, where kids and teachers interact with mutual respect, means teaching is not just “sit there and I will tell you”. Rather it’s about teachers saying: “okay, how can I get you involved in learning about this?”, and “let’s make a plan of how you’re going to learn it and then I can help you achieve that”.

It may mean more work initially, while teachers adjust, but the end result is worth it, says Ms Hearfield:

“[Teachers] say [once they’ve made these kinds of changes] it’s so much easier because they’ve got the kids engaged, they’ve built those relationships, they don’t have the behavioural issues,” she says.

Middle school kids need special attention given to helping them develop their ability to express themselves clearly in written and spoken language. This allows them to understand, and be able to use, what they read and hear. If this is done properly, literature and new information can help kids make sense of all the changes they’re going through, and changes in the world around them.

Young adolescents are also starting to work out connections and higher level thinking strategies. If subjects like science, geography and maths are all taught at completely separate times and places, in an over-specialised way, it just seems like “random information” to them.

By contrast, good middle schooling integrates subject areas and often uses “team teaching”, so kids can see the general connection between, say, plant biology, the crops grown in Asia, and the mathematics involved in basic economics.

Organisation – structure and day-to-day life

One of the most obvious differences between middle schooling and a traditional high school, (lockers, home rooms, and six different teachers and subjects in one day), is the emphasis on community and connection.

“Students should be able to form a long-term relationship with a teacher who takes them for a large part of the school day,” according to the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA).

In fact, the ASPA’s Middle Schooling Policy states that productive teacher-student relationships are just as critical in the middle years as they are in early childhood.

“And that flies in the face of the old secondary structure of seeing 150 kids over the week, seeing them for 45 minutes three or four times a week,” explains Susan Hearfield. “You can’t get to know them as learners, or as people [in that system],” she adds.

Environment – caring, safe, and supportive

Because of what’s happening developmentally, kids in this age bracket have a strong need to feel safe, secure, and part of a team – metaphorically as well as physically.

“Kids needs to build relationships and have that pastoral care, or concern for the welfare of the whole child, caring for the student as a person, not “they’re coming here to learn I’m only worried about their academic development”,” says Ms Hearfield.

Throughout history, young adolescence has been a time when adults help guide children to become productive members of society. Over the last few decades, schools have tended to step back from what’s perceived as ‘moral instruction’, but there is now research to show that actively teaching ethics and values, (as well as supporting kids who are under stress or feeling isolated), helps foster the sense of belonging that is vitally important to this age group.

Australia leads the way

So if all of this sounds like a good idea to keep your kids on track in the middle years, how do you know whether it’s happening at your local school?

“I wouldn’t say the majority of schools are doing it. Parents need to ask questions and see whether [the school] is providing learning environments that are responsive to young adolescents’ needs,” says Susan Hearfield.

Parents can contact the school or P&C Association (P&F in the Catholic system) as a good starting point, or contact the Middle Years Schooling Association directly to find out more about a particular school’s approach.

“The ones that are members of our association, I know a reasonable amount about them,” says Susan Hearfield.

“[Having said that], the school down the road mightn’t be a member of our association but they might be offering brilliant learning experiences,” she clarifies.

Australia is part of an international movement (along with countries such as China, Italy, the US, and UK) who are developing a strong middle schooling culture. In fact, a major international conference on middle schooling is being held this month on the Gold Coast, highlighting Australia’s role in the area of ongoing research and development.

“A couple of years ago at a middle schooling conference in Perth, I asked one of the top American experts to recommend a US speaker for an upcoming event,” says Ms Hearfield.

“He said to me: ‘Why would you be doing that when you’ve got so many wonderful things happening here – you’re way ahead of us!’”

The MYSA conference is being held from May 26 to 28 and is open to teachers, parents, and the public (registration fees apply). See contact details below.

For more information:

Middle Years Schooling Association.Contact: (07) 3720 8711. Visit: www.mysa.org.au

Education Queensland. Visit: www.education.qld.gov.au. (search for
“middle phase of learning”)