ETL401 Assignment

For something I was meant to do straight after the assignment, this is coming a little late. I have been thinking about it but trouble with the internet and kids make it difficult to find a quiet niche to write something but here I am finally.

The assignment was quite thought provoking - a number of the ideas I had made it difficult to narrow it down to what I wanted to write about. I did find it hard clarifying an ILSC, I think because I had all the pieces but couldn't see the overall picture [a bit like Senge (2007) was talking about I found]. So when I was researching about an ILSC I was thinking I know this but when it came to writing about it I came a bit unstuck. I think the main aspect I gathered from an ILSC was that everyone needs to be involved in creating and maintaining one. Not just the teachers and students but the parents and support staff as well. That it isn't just about having the information available but that an information process is being used by all in everything that happens in the school.

The role of the TL needs to be clear and outlined to all staff - fine detailed role descriptions need to be accessible and the TL needs to be seen as a specialist teacher with clear attributes that can be used by the staff in the school. Such as integrated units being created by teachers and TLs, including assessment and evaluation. The TL needs to be adequately trained to meet these requirements in a school - I have even found that by doing this subject I am trying to make some changes in the schools I work in. Little changes to begin with due to being at each school only one day a week, but changes nonetheless.

My obstacle I focused on was the principal's support in making the TL a leader in collaborative practices as I found in all my schools that this was not happening to the level it is required. The readings were quite clear on schools benefiting from having principal support but there was minimal literature on what was happening in schools that did not have this support and how TLs were achieving change. I used most of the readings in our course outline to support my solutions, which were mainly on the TL's role. The TL needs to be making the prinicpal aware of the possibilities in curriculum where the TL can benefit the school's vision. Through leadeship roles, ongoing PD and evaluation and some funding.

Overall I found the topic interesting and consolidating in its nature. A clarification of the place we have in our schools at this point and of where we want to go with our role in the future.