School Organisation

In 1996, Ste-Foy school first tackled the problem of team building and reducing teacher isolation. Team-teaching was seen as the path to teamwork while addressing student needs, and multi-age groupings was seen as one way, a natural way, to allow teachers to work together.

Three years later, that vision would be validated by the new Québec Education Program in which "the multi-year instructional cycle has become one of the key features of the education reform."
(CYCLE-BASED INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: SUPPORTING THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS. BRIEF TO THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. NOVEMBER 2002)

Video Clip (Cycle Teams and Multi-age Groups)

Cycle teams work in a range of models
In a small school, multi-age groups can be a natural way for teachers to "share students" because there is usually only one class per grade. It allows to them to work fully as a cycle team not only planning or setting common goals together, but actually sharing students. But, in Ste-Foy, cycle teams take on a variety of shades and are not uniquely and uniformly equated to multi-age groups. As they moved from a team building to a vision of shared responsibility for all students, the teachers began to apply a variety of models to decompartmentalize instruction. The French specialists used this as an opportunity to work closely with the cycle teams.

Video Clip (Models of Organisation)

Teachers share responsibility for students in a variety of ways: by cycle, by interest, by projects, by subject area, by choice of religious instruction. Teachers adopt these strategies as their comfort level increases. In cycle one, for example, all students come to Mr Simon's room for music instruction and practice. English Language Arts is done in a multi-age class group whereas students go back to a grade level grouping for mathematics. The cycle one teachers weave in and out of a variety of groupings according to situational requirements and their comfort level. (See "Big Guys" and "Little Guys")

There are also a variety of models of teacher teaming. In some cycle teams, teachers work very closely together as a unit on all classroom activities, whereas in others they might plan a project in which they set common goals, choose targeted competencies, agree on learning strategies and evaluation. Having a common focus, they can help each other, but they remain free to implement the project in their own way. They sometimes go further and share students in multti-class collaborative groups to answer the needs of a specific project. (See The Anatomy of a Social Studies Project) In this way they also share the responsibility for all the students in their cycle.

A school initiative
For then principal Andrew Aitken, getting the understanding and support of parents was very important. They were initially quite nervous about the move to multi-age groupings which they felt was second rate choice. In their experience, multi-age groups were equated with "split-classes".

Therefore, at every possible occasion, the value of learning in a multi-age environment very akin to a family was explained or demonstrated in a variety of ways. When they began to see their children at work on a project, the same project in year one and two of the cycle, they understood that while expectations varied according to age each child, each one worked to his/her level of ability, often with older children acting as models or teachers. However, this is not something that can be understood once and for all. New parents need to be reassured, especially those whose children transfer from other schools where practices are different, both with regards to cycle grouping and to authentic learning practices. The "education" of parents in this regard is therefore an on-going process which can happen only in the context of a school initiative.

The benefits of cycle groups
Teachers see many benefits to creating cycle groups for students :

• Older children help younger children and at the same time, consolidate and deepen their understanding and knowledge;
• Students become actively involved in choosing, planning and carrying out complex projects (integrated tasks);
• When teachers keep their assignments and half their students from year to year, routines develop quickly in September and younger students are more easily integrated. Learning starts earlier in the year as a result.
• And teachers work more closely as teams, planning, teaching and evaluating their students' progress. They share materials and are generally more creative and innovative when they can use their time more efficiently thanks to groupings.

"The multi-age organisation that we have throughout the school is accepted by the parents and the staff. Every year, though, we check and ask ourselves 'Do we still want to do this? Is this something that is working?' So far the answer has been: 'Yes! It's the best way we can implement the reform and provide the best opportunity for students.'" Andrew Aitken.