The blurb for the event was
The topic of discussion for this get together will be “student-led conferences”. You may know Cherie Taylor Patel is doing her PHD research in this area. She will be part of an informal panel with two other principals who have been trialing student led conferences in their schools. They will briefly talk about their own definition and philosophy of students led conferences, some of the key things they did to get them going, how they have developed since then, and how they see them fitting into the “big picture” of the annual reporting to parents. Wendy Kofoed will be there as well. She is researching home-school partnerships.
Many of you will have also trialed student led conferences, in some form, in your schools and will be able to contribute your own findings to this discussion.
There is some interesting thinking being done in this area and this is an excellent chance to discuss the ins and outs and practicalities.
The main speakers were Cherie Taylor Patel from Flanshaw Road Primary School, Sandra Jenkins, principal of Freemans Bay School , Glen Ryan, Principal at Mary MacKillop School Mangere,
and Wendy Kofoed principal of Newmarket Primary School
My reflections from this meeting were
* we call our 3 way conferences student led but are they really? How much control has the teacher handed over to the students.
* Does scripting enable or disable student empowerment?
* What influence has AFL had on students ability to share their knowledge of their learning pathways? Have we made connections from this new knowledge to the way we report to parents?
* What are the implications of 2 way conferences and simultanious conferences for our staff, students and parents?
* How do we monitor the reality of our conferences and MIB
I enjoyed the meeting - the informal, informative style, the headspace provided by a Friday afternoon and the exceptional wine and cheeses!
