2023 Australian Teacher Aide Team of the Year
West Moreton Anglican College Learning Enrichment Officer Team
Nominated by: Lateticia Strohben and Andrea Back, Teachers-in-Charge Primary and Secondary
Congratulations to the Learning Enrichment Officer Team (LEOs) from West Moreton Anglican College, in Queensland, who have been named the 2023 Australian Teacher Aide Team of the Year.
The Learning Enrichment Officer Team, Lynne Ainscough, Katrina Cahill, Jennifer Harrison, Janine Richardson, and Jess Swinton, work in classrooms and small-group intervention programs to support students’ academic, and social and emotional wellbeing, across the Junior, Middle and Senior School.
The LEO team have a positive impact on student learning and wellbeing through targeted intervention, supporting students on modified curriculum in collaboration with teachers, providing social emotional support for assessments for students from Junior School to Senior School, and facilitating students’ use of assistive technology.
They work closely with students to support curriculum outcomes, reinforce learning in the classroom, breakdown tasks and assist students achieve success.
Nominators, Lateticia Strohben and Andrea Back said, “The Team’s knowledge of students and how they learn is built on years of working closely with students and observing them develop and grow as learners. Their broad knowledge of curriculum content enables them to support students across year levels and sees them studying and preparing anything from Year 6 Science to reading the latest Year 10 English novel.”
The LEOs collaborate with teachers and Heads of Departments to plan for, identify and support students with additional needs, and implement targeted interventions based on data, provide feedback on group activities, assignments, and assessments, and adjust and modify tasks and assessments.
The LEO Team have been involved in the ‘Effective Models of Learning Support Project’ to identify areas of improvement, and the ‘Effective Use of Teacher Aides Project’ to maximise support time. The LEOs identified areas of success and improvement in delivering support and worked with department leaders to maximise the limited amount of support in a school with almost 1600 students.
The Team collected data and incidental observations on student learning to provide feedback to class teachers and Learning Enrichment Case Managers through regular meetings and planning sessions. This encouraged teachers to plan for support, make reasonable adjustments to curriculum and pedagogy, and improve communication between teachers and case managers to identify and reflect on the teaching and learning cycle.
Teachers-in-Charge Lateticia Strohben and Andrea Back, said, “The participation and feedback from the Learning Enrichment Officers throughout the project has resulted in a more reasonable spread of learning support across the College, enabling students to access and participate equitably in the curriculum and school activities. It also identified students who were becoming dependent upon support and prompted a conscientious shift to promoting independent study and work habits by explicitly instructing students in assistive technology, organisation, and time management skills, which continues to result in positive learning outcomes for students.”
The Learning Enrichment Officer Team continually seek ways to improve their knowledge and update professional practice.
A significant part of the role provided by the Learning Enrichment Officers is supporting the wellbeing and resilience of students to complete tasks and engage in their learning. The LEOs build their capability to support students through professional learning in areas such as mental health, learning difficulties, executive functioning, and co-regulation.
They also engage in professional learning to further develop their content knowledge across year levels and build their support skills in the art and science of teaching.
“There are very few staff members in a school that are expected to hold the breadth of content as our Learning Enrichment Officers and be able to adjust and deliver a small lesson with confidence and skill, to students who already have difficulty understanding and producing work,” explained Mses Strohben and Back.
Congratulations, West Moreton Anglican College LEOs, on your exceptional achievements!
