Supporting Adolescent Learning and Development Using Applied Learning Pedagogies in a Regional Secondary School: An Evaluation of a Pilot Program

Abstract

Pedagogies to develop autonomy and social responsibility in early adolescent learners persist as an ongoing agenda for schools. This paper reports on one Australian regional secondary college’s pilot program to improve learner engagement in one year 8 class using applied learning principles across the curriculum. In late 2006, participating students in this applied learning initiative were interviewed in small groups, their parents surveyed, and their home group teacher interviewed. Overwhelmingly, student perspectives strongly endorsed the pilot program and were consistent with parent and teacher observations of these same students’ feelings toward engagement within the program. This article details adolescents’ self-reported significant learning, locating them within a wider discourse of secondary school curriculum and current knowledge about early adolescent learners. This article also provides particular reference to the applied learning principles around which the pilot program was conceived and framed.