Improving pedagogy in the middle years

There has been considerable emphasis over the last decade on effective teaching and learning in the middle years of schooling, associated with the particular responses to schooling of adolescent students in a period of their lives when issues of identity, commitment, and independence are central to their experience and concern. Extensive research and development has generated considerable reform in Years 5 to 9. Improved understandings of students' different learning styles and needs has led to more diverse and strategic selection of teaching methods. However, there is still considerable scope for improving the quality of contemporary approaches to the education and development of adolescents. A number of major research projects have been conducted by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DE&T) middle years strategy team since 1998, including the Middle Years Research and Development (MYRAD) project, the Middle Years Literacy, and Middle Years Numeracy Research projects. Currently, the focus has shifted to a more explicit framing of a Middle Years pedagogical framework. The Middle Years Pedagogy Research and Development (MYPRAD) project has developed an explicit pedagogical framework that is grounded in research findings from previous projects and from the literature more generally.