Harris Fields State School
Case study snapshot
The challenge
Harris Fields State School is a primary school located in Logan, QLD and is disproportionately staffed by early career teachers. The school has previously faced difficulties in early career teacher retention.
The response
The leadership team have built an open and professional culture within the school. This encourages early career teachers to undergo observation, appraisal and feedback with more experienced teachers.
The takeaways
Effective school leadership is essential for creating professional learning opportunities for early career teachers. Highly functional school leaders create an open culture that enhances early career teacher effectiveness and builds staff collegiality.
‘We tell our new staff that there’s never anything that you have to bear by yourself.’
– Vivien Bampton, Principal
Walking into a new workplace is daunting. There are hierarchies to be aware of, new systems to become familiar with, and relationships with staff to be built. Coupling these factors with the individual learning needs of 30 students and the social complexities specific to low SES communities, you begin to see the immense challenges that many early career teachers face.
This is precisely why effective Induction systems and cultures of professional support are so necessary. When not adequately supported, the stresses from the classroom compound with the logistical challenges of teaching, and the job quickly becomes overwhelming. Trivial things can become big distractions.
Harris Fields State School (Harris Fields SS), a primary school located in Logan QLD, is an exemplar in the support and development they provide to their early career teachers. The school’s Principal of seven years, Vivien Bampton, recognises that student outcomes are largely determined by the quality of their teachers. Therefore, investing in the development of teachers, particularly early career teachers, can have an enormous impact on the trajectory of a child’s life:
‘The biggest thing is quality teachers – we need to get talented young people not only into teaching, but into these schools. Once they’re here, we need to make sure that we support them to grow professionally and personally. Because when they improve their practice, the students improve their outcomes.’
While the school is not exempt from the typical burdens of staff attrition, the student performance and staff satisfaction of Harris Fields SS have improved since the school increased their attention on professional learning. As Harris Fields SS is disproportionately staffed by early career teachers, focusing on their development is necessary to improve teacher retention and effectiveness.