The MLE - What's in a name?

It doesn't seem to have been around for long, but I am already a little tired of the gay abandon with which this acronym is being flung around as the panacea for all education ills. It seems to me that the MLE - or Modern Learning Environment - has been claimed as solely the domain of those working in shiny new buildings. I would like to suggest that there are many of us - still slumming it in industrial era buildings - who do in fact subscribe to and, indeed, practise a contemporary pedagogy.

Deep learning, authentic learning, cross-curricular learning, inquiry learning, collaborative learning, future-focused learning. These are all things I am aware of when I review our English programmes. They are points of reference when I think about staff PD needs. And they are concepts I draw upon in the shaping of my own educational philosophy.

In my late-model industrial-education building, I am trying to make a difference. My Faculty is reflecting on, reviewing and re-shaping the way we do things. We are endeavouring to work effectively with our own set of constraints, whether these are environmental or pedagogical. Yes, we all have our own classrooms; this is not a bad thing. If we want to work collaboratively across classes or across learning areas, there are spaces we can make use of. This simply means we need to plan. Again, not a bad thing. Yes, we are working towards enabling our students to achieve the best they possibly can in NCEA or IB assessments. Yes, this does shape our course construction at a fundamental level. However, in the past few years, our students have had more options available to them in English than they ever have. There is now choice between courses and within courses at each level. The teachers in the English Faculty are conversant with current understandings of differentiation; when we think about what content we focus on, how we facilitate the learning process, and how we assess the final product, we are putting our students at the centre of our decision-making. In fact, the students are now, more frequently, part of that decision-making.

While a shiny, new building can be a source of joy, pride and inspiration, what is education really about? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. A year 12 student of mine had a chat with me yesterday. He said - completely unprompted - how he felt our school was changing; teachers were more adaptive to students in the classroom. He told me that he has noticed a big change in how English is taught since his year 9 class. His words to me: "I think it's you." Not a building, but an educator.