THE MIDDLE YEARS OF
SCHOOLING
i) The perspective of Year 8 and 9 students at John Wollaston Anglican
Community School in Perth, Western Australia.
ii)An evaluation of an integrated curriculum introduced in Year 7 as
part the investigation into the middle years of schooling.
A report containing a summary of a research project prepared for
APAPDC (WA) Grants Committee
by Janet Wilmot
INTRODUCTION
Background:
John Wollaston Anglican Community School is an independent, low fee paying, co-educational school
of the Anglican Schools Commission in Perth, Western Australia, which was established in 1989. The
school has a traditional grouping with a two tier structure of a Primary School (Preprimary to Year 7)
and a Secondary School (Year 8 to Year 12).
Originally a research proposal was written for a case study of a school based investigation into the
concept of middle schooling and any changes and innovations that would be made as a result of this.
This was at a time when a few schools in Western Australia had established Middle Schools whilst
some others were considering the idea. The researcher had consulted the literature on the subject and
had visited middle schools in Western Australia and Victoria. It was evident that no two models were
the same and that recent research and literature on the subject was not well known or supported by
many teachers at the school. This was part of the reason why it was considered necessary to conduct
research at the school level to identify the needs of this school as opposed to any other. The
perspectives of students, staff and parents would be sought before undertaking any change to ensure
that it was not to be change for change sake.
The first part of the study was an investigation into the perspectives of the students in the middle years
of their schooling. This was completed in 1997 with Year 8 and 9 students and was submitted as a
final project by the researcher to fulfil the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at
Murdoch University. The second part of the study, funded by a Research Project Grant from
APAPDC, was completed in 1998 and is the subject of this report.
The research problems:
i) Results obtained in the 1997 study revealed significant differences between the perspectives of the
Year 8 and the Year 9 students. The Year 9 students were extremely negative about their schooling
yet one could not necessarily conclude that the difference was between students at the Year 8 level and
the Year 9 level because of a lack of information about these groups at any other time. For this reason
the researcher conducted the same survey with the students of Year 9 in 1998 as the data from this
group in Year 8 was available for comparison. The aim was to investigate the extent to which the
students’ perspectives of schools changed during the first year of secondary school.
ii) As part of the innovations adopted at the school in 1998 in an attempt to meet the needs of 11 to 14
year olds the Year 7 teachers had developed integrated units of study. These were being trialed in
both Year 7 classes. The objective was to develop a curriculum that was more meaningful to the
students. A constructivist perspective was adopted whereby the units of work built on previous
experiences and were designed to engage the students in activley constructing their knowledge rather
than being more passive recipients. The students were given some responsibility for negotiating
learning experiences, goal setting and self assessment. The evaluation of the curriculum that was
carried out at this stage was to provide feedback to the teachers and to inform further planning.
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REVIEW OF RECENT RESEARCH AND LITERATURE:
A formal review of the recent research and literature has been written but is not included in this
report. It is available from the researcher on request.
THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This project was concerned with ongoing action research being conducted at John Wollaston. The
material was structured around a number of issues that had been identified in the literature on middle
schooling. The first problem was particularly concerned with issues identified in the national project,
From Alienation to Engagement which was published in 1996. The critical goal for both studies was
to provide school-specific feedback on which to reflect and to use as the basis for further monitoring,
decision-making and planning. The key stakeholders were the students themselves, their parents and
the staff of the school.
The research on the students’ perspectives of schooling was conducted by means of a student survey
where all the Year 9 students were invited to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained
twenty-four statements that the students were required to read and to respond to by considering to
what degree a particular statement applied to them and their experience of school. The students then
rated their responses on a scale of 1 (This statement does not apply at all to me) to 4 (This statement
applies strongly to me). In order to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ thoughts on the
issues, they were asked to comment on each statement. One hundred and twelve of the one hundred
and thirty Year 9 students completed the survey.
The questionnaires were complete anonymously with the only information being if they were male or
female so that the viewpoints of each could be compared or male/female issues identified.
The evaluation of the integrated units of study was completed by means of a student survey and
interviews with the Year 7 students. The first section of the survey asked questions of the students
who were asked to give reasons for their answers. In the second part they were simply to rate the
statements as they applied to them on a 1 to 4 scale of Never, Sometimes, Often or Always. The
interviews were informal and were conducted with five students.
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RESEARCH FINDINGS
i)Summary of the analysis of the results of the Year 9 survey conducted in 1998 and compared to
the survey conducted in 1997 with the same students.
In brief, the results were very different to those obtained by the researcher a year previously. The
students were much more negative about their schooling than at the same time the previous year.
School:
There was a significant difference noted in the way in which the students regarded the school. A large
percentage still felt that it was a good school yet it was at the extremes of the scale that there was most
difference noted. Only 2.7% of the students had felt that there was nothing good about the school yet
this had risen to 14.3%. 55.9% of the students had indicated that they felt strongly that it was a good
school but a year later only 22.3% of the students were prepared to state this. These might well be seen
as a ‘typical’ Year 9 responses but they are worthy of further investigation.
Whilst so many more students were negative about the school, the results when asked if they would
like to be at another school did not vary from those given the previous year. Friends were given as the
prime reason for wanting to be at this school or wishing to be elsewhere. Uniforms and the teachers
were frequently mentioned in a negative light.
One would expect that the students in Year 9 would cope better with the organisation of the school day
having been in the secondary school for over a year. However, there had been two major
organisational changes in that tutor group time was changed from the beginning of the day to just
before recess and the timetable changed to have weeks A and B where the arrangement of the days
within the weeks changed. This resulted in 33.9% o the students feeling that they did not cope well
with the organisation of the day whereas only 17.1% had felt that way after being in the school for only
one term in 1997.
Although the students had been at secondary school for over a year they were definite in their
recollection of the transition to this environment from the primary school. The results were very much
the same as they were the year previously. This seemed to indicate that for those students who had
found the transition to be difficult, the memory remained. Similarly, for the approximately 55% who
found it to be relatively easy, that memory remained.
Learning:
Although there was some evidence of students being less concerned about the results that they obtained
at school by far the vast majority still felt that getting good results was important. Some students made
the point that they felt unable to achieve even though they knew that good marks were important. There
was an even stronger feeling that the results that they achieved at school would make a difference to
their futures and a specific concern with university entrance was expressed by some.
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Although there was the increasing feeling that results are important for the future there was a
significant increase in the number of students who felt that they were not successful at school. In Year
8 in 1997, 87% of the students felt they were either very or generally successful. Only 69.9% of the
students were prepared to mark that as true for them one year later in Year 9. 9.8% felt that the
statement, ‘I am successful at school.’ did not apply to them at all. This had been 1.8% the previous
year showing many more students who felt that they failed at school.
Whereas in Year 8 most students had enjoyed their lessons, were able to contribute their thoughts and
viewed what they learned as useful, relevant and interesting, this was not the case for these students in
Year 9. The increase in students who did not enjoy their lessons at all was 10% and only 48% felt that
they generally enjoyed what they learned. This figure had been 70.3% twelve months previously. 22.5
% of the students had rated as 4 (Applies strongly to me) the statement, ‘What I learn at JWACS is
interesting.’ when in Year 8 but in Year 9 only 8.9% of these students felt this way.
The comments written by the students revealed, as they did for the Year 9 students of 1997, that they
enjoyed the choice that they were with the electives and these subjects were particularly appreciated
and enjoyed. These 1998 responses showed that more students felt enthusiastic about the subjects that
they were studying at the present time than they did when they first entered secondary school. Those
who were prepared to mark a 4 (Applies strongly to me) for this had increased from 15.3% to 24.1% .
The students were however not as enthusiastic about being involved in other school activities such as
sport, band etc.
Relationships:
In 1997 most negativity had been expressed in the area of relationships. There was still a significant
number of students who felt that they did not have good relationships with their teachers and this
number had in fact increased by about 10% to 40% of the students surveyed. Whereas about half the
students had expressed the opinion that their teachers were not really interested in their personal
achievements in 1997 this figure had risen to over 70% of the students. Over half the students felt that
their efforts at school were not recognised whereas this had been 35%. 10% felt that their efforts were
always recognised. This figure was 20% in 1997.
More students felt that there was little opportunity for them to show responsibility however those
involved in the peer support programme, a recent innovation, mentioned it in their comments as an
opportunity to show responsibility.
Of the students in Year 9 some expressed strongly the opinion that they considered themselves to be
individuals and did not just fit in with what their group of friends wanted however the same percentage
also said that fitting in with what their friends wanted was important. Many more felt that they were
not afforded the opportunity to interact with other students during lessons in Year 9. 20% indicated
that they had no opportunity to interact with others in class. In Year 8, 5% of the students had felt this
way. In 1997 two thirds of the students had said that they were given opportunities to interact with
peers in class but this had decreased to half the student population by Year 9.
Teaching:
The feeling that much of the teaching and much of what was learned was boring, was expressed
although a significant difference was noted in the comments that were made about the teaching of the
electives. Some of the comments revealed how the students view the teachers and their teaching.
Students appeared to be sincere in their desire to understand the content of the lesson and did not
condemn the subject necessarily, only if they perceived it to be taught in a boring manner.
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Justice:
In 1997 66.6% of the Year 8 students had felt that boys and girls were treated equally. It had been
evident from their comments that they did not like being in separate classes for Physical Education and
English. Whilst they were no longer separated for English, Physical Education was still mentioned as
an example of inequality. The perception in 1998 that there was inequality between the sexes was far
deeper than it had been. At this time only 40.2% of the students considered the treatment of boys and
girls to be equal. The percentage of students who felt that the statement, Girls and boys are treated
equally at JWACS, did not apply at all at the school had jumped from 11.7% in 1997 to 30.4% in 1998.
In 1997 84.6% students had been positive about being treated fairly in terms of discipline. In the
follow-up this had changed to 67% of the students. The students voiced their frustrations quite strongly
particularly where they felt that they had been unfairly treated. They appeared to be definite about the
need for abiding by the rules if they wished to keep out of trouble.
Harassment:
Few comments were made about harassment although one student revealed that she was bullied every
day. Some students believed that they were harassed by teachers yet there was no mention of verbal
harassment from older students as there had been when the students were in Year 8. There were also no
comments about racial comments as had also been mentioned when they were in Year 8.
ii) Summary of the results of the student survey on the integrated curriculum:
88.6% of the Year 7 students felt that work was presented to them in a different way this year. This
was particularly interesting as over 50% of the students were from the JWACS Year 6 class who had
not been exposed to this particular way of working yet whose curriculum had been integrated in other
ways.
Many of the students commented that much more was expected of them this year but at the same time
their comments revealed that they enjoyed the integrated units of work, that they felt that they learned a
lot and that it was fun.
One interesting comment, “We get taught by the assignment and not by the teacher.”, indicated the
change in the role that the student perceived the teacher to play. This student did not see the teacher as
the one who was the transmitter of knowledge. One would need further clarification from this particular
student on what they perceived the role of the teacher to be. During the interviews the students said that
they thought the teacher was a ‘helper’. They still saw the teacher as the one who was responsible for
judging or assessing their work. This was despite the fact that all units involved some self-assessment.
When asked whether they would prefer to work by themselves, with a partner, in a small group of 3 or
a larger group, the overwhelming majority of the students indicated that they would prefer to work in a
group. 54.5% choose to work with a partner, and 22.7% in a small group. Only 11.4% chose to work by
themselves with the same percentage of the students preferring to work in a large group.
The students said that their preference for working with a partner or a small group was to be able to
share and discuss their work. Many of them acknowledged that there was often conflict if the group had
too many people. They showed an interest in being able to ask questions of their peers rather than
having to direct everything to the teacher. Some of the students said that they felt more confident when
they were able to work with others. Others said that the teacher did not always have the time to deal
with all questions and that it was easier to ask a friend. The students felt that by sharing the workload
they would be able to learn more in the given time.
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The main concern of the students was with time. They felt that they were not given enough time to
investigate the subject thoroughly and that they had to spend unreasonable amounts of time working at
home in order to achieve at the level they wished and that was expected. Because of a lack of
computers at school most of the word processing was completed on computers at home. The students
felt that handwritten assignments were no longer acceptable if they wished to obtain the highest grade
for their work.
While the results of this survey indicated that from the students’ perspectives the introduction of
integrated units of work had largely been a success, the teachers gained valuable feedback. They were
keen to trial some of the students’ suggestions and to make changes to further develop this curriculum
innovation so that it became more student-centred.
CONCLUSION
The two small studies which together make up this project have great significance for the school where
the research was conducted. This genuine consultation with the students is an attempt to focus the
forward planning on their needs. The power of the students’ comments and the graphs showing their
responses to the set statements on the questionnaire are forms of evidence that cannot be ignored even
by those sceptical about middle schooling. According to Lipsitz et al (1997, p.535) high performing
schools are developmentally responsive and act on the evidence of the need for reform when it is “too
compelling to be denied.”
Although many of the findings are in line with current research findings, it is the fact that this is a
grounded view of the students at John Wollaston that is important. The argument that the responses are
just typical for students at this age may well be true in that they are typical, as is evidenced by the
literature, yet it denies the fact that they are “real people; living participants in an evolving collage of
life experiences” (Roberts, 1997, p.25). The fact that they are so negative about some of their school
experiences but are articulate about what they enjoy and is meaningful is a reason to make changes.
The results confirm that one of the main foci of change needs to be at the teacher-student interface
which was a finding of the Western Australian field study of the From Alienation to Engagement
project of 1996.
The opinions expressed by the Year 8 and 9 students at John Wollaston correspond to those of students
involved in the national project, From Alienation to Engagement in the following ways:
 they are generally positive about schooling
 they perceive that teachers don’t care about them as individuals as they are preoccupied with their
subjects
 they view teachers as talking far more than listening
 they are often passive recipients of knowledge
 they see the more able as being favoured
 they feel that teaching is often predictable and routine
 most enjoy practical activities
 students who are ‘different’ are victims of harassment
Some noted differences are that:
 there was no hint of John Wollaston being impersonal or a ‘haven’ from home
 there was no reference to the ‘strictness’ of teachers as being a means of assessing their
effectiveness
 there were many students who felt that the school was a ‘safe’ environment, free of bullying, drugs
etc.
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

Many students at John Wollaston experienced separation from their friends as they moved from
primary to secondary school
students were frustrated with the uniform and were concerned with some gender bias issues
It is the belief that this data, combined with that from teachers and parents should inform decisionmaking that will benefit the students in the middle years at the school in the future.
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LIST OF REFERENCES
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Leadership, 9-11.
Beane, J. (1996) A Middle School Curriculum: From Rhetoric to Reality. Columbus, Ohio. National
Middle School Association.
Berkeley, G. (1994) Middle Years os Schooling - A Schools Council Perspective , in Unicorn: Journal
of the Australian College of Education. Volume 20 No.2 , 5-11.
Catholic Education Office of Western Australia (1997) Report on Middle Schooling. Perth, Western
Australia.
Cormack, P. (1996) From Alienation to Engagement: Opportunities for reform in the Middle years of
Schooling. Volume two: Theoretical Constructions. Belconnen ACT: Australian Curriculum Studies
Inc.
Cumming, J. (1996) From Alienation to Engagement: Opportunities for reform in the Middle years of
Schooling. Volume three: Teacher Action. Belconnen ACT: Australian Curriculum Studies Inc.
Cumming, J. (1993) Middle Schooling for the Twenty-first Century. Incorporated Association of the
Registered Teachers of Victoria Seminar Series , 28.
Cumming, J. And Fleming, D. (Ed), (1993) In the Middle or at the Centre? A Report of a National
Conference on Middle Schooling. Australian Curriculum Studies Association.
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Department of Education and Children’s Services (1996) Middle Schooling Case Studies. Adelaide,
South Australia.
Doring, A., and Arthur, J. (1997) Building a Buffer Zone, in EQ Australia. Carlton, Victoria,
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Adelaide: Education Department of South Australia.
Felner, R.D. (1997) The Impact of school Reform for the Middle Years. Phi Delta Kappan.
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Golby, M. (1989) Teachers and their Research, in W. Carr (Ed) Quality in Teaching: Arguments for a
reflective Profession, London: The Falmer Press, pp. 163-172.
Hill, P. The Middle Years Of Schooling. Unpublished paper. Centre for Applied Educational Research,
The University of Melbourne.
Lipsitz, J., Mizell, M., Jackson, A. And Austin, L., (1997) Speaking with One Voice: A Manifesto for
middle-Grades Reform in Phi Delta Kappan. Bloomington.
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Development of Teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Western Australian Science
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National Board of Employment, Education and Training, Schools Council. (1993) In the Middle:
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6-10); a Discussion Paper. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
National Middle School Association (1995) This We Believe: Developmentally Responsive Middle
Level Schools. Columbus, Ohio.
Pilkinton, G. and Pilkinton, H. (Eds.) (1996) From Alienation to Engagement: Opportunities for reform
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Roberts, J. (1997) To the 3Rs, Add the 3Ds, in EQ Australia, Carlton, Victoria, Curriculum
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Further information is available from Janet Wilmot at jwacs@iinet.net.au
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