Your strategies: Action plans for individual students

Thinking about it and talking it over

• What does the student want to be?

• What do you need to do to get there?

Big goals, and big steps. Map it out clearly and simply. Where does education and training fit into that picture? What benefits could result that mean something to the student?

• What could be an area of improvement now?

Attendance? Participation? Literacy achievement? Numeracy achievement? Is the student at risk of leaving school early?

• What is an appropriate goal now?

Decide on a goal that is appropriate, achievable and able to be monitored. Set achievable short-term goals with a longer term goal in mind.

• Who needs to be involved?

Apart from you and your teacher colleagues, it is important to involve caregivers. They need to know that this student will experience better outcomes. Depending on what the goal is, you may also involve service providers like health educators, community representatives, etc.

• What will your strategy be?

List in sequence the things you will do together to get a result. Remember this is a partnership - so you need to set out what you will do and what the student's family might do as well as what the student will do.

• What is the timeframe?

Is it a month? One term? Two terms? One school year?

Consider the appropriateness of the goal to the timeframe. For example, if health issues are one of the main causes of non attendance, it is unlikely that you can realistically support increased attendance without parents leading the change and over a longer period of time. Improvements in literacy may be visible over a semester or shorter period.

• How will you monitor progress?

What information is available in the school about the student's current status in relation to the goal? How can you establish this? What tools can you use? What indicators will demonstrate that the student is achieving better outcomes? Teacher judgement will always play an important role.

• How will you discuss and record progress?

How will you store and communicate information about the student's achievement with the student, his or her carers and your colleagues?

• How will you celebrate and reward achievement?

A sticker? A certificate? A special report? An award? A trip? Make sure that parents and friends are included in any special event.

• What do we do next?

The process doesn't stop here but continues. A new term, a new year, a new teacher.

Play a role in the handover and help to set a new goal for the student based on what you now know.

Here is a template for an action plan…
plan.rtf			plan.pdf