Student engagement

English-medium schools’ inclusion of whānau Māori aspirations for their children has been identified as a critical factor in the wellbeing of Māori students. What can teachers and school leaders in English-medium schools do to include whānau aspirations and strengthen whānau engagement in Māori students’ learning and wellbeing? A group of professional learning and development project leaders and regional facilitators reported strategies they had supported schools to use with this goal in mind. Most approaches had positive effects on strengthening school–whānau partnerships, with unforeseen challenges emerging in one case. Some of the reported approaches and their effects are incorporated into five fictionalised narratives that teachers and school leaders can reflect on when they review their practices for engaging whānau.

Despite policies recommending schools collaborate with whānau and Māori communities, and research that indicates why these connections are important, what remains less obvious is how these partnerships might be best achieved and sustained. This article discusses a professional development resource that challenges and supports school leadership teams to listen to their Māori communities in order to begin to develop relational and culturally responsive connections with these same communities. The research draws from the experiences of school leadership, Māori parents and whānau. In this article we present themes from interviews with two researchers who have engaged extensively with Māori communities, and we provide an activity to consider these ideas in your school.

I am passionate about continually looking for ways to improve outcomes for students. I believe in the importance of being a connected educator, and in the responsibility we have to share our stories and learnings with one another. My involvement in the Sport in Education project has meant that I have been extremely fortunate to work alongside colleagues in my own school with whom I would not normally work. I have also been able to work with colleagues from other schools around New Zealand, and a fantastic team of researchers at NZCER. I am pleased to share this story in the hope that it may spark an interest, and provide a platform for others to explore similar approaches in their own teaching and learning environment.

Policy, research, and literature provide insights into pedagogies effective for Māori students. He Kākano, a professional learning and development project, aimed to empower Māori students to achieve educational success as Māori. This article focuses on the contribution of curriculum leaders to ensuring effective pedagogies for these students in their schools. It presents results from lesson observations, focus-group interviews, and survey responses collected in an evaluation of He Kākano that show student experiences varied across schools. Many curriculum leaders felt that culturally responsive practice was in place, but reported insecure knowledge of co-construction, discursive practices, and the Māori world. Discussed in relation to the “effective teaching profile”, findings show that for Māori in English-medium schools to enjoy educational success as Māori, curriculum leaders want and need further resources, opportunities to engage in targeted professional learning, support and commitment.