set 2015: no. 3

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… Read more

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… Read more

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… Read more

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… Read more

This article considers home learning for students whose schools have moved to digital learning environments. In this study we sought to gather perspectives about what sorts of home-learning activities might support school learning given that students have individual digital devices and access to the internet and class websites. Interviews with parents, students, and teachers at decile 1 schools focused on the learning activities that students might engage in at… Read more

It is not unusual to enter a school in New Zealand or internationally and discover that student portfolios are part of the work programme. Research indicates that the value of student portfolios varies considerably. Too often the purpose of a portfolio programme and the roles expected of different school community members, such as school leaders, teachers, support staff, students, and family members, are neither clearly established nor shared. This article… Read more

Does National Standards written reporting fully inform parents of their child’s achievements and thus better place them to support their child’s learning? Using the reporting of progress and achievement in writing, and the perceptions of eight parents, the current study pays particular attention to the nature, scope, and complexity of the information communicated to parents in written reports, and their understandings of this information. Questions are raised… Read more

In this edition of Assessment News education advisor Cathie Johnson encourages schools to consider how they can reflect and report on dimensions of engagement and learning that cannot be captured by academic achievement data. She poses a number of questions for readers to ponder and outlines some of the research findings that underpin the New Zealand Council for Educational Research’s student engagement survey, Me and My School. Cathie has supported a wide range… Read more