Recapping Some of the Main Points within the Review

• Calls for and adoption of middle schooling approaches since the mid-1980s have been driven by concerns over the developmental and learning needs of adolescents.
• With regard to ‘problematising’ students in the middle years, it is important to note that over-generalising about young people in their middle years of schooling, (or in any phase of schooling) is unwise. ‘While some young people during their middle years of schooling may experience powerlessness, social estrangement, and meaninglessness, many will not. While some may find the transition from primary to high school difficult, many will be ready for and will relish this change. Whereas some may benefit from an extended period of primary-like education, others will not.’
• But the concerns about middle years students have resulted in a diversity of structural responses to schooling in the middle years.
• Good quality research evidence for the effects on learning outcomes from these responses is often either lacking or inconclusive.
• Research on middle schooling and middle schools is problematic because of the different definitions of the middle years and different approaches to the structure of middle schools.
• Other difficulties associated with measuring the efficacy of middle schools and middle schooling is that frequently a whole range of structures and approaches are implemented in an ad hoc fashion. Multiple, overlapping initiatives complicate any attempt at obtaining evidence of effectiveness.
• From the broader ‘teaching and learning literature’, confirming one of the premises included in the rationale for this review (p.3), there is strong evidence that the quality of teaching which students receive at all levels and stages of schooling is of major importance in influencing achievement outcomes for students from all socio-economic and social-cultural backgrounds.
• While productive and positive student-teacher relationships are identified as an important characteristic of highly performing schools catering for middle years students, it needs to be acknowledged that good teachers and school leaders at all levels of schooling find ways to enhance student welfare and involvement in the learning process.
• It may therefore be debateable whether at least some aspects of the philosophy and enactment of middle schooling is any different from ‘good’ teaching and effective schooling generally.
  

However, as well as these cautions regarding the implementation and investigation of middle schooling, the literature also indicates that there is growing awareness and understanding of where and how to focus efforts to address identified issues and concerns. For example:

• A key message in the more recent middle schooling literature overall is that more than simply being a structural or organisational response to the perceived issues surrounding adolescence, middle schooling should be considered an educational and pedagogic response.
• There is general agreement in the recent literature that middle schooling is not about implementing a three-tiered school structure but is more about rethinking schools and teaching to better meet the needs of young people in a changing world.
• It is recognised that building or designating a middle school does not guarantee that accepted middle schooling practices, and therefore desired outcomes, will be achieved.
• The literature is clear in advocating middle schooling approaches focusing on quality teaching and enhanced learning rather than on structural arrangements. While many of the individual middle schooling initiatives in existence are likely to be desirable and valid, each of these needs to be incorporated and implemented as part of an overall school approach to educational change, quality teaching and improvement in educational outcomes.
• Use of models and frameworks of pedagogy (eg, enhancing common understanding through a shared language) have been found to be effective in improving the quality of teaching in schools.  Such models and frameworks provide teachers with the means to reflect on, evaluate and plan their professional learning and practice.
• An important area where teachers in the middle years need professional development is that of ‘authentic’ assessment for learning. Evidence from many studies clearly indicates that initiatives designed to enhance effectiveness in the way assessment is used in the classroom to promote learning can raise students’ achievement progress.
• Overall, professional learning and leadership appear key factors in transforming teaching in the middle years.
• There is a strong requirement for much more ‘research-based evidence’ in middle schooling. For any system/country, including New Zealand, the need for findings from strong evidence-based research to inform both policy and practice in educational provision is imperative.
• Many middle schooling initiatives have been implemented more on the basis of ‘faith’ or ‘hope’ than hard evidence for their efficacy.
• Evidence that middle schooling initiatives can sometimes result in unintended outcomes or unexpected negative consequences — such as, reluctance to change on the part of involved parties, insufficient funding, lack of time for teacher release and professional learning, increased workloads, and other difficulties associated with existing school organisation, highlight the importance of putting in place careful steps for ‘managing change’, and building the body of research evidence.
• Concerns about middle schooling often centre on a lack of agreement as to what middle schooling and middle schools encompass. But, overall, the quality of teaching that students encounter will be the major in-school influence on their educational achievement.
• Finally, it was also emphasised that it is important to understand that:
  
  • there is a need to commission research into patterns of school leadership for the middle years that sustain improved student outcomes;
  • fundamental change is not likely to be achieved quickly or easily; and
  • there is a need to support and research distinctive middle years teacher education programmes and career pathways.