Executive Summary

Incredible Years Teacher (IYT) is a research-based group training programme that is part of the suite of linked Incredible Years (IY) programmes for teachers, parents, and children developed in the United States. . The goal of these interlinked programmes is "to ...  promote [young children's] social, emotional, and academic competence".

This report gives the findings from an online survey that went out in late July 2014 to all Incredible Years Teacher (IYT) group leaders on the Ministry of Education national database for IYT programmes that started January–March 2014. It is intended to provide information relevant to one of the process questions in the evaluation: Is IYT being delivered as intended in New Zealand? It gives a picture of IYT group leaders' experiences in relation to conditions that could affect the fidelity of the IYT training, and identifies their views about its efficacy.

We received responses from 87 of the 118 IYT group leaders on the Ministry of Education national database, a response rate of 74 percent for this group. An additional 10 IYT group leaders not on this database also participated, making a total of 97 responses. This gives a good national picture.

IYT group leaders were largely positive about the IYT programme and the support they received. However, 29 percent wanted better support for group leaders. Sixty-two percent found the time allocated for their IYT work by their employer to be insufficient. Working with teachers before and between workshops was particularly time-consuming, as was the reflection on their own practice, which is a critical component of fidelity to the IYT programme. Twenty-three percent of group leaders had difficulty ensuring they had the information and resources they needed before the start of their programme, either from ECE centres or schools, or from the Ministry of Education.

The survey focused particularly on three other key aspects of fidelity: reviewing video/DVD of workshops; use of IYT checklists and protocols; and regular sessions with accredited peer coaches. Around half were adhering to the recommended videoing and review of all or most of their workshops, using the collaborative process checklist and involving a peer in their review process. Just under two-thirds found the IYT checklists and protocols that underpin IYT programme planning and review always or mostly useful. Group leaders trained most recently, in 2013–14, were less likely to be using the checklists, and less likely to be using peers in their video review. They were also the group least likely to have peer coaching with an accredited peer coach, and to have some of the experiences in coaching that are part of the IYT guidelines in New Zealand.

Only 54 percent of the group leaders had access to peer coaching with an accredited peer coach. Reports of this work indicate that much more of the development, modelling and support that is key to the IYT fidelity model occurred when working with an accredited peer coach. Higher proportions of those who could work with an accredited peer coach reported improvement in their workshops and in their work with individual teachers as a result of this coaching. They also made more mention of being motivated to undertake further IYT training, and were more likely to say they had sufficient support for their work.

The analysis of the survey results suggests that it is timely to take a national overview of the programme to ensure that there will be sufficient peer coaches accredited to support the fidelity of IYT and its ongoing development in New Zealand. This raises the question of ensuring that group leaders have sufficient programmes allocated to them to gain accreditation, and also of how expertise can be shared across Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) clusters, local Ministry of Education offices, and NGOs providing IYT.IYT group leaders' views of the programme's effectiveness with teachers identified some aspects which could also benefit from attention to national practice, to support IYT group leaders in their work with New Zealand teachers. For example, the following aspects of IYT were identified by 21–36 percent of the group leaders as difficult for New Zealand teachers to understand and apply: the IYT approach to time out, coaching students, and ignoring behaviour. The vignettes used in the programme also raised some concerns, particularly from group leaders working with primary teachers.