Overview

In this project, the Kāhui Ako set out to improve teacher understandings of Te Whāriki and New Zealand Curriculum and for this to be the basis for changes in teacher pedagogy. In early learning settings, the changes tended to be about growing self-help skills so that tamariki could be more independent at school. In schools, it was often about adopting play-based learning and ensuring tamariki felt that they and the school were prepared for each other.

I love going to school, ‘coz it’s so beautiful.

Child 1, Māori/European – Interview 1

Relationship-building was a critical feature of this project. The project leaders were careful to allow time for teachers to get to know each other and observe each other’s curriculum in practice, before expecting them to develop goals and action plans. Teachers built relationships with tamariki and with whānau to enhance learning and wellbeing, enabling positive transitions.

The biggest learning from this project is about the value of teachers from different sectors collaborating around a shared goal while respecting the diversity of the contexts to which they belong. This grows teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, ensures smooth transitions for tamariki, and reassures parents and whānau that their tamariki will feel included and valued at school.

The inquiry story

This 18-month project included early learning educators and new entrant teachers from all the early learning centres and schools in Dannevirke’s Kāhui Ako. Twenty-five teachers took the lead in their settings as teacher-researchers. All transitioning tamariki were involved, with eleven tamariki and their whānau selected as case studies whose progress was tracked through a series of guided interviews.

What was the focus?

From its inception, Dannevirke’s Kāhui Ako included both school and early learning settings and identified learners’ transition from early learning to school as a priority for action. Joint work had already been done in this area in 2006, but the learning was not sustained. More recently, Tararua’s Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) had supported the construction of relationships between early learning settings and schools. This work had included the creation of a transition document that provides new entrant teachers with insight into the knowledge and skills tamariki bring with them. This is valuable information, but there remained a great deal of variation in how early-learning-to-school transitions were approached across the community.

The teachers who crafted the transition document were aware of research Education Review Office (2015) showing that when early learning and new entrant teachers understand the links between their two curricula, they are able to design a more meaningful local curriculum for their tamariki. In this project, these teachers sought to build teachers’ curriculum knowledge and use this to make changes in pedagogy that would help enhance transitions for tamariki.

The project team crafted the following innovation statement:

We would like to know if changes made in teacher pedagogy from the sharing of curriculum knowledge (Te Whāriki / New Zealand Curriculum) will have an impact on the wellbeing and academic progress of the tamariki in Dannevirke as they transition from ECE to school within our Kāhui Ako.

What did the teachers try?

An initial survey revealed that not only did teachers have a fragile understanding of the curriculum they did not teach, but some also lacked confidence in their own curriculum. Therefore, much of the first term was spent in getting to know each other’s curricula and using this knowledge to collaboratively analyse learning stories, looking for evidence of connections to both curricula. Teachers were then able to see the curricula in action within the context of three visits each term to settings of their choice. These observations were purposeful, with teachers completing observation sheets on which they recorded what they observed, identified links to both curricula, and noted ideas they could take back to their own settings.

The twenty-five teacher-researchers did not immediately launch into their individual inquiries. Instead, they retained an open mind during the first term. At the end of this term, they used what they had learned and observed to develop and construct a goal for their setting. They did this during forum meetings where they took part in reflective discussions with groups made up of both early learning and new entrant teachers. The groups went on to support each other to develop action plans. As the project progressed, teachers selected settings for their observations that informed their action plans.

The observations, meetings, and mixed groups continued throughout the project. Teachers also maintained reflective journals that were open to the project team so they could see what was happening in each setting.

While teacher-researchers were expected to construct learning goals that were tailored to their setting, in practice, trends emerged in the two sectors. Teachers in early learning settings soon came to understand the constraints of teacher-student ratios in schools and the importance of empowering tamariki to learn to solve problems for themselves. Therefore, a lot of focus went on improving tamariki self-help and independence skills. This could mean extending wait times to enable tamariki to attend to their needs or setting up provocations to foster the fine motor skills needed to do up a jacket, tie a lace, open a lunch box, or hold a pen. Teachers sought to explicitly reinforce the desired behaviour through praise, conversations with whānau and tamariki, and within the context of learning stories.

In other settings, supporting tamariki to independence involved a focus on oral language and thinking skills. For example, teachers in one setting established a question wall to communicate to tamariki that their questions are important to their learning. They learned to prompt tamariki to think of and address challenging questions and encouraged them to extend their vocabulary.

New entrant teachers observed how effectively the setup of the early learning environment engages tamariki in active, self-determined learning. Consequently, several new entrant teachers chose to focus on play-based learning while others built on changes they had already begun to make. This was not about replicating what was happening in early learning settings, but about adapting the school environment to be more developmentally appropriate for these tamariki. Tamariki had time for free play as they moved into the classroom environment in the morning. They were provided with resources and provocations to facilitate this activity, and literacy and mathematics teaching was embedded within play-based learning activities.

Other schools were more focused on wellbeing and belonging. New entrant teachers used their visits to build relationships with tamariki and whānau before they began school, and they used school visits to establish tuakana-teina relationships between transitioning children and children in years 4 and 5. Before school visits, they made sure tamariki would find name tags ready for them in the cloakroom and that there was a photo of them on the classroom wall. Tamariki and whānau were given books with photos explaining everything they needed to know. In these ways, the teachers hoped tamariki and whānau would feel welcomed and have a sense of connection with the school.

What happened as a result of this innovation?

The experience of analysing the curriculum documents and then seeing them in practice greatly increased teachers’ familiarity with both documents. Planning documentation and the reflective journals showed that a growing number of teachers included the language and goals of both curricula in their planning and record-keeping, including the transition-to-school documents.

An early finding was that tamariki were often not as confident about their transition to school as their teachers and whānau had imagined. After 18 months, all the tamariki involved in the case study interviews expressed a sense of confidence and comfort about what would happen, and all said that they knew their teachers valued their culture. When interviewed following their transition to school, all nervousness had dissipated.

For the most part, this was echoed by their parents and whānau. Whānau appreciated the efforts being taken to establish relationships with them and their tamariki before school entry. Following the transition, some had issues with specific procedures that could be improved. However, negative comments were far outweighed by positive comments, with parents commenting on how well their tamariki had been prepared by their early learning setting, and how positive the reception was at school.

The project team also interviewed the school principals. The principals said they noticed a difference in the sense of wellbeing and belonging of both tamariki and whānau. More parents and whānau were coming into classrooms and taking an active part in the school programme. Parents were not upset about leaving their tamariki on the first day of school.

Teachers could see that tamariki in new entrant classrooms were happier and more relaxed and that the introduction of play-based learning facilitated the development of social skills without any reduction in learning progress. Indeed, the new practices seemed to have a positive impact on academic achievement and fostered the key competencies. They enhanced relationships between tamariki and teachers, providing a context within which teachers could get to know tamariki better and enable them to take a greater lead in their learning.

An unintended consequence was the quality of the relationships built between the teacher-researchers. While they had worked together before, this project led to the development of much more trusting relationships that provided a safe context for challenging conversations. There are signs of sustainability, with teacher-researchers contacting each other independently of the project to seek advice and share ideas. Teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and collectivism is growing, as they know that they are part of a bigger team with a vested interest in each other’s success.

What did they learn?

This project adds to the evidence about the value of ensuring teachers in early learning and junior primary school settings understand and value each other’s curricula, and link to it in the goals they set, the design of their programmes, and the language they use. It also reinforces the value of collaborating around a shared goal, while retaining respect for the diversity of the contexts within which people work.

An important feature of the project was the decision to delay goal setting until the teacher-researchers had had time to examine their own practice, observe others, and think very deeply about what they were seeing. Another was the opportunity for teachers to make repeated visits to a setting of their choice, observing different interactions, and asking new questions as they thought about possible implications for their own practice.

The project team learned about the importance of empowering teacher-researchers and providing multiple opportunities for them to get to know each other and to understand the intention of the project and the part they can play. The team encourages people leading similar projects to be clear about their expectations, be organised and responsive, and show participants that you value them.

Inquiry team

The project team was led by Jenna Hutchings (across-school teacher). It included Lisa Bond (First Years Preschool) and Jo Brown (Tararua REAP). Sally Peters (Waikato University) was the expert partner.

For further information

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact the project leader, Jenna Hutchings, at jhutchings@dannevirkesouth.school.nz

Reference list

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