Overview

New Zealand and international evidence reveal that frequent transitions can have a range of negative impacts, including disengagement, underachievement, poor social and emotional wellbeing, and behavioural issues.

The Matariki Kāhui Ako sought to develop a shared response to the high rate of transitions within their community. By collaborating to learn about the perspectives of different people within the transition process, they were able to improve the supports provided. In particular, they improved the information flow so that students, teachers, and whānau all felt better prepared for what was to come and had a platform for relationship-building.

The key learning that came out of this Teacher led Innovation Fund inquiry was the emphasis on whānau involvement and voice in transitioning the students to ensure their wellbeing was looked after. We concluded that it is what we as adults do that either makes or breaks a transition; we are the difference between a positive and negative experience for the student. Relationships are key and ensuring kaiako have a holistic view of the student. Adding student voice meant the relationship between the kaiako and student was strong.

Project report

The inquiry story

This inquiry involved most of the schools within the Matariki Kāhui Ako. The inquiry team was made up of teachers and school leaders from several of the Kāhui Ako’s schools and had a representative from the early learning sector. While the changes in process and practice were intended to impact on all students, monitoring was done in relationship to a sample of students judged to be vulnerable.

What was the focus?

Schools and early learning settings in the Matariki Kāhui Ako were concerned that many of their students did not appear ready for the next step in their formal learning when they transitioned between learning levels and that years 6–7 achievement data showed many were performing below national expectations. They also observed that whānau/’aiga/family engagement appeared to drop off as students got older.

Teachers and school leaders were aware of the high rate of student transition in New Zealand schools. While they did not have precise data, they knew that their network had a higher rate of transitions than others in the Hawkes Bay and were concerned about the negative impact of this on the students, as well as the knock-on impacts on whānau, peers, and teachers. Addressing transitions was one way of creating a more responsive environment for all.

The Kāhui Ako’s TLIF inquiry addressed three questions:

1. What can we do better to support the transition of:
   1. early childhood / kōhanga reo students to primary school
   2. primary school students to intermediate
   3. intermediate students to secondary school
   4. students from one school to another, within the Kāhui Ako.
2. How can we better support whānau/’aiga/families during the student transition period?
3. What can we learn about supporting whānau of students with high needs?

The Kāhui Ako theorised that supporting smoother transitions for learners and their whānau would foster greater learning continuity, an enhanced sense of belonging, increased engagement, and improved achievement.

What did the teachers try?

This project was interwoven with the Kāhui Ako’s participation in professional learning focused on culturally responsive and relational pedagogy. Consequently, the project team sought to use culturally responsive methodologies to understand the motivations and behaviours of students, whānau members, and teachers as they shifted through the transition process. This was achieved through a narrative approach – open-ended conversations that were transcribed and analysed to gain insight into interviewees’ perspectives about what was and wasn’t working.

The conversations included discussions between students’ previous teachers and their new teachers at the settings they were transitioning to. The teachers discussed what had helped smooth the transition, the utility of the data and other information they had shared, and what else was required to make the transition smoother for the student and their whānau.

The project team “walked alongside” all those involved in transitioning the focus students, offering support based on the insights they gained through their narrative approach. They used what they learned to guide all their decision making, working towards creating a shared model for supporting transitions.

What happened as a result of this innovation?

Early in the project, the narrative approach revealed that both whānau and teachers in early learning settings found it difficult to find consistent information about schooling options within the Kāhui Ako. Consequently, school leaders and teachers met to design a transitions booklet for all early learning settings within their Kāhui Ako. The booklet provides the information family members and teachers said they were looking for, in a standardised form that allows easy comparison. It was refined further after follow-up interviews by the early learning representative on the project team.

The narratives revealed that teachers’ understandings of the perceptions and experiences of learners and whānau had been quite superficial and that the information that had traditionally been shared and had failed to provide a holistic view of the learner. The team sought additional assistance from a psychologist to develop a shared document they called the Kotahi Tiaki Plan. This provides a place for capturing a range of information from all aspect of a child’s life. It includes information about home life, friendships, interests and passions, and personality traits. This information enables teachers to better plan to support wellbeing, as well as learning.

Teachers say that the information in the Kotahi Tiaki Plan helps them to understand and empathise with students’ experiences, including the social and emotional implications of transitions. They have also found that their joint inquiry, joint participation in professional learning, and joint work in developing the information booklet and Kotahi Tiaki Plan has fostered the development of shared language and practices. This, in turn, has led to greater consistency in the experience of students as they have shifted between settings.

What did they learn?

The most important learning was that relationships are key to a successful transition. In the main, whānau expressed greater satisfaction with current transition processes than teachers and learner. But teachers felt that often, the relationships they had with whānau were superficial. Barriers needed to be overcome, including being prepared to meet with whānau at home, the marae, or other places where they felt comfortable.

Both teachers and school leaders have developed a deeper understanding of transition as a process, rather than a single event. They better understand the importance of supporting whānau to engage in the transition process, so as to provide more complete support for students.

Information was key to the response, as evidenced by the booklet and the Kotahi Tiaki Plan. Shared information builds shared understandings and stronger relationships, fostering smoother transitions. For students and whānau, shared quality information supports good decision making for everybody and helps reduce anxiety for students, providing a more accurate picture of what to expect.

Inquiry team

Tim Van Zyl (principal, Te Awa School) was the project leader. The rest of the team included Greta Van Zyl, co-project leader (Te Awa School),  Nicole Murphy (Marewa School), Laura Jackson (William Colenso College), and Nic Montgomery (Sunny Days ECE)

Expert support was provided by Elizabeth Eley and Paul Woller, University of Waikato.

For further information

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact Tim Van Zyl (06 8357657 or tim@teawaschool.ac.nz) or Greta Van Zyl (06 8357657 or greta@teawaschool.ac.nz).

Reference list

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