Overview

In a new phase of learning and development, the decision was taken to weave the two programmes together to create Te Kaapuia.

Ki te kotahi te kaakaho ka whati, ki te kaapuia, e kore e whati.

If there is but one toetoe stem, it will break, but if they are together in a bundle, they will never break.

Kiingi Tawhiao, second Maaori King

The kaiako leading these developments followed the spiral of inquiry model, beginning by inquiring into the perceptions of aakonga themselves. This had been done before, but not consistently, and some of the results were challenging. This included the discovery that the high expectations kaiako felt they had for aakonga were not being communicated in ways that aakonga understood. Through Te Kaapuia, they sought to develop and implement a teaching and learning model that aligned more closely to their values and beliefs and would create an effective learning relationship between aakonga and kaiako.

Te Kaapuia was initiated through TLIF but with the intention of it becoming a ‘way of being’ that would continue to develop over time. Consequently, kaiako did not complete all their intended actions. Nevertheless, they did see improved outcomes in terms of both engagement and achievement. This was most evident in the attendance rate, which almost doubled. The inquiry team believe that this shows that aakonga will experience holistic success when leaders and kaiako are prepared to break down current structures and replace them with learning spaces that have been deliberately designed to activate aakonga knowledge and passions.

The inquiry story

This inquiry involved all the staff and students of Te Kaapuia, as well as other school leaders who offered support. This first phase took place over 18 months.

What was the focus?

Te Kaapuia grew out of the amalgamation of Hei Taniwha, a space dedicated to ensuring that Maaori students in years 9 and 10 had opportunities to learn as Māori, with Aiga Tasi, a similar space that had been developed for year 9 Pasifika students. The project was intended to:

• test whether the formation of Te Kaapuiacould create a positive foundation for diverse Maaori and Pasifika learners to be empowered, engaged, and own their learning
• develop a nuanced and sustainable teaching and learning model that promotes holistic Maaori and Pasifika success
• test whether improving the transition experiences of year 9–10 Te Kaapuiaaakonga would benefit them as they went into the senior school.

The team’s central question was: “What are the conditions required for Te Kaapuia staff to support holistic success for our diverse Maaori and Pasifika students now, and into the future?”

The team also had two sub-questions:

1. What conditions support and hinder holistic success for Maaori and Pasifika students?
2. How can Te Kaapuia staff empower, engage, and support our Year 9 and 10 students and whaanau/fanau to own their learning now and into the future?

What did the teachers try, and what happened as a result?

The inquiry team began with a period of appreciative inquiry. Through this, they identified that kaiako shared the following strengths.

• Whanaungatanga: Kaiako value strong whanaungatanga relationships amongst themselves, aakonga, and whaanau.
• Kotahitanga: All kaiako are committed to the development and need for a programme, such as Te Kaapuia, that supports the wellbeing and success of diverse Maaori and Pasifika aakonga.
• He toa takitini: The kaiako team is diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender, and age and its members bring a range of cross-disciplinary teaching knowledge and experience.

For the rest of the inquiry, the team took an action research approach. This included ‘learning sprints’, as the team tested ideas and solutions, and reviewed and updated their next steps over time. It also included gathering and reflecting on the perceptions of aakonga and checking these against the programme’s aspirations.

Te Kaapuia is intended as an entirely new approach to teaching and learning, and therefore, some of the planned responses were yet to be implemented at the time of reporting on the TLIF project. This is indicated in the following description of discoveries and responses through its first cycle of inquiry. The descriptions include what happened because of these responses.

Co-construction of planning and teaching

Discovery: Kaiako believed that they engaged in co-construction but discovered that in fact, they tended to default to kaiako-led planning and teaching. This impacted negatively on aakonga engagement and confidence.

Response: The team devised plans for creating aakonga-led partnerships that involved kaiako and aakonga negotiating the learning content (goals and outcomes) and pedagogy (pace, challenge, and evaluation). The kaiako also created Te Kaapuia Kaiako Self-Evaluation growth model. This has domains for Mana Whenua, Relationships/Whanaungatanga, Inquiry, and Ako.

What happened: Aakonga-led partnerships are in place, and the content and pedagogy are more relevant, meaningful, integrated, and authentic. Collaborative teaching has become the norm, with kaiako sharing their lesson plans and inquiries and contributing to them. There is an intention to increase the use of aakonga voice in the design of teaching and learning and the presentation of learning outcomes to whaanau.

Kaiako think about what aakonga can do and work with them to solve problems. They have become more deliberate in conveying the high expectations they have for aakonga and their colleagues. They are more open to learning from collective inquiry.

Holistic success

Discovery: While kaiako were committed to holistic success for Maaori and Pasifika students, they realised they had different understandings of what this looks like or how to achieve it.

Response: The team created time and space for formal and informal hui where they could develop their capabilities as co-kaiako teams. The hui focused on strengthening kaiako pedagogy and better integrating the heritage of their aakonga into the teaching and learning programme.

What happened: Perception, engagement, and academic data demonstrate that kaiako better understand what holistic success looks like and have grown in their capabilities for supporting its achievement. Kaiako are more aware of aakonga strengths and challenges and how to address constraints within the school structure.

Co-teaching

Discovery: Kaiako aspired to normalise a collaborative way of working and learning together through developing co-teaching agreements. This was not yet happening.

Response: Work began on developing these agreements, based on key kaupapa Maaori principles, such as mahi tahi, pukengatanga, ako, whakarato, and whanaungatanga.

What happened: The need to settle in to teaching and learning and build collegial relationships meant the co-teaching agreements were not implemented. This was identified as one of the team’s next steps.

Whanaungatanga

Discovery: Kaiako valued whanaungatanga relationships and had a shared sense of social justice. However, earlier changes in staffing had disrupted relationships. There was also some disconnection between aakonga who identified as Maaori and those who identified as Pasifika. As a result, aakonga attendance rates were low in comparison to that of their peers, both at the school and across the nation.

Response: Kaiako put a central focus on building relationships. This included stabilising the teaching team and developing a cultural competencies framework to evaluate and improve their own cultural competencies.

What happened: Aakonga now say they perceive Te Kaapuia as a safe space where they can build strong friendships and where their culture is connected to their learning. Attendance has increased to surpass the average for all students in the rest of the junior school. The attendance of aakonga Maaori in Te Kaapuia is almost double that of other aakonga Maaori in years 9 and 10. Aakonga identify whakawhanaungatanga as a positive feature of Te Kaapuia and say they have a voice in designing teaching and learning.

Year 8 achievement data

Discovery: Review of the transition processes revealed that 50 per cent of the Year 9 aakonga did not bring end-of-year achievement data with them, compared to only 19 per cent of students in the rest of the school. Without this baseline data, their progress could not be monitored.

Response: The kaiako reviewed their transition processes and realised they needed to increase the visibility of Te Kaapuia to feeder schools and others across the Kaahui Ako.

What happened: An intensive programme of school visits was planned for 2020 that would include raising awareness of the need for aakonga information to be carried with them. A next step is to develop assessment methods for aakonga who enter without end-of-year achievement data.

Assessment of learning

Discovery: Aakonga in Te Kaapuia did not do as well in the junior school end-of-year assessments as their peers, though they did better in other assessments of learning conducted during the school year. Aakonga said they felt tests such as asTTLe were irrelevant to their learning experiences and they could not see their purpose.

Response: Te Kaapuia leaders began conversations with leaders in the wider school about how to review summative assessment practices to align them with aakonga expectations that they be purposeful and connect with them and their learning. Kaiako also intend to review and improve their approach to end-of-year testing and create practice opportunities.

What happened: This work is ongoing.

Aakonga perceptions of learning

Discovery: When kaiako inquired into aakonga perceptions of learning, they found that some felt that the learning opportunities they were offered were not challenging enough or that they were distracted.

Response: Kaiako created ‘snapshots’ and exemplars to convey what quality work looks like and the high expectations they had of aakonga.

What happened: Aakonga have raised their expectations of themselves. Their readiness to rise to those expectations was reflected in the fact that the rate at which aakonga completed their learning and assessment tasks doubled over three terms. It was gratifying for the team that Te Kaapuia students won a large proportion of the top prizes at the junior school prize giving.

What did they learn?

The kaiako and leaders involved in Te Kaapuia learned that six interrelated conditions need to be in place to support holistic success for diverse Maaori and Pasifika aakonga :

• The content and design of the curriculum must be engaging. Both aakonga and kaiako respond well to learning that validates and extends their funds of knowledge. This requires a localised curriculum that explicitly integrates tangata whenuatanga.
• Aakonga need to see themselves in the learning through processes of critical reflection and action.
• The cultural identities of aakonga and kaiako matter and need to be connected to meaningful learning experiences.
• Kaiako themselves need a learning-focused, respectful, and supportive learning environment. Within such an environment, Maaori and Pasifika kaiako are not the sole advocates for Maaori and Pasifika aakonga.
• Data and evidence need to be meaningful and encompass a range of perspectives.
• It is critical to challenge the “whitespace” (Milne, 2017) and what is seen to count as valid knowledge.

Inquiry team

Paora McGrath, Laura Green, Sue Harker and Junior Si‘ilata co-led the project. Other team members included Amber Hoyle, Desiree Hughes, Simmon Howe, CarolLee Brusati, and Roman Akroyd.

Alex Hotere Barnes (self-employed consultant) was the project’s critical friend.

For further information

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact project leader Laura Green at l.green@fraser.school.nz

Reference list

Breakspear, S. (2019). The teacher learning sprints process. Available from https://simonbreakspear.com/

Cardno, C. (2003). Action research: A developmental approach.NZCER Press: Wellington.

Earl, L., and Timperley, H. (2015). Evaluative thinking for successful educational innovation. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 122. OECD Publishing: Paris.

Grudnoff, L., Ell, F., Haigh, M., Hill, M., & Tocker, K. (2019). Enhancing equity through inquiry. NZCER Press: Wellington.

Kaser, L., & Halbert, J. (2017). The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools. C21 Canada.

Milne, A. (2017). Coloring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang.