19 April 2023

Te ako, he tohu manaaki, he piringa tangata
Pedagogical practices enable classes to work as caring, inclusive, and cohesive learning communities

‘One of the best PLD (professional learning and development) experiences I have had in my 9 years of teaching! So positive, practical and well-supported. It was easy to communicate, and any questions/queries were responded to quickly.’ Teacher

‘I really enjoy Reciprocal Teaching because it helps me work with a group and I can predict and summarise without help. Now I am confident, and I have a really loud voice…’ Ākonga

Reciprocal Teaching is an inclusive, collaborative teaching and learning approach that builds thinking skills and accelerates comprehension. Skilled, inclusive implementation of Reciprocal Teaching has demonstrated high impact on achievement while also supporting ākonga confidence and wellbeing.

Ākonga are supported to become proficient in clarifying, questioning, summarising and prediction. These skills are developed across different curricula areas.

Reciprocal Teaching gives effect to ako as ākonga take turns in the teacher’s role. In this way Reciprocal Teaching trains students to lead, communicate and collaborate skillfully in their learning. The approach builds respect, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga using flexible mixed ability groupings.

Reciprocal Teaching enables an integrated, proactive approach to countering bullying in education. This matters because New Zealand has one of the highest rates of student bullying in the world.

When professional development supports teachers and leaders, Reciprocal Teaching can result in significant improvements as quickly as within two months.

In his early meta-analyses Professor John Hattie identified Reciprocal Teaching as having the third highest impact on achievement of any teaching strategy. Variability in impact has been associated with the calibre and depth of professional development support available to leaders and teachers.

Research about Reciprocal Teaching reinforces the finding of the School leadership and student outcomes Best Evidence Synthesis that the most critical leadership practice for improving ākonga outcomes was promoting and participating in teacher learning and development.

Early evidence is explained in BES Exemplar Ngā Kete Raukura 4. This exemplar focuses on what worked and what made a bigger difference across six early interventions by different experts in New Zealand. There are eight Alerts that identify practices found to undermine impact.

Dr Julia Westera, Director of the RTeach Institute has demonstrated expertise in supporting leaders and teachers to effectively implement Reciprocal Teaching as an inclusive schoolwide strategy. Her effective implementation of Reciprocal Teaching with its focus on flexible collaborative grouping in which every ākonga thrives has been recognised by Tokona Te Raki - The Māori Futures Collective.

In Reciprocal Teaching: An Implementation Case Dr Westera builds on lessons learned about critical success factors for impact. She explains the importance of an intensive coaching phase, a core teaching and learning phase, and an inclusive school-wide phase in effective support for transformative change.

Reciprocal Teaching RT3T™ is the name Dr Westera gave to the high impact cross-curricular implementation approach to reciprocal teaching developed over the decade since the original BES exemplar was published.

The RTeach Institute provides evidence about the high impact when primary, intermediate and secondary leaders and teachers in Aotearoa are well-supported in implementing Reciprocal Teaching.

See links below for asTTle change data for primary, intermediate and secondary schools; and progress on NZCER standardised measures Science: Thinking with Evidence:

RT3T™ Results in schools - RTeach Institute

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths - RTeach Institute

Large Gains in Science with Reciprocal Teaching – RT3T™: Year 5 to 9 Classes - RTeach Institute

Reciprocal Teaching – RT3T™ shows seismic shifts with Māori - RTeach Institute

This modernised, inclusive approach to Reciprocal Teaching is much more than the early reading focus of reciprocal reading/reciprocal teaching on reading comprehension. Reciprocal Teaching RT3T™ is also about:

• a proven integrative, cross-curricular and inclusive way of teaching and learning
• everyone, all ages, learning collaboratively and independently throughout their schooling journey
• critical thinking, communication, teamwork and leadership skills - and graduate pathways
• coaching and co-teaching support for teachers and leaders to implement as a school-wide, inclusive strategy
• professional development for transfer and integration across learning areas
• changing the way teachers teach and learners learn together

‘…with children becoming responsible for their own critical thinking and understandings

…it’s (RT3T) a very different platform to just reciprocal reading.’

Marjorie, a Year 7 teacher, March 2023

As many educators and whānau grapple with new attendance challenges, it is significant that educators have found the high impact pedagogy of Reciprocal Teaching to be a helpful strategy for re-engaging ākonga who have been absent from school.

‘Despite everything that’s happened with Covid, we’ve been driving RT3T right throughout from Y3 to Y7-8, as has our management… and into maths, writing and general theme work... It’s very beneficial… it allows for other students who have been away to come and be quickly re-engaged…’

Melissa Malama-Talataina, Y7/8 Team Leader at Viscount School