“working together as one”.
Improving the Educational achievement of Maori students in Mainstream Education
Gisborne Boys’ High School is excited to be participating in Te Kotahitanga, a research and professional development project aimed at raising the achievement levels of students in mainstream secondary education, particularly that of Maori students. The project, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and directed by Professor Russell Bishop, at the University of Waikato is entitled Te Kotahitanga, “working together as one”.
The primary focus of Te Kotahitanga is on the professional development of teachers within our school. The teachers who are participating in Te Kotahitanga for 2010 have all volunteered to be part of the programme. Our first task was to take the first intake (cohort) of 27 teachers to Te Ao Marama our outdoor pursuits camp at Mahanga to attend our Hui Whakarewa during the last week of the summer holidays. The Hui aimed to introduce the genesis and framework of Te Kotahitanga together with the effective teaching profile and observation tool. Each term every teacher who is part of Te Kotahitanga will be observed in class by one of the facilitation team (colleagues from within the school who have undergone training by the Te Kotahitanga professional development team). The facilitator observes the teacher’s practice in relation to his/her students in the class. There is a possibility that your child maybe in one of these classes where an observation takes place. Your child’s assessment data may also be collected. The teacher will also complete a cycle of feedback, co-construction and shadow coaching with the aim of achieving a specific and measurable goal each term.
It is important to note that all students are anonymous in the project and will by no means be individually named.
We have a commitment to providing the best possible learning environments for all of our students and this project facilitates this aim. We are excited to be one of the 17 newly appointed schools to be included in the project. Currently 33 schools have already been participating in the project, some as early as 2003. In total more than 42,000 students across the 50 schools are involved in the project, 20,000 of which are Maori.
The Te Kotahitanga project has already had significant outcomes for students both Maori and non Maori within the original cohort of 33 schools. By participating in the project it provides our school with the opportunity to experience the same successes as experienced by other schools for our students.
The data collected through our observations will be used by the research and professional development team from the University of Waikato for research purposes. The majority of the research data will be presented in aggregate form to illustrate trends, patterns and themes in teacher practice. In any event, research data will be reported anonymously. Individual students, and teachers will not be identified.
The results of this research and professional development project will be reported to the Ministry of Education. It may be used in professional development workshops, may be placed on the University of Waikato MERI website and may be published as a thesis, conference presentation, journal article, book or other scholarly publications