title: What informs primary school principals' decision-making in relation to teacher placement in class levels?

authors: Carlyon, Tracey

subjects: primary school principal

abstract: One of the most challenging decisions for primary school principals is to decide what class level each of their teachers will teach. It seems there is very little research on the way principals go about making these decisions. Government reforms have had significant impact on the role of the primary school principal in New Zealand, and a trend has emerged that some teachers are choosing to remain in the same school and class level. This study focused on eight primary school principals, and how they made decisions in relation to teacher class placement. A review of literature around leadership styles highlights the importance of relationships when implementing change such as teacher placement in different class levels. This study reveals that these principals practised an authentic style of leadership and highlights some important factors to be considered in determining teacher placement.

text: What informs primary school principals' decision-making in relation to teacher placement in class levels? One of the most challenging decisions for primary school principals is to decide what class level each of their teachers will teach. It seems there is very little research on the way principals go about making these decisions. Government reforms have had significant impact on the role of the primary school principal in New Zealand, and a trend has emerged that some teachers are choosing to remain in the same school and class level. This study focused on eight primary school principals, and how they made decisions in relation to teacher class placement. A review of literature around leadership styles highlights the importance of relationships when implementing change such as teacher placement in different class levels. This study reveals that these principals practised an authentic style of leadership and highlights some important factors to be considered in determining teacher placement.

year: 2012

title: Responding to the writing of children in a Health School:  Developing an appreciative approach

authors: Gray, Tanya

subjects: writing assessment

abstract: Responding to writing is a crucial component of writing pedagogy, with teachers frequently engaging in this as part of their daily teaching practice. However, extensive research indicates that teachers' feedback is often framed in terms of deficits, emphasising what is lacking in students' writing or what needs improvement. Students who are perceived to be at risk of failing or struggling to meet predetermined writing standards typically experience responses to their writing that focus on surface features and include marginal comments and empty praise. Underpinned by sociocultural, critical theories and qualitative research methods, this study investigated teachers' experiences in a New Zealand Health School as they inquired into an approach that mitigates the narrow and predominantly negative responses some students previously received.  
  
This research followed five Health School teachers who inquired into and adopted appreciative pedagogical practices and focused on responding to their students’ writing through an asset-based lens. Through this lens, diversity is valued and encompassed as a resource. All students, irrespective of their health condition or other dimensions of diversity, are positioned as capable and knowledgeable writers. The Health School teachers collaboratively inquired into appreciatively informed strategies, implemented these while discussing shared samples of students' writing, and adopted the new strategies when they responding to the writing of their Health School students (aged 5-19).  

Evidence was drawn from focus groups, learning inquiry group sessions, and individual interviews, and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that when teachers collaborate to reflect on the perspectives that inform education policies and practices, particularly those around standardised assessments, they become more aware of how these factors may lead them to inadvertently reproduce harmful responses. When teachers employed appreciative strength-based strategies, they became less focused on predetermined standards and surface-level features (e.g., spelling, grammar and punctuation), instead looking at how students integrated literacy knowledge they had learnt outside of school into their writing. Teachers became curious about students' writing and asked students more questions about their writing processes. As a result, participants’ response practices became more student-centred, allowing students to maintain authority over their writing. 

Findings suggest that high-stakes assessments have a powerful effect on how teachers view themselves as teachers and their students as learners. However, talking appreciatively about students and their writing was infectious; when teachers collaboratively discussed student writing strengths, participants stopped looking for conformity in students’ writing and instead began considering differences in students’ writing as assets. This research contributes to the body of literature aimed at shifting discourses that position students in deficit ways towards more appreciative stances. Further, with limited past research looking into writing teachers' experiences during times of curricular and assessment change in New Zealand and practices of Health School teachers in general, this study provides a valuable contribution to the literature. Implications for teachers and educators are discussed.

text: Responding to the writing of children in a Health School:  Developing an appreciative approach Responding to writing is a crucial component of writing pedagogy, with teachers frequently engaging in this as part of their daily teaching practice. However, extensive research indicates that teachers' feedback is often framed in terms of deficits, emphasising what is lacking in students' writing or what needs improvement. Students who are perceived to be at risk of failing or struggling to meet predetermined writing standards typically experience responses to their writing that focus on surface features and include marginal comments and empty praise. Underpinned by sociocultural, critical theories and qualitative research methods, this study investigated teachers' experiences in a New Zealand Health School as they inquired into an approach that mitigates the narrow and predominantly negative responses some students previously received.  
  
This research followed five Health School teachers who inquired into and adopted appreciative pedagogical practices and focused on responding to their students’ writing through an asset-based lens. Through this lens, diversity is valued and encompassed as a resource. All students, irrespective of their health condition or other dimensions of diversity, are positioned as capable and knowledgeable writers. The Health School teachers collaboratively inquired into appreciatively informed strategies, implemented these while discussing shared samples of students' writing, and adopted the new strategies when they responding to the writing of their Health School students (aged 5-19).  

Evidence was drawn from focus groups, learning inquiry group sessions, and individual interviews, and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that when teachers collaborate to reflect on the perspectives that inform education policies and practices, particularly those around standardised assessments, they become more aware of how these factors may lead them to inadvertently reproduce harmful responses. When teachers employed appreciative strength-based strategies, they became less focused on predetermined standards and surface-level features (e.g., spelling, grammar and punctuation), instead looking at how students integrated literacy knowledge they had learnt outside of school into their writing. Teachers became curious about students' writing and asked students more questions about their writing processes. As a result, participants’ response practices became more student-centred, allowing students to maintain authority over their writing. 

Findings suggest that high-stakes assessments have a powerful effect on how teachers view themselves as teachers and their students as learners. However, talking appreciatively about students and their writing was infectious; when teachers collaboratively discussed student writing strengths, participants stopped looking for conformity in students’ writing and instead began considering differences in students’ writing as assets. This research contributes to the body of literature aimed at shifting discourses that position students in deficit ways towards more appreciative stances. Further, with limited past research looking into writing teachers' experiences during times of curricular and assessment change in New Zealand and practices of Health School teachers in general, this study provides a valuable contribution to the literature. Implications for teachers and educators are discussed.

year: 2025

title: The Te Kotahitanga Observation Tool: Development, use, reliability and validity.

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: chool reform

abstract: Te Kotahitanga is a New Zealand school reform project aimed at improving the pedagogical contexts in mainstream classrooms in which the indigenous Māori students have traditionally been marginalised. It does this by assisting teachers to implement an Effective Teaching Profile. Part of this process uses an observation tool to monitor the degree to which participating teachers are incorporating the interactions and relationships described in the Effective Teaching Profile into their day-to-day teaching. Given the central importance of these tasks, the Te Kotahitanga team undertook to test the observation tool for measurement reliability and validity. In order to undertake this study, the team conducted synchronous observations amongst trainers (the Professional Development Coordinator and Regional Coordinators) to ascertain their level of consistency when using the tool. The team then conducted synchronous observations between trainers and 38 in-school facilitators in the 12 schools involved in Phase 3 of the project. In total 41 teachers were observed and over 200 Māori students were involved in these observations. This study suggests that the tool can produce consistent and reliable results when observers have been effectively trained.

text: The Te Kotahitanga Observation Tool: Development, use, reliability and validity. Te Kotahitanga is a New Zealand school reform project aimed at improving the pedagogical contexts in mainstream classrooms in which the indigenous Māori students have traditionally been marginalised. It does this by assisting teachers to implement an Effective Teaching Profile. Part of this process uses an observation tool to monitor the degree to which participating teachers are incorporating the interactions and relationships described in the Effective Teaching Profile into their day-to-day teaching. Given the central importance of these tasks, the Te Kotahitanga team undertook to test the observation tool for measurement reliability and validity. In order to undertake this study, the team conducted synchronous observations amongst trainers (the Professional Development Coordinator and Regional Coordinators) to ascertain their level of consistency when using the tool. The team then conducted synchronous observations between trainers and 38 in-school facilitators in the 12 schools involved in Phase 3 of the project. In total 41 teachers were observed and over 200 Māori students were involved in these observations. This study suggests that the tool can produce consistent and reliable results when observers have been effectively trained.

year: 2011