Young innovators rise

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young-innovators
Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

We don’t have to look too far to see the swell of global crisis and a surge of young people responding with calls for action and innovative solutions. From global activist Greta Thunberg skipping school and inspiring an international climate change movement to Burnside High’s Thomas James inventing a wheelie bin robot for his elderly neighbour.

Young innovators are more visible than ever, and we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. To thrive at a time of global change we need to tap into values-based innovation and support it in our schools, kura and learning communities. We must think more broadly about how young people are valued and the ways they are enabled to participate in society. What skills do we need to nurture, what spaces could we create, so that all young people can develop innovative mindsets to build better futures?

The time is right

With Covid-19 pressing pause across the globe and impacting our daily lives, we have a chance to slow down, examine our vision, be guided by our values, and develop equitable, inclusive solutions for building healthier communities.

We can draw on the gifts and talents of learners to help problem solve and lead the change we need to see. We can also learn a lot from a Te Ao Māori view of giftedness – that we are all born with our own unique gifts and talents, and that it is our collective energies that unleash these for the good of all.

Renzulli (2002) identifies or expresses a call to leverage “socially constructive giftedness” describing six components that give rise to this:

  1. optimism
  2. courage
  3. romance with a topic or discipline
  4. sensitivity to human concerns
  5. physical/mental energy
  6. vision/sense of destiny

In the national Education Conversation | Kōrero Mātauranga online survey (2019) one young person reminded us how important it is to leverage skills and passions: “Someone who is passionate about something can use that passion in the real world to make a positive impact on society.”

That we have to have people thinking about the future and using their gifts and talents to address wicked problems* and create positive social change sounds sensible. However, AUT University Professor of Education, Jane Gilbert (2015), says “In simple terms, if you want to produce innovators – as we claim we want to – everything you would do is the opposite of what we are currently doing in the education system”.

*A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve for as many as four reasons: incomplete or contradictory knowledge, the number of people and opinions involved, the large economic burden, and the interconnected nature of these problems with other problems. Poverty is linked with education, nutrition with poverty, the economy with nutrition, and so on. (“Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving – Wicked Problem”, n.d.)

 

In order to teach innovation, we have to innovate in our own teaching. Below are some suggestions and tools to support teachers and young people develop innovator mindsets.

Make space (for influence)

While there is a rise in gathering learners’ voices, it is not enough. Would it have been enough for Greta to have her voice gathered? Gathering student voices can perpetuate previous expectations of student leaders. Student voices can perpetuate the norm – those who are involved become more involved, those who aren’t become more discouraged or disengaged.

We need to make space for all young people to identify problems that matter to them and participate in decision making. Seventeen-year-old Jason’s quote in this UNICEF resource guide on the rights of the child, makes the best job of explaining this point, “If you had a problem in the Black community, and you brought in a group of White people to discuss how to solve it, almost nobody would take that panel seriously. In fact, there’d probably be a public outcry. It would be the same for women’s issues or gay issues. But every day, in local arenas all the way to the White House, adults sit around and decide what problems youth have and what youth need, without ever consulting us.”

Participation leads to better decision-making and outcomes. Even our very young learners have ideas and views to be listened to and acted on. The Lundy model of child participation offers a useful framework and checklist that ensures all children have the “space to express their views; their voice is enabled; they have an audience for their views; and their views will have influence”.

Participate and problem solve

“Like that it was our ideas and not something we just had to work on, it was something we were interested in and we got to meet new people. iNVENTIONATOR Student

When diverse groups of people come together to share problems that matter to them they develop an understanding of the different perspectives and values of others and are more innovative. Much of the learning is about how to work with other people, holding your ideas lightly, and experiencing different working models than your own.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) takes a people-first approach to planning learning. It asks us to think about who we will teach and what those learners bring with them before we think about what we will teach. UDL strategies support inclusion and offer a framework for equity and innovation.

“Without a systematic way to interrupt current practice in the classroom the impact of these barriers is repeatedly faced by each generation without significant forward motion to break the cycle once and for all.” Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018)

“UDL has allowed people to see inequity in places and spaces where they hadn’t considered it before. That has given us a doorway to talk about inequities for Māori.” Janelle Riki-Waaka, CORE Education.

 

Māori innovators are on a rise, with record numbers engaged in research and development in 2019. Māori innovators also and made up nearly half the finalists in the 2020 New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Callaghan Innovation CEO Vic Crone (2019) cautions “the levels of participation are [still] not where they need to be. We’ve got to .. make sure pathways for Māori innovators are clear and compelling.” How might we unleash the powers of innovation in Māori ākonga, so we can cultivate, nurture, and channel their natural gifts for the betterment of everyone?

“Our gifted Māori are not only agents of change in our world, but they possess a sense of identity and mana that contribute to all societies; indigenous or otherwise. Therefore it is our duty to give them the tools to manifest positive change within both worlds.” (Whānau interview, Russell 2013)

Focus on how not what

How do you lengthen your stride and become an innovator? As Scott Doorley of Stanford’s d.school says, “The only way to learn it is to do it.” But there are some powerful frameworks and learning opportunities available to support you in this quest:

Te Tukanga Hoahoa Whakaaro

This framework for possibility and design takes a Te Āo Māori perspective capturing the essence of innovation in the stories of creation; Te Po, Te Whaiao, Te Ao Marama (From out of the Darkness, the World of Being, to the World of Light)

The Liberatory Design process

Liberatory design is a riff on Stanford d. school’s design thinking process to promote equity in design work developed in partnership with the National Equity Project. The goal is to provide a design process that develops one’s self-awareness as an equity-centered designer. You can download a liberatory design card deck to support everyone’s practice.

Make a start with iNVENTIONATOR

You can support your own young innovators to rise through iNVENTIONATOR, a team-based challenge powered by CORE in partnership with the Ministry of Education. It has been designed for students to co-create innovative solutions to real-life problems.

This year CORE and the Ministry of Education are offering two events FREE for gifted learners who want to PLAY. THINK. DREAM BIG!

Virtual event
6-9 September 2021 – four half day sessions

Spaces are limited, so register your gifted learners now! Find out more >

 

“I would like to be a part of INVENTIONATOR because I think it is important that my generation has innovative ideas to solve real-life problems as we’re going to be the ones who have to save our earth.” Student, age 11

References

Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018) A Commitment to Equity: The Design of the UDL Innovation Studio at the Schwab Learning Center. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://slc.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj10231/f/udl_innovation_studio_white_paper_final_2.pdf 

Callaghan Innovation. (2019). Tech, Science and Mātauranga Māori a Powerful Force. Callaghan Innovation. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/news-and-events/tech-science-and-m%C4%81tauranga-m%C4%81ori-powerful-force. 

How to Start a d.school — Stanford d.school. Stanford d.school. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://dschool.stanford.edu/how-to-start-a-dschool. 

Gilbert, J. (2015) Educating for a future we can’t imagine. Idealog. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://idealog.co.nz/issues/2015/03/educating-future-we-cant-imagine.

Kōrero Mātauranga. (2019). The voices of young people [PDF]. Kōrero Mātauranga. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/education-conversation/what-you-told-us/voices-of-young-people/.

Ministry of Education, N. Why UDL is valuable. Inclusive Education. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/why-udl-is-valuable. 

Renzulli, J. (2002). Emerging Conceptions of Giftedness: Building a Bridge to the New Century. Exceptionality, 10(2), 67-75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327035ex1002_2

Wallace-Tidd, M., Strang, E., McCall, C., Edwards, M., & Barnett, A. (2015). Educating for a future we can’t imagine. Idealog. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://idealog.co.nz/issues/2015/03/educating-future-we-cant-imagine.

Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving – Wicked Problem. Wickedproblems.com. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://www.wickedproblems.com/1_wicked_problems.php. 

Resources  

Dumas, J. (2019). NZ’s Maori innovators are on the rise. bizEDGE. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://bizedge.co.nz/story/nz-s-maori-innovators-are-on-the-rise. 

European Union. The Lundy model of child participation [PDF]. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/lundy_model_of_participation.pdf. 

Lansdown, G. (2011). Every child’s right to be heard – A resource guide on the UN committee on the rights of the child general comment no.12 [PDF]. Save the Children UK. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://www.unicef.org/files/Every_Childs_Right_to_be_Heard.pdf. 

Liberatory Design — Stanford d.school. Stanford d.school. Retrieved 17 August 2020, from https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources-collections/liberatory-design. 

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Real-time reporting: revisiting and rethinking

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CORE Education’s Ten Trends for 2020 are viewed through five themes – structural, economic, cultural, process, and technology – and the impact they have on the decisions we make in our education settings. In this blog I am going to look at one of the trends explored, real-time reporting, and how we can apply this in practical ways to our mahi as educators.
Real-time reporting has been gaining more and more interest over time. In some educational settings the process change from a traditional twice-a-year report to reporting in real time has either started or is well underway.

This blog continues our thinking from a previous CORE blog on this trend, Time to get real with reporting.

ten-trends-200px-icons-7Cultural Theme

Culture is impacted by beliefs, values, attitudes and most importantly relationships. These define the learning experiences we provide for everyone participating (educators, learners, family/whānau and community). Connecting with our cultural stories is a powerful enabler. It underpins our sense of belonging, and situates us in local, national and global contexts.

“Culturally locating your educational setting is pivotal in creating a culturally responsive curriculum that resonates with the aspirations of mana whenua, whānau and their tamariki. No matter the setting, one common theme reverberates – a sense of belonging, identity, language and culture are at the heart of Māori student success as well as success for all learners.” – Cultural narratives, Ten Trends 2019

What does this look like in a practical sense for real-time reporting?

Significant influences

Practical application

Shift in ownership

  • learner choice, voice and agency
  • no longer any limits to what might interest learners
  • personalisation, recognising the ability of every individual to achieve success
  • Interdependence and collective efficacy
  • redefining roles and responsibilities, and understanding that we must operate with a knowledge building curriculum
 Alischa Little, eLearning Leader and teacher from Westmere School (Whanganui) shares

“In the beginning it was hard for teachers to give full autonomy to children. It was hard to let go of the reins as such. Once the children were scaffolded over a short time we found even our five-year-olds really took control. Right from our new entrant class, students are able to use the Seesaw tools independently. They love posting what they feel is important to them and they have learnt over time that it is all about the process and not about the end product.”

Student voice from Westmere School about real-time reporting:

“It’s fun to show my Mum and Dad what I am learning”. (Aged 5)

“I get to share what I want to share and Mum can send me messages about how hard I worked”. (Aged 5)

“My family can get involved with what I am learning about. They can also see when I’m finding my maths hard. They can see on Seesaw and help me at home. They don’t have to wait until the end of the term to see that I might be struggling”.  (Aged 11)

Phil Walker, Principal at Westmere School (Whanganui) shares

“Teachers ‘getting out of the way’ remains a work in progress. It is hard to change from being in control as was the ‘norm’ and now we are asking teachers to move over and support students to take responsibility and accountability for their own learning. 

I believe students right through the school enjoy posting and sharing their work and progress being made.

Teachers sometimes are wanting a ‘finished article’ shared rather than celebrating the ‘work in progress’ and the process being used.”

Diversity

  • inclusion, equity, and cultural responsiveness
  • interrupt the status quo, and result in us achieving greater levels of equity in our system.
  • developing understandings about learner variability and how to plan for it from the outset
 There are a few really great platforms now to choose what your school can use effectively for real-time reporting. It’s about choosing what aligns with your vision and which device and platform are accessible for all (students and parents/whānau in particular)

A school I was recently working with uses the LINC-ED platform across their Yr 1-6 school. A shift to move towards students driving the learning pathway posts was developing. One thing that was noticeable was the platform wasn’t user friendly for younger students. Students had difficulty logging in independently and the process for uploading images and learning artefacts was clunky. There was a gap in inclusion for these students and this didn’t align with part of the school’s vision around empowering students. 

The junior syndicate leader started trialling another platform (Seesaw) and gathered enough evidence for the rest of the syndicate to adopt this approach.  The teachers all came together, developed their own capabilities to feel more confident to build digital literacies with their students so all students could be empowered to post and share their own learning.

Digital

  • technological adoption that we need to be focused on in terms of impact on culture
  • demonstrate a level of digital fluency required to participate fully
  • need to be ‘cyber-safe’ and the significance of their digital identity and the digital footprint
 Integrating digital citizenship, formative feedback and literacy.  This is to provide a shared writing experience and  was particularly effective in a Year 1 class.

The teacher shares a learning post with the class or smaller group. The purpose is to demonstrate how we respond in positively constructive ways online. This is an important skill for learners to understand and develop especially when we consider as they grow older this might support cyber-safety in social media contexts. 

 

Left image: four students work together using a Micro:Bit. Right: three students use an tablet and paper to program a Sphero robot.
St Anthony’s School (Seatoun) students collaborate over projects using Micro:Bit and Sphero.

ten-trends-200px-icons-6Process Theme

Process is about the way we do things. Having healthy systems and processes in place will ensure that real-time reporting avoids creating frustration, anxiety and tension, and enables the changes to roles and approaches that real-time reporting brings.

Good processes allow us to consider students’ journey through their learning pathways and how we record and report on progress and achievement. We’ll need to focus on planning for up-to-date information to parents/caregivers/whānau and other teachers on a child’s progress, without having to wait for the twice yearly reports and how all this information travels with them. We also need to be mindful to constantly evaluate and examine our ways of doing, being, and knowing, especially to reduce the administrative workload around reporting.

Changes to reporting need to match pedagogical shifts. For example, one of the principles of effective reporting and information sharing is around the move to using digital technologies that enable parents and whānau to see their child’s progress on-line in real time.

What does this look like in a practical sense for real-time reporting?

Significant influences

Practical application
A maturing of Kāhui Ako/ clusters

  • increased emphasis on the benefits of collaboration 
  • operate interdependently and as powerful ecologies of learning
 One of the goals for the North Porirua Kāhui Ako (NPKA) digital technologies PLD is to strengthen relationships and sharing of practice across the Kāhui Ako. 
As part of the PLD journey, teachers across NPKA have come together for various workshops focused on digital technologies. A popular topic that has come up is real-time reporting. 
Teachers have started to share what their school is doing and schools that are interested in this are hearing their stories. The Kāhui Ako has been responsive to this and has now decided to create a PLD pathway for NPKA focused on real-time reporting. 
Another consideration in this space is taking a look at what happens in Early Years educational settings. The use of platforms like Educa and StoryPark have been used for some time. When students transition into primary education is there a continuation of learning stories that parents/whānau are connected to?
Changes to approach in assessment

  • use of micro-credentials 
  • allow learners to manage and control their own ‘record of learning
  • formative and narrative assessment
 Schools like Ormiston Junior College have shown the value of elements of gamification, while linking closely to best practice in learning to use micro-credentialing for personalised assessment. 
Another example of changing the approach to assessment comes from Westmere School in Whanganui. Alischa Little shares how the evidence of learning is collected and verified.
“All student Seesaw journals are monitored by the classroom teacher, our e-learning leader, and the school principal. As a staff we have devised a set of guidelines to ensure student posts cover all of the curriculum areas. Teachers comment on posts and curriculum expectation comments are made twice yearly.”
Real-time reporting allows formative and narrative assessment also known as learning stories. They allow teachers and students to fully capture the process within a learning journey. 
Alischa also shares, “You need to take some time to build some form of professional understanding and capability with Seesaw.”  
If you are using a platform it is important it aligns with the shift in pedagogical practice. Take the time to understand what the platform can do and it does what you need it to do. 
It is important to build assessment capabilities with students. They need to have ownership of their learning posts to articulate their thinking and what they are saying about their learning. 

 

lily-example-real-time-reportingThis learning post (from a Year 1 student) shows tags to track and monitor the learning against

  • Curriculum (writing)
  • The school’s growth mindset competencies
  • End of Term 1 comment

The teacher has made a comment that links well to the tags. The student has recorded a reflection responding to the feedback.

– Shared by Alischa Little (Westmere School).

 


ten-trends-200px-icons-5Structural Theme

As I noted in the cultural theme, creating an environment where learners feel they belong and can learn is key to how we design learning experiences that meet students’ needs.

“We cannot continue with structures that privilege some, while alienating others and making it more difficult for them to succeed. The issue of systemic inequity cannot be addressed without taking a critical look at the very structures that are contributing to that inequity in the first place.” – Structural Theme,  Ten Trends 2020

Within this theme we need to consider whether our real-time reporting structures put learners right in the centre of learning, recognise the importance of relationships, and value the variability, diversity, and identity of learners.

What does this look like in a practical sense for real-time reporting?

Significant influences

Practical application
A focus on learner and whānau

  • engaging with learners, families and whānau in authentic ways
  • designing structures that support everyone to experience success as learners
 Westmere School in Whanganui has collected feedback from parents specifically around their user experience of Seesaw and how well informed they felt about the progress and achievement of their child.

  • “Creates conversations around learning at home.”
  • “We feel a part of our child’s learning.”
  • “The feed forward from teachers gave us little things to work on at home whereas in a traditional setting this was given at interviews (not instant and consistent).”
  • “Great for our child’s confidence to post themselves.”
  • “Seesaw is a great place for my children to share their work and reflect on their own progress. It is a place where teachers, family members and peers can provide encouragement, constructive criticism, suggestions and feedback. It provides an authentic audience and encourages my children to use their growth mindset and produce on-going real-time work. Used as a reporting tool, it allows me as a parent to see where my children are at in real-time. I don’t just see the fancy end product, I see all the hard work that goes into it”

Some schools I have worked with find connecting parents and whānau, and getting engagement can at times be a challenge. Students are the biggest advocates in this situation. If they have started the posting process, they need an audience. Get the students to invite the parents and whānau through something more personalised (handmade invitation for example that include the instructions to connect). If the students have learning posts and they have more ownership over the audience this will create excitement for them. 
For the transition of real-time reporting from a more traditional 6-monthly report to be successful, you need to have the support and buy in from your community. This is one of the reasons Westmere has found success with the transition to this approach. Transparency, purpose and community is vital.
Phil Walker, Principal at Westmere School shares “Generally feedback has been positive. The issue or main ‘sticking point’ is that EVERYONE is used to reports, so changing this mindset and selling the positives of real-time reporting continues to be a work in progress.

Celebrating the process and not so much the product is also not something that comes naturally to society, we are just not geared that way, so again this needs to be worked on and we need to continue to sell the WHY”. 
Redefining curriculum and assessment

  • competency-based education
  • reexamine assessment structures
  • redefine success
 lexie-example-real-time-reporting 

In this Year 1 learning post (shared by Alischa Little, Westmere School) you can see the school tracks growth mindset competencies (communication, focusing, perseverance and risk taking)
The school has developed these over time and now has a more embedded culture for these as drivers of learning in the school. Each class develops their own criteria and language around what each growth mindset competency means. 
Expanding the concept of school

  • the impact on online/virtual learning
  • greater community engagement, more networking among and between schools
 The impact of COVID19 and lockdown for Aotearoa has had an impact on what teachers, students and parents know is possible with online and virtual learning. 
Some schools still produced their mid-term reports, while other schools that have adopted real-time reporting approaches had no need to do this. 

 

Year 3-4 student (left) and new entrant student (right) at St Anthony's School, Seatoun.
Year 3-4 student (left) and new entrant student (right) at St Anthony’s School, Seatoun.

ten-trends-200px-icons-9Technology Theme

We live in a time where the pace of change is driven by new technologies and technological advancements. This is having a huge impact on learning and what we experience in our educational settings. There is a range of drivers to consider within this theme; digital literacy and citizenship, curriculum support, personalised learning, accessibility and improving efficacy.

What does this look like in a practical sense for real-time reporting?

Significant influences

Practical application
Personalised

  • empower individuals to be more in control of their learning
  • designed to interact at a very user-centric level 
  • personal identity and access management
 Empowering learners.

  • How are students empowered to post and share their learning in particular the process not just the end product?
  • Does the device and platform you are using allow choice, control and flexibility in how they post? For example interactive tools, audio, video, photo, text.
  • Parents and whānau have flexibility in how they respond. For example in Seesaw comments can be made using audio recording. 
Ubiquitous

  • learning anywhere, anytime 
  • knowledge-building community
  • location-awareness (privacy and safety)
 Setting up a real-time learning culture in your educational setting is important.

  • Can the students access devices to post their learning?.
  • Where can do their learning post e.g a place to record audio/video?
  • What settings within the platform do you need to consider e.g can students see each others’ learning posts and do they know how to respond appropriately?
Intelligent

  • artificial Intelligence (AI) will infuse all areas of the digital services
  • what makes us human?
 What sort of functionalities does the platform you’re using for real-time reporting allow to extract and track information? For example AI can be used to ‘data-mine’ a cohort’s results, or an individual’s, to determine common areas requiring additional or explicit teaching.  AI can also be used to power the school’s curriculum within a platform. 
Interoperability

  • data integrity and ownership
  • computer systems/software to make use of and exchange information
 Something to consider with real-time reporting is the learning journey of the student and the ability for the platform used to share or exchange with another. Also if the learning journey travels with the student. 
Some schools use different tools and platforms for different purposes. For example, LINC-ED is used as a teacher-driven tool to gather progress and achievement data and Seesaw is used as the student-driven tool. Links from Seesaw learning posts can be shared within LINC-ED. Another example is Google integration within Seesaw. 
Sustainability

  • technology use is based on principles of sustainability 
  • technology as part of a solution
 We need to consider the key drivers for real-time reporting. Ten Trends 2019 identifies societal influences when it comes to real-time reporting:

  1. Demand for more timely, personalised feedback
  2. Greater emphasis on formative assessment and reporting
  3. Technological developments

What platform or tool is going to best align with the values of your educational setting for you to deliver real-time reporting? Think about what you need as the outcome and what will do this for you.  

ten-trends-200px-icons-8Economic Theme

The Economic Theme in Ten Trends 2020 reminds us about the importance of preparing young people to contribute to society and the growth of the economy. We also need to consider within this theme the investment in education. To bring us back to our focus here with real-time reporting, it’s about considering the investment in curriculum and technological resources.

What does this look like in a practical sense for real-time reporting?

Significant influences

Practical application
Preparing learners with the skills and knowledge required to take their place in the future workforce This point links closely back to the competencies we need as drivers within our curriculum delivery. 
The learning post below is an example from a Year 5 student from St Anthony’s School- Seatoun (teacher Francesca Von Lanthen). The school has been on a journey to develop their digital fluency and knowledge and understanding of the digital technologies (Technology Curriculum learning areas). 
They needed to find equipment that was affordable, durable and could extend the learning experiences and interests for students learning. The micro:bit fitted the criteria and students are now exploring and creating more solutions and possibilities with learning provocations.  The learning post below is an example of a student posting about this learning, the tags the teacher has used to track and monitor learning and teacher feedback. francesca-seesaw-1francesca-seesaw-3 
Impact of technology 
st-anthonys-yr-5-technology
Year 5-6 students, St Anthony’s School, Seatoun

In this photo a group of students collaborate to create their own desired outcome. The students were given exploration time with Edison robots in pairs. The group started discussing and wondered if they could connect two Edison robots together with lego and what the programming code would need to look like to perform their predetermined path. 

The impact of technology in this situation encouraged collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving. It was fascinating to see this unfold at the time. 
How does this relate to real-time reporting? In this situation, the students were free to explore and learn. The teacher took photos that can be later accessed by the students to share and reflect on their learning. 

Reflections on lessons learned

Alischa Little shares lessons learned from Westmere School’s real-time reporting journey.

A big lesson in real-time reporting is that you have to let go. We want students to be more responsible for their learning. It has been hard to let go and allow students more freedom and ownership over what they post, when they post it and how they are going to share it (what tool they will use).

Real-time reporting has allowed for a more on-demand approach to sharing with whānau. It has also allowed for full-time working parents to be more engaged in their child’s education. Student data is accessible and understandable for families.It’s a fantastic way for families overseas and around Aotearoa to stay in contact and stay up-to-date with student learning.

I find the real-time reporting is ongoing, so there isn’t the rush at the end of the term to write reports. It enables parents and whānau to see their child’s progress on-line in real-time. The process is driven by our students with appropriate scaffolding by their classroom teachers. The learners decide what to share with the people who are significant to them. The children in our school just love it!

To engage further, join the Ten Trends Real-time reporting conversation. Here you’ll find out what other schools are doing around the shift to real-time reporting. Share your thinking, questions or what strategies you are using to approach real- time reporting effectively.

Note: To join the conversation, you must first create an account or log in to edSpace.

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Growing shared leadership and bicultural understandings through whakataukī

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shared-leadership-through-whakatauki

This blog is my story and shares some of my learning and views of leadership and about being a Tiriti partner as I navigate and make sense of the relationships, experiences and opportunities that present themselves.

Leadership can be about action, practice and being present in the moment. Many things come to mind when recalling stories of leadership in action; about being careful and deliberate and understanding that leadership requires decision making, courage and collective efforts. Pōhatu’s (1994) philosophy of Āta (“with care” and “with deliberation”) emphasises relationships and offers guidance and balance around purpose, influence and people. Āta is a philosophy embedded in Mātauranga Māori and part of a Māori world view.

The principles of Āta provide a cultural base for reflective deliberation ensuring the spiritual, emotional and intellectual levels of the education process are valued and respected. (Forsyth & Kung, 2007)

Taking care and being responsible is a constant dialogue and dance when engaging in bicultural practice. It’s a lifelong commitment and the learning happens in unexpected ways that reveal themselves at opportune times. Navigating this space with care, deep respect and reflective deliberation has supported my leadership practice.

Key responsibilities of leadership are to deeply know one’s own identity and to support others in their professional growth, creating space for their reflection, feedback and world views. As Pākehā, this also requires role modelling, advocacy and learning to walk alongside tangata whenua as a Tiriti partner. Mindful of the importance of cultural integrity, it matters to honour and valid indigenous knowledge by creating space. Understanding that everyone and everything has a whakapapa is important learning that can be enriched by reciprocity through trusting relationships.

The power of whakataukī to shape thinking and learning

Embracing Te Ao Māori as a learner and Tiriti partner can make us feel vulnerable, an example is advocating for tikanga practice whilst trying not to trample on the mana of others. One aspect of pedagogy Māori that brings inspiration is the depth and insight captured in the meaning of whakataukī (proverbs). Each whakataukī is a gift and hearing them spoken on marae and in whaikōrero (speeches) connected to the kaupapa feels like a real privilege.

Whakataukī are embedded with mātauranga and have been passed down through many generations. (Te Whāriki Whakatauki cards)

Ruru, Roche and Waitoki’s (2017) research explores the balance between Māori women’s leadership and wellbeing. Using whakataukī as overarching themes for their analysis they found that “whakataukī describe unique aspects of leadership and wellbeing from a Māori worldview. Themes include humility, collectiveness, courage, future orientations and positivity”.

The following whakataukī used in their research is about service, supporting others and harvesting an idea as an opportunity to develop a pathway for future generations (Ruru et al, 2017).

Piki kau ake te whakāro pai, hauhake tōnu iho:
When a good thought springs up, it is harvested, a good idea should be used immediately.

One particular story of leadership in action I recall is an interaction with leaders and kaiako in an early years setting, who were exploring whakataukī. As their facilitator my role was to notice, reflect, and support their professional growth and leadership in the design and implementation of their local curriculum. This example was about strengthening bicultural understandings through authentic engagement with whānau.

At the kindergarten I noticed that the teaching team had really connected with the book Mauri Ora – wisdom from the Māori world (Alsop & Kupenga, 2016). They were exploring the different proverbs and values in relation to their teaching. I could see they were thinking deeply about meaning as a way to support their developing understanding of Te Ao Māori. They began to unpack individual whakataukī and use them in their teaching staff room for reflection and inspiration. This was evident in their conversations and documentation.

whakatuaki-mauri-ora-book

Reflecting on this practice I noticed the depth of their engagement and a shift in kaupapa – the nature of their conversations was changing and enriched. I suggested that they could share the words and images out in the kindergarten where parents and whānau could see. They could even consider putting their book, Mauri Ora, close to where parents arrive or often spend time such as where children’s lunch boxes or bags are put away.

Returning to the kindergarten several weeks later, one of the first things that greeted me was the book of whakataukī open, and displayed alongside where parents and whānau sign in. Kaiako shared with me that not long after building up the practice of choosing a whakataukī for each day and sharing it with parents, families and whānau, a young parent, (a dad who was Māori) initiated taking on this leadership role in the kindergarten. Each morning, he would quietly come in, look through the book, choose a whakataukī, display it for other parents and whānau and talk to the teaching team about his understanding and interpretation of the whakataukī.

As an expression of authentic and shared leadership, this emerging practice became a routine. It was a wonderful way to demonstrate the concept of ako, the shared role of teaching and learning and maximising the gifts and contributions of whānau.

Kaiako then shared what they did with this gift. Each morning the teaching team and tamariki sat together, shared stories and talked about the day ahead. They took the whakataukī, chosen by the parent, and shared it with tamariki, talking about the meaning, and asking the children what they thought and understood. For example by breaking down the values of manaakitanga they could connect it to what children could see, feel and hear in the learning setting. Kaiako would ask tamariki “What do you notice?” “What does manaakitanga look like for you?”. In this way the whakataukī started to reflect in the programme.

I often reflect on the impact of that one action.

Enacting a bicultural curriculum requires understanding the significance of whakapapa as a taonga in Te Ao Māori. We have responsibilities and obligations to champion equity, use te reo Māori with correct pronunciation, and to create leadership opportunities for tamariki to share, learn about and connect with Te Ao Māori including from whānau (Ministry of Education, 2017).

Leadership is not about having answers and obtaining knowledge – it’s about conversations, reflection and creating space to hear and respect the legacies of others. This story highlights the importance of partnerships, relational trust and the opportunities for shared learning when designing a local curriculum through genuine engagement with whānau and conversations with tamariki mokopuna.

To affirm whakataukī is to accept the indigeneity of a Māori/iwi lens and invites the receiver to align their thought processes to this. This is biculturalism in its truest sense as one worldview interacts with another on the same level. Each Tiriti partner has equal status, their individual mana remains intact and intertwines to co-construct a collective understanding.(Te Whāriki Whakatauki cards)

whakatauki-cards

This series of cards (image above) represent the whakataukī in the early years curriculum Te Whāriki. They are available to download from Te Whāriki Online and are a great resource to support leadership practice through conversations and critical reflection.

Download the whakataukī cards >

Grow your leadership with resources, workshops and courses >

References

Alsop, P. & Kupenga, T. (2016). Mauri ora – wisdom from the Māori world. Potton & Burton

Forsyth, H. and Kung, N. (2007). Āta: A Philosophy for Relational Teaching. New Zealand Journal of Education Studies, 42 (1/2), 5-15.

Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga (2017). Te Whāriki He whāriki mātauranga mō nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, NZ

Ruru, S., Roche, M., & Waitoki, W. (2017). Māori women’s perspectives of leadership and wellbeing. Journal Of Indigenous Wellbeing – Te Mauri – Pimatisiwin, 2(1). Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://journalindigenouswellbeing.com/media/2018/07/64.51.M%C4%81ori-women%E2%80%99s-perspectives-of-leadership-and-wellbeing.pdf.

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Experience Deep Learning

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New Pedagogies of Deep Learning (NPDL) is a global collaboration of more than 1,400 schools in seven countries who are seeking ways to transform teaching and learning approaches that will facilitate deep learning. A key tenet of NPDL is that effective education is about building good humans and actively engaged members of society, as well as academic success.

CORE Education leads the NPDL mahi in Aotearoa in early learning settings, schools, clusters and Kāhui Ako. This work allows us to see the value of emphasising competencies, relationships and meaningful social action as the central focus of curriculum design.

This blog looks at:

  • the importance of learning partnerships at home
  • teachers as activators, culture builders and collaborators
  • the principles of effective learning design.

Learning partnerships at home

Learning partnerships are a cornerstone of NPDL. Across the globe NPDL teachers collaborate and share pedagogical strategies which support quality deep learning. Learning outcomes are deepened if relationships are strong in the classroom, staffroom and across the whole learning community.

In recent months, the NPDL global team has shared deep learning moments called Deep Learning Partnerships @Home. This series highlights how ākonga can engage with the six Global Competencies (character, collaboration, creativity, citizenship, communication and critical thinking) while learning at home.

Emma Ritzema-Bain, NPDL school leader at Hillpark School, Auckland, brought this to life in her setting where she actively promoted a family focus on collaboration, communication and citizenship in her distance learning programme during lockdown. Making dinner together, checking on neighbours, donating to food banks, connecting to friends and family online support growing at learning at home. This learning opportunity gave ākonga agency, and encouraged both choice and voice. A number of the activities Emma shared also encourage use of the six Cs.

emma-hillpark

Teachers as activators, culture builders and collaborators

A recent global webinar from NPDL Director Joanne Quinn, challenged educators to think about:

  • How to thrive, not just survive
  • Learning design that engages
  • Educators as activators, culture builders and collaborators
  • Deep learning moments

Joanne shared a model positioning teachers as activators, culture builders and collaborators which can apply to engaging with ākonga face to face or via distance learning.

teacher-as-activator-tips-for-remote-learning-web

Key tips from the model

Activator

  • Let your ākonga know everyone, including teachers and whānau are learners.
  • Encourage co-construction of success criteria.

Culture builder

  • Schedule optional friendly check-in times. Seek feedback – what’s working/what’s not?
  • Seek student voice by inviting them to co-design and contribute ideas, projects and approaches

Collaborator

  • Create an accessible hub (examples include Google site, Facebook page) where ākonga and whānau can find all learning materials
  • Tap into student collaboration and creativity in their learning. Support play not just ‘tasks’.

The principles of learning design

In NPDL quality learning design encourages us to think about:

  • effective pedagogical practices – e.g., ensuring regular specific feedback is given
  • strong learning partnerships – e.g., between educators, ākonga and whānau
  • quality learning environments – e.g., creating an environment which supports a positive culture for learning
  • leveraging digital to scaffold and deepen the learning – e.g., using Seesaw to share examples of learning products, scaffold the task, or challenges.

npdl-a3-poster-to-share-web

Educators apply these key elements when planning deep learning opportunities. Equally, this applies for teachers as learners!

Professional development also needs quality learning design to be effective and support deep learning. A Deep Learning Lab (DLL) is a way to explore the ideas in the NPDL model. The lab gives educators in Aotearoa an opportunity to engage with global partners and share thinking. Traditionally the lab is face-to-face, but this year we are delighted to let you know that we have designed our first virtual event, and that registrations are now open!

Come to a virtual Deep Learning Lab!

Redesigning a DLL from what has been a face-to-face, to a virtual event provides opportunities and flexibility for educators to engage differently.

Over two days our international keynote speakers, Dr Jean Clinton and Mag Gardner, will weave together the key themes of wellbeing and deep learning. This supports the understanding of how relationships are the glue that binds them together to ensure deep learning and human outcomes for learning programmes.

The virtual Deep Learning Lab, which runs over July 16-17, is also an excellent chance to learn from and collaborate with global experts, and investigate ways we can improve outcomes for learners.

We welcome both New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) members and anyone who is interested in finding out more about deep learning.

The virtual Deep Learning Lab experience offers:

  • An interactive online programme enabling participants to create a personalised ‘map’ of their learning journey during the lab.
  • Live and on-demand sessions so participants can engage with a professional online community with access to all lab resources.
  • Opportunities to have participation recognised through a gamified approach and digital badges.
  • Keynotes from Dr Jean Clinton (Clinical Professor of Neurosciences, child psychiatrist) and Mag Gardner (NPDL Global Leader) – with opportunities to connect with them online rather than simply ‘sit and listen’.
  • Interactive sessions where educators from Aotearoa and around the world will be able to connect, collaborate, and explore deep learning together.

Dr Jean Clinton, encourages teachers to “Reach out and Connect”, so come join our virtual Deep Learning Lab to connect with our NPDL network!

Registrations are now open for the virtual DLL, find out more and register here.

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Five tips for connecting with your students through video

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connecting-through-video

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the value of having alternative ways to connect with students in the absence of a traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Additionally, with ongoing development in the area of innovative learning environments, recording yourself in video format is a practical way of reaching your students at any time and at any place.

As a LEARNZ field trip teacher, I have enjoyed producing videos that connect learners to a range of inspiring people, places, and projects. They play a key role in our LEARNZ field trips website, providing ākonga with an online learning experience that expands their classroom walls.

Learning through video has a number of benefits:

  • they offer both visual and auditory options
  • they are accessible on multiple devices
  • learners can pause and rewind them
  • they are today’s basic source of information which young people are already in the habit of using.

Here are five key tips that have helped me to better connect with learners via video. I hope you find these tips useful if you do decide to go down the make-your-own-video route.

1. Copy other people

I have been part of several field trips where ‘the bugman’ Ruud Kleinpaste was our field trip guide. Ruud is a great speaker and entertainer, his years of experience fronting and appearing in TV shows was obvious when making videos with him. His ‘performances’ in front of the camera were inspiring. I couldn’t help but try to copy his expressions and mannerisms a little bit. I knew I would never be Ruud Kleinpaste, but attempting to imitate aspects of his presentation style, along with other entertaining presenters over time, has assisted greatly in crafting my own video persona.

Here are a couple of field trip video examples where I interview Ruud:

Tracking tunnels

Habitat for kiwi in Tongariro Forest

2. Exaggerate

Once you have a bit of a handle on your own video presentation style, I then recommend exaggerating it. Not to the point of being melodramatic, more like being just a bit over the top. I liken it to acting, in that I want my audience to believe what I am saying and be enthused by the content. After all, if I want students to enjoy the video I have to at least look like I’m having fun!

This tip is especially valuable if you fear the students might not be immediately interested in the content. The following clip, taken from the recent Climate Change field trip, is a good example. Climate science may not be the most riveting of topics, but believing that it is and acting accordingly goes a long way to convincing the audience that it is a topic worthy of their attention.

Exaggerate your enthusiasm 

3. Less is more

A three day LEARNZ virtual experience typically has around 12 videos in total. At 3 to 4 minutes per video that’s quite a lot of content. While there is often a sequence of videos, each one is made to stand alone. We feel that by focusing on only one topic or concept per video, the result is a more digestible watch. Too many ideas in one video can get confusing and if you rabbit on for too long your audience will simply lose interest. You need to cater for the length of attention span related to your target audience. Get to the point and make the learning intention clear.

This video from the 2017 Opera field trip is a good example where only one key idea is explored in a relatively short time frame:

Learn a stage combat secret

4. Talk to the students, not the camera

The whole idea of a LEARNZ virtual field trip is to “take” your students to inaccessible destinations. As a field trip teacher, I must engage with students in ways that connect them to the people we meet and the places we go so that they buy into the concept of “being there”. A helpful trick that I use is to imagine the students are right there with me. When I look at the camera, I imagine it is a class of students, not a camera. I say things like “right now you are in/at…” or “here you can see…” or “come with me”. Describing sounds and smells to paint a picture can also help with this engagement.

Talk to the audience

5. Find a consistent intro and outro

A consistent video beginning and ending builds familiarity and certainty. It acts like a cue for students that says “alright everyone, eyes this way – I’ve got something important to tell you so please listen carefully”. I use this technique for field trip introduction videos where it is just me in front of the camera and no field trip guide. You might notice some of your favourite YouTube or TV personalities using this technique. It is a good way to set up and frame what the learning intention of the video is, e.g. “Kia ora tātou, welcome to another exciting instalment of …in this video we are going to be looking at…” or something to that effect.

Consistent beginning and end

Making videos for your students might be something you and they find useful. They are a permanent record of instruction that are always available for future use. And given the increasingly flexible nature of teaching and learning, they might just become one of your key teaching tools.

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