Whole school buddy system
At Otumoetai Intermediate, all teachers are engaged in differentiated professional learning and development. Those with similar goals are ‘buddied’ with another staff member.
In this section of our website you'll find our education system evaluations, effective practice reports, resources and guides. These are produced by Te Ihuwaka | Education Evaluation Centre and Te Pou Mataaho | Evaluation and Research Māori.
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At Otumoetai Intermediate, all teachers are engaged in differentiated professional learning and development. Those with similar goals are ‘buddied’ with another staff member.
In improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, leaders and teachers are working to develop safe, collaborative environments where every learner (teachers and students) can access the thinking of others to strengthen their knowledge and understanding.
Clarity of expectations within a supportive environment are key to scaffolding children into the behaviours of effective learners. Those expectations are realised through structures and processes that ensure everyone knows what to do to achieve success.
The team structure in this school supports the professional learning and development of leaders and teachers. Team members discuss their roles, responsibilities and the reciprocal nature of their interactions.
Evaluation and review are the engine room that drives the improvement agenda forward, involving all within the learning community in an ongoing cycle.
Members of a school strategic change leadership team discuss how a significant drop in the NCEA achievement outcomes of their Māori students, which had been consistently tracking upwards since 2009, created a context that required a critically reflective analysis of both cohort and individual data, alongside a review of the current tracking and monitoring processes and tools.
Curriculum approaches in years 9 and 10 are designed to set students up for success.
A school principal talks about how he works with his teachers and Māori community to develop a bicultural school context within which both Treaty partners are acknowledged and valued. A teacher and members of the Māori community describe how this principal’s leadership has facilitated a reciprocal relationship between the school and their local Māori community.
In response to student voice, this school sought external expertise to provide opportunities for the children to learn more about their identity, language and culture. For those involved, the opportunity to develop new knowledge and understandings is just the beginning of the journey.
At this secondary school leaders and teachers have responded to students’ need for more time to achieve their goals. While not mandatory for either staff or students, lunchtime and after school learning sessions have become the norm.
Data and information about teaching and learning is made highly visible and the interpretation and response are a collaborative process. Leaders and teachers reflect on the role of data in professional relationships and how an open approach builds capability and confidence to respond to the challenges that need to be addressed.
The provision of opportunities for collaborative professional learning are designed to build adaptive expertise through enabling the participation and contribution of all staff members.
This report highlights how early childhood services keep up to date with changing regulations and legal requirements in order to effectively manage for children’s safety and wellbeing.
In 2013 the Education Review Office (ERO) evaluated the quality of teacher appraisal systems in schools using online surveys of principals and information from 200 school reviews. This report presents the findings of ERO’s evaluation of schools’ approaches to teacher appraisal.
ERO guides for parents have been written for everyone who parents a child - those who have care and responsibility for children attending a school. The booklets include questions you can ask, as well as general information that you may find useful. Click on the booklet to read and download.
How is my child doing? suggests questions parents can ask teachers in primary and secondary schools about their child's learning and wellbeing at school, and what to expect. It also looks at what makes a successful school.
Effective Teaching - What's happening in my child's classroom? gives parents an insight into teaching practice and includes questions parents can use when discussing their child's progress with the school.
ERO guides for parents have been written for everyone who parents a child - those who have care and responsibility for children attending a school. The booklets include questions you can ask, as well as general information that you may find useful. Click on the booklet to read and download.
This evaluation looks at the Ako Panuku programme, which is funded by the Ministry of Education for Māori secondary/kura teachers. ERO conducted an online survey of all teachers involved in the programme and also visited a number of schools and kura. Our findings show that a high proportion of teachers found the programme to be highly effective or effective for them. Ako Panuku has had positive outcomes for participants and their students.
This report complements ERO’s major evaluation, Partners in Learning: Schools’ Engagement with Parents, Whānau and Communities, published in May 2008. It presents case studies of eight schools, identified during ERO reviews, that were successful in engaging with their parents, whānau and the wider community. The report also discusses key factors that contribute to the success of this engagement.
Assessment informs an early childhood service’s programme and educators’ teaching practices. ERO evaluated the quality of assessment in all the early childhood services reviewed in Terms 3 and 4, 2006.
Services were at varying stages in their understanding and implementation of assessment practices, as not all had yet participated in professional development.