Student teacher relationship – Teaching & Learning Research Initiative

Understand Me: Storied-Conversations as Afa for Strengthening Relationships, Curriculum and Pedagogies

Mā ngā korero tuku iho tātou me ō tātou ao e kitea ai, e rongongia ai, e whaiora ai.[1] E tatou te fauina i tatou ma a tatou si’osi’omaga, e ala iā tatou tala.[2] We craft ourselves and our worlds in stories. Understand Me was born out of an aspirational exploration of ways for teachers to deepen relationships with young children and families to open space for their knowledges to be valued in the everyday educational curriculum. The origin was a desire to facilitate a shift from awareness of cultural competencies to action that values family pedagogies in the learning life of the classroom. Family pedagogies are everyday ways of knowing,

Data, knowledge, action: Exploring sustained shared thinking to deepen young children’s learning

Introduction and Background This TLRI project is part of a larger programme of research referred to as the Data, Knowledge, Action project. The Data, Knowledge, Action programme of research focuses on the development and use of innovative and authentic data systems to help early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand examine young children’s curriculum experiences and strengthen their teaching practice. To date the programme comprises of: a) a pilot study undertaken in 2017 to develop and trial innovative and authentic data systems to investigate children’s experiences of curriculum; b) a 18-month project funded by the Teacher Led Innovation Fund (TLIF) involving teacher-led inquiries into children’s experiences (July 2018 – December 2019;

The impact of children’s everyday learning on teaching and learning in classrooms and across schools

Tū mātātoa, kei kiriora tō tū[1] Stand strong lest you become complacent A child in this study told us that he had learned he was brave by travelling on a Halloween train journey that engendered fear and trepidation. Months later, this child asked a researcher that his teacher be told he was ‘the brave one’. When asked why, he explained that his teachers would feel comfortable giving him more difficult tasks: “I am brave to give it a go … I’m not scared so it would help me because I wouldn’t be scared, I’d be brave. She would know that I’m not scared of anything so she doesn’t have to be

Generating positive outcomes by Year 5 to 8 priority learners in writing: An inquiry into effective teacher practice

1. Writing: The issue to be addressed Writing is a demanding, multidimensional process that is, cognitively and socially, highly complex. Success in writing is vital to success in education and in the workforce (Graham, Capizzi, Harris, Hebert, & Morphy, 2014). Writing is increasingly used to demonstrate learning through schooling and has the potential to contribute toward understanding and learning in the content areas (Bangert-Drowns, Hurley, & Wilkinson, 2004). Beyond school, it is an integral part of students’ everyday lives as they participate in the world of texting, blogging, and social networking. In the workplace, it is a threshold skill for hiring and promotion amongst many workers. New Zealand-based data on success

Pedagogical intersubjectivity: Teaching and learning conversations between children and teachers

Introduction This project builds on prior national TLRI research investigating teaching and learning episodes between teachers and child during their everyday interactions (Carr, et al., 2008; Davis & Peters, 2008). These prior studies indicated that teachers sometimes found it difficult to: choose which of the children’s interactions they should involve themselves in to develop opportunities for children’s learning (Carr, 2007; Davis & Peters, 2008) interact with children in ways that avoid “hijacking” their developing working theories (Davis & Peters, 2008). International studies exploring early childhood education practices were also considered in the planning of this project. Specifically, the “effective Provision of Pre-school education” (EPPE) study (Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart,

Our place: Being curious at Te Papa

Introduction This Teaching and learning research initiative (TLRI) project was sited in a kindergarten, Tai Tamariki, at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. This kindergarten is a full day-centre for children aged 0–5 years. On average, 70 percent of the families include staff at Te Papa. The research focused on the relationship between the teachers, children and families at the kindergarten and selected exhibitions at Te Papa. It was extended to include these relationships with exhibitions at nearby art galleries. Key findings The project’s goals and intentions were to construct an understanding of how the children at this kindergarten made meaning of what they encountered and experienced at

An exploration of field-based early childhood teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand

1. Description of study, its context and its strategic value Purpose This study seeks to capture the reality and process of field-based early childhood teacher education using the classroom and the learning encounter as a unit of analysis. It includes a beginning focus on, but is not limited to, interactions between “Student And student”, “lecturer and student”, “lecturer and the group”, and “Student And the group”. The exploratory focus begins to document, describe and characterise the nature and form of field-based early childhood teacher education. By taking this approach, the study’s aim is to contribute to the limited research-base which investigates the “inner workings” of teacher education programmes internationally and to

Making sense of learning at secondary school: an exploration by teachers with students

1. Introduction Focus of the project Within New Zealand in recent years there has been a growing sense of dissatisfaction with current secondary school structures and processes. While teachers, students, parents, and politicians seem variously (although, it must be said, quite differently) disenchanted with many current secondary school practices, most of what is reported in the media is built on idiosyncratic experience and anecdote, not on evidence-based research. Now, more than ever, there is a critical need for New Zealand-based evidence of how teachers’ pedagogical practices are related to student engagement in learning and thus student achievement within New Zealand secondary schools. There is a growing body of international research and