EA Blog
Ally Bull
We’ve only got one planet: Let’s re-think school science
There is now widespread agreement in the scientific community that unless we reduce carbon emissions substantially, and quickly, the planet is likely to become uninhabitable in the not too distant future. Our current practices are destroying the lives of our children. Recent events, such as the School Strike 4 Climate, and the activities of Extinction Rebellion, suggest more and more...
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Brenda Ellis
Exciting Developments Across the Learning Support Sector
It is widely accepted that children with disabilities and additional learning needs could be and indeed should be, better supported in our schools. The Ministry of Education’s Learning Support Action Plan, 2019-2025, which builds on its Learning Support Delivery Model, outlines exciting new developments for priority learners in early childhood centres, schools and kura throughout...
Julie Luxton
Engaging the disengaged
As educators, we have all heard inspiring stories of the teacher or mentor who changed the direction of a disengaged student. For me, it is the story of Marcus Akuhata-Brown that remains and resonates in my head and heart. Marcus was born in a small town on the East Coast of the North Island. He became a school principal at 21 years old and has been a social worker, diplomat, and...
Kerry Hall
What is a local curriculum?
Local curriculum is causing a buzz around many schools and I hear many leaders and teachers talking about what it means and what they should be doing. I firmly believe that every school has the main elements of their local curriculum alive and kicking within their walls – however, sometimes it is not recognised as such. An easy to remember definition is that your local curriculum...
Anna Sullivan
What next for appraisal
Over the past week, we have fielded several calls and emails about appraisal, mostly as a result of the Teaching Council’s correspondence clarifying their expectations about appraisal. If you haven’t seen this, then you can check out the clarification on their website and read their FAQs. Evaluation Associates has been asked by school leaders to provide advice on what next....
Rose Stanley
The Learning Progression Framework for Writing – a great starting place… But then what?
The Learning Progression Framework for Writing is a fantastic tool for describing and showing the significant stages a writer progresses through as they develop independence and control over how and what they write for different purposes. Through targeted and focused PLD, teachers and leaders see value in having writing across the curriculum illustrated with clarity. It has been a welcome...
Richard Watkinson
A recipe for success in secondary school PLD
It’s Monday afternoon and teachers are slowly and begrudgingly making their way to the staff room for the fortnightly “PD session”. It’s winter, cold, dark and wet and as the crowd grows, so does the atmosphere of reluctance. Meanwhile the deputy principal in charge of PD, who has spent the day sorting out a dispute between a group of Year 10 girls that started on...
Diane Manners
School stories of support for established principals
Evaluation Associates is providing specific support for established principals as part of the Leadership Advisor contract with the Ministry of Education. We've spoken with three principals who have been supported by our team. Their stories below reflect the ways in which we can walk alongside established principals. Vignette One The teaching principal of this small rural school had...
Anna Sullivan
A shift of focus: new PLD priorities
Professional learning and development acts as a significant driver in school improvement. Leaders in schools, kura, and Kāhui Ako know this and ensure that PLD is well-designed to meet the changing needs of their ākonga. The Ministry of Education have proposed new priorities for English-medium and Māori-medium locally-focussed PLD. These are important to know about because...
Debra Ryan
The power of a conversation
Schools are busy places. Classrooms are even busier places; it is all too easy to get through a day without having an informal/non-subject-focused conversation with a student. Sure, we may talk to them (and don’t get me wrong most teachers I speak with say that they feel like they talk all day) but have we really stopped and had a conversation with our learners? A conversation...
Ally Bull
Science capabilities: What is their potential to refocus science education?
According to the New Zealand Curriculum, students learn science at school so that “they can participate as critical, informed, and responsible citizens in a society in which science plays a significant role” (p17). The quick way of saying this is that the purpose of school science is to develop scientific literacy. Traditionally, school science has focused on the delivery of...
Michael Absolum
Raising achievement and reducing disparity - The story of Evaluation Associates
2019 is a big year for Evaluation Associates Ltd. Not only are we continuing to work with hundreds of schools, kura, and Kāhui Ako across New Zealand who are committed to improving outcomes for their learners, we are celebrating 20 years of doing so, and doing it well. I sat with Michael Absolum, the founder of Evaluation...
Margaret Hesketh
Beyond WALTS and SC: Strengthening student assessment capabilities to increase learner agency
Learner agency is a phrase that is discussed, inquired into and developed by many educators across the world. It is inspiring and humbling to read and view teachers’ experiences of their mind shift and the challenges and successes they met as a consequence of increasing student voice, choice and ownership of the learning in classrooms from Year 1 to 13. We as educators have been...
Margaret Hesketh
Assessment for learning - essential for the modern learning environment
I am the new kid on the block at Evaluation Associates. I'm writing this in my ninth week as a PLD facilitator after being a deputy principal at a primary school for 14 plus years. In these few weeks I have had the absolute privilege of watching skilled facilitators in action, working with some amazing teachers, and have had the chance to catch up on reading that is next to impossible to do...
Richard Watkinson
From classroom teacher to staff room teacher: the first day at school all over again
I began my career as a secondary English teacher in Nottingham in the UK in 1993. I was full of idealistic good intentions and saw teaching as a way of promoting social justice and equity. I began work in a school with plenty of opportunities for promoting social justice and equity as it was located in an inner city community that had, historically, been one of the poorest in the country. I...
Allan Powell
Now is the time to start planning for your 2020 professional learning needs
The current model for schools and Kāhui Ako to access professional learning support through MoE funding has been in place for sometime now and many schools are valuing the tailored support from their chosen PLD provider that the model provides. One of the issues that we’re hearing from schools is that it can be tricky to get the timing right to start PLD. Many schools like the...
Dr Wendy Moore
Newly certificated teacher on your staff?
Many new teachers are taking their first steps into their professional life as a teacher. It can be a scary but exhilarating time for these newly qualified teachers. For the schools they have joined, there is a heightened need to ensure the best support and guidance is in place for these new teachers. Inducting a newly qualified teacher not only into your school but also into the profession...
Reflections from Kelly Bicknell, Principal of Galatea School
Introduction from Danny Nicholls, Leadership Advisor to beginning principals in Bay of Plenty/Waiariki I’m delighted to introduce this blog post by Kelly Bicknell, Principal of Galatea School in the Bay of Plenty. I‘ve been working with Kelly since her appointment to the role in Term Two 2017. We have worked collaboratively on developing her leadership practices since then,...
Megan Peterson
Top 5 tips to get the most out of Arinui in your first year
We've asked some of our Arinui schools and kura what top tips they'd give others as they embark on their first year with Arinui. We know that each school/kura decides how they are going to use Arinui but these tips are too good not to share with others. We hope that they will help make educators' first experience with Arinui really powerful. 1. Clarify...
Julie Luxton
Listening to culture
O tu, aganu’u, ma agaifanua a le tamaititi o le a le mafai ona ulufale atu I le potuaoga sei vagana ua fa’atauaina me faaulufaleina muamua I le loto ma le agaga o le faiaoga. The culture of the child cannot enter the classroom until it has first entered the consciousness of the teacher. Samoan proverb This summer one of my former students, Keiko, returned to Aotearoa...
Where to now with assessment, post National Standards?
We are living in times of changing education policy. The mandatory use of National Standards has been removed, and a review of NCEA is underway. While the removal of National Standards is welcomed by some schools and teachers, others will find it unsettling and some will be distraught. Whatever your position on it, it will mean change. This is an ideal opportunity for you to thoughtfully...
A fantastic opportunity to learn more about principalship
During the October term break, over 200 beginning principals gathered in Auckland with the Evaluation Associates leadership team and invited keynote speakers for the 2017 Beginning Principals National Hui. The hui organising committee was led by Geoff Childs with the support of six Leadership Advisors from around New Zealand. This core team developed the programme during a...
Joy Hawke
Collaborative, evaluative inquiry for school improvement in literacy
Where to start? What and how much do we need? Questions schools are asking about Literacy support. For many years, I have been working closely with school leaders and teachers to support them as they undertake school improvement in literacy practices. For most schools since 2010, this PLD has been spearheaded by their national standards reading and writing data or from a current inquiry...
Janelle Stevenson
The Forgotten Years - using the Learning Progression Frameworks for literacy learning in Years 9 and 10
Whenever I see or hear the phrase “forgotten years” two things play through my mind: if I’m honest the first thing is the Midnight Oil song, closely followed by the enigma that is teaching, learning and assessment in Years 9 and 10! It seems a bizarre combination at first glance – one a song about the years between two wars, and the other an important growing and...
Julia Scott
Improving appraisal: considering the evidence
As I work with teachers to improve their understanding of appraisal I continually reflect on their interest, questions, and concerns about evidence. How much is enough evidence? What is the right sort of evidence? What’s the purpose behind collecting the evidence? Who is responsible for collecting and storing the evidence? These and many, many more questions continue to be asked by...
Ruth Tate
Māori achieving success as Māori – what’s your community’s vision?
The vision of Ka Hikitia is that Māori learners enjoy education success as Māori. While many schools have recognised that this vision is important and worthy of attention, success as Māori has proved an enigmatic notion for many schools. What does it mean, to enjoy success as Māori? What does it look like and how would we know if it’s happening or not? Quite understandably, a...
Mel Stopford
Celebrating leaders who foster learner agency in the adults they lead
Schools are increasingly focused on placing their learners at the centre. And there is plenty of research that tell us this is a very good thing! Teams are reflecting on the roles of ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ and inquiring into the ways they keep learners at the centre. They’re asking questions such as: Who makes the majority of the decisions? And...
Garry Taylor
Musings from my experiences of PaCT implementation
I have had the privilege of being the Evaluation Associates project lead for Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) implementation support across the country in 2017. We have worked as the Consortium for Professional Learning alongside our partners, the University of Auckland, to provide support to individual schools and Kāhui Ako. We have also used the expertise of the mentor schools, who are...
Janet McCarroll
Amplify the magic of assessment for learning using digital technology
There’s excitement in the air as teachers in large cities and small rural schools realise how to enact the New Zealand Curriculum in its full glorious intent by developing a student-centred approach to teaching, learning and assessment. This lies at the very heart of the New Zealand Curriculum. From the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation to remote New Zealand...
Steve Edwards
Closing the feedback loop
“A healthy school is an improving school.” Agreement rippled through the group of principals, then silence fell. Although it wasn’t just silence. It was a group of committed leaders reflecting on what had just been said. How healthy is our school? Is our school an improving school? How do we know? This blog looks at one small but significant element of a healthy...
Trish Manson
Ramping up in the wait…
I live in Auckland and in my work as a facilitator I have the exquisite pleasure of waiting in traffic while on my way to schools. A typical morning for me is a 6:30am queue at Greville Rd on-ramp, crawling for 30 minutes to get onto the motorway, watching the muesli eaters, texters and make up appliers . I am continually intrigued: the confidence and composure, no residue in inappropriate...
Amy Chakif
A new digital technologies curriculum?
It was the mid-1980s and my grandfather had passed away a few years earlier. Since his passing my grandmother had taken up two new pastimes. The first thing she took up was the 80s phenomenon of jogging and for her that meant training for and running marathons. Often the oldest competitor in the race and often arriving at the finish line hours after the front runners, she was very much an...
Megan Peterson
Getting to the heart of the vision – leading the why and the how
Working in two separate schools this week led me to pondering how leaders find a balance between the “why” and the “how”. It is great to have a vision but the real challenge is bringing the vision into fruition. Earlier in the week I was working with a senior leadership team around their approach to appraisal. These are senior leaders who have been reasonably...
Encouraging active learning at school and at home
There is a strong focus in education on connecting learning between school and home. The general understanding, backed by research, is that students gain confidence, enthusiasm and expectations of success from parents and whānau who follow and support their learning. An example of the focus is the revamp of the cycle of inquiry in the NZC (2007) to the spiral of inquiry (Timperley, Kaser,...
On the road with a Leadership Advisor
Since the beginning of term two this year I have been privileged to work as the Leadership Advisor for beginning principals in the Bay of Plenty region. I am really enjoying this opportunity and over a series of blog posts will outline the type of work I am doing, the role I am fulfilling with the principals in my region and other interesting observations from my travels! Previous to...
Megan Peterson
Arinui: Reflection on our first year
This month Arinui, the appraisal tool developed by Evaluation Associates, turns one year old. And as with any first birthdays, we are celebrating some milestones. For so long, Evaluation Associates had heard frustrations from teachers and leaders about how to use appraisal for improvement, not just compliance. They were often overwhelmed with piles of evidence to generate and...
Mel Stopford
Use hacks for innovative curriculum design with students and teachers
“Design Thinking can be a powerful vehicle for deeper learning of content, more divergent thinking and building the thinking skills capacity of learners.” – Ewan Macintosh New directions require a fresh approach. Too often we focus on working together to produce a ‘product’, rather than focussing on the impact of our work or the changes that we wish to...
Garry Taylor
9 key things to consider when choosing an e-asTTle writing prompt
There are a number of reasons why your choice of e-asTTle prompt is important. I have outlined 9 of these below. I know from my work with schools that many of you do have questions regarding this assessment tool. Questions I am commonly asked include: Does the writing purpose matter? Can we use the same prompt or do we use the same purpose but different prompt?...
Anne Purves
Empowering learners: sharing the locus of control
“You don’t have to be frightened about learning. You just have to be prepared to ask lots of questions . . . to find out what you don’t know. I like helping the others too . . .” Derek - Year 6 ‘priority learner’ Confident, connected and actively involved life-long learners The New Zealand Curriculum requires us to produce these...
Allan Powell
The power of teaching as inquiry
I love visiting Year 1 classes. I’m always in awe of the skill and enthusiasm and energy of Year 1 teachers who provide students with their first experience of learning at school. I find it especially fascinating how these teachers teach students to ‘break the code’ of reading and writing – to create meaning out of lines and squiggles on a page. It is amazing and...
Allan Powell
Leading the learning of others – how ‘open to learning’ are you?
In my travels around schools over the years I’ve worked as a facilitator, I can’t think of one school leader who didn’t want to make a difference. I have seen incredibly dedicated and hard-working principals, DPs, HODs, team leaders and tutor teachers who strive to improve teaching, learning and achievement. These leaders and I have occasionally had different ideas about how...
Jacqui Clayton
Developing and encouraging active learners
"If we position our students to be successful, they will be successful." Pauline Gibbons Active learners – learners who are able to take ownership of their own learning – are becoming successful lifelong learners. Active learners believe in themselves as learners and understand that they are able to exert control over their learning. They know that if...
Anna Sullivan
12 top tips to make the most of the new PLD system
The world of Professional Learning and Development (PLD) is changing dramatically – signalling a really exciting opportunity for schools. The Ministry of Education will no longer contract providers to deliver set programmes and allocate schools to those programmes. Instead, each school or CoL will determine the areas they need to focus on, and design a professional learning programme...
Janet McCarroll
How to create a 21st century assessment and reporting system
Empowering students to lead their own learning … online The days of traditional assessment and reporting are numbered. Hour upon teacher hour of assessment and report writing, at nights and in weekends, making decisions in isolation from the students … why not create a system that deeply involves the students in the process, and harnesses the benefits for their...
Anna Sullivan
How to make the most of teacher appraisal
There’s lots of talk about appraisal in schools at the moment. ERO are auditing 10% of the practising teacher certificates that are renewed each year. Schools are understandably trying to ensure that their systems meet requirements. This ‘compliance mind-set’ can mean lost opportunities – it takes the focus away from appraisal as an invaluable process for...
Garry Taylor
Making a difference through teaching as inquiry
Teaching as inquiry, in my mind, is a relatively simple concept that has been made more complex and less effective by the perceived demands of compliance. From my point of view, if teaching as inquiry is effective then the classroom teacher: has the goal of improved student learning as the main and central focus is professionally curious is a practical, pragmatic and yet...
Evaluation Associates welcomes Chief Executive
Evaluation Associates is excited to announce that Anna Sullivan has joined the team in the new position of Chief Executive. Anna’s appointment reflects the growth of Evaluation Associates and she joins current directors Michael Absolum and Mary Chamberlain in leading the organisation. Anna is an experienced education leader and professional learning and development specialist and she...
Coding for kids
Should all children learn to programme a computer? asks Ian Stevens from our Wellington office. I was recently asked if I thought if it was a good idea for all children to learn to code, as in, programme a computer. My answer was yes, although I did point out that I also believe all children need to learn to climb trees, dance, hit a ball, make friends, swim,...
Garry Taylor
Who's doing the thinking?
Much has been written about the value and power of effective feedback on student learning. We know it helps students improve their work and can enable them to get past the ‘hard bits’ of learning. Feedback is something that is highly valued by students, and it works. However, can teacher feedback actually be doing a disservice to the student? One of the most quoted phrases from...
And you finished exactly on time!
Richard Ellsworth, music teacher from Pinehurst School, guest blogs about the parallels between teaching and BBC broadcasting. One of the best things about the Assessment for Learning PLD is having your lesson videoed and then watching it back. You know how it feels to be trying to teach in a calm and purposeful way while your inner voice is going ten to the dozen and...
James's Dream
The boy had finished the set work – identifying similes from metaphors and coming up with his own examples of each. He was thumbing through a logging magazine when he looked up and asked me if I worked in Wellington, a city about an hour and a half from his provincial town. When I said I did, he asked, ‘Do you know Rawhiti Terrace? I prune trees there. I am going to be an...
Mary Chamberlain
Assessment in the Service of Learning
Mary Chamberlain reports from the International Symposium on Classroom Assessment 2014. In schools where assessment is being used in the service of learning we are seeing devolution of power. Responsibility for learning is being shared with learners. Creating the conditions that enable students to take shared responsibility for their learning is important because students who are...
Ruth Tate
Whānau matters - how you can create partnerships for learning
As a teacher who is also Māori, I place significant value on whanaungatanga – building and maintaining relationships. And, as an educator, I know how critical it is for schools to build learning-focused relationships with parents and whānau. At the beginning of the year it is important to consider ways you can effectively begin building this important relationship with the...
Starting the year right – building learning-focused relationships
If we want students who are confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners, how do we maximise the beginning of the school year to ensure this happens? We often use words such as ‘learning’ and ‘learner’ with our students, yet how often do we stop and check that they understand what these words actually mean? It seems to me that with a new year...
Michael Absolum
Evaluation is the thing
In my first blog I gave my thoughts on evaluation and I’m back to worrying about evaluation again. Here’s a definition of evaluation from that first blog: “The essence of all learning, the essence of teaching, the essence of all systematic improvement has, at its core, careful measurement of where things are in relation to where they should be”. The...
Michael Absolum
Teaching science in primary schools
I struggle to understand why science is very largely absent from primary school teaching. Why so many primary teachers either don’t like science or are scared of it or are otherwise reluctant to really accord it the importance it deserves in the NZC. ERO likewise has its concerns, as were made evident recently in its latest report on the state of science teaching. This report, and the...
Michael Absolum
Why bother with professional learning and development (PLD)?
Have you been on the net recently? Silly question. Of course you have. Have you used the web to learn stuff? Used Google to learn about a holiday destination? Used LinkedIn to find someone who can help you? Used YouTube to learn how to play the guitar? Used the Education Gazette on line to learn about job vacancies or Ministry updates? Of course you have. But what about...
Michael Absolum
Evaluation
This is my first blog so it seems appropriate that I should start my blogging life with an explanation of why my company is called Evaluation Associates. Most of what we do is more commonly called professional development for teachers and school leaders, so why aren’t we called Professional Development Associates? Do we have the wrong name? Should we change? After all, evaluation is more...