Realising potential at Whangamatā Area School

Posted on 29 November, 2016

Some say that the excited buzz that seeps out from under the library doors of Whangamatā Area School can directly be attributed to the enthusiasm of staff realising their collective potential.

Amidst the conversations about topics such as critical thinking and dialogic sense-making sits the school’s Change Team – a team which was derived from the Strategic Leadership Team, and a team that is determined to support purposeful, evidence-based change.

Changing the system and sharing the load
As the Change Team begins to successfully align and spread mahi tahi throughout the entire staff, significant changes are taking place to the school’s existing systems and structures.

Six Professional Learning Groups (PLGs) have been established to support teachers to become critically reflective practitioners, using evidence to develop their culturally responsive and relational pedagogy and building on their expertise as teachers.

Unpacking and making sense of the pedagogy is central to the picture, with PLG members being observed throughout the year as well as participating in critical learning conversation and shadow-coaching to build on their teaching practice.

How working in small groups has helped
Bronwyn Baxter, a Change Team member, reflects on how working in small groups has enabled relationships of care and connectedness to develop – resulting in staff who have de-privatised their practice:

“The tool that we have utilised for the classroom observation, is gold”.

“Teachers can have a look at the evidence of their pedagogy in relation to cultural responsiveness and relational pedagogy, and then they can see areas they need to develop - based on the observations”.

“For example, they may need to bring in cultural toolkit, they identify that themselves and then they set some goals and next steps, and that has led to an attitude of critical reflection spreading throughout the staff”.

“Staff now welcome members of their professional learning group into their classroom to carry out the observation, or to be involved in shadow-coaching or just to catch up. We are regularly having professional collegial conversations about our practice as we sit together and critically reflect on our own pedagogy”.

Time, as always, has been a challenge for the team, but it has never been a deterrent to engage with the change they want to achieve. Existing systems such as staff meetings have been utilised in order to give the PLGs more time to partake in their mahi. As well, the Change Team has been allocated a regular Tuesday morning timeslot to discuss the mahi and consider their next steps.

In acknowledging their work and commitment, the principal, Ross Preece, had this to say:

“It is great for members of the Change Team to have the opportunity to provide leadership. I am very cognisant of giving people a chance to lead and they have all done a great job”.