Quality Teaching Research & Development (QTR&D) Project (Māori Medium)

Background:

The Quality Teaching Research and Development in Practice Project (QTR&D) is an exploratory research and development project, funded by the Ministry. This project intended to support teaching and learning within social studies/tikanga-a-iwi across Maori medium & Samoan bi-lingual/bi-literacy teaching settings. The outcomes of the QTR&D project will inform policy, and future research and development work with teachers in schools.

The purpose of the QTR&D project is to build on existing knowledge to understand more about quality teaching. Teachers will undertake to complete a post-graduate or graduate paper and initiate a research project that has a focus on improving the quality of their teaching and learning outcomes for their Māori students and or Pasifika students. Each teacher’s research ‘activity’, will be supported by a Research Facilitator (RF), and related to the strategic objectives of the QTR&D project, as listed below, and include the development of understandings and the sharing of knowledge through publication of learning stories, resources and approaches to quality teaching for students.

The overall QTR&D project consists of eleven research and development hubs conducted across different language and teaching settings. Eight hubs were conducted in English Medium teaching settings, two hubs within Māori Medium teaching settings and one in a Samoan bi-lingual/bi-literacy teaching setting.

Two hubs were selected within the Auckland (Tamaki) and Northland (Te Taitokerau) areas to participate in the QTR&D project (Maori Medium).

The strategic objectives of the QTR&D project (Māori Medium) are to:

• enable teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning outcomes for their Māori studentsand Pasifika students in tikanga-ā-iwi and pūtaiao contexts through collaborative inquiry processes;

• develop pedagogical practices that enable classes and other learning groupings to work as caring,inclusive and cohesive learning communities;

• create links between school and other cultural contexts in which students are socialised to facilitate learning;

• publish a selection of participants’ stories of learning involved in the collaborative inquiry process,along with resources which have been developed to support desired changes;

• contribute to the evidence-base and inform policy decisions about ‘what works’ to support quality teaching and improved Māori student and Pasifika student learning outcomes through productive partnerships between teachers/schools and whānau, hapū and iwi;

• create and test elements of a national professional learning and development structure for MāoriMedium, immersion levels 1 & 2, which includes an on-line

Description:

The following groups and individuals were key participants in the QTR&D Māori Medium project:

• Participating schools, their teachers and the Hub Coordinator

• Inservice teacher educators (ISTE’s)

• The QTR&D Research Coordination Team, including a Research Coordinator, ResearchFacilitators and an On-line Manager;

• The Ministry’s QTR&D Project Manager and Project Team members.

The research team adhered to 'Kaupapa Maori Research' practice throughout all stages of the project. Aspects of initiation, benefits, representation, legitimation and accountability (Bishop & Glynn, 1999) provided guidance for each stage of the research. The research team was fully committed to working collaboratively with all project participants, teachers, students and their parents/caregivers, including the wider whanau, hapu and iwi; and maintained a work ethic based on the notions of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, kotahitanga and tino rangatiratanga.

Key components of the Maori medium (QTR&D) project included post-graduate or graduate courses under the auspices of the School of Maori, University of Auckland. Supported by a team of research facilitators (UoA) teachers were required to undertake a course of post-graduate/graduate study, which included a collaborative action research project based on questions that focused on a particular aspect of their teaching and learning. Teachers attended University courses throughout the academic year and provided support via face-to-face and virtual support interactions by the University research facilitators and ISTE (Inservice Teacher Educators). All participants were also connected to each other via the online community.

An In-school Support component was a support mechanism initiated by the Tamaki hub management team. The component was led by ISTE (In-service Teacher Educators) and comprised a cycle of observations, goal-setting and mentoring. The development of an observational tool provided a starting point for teacher reflection on teaching practice and latter mentoring by ISTE personnel. Teachers were encouraged to reflect on their practice and develop personal goals. Teachers were mentored toward meeting these goals by regular in-school visits with ISTE support personnel. Teacher goals were also used as platforms for developing their particular collaborative action research questions.

The final component of this particular hub included online community support. Led by CORE Education Ltd, this component acted as an external support mechanism that brought both hubs and all participants together via an online community. The community acted as a central repository for resources, materials, teacher online forum discussions, acting also as an area of central dissemination of information and reflective practice (online reflective journal). Essentially a general ‘one-stop shop’ for all QTR&D project participants including the QTR&D project team and research facilitators. Utilising the various management tools within the online community area, the Research facilitation team and the In-school support personnel (ISTE’s) were encouraged to collate, disseminate, and share information amongst the team via a secure area within the online community. Teachers were in turn encouraged to connect with the wider QTR&D teachers under an umbrella of collegiality and support, sharing, discussing and interacting with one another either synchronously or asynchronously.

The culmination of information gathered during the course of the project from each of the above key components will provide information and data that will assist towards writing the final project report.

Key findings:

The final research report is pending. Key findings and discussions will be shared at a QTRD meeting called by the Ministry of Education in November 2008.