Sue
Bridges

Accredited Facilitator (English-medium)

Region: Canterbury/Chatham Islands
Sue Bridges

Qualifications

National Diploma in Educational Management – Christchurch College of Education
Master of Education (Distinction) – University of Canterbury
Diploma in Education of the Deaf – Christchurch College of Education
Advanced Diploma in Teaching – Christchurch College of Education
Bachelor of Education – University of Canterbury
Teachers College Diploma (Distinction) – Christchurch Teachers’ College
Bachelor of Science (Psychology) – University of Canterbury

Professional experience

Sue joined the CORE team as a facilitator in January 2015. In this role, she mainly, supports schools and educators with Literacy, Inquiry-based learning, Inclusion and Local Curriculum learning. She also facilitates TKI Primary Literacy Online where her Gathering Thoughts regular updates are read by approximately 1600 educators, librarians etc. throughout Aotearoa.

As Practice Lead for the Teacher Education Refresh (TER) (in partnership with Open Polytech) practicum course, Sue supports many TER students on practicum and the Practicum Observers who work with them. She also provides quality assurance processes around this. It has been a real privilege for her to help so many high-quality teachers to re-enter the teaching profession and nurture our ākonga.

Sue has a wide range of skills and experiences gained through teaching across primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors in mainstream and special / additional education settings. She has extensive experience of distance and online/blended learning practices, as well as face-to-face learning, and has led the learning of children, student teachers, teachers, and senior management.

Before working with CORE, Sue spent 23 stimulating years as a teacher educator at the University of Canterbury (UC) / Christchurch College of Education, holding various leadership and team roles in literacy, education, professional studies and practice, inquiry-based learning, and numeracy. She was also an active, published researcher; and marker of theses for other universities.

Sue’s background includes primary teaching, team leadership and Education of the Deaf in several Christchurch schools. Her role as a UC Professional Practice lecturer allowed her the opportunity to visit many schools around the country, and the privilege of observing and discussing the affirmations and transformations that schools are making as they move towards new learning and teaching practices.

Expertise

Sue offers expertise and support including the following areas:

Literacy

Successfully supported facilitators and learning communities to:

  • boost capability to lift literacy achievement of all learners in reading, writing and oral language
  • engage in deeper pedagogical connection to current thinking about literacy learning
  • engage learners through development of digital fluency
  • boost the engagement and achievement of reluctant readers and writers
  • explore and use relevant best-fit digital and non-digital tools to meet learners’ literacy needs within a balanced programme
  • use data effectively to lift achievement; especially target students
  • empower student, whānau and community voice, relationships and involvement in authentic contexts of literacy development
  • use children’s literature to effectively enrich and extend literacy skills
  • promote reading for pleasure as a powerful evidence-based tool for success.
Inclusive education

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

  • nurture students as they achieve personal learning success; recognising and celebrating their range of diversities
  • construct learning experiences to appropriately challenge, nurture and grow learners, whatever their personal contexts might be.
Local curriculum

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

  • evaluate current practices and identify future-focused goals embedded in local contexts
  • appreciate and build on the heritage contexts of their community; creating vibrant, relevant local curriculum
  • co-construct realistic and reflective action plans.
Evaluative capability

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

  • identify target students from analysis of achievement data
  • collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative data about students from multiple sources
  • regularly reflect-learn-implement using the Spiral of Inquiry framework.

Sue also has extensive experience and expertise in inquiry-based learning; effective pedagogy and practice, and Deaf Education.

Conference presentations, keynotes, seminars, workshops

Keynote speaker:

2016 School Librarians Aotearoa New Zealand (SLANZA - Christchurch) - keynote and workshops
2016 International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Congress
2016 Reading Recovery Tutor Trainers, Auckland

Recent publications (selected)

2016 Books Hanging in the Balance? Aotea Centre, Auckland. IBBY International Congress, Aug 18-22 2016.
2015 TKI’s Literacy Online: Strengthening Communities of Practice. Literacy Forum 30 (3).
2015 Guest editor and author of several articles. Literacy Forum 30 (2).

Personal statement

Working long term in education with learners from many diverse age groups, cultures, ways of thinking and experiential backgrounds, has reinforced my belief in these cornerstones of educational practice:

  • Know the learner in order to empower
  • Establish strong professional relationships
  • Connect ‘best-fit’ learning and teaching strategies to specific learners, mindful of context
  • Ensure balance in approaches to learning – what meets individual learners’ needs; not tool-driven
  • Celebrate learning as a socially-constructed activity
  • The most powerful learning is authentic and meaningful.