Planning to Raise Māori Student
Achievement
Lynette Bradnam
Te Paerahi
Mana Education Centre
2012
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• Programme outline and expectations
• What are our challenges
• Exploring Ka Hikitia
- Goals and actions
- Organisational success
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• Using the evidence, what does it say, and
what else do we need to know?
- Nationally and locally
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Some of what we know
•Māori students are 4
times more likely to
be frequent truants
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• By the end of Year 1,
literacy achievement for
many Māori children is
lower than any other ethnic
group, even where the
starting point was similar
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•Year 9 Māori
students make up
more than 50% of
early leavers
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• In 2006, 1 in 5 Māori youth
(19.4%) left school before
their 16th birthday
compared with less than 1
in 10 Pakeha students (8%)
or Pasifika ( 6.2%)
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What is evidence
• Evidence is the data we select, the relevant
information that we notice from the external
research work and from our own practice, and
the interpretations that we make from that
data.
• The process of interpretation is one of sense-
making: asking questions about the data to
create new and useful knowledge.
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• Interpretation is paramount
• This is the human activity that requires not
only capturing and organising ideas but also
turning the information into meaningful
actions.
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What do you know?
• Presence
• Engagement
• Achievement
• In the classroom
• Whanau engagement
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Action Research
Principles:
• Need for justice and democracy
• The right of all people to speak and be heard
• The right of each individual to show how and why
they have given extra attention to their learning
in order to improve their work
• the deep need to experience truth and beauty in
our personal and professional lives.
• Ref: Mc Niff
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Action Research
• refers to a practical way of looking at your own
work to check that it is as you would like it to be.
• often referred to as practitioner based research
• involves you thinking about and reflecting on
your work
Research point of difference
• In action research, researchers do research on
themselves.
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The Process
• The basic steps of an action research process constitute an action
plan:
•
• review our current practice,
• identify an aspect to investigate,
• imagine a way forward,
• try it out, and
• take stock of what happens.
• modify what we are doing in the light of what we have found, and
continue working in this new way (try another option if the new
way of working is not right)
• monitor what we do,
• review and evaluate the modified action,
• and so on …
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Cycle
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Try it out
• What issue am I interested in researching?
• Why do I want to research this issue?
• What kind of evidence can I gather to show why I am
interested in this issue?
• What can I do? What will I do?
• Develop a ‘how do I’ question
• What kind of evidence can I gather to show that I am
having an influence?
• How can I explain that influence?
• How can I ensure that any judgements I might make are
reasonably fair and accurate?
• How will I change my practice in the light of my evaluation?
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More evidence - How do we rate
ourselves
• Using the Measurable Gains Framework
(MGF)
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Hopes and Dreams
• What are our hopes and dreams for Māori
students?
• Blues Skies approach
• What would it look, sound and feel like?
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Where to next?
• Support
• Actioning the plan
• How to support each other
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