Student Inquiry Focus - CoL #2

 "Good inquiry happens in teams.."  A teaching point referred to by Manaiakalani during our first PLG for the year. 

We, at St. Pius X Catholic School, are in a Modern Learning Environment (MLE), so this concept is never more true for both staff and tauira. We share spaces, equipment, learning and the load of collectively making decisions that will benefit our young people for the duration of their time here. Informal conversations are often the most valuable as you troubleshoot or expand on ideas you wish to implement within the spaces. It is also the time when you can gather a range of knowledge about where all your learning needs sit and pool together ideas on how to engage the learners.

The idea of this inquiry is to look at the trends and effectively contribute to our wider school and cluster goals as we continue our journey as teachers to be reflective of our practice. 

When I think of our school community I am instantly drawn to the achievement challenge of 'Lifting the achievement for boys' writing Years 1-10.’ For us in our space and leaning into my observations and beliefs since arriving at St. Pius X Catholic School, I would focus directly on:

‘How does a Māori centred theory and practice approach lift the achievement of writers in Yr 6-8?’

Over the years national data has shown that average achievement was higher for girls than boys, lower for Māori and Pasifika students than for non-Māori and non-Pasifika students respectively, and was lower for students from lower decile schools (ERO 2019).  We, at St. Pius X Catholic School, are male-dominated with 60% of our boys working below the expected level for writing across the middle school.

So what does this mean? To implement a ‘Māori centred’ approach is to draw on Māori concepts and promote and develop bicultural values for our setting, which aim to promote and enhance wellbeing. This bicultural setting ties into Pacific values and connections and again highlights the connection between Pacific Island and Māori values. If there is a higher congruency between home culture and school culture then learning is likely to be more powerful for Māori students (Bishop. 2000).

• whakawhanaungatanga - belonging whanau inclusiveness and connectedness

• Manaakitanga - providing that tautoko, awhi, respect and care for others - lends a hand to school values

• Kotahitanga - oneness - unity encouragement and moving forward together

• Rangatiratanga - self governance - being in control. Giving tauira and whānau the information to create their own pathways

• Maramatanga - Understanding. Can see the relevance in learning something and how they can apply it.

• Mohiotanga - sharing information. Rangatahi building on their knowledge. learning new information /strategies.

• Hakari - celebrating success. Sharing of kai, Whakawhanaungatanga

• Tuakana / Teina - Experienced helping those less experienced

• Kaitiakitanga - Reciprocity - we are guardians of not just our knowledge and learning journey but 

• Whakapapa - Making whanau links in the group.

• Wairua - a sense of wellbeing. A connection to whenua, ngahere, moana, maunga, awa.

• Tikanga - The placing into practice that which is correct. Encourage rangatahi to do the right thing by providing them with the essential information.

Atuatanga - Paying respect to nga Atua. Karakia, knowing & respecting the realms of each atua and their roles in our everyday lives. Learning about Nga Atua Māori and the roles they play in te Ao Māori. How the knowledge can be used practically to connect us to our tupuna, Whenua, etc. Being aware of individuals' different beliefs and respecting those. Sharing karakia.

Challenge of student learning:

Writing for us has traditionally been below the national average. That doesn't mean it needs to stay below the average. The question however is why? Our senior team has highlighted three key areas that our children typically encounter.

1) Writers Process - if we look at our testing results it begins at the very beginning. The Plan. Children do not know how to plan, why we plan or how to stick to a plan when writing. The whole first step of the Writing Process is missing which then entices me to believe that the Writing Process is unknown to our students. The process of Plan, Draft, Revise or Editing their texts.

2) Independent Writing - the children haven't had a chance to foster independence with their writing. Independent writing can be a time the student writes with little support from the teacher, trying out ideas in a risk-free environment where genuine writing attempts are recognised and rewarded . 

3) Confidence - the confidence of our children to write a story and be ok with making mistakes, coming back to an idea at a later date and then to share their work is a huge struggle.