Saturday, February 8, 2025

How Might We Go About Unlocking Student (and Teacher) Engagement?

Near the end of January Derek Wenmoth and I facilitated a 2 day Retreat as part of our Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus (RRR) programme for 18 secondary and primary APDPs from across Aotearoa/NZ. As with our last year’s Principal RRR Retreat the feedback has been extremely positive:

Realistic and relevant, inspiring and helpful, a collaboration that flows and makes sense.

The best two facilitators I've had the pleasure of working with!

This week Derek and I completed our first round of 1-on-1 remote hui with each of the participants to support them to focus on their plans captured in their Experimental Design Canvas while dealing with the inevitable tsunami of operational matters APDPs have to deal with, especially at the start of the year.


The common words to describe how they were feeling a couple of weeks in and looking forward to our contact again in 3 weeks time were;


Energised, Optimistic, Connected, Proud, Relieved, Organised and Ready


It was at the Retreat that Derek shared a new book he had just come across, The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better by Dr Rebecca Winthrop, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, and journalist Jenny Anderson.







He used a cool matrix similar to this one here to explain the 4 modes of student engagement:


It was a real moment of clarity for me. 









I have been doing a lot of work in schools helping them develop an appropriate pedagogical model for their school contexts. They have each settled on their own core values and beliefs about learning which has led to the agreement on a set of principles, or guidelines for action, that result in a set of teaching practices being agreed upon. In all cases, the particular sets of values and beliefs point to each school having a clear desire to develop Learner Agency as the central driver of their pedagogy.


At that point we make use of Derek’s co-authored Agency By Design to begin the process of identifying the practices we need to have at the core of our pedagogy which will bring their core values and beliefs to light.










But it was the pivotal role Agency plays in lifting engagement from the Achiever  to the Explorer mode that provided the clarity.


The authors argue that students can be Passengers who cruise along doing the bare minimum as a result of not being engaged AND having no sense of agency or influence over what is being learned. They can be Resistors who have no engagement with the learning but use the agency or influence they have to push back and to make clear they are not engaged.


We might believe the Achiever mode would be the desired state. These students certainly work hard and gain very good results, but this is usually at the cost of fear of failure and high levels of anxiety.


It is the Explorer mode we should be aiming for where students are engaged BECAUSE OF the agency and influence they have in what they are learning. When young people are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.


I have referred to this matrix in 2 school workshops since and it has helped to build buy-in for the pedagogical approaches the schools are implementing. Also, at one of my RRR 1-on1s last week a participant described how she had used it when workshopping with her staff to create buy-in for their new approach to Writing.


I haven’t read the book yet (it is on order) but there’s a good discussion with one of the authors on Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan (RNZ) which gives more insight.


The good news is that the authors promise that the book outlines some easy and simple adjustments teachers can make to their practice to increase the level of agency and move more learners into the Explorer mode.


While listening to the interview I couldn’t help but reflect on our journey to open Hobsonville Point Secondary School and our determination to focus on Innovate by personalising learning, Engage through powerful partnerships and Inspire through deep challenge and inquiry. This required us to be serious about Learner Agency.


This determination meant we had to combat a level of negativity from others in the sector and from media (The School With No Rules, NZH etc), and work hard to win the confidence of parents who thought they would be happy for their kids to be Achievers and not Explorers.


The easiest to convince were the kids, because they were the ones being engaged because they had influence! (I’m sure the glasses I’m looking back through have some tint of rose! Not all, obviously, were deeply engaged, but I had never experienced such a consistently high level of engagement before.)


Supporting schools to develop an appropriate pedagogical model for their context which has the intention of providing the most opportunities to move their students into Explorer mode is what I am focusing on in all of the schools I am working with.


We follow a fairly straight forward model that results in teams, and eventually, the whole staff co-constructing the deeply held beliefs about learning that will drive agreed practices.


Along the way there is a strong focus on student voice and involving them in stages of co-construction.


Get in touch if you think this is something your school may be interested in.






Finally, reflecting on the title for this post and the reference to Teacher Agency:


When we make minor changes to our practice, based on collectively held beliefs about what makes for deep learning, and when we invite students into that process, we feel powerful in our belief to make a difference and to move more students into Explorer mode. The ability to commit to that is Teacher Agency.


Best wishes


Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Refresh by Refocusing on Your 'Why?'

It’s been 18 months since I retired as a secondary school principal. I like to believe that I’m still aware how demanding and increasingly more complex the role is. Working closely with at least 25 primary and secondary principals this year, in my new area of work, has kept me closely in touch with the realities of the work.


There are a number of drivers behind the increasing demands and complexities.


Political

  • Rapidly moving changes to curriculum (which some argue are driven by a narrow ideological position rather than ‘evidence’)

  • Unsettled national qualifications environment

  • Restructured and down-sized government services

  • Imposition of a Charter School model at odds with the direction taken by the Minister of Education


Financial

  • Cost of living crisis/recession impacts on the community, especially, but not limited to, the most vulnerable

  • Urgently needed property refurbishments and builds on hold

  • Paucity of funding to support specialist learning needs


Social

  • Increasing distrust of institutions (allegedly as a result of Covid times)

  • Increasing anxiety amongst our learners

  • Division promoted by the Treaty Principles Bill

  • AI and the rapidly changing future of work


Professional

  • Teacher supply issues

  • Narrowing of funded professional learning opportunities

  • Increasing levels of frustration amongst the workforce in relation to resourcing for special needs and diversity


All of these will be preying on the minds of school leaders as they take a few weeks of vital rest and refreshment.


My advice would be to try to keep your focus on the ‘why?’ that drives you in the work that you do - I’m sure it will be some version of the following:

  • Wanting to make a positive difference to the lives of others

  • Placing the needs of learners at the centre of what you do

  • Honouring Te Tiriti

  • Empowering others to take risks

  • Preparing learners to be able to thrive in a world with some huge challenges

  • Striving for high-trust relationship

  • Building community confidence and connection


Keep reminding yourself of your ‘why’ and keep exploring what it means for you in your work. You will have settled on an honourable purpose, one worth pursuing despite all of the drivers mentioned above. It is by being true to your values and beliefs about learning that you will find a way to navigate the demands and complexities.

You deserve a healthy dose of downtime this festive season. Keep the focus on the positive (your ‘why’) and try to avoid dwelling on the negative.


Wednesday, November 27, 2024

How Might We Take Action Based On What We Value?

I have long been inspired by the work of Julia Atkin. It was her call to make explicit what we stand for and for that to give direction to our actions that shaped the work we did as we laid the foundations for the innovative school that Hobsonville Point Secondary School was.


She challenged us to always have as our points of reference:

  • What do we value?

  • What are the beliefs about learning which underpin the practices we were planning? Are they reasonable beliefs based on current research on how we learn?

  • How will a suggested new, or different, practice improve our ability to achieve what we value and believe?


How Might We Develop An Appropriate Pedagogical Model For Our School

I am currently working in 3 different schools where we are challenging ourselves to ponder, “How might we develop a pedagogical model appropriate to our school context that promotes learning that will allow our young people thrive in school and in their future?”


Using Julia’s Circle Framework (see below) each school (who are at different stages of pondering the HMW question above) have all thought deeply about what their values and core beliefs about learning are. They have all followed (or are following) a process of hearing from their students and co-constructing the definitions and belief statements with their staff as they build buy-in at every step.



School A ended up with the 5 beliefs in the table below and settled on the definitions and belief statements after consultation with students and staff.



Value/Belief About Learning

Definition

Why? (Belief Statements)

Deep Learning

By “deep learning” we mean learning that builds on knowledge and deliberately fosters critical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity and curiosity to prepare students for their future.

We value deep learning because we believe it engages students and helps them make sense of the world. Students actively participate in understanding complex concepts, fostering critical thinking and personal growth.


Warm and Demanding Relationships

By “warm and demanding relationships” we mean having high expectations of learning and a strong sense of care for each person as a learner.

We value warm and demanding relationships because we believe that when students experience high expectations and know they are cared for, they flourish.

Collaboration

By “collaboration” we mean working together to achieve shared goals


We value collaboration because we believe when everyone contributes their unique set of skills, knowledge and perspectives, learning is deeper and prepares learners to thrive.

Inclusiveness

By “inclusiveness” we mean all students see themselves as valued and empowered to be themselves


We value inclusiveness because we believe all learners should feel seen and have equitable access so they can thrive.

Character Development

By “Character Development” we mean the development of personal qualities and ways of being that enhance learning and contribute to their life long success.


We value Character Development because we believe learners should develop habits of thinking that will influence their actions so they can thrive.


They then workshopped with their staff what Principles or Guidelines for Action would direct them as they explored what would be the most appropriate pedagogical practices for them to adopt across the school, within all classrooms.




Value/Belief About Learning

Principles/Guidelines for Action

Deep Learning

We/I will design real world learning experiences that support complex problem solving and curiosity

We/I will design deliberate acts of teaching that support deep learning and are adaptive to the learning environment

We/I will acknowledge, identify and use the prior knowledge of the learner in the design of my learning

We/I will ensure that learning provides opportunities for analysis, critique and synthesis.

Warm and Demanding Relationships

We/I will ensure our learners will know that we know them as learners

We/I will provide opportunities for students to have agency over their own learning

We/I will show care for our learners through high expectations

We/I will be an advocate for each aakonga’s learning   

Collaboration

We/I will incorporate collaborative activities in our learning design.

We/I will scaffold practices on how to be collaborative.

We/I will make our learning environments safe places to collaborate.

Inclusiveness

We/I will respect diversity

We/I will differentiate learning 

We/I will intentionally plan and respond to students with individual needs

We/I will acknowledge and protect identity and culture

Character Development

We/I will have a common language of self efficacy within the culture of our school 

We/I will provide opportunities for students to develop their dispositions

We/I will use collective teacher agency to create the environment for students to flourish with these dispositions


The next piece of work for them is to determine what teaching practices will emerge from this. They may also discover teaching practices they are already using that do not align with this work. This will require them to question the suitability of such practices.


They have decided to focus on practices that promote learner agency as it soon became obvious that their beliefs about learning were pointing to the need to have learners at the centre when thinking about learning design and teaching.


They are of the view that their commitment to Tino Rangatiratanga can be brought to life if they are driven by the above beliefs that place the learner firmly at the centre.


School B has been on a similar journey, but has not yet completed the full rounds of co-construction with staff and students. Their draft summary is in the tables below.



Value/Belief About Learning

Definition

Why? (Belief Statements)

Growth Mindset

By ‘Growth MIndset’ we mean challenging ourselves and our learners to advance our skills, knowledge and mindset.

We value growth mindset because we believe it develops a strong sense of self efficacy, willingness to embrace challenges, boost resilience, determination and curiosity which allows learners to flourish. 

Authenticity

By ‘Authenticity’ we mean learning is relevant, engaging and meaningful. It involves learning that is connected to real life contexts and challenges and encourages us to apply our knowledge and skills to practical hands-on ways.

We value authenticity because we believe that when learning is relevant to students, it fosters a vibrant and engaging environment that empowers them to navigate the complexities of the world.

Connectedness

By ‘Connectedness’ we mean that through the concept of Ako, teachers build meaningful relationships with students and create an environment where students can form links between themselves, others and the world around them.

We value connectedness because we believe when students feel as though they belong, see the links between what they are learning and are connected to the world around them, they thrive.

Warm and Demanding Relationships

By 'Warm and Demanding,' we mean that teachers believe in their students and are dedicated to helping them succeed. They enable caring and respectful relationships, while upholding high expectations for the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom.

We value being ‘warm & demanding’ because we believe it creates a supportive, yet challenging environment. Warmth fosters trust and motivation, while high expectations push us all to reach our full potential.

Curiosity

By ‘Curiosity’ we mean learners asking their own questions, exploring ideas and incorporating the outcomes into their skills and knowledge.


We value curiosity because we believe it drives the desire to learn more, which leads to critical thinking, deeper understanding and encourages life-long learning. 


They then workshopped with their staff what Principles or Guidelines for Action would direct them as they explored what would be the most appropriate pedagogical practices for them to adopt across the school, within all classrooms. At the time of writing this post, the team had not yet incorporated the feedback into the Guidelines for Action.


Value/Belief About Learning

Principles/Guidelines for Action

(Still to be finalised via co-construction)

Growth Mindset

We/I will look for ways to provide challenges so students view challenges as opportunities to grow through effort and persistence.

We/I will look for opportunities to provide appropriate feedback on all learning.

We/I will have a common language of self efficacy within the culture of our school to actively teach and model Growth Mindset. 

We/I will provide opportunities for students to fail in a safe space. 

Authenticity

We/I will look for ways that recognise and celebrate the unique identities, backgrounds, and perspectives of each student. 

We/I will look for ways to connect learning to real-world and local contexts and experiences, relevant to the student. 

We/I will look for ways to actively promote the construction of knowledge

Connectedness

We/I will look for ways to build connections with students

We/I will look for ways to connect learning between subjects

We/I will look for ways to connect learners with new opportunities 

We/I will look for ways to connect learners to the relevance of their learning 

Warm and Demanding Relationships

We/I will look for ways to build positive relationships

We/I will look for ways to show care through having high expectations of our learners

We/I will look for ways to listen

Curiosity

We/I will look for ways to encourage learners to ask relevant questions.

We/I will look for ways to develop habits of curiosity

We/I will look for ways to follow paths of curiosity 

We/I will look to have student inquiry a key element of our pedagogical approach



As with School A the next piece of work for them is to determine what teaching practices will emerge from this. They may also discover teaching practices they are already using that do not align with this work. This will require them to question the suitability of such practices.


They, too, are thinking that they will focus on practices that promote learner agency as it soon became obvious that their beliefs about learning were pointing to the need to have learners at the centre when thinking about learning design and teaching.


School C has just started on their journey. A working group has settled on their 5 beliefs about learning and accompanying definitions and belief statements but have not yet tested them with students and staff.


Value/Belief About Learning

Definition

(Draft)

Why? (Belief Statements)

(Draft)

Authentic Learning

By authentic learning we mean learning that is relevant, has purpose, is experiential and includes real life experiences.


I/We value authentic learning because we believe this will help ākonga and kaimahi to be engaged in learning and the world and to connect to potential futures.

Whanaungatanga

By whanaungatanga we mean creating an environment that nurtures a sense of belonging through positive, healthy relationships within our kura whānau including our extended whānau, hapū, iwi and mana whenua.

We value whanaungatanga because we believe all mokopuna, whānau and kaiako bring with them rich whakapapa, a wealth of experiences that can enrich their learning. Mokopuna learn best when they are grounded in knowing who they are, where they are from, which in turn strengthens a sense of belonging in our learning community.

Manaakitanga

By manaakitanga we mean fostering a culture where people show care and respect for each other, creating safe, supportive environments that meet the diverse needs of individuals.

We value manaakitanga because we believe fostering relationships based on trust, empathy and growth enhances self-efficacy, purpose, pride and belonging. 

High Expectations

By high expectations I/we we mean that teachers believe in their students and are dedicated to helping them unlock their potential. They enable caring and respectful relationships, while upholding high expectations for the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom.

I/we value high expectations because we believe that students need to believe that we believe in their potential for their potential to be met. 

Āhuatanga

By Āhuatanga we mean the actions, dispositions and qualities of students that enable them to successfully navigate themselves through a changing world.


We value Āhuatanga because we live in a rapidly evolving world with unpredictable and novel demands. By developing their capabilities, ākonga increase their capacity to respond effectively to these challenges.  


School C has not yet got to the stage of developing Principles/Guidelines for Action.


Each school has been working through the same process being guided by the same framework, but by involving students and staff they are each settling on their own “die-in-the-ditch” beliefs about learning, their own guidelines for action and, ultimately, their own practices.


Each will then develop a professional learning plan to support the development of the agreed practices. They will involve students in assessing the effectiveness of the practices and will look to develop observational tools to monitor how all teachers are bringing life to their school’s pedagogical model - a model that they helped develop.


Taking the time to build buy-in with staff through a co-construction process will lessen the roadblocks that often appear when schools look to bring about some change. And keeping student voice as the main tool for checking progress and effectiveness means that all schools will be keeping the learners at the centre.


“Set goals based on what you value,” (Julia Atkin)