Creating The Conditions That Support Our Wellbeing In The Classroom - Part 1

Well, hello there; it’s been a while. Like many, I have been a bit overwhelmed with the massive change being imposed on the education sector which has led me to lacking the energy to write and share my thoughts. Thankfully, many others, including Derek Wenmoth and the awesome contributors to the Aotearoa Educators Collective (AEC) Substack, have been regularly publishing outstanding pieces. I highly recommend you subscribe to AEC Substack and to Derek’s weekly newsletter.

My state of malaise had got me thinking about how we, in the sector, can maintain and sustain our own wellbeing and resilience and I settled on this hunch:

Your wellbeing is more likely to be strong if you have strong, productive relationships with students and they feel engaged in their learning because it is meaningful to them, and that you can find meaning in your work.

The first part focuses on you creating the conditions that allow for strong, productive relationships and on you designing learning in ways that engage students. 

The second part of my hunch/hypothesis focuses on the absolute importance of you finding meaning and, dare I say it, joy in your work.

I’ve attempted to capture my thoughts in a diagram:

In this post I plan to address the first part of my hunch that focuses on Relationships and Meaningful Learning:

Your wellbeing is more likely to be strong if we have strong, productive relationships with students and they feel engaged in their learning because it is meaningful to them 

I am not a researcher nor an academic so the hunch largely comes out of 30+ years of school leadership in a diverse range of schools. Along the way I’ve stumbled on some ways of thinking about the ways we could be doing our work and, thankfully, some clever people have been able to shape them into frameworks that I have found useful.

Relationships

This all started for me with my investigation of Restorative Practice in the early 2000s at Ōpōtiki College. As a school, we needed to find different ways to manage the huge number of behavioural issues we were experiencing. Whatever punishments we applied we seemed to be having no impact. 

Eventually we discovered this framework which combines a strong sense of care with clearly defined structures and limits. 

Rather than our approaches being driven by the blue box we decided to have them driven by the green box, while doing our best to avoid falling into the pinkish box. 

Our approach was so successful we started thinking that if a relationship-based approach to behaviour management could work, what about a relationship-based approach to curriculum and pedagogy? How could we take the concept of being warm and demanding (“I care for you, but I cannot accept these behaviours - what are we going to do?) and shift it to our pedagogy? (“I care for you and I will find ways for you to experience success. I won’t give up”.)

We moved to 100 minute periods, 3 day wananga and small group 100 minute Learning Advisories.

These are the features the staff settled on when it comes to being a Warm and Demanding teacher. 

These are all mindset issues - they are not programmes you can grab off the shelf, they are the mindsets that shape how you view your work. Our challenge was to take these elements of teacher mindset and make sure they drove our practice. This work is never complete.

I am sure you’ve all come across the work of Russell Bishop about teaching to the north-east. 

I have included the cold/warm/demanding/undemanding labels with his permission. His research shows that it is the combination of High Relationships and High Teaching Skills, the combination of creating a family like context for learning and teaching in ways we know promote learning, the combination of showing you care for kids and that you have high expectations (self, colleagues, students), the combination of being Warm & Demanding that brings about success. 

Agency Increases Engagement

This brings me to another framework which points us to how we can make learning meaningful for all of our students by simply increasing the level of agency ākonga experience in their learning. This is from the book The Disengaged Teen

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.

The good news is we know how to move students into Explorer mode. 

How do we increase the engagement of our Resisters and move Resisters to Explorers? We can engage them simply by linking learning to their interests. In fact, one of the easiest shifts through the zones is from Resister to Explorer zone simply by linking learning in such a way. 

How do we increase the engagement and agency of our Passengers and move them to Explorers? We can move students out of the Passenger zone (disengaged and coasting) by linking learning to what the student is interested in - just as for the Resisters. They will most probably need more scaffolds as we search for that sweet spot described by the Zone of Proximal Development - not too easy, not too challenging, but linked to their interests. 

How do we increase the agency of our unhappy Achievers? We can move students out of the Achiever zone by supporting them to practice trying things, falling down, reflecting on why they fell, and getting back up and trying again. Working with these students, in particular, on Growth Mindset is hugely valuable (though this is true of all students no matter what zone they’re in.)

So my summary at this point around what it is we should be focusing on to maintain our own wellbeing would be:

Be warm & demanding

It must be both - locate yourself firmly in the north-east.

Allow for more, not less, student agency

See yourself as a learning designer and invite your students into the learning design process. The more challenging the student is (think Passenger, think Resister) provide for more agency.

My next post will explore the second part of my hunch:

Your wellbeing is more likely to be strong if you ……. can find meaning in your work.

How Might We Reimagine Learning Design and Support Authentic, Meaningful Learning?

My last few posts have been exploring a framework that combines Restorative Practice, Teaching to the North East and  the combination of Agency and Engagement explore in Disengaged Teens

In this  post I am going to try to provide some practical suggestions as to how our design of learning for our students can support more of them to become Explorers as we keep our focus on the top right quadrants.

These posts are driven by how I have felt after reading this in Disengaged Teens:

“A shocking number of young people don’t see the point of school anymore.”

I have also been re-inspired by meeting up with Bob Lenz from PBLWorks (previously Buck Institute of Education) in Tamaki Makaurau last week. A few of us met up with him and we had a guiding question of, "How might we, in an environment that seems to be narrowing curriculum and pedagogical approaches, keep a focus on inquiry and project-based strategies in our attempt to keep learning engaging and authentic?" Who better to lead this kōrero than the CEO of an organisation that firmly believes that PBL leads to deeper understanding and greater retention of content knowledge (and has the data to prove that)?

I still have more to process but my immediate takeaways were as follows:

1/ Their research shows that students only need to be involved in 2 projects in every year of their schooling to achieve that deeper understanding and greater retention. This is doable in any school no matter how they structure their curriculum. I thought this was good news as it is a much smaller mountain for teachers and schools to climb.

2/ Rigour, which includes strong guardrails, non-negotiable processes and models, agreed suite of teaching practices, and built-in accountabilities for teacher and students (scaffolds, timelines, exemplars) is crucial.

3/ A challenge we all face is finding ways to prove that a PBL approach meets the requirements of our national curriculum and its standards (backward mapping) to placate our students, staff, parents and overlords.

This post sets out to share how we might go about creating the conditions that will make school more relevant for these young people.

We simply have to find ways to help young people link what they are learning to the futures they are imagining for themselves.

In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, we face a fundamental question: How do we design learning experiences that truly prepare students for their future? As I've observed classrooms and engaged with educational research, I've become convinced that effective learning design must move beyond traditional approaches toward something more dynamic, connected, and student-centered.

By doing so we will have more chance of moving more students into the Explorer mode:

The Power of Inquiry-Based Learning

Shifting to inquiry-based learning offers several compelling advantages. First, it amplifies student voice and choice, giving learners greater ownership over their educational journey—which naturally increases engagement and commitment. Second, it transforms classroom dynamics from passive schooling to active learning. Third, and perhaps most importantly, developing inquiry skills equips students with lifelong tools for tackling new learning opportunities in an ever-changing world.

However, making this transition isn't without challenges. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is the fundamental shift in classroom power dynamics. As educators, we're accustomed to being in control, to being the content experts, to delivering information in ways we determine best. Inquiry-based approaches require us to embrace partnership, joint ownership, and a certain level of unpredictability.

Foundation Principles for Effective Learning Design

Through my exploration of educational research and classroom practice, I've identified several core principles that should underpin effective learning design if we wish to move more students into Explorer mode (high engagement and high agency):

1. Learning Needs to Be Connected

When we teach subjects in isolation, we dramatically reduce opportunities for students to form meaningful connections across disciplines. The OECD's publication "The Nature of Learning" emphasizes "Building Horizontal Connections" across knowledge areas, subjects, communities, and the wider world. This integrated approach deepens understanding and increases relevance for learners.

2. Learning Needs to Be Co-constructed

For genuine engagement, students must feel connected to their learning—not like they're on an educational assembly line where timing, pace, and context are predetermined without their input. This doesn't mean abandoning our responsibility to cover important concepts and skills; rather, it means inviting students into meaningful conversations about how that learning unfolds.

This aligns with what many of us know as "Learner Agency" - giving students the power and choices to take meaningful action and witness the results of their decisions.

3. Learning Needs to Be Collaborative

The ability to work effectively in diverse teams with strong interpersonal skills is vital in today's workforce. Our classrooms should reflect this reality by making collaborative learning the norm, not the exception. Collaboration (whether student-student, teacher-teacher, school-school, or school-community) prepares students for an increasingly complex world.

Additional Key Principles

Beyond these foundational elements, effective learning design should also embrace:

• Personalization: Recognizing and accommodating the unique needs, interests, and learning paths of individual students

• Authenticity: Creating learning experiences connected to real-world challenges and opportunities

• Dispositional Development: Cultivating the mindsets, attitudes, and approaches that support lifelong learning

Putting It All Together: A Vision for Modern Learning

When we integrate these principles, we arrive at a powerful vision for education: 

Learning that is personalised, authentic, and connected locally and globally prepares students for their lives in the 21st century. It is centred on co-constructed high-interest projects, drawing on a range of specialist subjects, with opportunities for hands-on application and partnering with the community. There is a genuine outcome from the learning and students are partners in designing the learning.

Implications:

What could schools do to reflect the key principles above?

• Explore models of Project-based learning. In Future Directions in New Zealand schooling: The case for transformation (Centre for Strategic Education, 2017), McIntosh argues that project-based learning is a model that meets the requirements needed to transform teaching and learning (p.14). A clear model that all staff understand and commit to and through which students are scaffolded is essential to provide rigour and prevent low quality experiences and outcomes. The following links could be a good place to start:

• Best brief introduction to current thinking I’ve seen for a while

• PBLWorks is very useful not only with the ‘why’ but awesome for the ‘how?’ - great, easy to use tools

• Wiggins’ model of Understanding by Design used by the Science Leadership Academy

• Make every effort to provide opportunities for learning to be connected across subjects. Even with a traditional, single-subject timetable it’s not difficult to change mindsets and school practices to enable students to establish connections. 

• Schools could start by determining common themes that could drive learning contexts across the whole school or particular year levels. This would, at least, allow all subjects to connect to the common theme. 

• Meeting structures could be turned on their head and regular meetings for the common teachers of each class to discuss how learning could be connected across more than one subject. Students could work on high-interest projects which they have had a say in creating in classes timetabled for 2 or 3 of their subjects. Completing one piece of work, drawing on several subjects and being supported by several teachers will not only result in a quality outcome and deeper learning, but reduce workload for students and for  teachers. Perhaps Departments could be required to find times to run their meetings when necessary, rather than having them scheduled.

• Teachers in all classes could share with their students the responsibility of determining the context in which learning could take place. Teachers would still take responsibility for developing the important learning/achievement objectives but invite students to be design partners in determining the context.

• Rather than informing a class that they are studying Migration and that they would do this by learning about Victorian English people and their migration to and settling in New Zealand, a Social Studies teacher could explore with students the concept of Migration and establish its worthiness of study. They could then invite students to suggest which example of migration from across history, or in the present, they (individuals, small groups) would like to explore to increase their understanding of this concept. Teachers and students would design activities together which allow the important learning objectives to be met.

• Wherever possible, provide multiple opportunities for students to provide evidence of their learning (UDL). 

• If all students have to write an essay to show their understanding of an important science concept, then those who are poor essay writers will not do well, despite perhaps having a high level of understanding of the science concept. As long as the learning objectives can be met allow students to show their understanding, whether it be by essay, piece of art, spoken word.

• Include some contact or experience with the community or expertise from beyond the school in all planning of learning programmes.

• At the very least, this could be a guest speaker/facilitator but can include off-site visits, individual/small group mentor relationships, on-line communication and connection with expertise, or a client relationship.

• Encourage the public exhibition and discussion of student work.

• At the very least, this could be presenting findings back to the class with high expectations of how to make a quality presentation and how to provide quality feedback but can include presenting to students from outside the class or at another school, parents, and mentors and clients who have been involved in the learning.

• Think about where these presentations should take place.The school might be appropriate but so might a community space (library, parks, malls), a conference or place of work.

Moving Forward

Implementing this vision requires courage - the courage to relinquish some control, to embrace messiness, to build strong relationships with our students, and to be transparent about learning expectations while inviting co-design of learning tasks.

The journey toward this kind of learning design isn't always smooth or linear. There will be growing pains. But when we see our students engaged, empowered, and developing the skills they truly need for their futures, we'll know we're on the right path.

What steps are you taking to reimagine learning design in your educational context? I'd love to hear your thoughts and what you are attempting.

If You Need Help

Over the past couple of years my colleague Derek Wenmoth and I have been running some boutique PD programmes to empower leaders for transformational change. With those programmes we worked with individual leaders, within a group setting, to bring a particular change idea they had into fruition. 

We are now in a position to offer a range of flexible programmes for individual leaders, networks of across schools leaders (PLGs), and school based senior leadership teams and/or middle leadership teams.

Across four face-to-face sessions and regular on-line connection spread over a 12 month period we undertake four purposeful cycles that take you on a journey from self-discovery to sustainable impact. Participating as an individual or as part of a leadership group, you’ll explore what drives you as a leader, translating that understanding into how you lead and empower others, develop strategies for managing conflict and change, gathering evidence of your growth along the way to create systems that celebrate, sustain, and share your success.

Our experience with our previous work means that it is important to not  only focus on tools and strategies, but also to surface how we feel about our work, how we want to and not want to feel, how we want fellow team members to feel about their work and our team, and how we want those whom we lead to feel and not feel. We all respond emotionally to our work and particularly to change and we must be purposeful about the emotions we wish to promote and those we wish to manage.

The design of these programmes, particularly those for PLGs and senior and middle leadership teams has been informed by our work when working with teams to spend time describing the culture we aspire to and agreeing on the norms and ways of working that contribute to this culture. Such a focus makes it more likely that the team will be successful in its work

All the information you need on any of these programmes can be found here. Simply register your interest through the link or email me directly at maurie@hmwlead.co.nz. You can also access a flyer with all details here.

If you are wanting to operate in the top right quadrants one of these programmes will support you to do so.

How Might We Promote Engagement and Agency so that Students Learn More Deeply?

In my previous 2 posts I referenced a framework from The Disengaged Teen which highlighted the importance of focusing on agency as much as we focus on engagement so that we can support more students into the top right Explorer mode.

Early last year I shared what I was learning from reading this book and I reshare some of that below:

Engaging young people in school is a worthy aspiration and it has been focusing our attention for many years.

Many of us have hunches that young people are less engaged than they may have been in the past. Sometimes there is clear evidence to support these hunches:

• Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of PISA results evidence

• Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of attendance statistics

• Parents tell us kids are disengaged because, especially in their teens, they often seem reluctant to go to school or to give it their very best while there

• Teachers tell us that students seem more difficult to engage and often put this down to the pandemic experience

These beliefs then set us off in the direction of measuring engagement and the impact of any interventions on things like achievement data and attendance data. But might we be looking at this incorrectly.

What do the students say?

Well, the authors, on the 3rd page of their book, report:

“A shocking number of young people don’t see the point of school anymore.”

They produce evidence that the decline in achievement and engagement has been occurring around the world for at least 10 years, well before the pandemic.

Their years of research led them to develop this framework which identifies 4 modes of engagement:

Their work describes the importance of agency in achieving meaningful engagement; a type of engagement that enhances their ability to learn and adapt, which the authors argue:

“is not a nice-to-have but a must-have. It is the price of entry for a meaningful life.”

They certainly have sympathy for teachers who, “are sandwiched between a system that demands preparation for tests, restrictive accountability standards, and parents who insist their kids excel in a system not serving them well.”  But they report that, “In classrooms where teachers encourage agency, kids who explore get better grades.” 

Whenever I talk with adults about how they learn best in their current lives they often talk about needing to feel some level of control in how they go about the learning, that they are stretched to reach a goal but also have support to get there, that something is challenging but achievable.

The authors claim that this is also true for young people:

“The magic place for learning lies between challenge and support.”  and:

“Rigorous research across multiple countries shows that in classrooms where teachers support students’ agentic engagement, kids get better grades and do better on tests.”

The book delves deeply into the 4 modes of engagement identified in the above framework.

The 4 modes of engagement they identify are Resister, Passenger, Achiever, and Explorer. Resisters use their agency to let you know school is not working for them. Passengers coast in low gear (scarily they suggest this may be 50% of kids). Achievers work hard and 'do well' but are often fragile as it's all about the grades. Explorers are deeply involved and engaged in their own learning.

Passengers

"They don't see the relevance of what's being taught to their life and ability to solve problems in the world. Math becomes a series of formulas to memorize instead of tools to use to build new technology to solve climate change. History becomes a  series of dates to remember rather than the forces that shape our current politics."

We can move students out of the Passenger zone (disengaged and coasting) by linking learning to what the student is interested in.

Achievers

Being in Achiever mode may seem to be the ideal place to be.

“Young people in Achiever mode have internalized that doing well at school is important, and it has become a central motivation for them. Thus they build excellent work habits and real-life skills : time management, getting things done, doing things well.”

But, the authors found that many kids in Achiever mode are not enjoying school even though they are performing well:

“These students in unhappy Achiever mode are often plagued by perfectionism and haunted by fear of failure. They have the worst mental health outcomes of all students, even those who are deeply engaged.”

We can move students out of the Achiever zone by supporting them to practice trying things, falling down, reflecting on why they fell, and getting back up and trying again.

Resisters

Resisters show they have agency but point it away from learning because they are not engaged. They show this by avoiding going to school, or by quietly avoiding work and missing deadlines, or by disrupting class.

We can engage them simply by linking learning to their interests. In fact, one of the easiest shifts through the zones is from Resister to Explorer zone simply by linking learning in such a way.

Explorers

Explorers have agentic engagement:

"[Explorers] connect their interests to what's being taught...they make suggestions about how to do the work they are asked to complete...they seek help to investigate things they are interested in...they express their preferences."

In my next post I am going to try to provide some practical suggestions as to how our design of learning for our students can support more of them to become Explorers as we keep our focus on the top right quadrant below.