ISSUE 2 – 2010 NZ$8.95
Cognition Education magazine
A fresh perspective in mathematics
School establishment: a triumph of cooperation Gifted and talented education just good practice Changing the thinking behind teaching in Qatar Expectations – why they matter
Kuranga Kuranga is the Māori word for schooling and Māori is the first language of our land, New Zealand. We have chosen this name for our magazine as schools and schooling are at the core of our organisation. The essence of what we do is to improve schooling for children in New Zealand and around the world. We build schooling systems and structures to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. It is through the impact our work has on schools that we enhance life for the students that attend them and therefore the societies in which we operate.
Kuranga Issue 02 – 2010
Executive Editor Martin Fowler
Editor Roxanne de Bruyn
Contributing Writers Roxanne de Bruyn Sarah Ellich Dwight Whitney
Design Transformer
Production Coordinator Gina Prasad
Subscriptions and Contact Kuranga Magazine Cognition Education Private Bag 92617 Symonds Street Auckland 1150 Ph +64 638 4760 Fax +64 9 638 4761 Email publishing@cognition.co.nz Website www.cognition.co.nz Cover: Pip Arnold (Photo by Phillip Simpson) Articles reflect personal opinions, not those of Cognition Education. No parts of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from Cognition Education. © Cognition Education 2010
Featured Articles
School establishment: A triumph of co-operation
A fresh perspective Pip Arnold brings a new approach to mathematics - showing students how they can use statistics to interpret the world.
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Albany Senior High School is a first for New Zealand – the country’s first state-funded senior high school. It took a lot of work and co-operation to make it happen.
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Changing the thinking behind teaching Curriculum and pedagogy training in Qatar is about change: changing processes, tools, techniques and, most of all, changing the mindsets of teachers.
Gifted and talented education just good practice
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Dr Jenny Horsley believes making gifted and talented education work in the classroom comes down to good practice. She says teachers have to start with the basics to be successful.
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Expectations – why they matter The Cognition Institute and researchers from the University of Auckland explore beliefs and expectations in education and the valuable insight they can give.
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Contact Us For information about any of our services referred to in this magazine, please contact Jo Mullins, General Manager Business Development, on +64 9 638 4780 email jmullins@cognition.co.nz
For media enquiries please contact Martin Fowler, General Manager Marketing & Communications, on +64 9 638 4826 email mfowler@cognition.co.nz or Roxanne de Bruyn on +64 9 638 4782 email rdebruyn@cognition.co.nz
ISSN 1179-8432
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
Contents 03 Starting from the end
38 Expert evaluation Measuring the quality of education
An update from CEO John Langley
04 News headlines All the news from Cognition
40 Balancing sports and studies Lifting student achievement in a sports academy
10 New Zealand in the Gulf A New Zealand trade delegation visits Abu Dhabi
16 Teaching and school leadership Implementing the National Professional Standards in Qatar
18 A clean slate
Health Promoting Schools in New Zealand
46 Carving out the road map Managing change in a New Zealand primary school
52 The hub at the heart
Becoming an independent school in Qatar
Hub concept at heart of Cognition Institute submission on special education
26 Measuring success A profile on Ros Stephens, Cognition’s Schooling Improvement Leader in Abu Dhabi
54 Rewarding excellence 2010 recipients named for teaching and leadership awards
28 More than translating words Cognition translator links advisors and teachers
57 Insights from Collaboration The Education Leaders Forum 2010
36 Expanding research horizons Introducing the 2010 FulbrightCognition Research Scholars
43 Bringing health promotion straight to the student
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Message from the CEO
Starting at the end Greetings - T n koutou katoa Nimen Hao Kumusta - Namaste - Goeie Dag Talofa lava - As salaam alaykum Dr John Langley ONZM Chief Executive Officer
Welcome to the second issue of Kuranga. It is often said that the second of edition of anything is the real test of the quality of an item as those who are discerning compare it with the first edition to see how it compares. If that is the test then I think you will be well pleased with the pages that follow. When I look at the contributions to this edition, the work we do and the ways in which we frame it up, some things become clear. First, in education and many other fields when we undertake evaluations or reviews we too often look at the existing “bits” of the system and see how we can make them work better. Almost all reviews in education are of this kind. Some classic examples are the plethora of reviews that have been undertaken in areas such as special education, underperforming schools and teacher education, to name but some. The usual result of such an approach is that the system, or parts of it, may work a little better for a while, but in the end nothing substantive really changes. An example of that are the approaches adopted for improving the performance of the long “tail” in achievement that New Zealand has. That “tail” has been there for many years, remains there and unless there is a significantly different approach, will be there in another 10 years. In short, what we are doing has failed because we have tried to make the “bits” work when the problem might well be that we are trying to fix the wrong “bits”. Another approach, one that demands more foresight and courage, is to ignore what is there already and spend the initial time clearly identifying the goal or goals of any educational endeavour. Once those goals are identified and articulated then work back from there and ask what needs to be in place to deliver those goals – what policy framework? What structures or organisations?
What people with what knowledge and skills? What resources and how should they be delivered? How will progress and success be measured? In other words, begin at the end and work out clearly what will get us there. When I reflect on the work Cognition does, it has increasingly moved towards the second approach. More and more often we look to the end result, what we need to achieve and then build from therein the contexts in which we operate. It is an approach that has been remarkably successful in improving and reforming education in what are very challenging environments at times. The success we have achieved in improving teaching, leadership and student achievement internationally is confirmation of such an approach and to my colleagues whose skill and commitment makes it work. This edition, as with the first, reflects the range and quality of the work that Cognition undertakes both within New Zealand and internationally. When such material is compiled in this way I am reminded again of what an important and fascinating organisation it is, the contribution it makes to the New Zealand education scene and the great people I have as my colleagues. Read and enjoy.
Dr John Langley ONZM Chief Executive Officer Cognition Education Trust and Cognition Education Limited
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
News Headlines
Cognition Spencer Foundation visit Goren, then senior vice president of the Spencer Foundation in conducts a road Paul Chicago, was in New Zealand in March to work with the Cognition as a “critical friend” and met with different members of the safety education Institute Cognition Education team. Paul is a well-known leader in both in the United States of America review and New Zealand as an advocate for stronger connections between education research, policy and
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ognition recently completed a contract with the Ministry of Transport to review the effectiveness of road safety education for young people aged 5 to 24 in New Zealand. Safer Journeys is the New Zealand government’s strategy to guide improvements in road safety over the period 2010-2020. Improving the road safety education available to young people in New Zealand and increasing their access to it are two key actions in the Safer Journeys strategy. The project focused on road safety education in general and driver education in particular, a review of the literature considered best practice in road safety education for young people and educational considerations which might influence the design of effective road safety education programmes. Schools and road safety education providers completed a web-based survey and the results were to be used to establish the coverage of road safety education. Qualitative data about content and delivery was collected during visits to schools, and training providers in selected areas, and a survey was used to capture student views. A final report with recommendations was submitted to the Ministry of Transport at the end of September. Project manager, Chris Jager, says that involvement in this review has provided Cognition with a valuable opportunity to apply educational thinking in a new context.
practice. He is now the executive director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), which has become a national model in the United States for conducting research on urban public education systems.
Cognition’s export success recognised Cognition Education was recently acknowledged for its commitment to international education reform in two of New Zealand’s export awards.
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ognition won the Consultants & Services Exporter of the Year Award at the Auckland Export Awards and has been announced as one of only five finalists in the New Zealand International Business Awards category for businesses with total annual revenue of over $50 million. “These are very significant achievements and we are very proud of what we have accomplished,” says Cognition CEO, Dr John Langley. “It is unusual for education companies to be recognised amongst New Zealand’s leading exporters, and it is testament to the hard work of many people – staff, the board, our supporters and of course our clients, that we have accomplished this.” The Auckland Export Awards were run by Export New Zealand, and the factors that most impressed the judges were the enthusiasm and sense of commitment of the Cognition team, and the focus on core priorities. The 2010 New Zealand International Business Awards were run by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Chief Executive Peter Crisp said that the finalists were some of New Zealand’s most innovative, nimble and determined exporters. Winners were announced at an Awards Dinner.
NZ MPs visit Abu Dhabi The ability to respect cultural sensitivities was given yesterday as one of the reasons Cognition Education is making positive headway delivering improvement programmes in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain schools.
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visiting New Zealand parliamentary delegation heard that Cognition has made “outstanding” progress in raising student achievement in 24 state schools and kindergartens in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Cognition project director Ian Hall says this is due to the ability of its staff to forge positive working relationships and respect cultural contexts. He said as a New Zealand organisation, staff were able to tap into their own experience of bicultural relations and could comfortably foster Emerati culture and language alongside western-style teaching methods. Delegation leader Metiria Turei said New Zealand has considerable expertise in bi-cultural education. “Because of this, New Zealand understands how to work with and alongside different communities, and the needs of families and children living in a multicultural society,” she says. The three MPs – Metiria Turei, Craig Foss and Maryan Street – were on a four-day fact finding trip ahead of plans to open a New Zealand Embassy in the capital next January.
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News Headlines
Enabling adventures in education
Building Future Education Middle East North Africa (MENA)
Joe Akari only recently joined Cognition Education as General Manager – People, but already his mind is alive with the possibilities of making a difference to Cognition’s growth.
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Joe Akari
want people to extend their thinking to view professional development as encompassing who they are and what they want to be and achieve,” says Joe Akari, new General Manager – People. Previously, Joe worked in large-scale companies with international connections and business influences. Most recently he was HR director for Frucor Beverages, where he was responsible for 750 staff in Australia and New Zealand. Within a few weeks of joining Cognition, Joe visited the Gulf to see the company’s business operations in action. It has emphasised to him that his new role requires him to be in synch with the business development team and be mindful of the individual contexts and issues of the people he is working with. “As well as covering compliance or contractual issues, we need to share that excitement and enthusiasm people have about Cognition as the company you come to for a teaching adventure and where you can expand your talents and horizons.” The scale of the opportunity and the operations offshore, say Joe, are mind-boggling but also mind-opening. In particular, he is excited by working for a true knowledge company. “For me that was an attractive part of being involved with Cognition. The possibility of improving the lives of children here and offshore is personally rewarding. In essence we have all the benefits of being part of a commercially successful, sustainable and viable business which make a difference to people, cultures and countries.”
ognition is proud to be a sponsor of the Building Future Education MENA conference on November 21-22 in Abu Dhabi. Building Future Education MENA is a free-to-attend exhibition and conference which covers the management, reform, investment and operation of all educational institutions and programmes in the MENA region. University of Auckland Professor and Cognition Education Board Member John Hattie will be chairing the conference. For more information visit www.buildingfutureeducationmena.com
The future is digital
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he New Zealand Ministry of Education and Cognition Education have partnered to bring digital technology teachers a three-day professional learning symposium. The Ministry of Education and Cognition Digital Technologies Symposium will be held in Auckland in November and will provide teachers with interactive workshops, engaging discussions and inspirational speakers. Delegates will find out about industry trends and career pathways, and create meaningful and interesting courses for students using the New Zealand Curriculum and the new achievement standards. For more information visit www.cognition.co.nz November 17-19 2010, Holiday Inn – Auckland Airport
Cognition brings artist to Doha
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oy Papprill moved to Doha, Qatar, when her husband accepted a job there as a teaching adviser with Cognition. During her time there, Joy set up a studio in their apartment and painted many beautiful pictures with both Kiwi and Middle Eastern themes. Joy even held an exhibition to showcase her talent and sell some of her artwork.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
Focus Using Statistics to Interpret the World
a fresh perspective Cognition’s Pip Arnold has many passions in life, but none more so than for education and, in particular, the challenging subjects of mathematics and statistics. Her ‘calling’ came at a very early age.
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PHOTOS Phillip Simpson
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knew I wanted to teach from age seven. In many ways school holidays and the like were boring, as the place I wanted to be was in the classroom. I was good at sport and mathematics, so had those choices to specialise in, but over time I saw that people around me were not enjoying a subject I loved, so I felt I could make the most difference there. I love inspiring people and supporting them to be creative and innovative in their teaching and in order to really bring learning alive.” Most of all, she realises mathematics and statistics provide opportunities for students to investigate, interpret and make sense of the world in which they live. She brings this zest and zeal to a year-long project she is facilitating, in association with the Ministry of Education, around the development of the senior secondary guides for mathematics and statistics. She also brings a level of experience and insight to the subjects through her experience with many of the aspects of the evolution of the mathematics curriculum. She started teaching in 1988 and encountered many of the upgrades and amendments to teacher and student resource material. She has worked as an adviser with teachers and has been running workshops since 1990. She has also worked as head of department for Auckland Girls Grammar and is currently completing
Mathematics is Pip Arnold’s passion
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
Focus Using Statistics to Interpret the World
her PhD in Statistics education. The current project has involved her in pulling together a team of 12, including mathematics and statistics teachers from a range of different decile, co-ed and single sex schools, as well as advisers and university lecturers. The overriding objective is to develop the rationale and key concepts around these essential, but for some incomprehensible, subject areas.
“I’m a strong advocate of creating learning experiences for children that are relevant to their world and the world in general. In that regard, the teaching orientation of a whole range of subjects is to employ parts of their world to help them understand and identify important concepts.”
Pip says that her philosophy and style of being a ‘contextualist’ rather than ‘chalk and talk’ type of teacher is guiding her endeavours. “I’m a strong advocate of creating learning experiences for children that are relevant to their world and the world in general. In that regard the teaching orientation of a whole range of subjects is to employ parts of their world to help them understand and identify important concepts. Mathematics and statistics are no different, but
some of the methodologies that have evolved make engagement and connection somewhat of a challenge for some. “If the outcome of the project makes these two subject areas relevant to the real world, and in the process has helped to create solutions and situations that are motivating people to learn, then that would be a significant achievement.” Work to date has focussed on the achievement objectives for level 6-8 (Year 11-13) of the curriculum. “Our task was to explain each achievement objective, give some examples of what this might look like in the classroom and link to the qualification framework for NCEA. In addition to this, we sourced a number of key resources that teachers might use in their classrooms.” Part two has involved developing sections on effective pedagogy, assessment, links to the principles, values and key competencies in the new curriculum and to develop suggestions for possible learning programmes (i.e. year courses). Part three – yet to be finalised – will relate to connections to other subject and learning pathways. A main driver behind the project is to encapsulate the direction of the new curriculum and to provide teachers with ideas to support them in the implementation of this into the senior school, with activities and material that are useful and connected to student needs. Despite having the goal of making the subject more accessible, Pip is insistent that the integrity and purity of the subject matter should not be watered down.
Where different worlds intersect Other ‘real life’ situations that can help bring mathematics and statistics to life include: – Purchasing cell phones – links here to linear algebra by modelling the different pricing plans that companies offer; –
Comparing different models – links to measurement and geometry by creating boxes for packaging, designing a phone, using photos to make measures;
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Taking maths out of the classroom and onto the sporting field. 100m sprint times – modelling this using linear algebra;
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Creating responsible citizens and managing water woes – links to measurement, geometry and statistics, but this type of activity also explores the issue of water supply and conservation/ sustainability of water, links also to other subject areas, such as geography, education for sustainability, science.
Focus Using Statistics to Interpret the World
Pip Arnold and a rhombicosidodecahedron
“Even though the starting point is language and situations they are familiar with, the process then is to introduce concepts that pertain to the subject matters. Mathematics has a language of its own and it is important for the subject matter that this is retained. The goal is to find real-life contexts where the mathematics and statistics sit but to also ensure it is not so esoteric that people can’t relate to how it is used and applied in their lives. Much of this is about removing barriers that people might intuitively put up when they encounter something they don’t understand. Rather than saying ‘Ah this is too hard, I can’t do mathematics’, the challenge is to give them ways to re-relate to the problem and overcome it.” She knows from her own experiences that mathematics and statistics open the door to a world of beauty, mystery and awe, and the enjoyment of intellectual challenge. Students encounter opportunities to explore ideas and to wrestle with interesting problems. Mathematics and statistics helps connect abstract ideas with real-world thinking. Sometimes a legitimate context is a mathematical context, but there are many others that are more relevant to today’s teenagers that provide a catalyst or a starter for some rich mathematical and statistical experiences. She acknowledges there are some big ideas and opportunities in the work being done, but it will boil down to the fact that you will have difficulty changing people unless they see a reason for change and engage in the chance to expand their horizons. She also sees the opportunity to take teachers’ focus away from purely assessment outcomes and develop skill levels so that there is a true understanding of mathematics and statistics and they can apply this understanding to how they think and how the subject permeates their lives. “Make it real, for if it is not real then the automatic question is... ‘Why should I do it?’ My hope is that more and more people will see what I see in mathematics and statistics and say ‘I want to do it’. I guess in a nutshell we are looking for a connected curriculum, connected to students’ lives, connected to other subjects, connections within mathematics and statistics. Which links in nicely with the rhombicosidodecahedron – something that is made up of many connections.” To see what Pip has been working on visit http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Mathematicsand-statistics
I must go down to the sea again
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ip Arnold loves sports but decided to embark on a totally new ‘learning curve’ in order to reconnect her with the ‘nuts and bolts’ process of how people learned by doing. She chose sailing—something that seemed mysterious and that had a culture, language and experiences all of its own. She discovered that halyards, tacking duels and the like sounded foreign at first, but when you become engaged and interested you will learn the language.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
Focus Minister opens Cognition Education offices in the Gulf
NZ in the gulf In April, the New Zealand Minister of Trade the Honourable Tim Groser officially opened Cognition Education’s new offices in Abu Dhabi.
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PHOTOS Martin Fowler
Focus Minister opens Cognition Education offices in the Gulf
Focus Minister opens Cognition Education offices in the Gulf
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s a New Zealand company, we are delighted that the Minister of Trade opened our Abu Dhabi office,” said Cognition CEO Dr John Langley. “We have experienced significant growth in the Gulf States over the last few years and we appreciate the importance of having a strong relationship between our organisation and this country.” The Minister, the Hon. Tim Groser, was in the region as part of the New Zealand government delegation to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and also visited Um Habiba Primary School for Girls, a school in which Cognition is working. He was welcomed by the Director General of ADEC, His Excellency Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, and the ADEC Executive Director (School Operations), HE Mohamed Salem Al Dhaheri. Dr Langley, Cognition Chairman Stewart Germann, and other government and business representatives were also present, including New Zealand business people travelling with the delegation. Guests attended a tabour at the school, which was a cultural performance including music and a dramatic performance from the students incorporating many traditional cultural references and an exchange of gifts. “There is no better way of increasing understanding between two peoples than through education. We believe we are achieving this through our work here,” said Dr Langley.
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“There is no better way of increasing understanding between two peoples than through education.”
Focus Minister opens Cognition Education offices in the Gulf
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1: Arriving at Um Habiba Girls’ Primary School 2: New Zealand Minister of Trade Tim Groser and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Trevor Matheson arrive at the school 3: Flags line the entrance way
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4: ADEC Executive Director, HE Mohamed Salem Al Dhaheri, NZ Minister of Trade Hon Tim Groser and the Director General of ADEC, HE Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili
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5: Delegation officials with the students of the school 6: Tim Groser and Dr Mugheer during the Tabour 7: The New Zealand trade delegation inside the school 8: Cognition’s Sally Smart and Tim Groser opening Cognition’s Abu Dhabi office
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9: Tim Groser and Trevor Matheson outside Cognition’s office in Abu Dhabi
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2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus NZ’s First State-Funded Senior High School
a triumph of co-operation Albany Senior High School is a first for New Zealand – the country’s first statefunded senior high school. And it took a lot of work and the co-operation of Cognition Education, the Ministry of Education and the establishment board to make it happen.
Prime Minister John Key, Principal Barbara Cavanagh and Board of Trustee Chairman Simon Russell at the opening of the school building
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PHOTOS Roxanne de Bruyn
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ally Smart, of Cognition, who is now Cognition’s Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East was the project director for Albany Senior High School. She brought together the Ministry and the board to “understand the potential for what education can be now,” says Principal Barbara Cavanagh. “Sally organised for key personnel to travel together to Australia to investigate schools that were looking at education in groundbreaking and innovative ways. She brought together an incredible amount of educational research and provided real opportunities for the whole group to think about what was possible. She also arranged for them to hear from an amazing range of speakers – Russell Bishop, Mary Chamberlain, and Margaret Bendall included.” The establishment board was appointed in March 2007 and Barbara became principal in October that year. Barbara had previously been an English teacher and then principal at Te Awamutu and Ngaruawahia High Schools. “By the time I came on board, so much research and thinking had been done by this group. The Ministry’s NZ Curriculum
Focus NZ’s First State-Funded Senior High School
Document had just been released and it so explicitly outlines: ‘This is what we are doing and why’. The key competencies from that document had also been incorporated into the group’s planning. It was all so innovative and exciting. And everything was so clearly set out that I was able to engage with it straight away.” Albany Senior High’s innovation lies largely in its approach to the students. They are treated as young adults being prepared to go out into the world of employment and further education. It has been commented on that the open-plan learning environment feels more like a university than a school. Students are encouraged to express their own choices and develop their own skills and expertise in the areas they are passionate about. One of the key innovations in this regard is the Impact Project. Every Wednesday students are able to work on a project of their choice. The huge range of technology and resources at the school allow students to explore almost any area they are passionate about. The school is filled with computers, music rooms, production rooms, a theatre, dance studio and a green room. “The Impact Project and the facilities and technology we have available allow students to go beyond the limits of what is normally available to them. One student, who is a really talented designer, has designed all the rolling signage at the school. We have students who are creating wind turbines, doing robotics – it’s amazing. The project allows them to delve deeply into their passion and investigate it thoroughly.” Barbara is also working with a group of 10 students who are writing their first novel. Cognition’s involvement was critical to the strategic thinking that put all this in place. “And what was so great was that the board
“We have students who are creating wind turbines, doing robotics – it’s amazing. The project allows them to delve deeply into their passion and investigate it thoroughly.”
Top left: Open plan learning Lower: 21st century classrooms
and the Ministry were completely behind it. Cognition did a great job of getting everyone to work together towards the same goal,” says Barbara. “Coming into that atmosphere of co-operation where everyone was operating as a group, listening to each other, and getting excited about the potential of this school was a great experience.” And the hard work has paid off – Albany Senior High began in 2007 in two small rooms at North Harbour Stadium while the staff waited for the new building to go ahead. A complex resource consent process and the need to design around a small and environmentally sensitive site meant that this was not going to happen quickly. With the appointment of three deputy principals in 2008 they needed larger premises and moved into a house on Fairview Avenue. At the end of that year, the school was moved into a temporary building on the Albany Junior High School site, with a roll of 230 students. The new building was completed at the beginning of this year – five stories that are beautifully integrated with the natural landscape and the surrounding residential area. The doors opened to students on February 3 with a roll of 450 very lucky students.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus National Professional Standards in Qatar
teaching and school leadership Defining good education can be a challenge, but having guidelines gives educators something to aspire to.
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o improve education practice, teachers and school leaders need to know what is expected of them. In Qatar, the National Professional Standards (NPS) were developed to show teachers and school leaders what constituted effective teaching and leadership. “This project was about implementing the National Professional Standards in Qatar,” says Cognition Project Director Ian Smyth. “The standards were about the role and function of teaching and leadership in schools. It was an aspirational document in that it outlined what teaching and school leadership should look like. “One aspect of the project was providing leadership programmes that catered for all levels of leadership. We had 14 Qatari master trainers who helped run the programme. Sessions were interactive workshops, not lectures. We wanted everyone to get involved, and the master trainers ran the interactive parts.” The Cognition NPS team also implemented the standards at school and government levels, making sure
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that everyone knew what the standards were and what they meant. Implementing the NPS in Qatar meant changing its pedagogy. The Cognition team had a huge amount of international experience to share. Ian spent many years as a primary school principal and teacher in the UK and Adelaide, worked in education reform for AusAid and even did a stint in children’s TV. The rest of the team were similarly qualified. “Our team members were former principals from Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand,” says Ian. “We picked the best bits of research and adapted them to work for Qatar. This meant moving from an autocratic leadership style and adapting and adopting teaching techniques to meet the needs of all the students there.” Overall, Ian is positive about the progress made in education in Qatar. “Many of the schools there are doing fantastic jobs. How far they’ve come during the years of the reform is amazing.”
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Focus National Professional Standards in Qatar
Implementing the National Professional Standards In schools There are 10 cluster facilitators with 10 schools each, who implement the National Professional Standards at the school level.
For leaders
“We picked the best bits of research and adapted them to work for Qatar...�
Leadership programmes are run for aspiring leaders, emerging leaders and accredited leaders. Completing the accredited leader programme is compulsory for school leaders so they can receive teacher licensing. There is also a Diploma in Leadership, which is voluntary for senior leaders. Fourteen Qatari master trainers have been mentored to run these workshops.
In the Supreme Education Council
Ian Smyth
An SEC Liaison Officer works within the SEC to introduce the National Professional Standards to the school inspectors and curriculum officers. This ensures that they know what to look for when they go into schools.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Becoming an Independent School in Qatar
a clean slate Last year, Ahmed bin Hanbal Secondary School for Boys in Qatar was transformed into an independent school over the summer. Although it looked the same when the school’s 686 grade 10-12 students returned from the summer break, things had changed.
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Focus Becoming an Independent School in Qatar
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Becoming an Independent School in Qatar
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e started a school development plan,” says David Kane, who was a Cognition advisory teacher at the school. “We developed eight goals and a fiveyear plan with policies, processes and procedures to back it up.” “It’s a new school. We wiped the slate clean and started again.” David’s focus was on making sure the teachers knew how to teach and had the necessary research skills to find the information they needed. Along with the other Cognition contractors at the school, David helped to improve the quality of education and increase student achievement at Ahmed bin Hanbal. The school is doing very well. “If you go into a classroom and there’s a coherent attempt at teaching in a way that aligns to our goals, then we’ve done our bit,” says David. “We had to get the teachers and students united in learning. The new strength of the school is in its leadership and teamwork.” The school’s staff echoes this observation. “We are all leaders here; everyone is responsible for themselves,” says the head of the English department. “You can direct your colleagues if you need to. Everyone is specialised in something, and we work as a team here. The leadership of our principals is excellent. They are very supportive of us.” He also appreciates the changes Cognition staff helped to introduce over the two years they worked at the school. “Martin Blackburn, the senior management adviser, helped not only in professional development but also in the management of the classes. “There have been a lot of changes in many fields such as English, management and learning. We are happy with these changes. They have made our school better.” Alan Papprill, who was Cogniton’s advisory teacher for English at the school, is also positive about the progress the school has made. “We can demonstrate some improvement from comparative diagnostics,” he says. “The students have improved two grade levels on asTTle (a New Zealand assessment tool), and we’ll officially know how their achievement has improved come the national exams.” Based on the results, the Cognition team decided that the first lot of annual exams was too easy, and adjusted the degree of difficulty for the second lot of exams. “Achievement seems to have gone down, but that’s only because the degree of difficulty has gone up,” says Alan. “The teachers and students have understood this and explained it to parents.” Overall, the Cognition team is excited about the progress made since their involvement with the school. “It’s a school it’s easy to get enthusiastic about,” says David. “It was a top-performing Ministry of Education school and should be a top independent school too.”
Professional development at Ahmed bin Hanbal To ensure that the school continued to improve after the contract ended, a huge focus was put on professional development. The pride and joy of the Cognition staff and many of the teachers is a classroom set aside specifically for the professional development of teachers. The room is decorated in a way that illustrates best practice and what it means. All 12 of the National Professional Standards are on the wall, with a photo underneath each demonstrating that standard being done well. Unit and lesson plans are displayed on the wall as outcomes. The attestation process that teachers need to undertake to become licensed teachers is also displayed on the wall, along with
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Focus Becoming an Independent School in Qatar
“We basically reverse engineered a school and in so doing our knowledge of what was important in an effective school grew.” the school’s response on how it does it. “This room shows how teachers’ classrooms should look,” says Martin Blackburn. “There will be student work on the walls that encourages thought.” There is also a wall of fame where four teachers are showcased. These are teachers who have done exceptionally good work – making it onto this wall is a big achievement. “The professional development now comes from the staff,” says Martin. “We encouraged the process, but the teachers became involved in professional development and took ownership of it.”
PHOTOS Martin Fowler
Being the Senior Management Advisor (SMA) at Ahmed bin Hanbal For Martin Blackburn, the most challenging aspect of his time as a senior management advisor at Ahmed bin Hanbal was the sheer variety of tasks, with the usual and unusual mixed in together. “I began each day with a general idea of what my plan was, and I sometimes got to attempt some of it,” he says. “I found myself involved in activities that wouldn’t normally make a principal’s job description. One of the more bizarre incidents was when I was called upon to kidnap and liberate a seasnake!” Careful reading of his job description allowed him to file this task under deliverable 3.1 – to advise and assist as requested by the school operator and as deemed necessary. Martin describes the deliverables as an operational manual. “Basically, we supported the senior management team to set up and implement all the necessary policies and processes to effectively run a new school. Each month we reported on our progress against the deliverables.” Martin says that all the staff were enthusiastic and eager to learn. He tried to be positive in all his dealings with staff and endeavoured to build capacity. “The most important aspect of the job was to build positive relationships that were geared towards change management.” It was a multi-ethnic environment, with a mixture of Qatari, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Tunisian teachers. The mix of students was even greater, and each brought with them their own set of experiences and educational philosophies. “Our task was to bring them together into a unit that functioned to bring the mission and vision of the school to life, in keeping with the philosophy of the Qatari educational reform,” he says. “The most unexpected aspect of the job was the positive impact it had on my professional knowledge. We basically reverse engineered a school and in so doing our knowledge of what was important in an effective school grew.” Through his work at Ahmed bin Hanbal, he has been exposed to a wide range of effective leadership and management tools. “I have honed my skills as a relationship and change manager, and I have learnt to work far more effectively as a team player,” he says. “I will take all these skills with me when I return to school principalship.”
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Gifted and Talented Education in the Classroom
gifted& talented
Gifted and talented project team Micheal King (left) and Jenny Horsley
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Focus Gifted and Talented Education in the Classroom
“Gifted and talented education is not rocket science,” says Dr Jenny Horsley, the Professional Leader for Cognition Education’s gifted and talented education project. “It’s just good practice.”
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y using existing assessment data as a starting point, Dr Jenny Horsley of Cognition’s gifted and talented education project believes that teachers can develop differentiated programmes so that students of all abilities are catered for. Once that has been established, they can move to identifying other characteristics of giftedness. “We want to empower teachers to use the data and information they already have to identify which students are highly able.” Dr Horsley is a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington and has recently completed a Fulbright-Cognition Institute scholarship in gifted and talented education at Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth in the United States. She is passionate about what we can do for the gifted students.
“We would hope that the outcome will be differentiated programmes in their classes and that these teachers ultimately help other teachers in their school to do the same.”
“Identifying gifted students is often a contextual issue. A lot depends on the values of the community a child is in and the characteristics of that community. Identifying those values in relation to giftedness and talent can be a challenge, and some teachers can also find the idea of developing a differentiated programme challenging, although it really shouldn’t be.” An Education Review Office report in 2008 suggested that New Zealand has a long way to go with meeting the needs of high ability M ori, Pacific Islander and rural school students. The Ministry of Education is addressing this through the Professional Learning Communities part of the contract. Low-decile and rural schools are invited to send teachers to these workshops. Cognition will then work with these teachers over the rest of the year to address how they meet the needs of high ability students in their classes and schools. “We would hope that the outcome will be differentiated programmes in their classes and
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that these teachers ultimately help other teachers in their school to do the same,” says Dr Horsley. “We would also like to see the schools developing sustainable programmes for gifted and talented education.” Above level testing is something that Dr Horsley would like to see happen more in New Zealand. This means that if students are performing well at their level, they can then be tested at a higher level. Teachers will then know what level the child is performing at in a particular subject and can give them work at that level. This is described as an optimal match between the student’s needs and their learning programme. “If you assess well, and use the data to make decisions about what you are going to teach, then you are able to plan to meet student needs,” Dr Horsley says. “We’re trying to focus on what schools are already doing and empower them to look at what the data tells them and use that to help all their students, but particularly those who demonstrate high-academic potential or ability. “It’s definitely worthwhile doing. These kids are the future of New Zealand. They’ll be our leaders one day and we need leaders from all walks of society.” Her recent study of those factors that successful NZQA Scholarship recipients perceived to have contributed to their success showed that successful students have teachers who believe in them. Parents, families and communities also make a difference, but students perceive the teacher is the overriding factor in their success. “For students to be successful, the class has to be well organised with teachers using a range of teaching and learning strategies. The teacher also needs to believe in the students and articulate that belief,” says Dr Horsley. “This is good practice anyway, and good practice is what is required to meet the needs of all students, and particularly those who demonstrate – or have the potential to demonstrate – exceptional ability.”
Bringing principles of gifted and talented education to the teachers As part of the Gifted and Talented Education project, Cognition has run a series of symposia for teachers and school leaders around New Zealand. The symposia theme ‘Realising Potential and Developing Relationships’ provided a focus for bringing together representatives from our education sector that highlight research, practice and opportunities for
PHOTOS Phillip Simpson
Focus Gifted and Talented Education in the Classroom
Focus Gifted and Talented Education in the Classroom
Gifted and Talented Project Director Micheal King and Professional Leader Jenny Horsley
meeting the needs of these students. Project Director Micheal King has been overwhelmed with the positive response the national symposia have received. “Teachers have told us that the presentations have done one of two things: affirmed their practice or provided direction that schools can take in order to meet the needs of their gifted and talented students,” he says. “Teacher feedback has affirmed the value of bringing ‘gifted’ professionals to each region to share current research and practice in the giftedness and talent arena.” The symposia have also provided an opportunity to seek teacher feedback on Cognition’s gifted and talented Identification Toolkit and Planning and Implementation Toolkit. “We are very encouraged by the feedback to date. The toolkit is a starting point for schools. It is in no way the total package. The message from our presenters is that it must be used contextually. Schools need to work with their parents and community stakeholders to bring a meaningful context to their gifted and talented definition and
identification process.” Teachers have told Micheal that these tools can assist in their process of identifying and making provision for their gifted and talented students.
“Teacher feedback has affirmed the value of bringing ‘gifted’ professionals to each region to share current research and practice in the giftedness and talent arena.” “It’s very exciting to be involved in a project that has direct links to improving outcomes in New Zealand classrooms,” he says. When trialling is completed, the Identification Toolkit and Planning and Implementation Toolkit will be available for school and teacher use through TKI.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Ros Stephens, Schooling Improvement Leader Abu Dhabi
measuring success Ros Stephens, one of three Schooling Improvement Leaders in Abu Dhabi, has a wealth of experience in the education sector. Australian-born, she grew up in Auckland and Whangaparaoa and now lives in Wellington. Her background is in New Zealand education, most recently setting up new schools.
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PHOTOS Martin Fowler
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efore I left New Zealand, I spent 10 years working on setting up new schools, developing assessment and designing curriculums for them,” says Ros Stephens, schooling improvement leader in Abu Dhabi. Her main area of expertise is middle schooling and she worked as Deputy Principal at Hibiscus Coast Intermediate, with the goal of developing a middle school there. From there Ros moved on to the role of Deputy Principal to establish Whangaparaoa College. There she spent three terms planning the new school and had the responsibility for designing an innovative, integrated curriculum and assessment procedures for years 7-13. In 2006, Ros joined St Marks Church School in Wellington where there was a need for a secondary and middle school. “We made all the plans, and as Head of Junior College I developed the curriculum and assessment, hired teachers and recruited students,” she says. “I also trained in Vietnam in order to implement the International Baccalaureate. Unfortunately, after two years, due to funding constraints the College did not continue.” Ros then decided to make a change and joined Cognition as a Lead Advisor in Al Hadharah School, Abu Dhabi. She spent a year there, and was promoted to the role of Community Manager in Abu Dhabi in 2009. This year that role developed into the Schooling Improvement Leader. As one of three Schooling Improvement Leaders, Ros’ job is to make sure that all the schools in her care meet the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s key performance indicators (KPIs). Each school has a school improvement plan with a schedule. As part of the Strategic Leadership Team, she is also the link between the team in Abu Dhabi and the schools. “I encourage teams to look at the documentation and to make sure they have evidence to show what we are doing to meet the KPIs,” she says. “This may mean keeping records of professional development materials, lesson plans or even photos of good teaching taking place. “We need to be able to show that the quality of teaching and lessons is improving and that this leads to better student outcomes.” Ros’ family is still in New Zealand and Australia. Since her time with Cognition in Abu Dhabi she had a granddaughter and grandson and it can be hard to be away. However, Ros believes that most of the time, the experience is worth it. “It’s a real privilege to work with Emirati people and get to know their world, culture and ways of doing things. It gives me an insight into the country which I could never otherwise have.”
Focus Ros Stephens schooling improvement leader abu dhabi
“We need to be able to show that the quality of teaching and lessons is improving and that this leads to better student outcomes.� Ros Stephens
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Cognition Translator Links Advisers and Teachers
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Focus Cognition Translator Links Advisers and Teachers
more than translating words At Al Hadharah School translation is more than interpreting language. It also creates a connection and understanding between the different cultures there.
Salsabil and the Cognition team at Al Hadharah School
PHOTOS Martin Fowler
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alasabil Mahmod Al Kordi has always known that she wanted to be a translator. She was born in the UAE to Palestinian parents and knew that English was important all through school and university. When she left school, she spent four years studying translation at the Ajman University for Science and Technology, where she had professors from different countries. “At school I knew that English was important,” she says, “but in university I fell in love with it. I realised that it’s not just translating words. You need to know how to engage with people.” After graduating, Salsabil worked part time teaching English and translating for a marketing company. While these jobs gave her confidence, she didn’t really enjoy them. Then in 2008, Salsabil got her first full time job as a translator with Cognition Education. “Now that I’ve worked with Cognition I’ve
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Cognition Translator Links Advisers and Teachers
“With the language and cultural differences it can be difficult for them to understand where each other is coming from. I try to explain how it feels from the other point of view.” realised that teaching is interesting if you know how to teach,” she says. She has found the work at Al Hadharah School challenging and interesting. “I’m learning from two cultures – Emirati and New Zealand. It’s my job to find ways to connect them.” Finding this connection is not always an easy task. Translating in a school setting means that Salsabil needs to understand education and the reform process so she can create understanding between the teachers and Cognition advisers. “I have to appreciate the background of the teachers and advisers,” she says. “It’s about finding the similarities among them and using that as a starting point.” As well as translating the educational aspects of teaching, Salsabil also bridges the cultural differences between the Cognition team and the teachers at the school. “With the language and cultural differences it can be difficult for them to understand where each other is coming from,” she says. “I try to explain how it feels from the other point of view.” Deliah Reuben, an adviser for Cognition, says that the team really appreciates the role that Salsabil plays. “Without her here our jobs would be so much more difficult. She explains the cultural differences.
“I’m working with totally different people who have amazing experiences in life. I love my job and I feel I was just born to do this.”
Salsabil Mahmod Al Kordi, Cognition’s translator at Al Hadharah School
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There are things which we potentially could be offended by which aren’t issues when the reasons behind them are explained. The same thing can happen in reverse.” “Salsabil explains where the other party is coming from in terms of education, culture and the changes in the school in a way which protects the feelings of everyone involved. She really works with us and is such an important part of our team.” This year, Salsabil has taken the next step as a translator. “I had my appraisal and I didn’t really know what I could do to improve,” she says. “Then Chris McLeish, the Lead Adviser here, encouraged me to become a legal translator.” To become a legal translator, Salsabil had to apply to take an exam. She was allowed to sit the exam, but had no information on how to study or prepare for it. “No one wanted to tell me anything,” she says. “I studied at home, learning everything I could think of. It was worth it. I passed the exam.” Becoming a legal translator means that Salsabil is now able to translate legally binding documents. In Abu Dhabi, any legal or official documentation written in English needs to be translated and sealed by a legal translator to be recognised by government departments there. These documents can include driver’s licences, birth certificates, contracts and passports. “This is a wonderful achievement for Salsabil,” says Chris. “It isn’t easy to become a legal translator and this is a testament to how good she is at her job.” “It is also very helpful to the company to have a legal translator on staff – there are so many documents we need translated and having someone who can do that is extremely valuable.” Salsabil is happy with her achievement and the direction her career has taken. “I always felt that I was different to the people around me. I feel like the people from Cognition understand me,” she says. “I love that each day here is new and interesting. I’m working with totally different people who have amazing experiences in life. I love my job and I feel I was just born to do this.”
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Cognition Institute Exploring Beliefs and Expectations in Education
expectations why they matter
Research shows that people who have positive and realistic beliefs and expectations are more motivated to learn and are less anxious about their learning. This, in turn, leads to positive learning outcomes.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Cognition Institute Exploring Beliefs and Expectations in Education
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hile teacher expectations of students have been extensively studied, students’ and parents’ expectations have received relatively little attention. It therefore made sense to explore the beliefs and expectations of these three groups simultaneously, and the relationships between them. To enable this to happen, the Cognition Institute commissioned and funded the beliefs and expectations about learning (BELA) project, which involved researchers from the Centre for Child and Family Research at The University of Auckland. “We designed a national survey to discover the expectations of the three stakeholder groups – teachers, parents and students,” says Dr Deborah Widdowson, a member of the research team. “Our primary aim was to explore parents’ expectations for their children’s futures, teachers’ expectations for their students’ futures, and students’ expectations for their own futures.
“Our primary aim was to explore parents’ expectations for their children’s futures, teachers’ expectations for their students’ futures, and students’ expectations for their own futures.”
“We wanted to look at what these groups believed the purpose of learning was and who is responsible for it. We were particularly interested in exploring New Zealand specific ethnic differences.” All three groups reported that students like school, have high expectations for success and believe it is necessary to work hard to succeed. They also recognised the importance of a supportive environment from both teachers and parents for school success. “Some students set very high expectations for themselves,” said Dr Chrisine Rubie-Davies. “These expectations were often in relation to wanting to please parents but there were also several students who saw education as a key to creating a better future for themselves.” Parents also saw education as a key to
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Cognition Institute Exploring Beliefs and Expectations in Education
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Cognition Institute Exploring Beliefs and Expectations in Education
social improvement. “Parents had really high expectations for their children. They want their children to be successful in life, not just in schooling, so that they grow up to be responsible adults who have good lives. They would like their children to have a better future than they had.” However, teachers said some parents had high expectations if they valued education, but that often parents didn’t. Teachers were then battling a differential between what they expected from the students and what they felt was expected from the home. “The parents’ expectations are so important because if they don’t place the value on education then the kids won’t,” said one teacher. “When they come to school they’ll go along with the system and do what they have to do, but they’re not really valuing their education because their parents haven’t passed that onto them.” While students and parents had overall high expectations that students would complete Year 13, fewer actually believed they would complete NCEA Level 3 and go on to university. There was also a noticeable decrease in students’ expectations from Year 9 to 10 regarding how long they would stay at school. Teachers’ beliefs and expectations for student success were positive, but more moderate and realistic in this and other regards; for example, teachers had more realistic expectations of the number of students who would qualify for scholarships. “Nineteen percent of parents expected their children to gain scholarship and 23% of students expected to achieve it, even though it is only available to the top 3% of students in each subject,” says Deborah. “Teachers were more realistic, expecting only 4% to get scholarships.” Although the groups weren’t asked about streaming, it was something which was brought up by all three. “We didn’t ask about it at all, yet every group mentioned how streaming is a barrier to meeting expectations,” Christine says.
“Teachers were aware that there were very different expectations depending on which stream a student was in, not just academically but also in terms of behaviour. Parents also mentioned they felt a child’s work had gone back because they were in one stream rather than another. “Students talked about changes in selfefficacy and self-belief if they had been put down a stream. They were very aware that students in higher streams were given more challenging work that enabled them to be more successful. Lower streams weren’t given the more challenging work and so didn’t have the opportunities to be successful at that level.” The study also highlighted some gender, decile and ethnic differences. “Boys felt the expectations on them were too high compared to girls,” says Deborah, “and Pasifika students felt more influenced by their parents than the other groups.” Overall the researchers thought that results suggested that the beliefs and expectations for school success of New Zealand students, teachers and parents are very positive. “All three groups had similar conceptions of certain things,” says Deborah, “such as students liking school, having high expectations of success and the onus being on students to work hard to be able to succeed in school.”
“Students talked about changes in self efficacy and self belief if they had been put down a stream. They were very aware that students in higher streams were given more challenging work that enabled them to be more successful.”
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Advise them to aim high Although research shows that goal-setting raises achievement, there isn’t necessarily a lot of it in classrooms. “We wanted to use goal-setting in school to see if it made a difference,” says Dr Elizabeth Peterson. The researchers worked with Year 10 maths classes in four schools, with an intervention and control class in each school. After giving the intervention class a lesson on goal-setting, the researchers met individually with students in the intervention class to discuss their first Individual Learning Pathways. They had previously sat the first of three asTTle tests. Each
Cognition Institute Exploring Beliefs and Expectations in Education
the BELA project The beliefs and expectations about learning (BELA) project was a three-year study (running from June 2007 – June 2010) which provided insight into the beliefs and expectations about learning held by New Zealand’s parents, students and teachers. The research team was led by Associate Professor Robyn Dixon and included Dr Elizabeth Peterson, Dr Christine Rubie-Davies, Dr Deborah Widdowson, Dr Earl Irving, Jenny Robertson and Margie Elley-Brown. Research assistance was provided by Patricia MeagherLundberg and administrative assistance by Trish Cox.
Phase one – the focus group Associate Professor Robyn Dixon
student set a goal, wrote it in their mathematics book and received a sticker with an example of the sort of maths problem that they should be able to solve if they achieved their goal. Every time the researchers met with the intervention class, they also met with each student in the control class. With this class no goals were set; instead the researchers talked to them about how they were finding maths. This was in case the process of talking to students one-on-one about maths lifted their performance, rather than the goal-setting. Students in both the control class and intervention class sat three asTTle tests over the course of the year (a baseline test, and two more post tests). Each time the above process was repeated. While the BELA group found that students generally reported that they enjoyed the process of goal-setting, when looking across all the data, the intervention appeared not to work. However, there was a notable exception in that students who looked at their goals multiple times before they sat their next test showed a greater proportion of gain in their scores. “We found that when students set a goal and looked at it more than four times it made a difference,” says Elizabeth. “This shows the importance of students repeatedly reflecting on their goals, the importance of seeing a test as a means of evaluating their performance against those goals and the importance of teachers being a part of any goal-setting process.”
In response to research showing that the effects of teacher expectations have a greater impact on students during transition periods, three focus groups were set up centred on students in Years 9 and 10. Teachers, students and their parents were all involved in discussions around expectations of student achievement. The focus groups were small and therefore the findings were limited in their scope, but the results were valuable in informing the development of the national survey.
Phase two – the national survey The national survey explored teacher, student and parent beliefs about, and expectations of, schooling and aimed to fill a research gap around secondary students. In early 2008, a total of 2,256 Year 9 (51%) and Year 10 (49%) students, 906 parents and 283 teachers from a representative sample of 25 schools around the country completed the survey questionnaires. The survey consisted of 52 questions, including the role of school, the purposes of schooling, expectations for success and beliefs about motivation, the role of ability and effort in academic achievement, and who is responsible for student learning.
Phase three – the goal-setting intervention The third and final phase of the BELA project involved Year 10 mathematics classes in four diverse secondary schools with two classes in each school: a control class (57 students) and an intervention class (65 students). All the students sat three tests over the course of the year. Each time, the intervention class students were asked to set new goals and the researchers discussed with them why they did or did not meet their last goal. The control class was simply asked about how they were finding maths. To make this research more accessible to others, each phase of the project has its own summary flyer. Download “They’re all gangsta and that... I want to be different”; “I think I can, I know I can” and “Advise them to aim high” from the Cognition Institute website: www.cognitioninstitute.org
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Cognition Institute The Fulbright-Cognition Research Scholar
expanding research horizons The Cognition Institute and Fulbright New Zealand have selected two researchers from different branches of the education sector for exchanges to the United States in 2011 – one a practising teacher and the other a university academic.
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gaire Addis from Havelock North High School and Dr Veronica O’Toole from the University of Canterbury are the two recipients of Fulbright-Cognition Scholar Awards in Education Research for 2011, and will each spend several months in the US conducting research aimed at improving aspects of the schooling system in New Zealand. “The Fulbright-Cognition Scholar award is a way to show how much we value the role of educators,” said Nicola Meek, Principal Consultant of the Cognition Institute. “We’re delighted that Ngaire is our first teacher practitioner to receive this award; and Veronica’s work can show how educators can
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lead the well-being of whole communities.” Ngaire Addis, a senior teacher at Havelock North High School, who is currently completing her doctorate through Massey University, will research how mathematics achievement data is used by leaders of American high schools to improve teaching and learning. New Zealand schools are faced with the new challenge of how to integrate National Standards for Mathematics and Literacy into daily practise with a view to improving student achievement. Ngaire looks forward to tapping into the experiences of school leaders in America, where educational policy and school management are already focused around systems of standards, testing and public reporting of results.
Cognition Institute The Fulbright-Cognition Research Scholar
“We’re delighted that Ngaire is our first teacher practitioner to receive this award; and Veronica’s work can show how educators can lead the wellbeing of whole communities.”
Fulbright scholars Ngaire Addis (right) and Veronica O’Toole (far right)
Dr Veronica O’Toole is a lecturer at the University of Canterbury’s School of Educational Studies and Human Development. She will visit two American universities – Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut – to work with experts there and develop a research-informed emotional literacy programme to improve social and emotional wellbeing across whole New Zealand school communities, from school leaders and teachers to students and their families. She plans to trial a programme in several Christchurch primary schools after returning to New Zealand. Ngaire and Veronica are the third and fourth FulbrightCognition Scholars in Education Research. The first, Jenny Horsley from Victoria University of Wellington, researched American models for increasing representation of ethnic minorities in programmes for gifted children, at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore last year. The second, Mount Albert Primary School principal Enosa Auva’a, is currently at the University of Hawai‘i researching ethnic minority leadership in American schools.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Measuring the Quality of Education
expert evaluation
PHOTO Martin Fowler
Any country reforming their education system wants to know that the reform is effective. The challenge is moving from compliance to effectively measuring the quality of education.
Jane Walters and David Whalley
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Focus Measuring the Quality of Education
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fter six years of Education for a New Era, Qatar’s Supreme Education Council wanted to make sure its reforms were working. However, with the changes still so new, it was difficult for evaluation officers to know exactly what characterised good education. To help them know what to look for, Cognition provided three expert evaluators, David Whalley, Charlene Scotti and Jane Walters. All three had very comprehensive and impressive backgrounds in education. The project was designed to provide training, coaching and support to the evaluation office in the Evaluation Institute in Qatar, and the focus was on measuring the quality of education and teaching rather than student achievement. David Whalley says that to effectively judge the quality of education, evaluation officers needed to see whether good practice was being demonstrated in schools. “We wanted to see whether the content of the curriculum was matched to the learning needs of all the students, from the most able to the least able. “We measured the quality of education by observation along with interviews with relevant people. It was about gathering evidence and making a valid judgement.”
To achieve this, evaluation officers went into schools and interviewed staff, parents, students and the board. The officers also observed classes and looked at how the school was run. “The purpose of this contract was to make judgements on educational quality,” says Jane. “A report was written on the findings and was made public.” Cognition’s expert evaluators spent approximately half their time with the evaluation teams reviewing schools. They observed what was happening and coached the teams on how to do it better. The other half of their time was spent in the Evaluation Institute’s office. There they gave the group training and helped with writing documents to aid the office with processes and to clarify roles. Part of their job was to identify difficulties in the system and what could be changed to make it easier for the evaluation officers to do their job. “The greatest challenge was to move the focus from compliance to evaluating the quality of education,” says Jane. “It wasn’t just about ticking the boxes. Our role was to start to change that mindset. “Through improving the quality of its education, Qatar ultimately wants its citizens to be able to perform on the world stage.”
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Lifting Student Achievement in a Sports Acadamy
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Focus Lifting Student Achievement in a Sports Acadamy
and studies
Inspiring high school boys to focus on their schooling can always be hard work for teachers. When all the boys in a school are semiprofessional sportsmen, finding that focus takes a special skill set. 2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Lifting Student Achievement in a Sports Acadamy
PHOTOS Martin Fowler
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Previous page: In the school’s Bedouin tent. From top: A science lesson. The Al Ain club where the students train.
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he Al Ain Boys Combined School is different from the other schools in Abu Dhabi. All its 190 students are members of the Al Ain Club and play soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, fencing and handball semiprofessionally. The boys who attend the school are very enthusiastic about their sport. They arrive at school at 8am and have seven one-hour periods. They break for prayer, breakfast and lunch. At 4.15pm buses arrive to take them to practice. “It’s a long day for some of them,” says Bruce Devine, the Lead Adviser from Cognition. “A few travel from as much as 60km away. Sometimes some students won’t get home until after 7pm at night.” Every student at the academy has to be a member of a sports foundation. “The students feel that they have careers already,” says Bruce. “However the school focuses on academic studies and we encourage the students to do the same.” Al Ain Boys was started with high expectations. It took a year to plan the school in the beginning – choosing teachers, preparing courses and arranging visits for students and their families. “All the teachers here have university degrees,” says Bruce. “Students were expected to perform well from the start.” The school is meeting those expectations, showing the second best improvement in the Emirate this school year. Cognition is working hard with the school to balance academic and sporting demands. “We do the full curriculum from grade 7-12 and the students have all the demands which come with that,” says Bruce. “Cognition focuses support on English, Maths, Science, Arabic and ICT. To encourage students to work hard for the external measurement in student achievement (EMSA) exams, which are at an international standard, we appealed to their sense of national identity. “Exams are only seen as a priority if the marks count towards their total results and are reported. I wanted to make these important so I told them to do it for their country and help make it measure up better in the international rankings. They really took what I said to heart and the change in their attitudes was amazing.” Mr Saaed, the principal, has worked hard to achieve good results. He has high expectations of students and staff, and has worked with the club to gain resources for the school and its students. He has even organised datashows in all the classrooms and has arranged for a server to link everyone together. Engaging parents can be difficult for the school, as many families live far away and the community exists around the club rather than the school. Mr Saaed is arranging with the club for a teacher or administrator from the school to attend meetings at the club which parents attend. When the invitation came from the club, 90 parents came, which was far more than when the invitation came from the school. The school is talking to the club about other ways in which they can support academic progress for the boys. “They have made a great start by changing the contracts for the coaches from one year contracts to three years,” says Bruce. “This means that the coaches care more for the whole player, not just how well they perform at a sport for one season.” Every year, the Abu Dhabi Education Council chooses some students to spend two months in another country to improve their English. This year three boys from the school took English courses overseas.
Focus Health Promoting Schools in NZ
bringing health promotion straight to the student Logic would suggest that the perfect place to improve the health, wellbeing and learning outcomes for our young people, and their families and communities, would be within our schools.
2010 | Cognition Education Magazine |
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Focus Health Promoting Schools in NZ
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eing told or knowing that “eating one’s greens” or “behaving in a way that protects the rights and safety of others” is not enough. We need to look at how to enhance the community and environments we live in. Unless students and the school community have identified a need for change and developed, driven and evaluated their own strategies for this to happen, long-term health outcomes are unlikely to be realised. With that in mind Cognition has been contracted to develop a new strategic framework for a current national initiative known as Health Promoting Schools (HPS). This initiative has been in operation in New Zealand schools since 1997. Funded by the Ministry of Health, effective Health Promoting Schools requires collaboration between the Ministries of Education and Health. Offshore, similar undertakings have been in place for over 20 years so there is a track record of insight and innovation to draw upon. Cognition’s challenge is to find new ways to ‘package’ and distribute information in a way where it is seen as relevant, important and linked to wider curriculum and learning opportunities. Cognition brings strong connections with the Ministry of Education, and demonstrated expertise in developing innovative change initiatives within education nationally and internationally—including e-learning and web-based solutions such as Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) online learning
“The key is to build capacity and capability relevant to need rather than necessarily having content and information driven by a particular agency. ” centre for education—Cognition is focused on bringing this important area of learning to life. A key goal is to connect HPS providers and stakeholders with the teaching community in schools so as to develop shared understandings. “The main objective of the service is to consult with a wide range of HPS providers and stakeholders to develop a framework that drives and informs effective HPS practice in New Zealand,” says Cognition’s Therese Ireland-Smith, and HPS Programme Manager. Given the nature of the task, and the wide diversity of stakeholders involved, considerable resources have
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been committed to drive the process to date. The first step has been to challenge stakeholders, thinking around current delivery. “An important part of the challenge,” says Therese Ireland-Smith, “is to work with schools, HPS providers and HPS stakeholders to ensure there is a consistency in approach and that everyone working in the sector, or benefiting from it, hears the same consistent and relevant message on a national basis.” “One of the opportunities for consistency is the alignment between the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education in supporting an HPS website on TKI. This will include developing a national HPS website, a collaborative HPS professional online network and a repository for educationally-relevant, high-quality moderated HPS content and resources. The HPS Coordinator at the Auckland District Health Board, Natalie Burton, has joined with the Cognition team as both the National Coordinator and Website Moderator. She brings with her a great deal of knowledge, plus excitement, about the possibilities ahead. “I’ve been involved with the liaison and coordination of a great number of contributors to HPS as well as a multidisciplinary cluster of health professionals in the Tamaki area. Logistically these functions have been enormous. The new direction and initiative is really a pioneering undertaking.” She knows from experience that “one size does not fit all”. “Rather one needs to support schools on an individual level as they identify and address their needs. The key is to build capacity and capability relevant to need rather than necessarily having content and information driven by a particular agency. So it is important that the enquiry and action is driven by the school and supported by HPS facilitators. Therese agrees. “The level of enquiry has to be built around questions like ‘what are the things that keep us feeling good and doing well; where can we improve and how might we improve and build on what we know or are doing now?’ This sort of enquiry clearly links with issues to do with health, well-being, culture, learning and improvement.” Both concur that core principles have to be driven from within. The school and wider community need to be involved in a way that any report or recommendations made are not just an exercise but more something that is owned and driven by them because they see it as being relevant to them. “When you adopt such an aspirational approach people will get involved,” says Natalie. Again, linking the HPS with resources such as TKI will be a real boost to achieve the most positive outcomes.”
Focus Health Promoting Schools in NZ
breathing new life Cognition is helping to breathe new life into the health of our nation’s children and their community. Overall, Cognition has been employed to:
– develop and implement a plan on how Cognition will communicate effectively with the HPS sector and relevant stakeholders, including the use of the HPS website and database
– provide an HPS leadership team to deliver the services
– develop and maintain a national HPS website
– establish and maintain a HPS External Reference Group to support the development and ongoing delivery of the programme – develop a strategic framework for effective nationally consistent delivery of HPS in New Zealand, which will be presented in a formal written report
– plan, organise and provide a National Hui for the HPS workforce – develop and maintain a national HPS database, which provides up-to-date information about all HPS schools
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Focus Managing Change in a New Zealand Primary School
carving out the road Laurayne Tafa credits her time with Cognition Education and the support she received from her mentors there as playing a critical part in her success.
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Focus Managing Change in a New Zealand Primary School
ahead
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Focus Managing Change in a New Zealand Primary School
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aurayne Tafa has made huge changes at Homai Primary School. Since taking over the role as principal in 2006, she has driven a change management process that has benefited the whole school community. In 2005, Cognition won the contract for one of the Ministry of Education’s Board Training and Support programmes. Working as the programme manager for the upper North Island, Laurayne was responsible for training, building and improving network clusters of school boards throughout the region. “It helped me to develop my leadership and analysis skills,” says Laurayne. “I gained a real understanding of what the most important things are for a principal to do – like being a mentor for people, learning how to translate my thinking into action without being bogged down by micromanaging the little things, and having huge social and intellectual expectations for children.” Laurayne worked closely with Cognition’s Chief Operating Officer, Consulting, Terry Bates and says that his influence made her realise how important it is to make time to be with her own mentors, as well as mentoring others. “Being a principal can be very lonely; there are a lots of things that only you can deal with. Terry taught me how
The belief system drives everything the school does; “From belief comes understanding and from understanding comes a change in practice,” says Laurayne. “It’s easy to say you are going to change practices. But if it doesn’t come from a well-developed set of beliefs, people don’t understand why they are making the change and you meet with resistance or just compliance and you have to constantly police the practices. And that’s not productive for anybody.” The school’s belief system is three-fold:
Achievement for all. No excuses. No exceptions. This extends not only to staff and children, but also to parents. “We have a professional learning community at Homai, and we constantly provide opportunities and information for parents, teachers and students. There is no reason for anyone in the community not to know what is going on at the school.”
Community-centred “The school belongs to the community, not to the principal. We believe that wh nau are the first teachers, and we do all we can to enable and support this.”
Laurayne makes learning fun at Homai Primary School
to step away from a problem and make strategic decisions that have far-reaching positive consequences, rather than just having an instant reaction to a situation.” All this stood her in good stead when she took on the role of principal at Homai Primary School. “At the time the school was very hierarchical, very systems-driven. We had 14 classes operating like islands, separate from each other with no shared, common practices.” Laurayne applied the strategic skills she had learnt at Cognition, keeping her thinking and planning focused on the big picture, and not letting the day-to-day challenges deter her; or, as she puts it, “knowing the destination and carving out the road map”. She took an approach that wasn’t easy, but that has produced positive results for the school and its community. She started by developing a belief system for the school.
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This is the board’s “mantra” says Laurayne. “They believe that Homai’s role is to be a launching pad for careers. In order to be a high-performing learning environment, we need to have the right teachers, and the best resources. The board wants Homai to be the school of choice for teachers as well as students.” Getting the right teachers presents a challenge for many schools, but not any more at Homai Primary School. The school now has a waiting list for staff positions. When Laurayne first began the change management process a number of staff left, as they found the belief system didn’t fit with their own belief system or practice. Part of the appointment process is to clearly outline Homai’s set of beliefs to applicants, and Laurayne says they tend to selfselect, which makes the process easier. Laurayne believes in appointing the right people who understand Homai’s approach and then teaching them anything they need to know. Cognition Consultant Kathryn Hodson also helped Laurayne to implement the changes at Homai: “She worked in the school alongside me,” says Laurayne, “and assisted greatly in setting up sound curriculum review processes and frameworks, and helping me to critically review parts of the change management process so I could tweak changes and manage the pace of change.” The support of the board and the school’s staff have also been crucial to effecting the changes she has made. “The work I did with Cognition Education gave me a good grounding in how to be a really good adviser to boards and staff, how to encourage them to critique what I am doing, and how to see their role as providing a service to the community. I believe strongly in servant leadership – serving the community I work in with strong leadership for positive outcomes.”
PHOTOS Phillip Simpson
Being the best boss in town
Focus Managing Change in a New Zealand Primary School
“In order to be a highperforming learning environment, we need to have the right teachers, and the best resources. The board wants Homai to be the school of choice for teachers as well as students.�
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Focus Curriculum and Pedagogy Training in Qatar
John Clark, Project Director for the Curriculum and Pedagogy Training Programme
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Focus Curriculum and Pedagogy Training in Qatar
changing the thinking behind teaching All the work Cognition Education does is centred on change: changing processes, tools, techniques and, most of all, changing the mindsets of teachers.
PHOTOS Martin Fowler
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or Qatar’s new education system “Education for a New Era”, successfully changing the mindsets of teachers was the most important change of all. The Curriculum and Pedagogy Training Programme in Qatar was set up to prepare Ministry of Education schools to become Independent Schools. It was designed to change the attitudes and tools teachers used when they taught, as well as being part of the government’s goal to further involve Qatari in education. The training programmes were based on the Supreme Education Council’s framework and offered across the major areas of the curriculum. Cognition ran the maths and science programmes. “The desired outcome was for teachers to go away with many techniques for student-centred learning,” says Project Leader John Clark. “We wanted them to understand the reform process and how Independent Schools operate. Then they could apply the curriculum standards to teaching.” The first intake for the programme was in September 2009. Maths and science teachers from Ministry of Education schools were invited to take part. For the first semester, they spent five days a week in a seminar programme. Then field work was introduced and they spent three days in school and two in training. Teachers worked in 50 schools in Doha with eight consultants working across these schools, communicating with the leadership teams and supporting the teachers. “The second intake heard about the
programme and wanted to do it,” says John. “They had great attitudes. They spent five hours training each week and the rest of their time teaching in Ministry schools.” The teachers were evaluated with questions such as how they felt before and after training about 21st century learning technologies. The programme was designed to change the tools the teachers used when they taught. “The changes were in how they structured planning and lessons. Students learn best by doing and this is now reflected in the lessons.” The programme also gave teachers a wide range of skills to manage the behaviour of students. “A classroom needs to be an environment where differentiated and personalised learning can take place,” says John. “In the majority of cases, if you plan well with good student-centred activities, the behaviour problems will go, and all students at all levels will be engaged.”
Cognition Trainer Brendan Schollum with teachers in a curriculum and pedagogy training session.
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Focus Cognition Review of Special Education
the hub at the heart A hub is defined as a central point of interest. In the case of special education resourcing, that central point should be the student with the need.
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he statement, left, is the conclusion of the Cognition Institute’s comprehensive Submission on the Review of Special Education Discussion Document 2010 submitted to the Ministry of Education. The submission also asserts that expertise and support should be accessible, localised, and focused on the specific needs of students and wh nau/family and how these are best managed and monitored in relation to New Zealand’s schools. Special education in New Zealand is available for children with physical and/or intellectual impairments; hearing or vision difficulties; for children who struggle with learning, communicating, or getting along with others; or who have an emotional or behavioural difficulty. Cognition was invited to respond to the Ministry of Education’s August 2009 call for insight and action. The team was led by Therese Ireland-Smith, with support from CEO Dr John Langley, Mary Sinclair and Dr Barbara Disley. The document was based on the significant volume of past work done in the special education arena combined with newly developed insights in order to incorporate and build on local and international best practice. “Our starting point was how to best meet student needs with the resources at hand,” says Dr Disley. “The status quo was under review, so there was a real opportunity to explore the idea that the resources should be where the student need arose and be offered at a local level involving input from key people or groups in the community.” The call to action from the Ministry was open-
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ended, but did set certain parameters, such as how to improve outcomes without increasing spending, and how to build on things that are currently working well. Although it precluded a focus on behavioural services, Cognition maintained any new model would need to include this expertise. “Our rationale behind that was that it is often difficult to rigidly separate children into the existing range of student support initiatives, as often they present with multiple support needs. The distinctions made between learning and behaviour support needs can be artificial and lead to fragmented and uncoordinated responses,” says Dr Disley. The Cognition group evaluated a number of provision models using evidence from successful models currently operating in New Zealand, including blind, low-vision and hearing-impaired networks, and Arahunga Special School in Whanganui. Out of the various possibilities it evaluated, the Cognition team’s idea of a Network/Hub Specialist Centre started to gain momentum. “Ideally, we think all the resources going toward student support and special education within the Ministry could, and should, be amalgamated,” says Dr Disley. Under Cognition Institute’s proposed model, each Network/Hub Specialist Centre would cover a geographic area/district and have its own charter. Each centre would have a communitybased board of trustees, incorporating parent representation in a governance role. The Network/Hub Specialist Centre would be staffed by district-based early intervention,
Focus Cognition Review of Special Education
The cultural group at Mt Richmond School giving African drumming performance
primary and secondary trained specialist education teachers and specialists like psychologists and speech therapists who currently work within group special education (GSE) or specialist education schools. These staff members would conduct initial and ongoing assessments and would support students, their families and teachers once they transition into local/selected schools. Each centre would receive GSE funding and school-based operational funding on the basis of a provision plan submitted to a Student Support District Committee made up of representatives from the local schools, specialists, and including M ori, Pasifika, rural and low-decile schools. This plan would be considered by the committee alongside those of other specialist hubs within the district. A district plan could then be submitted
to a National Student Support Resource Committee. There are substantial financial savings in the model, says Dr Disley, as it consolidates expertise and support and removes costs associated with the current provision in relation to group special education and specialists’ time and travel. While disestablishment of current organisational structures and providers is a bold move, Cognition’s view is that it is required in order to develop and implement a model that brings the expertise, funding and services closer to the child, wh nau and those providing learning opportunities for the child. The Ministry of Education is currently assessing various inputs and will be releasing its recommendations and plan of action in the near future.
the heart of Cognition’s hub proposal –
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Devolution of current national special education resources and personnel (GSE and specialists) to local networks or ‘hubs’. Special education is integrated with student support, so that special education does not exist as a separate entity but rather as part of a total student support service. Resources currently allocated for student support and special education within the Ministry of Education are amalgamated and used to support local student support networks/hubs. In some cases local networks/hubs would need to have their own board and appoint a manager/principal. The development of other national support/provision networks. Locating GSE specialist staff in the network/hubs.
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The development of district networks (virtual schools) or hubs (the specialist services at the centre) as the model of provision to enable expertise to be provided to students in regular school settings that are managed and governed locally.
The hub model promotes: – –
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A cohesive, collaborative and evidence-based approach to the education of children with additional support needs. Recognition and inclusion of parents and students as key stakeholders in the decision-making processes around educational needs. Opportunities for skill enhancement, professional development and ongoing professional learning about specialist education for all teachers and teacher support personnel.
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Focus 2010 Education Leaders Forum
insights from collaboration Cognition was once again the major sponsor of the Education Leaders Forum, a network of leaders and stakeholders across the education sector interested in the insights which come from collaboration.
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he theme of Education Leaders Forum 2010 was Cultivating Learning – a living systems approach to growing education professionals. The forum ran from October 20-21 at the Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua and featured many impressive speakers, including the Minister of Education, Anne Tolley. Academic Consultant Dr Jan Robertson gave a keynote address on 21st century students, teachers and parents creating dynamic, diverse and generative ecological learning environments, and Ed Bernacki, Director of the Idea Factory, spoke about innovation by design. The Hon Steve Maharey Vice Chancellor Massey University and previous Minister of Education was also a speaker and discussed the entrepreneurial university and how universities can contribute to an innovative future. “The Education Leaders Forum has been very effective in bringing together senior education leaders from around New Zealand,” says Cognition General Manager Marketing Martin Fowler. “Overall the event was well supported and feedback was very positive. The Cognition people who were present found the sessions extremely useful.” In line with its philanthropic mission, the Cognition Education Trust gives back to the education sector by making contributions to a number of worthy educational causes, including ELF. 1: Nick Billows – Core Education, Lyall Lukey – Conference Coordinator, Eva-Maria Salikhova – Author and Coach, Ed Bernacki – The Idea Factory, and Martin Fowler – Cognition Education 2: Minister of Education Anne Tolley gives a speech at ELF 10 3: Cognition COO Consulting Terry Bates 4: Hon Steve Maharey speaks about the entrepreneurial university 5: Dr Jan Robertson presenting at ELF
Focus NEiTA regional awards
rewarding excellence The National Excellence in Teaching and Leadership (NEiTA) Awards has recognised 20 exceptional teachers and school leaders from schools and early childhood education centres throughout New Zealand.
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EiTA Foundation chairman, Mr Terry O’Connell, says the role of teachers has always been important, but never so much as it is today. “NEiTA aims to identify and honour great teachers and the valuable role they play in the development of the nation’s youth. It also builds the status of the profession so as to encourage talented students to seriously consider teaching as a career, while using great teachers as models for others to follow and emulate,” says Mr O’Connell. Cognition CEO and NEiTA judge Dr John Langley agrees with him. “Teachers are not often acknowledged, especially for their leadership, so Cognition places a high level of importance on these awards,” he says. The awards are divided into two categories: the Cognition Education Excellence in Leadership Awards and the ASG Excellence in Teaching Awards. Recipients of NEiTA Awards were acknowledged at regional and national award ceremonies. In May, the Grand Hall of Parliament in Wellington hosted the Regional Awards with a celebratory luncheon. Education Minister, Hon Anne Tolley, presented the awards to the finalists. Prime Minister John Key also attended the luncheon and spoke of how highly he values the awards and their sponsors. The 10 NEiTA National Award recipients were chosen from the regional finalists. Awards ceremonies have been held at schools around New Zealand, giving the students and others in the school community the opportunity to celebrate. Each National Award recipient has been presented with the national award, a crystal apple and a professional development grant from Cognition Education or ASG Education Programs NZ.
“NEiTA aims to identify and honour great teachers and the valuable role they play in the development of the nation’s youth.”
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Focus NEiTA regional awards
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1: Cognition CEO John Langley (front row, centre left) with NEiTA recipient Leanne Smith
3: Prime Minister John Key speaking at the NEiTA Regional Awards presentation
2: Cognition Consultant Therese Ireland-Smith (left) with NEiTA recipient Raewyne Bary
5: NEiTA recipient Heidi Greenwood with Cognition COO Consulting Terry Bates
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4: The NEiTA panel
Focus NEiTA regional awards
the award recipients
The NEiTA Foundation’s Excellence in Teaching and Leadership Awards 2010 Regional Award recipients are:
Early Childhood
Primary/Intermediate
Teaching
Teaching
Karen Cameron St Clair Community Kindergarten, Dunedin (National Award recipient)
Tui Cox
Patumahoe School, Patumahoe, Pukekohe, Auckland
Matthew Humber
(National Award recipient)
Bek Galloway
Raroa Normal Intermediate, Johnsonville, Wellington
Shameen Hayat Selwyn College, Kohimarama, Auckland
Georgette Jenson
Sonrise Christian School, Gisborne
Rachel Jones
Next Generation Childcare Centre, Birkdale, Auckland
Sara Mckinley
Ruawai Kindergarten, Ruawai, Northland
Gabriella Williams
Kumeu Village Kindergarten, Kumeu, Auckland
(National Award recipient)
Trina Mcgrath Te Mata School, Raglan
Leadership
Pauline May
Raewyne Bary Massey Child Care Centre, Palmerston North (National Award recipient)
Jacqui Patuawa Welcome Bay Primary School, Tauranga
Claire Maley-Shaw
Fiordland Kindergarten, Te Anau
Strathallan College, Papakura, Auckland (National Award recipient)
Kane Raukura De La Salle College, Mangere East, Auckland Amanda Woods Marian College, Shirley, Christchurch Leadership
Leadership
Heidi Moriah Kindergarten, Greenwood Wellington (National Award recipient)
Secondary Teaching
Levin East School, Levin
Leanne Smith Waikowhai Intermediate, Mt Roskill, Auckland (National Award recipient)
Brother Steve Hogan
De La Salle College, Mangere East, Auckland
Prue Kelly Wellington High School, Wellington (National Award recipient) Vivienne Rutherford College, Russell Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland (National Award recipient)
Cognition Chairman Stewart Germann (left) and CEO John Langley with Amanda Woods (left) and Leanne Smith
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enhancing life through
education
Cognition Education is a leading education consultancy based in New Zealand that understands that great education means tapping into the curiosity and optimism of children. We work with governments, non-government organisations and schools to provide the full scope of consultancy services in a variety of national and international projects. Profits arising from our work are invested back into the education sector. We support the development and reform of education systems to achieve improved learning outcomes for students worldwide. We do this with the knowledge that education is one of the most powerful ways of improving the quality of life for children and young people. If you would like to know more about how Cognition Education can improve your education outcomes, contact us now.
www.cognition.co.nz +64 9 638 4760 0800 Cognition 0800 264 648