Good Practice in Supporting and Engaging Senior Secondary Students (June 2008) 01/06/2008

Findings

Six key themes emerged from ERO’s evaluation of schools that supported and engaged their senior students effectively: These are discussed in this report under the following headings.

• School culture
• Leadership and responsibility
• Integrated systems
• Planning, analysis, monitoring and evaluation
• Curriculum, pedagogy and course opportunities
• Communities and families.

Every school in New Zealand has its own unique characteristics. ERO found that while schools shared common approaches to supporting and engaging senior students, context, organisational factors and philosophies also shaped how schools best met the needs of their senior students.

The examples of good practice described in this evaluation need to be carefully considered by those wanting to use these findings in their own schools. Notwithstanding this, effectively led teaching practice, innovative and flexible decision making about curriculum organisation, planned opportunities to explore learning options and pathways, and active student involvement in learning were hallmarks in each school. To help schools consider the matters raised in this report, each of the sections in the findings also includes some key self-review questions.