Opportunity to learn: addressing inequity

Published: 04 Sep 2017
Audience:
Education
Parents
Schools
Topics:
Video
Improvement in Action Te Ahu Whakamua

Summary

What I saw was children not participating.

In developing new approaches to the teaching of mathematics an analysis of the achievement data showed that some students were not achieving at the levels research suggested were possible.

Further investigation revealed that students ‘ perceptions of themselves and others’ capability as learners was at the heart of the issue.  Leaders and teachers are focusing on ensuring teachers deliberately facilitate the participation and contribution of every learner.

Key messages:

  • The school identified a group of learners who were not progressing as expected and inquired further into why not.
  • “Learner status’ or the learner’s own perception of their ability to learn mathematics was identified.
  • Teachers sought to create a more equitable learning environment for these students drawing on both external and internal expertise

 

Things to think about:

  • How do we ensure every student has the confidence to participate and be a successful learner?
  • What else do we need to do?

 

The evaluation indicators this video illustrates

  • Domain 4: Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
    • Evaluation indicators
      • Students have effective, sufficient and equitable opportunities to learn
      • Students participate and learn in caring, collaborative, inclusive learning communities
      • Effective, culturally responsive pedagogy supports and promotes student learning
  • Domain 5: Professional capability and collective capacity

    • Evaluation indicator

      • Access to relevant expertise builds capability for ongoing improvement and innovation

 

This video is part of a series

This video is part of the series Improvement in Action Te Ahu Whakamua. We created this series to inspire schools with examples of success in action. These examples highlight the benefits of fulfilling the evaluation indicators we use to review schools.

Remote video URL

(A group of adults sit around a table, papers in front of them. A woman speaks.)

I was really pushing that you're accountable for your own learning.

(The other people make noises in agreement.)

Mm. 
Yes.

(As she speaks the camera turns to show a woman opposite her who is listening intently, then a man and a woman on the other side of the table.)

And you're accountable, so there's no passengers on the bus.
Mm.

And so you struggle and your learner can't just sit there and say: I don't get it.
Yeah.

(The camera returns to the first woman.)
You know?
Mm-hm.

(A woman nods in agreement.)

It's not acceptable.

(The conversation at the table continues in the background a woman’s voice speaks in voiceover.)

Now, we are highly competent.

(The group around the table nod in agreement over something we can’t hear.)

And our maths data has skyrocketed.

(The video changes to show the speaker sitting in an office, shelves of books behind her. Text on the bottom of the screen reads, “Lynne Hutchinson, Deputy Principal, Otumoetai Intermediate School”.)

But having said that, what was really surprising was, in the other schools that the research was based around, children had gone from stanine 2 to stanine 9 in 12 months. And we never saw that.
Our stanine 2 children moved, but not to any great-- not even to at standard. And so then I identified all these children and spent a week walking around, having a look. And what I saw was children not contributing.

(The video returns to the meeting where the group sit around the table.)

Bobbie happened to be in about two weeks later. And I said to her, as you can see, predominantly Māori and Pasifika who are non-contributors.
Bobbie said, I know why they're not contributing. It's all about status.

(The footage of the meeting continues as the voiceover changes to a man's voice.)

Those kids that thought of themselves as not very good at maths were very unlikely to contribute for fear of ridicule.
And it also transferred a lot into our Māori students.

(The camera now shows the speaker, who sits in a classroom where the back wall is covered in a very large map. Text on the bottom of the screen reads “Ryan King, Teacher, Otumoetai Intermediate School”.)

They were very hesitant to share, because: oh no, the white middle-class person knows more about maths than I do.

(Ryan King’s voiceover continues as the camera shows him sitting at a table in a classroom. A group of people sit around the table with him, holding pens and papers, having a discussion.)

And sometimes, when you ask them, who is smarter, you or Jimmy: Oh, Jimmy, because he's white. Those are some of the things we actually heard.

(The voiceover returns to Lynne Hutchinson’s voice.)

There is quite solid research around that, that if you're white and speak English, you are perceived to be smarter and a whole other raft of attributes, none of which fit the students that we are talking about.

(The video returns to Lynne sitting in the office.)

Quite often, those children come from a culture where there is a sense of family, so not a sense of being an individual.
So that contributes too to the feeling that: I am all on my own in this learning situation.

(The video returns to the meeting in the classroom.)

And I'm not supported by anybody else.

(Ryan King’s voice returns in voiceover.)

I think it's one of the most critical barriers to learning, not only in maths, but across the curriculum.

(Once again Ryan is in the classroom with the map, speaking into the camera.)

If I think back on those students' schooling careers, they've probably been in the bottom group for maths for six years before arriving at us.
So they've got this perception that: I'm not good at maths.
I can't learn maths. And that's going to be the same this year.

(Ryan’s voiceover continues as the camera shows him teaching a class. He speaks several students raise their hands. The camera then closes-up on a student as she speaks, but we cannot hear what she says.)

Lifting those students to a point where they felt like they were equal to everyone else has been a real challenge.

(The camera is back on Ryan and he asks a question of the class.)

What about this one?

(We now see a woman sitting in the classroom with a similarly large map, speaking to the camera. Text on the bottom of the screen reads, “Jillian Johnstone, Year 8 team leader, Otumoetai Intermediate School.)

It might be that they get some courage to share an idea and are sort of shut down a little bit from their group or their group doesn't listen.

(We see Jillian in her classroom, looking on as two girls and a boy sit around a desk, working on something in a workbook.) 

I think that's the first thing, just noticing what's happening and why.

(Ryan’s voiceover is back as we see him sitting in the classroom with the map. As he says “we might” the camera changes to show a student writing a mathematical equation on a whiteboard. The camera zooms out and we see the students in the class watching as she does so.)

So if we notice they've got a strategy that works really well or they've come up with something, we might say something like: OK, using so-and-so's strategy, I want you to try and solve this.

(A student raises his hand. Several students say something out loud. The girl writing on the board turns to listen.)

We've got to be really careful that we don't overdo it.
Because then that person feels like: oh, he's just choosing me all the time, because I'm not good at maths, and he wants to show me off, sort of thing.

(We return to Ryan in the classroom.)

So it's a real fine balance of lifting those students to a point where they feel confident to share.