Part 7: Sharing good practices

Summary of our Education for Māori reports.

7.1
In Figure 5, we provide examples of good practices shared with us during our audit work on Māori education. We also describe examples of capability that enable schools to achieve better results for their Māori students. We have grouped these examples in line with the three broad topics of each of our reports but many of the practices are related. We hope that sharing these examples is helpful and encourages more sharing of everyone's best efforts.

Figure 5
Good practices and capability checklist

Use of information
Good practices we saw …
Experienced principals leading their schools to value, collect, use, and improve information that helps lift Māori student achievement.
Active questioning of achievement data by the school's board of trustees.
Teachers as a group examining achievement data because it encourages robust discussion of the issues.
Acknowledgement in a school's strategic documents of the importance of using information to improve education outcomes.
You might like to check that you have in place …
A clear inquiry cycle focused on improvement.
A critical mass of teachers able to investigate and comprehend achievement data.
Information provided to whānau about the progress and achievement of Māori students in a school.
Coherent professional planning and mentoring support for staff to use the "teaching as inquiry" approach.
Teachers who are willing and have the disposition to question information about their teaching.
Information technology that makes it easy to integrate and share multiple information sources.
The public display of school performance information.
A student management system that:
  • provides security and integrity of information;
  • allows longitudinal analysis of student performance; and
  • allows management of different pieces of assessment.
Building relationships
Good practices we saw …
School leaders who value Māori and raising Māori achievement.
Collaboration with whānau and iwi.
Open and honest communication.
A flexible approach to relationship building.
Policies on building relationships with whānau.
Visiting whānau at home.
Telephoning whānau with reports of good progress.
Being present at school sports to connect with whānau in a more informal context than the "parent-teacher" interview.
At the beginning or the end of the school day, being at the school gate to chat with whānau.
You might like to check that you have in place …
Holistic academic counselling for Māori students.
Ways to collaborate and share resources and information with other schools. Examples include:
  • holding joint Matariki festivals;
  • visiting other schools to view practices;
  • sharing ideas at school cluster hui and conferences; and
  • running Māori student mentor programmes with the secondary school, primary school, or early childhood education centre that students came from or went to.
Supporting Ka Hikitia
Good practices we saw …
Co-ordination between agencies to use their mandate and focus to provide co-ordinated support for Ka Hikitia.
School leaders making strong efforts to lead their managers and staff to identify improvements that would benefit their Māori students.
You might like to check that you have in place …
A joint effort between principal, senior staff, chairperson of the board of trustees, and Māori parent representatives to drive a focus on Māori students and their achievement.
Boards that have a working knowledge of the intent and goals of Ka Hikitia and an understanding of how well their school is progressing to improve Māori student achievement.