Achievement Challenge Two: Transition

Achievement Challenge Two

To improve achievement by increasing student and whaanau engagement through effective transition across Te Kaahui Ako O Manurewa.

Shared Description - a shared definition of what the achievement challenge means. 

Our definition of engagement lies in our understanding of partnership - ubiquitous power sharing when planning, making decisions and delivering:

• Student engagement lies in understanding the perspectives of our akonga, their diverse strengths and needs, the challenges they encounter and what makes them want to learn. Where students are concerned, the notions of emotional, behavioural and cognitive engagement lie at the centre. 

• whaanau engagement is inseparable when considering student engagement - ‘While enabling Maaori education success is influenced by a number of things, eg, a student’s health, wellbeing, expectations, special education needs or their actual motivation to learn, at the centre is the strongest influence of them all – whaanau.’ (He Piringa whaanau – effective engagement with whaanau, Ministry of Education, 2014). whaanau engagement is any in-school or in-community collaboration, cooperation or communication regarding programme development, student well being or achievement, strategic planning or community event.

• Transition practices are the pathways students may take through Kaahui Ako o Manurewa and any school action taken to induct students from one class into another or from one school/kura into another. These actions range from the passing on of information, considerations made for students social and emotional adjustments to a new environment, communication between prior school and whaanau, communication and passing on of information from outside agencies and continued support they may be providing, in-school practices made to account for settling in and just getting to know ‘the place’. 

Rationale - a narrative around why

Deficit thinking could be a trap easily fallen for on the search for evidence and understanding of the issues that lie at the heart of a lot of the academic underachievement prevalent across our community.

As can be seen by our academic achievement baseline evidence it would be easy to identify reading, writing and mathematics targets and set academic underachievement as challenges but to get to the heart of the matter we must go deeper. 

Student engagement is first indicated by attendance. Getting students through the door is our first priority. We can have no influence if they are not with us hence this will be our first and foremost key indicator.

Having considered attendance, providing a connected curriculum with clear learning pathways based on progressions that are universally understood by those delivering the curriculum as well as those receiving it is a major focus for the Kaahui Ako. 

When considering student engagement whaanau engagement is indelibly linked. Giving parents purposeful, practical and partnership based opportunities to engage with kura that move beyond the ‘open door policy’ rhetoric is what we want to achieve. We cannot deny parents want to be more involved:

I feel I could know more. I’m not here everyday - but if you’re involved you can see a part of it and you can be more involved. (parent voice)

Understanding how this links with transition processes could be misconstrued as tenuous. But, when considering research and the effects of coming from a predominantly low socio-economic background and the myriad of associated variables the three facets of this challenge; student engagement, whaanau engagement and transition processes, are strongly linked.

The Complexity of Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement in New Zealand: BES refer to a multitude of high impact variables that contribute to student underachievement. 

The recommended interventions ‘depend for their success on families being treated with dignity and respect, on the programmes adding to family practices (not undermining them), on structured, specific suggestions rather than general advice, and on supportive group opportunities as well as opportunities for one-to-one contact (especially informal contact).’ The Complexity of Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement in New Zealand: BES, 2003

Our priority is to strengthen the Kaahui Ako first by understanding the effect of transition, by reducing the impact of transiency on students and providing a consistent pathway which provides purpose and in turn engagement for both students and whaanau. 

The effects of transition cannot be underestimated. McGee et al (2003) found national and international research evidence strongly suggesting that:

• students experiencing difficulties at primary school are most vulnerable at major transition points, and are likely to continue a pattern of underachievement after transition;

• variation (from very high achievers by international standards to those who perform below international means) in achievement within New Zealand has grown considerably;

Confirming this is the Ministry's position on the importance of considering transitions in a study undertaken in 2010 - ‘As well as acknowledging the importance of orientation activities and other short-term transition measures, study participants talked about the even weightier matter of how to ensure that students gain a sense of a ‘pathway’ through their schooling and remain committed and motivated to learn: in other words, that they will maintain an ongoing sense of the relevance of schooling to their lives.’ Ministry of Education, 2010

Underpinning all of this is the ability for all major stakeholders to understand the connections between all major curricula transitions across Te Kaahui Ako and the flexibility with which we can apply them to best fit the child.