Leading inclusive and effective learning environments

Useful resources

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (developed by Grow Waitaha) supports schools on a journey of transformational change. The framework identifies areas of practice including key questions to guide action for change.

Ka Hikitia Measurable Gains Framework includes comprehensive resources to help measure the extent to which activities and initiatives are making a difference to Māori enjoying and achieving education success as Māori.

Flexible learning spaces for diverse students – fact sheet (MOE 2016) supports schools to consider all ākonga when designing an inclusive, flexible space.

Māui whakakau, kura whakakau (MOE, 2016) explores the impact of physical design on Māori and Pasifika student outcomes. 

Designing educational spaces for mental and emotional health (Corgan,2022) This three-part blog series explores how external factors can influence wellbeing and suggests what aspects of the physical environment can act as stressors and how you might design with empathy.

How learning space design can support student well-being article (Schoolyard 2022) – This article discusses how the design of the learning space plays a key role in either helping or hindering student well-being. Educators can promote better well-being by creating flexible learning spaces that give students choices in where to sit, foster connection among students, and integrate comfort and inclusiveness into their design.  

Explore the strategy Design the physical environment to support self regulation in the Inclusive Education Guide to Behaviour and Learning for considerations and strategies.

McArthur, J. (2012). Leadership in the Development of Inclusive School Communities. Leading Lights. Edition 3. Newsletter of the New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society. Reproduced with permission.

See Materials that come with this resource to download Leadership in the Development of Inclusive School Communities (.pdf).

This short article gives an overview of research in the schooling sector about the experiences of young people who have disabilities. The article connects the key themes to what school leaders can do to support developing their schools as inclusive communities.

• It sets out the problems students can have from feeling different, issues around bullying, feelings of isolation, and low teacher expectations.
• It offers practical ideas for what principals and others in leadership positions can do to support schools move towards inclusion.
• It reminds us that inclusive schools and classrooms prepare all children and young people for a quality adult life and invites attention to three tasks: fostering new meanings about diversity; promoting inclusive practices within schools/centres; and building connections between schools/centres and communities.

Reflective questions

• Look at how your school bullying policy works positively to include learners with disabilities. Are teachers consciously applying the policy for this student group? Discuss with your leadership team how to raise awareness about this issue for all teachers. Do you need to work further on your policy?
• What can you do to raise teachers’ expectations of students with disabilities? Look at the example given of how a student raises the low awareness of a teacher. How could you invite students’ with disabilities to help you with this or other issues raised by this article? Look at how to solve the problems of awareness among teachers and other students and introduce practical programmes to address the problems.
• Look at how to improve teaching and learning by raising awareness of addressing needs of any diverse groups in your school. What strategies could be introduced to welcome and value all students? Consider how you could get your staff on board with inclusion.

Useful resources

• Positive Behaviour for Learning.
• See Materials that come with this resource to download PB4L Meets Success for All (.pdf).
• The report Schools as Community Hubs: Building Connections (2020) by Dr Philippa Chandler and Dr Benjamin Cleveland presents emerging themes and insights from Australia on this topic.
• The Inclusive Education site offers guidance and ideas to help you recognise, plan for and meet the needs of the diverse learners in your community.
• Trauma-informed programmes and policies are important tools for teachers tasked with supporting the complex needs of students and families impacted by trauma. In the Education Hub article Trauma-informed practice in primary and secondary schools, Emily Berger and Karen Martin (2022) outline some implications and strategies that can inform your approach.

Ontario made wellbeing a policy priority in 2014. Hargreaves and Shirley describe the ways Ontario educators responded to that policy over the following four years. The approaches observed will be familiar to New Zealand educators. This presents an argument for why student wellbeing should be part of the education agenda, based on research in Ontario.

Wellbeing and achievement

The authors found three relationships between wellbeing and achievement:

• Wellbeing is a crucial prerequisite for achievement.
• Achievement is essential for wellbeing. Failure leads to "ill-being".
• Wellbeing has its own value. It complements academic achievement.

The authors argue that:

• learning and wellbeing require more than just the absence of ill-being 
• wellbeing and achievement shouldn’t exist in two different worlds, with different specialists populating them 
• an emphasis on wellbeing "has to find its proper relationship to the learning mission of schools". 

In their report (2018a) for the Council of Ontario Directors of Education they also make the point that "no credible strategy on student wellbeing can ignore teacher or principal wellbeing" (p. 52).

Wellbeing critiques

In that same report they look at how wellbeing initiatives might go wrong. For instance, by:

• misunderstanding wellbeing – for example equating it with happiness
• oversimplifying emotions and ignoring cultural differences in them
• taking our attention away from the real systemic issues
• turning us inwards and away from the causes of our problems.

"If wellbeing is perceived as not connected to learning or achievement, if it seen as self-indulgence, or if the ways of being it promotes do not fit with some of the cultures to which children belong, this will attract criticism and undermine public confidence." (2018a, p55)

Their research concludes with a recommendation that Ontario needs to develop an evidence base about which strategies are proving more successful in practice than others.

Socio-emotional learning (SEL)

Several schools in the Ontario research had introduced socio-emotional learning programs. In a commentary on social and emotional learning, Schonert-Reichl (2019) observes that:

• social and emotional competencies predict success in school and in life
• social and emotional competencies can be taught and assessed
• explicit attention to context is foundational.

Schonert-Reichl (2019) states that there is a research consensus that SEL programmes in schools:

• are an effective and cost-effective way to promote children's positive development and mental health
• positively influence behavioural and academic outcomes 
• must be integrated into the entire institution and functioning of the school.

On the other hand, there is currently little research on SEL programmes in relation to:

• whether all groups of children benefit equally
• achieving educational equity.

Reflective questions

• What do we know about the relationship between noncognitive factors and academic performance?
• What do we know about the relationship between teacher and student wellbeing?
• How do our teachers, students, and families feel about how we do things at our school? How do we know this?

References

Andy Hargreaves, A., Shirley, D. (2018b). "Well-being and success" – Opposites that need to attract. EdCan Network magazine, Winter 2018. 

Andy Hargreaves, A., Shirley, D. (2018a). Wellbeing. Leading from the Middle: Spreading Learning, Wellbeing, and Identity Across Ontario. Chapter 4, pp37-58. Council of Ontario Directors of Education. 

Mahoney, J. L., Durlak, J. A., & Weisberg, R. P. (2018). An update on social and emotional learning outcome research. Phi Delta Kappan, 100(4), 18–23. doi:10.1177/0031721718815668 

Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2019). Advancements in the Landscape of Social and Emotional Learning and Emerging Topics on the Horizon. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), 222–232.

Useful resources

"Wellbeing in Education": This Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga The Ministry of Education page outlines our commitment, and provides resources for educators, learners, parents, and whānau to help support the wellbeing of children and young people.  

The Whare Tapa Whā wellbeing model developed by leading Māori health advocate Sir Mason Durie in 1984, describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui/meeting house with four walls. These walls symbolise four aspects: taha wairua/spiritual wellbeing, taha hinengaro/mental and emotional wellbeing, taha tinana/physical wellbeing and taha whānau/family and social wellbeing. When these aspects are in balance, it enables all to thrive. When one or more of these is out of balance our wellbeing is impacted.

This 2020 Socio-Emotional Learning, Well-being, and the Global Competencies: Five Things We Know brief outlines how the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning Framework comprehensively addresses the key components of wellbeing.

Wellbeing@school – NZCER has created this NZ based website of practical evidence-based tools, resources, and services, a 5-step self-review process, and information about how to get started.

Wellbeing for success – This ERO publication highlights the importance of schools promoting the wellbeing of all students as well as the need for systems, people, and initiatives to respond to wellbeing concerns for students who need additional support.

NZ Institute for Wellbeing and Resilience includes evidence-based practice ideas for wellbeing in schools.

This 2015 ERO report examines how well students with special education needs are included in New Zealand schools.

This Flexible learning spaces for diverse students - fact sheet (MOE, 2016) supports schools to consider how to make flexible learning spaces work for everyone when designing an inclusive space.

This Book Launch presentation: School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning: Insights from Research and Practice (2020) shares some key highlights and provides a synopsis of key aspects of the book.

Hattie, J. (2003, October). Teachers Make a Difference: What is the Research Evidence? Paper presented at the Australian Council for Educational Research Annual Conference on Building Teacher Quality, Melbourne.

See Materials that come with this resource to download Teachers Make a Difference – What is the Research Evidence? (.pdf).

This engaging paper discusses the research evidence showing that “it is what teachers know, do and care about which is very powerful in the learning equation”. Hattie identifies three dimensions of expert teachers’ behaviours that the research shows are especially important. They are:

• challenge
• deep representation
• monitoring and feedback

By deep representation, Hattie means the teacher’s ability to know what they want to teach and how to organise and structure it in the context of their students and circumstances. Students from the classes of expert teachers show better achievement levels, and “appear to exhibit an understanding of the concepts targeted in instruction that is more integrated, more coherent, and at a higher level of abstraction than the understanding achieved by other students”.

The paper is useful for principals as they plan professional development programmes with staff; it identifies what is needed to build teacher quality. It has implications for a school’s long-term professional learning, for experienced teachers as well as for new teachers.

Reflective questions

• In what ways is your school monitoring the links between teacher classroom practice, professional learning opportunities, and positive student outcomes?
• Consider the teachers in your school. Think about Hattie’s differentiation between expert and experienced teachers. Does his research align with what you see happening among your staff? And how might this material be presented to experienced staff so that they are supported to develop the characteristics of expert teachers?
• How can you use the Ministry’s and your board of trustees’ policies and actions to support teachers to do their professional work even better than they do at present?

Useful resources

Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Alton-Lee, A. (2004). Using Best Evidence Syntheses to Assist in Making a Bigger Difference for Diverse Learners. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Hattie, J. A. C., & Zierer, K. (2018). "Ten Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success". Routledge. 

"Collective Teacher Efficacy"

Hill, J., & Hawk, K. (1998). SET: Research Information for Teachers, 2, item 4.

See Materials that come with this resource to download Aiming for Student Achievement (.pdf).

What is considered valid achievement for students is a value-laden issue and its effective measurement is complex. This is especially true for students who come from lower-socio economic communities and attend low-decile schools. This 1998 article in SET: Research Information for Teachers, examines the development of the AimHi project and research.

Although this research is older it still has relevance for schools. It explores the links between the world(s) of the student, the world(s) of home, and the world(s) of school, and how the collision of these worlds can impact on student learning and achievement.

Reflective questions

• Thinking about your own school, consider the different worlds that students operate in. How might these worlds conflict with each other? Do they influence your school’s culture?
• What strategies could your school put in place to bridge the gaps between the worlds?
• Could you represent, diagrammatically, the notion of a child growing up in many worlds? Try to link that to the world of the school, from a principal’s perspective.

Useful resources

Ka Hikitia Ka Hapaitia is a cross-agency strategy for the education sector which sets out how we achieve system shifts in education and support Māori learners and their whānau, hapū and iwi to achieve excellent and equitable outcomes. The framework has five outcome domains:

• Te Whānau: Education provision responds to learners within the context of their whānau.
• Te Tangata: Māori are free from racism, discrimination, and stigma in education.
• Te Kanorautanga: Māori are diverse and need to be understood in the context of their diverse aspirations and lived experiences.
• Te Tuakiritanga: Identity, language, and culture matter for Māori learners.
• Te Rangatiratanga: Māori exercise their authority and agency in education.

Tapasā is a cultural competencies framework and resource that provides a Pacific learner lens to Our Code, Our Standards | Ngā Tikanga Matatika, Ngā Paerewa.

Te Kōtahitanga: The Experiences of Year 9 and 10 Māori Students in Mainstream Classrooms.

Pasifika Education Plan: Monitoring Report.

Alton-Lee, A. (2004). Using Best Evidence Syntheses to Assist in Making a Bigger Difference for Diverse Learners. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

See Materials that come with this resource to download Using Best Evidence Syntheses to Assist in Making a Bigger Difference for Diverse Learners (.pdf).

This paper has relevance for all leaders in all schools. It helps to clarify the background to the Ministry of Education’s Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) programme. It includes a summary of four reports that document the growing body of research evidence (from New Zealand and international literature) about what makes a difference for diverse learners in New Zealand schools.

It also looks at which reports have particular relevance for school principals and makes practical suggestions for how school leaders might introduce findings from one of the reports, Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis (2003), to staff. As Alton-Lee notes, “How the syntheses are used (or misused) is critical to their value. Just knowing what the evidence reveals about what makes a bigger difference for learners is not sufficient.” (p.1)

The value of the syntheses is to acknowledge that evidence in itself is insufficient in making a difference. The critical factor is learning from the iterative (and developing) evidence about approaches taken and responding in more effective ways in a cycle of continuous improvement.

Reflective questions

• What understandings of diversity are operating in your school?
• To what extent do your school’s assumptions and expectations about students open up or shut down opportunities for students to learn?
• What are you doing strategically that values and addresses diversity?
• How have you used the BES to access other quality teaching and learning materials?
• How could you incorporate the BES work as part of your schools’ professional learning plan?

Useful resources

Universal Design for Learning Inclusive Education guide helps schools design learning to meet the diverse and variable needs of all students and includes research and strategies for implementation.

Improving Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning (2021). This open access international scientific study provides an analysis of how the educational strategy of Universal Design for Learning can stimulate the process of inclusive education in different educational-cultural contexts and different areas of the educational system.

Grow Waitaha (2022). Empowering Gender Diverse Ākonga: For Schools and Leaders

This downloadable, printable poster summarises actions schools can take to create inclusive learning spaces for gender-diverse ākonga so they feel safe to be their authentic selves. Download this poster to plan for better outcomes for gender-diverse ākonga.

Reflective questions

• To what extent is gender diversity part of the long-term vision of the school?
• How might you / do you support staff in receiving up-to-date professional learning around gender diversity?
• How might you / do you support explicit teaching around gender diversity?
• To what extent do students use the physical space in a gender-inclusive way?
• To what extent is gender-neutral/sensitive language used in school/setting communication?
• To what extent do children/students understand that they have choices in the way they behave and present themselves and that these shouldn’t be restricted according to gender?
• To what extent do school/setting staff engage families and/or the wider community with regards to gender diversity?

Useful resources

Guide to supporting LGBTIQA+ students - This guide has information, strategies, and resources to support the inclusion and wellbeing of students who identify as sex, gender, or sexuality diverse (SGSD).

Community Report (2019) - Counting ourselves website. Chapter 8 summarises the survey responses of gender-diverse young people attending secondary school.

Supporting LGBTI Young People in New Zealand (2015) The Ministry of Social Development.

Ciuffo, A. (2019). Rethinking Conventions: Keeping Gender-Diverse Students Safe. Educational Leadership, vol 77(2), pp. 70-75. ASCD.

Hybrid learning is inclusive learning

Hybrid Learning 2022 contains useful guidance for educators and schools as they provide continuing learning experiences while their school is open or should their kura or school be closed (for example, due to an emergency situation such as the pandemic). Hybrid learning is an educational approach in which schools (not necessarily the same teacher) provide remote and onsite learning at the same time, using a range of technologies and approaches, including paper-based learning. Truly inclusive learning will require an approach to learning that includes online, remote, face-to-face, and onsite learning so learners can transition between settings with minimal interruption to their learning. Learning that is delivered in these multiple modes is commonly known as ‘hybrid learning’.

Reflective questions

• What devices are available to teachers and learners? Are they ‘fit for purpose’? Do all learners/teachers have access to reliable internet connectivity at home?
• Do all teachers/learners have access to a dedicated workspace at home? Does it meet health and safety requirements? How will you know?
• How will learning content and resources be made available to those who need them? What is your online platform?
• What expectations should teachers have here? What pedagogical approach(es) are appropriate for what is being taught in a hybrid context? How might you apply flipped learning approaches?
• How might what is done currently need to be adapted for a hybrid context? How will learning design need to be adapted?
• How agentic are your learners currently? What will they need to be able to be more self-managing in a hybrid context?
• What addition levels of support will be required to enable a hybrid approach to flourish? Who can be available to provide this?
• What opportunities are there for curriculum integration or thematic approaches to be taken within a hybrid context?
• How have you considered collaboration enablers for staff and ākonga? What synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for on-site and remote forms of participation are available? Have expectations been made clear to kaiako, ākonga and whanau?
• If moderation of contributions is needed, how will this be done? By whom?  What are your expectations of ākonga/kaiako to attend and contribute? E.g. what is compulsory or voluntary? How might participation and contribution count towards a record of learning?

Useful resources

Useful resources

Hybrid Learning publication from Futuremakers provides access to current New Zealand research, papers, and videos for support around engaging learners with a hybrid learning approach.

Education in the Digital Age: Healthy and Happy Children (2020) begins to examine the intersections between education, well-being, and digital technologies.

Education Reimagined; The Future of Learning (2020) is a collaborative position paper between New Pedagogies for Deep Learning and Microsoft Education.

The 10 conditions needed to foster learner agency. This resource is the result of both a literature scan and a series of conversations with ākonga and teachers from three New Zealand ILE schools.

Student Agency for 2030: OECD Futures Framework outlines a conceptual learning framework for learner agency which is rooted in the principle that students have the ability and the will to positively influence their own lives and the world around them.

Myers, S. (2008). Conversations That Matter. In Educational Leadership. Vol. 66. No. 1. September.

This short, easy-to-read article focuses on the importance of developing trusting and positive relationships in the classroom. It would be useful as a starter for a professional learning group. Myers suggests practical ways to start the first session with a class and ideas to continue the momentum through the year. He suggests activities and is specific about teacher responses and reactions. He knows, respects, and understands adolescents and indicates a range of responses that they may give to his suggested questions and activities. These are followed by constructive ideas for ways to handle situations as they emerge. This article gives principals, or other senior leaders, an opportunity to participate in leading learning. Myers comments that positive relationships in classrooms are important, but not the only factor in improving teaching and learning.

Reflective questions

• Spend some time thinking about and discussing with your leadership team ways in which you could use this article as a starter with teaching staff to promote discussion and planning about getting established with classes at the beginning of a term.
• How would you ensure that this was a trigger for discussion rather than a model to be picked up and followed exactly?
• Consider how teachers might react to a suggestion that they trial one of the strategies Myers suggests. What sorts of skills, knowledge, and support would teachers need to successfully trial the ideas in their classroom, or as a syndicate or department?

Useful resources

Earl, L. & Timperley, H. (2008). Professional Learning Conversations: Challenges in Using Evidence for Improvement. 

Poskitt, Jenny. (2020). Be kind and create space for learning, not testing

Dalton, Joan. Learning Talk series.

Absolum, Michael. (2010). Clarity in the Classroom: Using Formative Assessment for Building Learning Focused Relationships.