363 research outputs found
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Untapped potential? Key Competency learning and physical education
No full textThis paper reports on a collaborative action research project that directed attention to the opportunities Physical Education presents to develop learning associated with three of the key competencies detailed in the New Zealand Curriculum; thinking; managing self; and relating to others. Three teachers in one secondary school explored the meanings each of these key competencies could take on in physical education and, specifically, ways in which adjustments to learning intentions, content, pedagogy and assessment variously helped them bring key competency learning to the fore. Attention is drawn to the benefits teachers saw arising from an enhanced focus on learning, shifts to more student-centred pedagogy, and questions that the research generated for the department’s curriculum planning. Discussion also highlights the value of research approaches that emphasise collaboration and support professional learning
Thinkpiece: Making space for mathematics learning to happen in group work: Is this really possible?
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Thinkpiece: The Key Competencies: Do we value the same outcomes and how would we know?
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Mathematics in student-centred inquiry learning: Student engagement
No full textThis paper examines how mathematical understandings might be facilitated through student-centred inquiry. Data is drawn from a research project on student-centred inquiry learning that situated mathematics within authentic problem-solving contexts and involved students in a collaboratively constructed curriculum. A contemporary interpretive frame was utilised and mixed methods were used to collect data. The project took place with a Year 10 class in a purpose-built New Zealand secondary school. The findings indicated that mathematics centred on real-life learning was highly engaging, with student choice and the co-construction of their research questions central to that engagement
Socio-emotional Key Competencies: Can they be measured and what do they relate to?
No full textFour socio-emotional New Zealand Curriculum key competencies (Managing Self, Participating and Contributing, Relating to Others and Thinking) were investigated in a two-part study. The first part used a questionnaire to quantitatively model the four key competencies in a sample of 995 secondary students. The second part examined whether the key competency models found in part 1 related to academic efficacy, school connectedness and academic achievement within a subsample of 297 secondary students. The models had acceptable statistical fit and were invariant. All models were related to academic efficacy and school connectedness, but none related directly to achievement. This is the first study to try to quantitatively model the New Zealand key competencies and demonstrate a direct relationship between the socio-emotional key competencies and academic efficacy and school connectedness
Teachers changing class levels: A platform for shaping pedagogies
No full textTeachers changing class levels is common practice in many New Zealand primary schools; however, it is not always seen as a platform for shaping pedagogies. In order to manage the change to a new class level teachers are compelled to reflect on many of their established practices. Engaging in this reflection can help teachers to see their practice “in a new light” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 30) and provide them with a platform to shape their pedagogy.This article reports on the findings of a study that focused on the experiences of four teachers who each changed class levels. It illustrates how these teachers engaged in critical reflection on their practice and pedagogy as they negotiated the change to a new class level. The benefits from teachers engaging in this reflection when they change class levels are outlined, and the importance of being supported through this change is highlighted
Learning Agency: A dynamic element of the New Zealand Key Competencies
No full textSeven years ago The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) was launched with its emphasis on key competencies as “the capabilities that young people need for growing, working, and participating in their communities” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 38). This raises the question of what dispositions are required for students to strengthen these capabilities? Curriculum commentators advocate that teachers should monitor how students take risks so that their capabilities are stretched as they perform real tasks in real contexts. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing conversation on what key competencies can look like in New Zealand classrooms. Specifically, it focuses on learner agency as an important and undertheorised dispositional element of the key competencies. The paper reports on a discourse analysis that explores how students can act agentically in a secondary classroom. By providing a rich example of learners taking risks in their learning as they enact key competencies, this paper reveals that agency can be both dynamic and unexpected
Introducing multiplication and division contexts in junior primary classes
No full textThis paper shares research from a pilot study in which young children were introduced to multiplication and division problems in their first year of school. The focus was on building children’s conceptual understanding of the idea of “repeated groups” as a fundamental aspect of multiplication and its relation to division. The particular mathematics lessons in this study began with simple word problems involving groups of two, using familiar contexts such as pairs of shoes and socks and progressed to groups of five. Children worked with materials to solve problems, often using addition (and subtraction) as they solved multiplication (and division) problems
Teaching for present and future competency: A productive focus for professional learning
No full textThe key competencies are a potentially transformative feature of the New Zealand Curriculum. However, the way in which they have been understood and implemented in schools points to tensions and challenges that may prevent them from acting as agents of curriculum change. One recent researcher /practitioner partnership developed materials that show how a close interweaving of key competencies and traditional subject learning might transform the taught curriculum. Analysis of the practice of the teachers who contributed to this project suggests that refocusing teacher thinking about purposes for learning is likely to be a critical change lever. A clear focus on students’ present and future needs must be part of any re-imagining of purposes for teaching and learning, and hence of the taught curriculum