Te Puke High School Awarded Substantial Grant from the Ministry of Education

The school successfully applied for and was granted $76,000 from the Teacher-Led Innovation Fund to look at maximising success for Māori learners using both culturally responsive and 21st century teaching practices.

Our teachers were involved in the Ministry of Education’s Te Kotahitanga project from 2007-2012 which involved learning about culturally responsive teaching practice. It resulted in an increase in the achievement of Māori students, including a lift in NCEA results to the same level as non-Māori students.

Since then we have found that our Māori students in Years 9 and 10 are behind their peers in literacy and numeracy. We are wanting to investigate how can we improve Māori student success and engagement through embedding 21st century learning within our culturally responsive and relational teaching approach.

Participants in the research include teachers, Māori students and their whanau, who have recently been interviewed in the school wharenui to help us understand what the experiences are currently like for Māori students in our school.

Working with experts from the University of Waikato, the project will involve all staff looking at making learning more engaging and meaningful for Māori students. We will also focus on helping Māori learners feel a greater sense of belonging at Te Puke High School through normalising Māori culture within our school. We want to find ways for Māori students to have strong connections to their language, identity and culture.

At the same time, we need to ensure we are preparing our students for the future. Research shows us that communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity are important skills that will prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist.

We have already made changes, reshaping our junior curriculum to an integrated curriculum where, rather than English, mathematics, science, social studies and PE/health taught as separate subjects, they are taught together as ‘themes’ with up to three teachers in the classroom at any time. The idea is we start engaging students through their passions and it is less about content and more about developing core skills in literacies. We are also looking to change our assessment approach to ensure we are measuring what is really important for our entire community of learners.

We are aiming to achieve equity for Maori students. This will happen through professional learning that encourages collaboration and innovation. We are currently teaching together and now we will be learning together to create change together, with a common purpose.

The results of the research will be shared with other local Te Puke schools and other schools throughout New Zealand.