Mindlab Week 2

Key Competencies in Leadership - Leadership

Media: Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum by Wayne Freeth with Vanessa Andriotti (Journal article)

Main points

Knowledge is reconceptualised as a verb not a noun. Ie something we do something with rather than something we have.

There can be ‘feeling knowledge’ and ‘thinking knowledge’

·       This may enable distributed and transformational leadership ie gives teachers a role in the construction of the curriculum and responding to the needs of diverse learners.

·       Teacher leaders:

-        Show expertise in instruction

-        Are consistently on a learning curve

-        Reflect on their own learning and think about what is best for children

-        Engage in action research that explores their effectiveness

-        Collaborate with peers, parents and communities

-        Are socially conscious and politically involved

-        Mentor new teachers and are involved in preparing pre-service teachers

-        Are risk takers who participate in school decisions

-        Use culturally responsive practises to meet the needs of diverse learners (really important)

·       Collaboration and understanding knowledge as a verb breaks down ‘silos’ and make  processes a priority.

·       Curriculum development is an ongoing process not a destination and a school and it’s community needs to own their curriculum.

·       These innovations mean a change in teacher’s professional identity.

·       Different people will come to different ‘right’ ways of doing things, so there are multiple truths and pathways (this is unsettling)

·       We need to understand why others hold certain views and acknowledge and understand our own biases

·       We need to model and demonstrate good practise

I have come to realise that to work with others effectively, I need a good knowledge of how they (and I) see the world. I need to learn how to bring to the surface the culturally embedded deep rooted values, habits, dispositions and beliefs that drive myself and others.

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 

We need to constantly reflect on our own learning and whether play and problem based learning is enhancing engagement and accelerating progress. We also need to keep collaborating not only with peers but also importantly with the students and whanau.

We need to try and ensure that we make ourselves aware of how we and others in our team see the world and the expertise we each have in using knowledge as a verb. (The multiple truths and pathways we all have)

We need to keep learning as a process not a destination ‘on top’.

Media: Why Do Competencies Matter – Karen Sewell  (video)

Main points:

·       Students must learn in powerful ways so they can manage the demands of changing work, information, technology and social conditions.

·       The education system must be responsive to the students

·       We still need students with wit, curiosity, knowledge and compassion

·       They need to learn in environments that are caring, challenging but safe and that respect diversity

·       They need to be able to stand up for what’s right and change what’s wrong.

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students?

We believe that play and problem based learning will enable our students to learn in much more powerful ways and that it is also much more responsive to their needs. We also believe that these ways of learning will be more likely to ‘tap into’ and develop the wit, curiosity, knowledge and compassion of our students and provide a learning environment more challenging but safe. We think that these approaches are more responsive to diversity and cultural capital

Media: Indigenous epistemology in a national curriculum framework by Angus Macfarlane, Ted Glynn, Waiariki Grace, Wally Penetito, Sonja Bateman

Main points:

Competencies – capabilities needed to undertake a task or meet a demand (skills, attitudes, knowledge and values)

-        Performance based actions

Kaupapa Maori

Whakawhanaungatanga- developing relationships and connections enhanced by a sense of belonging and connection. Involves nurturing

The uniqueness of individuals in terms of mana (potential power, prestige), mauri (life essence) and wairua (spirituality). This is passed down through wkakapapa.  Therefore the tapu (accessed only under careful restrictions) need to be treated with the ultimate care and respect.

Constructs:

Aroha is the binding element

·       Tātaritanga – (Thinking and Making Meaning)

·       Manaakitanga – Care and respect (Relating to Others)

·       Whakawhanaungatanga- Establishing relationships (Managing Self)

·       Rangatiratanga – Personal autonomy and leadership (Managing Self)

·       Whaiwahitanga – engagement and participation (Participating and Contributing)

*Combinations of these generates a wairua and then mauri that are in a positive state of awareness.

Students’ experiences in school are themselves an authentic part of students’ life experiences. School is not just preparation for life to be lived later. Learning is an active process involving ongoing self-reflection, skill development and adaption and engaged in by students and teachers alike, at both individual and systems levels. Students, teachers, parents and community need to be able to engage effectively in the life of the school so that the whole community can benefit

Student’s whanau play a central and critical role in establishing and maintaining effective home/school and community relationships. They are also a compelling force to support effective curriculum and pedagogy for Maori. Culturally safe classrooms encourage strong family input.

Tātaritanga

·       Mixed ability groups (tuakana/teina) leads to these constructs being more likely to be observed

·       Ako (the interchange of roles between teacher and student) is very important. It involves collaboration between teacher and student. We are all learners.

·       Fulfilling one’s individual responsibility as well as being responsible for the well-being of the group.

Manaakitanga

A constructivist classroom ensures that students:

·       Experience deep learning

·       Are autonomous and responsible learners

·       Creativity is respected

·       Experience a co-constructed learning environment

·       Identity as Maori is respected through manaaki

*Because of whanau relationships, it’s more than just the key competency of relating to others.

Whanaungatanga

Whanau –ensured the survival of language and culture

Whanau concept of knowledge

·       It belongs to a group

·       It is for the benefit of the group

·       It is shared for all to gain

·       It is not for capital gain

Whanau concept of pedagogy

·       Based on core values

·       Involves tuakana/teina

·       Sharing of all knowledge

·       Combining local knowledge and global knowledge

Whanau discipline

·       School is a whanau

·       Parents as ‘parents’ to all children

·       Teachers as parents

·       Learning and behaviour are a shared responsibility.

Whanau concept of curriculum

·       Maori have to have a say

·       Being Maori is normal

·       Responsive to Maori interests

·       Maori world-view is reflected in the school

…..relationships, connectedness, academic engagement, supportive environment and acknowledgement and recognition of difference are key qualities that make teaching and learning more meaningful for Maori students and indeed for all students.

Teachers are assisted through careful observation and feedback on their classroom teaching to move to new positionings that attribute under-achievement to problematic interactions and relationships occurring within the learning activities and pedagogies employed in their own classrooms.

The AIMHI study showed conclusively that in a caring environment students felt safe and were more likely to contribute, to take risks and to manifest interest and enjoyment in their learning activities.

Rangatiratanga

·       Manageable amounts of responsibility and choice

·       Personal autonomy, strength and leadership is exercised within whanaungatanga (self is understood within the context of collective or community)

·       Students work towards the well-being of the group and benefit from the support of the group.

·       Teachers need to affirm identity and build a safe community

·       Teachers need to cultivate student leadership and tap into strengths

*Managing self is dependent on oranga (wairua, tinana, hinengaro, whanau)

Whaiwāhitanga

·       Attaining a sense of place and belonging which leads to an acceptance and respect for the goals of a place

·       Attachment (being socially bonded) through whakapapa and whanaungatananga

·       Commitment and social bonds formed lead to active participants.

·       School being a rightful place to stand (like a marae)

·       Authentic and meaningful learning

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students?

We need to think critically about whether the Maori students in our school and whanau can learn as Maori. We need to keep being reflective about our own expectations and totally eliminate deficit thinking. We need to develop strong learning relationships with high expectations about student potential within culturally inclusive and safe learning environments. We need to ‘tap into’ Maori students’ knowledge and capabilities. We need to encourage and foster student agency and co-construct learning.

We need to make sure we keep facilitating learning experiences that enable collaboration, through group problem solving in culturally relevant contexts. We need to make sure our learning environment is safe, challenging and supportive. It also needs to be a place where all students feel confident to express themselves and communicate ideas and opinions.

21^st Century Skills- Digital  

Media: Teaching in the 21^st Century (video)

Main points

·       Because we as teachers are no longer a source of information we need to facilitate learning that involves

-        Validating information

-        Synthesising information

-        Leveraging information

-        Communicating information

-        Problem solving with information

-        Collaborating with information

·       How does the learning we do with technology fit with……?

Create

Evaluate

Analyse

Apply

Understand

Remember

·       What about responsibility, reliability and integrity?

·       What are the students learning this for?

·       How can they use the tools (technology) they already use regularly to:

Share, collaborate, compare and publish?

·       Are our lessons relevant, challenging and engaging

Entertainment Passive For enjoyment Short-lived Doesn’t require relevance Escape from problems Using the creativity of others

Engagement Active For learning Long term Meaningful and applicable Solving problems Using creativity of participant

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 

Make sure that I become much more familiar with the tools and apps that the kids use. Find software, sites and do some research)

Make sure that our learning experiences are all about engagement.

Make sure that the students are supported to do something with information and thinking critically about it.

Media: What 60 Schools Can tell Us – Grant Lichman

Main points

·       Change is uncomfortable, complicated and messy

·       Schools need to be

-        Creative

-        Adaptable

-        Permeable

-        Dynamic

-        Systematic

-        Self-correcting

*They need to be an evolving ‘ecosystem’

“….if we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow”

John Dewey (more than 100 years ago)

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 

We need to teach into ‘the unknown’. We need to embrace change. We need to be self-evolving learners and be a part of self-evolving institutions.

We need to prepare students for their future not our past