NCEA Analysis

Waihi College Compared

NZQA has released the data for participation results for all of the country (it was part of Sunday newspapers).  This can become a snapshot of where we got to last year and refocus our collective efforts on getting as many of our students qualified.  I felt it would be interested in looking at the data.  I’ve created a spreadsheet with all of NZ schools (469 in total) and then created pages just with Decile Four schools and then with the local schools.  You can see we had a very pleasing year particularly with significant increases in the pass rates for Level One (12.8%) and Two (6.9%).  

The following powerpoint was presented to staff to encourage good conversation about getting our students through the national qualification system.  

Waihi college's place in the world ncea analysis april 2016 from WaihiCollege

This post is related to RTC #1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga." And RTC #7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment part ii. foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among ākonga.  And ERO's School Evaluation Indicators Domain 4 "students have an effecive, sufficient and equitable opportunities to learn - Explicit instruction in learning startegies (such as goal setting, self monitoring and deliberate practice) strengthens learner ability to take control of their learning)." 

Educating Boys'

Males and NCEA

I began my teaching career in a traditional single sex boys high school.  My initial years were grounded in School Certificate, Six Form Certificate and Bursary - these were systems that I was familiar with (I was a product of them myself).  

Peter Lyons - Otago Daily Times

An opinion piece by Peter Lyons (an economics teacher from St Peter's in Auckland) in the New Zealand Herald (click here) raises the issue of gender inequality in education - specifically in NCEA qualifications.  Whilst acknowledging the pitfalls of making generalised statements Lyon's points out that "NCEA is a standards-based assessment system. Many boys seem to adopt the attitude that meeting the minimum standard will suffice."

I wanted to know how reflective this statement would be for us here at Waihi College.  Do we in fact have results that reflect boys struggling in NCEA compared with the girls (and if so what does that mean for us as an educational institution)?

Here are some of our NCEA results from last year...  Level One 2014 had Girls endorsed with Excellence 6.3% (boys were at 3.3%) Girls endorsed with Merit 46.9% (boys were at 23.3%).  Similar results existed for Level Two. Level Three was more even.  So it would not be out of place to say that girls have twice the rate of excelling in NCEA than the boys last year in NCEA.  

Some of the specific issues Lyon has with NCEA include the lack of competitiveness and that instructional nature of assessments; "Boys are also generally less inclined to read instructions carefully. NCEA assessments are laden with instructions, assessment criteria and much additional reading material that camouflages the actual questions that need to be answered."  This are observations which I tend to agree with.  

So what is it that can be done by teachers here at Waihi College to counter these?  I would strongly suggest that regular review of the progress of students through NCEA (one of the core roles of the senior Pouako) would add to the competitive nature among boys.  We have annual goals around endorsement (L1 3 x Exc + 21 x Mer : L2 5 x Exc + 20 x Mer : L3 3 x Exc + 6 x Mer) - we will need boys to be better represented to gain these rates.  

Opportunities and expectations around internal assessments are key.  Are boys not taking the opportunities for 'sign posting' or re-submissions or resits?  Teachers having real conversations about the high expectations for our boys is key.  Are we pushing our boys and creating that environment of excellence?  In ERO's School Evaluation Indicators Domain 4 : Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn "teachers and students co-construct realistic and challenging learning goals..." 

This post is related to RTC #1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga." And RTC #7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment part ii. foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among ākonga.  And ERO's School Evaluation Indicators Domain 4.

Book Review

Changing Our Secondary Schools by Bali Haque

I really enjoyed this educational theory book, especially because this is written by a kiwi, who has worked in the New Zealand system and understands the changes specifically in the New Zealand educational system.  

Bali Haque is a well known figure in the New Zealand educational community being a former principal Pakuranga and Rosehill Colleges, President of the Secondary Principals' Association, deputy chief of NZQA and an executive member of the PPTA.  In recent years he has worked in Rarotonga.  

In Changing Our Secondary Schools Bali has analysed the major changes to the New Zealand Education system over the last three decades.  It is easy to see the level of change our sector has been subjected too.  I enjoyed his summaries and gained from seeing these changes from a management/strategic point of view.  My experiences have been predominantly as a teacher this book helped me see some of the logic behind the theory.  

Bali is highly critical mostly of implementation of the policies rather than the specific policies themselves.  Highlighting the compromises built upon compromises resulting in some avoidable problems.  He focuses much of his criticism on the divisions (and conflict) that exist in New Zealand secondary schooling systems.  

In the second half of the book Bali takes deliberate aim at many sacred cows in the system.  He has strong ideas which can be summarised as incendiary.  Paying excellent teachers 'excellence units', aiming to remove incompetent (and marginally competent) teachers from the ranks, making all but five weeks of holidays an expectation for teachers to be onsite, raising the entry requirement for teacher training a masters qualification, removing the focus from extra curricular, to name a few.  

On the issue of collective professionalism Bali writes "It is important to serious address the problem of incompetent and mediocre teachers... teaching is too important a profession to tolerate free riders and level high flyers unrewarded.".  

I would recommend Changing Our Secondary Schools to teachers who are new to NZ (as it gives some excellent background information about how we got here), teachers who have a mind for the politics of schooling, senior management (as much of the change lies with them).  It is an easy reading book and one that had me thinking late into the night.  

This post relates to RTC #12 - "Engaging with professional literature and reflecting on ones practice".

  

Improving NCEA Results

James Cook High School

James Cook High School in Manukau South Auckland is a larger school than Waihi College (1200 students year 9-13 as opposed to our 500).  They have had a very remarkable story of turning around their qualification results for their students.

The were featured in the New Zealand Herald in the school holidays (click here for that article).  Some of the interesting comments in that article was what their Principal Vaugh Couillault had to say;

Mr Couillault, who joined the school in 2012, says the results are indicative of serious amounts of work from teaching and support staff, who deal with kids who come to the school usually well below standard.

"At year nine, our kids are up to four years below where they should be," he says. "And it takes a lot of hard yakka to help them from there."

He hints at some of the interventions that James Cook High teachers put into place for their students;

It's about making a real effort to know our learners. Not about just standing up the front. But any teacher worth their salt will be doing that."

They also collect "hard core" data, and can make changes on almost a daily basis around what is and isn't working, he says.

Last night there was a report on TVNZ's One News on the increased results (up from 42% of students in year 11 getting Level One 2014 up to 95% in 2015).

Here is a copy of that report (intellectual property of TVNZ)...[takes a min to load]

James Cook High School is a good example of how a school can work towards a collective goal of increasing the qualification results of their students.  I find myself interested in the finer details around the changes they have put in place.  Here is a summary of the main points...

1. Perseverance - teachers not giving up on the kids (further opportunities) and kids not giving up (coming in in their holidays).
2. Re-looking at the middle management - splitting up teachers into smaller groups to increase accountability around results.  
3. Sense of Pride - looking at giving the student more pride in the community (including uniform etc).  Modernising the look of the school.  
4. Face lift - The school had new building programme (Waihi College is due new block to replace P Block).  
5. Student Centered Learning - getting personalised in the learning.  Identifying the needs of each individual student and getting the learning individualised.  

"I want every student that walks out the gate to simply be in charge of what happens to them next." - Vaugh Couillault

This post relates to RTC #6. "Conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme i. articulate clearly the aims of their teaching, give sound professional reasons for adopting these aims, and implement them in their practice." And RTC #11. "Analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally i. analyse assessment information to identify progress and ongoing learning needs of ākonga 
ii. use assessment information to give regular and ongoing feedback to, guide and support further learning, iii. analyse assessment information to reflect on and evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching."