scholarly journals Teaching in superdiverse multicultural classrooms: Ideas from New Zealand secondary school teachers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwyn E. Wood ◽  
Shona McRae ◽  
Meredith Raukura
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Supportive Relationships ◽  
Zealand Secondary School ◽  
Multicultural Classrooms ◽  
Ethnic Students

Increased migration in recent years means that New Zealand classrooms are growing in cultural diversity—and in some communities, the extent and complexity of this has reached levels of “superdiversity”. This article reports on how teachers (n = 23) in four superdiverse secondary schools in New Zealand were responding to the growing cultural diversity in their classrooms. Four key approaches that were used by teachers in all schools to develop supportive relationships and foster greater inclusion are outlined. In addition, several teaching strategies are provided to help support teachers to face the growing complexity of mixed, hybrid, and evolving identities of multi-ethnic students in their classrooms.

scholarly journals New Zealand Secondary School Teachers' Perceptions and Practices Toward Curriculum Integration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Susan Arrowsmith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Curriculum Integration ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Zealand Secondary School

<p>Curriculum integration is an approach that aims to integrate teaching across traditional subject boundaries. Curriculum integration has received a growing level of interest in recent years in New Zealand, even from secondary schools that up until now have largely retained disciplinary boundaries. However, in spite of this recent popularity, curriculum integration remains a contested concept in terms of its definition, theoretical grounding, and practice, and we still know very little about how and why teachers are enacting this idea.  This study investigated New Zealand secondary school teachers’ perceptions and practices pertaining to curriculum integration. Participants included 25 teachers and senior managers from four New Zealand secondary schools currently employing curriculum integration. A collective case study design was utilised, gathering qualitative data through focus group sessions, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The data was analysed thematically.  The findings indicated that teachers’ theoretical understanding of integration was limited, and that most of the programmes were pragmatically founded. Factors that appeared to enhance the success of curriculum integration were the historical roots, whether the programme was initiated by teachers or senior managers, the type and degree of integration employed, if the programme ran as a special curriculum or across the whole school, the level of support received, and the timing of the programmes.  It was apparent that whilst curriculum integration has been advocated by the New Zealand Curriculum, there are still many challenges for secondary schools wishing to employ it. If this is indeed an area of future growth, then the Ministry of Education have a responsibility to provide a clear definition of, and professional development for, curriculum integration. This would help to strengthen the progressive, integrated curriculum espoused in the New Zealand Curriculum so that it is on far less shaky ground than at present.</p>

scholarly journals Teaching Strategies for Mathematical Problem-Solving through the Lens of Secondary School Teachers

TEM Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 743-750
Author(s):  
Afiqah Hamizah Noor Ishak ◽  
Sharifah Osman ◽  
Chiang Kok Wei ◽  
Dian Kurniati
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Mathematical Problem Solving ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Teaching Problem

Many studies have been conducted on problem-solving but only a small number of studies emphasized the strategies of teaching problem-solving. This paper explores the teaching strategies for mathematical problem-solving in a secondary school in Johor, Malaysia. It involves a qualitative study in which a semi-structured interview was conducted with mathematics teachers. Data were analyzed using a sixstep thematic analysis. The results can be viewed from three contexts of findings, namely the teaching strategies, the problems faced by teachers, and the solutions to overcome the problems. The findings revealed that there are teachers who have implemented personal teaching strategies, namely the Easy-Maths Model and the Cut-Stop-Solve Model to effectively teach mathematical problem-solving. The findings also explained some problems in teaching mathematical problem-solving, whereby students’ weaknesses in basic mathematics emerged as the main drawback. This study provides useful information to teachers on the different strategies for teaching mathematical problem-solving.

scholarly journals Will the benefit equal the effort? An investigation into the personal significance of the changes signalled in a mandated curriculum to New Zealand secondary school teachers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Brenda Mary Service
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Educational Criticism ◽  
Personal Significance ◽  
New Curriculum ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
The Impact

<p>A new school curriculum was implemented in all New Zealand schools during 2008 and 2009 and was mandated at the beginning of 2010. The changes signalled in the new curriculum required teachers to incorporate key competencies into their teaching and to move to student-centred practice which involves students in the decisions about their learning. It was possible that this social constructivist approach represented a change in teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and to their practice.  Much of the literature on educational change appears to overlook the transformational nature of the learning needed to bring about changes in beliefs and practice and teachers’ personal motivation to engage with it. Unless change is of personal significance to individuals they are unlikely to be motivated to engage with it. Using Eisner’s (1998) method of educational criticism, this case study is an investigation into the personal significance of the new curriculum to the teachers’ reality. In the spirit of educational criticism, the lens of an educational connoisseur was used to first develop an understanding of the teachers’ reality followed by that of an educational critic to evaluate what occurred.  Over a two-year period the study involved semi-structured interviews with twelve secondary school teachers in three schools, observations of the classroom practice, and analysis of school documentation and societal messages. While all the participating teachers’ espoused beliefs that were congruent with the philosophy of the new curriculum, constructivist practices were observed in the practice of only two teachers. What prevented the other teachers’ wholehearted engagement in the implementation of the new curriculum was not their beliefs about teaching and learning but rather, the extent to which external pressures determined their priorities. These pressures included the misalignment of the school goals and cultural norms, the impact of NCEA assessment regime, time constraints, leadership issues, lack of conceptual understanding and the absence of professional learning to support transformative learning.</p>

scholarly journals Text choice for the English (language arts) classroom in New Zealand: Balancing needs and environment in the face of a potential move to increased accountability at Years 9 and 10

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Gillian Hubbard
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Adolescent Literacy ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Face ◽  
Zealand Secondary School ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

The approaches of 17 experienced secondary school teachers of English in New Zealand to choosing text, reported through semi-structured interviews, aligns well to one strand of theory about adolescent literacy. This theory, based on empirical research, advocates taking account of students’ interests and backgrounds when choosing texts. New Zealand secondary school English teachers’ sense of unencumbered autonomy to choose texts may come under pressure from signalled policy moves for increased accountability for progress in literacy between the primary and secondary school years. The pattern internationally has been for movements to increase accountability to result in a narrowing of curriculum approaches.

scholarly journals Will the benefit equal the effort? An investigation into the personal significance of the changes signalled in a mandated curriculum to New Zealand secondary school teachers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Brenda Mary Service
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Educational Criticism ◽  
Personal Significance ◽  
New Curriculum ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
The Impact

<p>A new school curriculum was implemented in all New Zealand schools during 2008 and 2009 and was mandated at the beginning of 2010. The changes signalled in the new curriculum required teachers to incorporate key competencies into their teaching and to move to student-centred practice which involves students in the decisions about their learning. It was possible that this social constructivist approach represented a change in teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and to their practice.  Much of the literature on educational change appears to overlook the transformational nature of the learning needed to bring about changes in beliefs and practice and teachers’ personal motivation to engage with it. Unless change is of personal significance to individuals they are unlikely to be motivated to engage with it. Using Eisner’s (1998) method of educational criticism, this case study is an investigation into the personal significance of the new curriculum to the teachers’ reality. In the spirit of educational criticism, the lens of an educational connoisseur was used to first develop an understanding of the teachers’ reality followed by that of an educational critic to evaluate what occurred.  Over a two-year period the study involved semi-structured interviews with twelve secondary school teachers in three schools, observations of the classroom practice, and analysis of school documentation and societal messages. While all the participating teachers’ espoused beliefs that were congruent with the philosophy of the new curriculum, constructivist practices were observed in the practice of only two teachers. What prevented the other teachers’ wholehearted engagement in the implementation of the new curriculum was not their beliefs about teaching and learning but rather, the extent to which external pressures determined their priorities. These pressures included the misalignment of the school goals and cultural norms, the impact of NCEA assessment regime, time constraints, leadership issues, lack of conceptual understanding and the absence of professional learning to support transformative learning.</p>

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