Covid-19 Reflections

Never waste a good crisis Winston Churchill once said, or, 'so what does this mean for my learning?' when I was writing Learning Stories (narrative assessment) for pupils.

What are we to make or learn from this pandemic that has forced us to provide distance learning for 7 weeks for our learners and families/whānau? We have all heard about wonderful examples of engaged and motivated learners creating superb learning products and excelling in the home learning environment. However, we also know of many students that have not engaged in purposeful learning during this time, and there are a numbers of obvious reasons for this which still need to be addressed.

We have all witnessed how schools have responded to distance learning and how various governments around the world have responded to the pandemic.

During the last 7 weeks, the importance/value of the following has been strongly reinforced for me ...
1. leadership
2. collective action
3. coherence
4. challenging the status quo

I am not reflecting so much on the pedagogy in this blog, my colleague Robin Sutton at Hornby High has done some wonderful thinking in this space, I strongly suggest you read his recent posts.
https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.blogspot.com/

I believe our Prime Minister and coalition government's response to Covid-19 and their leadership has been superb, some have descibed it as a "masterclass." An explicit game plan, clear and regular messaging and involving a team of 5 million. As a result, everyone bought into the plan. Contrast this with the leadership on display in the USA and United Kingdom, or more accurately, lack of leadership! Countries that have displayed strong decisive leadership, and strong government, have reduced the curve of infection and as a result, have saved lives. An interesting sidenote, the majority of these countries are led by females.

Strong leadership has been required during Covid-19 in order to support our learners and whānau during distance learning. This has not been easy, however, leaders who have employed the following qualities have been able to successfully navigate these challening times.

Kiwi Leadership for Principals (Ministry of Education, 2008). Four educational leadership qualities underpin principals' ability to lead their schools:

• manaakitanga (leading with moral purpose)
  a strong values base is essential for decision making
• pono (having self belief)
  a strong values base enables self belief
• ako (being as learner)
  non negotiable, effective leaders must be life long learners and 'walk the talk'
• awhinatanga (guiding and supporting)
  Sergiovanni refers to 'servant leadership'

Throughout this journey I have focused on all 4 qualities to varying degrees. I must admit there were times when I questioned my  'pono' ... was I up to this? However, a strong manaakitanga, always open to ako and awhinatanga convinced me I was ... my community and staff were relying on me. During times of crisis, leaders stand up, strong leadership is crucial if we are to win the battle. 

Because I am a political junky and am fascinated by Donald Trump (not in a positive manner), I will draw the comparison when the above leadership qualities are absent ...

• manaakitanga - Trump is 'value free', only believes in winners and losers, and what is in it for him
• pono - like all narcissists, plenty of self belief but unhinged and deluded, and lives in a parallel reality
• ako - a "stable genius", does not need to read or seek expert advice, has little if anything to learn
• awhinatanga - not a team player or capable of building high functioning teams, thrives in chaos

Barack Obama describes the current USA administration as a "chaotic disaster." This should not be a surprise to anyone.

Collective action ... no better example than the Manaiakalani Education Trust, which includes The Manaiakalani Programme (TMP). 

None of us are good enough to do this all by ourselves. The following collective action has put Hornby Primary and the Uru Mānuka Cluster in a very strong position to support our learners and familes/whānau during the lockdown. It looks like this

• Manaiakalani Education Trust (MET)
• shared pedagogy based on Learn Create Share
• affordances of digital technology to supercharge learning
• Woolf Fisher Research Centre (WFRC) data analysis and research, including high leverage  practices that accelerate student progress and achievement
• shared sense making sessions with WFRC
• Uru Mānuka Educational Trust (UMET)
  provide funding to employ Educational Programme Leader (EPL)
  supports procurement and provisioning of digital devices for families/whānau
• Uru Mānuka Teaching as Inquiry PLGs that meet every term and share inquiries about raising student progress and achievement
• Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive (DFI)
  9 week intensive on Google applications and Learn Create Share pedagogy
• One digital solutions provider across our cluster

Collective action has provided valuable support, not only locally, but nationally. Being able to connect with other principals in the same situation was invaluable, a problem shared is a problem halved. Manaiakalani Convenors were meeting weekly and sharing ideas and planning for each Alert Level. This certainly created more clarity for myself and I was able to share this with our Uru Mānuka cluster colleagues. An interesting sidenote, as a result of these weekly Google Meets, there is a desire to continue these Meets during Alert Level 2. 

It also begs the question, in the future, do our cluster meetings need to be face-to-face (F2F)? Or could we have a blend from now on, some F2F and some online Meets? May this be a more effective way of utilising our precious time?

This collective action, some may refer to this as a systems approach, not sure if it really matters, has undoubtedly placed Hornby Primary School and the Uru Mānuka cluster in a strong position to

• reduce the digital divide
• address fairness, equity and the moral imperative
• accelerate student progress and achievement 
• ensure fully engaged digital citizenship
• ensure our learners are equipped to reach their full potential

As a result of five and a half years of collective action with Manaiakalani, Hornby Primary was well prepared to ensure learning was accessible and continued  throughout distance learning.  The UMET enabled 12 families to purchase chromebooks during this time also which ensured these learners were connected and able to access learning from home.

Coherence ... when all of its parts fit together. I love this word! Thank you Pat Snedden (Manaiakalani Chair), I first heard Pat use this word in 2015 when addressing our cluster at Hornby High and it has resonated ever since! Leadership and collective action will not be effective or reach its full potential if coherence is lacking. How does one enable or facilitate coherence? Certainly not by remaining in the Principal's head. Everyone must be 'singing from the same songsheet', fully understand the game plan, and be intentional about the implementation. It is then the leader's job to keep the vision alive and enacted.

Status quo ... let's get back to normal as soon as possible. This is often the call we here in regard to Covid-19. But what we had before the lockdown was not working for all learners, reverting back to the status quo is not the answer as it was failing a significant portion of our learners. Dr Anne Miln in her video Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools, states we cannot 'sit on the fence', we have to take a position and do something about it. Absolutely!

Challenging the status quo requires boldness, leadership and collective action. The status quo is easy, we don't have to do anything except keep reinforcing deficit theorising and blaming others which lets us off the hook. Let's take control and put ourselves at the centre of the problem and look for solutions, they are out there. Utilise our collective strength, support systems and expertise, and anything  is possible!

Hornby Primary will not be wasting this crisis, the pain and suffering endured by many dictates we have a moral responsibility to learn from Covid-19 and develop our practice to ensure we are providing the best possible learning environment for all of our learners so they reach their full potential and become positive contributing members of society. This is possible through leadership, collective action, coherence and challenging the status quo. No excuses, we can do this!

Note: the political views expressed by the author do not represent Hornby Primary, Uru Mānuka or Manaiakalani.

Four and a half years down the track

Uru Mānuka Cluster ( 7 schools including high school) has been in The Manaiakalani Programme (TMP) for the past 4.5 years and has been providing student achievement data to Woolf Fisher Research Centre (WFRC) for analysis for 3.5 years. So how are things looking, are we making a difference to student outcomes?

Last Thursday Marshlands School hosted our Manaiakalani Convenors' meeting - thank you Jacqui! Hannah from WFRC presented an analysis of individual clusters and overall TMP student achievement data.

The following graphs provide 7-point data for matched Uru Mānuka students - these students were in each data set from Term 1 2016 through until Term 1 2019.  In other words, they have had 3.5 years of 'Manaiakalani  medicine'.

Anything above zero in the MNormdiff Gain column indicates accelerated progress in comparison to the norm. What did we find, how are we going?

PAT Maths Results: although still below the norm at Term 1 2019 in terms of achievement (-4.59), Uru Mānuka has accelerated progress for the 263 students tracked from Term 1 2016 through to Term 1 2019.
2.67 points equates approximately to 1.5 terms of accelerated progress.

PAT Reading Results: accelerated progress for the 255 students of approximately 1.25 terms.

e-asTTle Writing Results: accelerated progress for the 232 students of approximately 5 terms.

So what does all of this mean? Are we achieving at the norms in Reading, Writing and Maths? No! But are we on the 'right track'? Absolutely!

Overall, Uru Mānuka is clearly accelerating progress in all 3 areas, this is wonderful news but it is still not enough. We need to do better for our learners in terms of overall achievement. We need to leverage off our positive writing achievement results and raise achievement in Reading and Maths. What are the successful teacher practices we can learn from in Writing that we can transfer to Reading and Maths. Watch this space!

A big thank you to the following, we would not be where we are today without your unrelenting support

• Manaiakalani Education Trust (MET)
• Woolf Fisher Research Centre (WFRC)
• Manaiakalani Outreach colleagues
• Russell Burt, Dorothy Burt and Pat Snedden

Uru Mānuka Mini Conference Day

Wow ... what an awesome day!! Six of our seven Outreach schools were present today with approximately 115 teachers plus Uru Mānuka Trustees and Manaiakalani Education Trust (MET) Chair Pat Snedden.

The purpose of today's conference was continue to develop a shared understanding of Learn Create Share, introduce our Trustees, share examples of good practice, provide networking opportunities and listen to Pat Snedden as he spelt-out MET's vision and goals.

A big thank you to Garry Moore, Jason Marsden, Rose Crossland and Jane Ross for your attendance and contribution (Uru Mānuka Trustees). Thank yous also to Simon Moriarty for the valuable Learn Create Share workshop and the teachers including Kelsey Morgan (Education Programme Leader) who shared examples of good practice.

And lastly, but not least, Pat Snedden. Pat travelled down to Christchurch this morning, forgoing Auckland Anniversary Day. Pat's presentation was inspirational (as usual!) and it was invaluable for Uru Mānuka teachers to hear the important messages firsthand, especially the money raised by MET and our responsibility to share our practice and findings with others.

One of Pat's sayings has left a lasting impression on me, "We aren't interested in making people happier in their misery ..." Pat is saying we can do better, we must set our expectations higher, we want our pupils/students to be succeeding and leading positive meaningful lives. In other words, what we are doing is about liberation.

We finished the day with a cameo appearance from Daisy Lavea-Timo. Daisy is very interested in Manaiakalani and was invited along by Garry Moore. Daisy is a 'smash poet' and performed an item at the end of the day to a rousing applause. We hope to be seeing a lot more of Daisy!

A fantastic day focused on teaching and learning practice that accelerates student achievement - thank you everyone for your participation and contributions!

"What a fantastic, energised mini conference! The room was really buzzing!"
Jane Ross, Uru Mānuka Trust.