In the past two years, 36 Networks of Expertise (NEX) have mentored, coached and provided professional learning development (PLD) to as many as 15,000 teachers and kaiako throughout Aotearoa.
Murray Williams
The strength of the NEX initiative, which was piloted in 2016 and 2017 and introduced nationwide in 2018, is that the educators leading the networks are the very best teachers in the country, says Murray Williams, recently retired chief executive of Whanaketanga Kaiako Aotearoa | Teacher Development Aotearoa (WKA/TDA).
Networks of Expertise were established as a key part of PLD capability infrastructure following a Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga review in 2015/16. The service is kaiako-led, promotes peer-to-peer learning, strengthens collaboration and networked expertise, and provides kaiako, schools, and kura with ready-to-go support. The funding is currently in its second iteration since the review.
WKA/TDA leads the 36 NEX under contract to the Ministry, providing advice, guidance, and support. Most of the networks are subject-related and range from agribusiness, mathematics and statistics to history and social sciences, and technology. There are also communities of practice and interest group networks such as Pasifika education, gifted education and online teaching support.
Education Gazette spoke to Murray on the eve of his retirement after many decades of working in education as a teacher, principal and as a manager and director for the Ministry of Education. He thinks the NEX initiative is outstanding.
Murray says that after five years, 40 percent of teachers leave the profession.
“When I became a young teacher, the dropout rate after five years was seven percent,” says Murray.
“What has happened to change that statistic dramatically has been the loss of targeted PLD, which, as I remember, was through an advisory service that worked alongside teachers in curriculum areas after they were trained. It was regular and ongoing, one to one, you were mentored and coached. In many respects the NEX is in a different form and configuration, but a return to that kind of support that develops a teacher,” he says.
Murray believes that NEX is, and will continue to be, successful for two key reasons.
Firstly, the PLD that the networks offer to teachers is ongoing and frequent.
Murray says people are getting this support as they need it; or when workshops are available, online resources are developed, webinars are up and running; or there’s an opportunity to come together in small groups to workshop things.
Secondly, he says the teachers and kaiako who lead each NEX are at the top of their game and are widely respected.
“They have crafted their skill over time, they have been developed by others and have arrived at a point of expertise themselves where they have high credibility and the ability to know how to help younger teachers who are starting out on that development themselves.”
Murray is referring to teachers like Louise Richards, who leads the New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers. More than 700 teachers at 350 schools are part of this large network, which identified two key areas for development: upskilling teachers in GIS (geographical information systems) and providing an experienced mentor for beginning teachers and those in solo positions.
“GIS was a new pedagogy that was part of the curriculum coming in and we really needed to upskill teachers being able to utilise that in the classroom and make it applicable to the NCEA curriculum.
“We funded our GIS champions, people we identified within our [geography teaching] community who were highly skilled in this area, creative thinkers and people with good PLD skills. They worked within the regions to set up professional development for teachers around GIS and developed a series of resources to support teachers as well,” explains Louise, who is assistant principal at Shirley Boys High School.
GIS is a standard at NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 and is a cutting-edge skill in high demand, but Louise says that many teachers didn’t know how to use the ArchGIS programme, so it was rarely taught. The GIS champions combined forces with a company, Eagle Technology, who gave advice about developments in the field and helped to develop teaching resources.
“What’s been really good is that those GIS champions have also started to use it at Years 9 and 10 in the social studies curriculum, because we want teachers to be confident using it right the way through school.”
In 2018, the geography NEX also funded a kaiarahi/mentor role. Jane Evans, a former exam marker and head of social sciences at Takapuna Grammar School, took on the 0.6FTE role for two years to support new teachers, or those who were the only geography teacher in their school.
Louise says teachers were able to email Jane directly with problems around moderation, how to improve exam results, and how to develop appropriate context and resources for standards.
“Jane travelled around the regions and did a number of workshops. She did things like go down to Southland, stay with a teacher overnight and get three or four teachers from a local school to meet at a teacher’s house the next day – it was really getting to the grassroots and helping teachers who were isolated.”
For 2022, a full-time kaiarahi has been appointed to support teachers through the changes to NCEA. Mary Robinson has been seconded to the role from St Cuthbert’s College in Auckland.
Mary will be looking at things such as curriculum design and curriculum pedagogy being introduced with the new NCEA changes. Then over time, Louise says they will start thinking more about specific resources.
“We want teachers to feel empowered to develop those resources themselves. We want to do less of the providing different resources, to upskilling teachers to feel confident that they can design their own curricular contexts.
“Mary will particularly look at how we can support teachers in their confidence with mātauranga Māori and how they can integrate that into their teaching units,” explains Louise.
In 2021 the NEX were realigned to support the strategic direction of changes taking place in the education system, such as the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum (ANZHC), the Review of Achievement Standards (RAS), the NCEA Change Programme, and the wider refresh of The New Zealand Curriculum.
The geography network is having discussions with colleagues in social studies and history networks, as they are aware of the significance of events and place in the study of geography.
Geography teachers involved with the NEX reported feeling more supported. So successful was the mentoring initiative, that recent statistics showed a vast improvement in moderation.
“The statistics are showing how much our moderation has improved for geography teachers. When they were sending work in to be moderated, they had really poor feedback and we had a lot of teachers who were becoming quite distressed about their marking, but that has now massively improved,” says Louise.
Murray reflects that while it’s too early to say if the high dropout rate in the first five years of teaching will be turned around, he has a strong feeling that teacher confidence is building and capability is also improving.
“People who interact with the NEX say that they are very helpful and understand the needs of other teachers, they mentor and coach them and are able to provide that one-to-one development depending on where that person is at in their development,” says Murray.
“Confident, capable teachers are more likely to stay and we’re more likely to see improved student achievement around the country. It stands to reason, if you develop the people who are teaching, they will be better teachers,” he adds.
Les Hoerara is the Kaitakawaenga, iwi relationship and partnership manager for Whanaketanga Kaiako Aotearoa | Teacher Development Aotearoa.
Les Hoerara is the Kaitakawaenga, iwi relationship and partnership manager for WKA/TDA. He brings to his new role a background as an educationalist, researcher and advocate of tikanga Māori. Already he’s planning a te ao Māori approach by relocating from Wellington so he can build authentic relationships with mana whenua in parts of the North Island.
His role will include brokering and leveraging partnerships with mana whenua, facilitating and delivering workstreams related to The New Zealand Curriculum refresh, supporting NCEA changes and supporting the NEX to complement the changes in culturally capable ways while upholding and giving effectiveness to Te Tiriti.
Les has already presented to all 36 NEXs about the importance of developing relationships with iwi organisations to enable NEX to champion Mana Ōrite and promote Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its significance in Aotearoa.
“We need to have mana whenua at the table from the beginning,” explains Les.
“Typically, it’s a European model and framework which is that non-Māori know what Māori want. We can deal with the problem from both sides, which is ask mana whenua first so that when they get approaches for the next eight workstreams coming out, they don’t get clobbered all the time with the same questions.”
WKA/TDA has already collaborated with Te Āti Awa (Waiwhetu) and Ngāti Toa (Porirua) in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.
Les says it made sense to approach mana whenua in Wellington first as an exemplar to use for the other nine regions.
“Because Māori will ask, ‘what strategic plan or initiative have you built your bicultural framework on?’ The exemplar that I am using has already been passed by our board, so I’m going to be using that to ask mana whenua what they want and whether or not they can facilitate and carry out and deliver.
“Some have been inundated with too many requests. But I know from the other side that some of the NEX are still trying to get their feet under the table. If there need to be changes made, at least it’s mana whenua telling me that, not anybody else,” explains Les.
Murray concludes, saying “our philosophy of ‘mō ngā kaiako, nā ngā kaiako – for kaiako, by kaiako’ underpins our vision to reach all kaiako in Aotearoa and support them on their learning journey for the benefit of all ākonga.”
The role of the Network Hub, administered by Whanaketanga Kaiako Aotearoa | Teacher Development Aotearoa is to:
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BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz
Posted: 10:20 am, 2 February 2022
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