This review investigated the impact of teacher inquiry on student achievement and identified characteristics of effective inquiry. We first explore the theoretical underpinning inquiry research and then discuss studies that demonstrated an association between an inquiry and student achievement shifts. Effective teacher inquiries had a focus on student achievement, sufficient time, teacher engagement and collaboration, external expertise, and leaders’ support. When the aspects above were present, the potential for the intervention to demonstrate positive shifts in student achievement increased. Barriers to effective inquiry are also suggested. The review concludes with implications and recommendations for future research studies.
This chapter discusses the experiences of Māori teachers who are currently or were previously employed in English-medium schools and early childhood centers in New Zealand. The New Zealand education system has a long history of failing to meet the educational needs of Māori students, and the demand for teachers to improve students’ academic outcomes has increased. Māori teachers connect and engage more readily with Māori students due to their shared culture and background. In contrast, many Pākehā/New Zealand European teachers have a limited understanding of Māori language, knowledge systems, values, and customs, and often hold low expectations for Māori student achievement. Findings from our study revealed that Māori teachers carried a substantial cultural and pastoral workload. On average, teachers reported spending at least 5½ hours per week working with Māori students and their whānau (family) in addition to their full-time teaching responsibilities. Although most teachers were acknowledged for their contributions through additional remuneration or time-release, others received no recognition. Participants were committed to their students but often worked in unwelcoming and unsupportive Eurocentric environments. Teachers were also disheartened by the general lack of commitment of their non-Māori colleagues to Māori language, culture, and values, yet were expected to guide, support, and educate these colleagues on how to meet their obligations to Māori students. The chapter concludes with suggestions for how school principals, center managers, and other teachers, could better support Māori teachers so that they continue making valuable contributions to their students’ education and remain employed in the teaching profession.
In this article, we explore how the poetic rendering of an initial focus group transcript with five secondary school students in an alternative education setting in Aotearoa, New Zealand, set the tone for an entire action research. Each year, approximately 3,500 secondary school students are referred to alternative education provisions due to suspensions, exclusions, and truancy. Two-thirds of these students are rangatahi Māori (Māori young people). Alternative education teachers, however, know little about their students’ schooling histories. Using participatory action research, teachers explored critical moments from young people’s education journeys. Found poems created from the first focus group with students, including the creation of I poems, set the tone for action research. These poems exposed more widely the twofold I-Thou/I-It attitude that has shaped the students’ lived experiences, and as a response, researchers gave heed to I-Thou as they shaped the research approach.
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