CSIC 8100 Blog 7

Step 1: What is the observed impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase?

The impact of my Take Action phase has been that teachers are meeting with students for learning conferences more often than they did during the same period of time in 2018. This impact is clearly supported by the figures which show the number and frequency of learning conferences between teachers and students.

Other impacts could be that students have more understanding of the Haeata learning inquiry process; that they have more focus during their day at school; that they better understand their learning goals and how to achieve them; and that they feel more supported by their teachers. I have observed all of these impacts, but I have not collected any evidence to prove them.

Step 2: How is the observed impact different from or similar to the anticipated one?

One of the positive impacts I anticipated was that students might improve in their ability to describe their learning at school. I have no information which can tell me this definitely one way or another. It would be interesting to conduct a survey with students to establish if this has been the case.

The other positive impact I predicted was that teachers would also be more articulate about learning at Haeata. My anecdotal observations would indicate that this is the case. However I would also have to survey teachers to establish if my observations are valid, and also to establish how many teachers have experienced this positive outcome.

An unexpected impact of the inquiry is that teachers are more curious about learning conferences. They are interested in unpacking how learning conferences are conducted and what different types of learning conferences might look like.

Step 3: What is the impact on future inquiry/practice?

This inquiry could lead to a second inquiry during which I might interview teachers and students in regards to the impact that learning conferences have on them. I would collect some qualitative information about the how both groups feel about learning conferences. I would ask both groups how frequent learning conferences contribute to their understanding of the Haeata inquiry process and other aspects of learning at our school. I would ask teachers if the conferences have given them useful information about individual students. I would ask students if the conferences help them to focus on their learning, and if they help them to carry on working independently of the teacher. 

It would be helpful to have a team of teachers collect this information from a number of students of different ages. 

I would also collect the frequency data that I have collected during this part of the inquiry, so that I can compare future data with data from the first six weeks of 2019.

I will definitely continue to encourage all the teachers in our team to meet the goal of conferencing with students every two weeks. I will also continue to offer teachers classroom based time during which they can do this. 

CSIC 8100 Post 6

New Research Question

If we define the number of teacher student conferences required in a specific time period,
will the number of teacher student conferences increase?

Preparation for Analysis

The kind of data I collected is about the number of one-to-one interactions teachers have
with students. It gives information about a learning action that the teacher and student
have engaged in. It is quantitative data about a qualitative assessment method.

At the start of Term 1, 2019 our kaiarahi team decided to take some actions to encourage
more kaiako conferencing one to one with ākonga. The first action we took was to define
our expectations; kaiako are to meet with each ākonga in your puna ako group once every
2 weeks.

I collected pre and post intervention data about the number of one-to-one conferences a
teachers and students engage in.

Of the 21 examples I collected, I eliminated one result because the 2018 result was 0 and
I could not calculate a percentage.

Analysis of the Data

The data I have collected indicates the frequency with which teachers and students are
engaging in a particular learning activity. The results can be seen in the graph below.

In the first 6 weeks of 2019, teachers and students have completed 56% of the
number of learning conferences that they completed during all of 2018.

The lowest percentage a single teacher achieved was 8%. This teacher had completed a
high number of conferences with this particular student during 2018.

The highest percentage a single teacher achieved was 100%. This was achieved by two
teachers.

These percentages are also indicative of an increase in the actual number of learning
conferences. If teachers continued to conference with students at a this rate for the
rest of the school year; the number of learning conferences would be more than three
times the number held this year.  

Interpretation of the Data

Gray (2012) points out that “Data does not speak for itself”.

It is clear from this data that the number and frequency of teacher conferences have
increased during the first six weeks of 2019. This would indicate that teachers have
responded positively to the exact stipulation of kaiarahi expectation of one conference
for every student every two weeks.

In addition to stipulating the number of conferences required over a two week period;
kaiarahi also gave teachers more time to complete conferences. I think I might be able to
surmise that offering teachers more time to achieve their conferencing goal has contributed
to their success. However I am assuming that teachers used the extra time for learning
conferences and I don’t know that for sure. Assuming that the time was used for learning
conferences; I do not have information on the number of extra conferences completed in the
extra time.

I also do not have any information about the duration of learning conferences or the content
of learning conferences. I am therefore not able to comment on the quality of interaction
between the teacher and the student.

References:

Data Quality Campaign What is Student Data? dataqualitycampaign.org

Retrieved from:-

http://2pido73em67o3eytaq1cp8au.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/
What-Is-Student-Data.pdf

Gray; Jonathan. (2012) What data can and cannot do. Retrieved from: - https://www.
theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/may/31/data-journalism-focused-critical