Spiral of Inquiry 2018: Final thoughts

Rebecca Smye-Rumsby
Nov 25, 2018
2 min read

Why did you inquire into the thing you did?

On a personal level, I found it hard being a young 11 year old, at the same school as 18 year olds.

I think that making the transition between one school and another can deeply affect your hauora. According to ERO, there are 5 key aspects that must be considered when transitioning schools: Intellectual, Social, Physical, Emotional and Physcology, Moral.

What did you find out?

When asking our current students how they feel when they belong, common themes are:

- knowing names,

-faces

-familiarity

-Being surrounded by people that know them.

How has what you found out changed your own teaching practice, or might change your teaching practice in the future?

I think that highlighting empathy and providing opportunities for learners to put themselves into other people’s shoes has helped develop a sense of understanding and awareness from our students towards new members of our school.

What surprised you in your inquiry?

When talking to individuals about their body language (which came across to me as apathetic or distant), they explained that they were nervous about hosting the primary school students. I think I need to bear in mind that some of our students, despite being older, might still be overcoming social barriers of their own.

I was also surprised that me attendance and punctuality seemed to be very high during our ‘hosting’ days.

This reminds me not to judge a book by its cover and try to dig deeper.

How might what you found out be useful to other teachers?

This has given our students the opportunity to build their own culture and impact on how they want the school to be.

ERO identified 12 aspects that indicate students have made a successful transition

Students feel that:

they belong in their new school, and are well included in school activities and programmes
they are positively connected to their peers, other students in the school, and to their teachers
their teachers know them, including their strengths, interests and learning needs, and show they are interested in them
they are understood and valued as a culturally located person
they have a sense of purpose in being at school
they have an understanding and commitment to their learning pathway through their schooling and beyond
they are making progress
their current learning follows on from their previous learning (the curriculum is connected and continuous) and is appropriately challenging
learning is interesting, relevant and is fun
their families have been included in decisions
they are physically and emotionally safe
they have opportunities to try new, exciting things and/or extend their particular skills/interests (eg, through extra-curricular activities).