2017 Sabbatical Reports - Primary Teachers
The following is a list of Primary Teacher Sabbatical recipients for 2017.
The list is sorted by surname, and you can click on the index below to assist you. If a recipient has published their report online, a link will be added below, as it becomes available.
Click here to return to the main Sabbatical Reports page.
Other Primary Teacher Sabbatical Recipients and Reports:
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009
2017
Kim Abbot
Tauranga Intermediate
To investigate and research issue for Tauranga Intermediate priority learners, specifically Maori and Pasifika boys, relating to transitioning to Tauranga Boys College.
Pene Balk-Jarvis
Christchurch East School
My purpose is to make a difference to New Zealand children with low oral language with the aim of improving their writing skills.
Maori and Pasifika have been brought up through the oral tradition of storytelling as have many of our immigrants to New Zealand. There are many stories from these cultures which can be used in the storytelling approach.
These stories were often a way of explaining their world, events that happened in their lives and important information that needed to be passed down.
Kay Bannister-Rye
Arahunga School
My professional learning activity will be viewed through the lens of a school leader. One responsibility I have is curriculum development and delivery; in particular developing a senior school curriculum based in the Vocation Pathways and following the National Guidelines for Transitioning Students will Special Needs from school to adult life (2011).
Our curriculum has to support our learners, all of whom are ORS funded, to gain learning and qualifications that increase their opportunities to participate in meaningful work in their community after exiting education. I plan to compare the curriculum in five successful models against the 10 best principles in the guidelines with a focus on students, whanau and community feedback.
Maria Bound-Gussey
Campbells Bay School
Maria's sabbatical report asks 'How do a selection of Decile 6-10 schools in Cluster 4, nurture home school partnerships with Māori whānau in the community'.
The report can be read by clicking here.
Jennifer Browne
Newmarket School
My sabbatical proposal focuses on the effectiveness of the Incredible Years Teachers Programme.
The aim will be to investigate how the programme can contribute to the behavioural, learning and social development needs of Maori students in bilingual and immersion contexts.
In particular, I want to develop a deeper understanding of Maori tikanga in relation to the nuturing of behaviour and learning skills of tamariki to more effectively facilitate Nga Tau Miharo (Incredible Years Teachers Programme) for Kaiako.
John Brunton
Kapanui School
During this sabbatical I will be identifying best practice in relation to creating the optimum learning environment to meet the needs of our Maori boys. This will include taking a holistic view of the conditions for these learner, both within and outside of the school. This investigation will be informed by principles of effective pedagogy identified from readings, research and practice from schools who have shown success for Maori learners; and the voices of the students, their whanau, teachers and leaders.
Annie Christie
Kapanui School
Investigating theories and best practice around play-based learning linking effective pedagogy with student learning.
Dianne Davidson
Otautau School
Undertake two learning activities which interconnect with each other. The two learning activities are:
'Implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum', in this case the focus will be on implementation of the science curriculum and
'Leadership in teaching and learning' using the science curriculum as the context I will up-skill the staff at Otautau School in best practice teaching and learning practices.
Sally-Ann Davies
Taupo Intermediate
To investigate the impact of e-learning on students' achievement through the use of observation of students, interviews with teachers and observation of 'best practice' teaching and learning.
To explore how schools can best educate and protect their students and wider school community against cyber bullying.
To examine how social media is being used in a safe, informative and professional manner to communicate with students, parents and the wider community.
Mich Enright
The Terrace School (Alexandra)
To link programs that have the common connection of behavior as the key precursor to raising achievement through:
1. Undertaking action research, in a primary school, inquire into the effectiveness of the P4C (Philosophy for Children) program particularly the program's ability to raise student achievement.
2. Develop an understanding of Choice Theory/ Quality Schools and implement PD within our school setting.
3. Follow up: Term 4 2017. Connect this model of behavioural awareness with our PB4L community of schools with the aim of raising student achievement for identified students.
Susan Fraser
Morningside School
My focus will be on the use of effective Maori pedagogy for raising student achievement with a particular focus on:
The key elements that make a Maori pedagogy.
How effective Maori pedagogy is development in mainstream schools.
How these schools maintain this pedagogy to support Maori and Non-Maori learners.
How Maori pedagogy effectiveness is being assessed.
Megan Gare
Allenvale Special School and Res Centre
I would like to visit early learning/early intervention centres in the USA that cater for students with autism to gain knowledge on best strategies and programmes to provide for students from 2-6 year.
I have become familiar and had some professional development on strategies to help however I have only viewed these strategies on a small scale.
I would also like to view parent programmes for parents with children with autism and attend any conferences.
Teresa Gargiulo
Irongate School
Carry out a learning and teaching inquiry into how Mathematics programmes have been used to accelerate learning and to raise Māori and Pasifika students' achievement in Year 1-8 through problem solving and integration into other Curriculum areas.
Lyn Gilmour
Casebrook Intermediate
To explore how Pasifika students interact with digital learning, through student voice and surveying, in relation to how prior learning experiences and community cultural perspective, knowledge and understanding affects levels of participation, engagement and achievement. The investigation will collect student voice from Pasifika students in Rarotonga and with RTLB Cluster 35 to identify successful e-learning experiences and existing school systems that support and accelerate learning in Levels 1-2 of the NZC. Data analysis aims to transfer and modify this for use for RTLB to facilitate effective, more culturally responsive practices.
To see Lyn's video, click here.
June Gourlay
Te Puke Intermediate
An inquiry into current pedagogy and the raising of achievement and sustainability in our Indigenous Culture. Focus on current pedagogy, 21st Century Global Learners and how technology is revolutionizing learning in the classroom. I will be linking my own area of responsibility (Attendance, Assessment, PB4L) and passion, using single, double and triple loop questioning as a technique to address sustainability in learning in our Indigenous Culture while incorporating Kahikitia and Tataiako.
Kirsty Griffith
Motueka South School
My sabbatical will include three of the approved professional learning activities; learning needs of diverse learner along with with Maori and Pasifika. It will also look at supporting behaviour.
My intention is to investigate the Wellness Resiliency and Partnership (WRaP) Project that is being used in Canada to support students and their families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Alongside this, looking at interventions that are being used to successfully engage students with FASD at school.
Jill Hack
Paeroa Central School
My interest is in improving the oral language, reading and writing achievement of Maori and Pasifika in the junior school. To do this I propose to look at assessment tools and pedagogy and the relationship between these and the subsequent impact on the learning of Maori and Pasifika in their first two years at school.
Jolanda Hanly
Winchester School (P North)
My professional activity focuses on how to best meet the learning needs of diverse students in a curriculum area, in particular the mathematical needs of Down Syndrome students. The relationship between best pedagogy and students' learning outcomes will also be investigated.
Liz Hansen
Terrace End School
Professional Learning Activity:
To investigate the teaching approach of "Big Writing" and how the pedagogical knowledge and the education theory behind it could be used to improve writing instruction in NZ schools, the writing of students below and well below National Standard and their motivation to write.
Fiona Hopkirk
St Joseph's School (New Plymouth)
To inquire into what are the key skills and knowledge, and explicit teaching strategies necessary, to accelerate the literacy learning outcomes of our Maori and Pasifika children, so they achieve the After One Year at School standard in Reading.
Gina Kennings
Opoutere School
Investigate personalised learning and how it can best impact Māori achievement.
Miriam Lane
Waikowhai School
Investigate best practice when using ICT in Junior classrooms, to help raise student achievement.
Julia Langford
Newmarket School
Explore the practices used by Cluster 7 RTLB with schools which enhance learning for Māori learners who are referred to the RTLB service.
Margaret Lelieveld
Leamington School
The purpose of my sabbatical would be to investigate, research and locate/develop strategies that raise achievement for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in order to integrate into an Innovative Learning Environment (ILE). I will do that by assisting teachers and parents in their understanding.
Annette MacDonald
Masterton Primary School
My colleague, Kerrie Lomas, and I wish to inquire into the "Graduated Response" model of service provision for diverse students with additional needs which has been flagged by the Ministry of Education as a likely future direction (ref Special Education Update). We intend to carry out a literature review, interviews with contacts at Education Scotland and school visits, to identify the features of this effective approach that are relevant and transferable to RTLB's and Special Needs Coordinators in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Our findings and recommendations will be shared nationally with Cluster Managers and RTLB.
Jeanette McGovern
Windley School
Investigate successful programmes, interventions and practices in the Mana Cluster that will benefit the achievement of Māori and Pasifika learners having difficulty with Literacy.
Kieran McLennan
Milton School
To research the use of digital learning tools within the context of the global classroom and investigate how they support learner agency (capacity to act), especially for priority learners. Providing a variety of resource tool and engagement opportunities enables priority learners to achieve more effective outcomes. Research shows that access to online tools assists with accelerating the progress of priority learners. This project focuses and reflects very closely these opportunities for learning and investigates an approach to raising achievement for priority learners that has proved to be successful overseas.
Fiona McSherry
Waihi Beach School
The professional learning activities I would like to pursue revolve around the learning needs of Maori students. I would like to explore current pedagogies that lead Maori students to succeed as Maori.
Helen Mowat
Royal Road School
Investigate the impact that poverty and stress and loss has on students. Also how poverty and stress effects brain development and function.
Clare Newman
Morningside School
Researching ways to raise engagement and achievement in literacy at the year 1-2 level through a play-based and inquiry approach with a particular focus on Māori boys.
Robert Newton
Fairfield Primary School
I will undertake to investigate the system, strategies and inclusive practices in schools around Special Needs Education. The focus will be to maximize learning opportunities for identified priority learners with Special Needs, particularly those on the autism spectrum.
Andrew Peart
Hillcrest Normal School
Investigate ways to effectively and creatively implement the Reggio Emilia approach to education and how aspects of this particular philosophy could affect student development and behaviour positively in a New Zealand/Aotearoa Primary School setting. This will include looking into how this pedagogical shift can better meet the needs of Māori learners in their final years of primary.
To read the report, please click here.
Tina Pederson
Mangonui School
Research, explore and investigate successful interventions, practices and strategies that help accelerate Year 5/6 Maori boys in writing.
To read the report, please click here.
Claire Radford
Tahuna Normal Intermediate
My professional activity will be strongly focused on leadership in teaching and learning, with particular emphasis on investigating the framework, processes and the leadership used by clusters of Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), to manage and evaluate the performance of their RTLB. Effective leadership and management are vital in providing a highly effective RTLB service to meet the needs of Maori, Pasifika and students with special needs, whose achievements in learning and behaviour are not fully realized.
Cara Rankin
Woodleigh School
Explore the Growth Mindset learning approach and assist our learning community to understand that intelligence can be developed and is not fixed based on learner perception.
Develop a school wide system to enable all students, in particular our Maori Priority Students, to develop the skills to be 'improvement focused' learners. Embed a growth mindset into our learning community and collaboratively empower students to be persistent learner who take charge of their learning and recognise their strengths.
Jamie Reid
Te Huruhi School
Examine the use of learner agency approaches and how they inform collaborative teaching in flexible learning spaces. Create a framework that will allow the implementation of student agency across all year groups at Te Huruhi School.
Dael Russell
Belmont School (Lower Hutt)
Capture through film, the change over time of those referred students who are the hardest to teach in literacy. Develop a dynamic resource for working with teachers, syndicates, colleagues and school management in order to enhance their ability to accommodate these referred students.
Vicki Sephton
Thames South School
Inquire into raising the achievement of boys in writing through the use of visual media to engage and motivate them to write.
Jacqui Seque
Concord School
To improve identification of Twice Exceptional students and investigate successful interventions, practices, and strategies that benefit achievement of twice exceptional learners.
Grant Sutton
Kawerau Putauaki School
The Professional Learning Activities I wish to undertake during the proposed sabbatical will be looking at Pedagogy and Students' learning, and the learning needs of Maori Students.
I propose to visit Learning Centres in Reggio Emilia: Italy in term 2, and hopefully attend a Reggio Emilia Conference either in Italy, New Zealand and/or Australia (depending on dates). I wish to compare the Reggio approach regarding how students learn and are taught, with how we currently view teaching our Maori students.
Liz Taute
Red Beach School
Professional learning activities to be undertaken during sabbatical include investigating "What effective AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), ICT and e-learning methods/apps/programmes are used across the country (and possibly USA) for children with high and very high special needs (ORS) in maths, English, communication and social skills?:
This includes 'the learning needs of diverse students'- ORS funded students, 'the relationship between pedagogy and students' 'learning', 'knowledge theory'- The Soma Rapid Prompt Method (RPM), developed by Soma Mukhopadhyay and 'teaching and learning in a curriculum area'- effective teaching of English, maths, communication and social skills(key competencies) using AAC (low and high tech), e-learning and ICT.
Jan Thomas
Central Normal School
The use of Visible Learning Pedagogy to accelerate and foster student achievement with a particular focus on Maori.
To research the difference that Visible Learning Pedagogy makes to student achievement in Literacy and Numeracy for priority learners, with a particular focus on achievement of Maori learners.
To visit other schools in New Zealand and Australia who have utilized John Hattie's Visible Learning Pedagogy and discuss how this pedagogy has improved Literacy and Numeracy achievement outcomes for their Maori students.
Julie Thorpe
Riverina School
Undertake classroom observations, discussions with teachers and students, and engage in professional reading around ILE pedagogy in literacy programmes. Considering the impact of ILEs on student learning outcomes.
The report can be read by clicking here.
Raina Urwin
Tauranga Intermediate
I propose to investigate the learning needs of diverse students, by exploring Deaf Education in New Zealand. How the learning needs are met for Deaf students, with a particular interest in the learning needs of Maori Deaf Students.
I intend to learn and practice New Zealand Sign Language.
Greta Van Zyl
Te Awa School
Investigate the implementation of successful anti-bullying programmes/teaching strategies that have a direct impact on the culture of the school. To form partnerships with schools in both the UK and Finland that have successfully implemented the KiVa anti-bullying programme in their schools.
This is a joint application with Tim Van Zyl - Principal of Te Awa School.'
Statement of Fact: Air New Zealand has supported Te Awa School through their Airpoints For Schools programme and has collected 10,000 donated Airpoints from both businesses and individual customers.
Elly Warnock
Russell Street School
Investigate how a pedagogical focus on developing agency accelerates learning in maths, especially for priority learners.
Click here to return to the main Sabbatical Reports page.
Other Primary Teacher Sabbatical Recipients and Reports: