Module Two - Te Ārahi Tika: Ethical Leadership and Decision-Making

TeTeTe Ārahi Tika: 

Ethical Leadership and Decision-Making

Section One - Exploring Ethical Frameworks

Notes about Reading 1: “Tu Rangatera”

Notes about Reading 2: “What is Ethical Leadership and Why is it Important?”

Definition of Ethical Leadership:

Involves making decisions based on what’s right for the common good, not just personal gain or that of one student.

Ethical leaders consider:

Customers/students

Employees

Communities

How to grow the kura and community

What Is a Good Leader?

What Happens with Bad Leaders?

When leaders make bad choices or behave unfairly, it can hurt the company and make people not want to work for them.

That’s why having good, kind, and fair leaders in charge is imperative.

Unethical behavior and poor judgment in leadership harm a school's brand and reputation.

Leaders must be ethical to ensure long-term business success.

What Makes a Leader Good?

A good leader does what’s right, even when it’s hard.

They care about everyone, not just about money.

They think about:

- The workers

- The customers

- The community

- The future of the school. 

Helping Others Be Good Too

- Good leaders set a good example.

- They make sure the workplace is:

- Safe

- Friendly

-A place where everyone feels heard

Why People Want Good Leaders

People like to work for kind and fair bosses.

Young people today care a lot about doing the right thing.

They don’t like leaders who are mean or unfair.

6 Important Rules for Good Leaders

1. Respect

- Treating everyone nicely.

- Saying “thank you” and listening to others.

- Respect goes both ways – everyone gives and gets it.

2. Taking Responsibility

Good leaders own up to their mistakes.

They don’t blame others when things go wrong.

3. Helping Others

Good leaders think about how they can help people.

They like to do things like volunteer or donate to those in need.

They also encourage their team to be kind and helpful.

4. Honesty

Always tell the truth.

Even if something is hard to say, good leaders are honest.

This makes people trust them.

5. Fairness

Treat everyone the same.

Good leaders don’t have favorites.

They make sure everyone has a fair chance.

6. Teamwork

Good leaders think of their company like a team or family.

Everyone works together.

They listen to everyone’s ideas and ensure no one is left out.

How do we make ethical choices when this happens in a Kura or community? How do we take the first step, and how do we stay safe during these times? 

When considering leadership and what is best for the whole, we need to ensure that we are fair and treat those fairly during this time. When dealing with situations like this, it is important to lean into vulnerability, honesty, and fairness. How can we rebuild when these situations arise and make the kura feel safe and cared for? It's about rebuilding the community's trust and that of the students, teachers, and BOT members. 

It's about the leader taking responsibility for the actions of the kura. If that doesn't happen then it creates distrust in the company/kura. This is the time to step up and take it on the chin, as you are the leader of the school and therefore the 'buck' stops with you, it's not the teachers or the students responsibility to own that, especially when you have made the decisions around something. 

It is important for those in leadership spaces to practice ethical decision making, again what is right for the whole, not just one person. It's creates a culture of positivity, trust and honesty. When looking at weather. you are practicing ethical decisions, you need to look at the turn over of staff/students and how can can we create these and move to leaning into ethical leadership. 

Task - Ethical Dilemma Analysis

Step 1: Identify an ethical dilemma relevant to your role as an Associate/Deputy Principal at your kura.

Step 2: Apply what you have learned from the resources in this module, considering different perspectives, potential consequences, and relevant ethical principles.

Step 3: Discuss with your learning partner or a colleague at school how you would approach this dilemma, including how you might consult with others, what information you would need, and how you would ensure transparency and fairness in your decision-making.

Step 4: Document your analysis and proposed approach in the online forum for peer feedback and discussion.

NZEI training day

There are 8 pou that uphold the NZEI structure. 

They include the pou in all of the interactions with the worksites. It the way of demostrating and walking the walk of the organisation. 

Can always get back to the coassemble modules 

“Kotahi ano te kohao o te ngira

E kuhu ai te miro whero, te miro ma, te miro pango

A muri i a au kia mau ki te aroha, ki te whakapono ki te ture

Hei aha te aha! hei aha te aha!”

(King Potatau Te Wherowhero )

There is but one of the needle through which red, white and black thread must pass through.

Hold fast to Love, hold fast to the Faith, hold fast to the Law

Nothing else matters! Nothing else matters!

7 habits of highly effective people

Recently, Tara sent Mikaela and me to go on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Leadership course. 

This was held in Christchurch and was a two-day event. Needless to say, I was nervous going into it as I wasn't entirely sure what this would be about, even though I had sent out a 360 to the team.

Walking in, it was clear that this was a small group of teachers, most of who were principals. I sat down to wait. The first day was about intrinsic things, character, roots of the tree stuff. Who we are and what makes us up. Very confronting, even for someone who has been working on their inner self for many years. 

Needing to honest with yourself and try and pull out all of those things that make you tick is quite hard, but oh so worth it. 

So let's start with the start:

These are the 7 habits. 

Working from dependence to independence, and then to interdependence through the private victory (mastery of one's self), or who you are, through the public victory(effective relationships with others), the way you hold yourself.

Now a little summary of each Habit, but first, the see, do, get model:

This is the key model that flows through all of the habits. 

See  - our paradigms or how we see the world.

Do - our practices and habits are formed.

Get - results, or what you get.

Results show an ineffective paradigm. 

What do I mean by paradigm? It's the way we see, understand, and interpret the world - our mental map. 

So the question is, what are the essential paradigms in my life and how can I support them? That is truly a question I am still trying to figure out. I know that there are things that I believe in, but it will take a while to work through the habits for me to secure the paradigms that are the most important to me. 

 15th August 2024

Stephen R. Covey - 7 habits of highly effective people - Good book

TOD - 29th October

 New Curriculum

With Amy-Lee from Core Education

The new govt has a new focus, sounding a lot like national standards in another form.

They have a focus on:

Achievement, Assessment, and Attendance

Draft number (number ?)

Kept the Whakapapa of Te Mātaiaho and the weaving of it all together. 

At the start of every learning area, it has a vision for young people, which means it will link our learning to the children. 

Science of learning:

It's not about the buzzword 'structured' but about the building blocks of learning in a curriculum area. 

Understanding the processes of learning and how we learn is crucial. The new curriculum emphasizes this more. 

The NZC of 2007 is about what we learn rather than how which is Te Mātaiaho. 

The science of learning is good at understanding that learning also involves contextual factors, like whether you have food or an argument with a parent or sibling. 

When using the word 'structured,' it's not about taking a' one-size-fits-all' approach; it's about understanding what you are teaching.

Good blog post - https://core-ed.org/en_NZ/free-resources/blog/structured-literacy-where-do-i-start/

The learning trajectory - 

Dr. Nina Hood, founder of the Education Hub, will give you a quick introduction to the science of learning, explain what the research tells us about the cognitive processes that inform the learning process, and discuss the implications of this for pedagogy and curriculum.

Video of Nina Hood

Te Mātaiaho has teaching considerations that you can take into account when teaching. 

Brian Poncy talks about Math Fluency Matters.

What does the new curric require for rolling out?

It's about the framework of understanding, knowing, and doing. 

The thinking is that we want children to have a deep understanding of the key learning areas.

Know is the rich context about the big ideas, it's the stuff that we are teaching and the nitty gritty of the stuff that we teach.

Do is the practical side. 

If they can know and do, they will understand what we are teaching them. When we combine these three aspects, they all work together. 

How do we make this come to life in the classroom?

What we want the children to understand, it deepens as you go across the curriculum. 

When thinking about the 'do' you need to apply rigour to the learning. Meaning the following:

The term “rigor” in education has been a buzzword for at least a decade. It describes the result of work that challenges students' thinking in new and interesting ways. Promoting rigor in the classroom requires expectations and experiences that are academically, intellectually, and personally challenging.

Instead of year levels there are phases

Phase 1 - Yr 0-3

Phase 2 - Yr 4-6

Phase 3 - Yr 7-8

The Math Draft:

Science of learning in Math

Te Mātaiaho - Math & Stats

 4th September 2024

Te Mātaiaho

What is your hook to change?

Begin with experiences, knowledge, and skills in this learning area.

Connecting your experiences, knowledge, and skills with the new shift in this learning area.

Te Mātaiaho - The NZ curriculum.

Having the bi-cultural lens and korero helps with the learning and achievement of the students.

Underpinned by the science of learning

Knowledge rich

Inclusive evidence-informed teaching practices

Clear and easy to use

Internationally comparable

Supporting the development of KC's - Can go to the dos, and they put it into action so that you are showing it to the students.

Important to have a common language that we all talk and that is school wide. 

The Draft - Maths & Stats

Key points from the purpose statement:

In the mathematics and statistics learning area, students study, learn, and appreciate the power and beauty of abstraction, reasoning, and symbolic representation. 

Engaging teaching methods that build confidence through incremental challenges and promote curiosity through the exploration of math concepts help students discover personal enjoyment and satisfaction in the learning area. 

Mathematics and statistics often serve as a universal language fostering collaboration, innovation, and mutual understanding. 

Mathematics and statistics have a history that involves many cultures contributing to innovation and shaping our thinking today.

Through the learning area, students develop fluency and mastery in maths, which leads to pathways into a wide range of industries that rely on maths knowledge and reasoning.

Learning in maths builds both literacy and numeracy. Maths contributes to students’ literacy by developing their oral and written communication, reasoning, and comprehension skills. 

The learning area embodies a structured approach to mathematics that encompasses: › a clearly sequenced year-by-year curriculum › a progressive and cumulative approach to acquiring knowledge, skills, and competencies to build student mastery › teaching guidance on effective practice.

Maths & Stats learning area structure:

As the Overview on the preceding pages shows, there are three elements in the mathematics and statistics learning area: Understand, Know, and Do. › Understand helps connect school maths with the wider world and identifies critical learning in maths. Understand comes alive as students engage in the practices of Do to learn the knowledge embedded in Know. › Know is broken down into six strands that represent the key learning in maths: number, algebra, measurement, geometry, statistics, and probability. › Do includes processes that provide ways of presenting, applying, investigating, manipulating, and connecting the mathematical knowledge in the curriculum. These processes are central to how students learn and apply maths knowledge.

The science of learning: 

https://theeducationhub.org.nz/category/school-resources/science-of-learning/ 

Building the blocks of learning, 

Teaching guidance:

Positive relationships in math - 

Create an inclusive, engaging environment where tamariki can take risks and can use them in everyday life.

Maths mastery and a structured approach to teaching and learning - 

When students have mastered a maths concept, they can accurately and efficiently use it as a foundation for new learning and to solve problems, reason, and make connections between concepts.

Effective use of technology

Explicit teaching

Planning:

These are the times in the day when the children can explore through maths. This is through the daily timetable, whole school etc and ensuring it is intergrated.

Use of standardized assessment tools:

Phase One -Progress outcomes by the end of year 3

In phase 1, students weave together Understand, Know, and Do and use logic and reasoning to investigate, classify, and describe patterns and variations in quantities, shapes, and data. They use materials, number lines, and pictures to visualise these concepts, make connections between representations, and explain their reasoning. They begin to generalise and to understand the properties of numbers and shapes.

It's about keeping the passion that I already have, and then hook them into the new curriculum. Reflect and then look at what I am missing and then ask for help if needed. 

Now is a good time to take stock of what is working well. What is my evidence? 

Math PLD - Day 2 30th June 2025


Year plan

- All statements are covered across the year.

- Order units to build on each other

- Make connections and combine within and across strands.

- Revisit and consolidate

- Consider school or community events for context. 

It is suggested that you cover all strands in one year, but how do you cover all to make it sink in?

Unit Plan

Include information around:

- Understand, know and do,

- Prior knowledge

-teaching sequence by week

- 

Weekly plan

- Balance the componants across the 

Explicit Teaching

Math talk moves

Deeper Learning - Teacher Only Day

 28th March 2024

The most important part of Te Mātaiaho is the word Mātai. Meaning that we are diving deeper into the learning and the curriculum.

Let's look at it more closely and more deeper, and the purpose of why we are doing it. Digging deeper into the curriculum. 

Neologisms = new words that have been made specially for the new curriculum. It's about localizing the curriculum. 

Mātairangi - The guiding kaupapa

Look beyond the horizon and draw near the bodies of knowledge that will take us into the future.

Mātainuku - Creating a foundation

Ground and nurturing the learning.

Mātaitipu - Vision for young people

Grow and nourish a thriving community. 

Mātairea - Supporting progress

Build and support progress.

Mātaiaho - Weaving learning within and across learning areas.

Weaving the learning strands together. Putting it together. Where understand, know, do. Progress outcomes come in here. 

Mātaioho - School Curriculum design and review.

Awaken, arise, and prepare for action. Our progress in reviewing should make us think, highlight things we need to work on, and change things. 

Mātaiahikā - Connecting to place and community.

Keep the hearth occupied and maintain the stories by firelight. Our curriculum is how we do this place, taking it from the local place and putting it into how we need to do it here. It acknowledges the traditions of Waitati school; it has its own way. We are a school in a community rather than being a school community. National consistency with local flexibility.

Deep dive into Mātaiaho

We need them to know some things, then do something (solve an equation), and they all weave together to develop understanding. There are big ideas, and they are consistent across the phases. We want them to develop their understanding, but what we want them to do becomes harder. The progress outcomes build understanding and can't be left to chance. We can change the context of how we teach it. 

Deep learning comes when we have all three things because we can't have one without the other. 

Backward by design:

What do we want them to come out the other end with? 

How can we assess this? 

What learning experiences can we use to deepen the learning?

Te Mātaiaho

 New Karakia - 

Mātai aho tāhūnui,

Mātai aho tāhūroa,

Hei takapau wānanga,

E hora nei

Lay the Kaupapa down

and sustain it,

The learning here

Laid out before us

Te Mātaiaho - The refreshed New Zealand Curriculum, The learning areas of Mātaiaho, Mathematics and Statistics

The new curriculum is a massive part of the practice. 

The three principles are...

This vision is for children because they sit at the centre. Their aspirations and how they see themselves as learners matter.

As of today, it is about the deeper the learning. Instead of Level's, it's now phases. 

They fit into the different categories - Why, What, How

See the slides that Joneen sent for the diagram of the how, why and what

Phases of Learning:

It is lots more focused on the children.

Culturally sustaining teaching and assessment:

Talks about the caring of the learners, then connected, making sure that you are intentional about covering everything. How are we going to approach this?

It's the whole school's responsibility to make sure that we have this covered. 

Key Learning areas - 

Gone from 800 AOs down to 40 key learning areas. 

It's about doing less but doing it better and more deeply. 

The draft for English and Math has come out and needs to be in place by 2025.  

The understands - the big ideas that stay the same.

The know's - in math, are your strands.

The do's - are your modeling etc. 

We look at progress in a more child-centered way so that we match what we do to their development. It gives clarity about what this is going to look like. 

The Math Curriculum - 

Impact Ed have put together a one page of progress steps. 

This is something that could follow the child through the years. Building the knowledge is key for understanding. 

The new curriculum looks like it is more user friendly and straight forward. You are more capable of going deeper into their learning and pull them side ways. 

Here is an example of Progression in Action

Joneen is willing to come out to school and help us plan our maths etc. 

Structured Literacy Journey

  Bex's reflection on the Structured Literacy journey

I was at a stage in my teaching where I knew that that was possibly more I could do for the struggling readers/writers, but I wasn't sure where to start. I began my journey with Structured Literacy when a couple of friends started talking about it. This interested me, and I made sure that I researched and read the Science of Reading. I then looked at lots of different research and resources that Sara and Nelly had shared with me, but my mind was spinning. 😵‍💫 

I then discussed with Tara about structured literacy and her thoughts around it, and where I wanted to go. At the beginning of my pathway, I needed to find some stops to help my learning. I was very interested in Liz Kane, but her Dunedin and the South Island workshops were full, so I went to Ideal and Carla McNeill. I noted that she had a workshop running and signed up. 

That day was very overwhelming, but it made sense to change my literacy program. We signed up for the iDeaL platform, and I started to explore that. It was a very intense website, and took lots of time away from school to work out. I decided that I needed to see Structured Literacy in action and had done more reading and research around Liz Kane; I also purchased the code and looked at that, but I still needed to see it in action. I chose four children in year two that I thought would benefit from Structured Literacy. I talked to their parents in that group and told them what I was planning, that I was in the learning phase, and would like their buy-in to move forward. I assessed them and knew what they needed but didn't know where to start...Hence why we visited Grants Braes.

Mikaela and I talked and decided that a trip to Grants Braes saw it in action. We organized it and spent the morning going over the school to observe the teachers at the different levels; we saw the Haggerty and PA in action. Then we saw the code in action. I took this back to school and implemented the Code and LLLL assessment to see what I needed to do with my intervention group. We focused on sounds with handwriting, to begin with, and then moved to words. Sounds - words then moved back and forward a few times until they had secured their first sounds. I only sent one book home a week, and it was that we had practiced for the week. I was mucking my way through, and I was seeing progress. Slow and steady, learning as I went, and the kids were having success, and I saw it coming into the classroom. 

At this stage, I recognized that the Totara group would benefit from some spelling lessons. I tested their spelling and saw they needed to return to year one of the Code. From here, I taught them the spelling rules they needed to include and introduced them to the iDeaL platform for learning spelling rules. I began to see results in their writing and spelling. This also helped their reading, and the difference in their confidence was visible too.

Around this time, I noticed that my intervention group of children was gaining confidence and ability. Their writing in the class had shot off, and the boy who would sit and cry in the corner was now eager to write and would write any chance he got; this was a massive improvement for him and made me very confident with the program we had created.

Towards the end of Term 3, the difference in the groups that I was taking for spelling and structured literacy was terrific, and this showed in their end-of-year results; it was enough for me to think about rolling it out across our junior team. So, with our little resources, we took the term 3 holidays to roll it out, group the children, and start with a structured literacy program. My fellow teacher was enthusiastic about it and was beginning to get some of her own resources, and the teacher in the NE room loved the structure and immediately saw improvements with her kids. It was a success, and we had parents on board, which always made such a difference.

Early in Term 4, Mikaela and I held a Structured literacy workshop for parents, where we unpacked what we had learned from the last year and why we wanted to roll it out. We had such a great take on the idea from all of the parents that came.

At the end of the year, when I came to test the children, we used the PM+ Running Records for my intervention group, and they had all made accelerated progress with seeing them 20 mins a day, 4 days a week. It was empowering, as it worked for everyone and gave such a good base.

The BOT was happy with the results, and we got approval to roll it out across the school in 2022.

In 2022, we rolled it would across the school. At this time, other teachers were learning, and we had three teachers learning about Structured Literacy and how to use it in the classroom. This was an excellent opportunity for me to help those teachers learn and walk through their journey.

As we moved into 2023, with everyone on the same page, it was decided that the tuakana team would use the iDeaL platform for spelling and use decodable for reading until they reach concept #22. Then we can transition them to the PM+ reading system and focus on comprehension.

The results that I have seen through the iDeaL platform for spelling were remarkable and gave a clear graph of where they were and their next learning steps. This has transferred to their writing and their reading.

Now that I have sorted using iDeaL for spelling and writing, my next steps are to take it into their reading. I have been to Holy Family Wanaka for their open day and asked many questions about how to take it to read. They use the LLLL readers; iDeaL has linked these to their scope and sequence. I am using this for my planning, which helps connect them. As they pointed out in Wanaka, you can use any decodable to teach reading but stick to the scope and sequence of iDeaL.

Here is a link to the Structured Literacy Site that Tara, Mikaela and I started at the beginning of the our journey.

Ski Camp Leadership

 My first year leading the ski camp was full of unexpected surprises.

The weather was the first one. Since we went in August, there has been a lot of rain around, and with the 65th birthday of the field, they were trying to preserve the snow for this event.

We went in the week when the celebrations were. This means that the field was packed; we had two days where the area was closed, and in my planning, I didn't think of this scenario or what to do on a rainy day. This was completely unexpected, and on reflection, I will plan some activities when the ski field is closed.

There were some things that I know for next time:

- Set all my cards on the table.

For example - Safety on the field, parents' responsibilities, and expectations of where the children are allowed on the field. 

I ran a meeting before the camp for the parents and helpers attending and set out the expectations verbally; I may have done this as a written copy with them signing it. I was just doing what Chris had done the previous year. 

I did doubt myself a lot on the ski camp; I was worried that I would make a mistake, make the wrong call, or people would disagree with me. I have more faith in my ability and make the best call for everyone and the best decision for the group.

The positive was that many children pushed themselves to get to that next level, that next run, or go on the chair lift. The team bonding was lovely, and they loved playing board games, exploring in the snow on the first afternoon, sledding, creating snowmen, laughing, and sharing a joke. 

My takeaways from last year:

- Make it clear that I have the final say on where the children can go on the field.

- Have more faith in my decisions.

- Have activities for when the field is closed.

- More interactive, engaging evening activities - board games were suitable, but the environment was too noisy.

- Go through the RAMS with a BOT member, open school docs, and use school docs alongside. 

- Send out the ski camp booklet earlier so parents can get the necessary things. 

Creative in schools

 Nathan Parker talking about the creative in schools project for 2023 and how it fits in with our larger projects. 

Coming in and working with Haidee’s class last year. But has been at Warrington School for the last 8 years around gardening and making an area for free play.

The kids have all the little things going on, and they have cafes and look for bugs.

Very much driven by the kids, but Nathan does a little bit for them to begin with e.g., planting some garlic. 

Most of it is really native, has skinks and frogs, and children have developed a love of insects. Lots for the kids to watch on TV. 

The children are directed and can go back to class if they want to, but they are still waiting for someone to do so. 

Last year parents gave permission, and now the parents know what is happening. Multi-level working together. 

The tricky part is managing safety - tools, climbing trees, etc.

Creatives at Waitati

Creating a classroom space, but so much space that we are underutilizing. The kids are already doing so much with it.

Creating art with natural materials, especially Willow. 

We have the natives and the willows, which can be heavily harvested and won't impact the area.

Child-driven, children make their own decisions, talking a lot about what needs to be done.

Nathan has many ideas about what the children could do but wants it to be child lead. 

Really take the learning deeper and call on the expertise of others.

What are some of the barriers?

• Not having gumboots

• Wot having wet weather gear

• Safely managing the tools

• What else do we need?

Using natural materials when attaching different pieces.

Need to work through what is suitable for us here…what works for us, and how does that fit with our values?

Finding the fine line between what's okay for our community. 

We must discuss our beliefs and values to make them work for us. 

Lots of room for discussion around how to use the space, and children have to learn the hierarchy of the animal world, i.e., slatters - stick insects, etc. 

Wasps are pests, but honey bees are not. 

Nathan here:

Thursday

9-12 pm

Wednesday

12:00 - 3pm

Work out the times within that and the groups. Will talk about that at Hui on Thursday. 

This idea is mainly the wetland and will extend into the swamp. Not differentiating between the two. The wetland is there to be explored. 

How are we communicating with Nathan? Email works really well for Nathan. 

What is the outcome of the creative in school?

Hoping that we will have an outdoor classroom. It’s the journey that is important to get there.