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Deepen understanding by gathering evidence from multiple perspectives

As part of building connections, the team starts collecting information that will help to form guiding hypotheses. These can help to shape and develop inquiry and problem-solving, to achieve the aspirations and goals of the team – which includes the mokopuna, their whānau, educators and practitioners.

Collaborative consultation

Collaborative consultation is an ecological approach to deepen the team’s understanding of the situation by incorporating multiple perspectives.

It can support holistic decision-making. Through collaborative consultation, you can understand patterns that occur over time and in wider contexts. 

For example, an education setting can use collaborative consultation across the three tiers of support, at an individual, class, and organisational level, to identify patterns, make links and plan interventions.

 

“… a collaborative problem-solving process during which the consultant facilitates the creative, coping skills of the consultee and learns from the consultee about the unique aspects of the problem and the consultee’s situation.”
(Conoley et al, 1981 as cited in Kelly et al, 2016 p. 196).

OPF Diagrams 03 Circle of Evidence v2

Circles of evidence

Teams can work together to actualise the vision of educators and whānau. Teams can evaluate the shared expertise and what could be strengthened to support it.

Deepening the team’s understanding of a learner or situation can involve using the three circles of evidence: whānau, practitioner expertise and research (Macfarlane and Macfarlane, 2013).

Circles of evidence [PDF, 46 KB]

Macfarlane, S., & Macfarlane, A. (2013). Culturally responsive evidence-based special education practice: Whaia ki te ara tika. Waikato Journal of Education, 18(2).

Undertaking assessment is an important part of information-gathering. Mokopuna develop by interacting with their environment. Practitioners can build a deeper understanding of those interactions through ecological assessment, which helps to identify the strengths and needs of mokopuna in different contexts. The process is active and ongoing. The team needs clearly defined purposes before selecting assessment tools and approaches.

Mokopuna self-assessment offers powerful feedback to educators about their teaching, and to their whānau about their home experiences. Self-assessment can empower mokopuna to take more responsibility for their learning.

Whānau, hapū, iwi and community members have lifelong experience of the mokopuna and can provide invaluable information about their behaviours and experiences in different contexts.

Practitioners can contribute broad experience of mokopuna with similar learning support needs across different contexts, and provide more strategies to support the mokopuna and team.

For example, a bilingual assessment can distinguish whether an English language learner has language learning needs or additional learning and social and emotional needs, through a dual assessment in their first language and English.

NZC Scenario 19 Patterns 13 Daniel 720px

Assessment within learning support is:

  • collaborative, working in partnership with whānau, the mokopuna, and those who work most closely with them
  • designed to promote the strengths of the mokopuna
  • conducted over time and across different contexts
  • minimally intrusive, while achieving the best outcome for the mokopuna and their whānau
  • built on and informing the continuing cycle of assessment, planning, intervention and review
  • negotiated within a multi-agency, tiered support model of interventions.

Communicate the information gathered with whānau, mokopuna, educators and other members of a team as appropriate. Ways of reporting back information can vary based on the purpose and the audience. For example, in some situations, a written report will provide valuable information for multiple audiences. In another scenario it may be most appropriate to discuss the information as a team and capture some notes for everyone.

Supporting educators and leaders to participate in self-review and assessment can help to facilitate reflective practice and solution-focussed planning discussions.

Gathering information at universal and targeted levels

Whole-setting or cluster level inquiry

‘Big picture’ questions can help teams consider the kinds of evidence that could inform an inquiry into the effectiveness of their support for a variety of outcomes in well-being, learning and behaviour.

Whole-setting self-review tools

Other sources of information to support inquiry will come from using self-review tools. Examples are the tools from the:

  • Well-being@School website and toolkit
  • Ruia School-whānau Partnerships website

Education Review Office’s report Well-being for Success: A Resource for Schools .

Strengthening practice confidence and capability

Facilitating educators to have regular, supportive discussions of teaching practices fosters a collaborative approach. Discussions help educators to assess and reflect on their own levels of confidence and effectiveness.

Ecological tools can highlight evidence-informed strategies and inform positive practice and systems change.

Download Full Set of He Pikorua Reflective Questions [PDF, 1.8 MB]

Examples of information-gathering from practice

Identifying and addressing a shared need

A group of educators identified that some mokopuna in their classes were finding it difficult to cope with issues at home involving whānau separating, or starting new relationships. The educators thought that some mokopuna were expressing their feelings by exhibiting challenging behaviour. In an initial consultation meeting, the educators explored which tools and strategies might help the mokopuna to cope better with their whānau situations. They decided that all mokopuna sometimes find feelings hard to deal with and that all members of the classes would benefit from working together on focussed social and emotional learning activities. 

Collaborating to identify and address common issues

A cluster identified a trend in requests for support to Speech Language Therapists and RTLB for new entrant mokopuna who were experiencing communication difficulties. The cluster held a meeting with their Learning Support Facilitator and RTLB to explore what resources were available in the learning community. They agreed to carry out a project with local early learning service educators, schools and practitioners to develop a programme that would help educators build their skills to address the needs of these mokopuna.

Using routines to support assessment

An initial meeting with the whānau and school staff agreed that the practitioner would start by working with the educator to identify key routines during the day where challenging behaviour occurred, and times when positive behaviour was observed. This information formed part of a wider Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA) that included collecting observational data on the learning, social, emotional and communication strengths and needs of the mokopuna.

Using the SETT Framework in collaborative information-gathering

A team was formed to match the learning needs of a mokopuna with assistive technology. They used the Student, Environments, Tasks, and Tools (SETT) [SETT ] framework written on flipchart paper. With this they collaboratively gathered and organised information that could be used to guide decisions about the learning support necessary to foster growth. The SETT framework promotes a process that is mokopuna-centred, flexible, and allows for sharing knowledge and collaboration.

Supporting self-assessment in reflective practice

An educator at a local primary school had a professional goal to strengthen her ability to differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners. A practitioner worked with her using a self-assessment tool and collaborative inquiry approach, to focus on implementing the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Both the goal and the inquiry linked to a whole-school objective to strengthen inclusive practices. The educator’s further action planning was supported by classroom observations that used the self-assessment tool as a point of reference. As an outcome, the educator felt confident to try some agreed strategies with her class.

Top tip

Top tip

Support for strengths-based assessment

You can use the following diagram to support strengths-based assessment that upholds the notion of ‘less intrusive, more inclusive’. All assessment is informed by and undertaken within context. You can use these activities at a universal, targeted and individual level to inform sense-making, planning, implementation and review.

Kohikohi - Gathering information to deepen understanding
Least intrusive, most inclusive

 Ecological assessment [PDF, 212 KB]

Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) provide extra support for approved mokopuna when they are being assessed for their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), so that barriers to achievement can be removed. 

RTLB help education settings to establish systems to identify mokopuna who are likely to benefit from SAC and to gather evidence for making applications for SAC.

[EXPLORE] http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/special-education/special-assessment-conditions/