Funding success for research aimed at improving outcomes for learners

“Assessment-capable teachers and students drive quality teaching and learning. However, some students, and in particular, students with special education needs, continue to be invisible in secondary school assessment landscapes,” says Missy Morton, Professor of Disability Studies and Inclusive Education at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Thanks to funding support from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) over two years, Professor Morton will be able to conduct research focusing on encouraging and supporting teachers to be capable and confident when working with all students in their classes.

Her research, “Using narrative assessment to support secondary school teachers’ inclusive practices”, will investigate the formative use of narrative assessment as an approach to support the recognition of all students as learners. At the centre of this project are students working long-term within Level 1 of the New Zealand Curriculum.

"This project builds on our initial development of the Narrative Assessment Curriculum Exemplars for students with special education needs – "Through different eyes". What is new is the focus on students and teachers in secondary education," Professor Morton says.

Through her research, Professor Morton and her team will look closely at educator and student understandings, perspectives and practices, including the possibility of using narrative assessment for other students in the participating schools. The collaborating secondary schools are Kimi Ora Special School, Lower Hutt; St Kevin’s College, Oamaru and Te Kura/Correspondence School.

Professor Morton’s research is one of two faculty-led projects aimed at improving outcomes for learners that have been successful in obtaining funding from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) this year.

Research on capturing teachers’ assessment for learning practices, led by principal investigator Associate Professor Mary Hill, has also been awarded TLRI funding. Assessment for learning is a process by which students are included in all aspects of assessment through teachers sharing learning goals, maximising classroom dialogue, prioritising feedback, and implementing peer and student self-assessment practices.

The co-investigators for this project are Associate Professors Eleanor Hawe and Helen Dixon, both from the Faculty of Education and Social Work and the principals of two partner schools, Beverley Booth from Devonport Primary and Jonathan Ramsay at Edendale Primary.

“Teachers’ use of assessment for learning to bring about assessment capability in their students is critically important. However, capturing teachers’ assessment for learning practices in a dependable and trustworthy manner in real settings for formative purposes is challenging,” says Associate Professor Hill.

The goal of Professor Hill’s research is to offer a robust tool adapted to the New Zealand context (capitalising on set of observation protocols developed and evaluated in the US) that can capture teachers’ assessment for learning practices to provide appropriate and targeted feedback for improvement purposes.

Teachers and the university researchers will participate in an iterative process for adapting and evaluating the tool. The study will also look at the teachers’ perceptions about the efficacy and usefulness of the modified tool for improving their assessment capability.

The Teaching and Learning Research Initiative supports partnerships between researchers and educators by funding projects expected to improve outcomes for learners.

This year’s funding of over $1.4 million has been allocated to six projects, one in the early childhood education sector and five in the school sector.