Week 20/21

Research and Research Questions:


After my last blog reflection (Week 19) I thought some more about my Research and Research area that I had identified in the blog post (Leading change and Leadership and key competencies) and I reflected on our Strategic goals at my school. (Strategic Goal 2: Create Educationally Powerful Relationships with Parents, Family and Whanau to encourage engagement in learning)

One of the areas we had identified was educationally powerful connections with whanau. We get so many whanau to sporting and cultural events but the moment we have a learning focus then we do not get the same response of parents.
So our question is How do we create educationally powerful connections? What difference will this make to our results if we do?
With our SAF work with TeIwi Ngaro Dunn we have chosen our focus learners (year 5) and 16 parents from that group. We are interviewing the students and whanau to find out more about how we can connect better and how we can create those educationally powerful relationships.
So because I was doing all this work anyway I thought I want my Mindlab research to be on this topic. I emailed the mindlab helpdesk to ask if I could  change my research topic to Whanau Engagement. They approved the topic as it has a collaboration focus. 

Agile User Story:

As a leader at Tuakau School  I want to create educationally powerful relationships with the whanau of the target group (yr 5)  students in order to work together to raise  Mathematics achievement.

As a ____________(somebody) I want to be able to do ____________(something) so that I can achieve___________(some result)

Qualitative Questions:

How can  creating educationally powerful relationships between home and school impact student achievement in Mathematics?

 The potential of Kaupapa Māori is based upon six intervention elements or principles http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori

• Tino Rangatiratanga - The Principle of Self-determination
• Taonga Tuku Iho - The Principle of Cultural Aspiration
• Ako Māori - The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy
• Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kainga - The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation
• Whānau - The Principle of Extended Family Structure
• Kaupapa - The Principle of Collective Philosophy

How do I  ensure these are integrated into my Literature Review and Teacher Inquiry project plan? 

 Read, analyse and critically evaluate relevant research and write a literature review on Whanau engagement. 

Turning your inquiry topic(s) into an break-down inquiry question

Your Inquiry Topics	Break-down Template	Your  break-down inquiry question
Whanau Engagement	If I/we …(describe the plan action),	If we create educational  powerful relationships with whanau
	To what extent/ how will it affect….. (the reaction you plan to measure/evaluate)	how will it effect achievement in Mathematics
	in…. (in which group of people).	for our Year 5 target learners

Turning a break-down inquiry question to an initial teacher inquiry question

Your  break-down inquiry question	Initial teacher inquiry question template	Your teacher inquiry question
If we create educational powerful  relationships between home and school	How ….(described the plan action)	How does Educationally powerful relationships between home and school
how will it effect achievement in Mathematics	affect …..(the reaction you plan to measure/evaluate)	affect achievement in Mathematics
for our Year 5 target learners	in...(in which group of people)	for our Year 5 target learners.

Turning the initial teacher inquiry question into an initial literature review question

Your initial Teacher Inquiry question	Your initial literature review question
How does Educationally powerful relationships between home and school affect achievement in Mathematics for our Year 5 target learners.	What impact does whanau engagement have on achievement? (outcomes) How does educationally powerful relationships with school and home impact achievement?