Ongoing training to support implementation of the NCEA is likely to continue to be organised regionally through the School Support Services.

Professional development opportunities for teachers will focus on:

• designing and adapting assessment materials;
• making assessment decisions consistent with national standards;
• programme planning.

Subject experts will use samples of student work from trialled activities to prepare quality NCEA support materials. Some samples of student work will be used as exemplars for the grade levels of the standards. Teachers will be able to discuss and practise making assessment judgments of other student work samples. This professional development will be available to schools and teachers as required.

The Ministry will continue to set national targets, disseminate models of good practice, signal clear expectations of outcomes, monitor progress, and provide support.

The School Support Services will provide schools with targeted, ongoing support for implementing the NCEA. Contact your closest School Support Services for details.

Assess to Learn (AToL) programmes will support assessment for learning in 2003.

The AToL programmes will focus on using the National Exemplars and the new literacy and numeracy Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (asTTle). The six School Support Services, Multi Serve Education Trust (Auckland), Learning Media Limited (Wellington), and Evaluation Services (Auckland) will be involved in these programmes in 2003. Further details about the 2003 programmes will be announced later this year.

These programmes will focus on developing teachers' assessment literacy as a key factor in improving teaching and learning and in school improvement. Assessment literacy requires teachers to apply and integrate knowledge and skills related to the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogical practice. Assessment literacy involves:

• knowledge about the content or substance of what is to be learned;
• knowledge about learners and learning;
• skills in devising assessment tasks;
• skills in analysing and using assessment information;
• expertise in giving appropriate, targeted feedback.

Recognition and Management of Young People at Risk of Suicide

The Ministry of Education launched this nationally delivered induction programme for first-time principals in 2002. The University of Auckland Principals' Centre will deliver a further three residential courses in 2003 on school management and leadership theory and practice. The residential courses are reinforced by mentoring and online learning. A nationally distributed team of fifteen mentors has been trained at the University of Auckland to provide the one-to-one mentoring for each participating principal.

The 2002 residential courses were held in Auckland and Wellington for the programme's maximum enrolment of 200 first-time principals. The participants included principals of kura kaupapa Māori and primary, integrated, special, area, and secondary schools from Northland to Southland.

Education for the Gifted and Talented

In 2003, the School Support Services will be provided with additional funding so that advisers can continue to support the education programmes for the gifted and talented that started in 2001. The advisers will:

• provide professional development to help schools to review, develop, and implement appropriate policies and programmes for gifted and talented students, within the framework of the national curriculum statements and the guidelines Gifted and Talented Students: Meeting Their Needs in New Zealand Schools (available from Learning Media Customer Services, item 23872);
• help schools to set up effective management systems and processes to ensure that these policies and programmes are regularly monitored and evaluated;
• facilitate professional development opportunities for teachers, based on their identified needs and current level of knowledge, so that these teachers gain increased confidence in their ability to cater for gifted students.

One or more national co-ordinators will support the work of the advisers:

• by providing professional development for the advisers, by facilitating communication and collaboration between advisory staff, by monitoring services, and by ensuring national consistency;
• by co-ordinating and disseminating online materials to support professional development for teachers.

Existing professional development programmes on Sustainable Organic Schools Gardens and to support Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools (available from Learning Media Customer Services, item 23692) will continue until June 2003. Both programmes will involve training workshops and more intensive activities in which selected schools work with a regional facilitator.

In addition, a new initiative will fund environmental education co-ordinators based with the School Support Services. The new co-ordinators will facilitate further professional development and help schools to integrate environmental education into the mainstream curriculum. Schools will be helped to align their operations, their organisation, and the management of their grounds with environmental education principles. For example, this could involve auditing and changing energy and waste management practices and developing planting programmes. If school systems operate more sustainably, students will see a real context for their environmental studies. The new co-ordinators will also help schools to develop networks and will work with providers of environmental education in local and regional government and in community organisations.

More online support for schools will be delivered through developments to the environmental education kete at www.tki.org.nz/r/environ_ed/