Case Studies – Pasifika Initiatives

Rotorua Primary School

Rotorua Primary was one of a group of nine schools which participated in a 1998–99 project, funded by the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and the Ministry of Education. The project design was based on extensive research about enhancing social and cultural relationships between home and school, particularly to support children's acquisition of literacy. For many years home–school partnerships have been a focus of research in New Zealand, and there is strong evidence that two aspects of family literacy practices have particular impacts on school achievement. One is participation in specific activities, especially reading books to and with children. The other is having family members participating in school-related tasks, either in classrooms, or through school and home working together to support each other.

The issues

The initial project focused on a selected number of children who had difficulties in reading and writing and were falling behind their peers after two years at school. The success of the strategies used in the project encouraged Rotorua Primary to pick up the action and extend it beyond the original target groups. This school is in decile 2, and has around 320 students. Many are of Māori descent, and their families may not have had enjoyable or successful school experiences. The challenge was to develop home–school partnerships that would build trust, shift the balance of power to a more equal relationship, and share understandings so that parents and whānau could feel confident in helping their children reach their potential in literacy.

The actions

The initial project funding enabled the schools to train a home–school liaison worker – either a teacher or a community person. The calibre of this person – one who passionately believed in the value of the partnership and worked in a reciprocal way – proved to be a vital factor in the success of the scheme. Rotorua Primary selected a teacher with the essential depth of skills and community understanding, and she continues to work full-time to train parents and maintain the collaborative approach.

The vehicle chosen to achieve change was to train parents in the Pause-Prompt-Praise (PPP) procedure, and in previewing and reviewing texts with children. Parents had the commitment to help their children: what they sought were specific strategies which they could understand and use confidently. Parents were readily able to grasp the PPP processes, and they became highly motivated. They were also trained in responsive writing and brainstorming for writing. Although other life stresses sometimes made it hard for families to fit in the time (three 20-minute sessions a week in each procedure), they implemented the programme sufficiently to be effective.

Another feature was the incorporation of home activities into school, taking account of what was read at home and where literacy fitted into family life. The school and families regularly shared information about children's learning and behaviour.

The results

All groups in the original research project showed gains in reading accuracy and comprehension, in spite of increasing difficulty of the texts selected. These encouraging results held across all three groups – Tauiwi (non-Māori) children in English-medium classes; Māori children in English-medium classes, and Māori children in Māori-medium classes.

Rotorua Primary has found that children whose parents come into the training programme take a great leap forward, gaining between one and two years in reading age during the ten-week period of concentrated practice, and sustaining their literacy growth. Children produce more writing, and maintain good levels of accuracy while increasing in fluency. Those children who do not have extra home support still make progress, as teachers and teacher-aides are using the same strategies in their mix, but do not demonstrate such dramatic shifts. Further, when children reach their optimum levels of literacy and are still supported at home, their gains are maintained.

The consistent results have enabled the Rotorua Primary to receive funding from the Ngati Whakaue Trust to continue and extend the programme. Their full-time liaison teacher trains 10 to 12 parents each term in PPP, and has sustained this rate over two years. This has provided the community with a rich resource of enthusiastic, skilled people who can support other families and whānau as they endeavour to give the best start they can to their children. Gaining the trust of families has led to parents from the wider community also approaching the school, and if space is available they are included. Iwi funding is closely monitored, so the school reports twice a year and is able to show that its programme makes a difference.

Adults involved in the tutoring have gained a great deal of satisfaction too, not only from their children's success, but for themselves. Some have sought further qualifications, and the school now has a pool of people with skills who are keen to become teacher aides. The nine teacher aides currently employed at Rotorua Primary have all been trained in the programme, so teachers have confidence in them, and they have the understanding and self-belief to make a fine contribution to continued literacy learning.

Contact:

Rotorua Primary School
Tel (07) 348 8159

2001

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