subjects such as English, while specialist subject classes have even greater
variation. While one of the schools offers an open schooling programme,
‘Matua’, which runs afternoon and evening classes, the study only included
teachers of day classes.
Findings
Prevailing pedagogical approaches
The study found that pedagogical intentions are not reflected in pedagogical
practice. Classroom observations show that while teachers do try to apply
their philosophies of teaching and learning in pedagogical practice, many
feel pressured by the need to cover content on time, resulting in lecture-style
teaching, note taking and, in some cases, teachers even admitting to keeping
children in at recess time to complete set tasks.
Analysis of class observation data indicated that the majority of teachers had
positive rapport with their students and with other teachers, were confident
and were usually well-prepared for their classes. Positive observations
included effective management of spaces through colourful and creative
classrooms, well-planned, -managed and -delivered lessons, a wide variety
of activities, well-designed guided-learning activities for slower students,
general abilities-focused tasks, code-switching and bilingual teaching to
enhance understanding, development of own resources, and the effective
use of positive reinforcement in some cases. Each observer noted that the
teachers began the classes by stating the purpose of the lesson (primary
school level) or the lesson objectives (secondary school level).
A number of negative observations were also noted. These included very
large numbers of students in small classrooms, which inhibited movement
and group work; students coming late to class; lack of resources, text books
and science equipment; language levels posing difficulty for students; poor
time-management; note taking and lecture-style lessons; and predominant
use of negative reinforcement. There was some concern about some teachers
being too friendly and lax in their handling of disruptive students and, in one
instance, of a teacher not being prepared. Yet another teacher was reported as
having been distracted by non-teaching duties and having left the classroom,
leaving students to their own devices. While most teachers observed were
well-prepared for their lessons, some observations left the research team
convinced that there is a need for pedagogical training interventions.