Navigating Through Omicron - Term One Reflections

Navigating Through Omicron

Reading and Researching

From late January MOE and MOH Bulletins came out thick and fast - lots to digest and make sense of!

The principal networks (both national and local) were a vital source of conversation and crowd sourcing

Other posts online via twitter and facebook pages helped to inform our practice as term one unfolded.

Internationally, this conversation has begun.  The pandemic has exposed inequities in schooling and in societies.  In New Zealand schools, our capacity to support hybrid learning options; to provide access to devices; administration support for smaller schools; staffing to keep schools open; and ventilation in classrooms, are typical examples.

In the “Learning in a Covid World’ series of reports put out by ERO, recommendations for 2022 included

1. Preparing for hybrid/blended learning. For example, through having a clear plan of how remote learning will be supported for some students when most students have returned to the classroom.
2. Supporting learning catch up. For example, regularly using assessment tools to find out where students are at with their learning and developing differentiated and individualised teaching strategies to support students’ learning.
3. Having a plan to support re-engagement both in the classroom and remotely. For example, through increasing meetings with whānau and using positive and consistent messaging about the value of good attendance.
4. Supporting students’ wellbeing. For example, focusing on students’ connections and togetherness, focusing on ways to strengthen their tolerance, resilience, and self-regulation, as well as ways to cope with anxiety.

From the NZ SPANZ Conference 2022

During the workshops at the SPANZ conference, several principals shared their stories about leading structural and cultural changes in different school contexts.  Several common themes emerged.

1. Change has to be led by the principal.
2. Consult with ‘mana whenua’ and your community to get the ‘why’ right.
3. Have a shared vision and common purpose.
4. Identify and support leaders, innovators and early adopters.
5. Your mahi will be strengthened with credible research.
6. Engage specialists and experts to support you in the change process, if you need to.
7. Use ‘student voice’ to monitor how things are going.
8. Choose to jump in ways that are consistent with your thinking.  Don’t be pushed.

More reflections on navigating COVID-19

Erika Ross and Steve Lindsey have talked to more principals about their experiences with leading their school communities through the pandemic.
 
Hobsonville Point Secondary School: Maintaining what is important
Kadimah School: Reaching out to the community
Papatoetoe High School: Familiar faces
 
Find the series so far on Te Mahau website.
 
Navigating COVID-19: School leaders reflect – Te Mahau

Grow Waitaha

My own reflections:

Engaging learning and agency has never been more important that at present.   We need to create good reasons for children to engage, ensure learning is relevant to their present needs and develop our learners to be able to lead their learning and manage their learning in distance and f2f models.     We need to be clever and skilled in the design of learning that captures the attention of our learners and includes them in the conceptual planning of the design.

We are certainly reaping the rewards of having strong collaborative teams.     Teachers who work together in high trust teams and can utilise each others strengths as they design learning and work with learners are coping better in the uncertain times that we are in.      Staff who feel safe enough to be vulnerable and confident enough to seek support from their colleagues are more likely to be have four strong hauora walls.

The ways in which we reach out and connect to our community in COVID times has required us to be agile, and responsive and very tailored to what we know about the contexts around specific families.      Zoom parent teacher meets as well as f2f.   Phone calls as a more personable approach to connecting rather than emails.    Texts from the school phone as a quick way to stay connected to specific families.     Chats on the sports sidelines and at the gate being more important than ever before.

Professional development:

PD that is super tailored, relevant and able to be accessed in different platforms at different times has been helpful.   

PD where the facilitator is open to coming to us to work with small teams and coach and mentor alongside has been favoured by staff. 

PD where we can be self-directed in our learning and learn at our own pace together utilising webinars/readings and research is working.   

PD where we send one or two teachers at great expense and try to backfill with relievers is not currently working for us in a Covid climate.