Programmes for Priority Learners

Programme Review and Development for Priority Learners

All learners are valuable, all want to be successful and all want to be included, belong and to participate safely in learning situations. Some learners do not, can not or will not engage with school mainstream programmes. We believe that one size does not and can not fit all within the context of education and so the need for packaging learning in a number of ways which reflects the learner, their knowledge and journey is paramount. Young people who present with problematic in-school behaviour and attitude often feel disconnected, not understood, not valued and the process provided for their learning simply does not fit. All learners need to feel important, understood and worthy. We as teachers need to build appropriate and effective student-teacher relationships, we need to use suitable management techniques and need to include learning content and contexts suitable for the learner being taught.

Some learner groups represented in our schools in Aotearoa New Zealand need our special focus to make sure their outcomes are powerfully positive, successful and appropriate for and to them. “Priority learners” a term used to bring a more focused intervention for many of these groups, require changes, sometime significant ones, to be made to the teaching pedagogy often used by teachers to teach them and aid their learning outcomes. Young people have a genuine desire to learn. Some require quite different learning experiences to those provided for mainstream learners to succeed. All learners need appropriate, successful and meaningful learning experiences and environments. Priority Learners who are often found in the lowest achieving quadrant within our education system, often respond very well to different approaches to management, assessment and to the structures within their learning programmes. Learners need their cultural pathways and ways of being, considered and included when learning. Curriculum taught must include cultural contexts and content. Tasks need to be planned to encourage learners to learn and achieve at their own levels. All learners grow when they have a sense of achievement. All respond better when their particular needs and world views are understood, celebrated and recognised in the learning scenarios presented to them.

The courses offered on this topic are facilitated by Tīmoti, an experienced educator and advisor, with some 35 years-experience in Special Educational programme development and delivery. Tīmoti has designed and taught significantly in so called Alternative Educational programmes and has been heavily and successfully involved in developing strategic cultural focuses within schools and organisations. Presently Tīmoti is working with schools and organisations within the private sector, to help strengthen their inclusion, understanding, celebration and usage of knowledge from te Ao Māori.