Abstract:
This research evaluates an academic counselling programme through the perspectives of Year 13 students at a low decile Year 7-13, predominantly Māori high school. It extends previous research on the implementation of academic counselling through the addition of student voice regarding its effectiveness. Academic counselling involves teachers meeting with students to establish goals and working together to develop a plan to achieve those goals. A review of the literature led to the development of three hypotheses about the key components of effective academic counselling. Firstly, students need positive student-teacher relationships. Secondly, students must be confident in the knowledge of their teachers. Thirdly, students need to feel the feedback they receive during the academic counselling is effective. The research adopted a Kaupapa Māori approach which included the organisation of meetings to explain the research. Year 13 students who agreed to participate completed a survey about the Personal Learning Plan (PLP) and 7 students were interviewed. The analysis considered gender, ethnic and goal type differences. Overall the findings suggest this academic counselling programme can help support students to achieve their goals. Students described a wide range in the closeness they expected with their relationship with their whānau teacher. Students reported good understanding of their culture and high teacher expectations from their whānau teachers. Students had a high level of confidence in the knowledge their whānau teachers. Students generally found the feedback delivered during the interview to be effective but there was evidence this could be improved by explicitly teaching goal setting strategies. This programme was particularly beneficial to students with students who were not aiming to achieve an endorsed certificate, who found it improved their understanding of their progress and the next steps needed and subsequently their motivation. This research showed the value of seeking students' perceptions of educational initiatives. Students were able to articulate the components of the academic counselling interviews they found to be effective and areas they felt needed to be changed. In particular students were able to share the ii difference whanau teachers were able to make to their achievement of the academic goals and future plans.