Implementation of academic counselling by tutor teachers in a low decile urban secondary school

Abstract

Academic Counselling (AC) is a student-focussed mentoring programme newly implemented into low and mid-decile New Zealand secondary schools to improve student achievement in NCEA. This profiling research explores knowledge and beliefs of Year 12 tutor teacher and students implementing a new model of AC in a low decile urban secondary school. Data gathered in this study extends on previous AC research with the collection of student and teacher knowledge and beliefs about NCEA and AC, including the new Level 1 literacy, numeracy and Certificate requirements introduced last year. AC involves student-teacher conferences that teach and motivate students to track the progress of their academic achievement, taking responsibility for their learning. Topics discussed include: option/subject selection, setting and achieving academic and career goals and future/career pathways. Teacher's implementation of AC is underpinned by three key aspects: understanding the school's AC model plus their knowledge of NCEA and their students. A mixed methods approach was used to collect baseline data. The initial phase collected data about knowledge and perceptions of NCEA and AC of participating Y12 tutor teachers and students through confidential questionnaires. The second and third phases involved a subset of teachers and students observed during their AC conferences then individually interviewed about their perceptions of their conference. Findings suggested that students had poor overall knowledge of NCEA qualifications while teacher knowledge was more varied. Less than half of students along with all teachers had at least some knowledge of AC goals. Some students were highly motivated after their AC conference while others expressed concern about their achievement. Based on their experiences, both students and teachers had varied beliefs about who should lead AC and how it should be implemented. iii Schools that have implemented AC could use the questionnaire from this study to find baseline data about their teachers and students. Analysing teacher and student knowledge, beliefs and perceptions on NCEA and AC provides first hand details that schools can use to advance the implementation of their programme, ultimately resulting in better-quality AC and improved student success. Recommendations to improve AC include: additional structured teacher PD, creating PLGs and student-student AC.