News
13 March, 20223
Te Kete Hono releases Engagement Sliders
We are delighted to announce the release of our newest Te Kete Hono product: Engagement Sliders - Insights into learning.
The development of this app has been two years in the making. The Te Kete Hono team has trialed prototypes and carried out evaluative research in order to bring you the best possible product.
Sliders is an app that captures a learner's engagement as they reflect on their enjoyment and challenge of the learning. Teachers get instant insights into how their learners are feeling; enabling them to take action and change up their learning design to better meet the needs of their learners.
Using Sliders, teachers and leaders can filter learners' results by a range of demographics, subjects and time frames. For schools that already use SchoolTalk, this provides an opportunity for teachers to correlate progress with engagement all in real time.
19 December, 2022
2022 Annual Report
It has certainly been a big year for all of us in the education sector! It has been a privilege to work alongside so many committed and passionate educators as they have faced up to the challenges of the pandemic, the teacher shortage and the well-being considerations that have emerged. We have been inspired by the lengths that so many teachers went to, to ensure that their ākonga were able to continue learning during lock-downs and hybrid learning, and we are also encouraged by the speed at which the sector pivoted and embraced digital learning. We believe so strongly that this can be a platform for more effective teaching, more agentic learners and more engaged parents and whānau.
Te Kete Hono has been up and running for almost exactly a year now, building on the foundations created by the Stonefields Collaborative Trust. And what a huge first year it has been. On behalf our board, we are delighted to share our 2022 Annual Report with you and hope you will enjoy a glimpse into our world, to celebrate our achievements with us and anticipate our opportunities for future improvement and innovation.
7 November, 2022
Refreshing the New Zealand Curriculum
The Ministry is signalling that we are headed towards a progression-based curriculum. We could not be more excited about this as SchoolTalk is fundamentally built around the core construct of progressions. SchoolTalk provides teachers with effective and efficient ways of giving learners formative feedback on their progress and differentiating their learning design, while also enhancing learner motivation and agency.
Progressions are beautifully described by the authors of the paper entitled "New Zealand Curriculum Refresh: Progressions Approach" (on the Ministry's Curriculum Refresh website here ) as a set of " significant signposts or ‘waypoints’ that are typical of increasing sophistication, in the ways in which ākonga knowledge, understanding, and capabilities grow and deepen over time". They go on to identify a number of powerful rationales for this shift from an outcomes focussed curriculum, including the following reasons for adopting a progression approach:
to support the provision of equitable opportunities to learn by providing clarity about the learning that cannot be left to chance and about appropriate progress expectations, while at the same time providing the flexibility for iwi and community to bring and share what they value.
to focus forward unlocking each child’s next learning steps. This provides more concrete support for the assessment-for-learning pedagogies and practices that shape further learning opportunities.
to enable the curriculum to be built on a strong bicultural foundation. One of the underlying ideas behind a progression approach is ensuring that our young people’s identity, language, culture, and capabilities do not remain untapped and underdeveloped in teaching and learning contexts.
to support quality teaching by supporting teachers, ākonga, and their whānau to focus their interactions and have learning conversations about where ākonga are now, where they are going, and new possibilities.
to empower ākonga by supporting each learner’s personal experience of progress and their sense of themselves as a person and a learner. Making meaningful progress in something important is one of the most motivating things a learner can experience. Experiencing progress also supports ākonga wellbeing and sustains their belief in their own agency and on-going ability to learn.
to reduce cognitive load for teachers by ensuring signposts for ‘getting better’ are holistic and weave together big ideas, aspects of the key competencies, and values and learning dispositions. This helps ensure a focus on in-depth learning of significant things, rather than superficial learning about things of little consequence.
to provide a useful language for communicating ākonga progress within and between schools and enable efficient and targeted use of limited resources to develop tools to support teaching, learning, and assessment.
If your school is wanting to get ready for progressions, CONTACT US about how SchoolTalk can support your journey.
23 September, 2022
Te Kete Hono celebrates with official launch event
Te Kete Hono was proud to bring together members of our school community, our partners, our team and our friends this week for the offical launch of our organisation! We have been up and running since the beginning of 2022 but the constraints of keeping everyone safe during the Covid pandemic have meant that this event has taken some time to happen.
Grateful thanks to the team at Stonefields School for enabling us to host the event on the grounds of our SchoolTalk live site, and especially to the school Kapa Haka group who gave our guests such an inspiring performance!
This event was held to honour our legacy by expressing our appreciation to those who created the vision and the foundations for our work, and secondly, to anticipate the future and the impact we intend to have, as part of an innovative ecosystem with a number of significant partners.
It included addresses from Pāora Puru of Te Waiohua, Ngāti Te Tata, Waiohua and Waikato-Tainnui, Sarah Martin, Stonefields School Tumuaki and our original Founder, and Te Kete Hono Chair, Tuhi Leef.
Te Kete Hono CEO, Judy Newcombe, says Te Kete Hono is poised for impact.
"Learners sit at the heart of our aspirations to improve their educational outcomes, their readiness for their chosen futures and also to address the equity issues which beset our educational system."
Newcombe goes on to say: "We are all inspired by the opportunities that our founders have provided to make a real difference and by the promise that innovative and culturally responsive pedagogy and technology can accelerate learning and close the ever-widening social gaps. Our focus is on designing rich learning opportunities, on using consistent progressions and formative assessment to inform personalised learning pathways and on supporting social and emotional readiness for learning. We are looking forward to the opportunity to design new and creative ways to support the big improvement initiatives undertaken by school lead teams with relevant data analysis and insights."
To all who attended and shared an afternoon of celebration and connectivity with us: Ngā mihi - we thank you and look forward to sharing more milestones with you in the years ahead.
20 September, 2022
SchoolTalk data privacy and protection
You may be aware of a report recently released in the UK which wrote of the selling of data collected from students using education technology. We understand this raises questions about whether the organisations behind the education software your students are currently using are doing the same thing.
We would like to assure all users of SchoolTalk that we do not engage in the trading of any data collected in the course of using our software. We hold ourselves to the highest standard of accountability precisely because we are engaged with young people and feel a special responsibility to ensure any data related to their identity and learning is stored safely, protected from external risks and only used for the purpose of furthering their education and wellbeing.
We use industry standard best practices to protect this data, and we recently underwent an independent, globally recognised security audit, and emerged from this exercise with 0 security risks. We hope this provides all of our subscribers the assurance that we are using the best protection available. If you have further questions on this topic, please don't hesitate to contact us: admin@teketehono.nz
27 June 2022
TE KETE HONO and EDGE LEARNING SOLUTIONS PARTNER TO CREATE A BEST OF BREED SOLUTION FOR NEW ZEALAND EDUCATION SECTOR
Edge Learning Solutions and Te Kete Hono have joined forces to bring to New Zealand schools a ”best of breed” solution combining both student and learning management systems.
The integration of our two cutting edge cloud-based systems creates an offering for the New Zealand education sector that is not currently available.
The partnership's first integrated site will be Stonefields School in Auckland. Stonefields Principal, Sarah Martin, says the Stonefields team is very excited about the partnership. “We are data informed and strive for continuous improvement, the potential to link day to day and Schoolwide data insights and create efficiencies for teachers is game changing.”
Edge Learning Solutions (ELS) is a key provider of software-as-a-service solutions to the education sector in New Zealand and internationally. Edge is also the country’s fastest growing Student Management system which has seen over 500 conversions in 2021. Their mission is to empower informed decision making to improve student outcomes.
Edge invested heavily in creating a new fit for purpose SMS that was based on the lessons learned from previous MUSAC solutions, and building an extensive array of new functionality and features. Shaun Croskery, CEO of Edge, says they have been looking for an LMS partner in New Zealand and were delighted to discover SchoolTalk and its complementary fit with Edge. “After seeing what the team had achieved with Stonefields School, I couldn’t help but think this was the future of learning collaboration and tracking in New Zealand.”
Te Kete Hono is a social impact enterprise set up by Stonefields Collaborative Trust and the Hugh Green Foundation, and committed to a shared vision of “powerful collaboration driving educational improvement and equity for all learners." Their mission is to be a catalyst for educational improvement and equity by turning innovative practice in teaching, learning and assessment into educational systems, products and services that can be impactful at scale. In addition to developing and supporting SchoolTalk, Te Kete Hono offers educational consultancy and professional learning for school leaders and teachers, and is accredited as a Ministry of Education PLD provider.
Te Kete Hono CEO, Judy Newcombe, says schools are looking for a one stop software shop but they want best of breed in a learning and student management system. “Our partnership with Edge means we can start to talk about an ecosystem that meets all the schools needs with a single sign in.”
30 May, 2022
Te Kete Hono appoints one of New Zealand education's foremost Future Focused thinkers
Te Kete Hono is delighted to announce the appointment of Derek Wenmoth to the Te Kete Hono board.
Derek is a well-respected thought leader in the education sector and works extensively with schools and clusters as they seek to prepare students for their future. He also consults with policy makers and government agencies regarding the future directions of NZ educational policy and practice.
He is a regular speaker at conferences both nationally and internationally, and maintains a blog on matters relating to e-learning and other aspects of interest to educators (www.futuremakers.nz). In recognition of his work in this area, Derek was designated one of 2008’s “Global Six” by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which recognises individuals making a difference in education.
This appointment reflects the commitment to our shared vision of “powerful collaboration driving educational improvement and equity for all learners" and, working alongside the rest of our Te Kete Hono team, Derek will certainly be a great asset to our whakahaere.
April 2022
PLD FACILITATORS WANTED!
Would you like to contract to us on a part-time basis in your specialist area??
The teacher shortage has put pressure on many schools, especially those that are losing great teachers to consultancy opportunities. Here at TKH, we see a solution in unlocking access to real practitioners without taking them out of class.
The premise of our organisation has always been to leverage talent from live sites. After all, that is where the real mahi is done. Stories can be shared from live sites about what is or is not working and why. Inquiries into what has had an impact are inspirational to others. On the spot or well planned adjustments or tweaks that may have been made can unlock further improvements by teachers.
Keeping practitioners in classrooms and utilising their skill set can be achieved through highlighting talent in and across our organisations and creating opportunities for teachers to share, showcase and shine.
We are looking for practitioners who would like to contract to us on a part-time basis in their specialist area.
This is an opportunity to work on a flexible basis as you develop your skills as a PLD facilitator in a supportive and collaborative team culture, as well as contribute to our mission of enhancing educational excellence and equity.