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Leadership practices supporting Pasifika student success

These six reports focus on school leadership practices that support Pasifika student achievement and success. The reports show how these schools identified the need to improve Pasifika student progress and achievement outcomes and then made a strong commitment to addressing that challenge in a variety of ways to bring about more successful outcomes.

The reports emphasise that continued progress towards the overall goal of achieving strong, positive outcomes for all Pasifika students, through: excellence in teaching, curriculum content and delivery, and ensuring student well-being is an ongoing process.

Case studies that describe leadership practices 

Three case study reports describe leadership practices with a specific focus on Pasifika student success in three secondary schools: 

• McAuley High School
• De La Salle College
• Otahuhu College.

Exemplar reports that provide detail about one aspect

Three exemplar reports describe in more detail one aspect of each case study school’s approach to improving achievement outcomes for Pasifika students.

A key intent for the case studies and exemplars is that they will provide a helpful basis for reflection and discussion amongst those with responsibility for and interest in ensuring successful outcomes for all Pasifika students in our schools.

McAuley High School

This report is one in a series of three case study reports with a focus on School leadership practices that support Pasifika student achievement and success. The series also includes three exemplar reports that showcase in more detail one aspect of each case study schools approach to improving achievement outcomes for their Pasifika students. To view the case study and exemplar, please open the links below.

De La Salle College

This is the second in a series of three case study reports with a focus on School leadership practices that support Pasifika student achievement and success. The series also includes three exemplar reports that showcase in more detail one aspect of each case study schools approach to improving achievement outcomes for their Pasifika students. To view the case study and exemplar, please open the links below.

Otahuhu College

This is the third in a series of three case study reports with a focus on School leadership practices that support Pasifika student achievement and success. The series also includes three exemplar reports that showcase in more detail one aspect of each case study schools approach to improving achievement outcomes for their Pasifika students. To view the case study and exemplar, please open the links below.

About the reports

Ministry and other data show that while some Pasifika students are amongst the highest achieving students in New Zealand, too many are leaving school without the foundation they need to take up further study or career options for a successful future.

The three schools featured in the reports were selected primarily because they had significantly improved NCEA level 2 achievement results for Pasifika students over recent years, turning around previously much less favourable student outcome trends in these schools.

Effective leadership

Effective school leadership is identified in the research literature as vital to ensuring successful outcomes for students.

The Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) Iteration School leadership and student outcomes: identifying what works and why (Robinson, Hohepa & Lloyd, 2009) identified seven key themes in effective school leadership for successful student outcomes. 

The Rangiātea series (Ministry of Education, 2012) – information collected for the Pasifika case studies has been analysed and presented according to the seven key themes identified in the BES Iteration.

Insights from the reports

The reports provide valuable insights about the challenges faced by the case study schools in raising achievement outcomes for their Pasifika students and how the schools were working to progressively meet and overcome those challenges (at the time the case study data were collected in late 2012).

What contributed to Pacific students’ improvement

Leadership, culture, values, wider-community, and identity

Factors that contributed to successful improvements in Pacific student achievement outcomes in these schools included strong, clear school values and goals that:

• the leadership team articulated
• the whole school community understood and supported.

Having a school culture that is inclusive and fosters a sense of family and that places emphasis on everyone taking responsibility for achieving successful Pasifika student outcomes was also a key factor.

In addition, a commitment to effectively involving parents, families, and the wider community in everything the school does – including student learning activities and supporting students in setting goals and preparing for the future – proved valuable.

Also, recognising the importance of understanding and integrating Pacific identities, languages, and cultures into all aspects of the school affected improvement.

Respect, pastoral care, and Board support

Demonstrating respect for Pasifika students, including an appreciation of the students’ strengths and a firm belief in their ability to succeed is crucial.

Addressing students’ pastoral care needs as an essential part of meeting the students’ academic needs is crucial. So is having a well-informed board of trustees, strongly committed to ensuring Pacific student success.

Data, planning, teaching practice, curriculum content and delivery

To raise Pacific success requires a strong emphasis on the effective collection, analysis, and use of robust achievement data to identify student learning needs and strengths.

Planned evaluation of initiatives and approaches introduced by the school to improve student outcomes to ensure they were working as intended is vital.

What influenced Pacific improvement was an emphasis on achieving quality teaching practice:

• through ensuring appropriate professional learning and development opportunities
• through embracing a supportive, “no blame” approach to improving teacher practice
• by adopting a teacher appraisal system that involves sound evidence / feedback and results in planned opportunities for development.

Having a strong emphasis on curriculum content and delivery within the  school that is relevant, engaging, and sufficiently challenging for Pasifika students yields improvement.

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