Moi mai e te Rangatira Martin.
Principals across the motu are mourning the loss of Professor Martin Thrupp, a highly respected, talented, and distinguished education policy and leadership researcher.
Martin began his career as a secondary school teacher before embarking on an academic career at the University of Waikato. He moved to the United Kingdom in the early 2000s where he was a Reader in Education Policy at King’s College London, and later, Senior Lecturer in Education Management and Leadership at the University College London. He concluded his career as Professor of Education Studies back at the University of Waikato School of Education.
He was a prolific writer, publishing countless research articles on education and co-edited the New Zealand Journal of Education Studies. From 1999 onwards he edited three books on New Zealand educational policy. For New Zealand school principals, one of his most compelling projects was his research on National Standards, resulting in the publication of The Search for Better Educational Standards: A Cautionary Tale. (2017) This was preceded by the NZEI funded project Research Analysis and Insight into National Standards (RAINS), a three-year project published in 2013. RAINS was a comprehensive case study analysis of six primary and intermediate schools of different deciles and contexts, which examined each school’s approach to the national standards policy. Martin used this empirical evidence to help shape his highly acclaimed The Search for Better Educational Standards: A Cautionary Tale.
He showed that unlike national tests used in other countries, the New Zealand version of national standards allowed ‘overall teacher judgements’ based on different assessment tools and teacher observations. In turn, this created moderation issues. It was supposed to avoid narrowing of the curriculum and mediocre outcomes which high stakes assessment such as single national tests had produced in other countries. It is thanks to Martin’s careful analyses that we now know that our national standards simply produced another variant of the same problems. They still produced performative effects.
What was interesting was that educators were not passive bystanders in this process. Principals and teachers openly opposed national standards. This led the government to continually reposition as they were forced to justify the policy. It was a world-class example of teachers fighting back against policy, supported by academics such as Martin Thrupp.
Martin leaves an important legacy. From his national standards research, every principal in New Zealand has learned the power of resistance, when governments force policies that are detrimental to young people’s education. Martin taught them how resistance really does make a difference and principals across the motu will carry that learning well into the future.
He recently published The Professional Practice of Teaching in New Zealand, co-authored with Mary Hill, and Schools Making a Difference – Let’s be Realistic, in 1999.
Schools Making a Difference is an excellent example of research through the lens of socio economic status. Martin asked the question ‘Does an effective school come about through the actions of teachers and school leaders, or does it also require an advantaged student intake?’ He found that schools located in low-socio-economic areas face enrolment limitations, and this leads to challenges and indeed resistance when trying to improve academic success. Importantly, he showed that so called ‘failing’ schools are often overwhelmed by the issues associated with socio economic status rather than being ineffective. It was a critical response to the question of identifying factors influencing school effectiveness. Of such significance was this research, Martin won the UK’s Standing Conference on Studies in Education Best Book Prize.
In 2013 he received the British Educational Research Journal Editor’s Choice Award for an article he co-authored with Ruth Lupton, related to his work on examining the effects of social class entitled: ‘Headteachers’ reading of and responses to disadvantaged contexts: evidence from English primary schools.’
He was just as well known in England and Finland as in New Zealand and co-edited Finland’s Famous Education System – Unvarnished insights into Finnish Schooling just last year. Over the years he had become well known in international research circles as a highly valued collaborator with a keen interest in socially and politically contextualised approaches, and the effects of social class.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to educational research in New Zealand, Martin was awarded the prestigious McKenzie Award from the New Zealand Association for Research in Education in 2015, a Research Excellence Award from the University of Waikato in 2019, and late last year his exceptional work on the Finnish education system was recognised with an Honorary Doctorate from Finland’s University of Turku.
He was a high-level performer, driven by a strong sense of social justice. What also made him so special was his ability to communicate to different audiences. One of those privileged audiences was readers of his column in this New Zealand Principal magazine. He was a most popular contributor, bringing carefully reasoned arguments to his articles. He was an inspiring writer and beautiful, kind human being who made this world a better place. I am honoured to have had the privilege of working with him. He will be greatly missed.
The NZPF whānau extends our deepest sympathy to Martin’s wife, Marika, son, Simon, and daughters Grace and Linly.