Senior Advisor, Special Education, Ministry of Education
He tika, me mihi tuatahi ki a Ia Te Runga Rawa nāna nei ngā mea katoa. Tuarua, ki ngā mate huhua kua wehe atu ki te pō e moe, e moe, e okioki Ki a tātou te hunga ora, tēnā tātou katoa. It was a new beginning for Te Aute College this year with a new presence in the school, a new tuahangata or hero called PUTA. PUTA’s not an old boy of the school, but he’s taking on the old Te Aute code and breathing new life into it. Manawa ora, he brings hope to a new generation of Māori men. In this article we look at how Te Aute College has embraced the principles of promoting positive behaviour through a learning culture that goes back to what it means to be truly Māori. Tiwha Blake passed away prior to this article going to print. We have chosen to continue with the publishing of this article in her honour. Below is a poroaki from the school’s Kaumatua, Henare Hutana. Te manomano o te hunga wairua kua ngaro. The myriads of spirits who have departed. Ka pari te tai moana, ka timu te tai tangata. The ocean tide is full, while the tide of man recedes. Ngā kōrero tuku iho i meinga nei. The knowledge handed down I declare. E mihi tonu ana ki a koe e te tuahine. May we continue to acknowledge you sister. Moemai ra i te rangimarie, e Tiwha. Rest in peace Tiwha.
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Mihi – introducing PUTA (Pono, Unique, Tika, Aroha) PUTA is a personification of all it means to be a proud Te Aute student. Te Ngauora Kerehoma-Hoerara, a year 13 student, won the school’s poster design competition for PUTA. He explains his design. The four colours represent the four Houses at Te Aute – Ngata, Tatana, Rotene and Ngarimu VC. ■■ The crest represents the Anglican Church. ■■ PUTA represents Pono/truth by keeping true to the values as a Te Aute boy and being a committed academic scholar. ■■ PUTA represents the Unique character of Te Aute College and its students by showing pride in the way that he wears his Te Aute uniform. ■■ PUTA represents Tika, to do the right thing as a Te Aute student, which the two top koru represent. ■■ PUTA embraced by the two koru closest to him also represents Aroha, which is displayed in his day-to-day mahi at school. ■■
Of course, doing the right thing is not always what teenage boys do! Until recently, the school had a punitive, disciplinary approach to behaviour management that focused on recording and punishing negative behaviours. This year, things are different. Out with the old – what’s changed at Te Aute College Te Aute College signed up last year to the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) School-Wide approach. This is a framework where school leadership takes a whole-school approach to promoting positive behaviour and learning. It involves extensive data-gathering and systems changes throughout the school. It
‘Instead of ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that,’ we ask, ‘What would PUTA say if he was standing next to you? What would he be saying with regard to your values and your actions?’ It’s about the boys starting to take ownership of their actions.’
Year 13 student, Te Ngauora Kerehoma-Hoerara, won a school competition to design a PUTA poster that also depicted the unique characteristics of Te Aute College, which encompasses the Anglican church and its foundational teachings
is based on the premise that positive behaviour can be learnt through setting clear expectations. These expectations are then explicitly taught and positively reinforced. There is a consistent response to those expectations across the whole school. So, how has PB4L changed things at Te Aute? Defining, communicating and teaching values and expectations Assistant principal, Tiwha Blake, explained how the symbol of PUTA took the old Te Aute code (Te Kawa o Te Ako – Tika, Pono, Aroha) and translated it into practical guidelines that the boys could readily relate to. ‘We personified the code. We made it come from their world, their being.’ Learners are able to reflect on what their hero PUTA would do if he was faced with a certain situation. At the pōwhiri for the 23 new students and their whānau, the PB4L team sat with families in the wharenui and gave them a short presentation on the school-wide expectations. By the time Te Ngauora had introduced his character, PUTA and the boys had signed a kawenata (covenant) with their whānau, the new boys had already gained a clear idea of what the school’s expectation were. Supporting this is the school’s term plan for explicit teaching of the values across the whole-school environment, the classroom, hostel, playground and while on sports trips. Change to language and approach to behaviour ‘We no longer talk about rules,’ says the school’s Resource Teacher, Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), Robyn James. ‘Instead of ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that,’ we ask, ‘What would PUTA say if he was standing next to you? What would he be saying with regard to your values and your actions?’ It’s about the boys starting to take ownership of their actions.’ A positive recognition and reward system has been set up using PUTA stickers. Instead of reading out detention names at assembly, the principal will read out the names of PUTA achievers. Staff, teachers and kaiwhakaepa/school prefects award stickers each week to students who demonstrate the school’s values.
Changes to school systems It’s not enough to make philosophical changes to an environment. Te Aute has also put in place practical changes to systems, classroom and school practices. The school has modified the Behaviour Management to accommodate classroom teachers in achieving the standard of Managing Student Behaviour, to align with Teacher Registration Criteria. Now the teachers will take full control of minor classroom behaviours as opposed to send-outs. ■■ The Pastoral Care Team’s main focus has shifted from looking at problematic students and their issues and how to deal with them, to the safety, well-being and health aspect of all students within the school and hostel. ■■ At the beginning of the year, all the teachers were encouraged to be actively involved with interviewing all students and helping them set achievable goals for themselves. ■■
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Teachers, students and hostel staff will be involved in translating the PUTA values into actions – what do they look like, sound like, feel like and what will they be doing when they’re living those values?
Positive Behaviour for Learning, School-Wide The Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L), School-Wide approach is available to schools through the Ministry of Education. The Ministry provides school teams with training and access to coaches to implement the framework over 3–5 years. So, what’s different about PB4L from other approaches to addressing behaviour? ‘This is the first time ever that the behaviour management structure has got a framework that we can build and adapt on,’ says Tiwha. ‘PB4L is not departmentalised,’ says Robyn. ‘It’s not a separate component. It’s all encompassing. The PB4L philosophy has rubbed off on you. Once you feel it, it then becomes a living taonga.’ Which raises the question, how can an American-based concept work in a Māori context? PB4L in a Māori context A whole-school approach by nature works within the kaupapa of the school. ‘Maybe PB4L came from America, but we’ve modified it to make it our own,’ says Tiwha. ‘In relation to our tuahangata, PUTA, personification in Te Ao Māori is a normal practice. We acknowledge our mountains, our rivers and our waka. Our stories even speak about mountains that walked and talked. So translating the acronym of our values into a living being was a natural thing to do.’
‘Research suggests that for Māori students the most important thing for them is the relationship between the teacher and the student,’ says the school’s PB4L Coach, James Frazer. ‘We focus on the positive and giving teachers good tools to create that positive environment.’ PB4L recognises the vital link between the school and classroom behaviour and learning. Schools have a responsibility to teach both academic skill and social competence. ‘A lot of our
PB4L has certainly allowed our staff to focus more on the positive aspects of teaching and learning and in turn, students are becoming more receptive in class and positive behaviour towards learning is increasing. focus has been on our academic achievement and we’re meeting our targets,’ says Tiwha. ‘However, like all things, there is always room for improvement. PB4L has certainly allowed our staff to focus more on the positive aspects of teaching and learning and in turn, students are becoming more receptive in class and positive behaviour towards learning is increasing. This positive change, should lead to better results for Te Aute College in 2012.’