Trends in literacy-embedding practices at Waikato Institute of Technology (2017-2018)

Abstract or Summary

The purpose of this report is to outline the findings of an in-depth grounded-theory analysis of 20 classroom observations of literacy- and numeracy-embedding practices at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) . The analysis combined two levels of analysis, namely open-ended labelling and axial analysis (reductionist categorization of high-frequency labels). It was found that the top ten labels related to planning deliberate acts of teaching (prior planning); enacting lessons as interactively accomplished events; designing interactive tasks and spaces; establishing and maintaining routines and rituals; defining and re-defining participant roles; tracking, monitoring and reviewing task completion; reflecting on learning experiences, both self- and other-directed; focusing on learner needs and task demands in planning and teaching practice; establishing and maintaining learner-centred inquiry-based practice; as well as building and re-defining relationships to promote learning. The open-ended labelling of the 20 classroom observations yielded 2000 labels. Using a matrix, the ten high-frequency labels were identified as categories, and then subjected to axial analysis against the 2000 labels. This generated a 10 x 2000 matrix (N=20 000 codes). It was argued that a binary analysis could be used to show how the 2000 labels were related to the ten high-frequency categories. The findings reveal that the four categories with the highest frequency of codes were the following: planning deliberate acts of teaching (prior planning); enacting lessons as interactively accomplished events; defining and re-defining participant roles; and focusing on learner needs and task demands in planning and teaching practice. We concluded that the observed teaching and learning practices of the targeted group of educators were consistent with LN-embedding practices required by Tertiary Education Commission (TEC, 2009a) and Wintec LN-embedding policies (Wintec, 2018b), as well as the institute’s guidelines for teaching and learning (Wintec, 2018a). Our recommendations include the following: that current educator strategies, both learner-centred and inquiry-based, provide a firm basis for educators to continue to experiment with recent developments such as project-based learning and flipped classrooms; the labels and categories of analysis developed in this study serve as a source of prompts for reflective dialogues between capability development staff and practising tutors; classroom observation analyses such as the present report and earlier reports (Greyling & McKnight, 2016, 2017) be combined with in-depth case studies (Greyling, Belcher & McKnight, 2013; Greyling & Lingard, 2015; Greyling & Waitai, 2016; Greyling & Rajendran, 2018) and LN assessment tool data studies (Greyling, 2018) to track and predict learner retention and success (Coolbear et al., 2012); and a comprehensive research-based improvement strategy be developed, within a joined-up whole-of-organisation approach (Coolbear and assicates, 2012), which includes meta-analyses (Greyling, 2016) of reports that deal with similar sources of data.