National Standards – Stories to learn from
Stories to learn from
Teachers are starting to use learning stories to support students with special education needs
Teachers using narrative assessments for students with special education needs came to “see things with different eyes”.
The learning stories they created during a curriculum exemplar project helped them to recognise and respond to each student’s learning. Their new perspective is changing how these teachers use assessment to support learning.
Learning stories are a practice set to grow following publication of Narrative Assessment: A Guide for Teachers and a series of curriculum exemplars by the Ministry of Education.
Learning stories are concise articles that collect observations of a student’s interests, strengths and breakthroughs in learning.
They are one of a number of suitable approaches to use with National Standards for students with the highest needs.
The guide and exemplars draw on two years of work by researchers, teachers, curriculum advisers and parents who support students with special education needs.
“It’s about using a fit for purpose assessment that improves teaching and learning for all students,” says Ministry assessment manager Lisa Rodgers.
“Students with special education needs have a more finely delineated progression than standard signposts provide.”
Joanna Curzon, Special Education research team leader says the exemplars have been thoroughly moderated and peer reviewed. They place students at the heart of assessment and relate their learning to the key competencies and learning areas of the curriculum.
“The New Zealand Curriculum is for all students and the National Standards are for all students. We expect high quality assessment practices for everybody.”
Joanna says narrative assessment may be suitable to use in relation to the National Standards for a small group of students with the highest learning disabilities, thought to number up to 5000 nationwide.
These students are supported through the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS) or Supplementary Learning Support (SLS) and are expected to learn within level 1 of the curriculum throughout their time at school, and their progress against the standards may be reported slightly differently.
“We have something wonderful for this group of children, their parents and teachers in terms of a really valid, authentic approach to assessment,” says Joanna.
However, she says narrative assessment does not present the only valid assessment approach for these students.
“Some schools, especially special schools, have been working tremendously hard over a number of years to develop responses and approaches to the NZC and assessment.”
She says the Ministry will work closely with special schools to provide the best learning opportunities for all students.
Lisa says the reason the Ministry has developed narrative assessment is to ensure there were tools which could identify strengths rather than what young people could not do. 
Instead, narrative assessment helps teachers, students and parents to ask important questions about what the student has learned, where they are going and what to do next.
Joanna says: “One of the cornerstones of this project was to recognise that all learners are competent.”
She says in trials, the use of learning stories has shown that some students were exceeding expectations.
“Through this process, some of these students have shown they are actually achieving at level 3 in some curriculum areas, which has been fantastic.”
The use of learning stories was developed in several South Island schools, has been further trialled in Auckland and will be integrated into future professional development.
The project that developed narrative assessment for special education was featured in the Education Gazette of 24 August 2009.
More information
A website hosts an online version of the guide, The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars for Learners with Special Education Needs, and other useful resources.
Visit: www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz