Resources: What works evidence

There are now significant bodies of evidence showing how effective cooperative learning strategies can counter bullying, accelerate achievement gains and develop social skills.

Check out the Education Endowment Foundation website for evidence on collaborative learning.

Implementing cooperative learning approaches effectively is hard. Two BES exemplars explain high impact co-operative learning approaches in depth.

BES Exemplar 1: Developing communities of mathematical inquiry

Students learn to create for each other an environment that is safe to learn. Moana's success in building a mathematical learning community was evident in 10-year old Wiremu's comment to another boy about a girl in their group: 'Don't dis' her, man, when she is taking a risk'.

Read more about developing an ethic of care through mathematics teaching.

BES Exemplar 4: Reciprocal teaching

Reciprocal teaching is one of the more easily implemented forms of co-operative learning. This approach develops student leadership and collaboration while accelerating achievement in reading comprehension. The approach has been adapted for use at every level of schooling. Using Reciprocal Teaching early in the year is a good way of establishing norms for student behaviour that are respectful and collaborative.

Responsiveness to diversity

The BES Programme highlights the importance of a responsiveness to diversity approach to counter system weakness. This approach builds on the Treaty of Waitangi and explains the how of responsiveness to diversity in educational practice. Read more in Chapter 13 of Making a bigger difference for diverse learners.

BES Summary: Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences

The International Academy of Education's summaries of this BES explain how to counter bullying through:

Information for Teachers

Counter bullying across your teaching by giving priority to building a student learning community to advance academic and social outcomes. This matters for your students and for you.

Effort spent building student collaboration skills will intensify learning supports to all of the learners in your class, while giving you more opportunity to work responsively with individuals when necessary.

Ensure the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Mauratanga; managing self, relating  to others and participating and contributing, are integrated into all learning programmes. This will be most challenging for the social sciences as the curriculum levels statements focus on conceptual understandings.

Recognise that the New Zealand bullying data shows much more is needed for the outcomes we seek. Check out the BESs and BES cases for what does and doesn't work and seek knowledgeable expertise to help you build on trustworthy what works evidence. Use a teaching as inquiry approach to check that you are countering bullying in your class.

The BES exemplars feature approaches that are very high impact because they have been built on many cycles of research and development. Pay attention to the implementation alerts and check with your principals and or middle leaders that you can be supported with effective professional development.

You may also find the BES cases useful. See the following cases that explain the 'how' of inclusive pedagogies.

Information for Leaders

The School Leadership and Student Outcomes BES demonstrated that leadership success in ensuring an orderly and supportive environment is directly linked to improved student outcomes.

Critical factors included:

• a focus on cultural understanding
• a respect for difference
• provision of a safe and orderly environment
• a clear discipline code
• early and effective conflict resolution.

In New Zealand counter-bullying strategies need to be at forefront for school leaders through:

• Counter-bullying goals
• Strategic resourcing to give priority to counter-bullying strategies as a core pedagogical purpose that enables teachers to work smarter rather than harder
• Planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum to ensure inclusive practice, integration of counter-bullying pedagogies and alignment
• Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development in inclusive curriculum, co-operative learning and other counter-bullying approaches
• Creating and leveraging educationally powerful connections that build and model relational trust

Student bullying is often hidden from teachers and leaders. In TIMSS New Zealand many primary students reported  feeling safe at school while reporting frequent bullying. Diagnostic tools can be helpful when the items  capture what is happening for students, and the tools are used effectively to inform and evaluate improvement strategies.

You could use the six TIMSS items on the bullying scale to find out the extent and frequency of specific forms  of bullying reported by students in your school (weekly, monthly or almost never). Use these tools in ways  that advance rather than jeopardise student safety in the peer culture. Read the one page summary:

Or you can read more in Chapter 6 of the  TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics Report.

What matters is that the actions that follow make a positive difference.

One of the most important ways in which you can lead a counter-bullying culture is through inclusive education in practice in your school. The powerpoint below may be a useful tool to support your professional leadership of inclusive education across the curriculum.

BES Exemplars feature approaches that make a bigger difference. BES Cases also explain approaches that  work. The following case shows how to assist parents and whānau to support their children's learning in positive ways rather than to pressure children in ways that undermine learning, confidence and relationships.

Addressing what doesn't work

The Education Review Office has reported the need for New Zealand schools to reflect on the evidence about fixed ability grouping and streaming.

BES Exemplar 1 shows how to use mixed ability grouping effectively to accelerate progress for Māori and Pasifika learners and low achievers while combating bullying:

Read more below about how leaders can support positive changes by visiting the Education Endowment Foundation website.

Information for Teacher Educators

The national bullying data is a signal that there needs to be more focus in initial teacher education, and professional development on counter-bullying strategies embedded in teaching practice as business-as-usual.

NZEI | Te Riu Roa website (New Zealand Educational Institute) and NZ PPTA | Te Wehengarua website are seeking more effective provision of professional development that incorporates highly effective cooperative group work - including through digital tools.

Information for Researchers

There are many one-off studies of cooperative learning in New Zealand. The high frequency of bullying in New Zealand data signals a need for ongoing cycles of research and development that build capacity in highly effective cooperative learning in different curriculum areas. BES Exemplar 1 reveals the hard work involved in creating powerful learning opportunities and effective counter-bullying skills in a community of learners in mathematics. BES Exemplar 4 builds student cooperation and leadership into reading comprehension.

Information for Policy Makers

In comparison with schooling practices that are often supported by governments – such as tutoring, technology use and school restructuring – co-operative learning is relatively inexpensive and easily adopted. Yet, thirty years after much of the foundational research was completed, it remains at the edge of school policy. This does not have to remain the case: as governments come to support the larger concept of evidence-based reform, the strong evidence base for co-operative learning may lead to a greater focus on this set of approaches at the core of instructional practice. In the learning environments of the 21st century, co-operative learning should play a central role. (p. 174).

Slavin, R. (2010). Co-operative learning: what makes group-work work?
In H. Dumont, D. Instance & F. Benavides (Eds.). The nature of learning: Using research to inspire practice.
Paris: OECD.

Where to Find Out More

New Zealand has significant expertise in cooperative learning in other curriculum areas. Associate Professor Ben Dyson at the University of Auckland has led research and development in cooperative learning in physical education.

Dyson, B., & Casey, A. (2012). (Eds.). Cooperative learning in physical education: A research-based approach.Routledge studies in physical education and youth sport. London: Routledge.

Read the review by Adrienne Alton-Lee (2012) Cooperative Learning in Physical Education: A Research Based Approach [Book Review] Qualitative Research in Education.

Useful Links

The following sites provide access to programmes of work that are focused on linking research evidence to practice in education.