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Investigating responses to diversity in a secondary environment

Funding year: 
2005
Duration:
1 year
Organisation: 
University of Canterbury
Sector: 
School sector
Project start date: 
January 2005
Project end date: 
January 2006
Principal investigator(s): 
Lindsey Conner
Research team members: 
Janinka Greenwood, Peter Buyers
Research partners: 
Christchurch College of Education, with Linwood College

Project Description

Linwood College is an urban, lower decile school with a student population that is diverse in many ways in terms of: culture and race, academic ability, attitude to schooling, home socioeconomic status, personality and personal interests, and ability to cope with instructional English.

The school became a partner in this research project because it has a commitment to embrace and celebrate aspects of diversity within its strategic vision, its policy statements, and curriculum implementation. At the same time, staff wrestle with what are often considered to be oppositional pressures of curriculum delivery, assessment requirements, and the fostering of meaningful learning for diverse learners. The school wanted to examine what it currently does in terms of responding to diversity and wanted to investigate ways to narrow the gap between policy and practice. This project represents a beginning to a much longer process.