The Bright Spots Awards give teachers and leaders the funding and expert support to create, trial and iteratively develop new ways of working and innovative practices in schools and early childhood centres.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
In addition to funding support, the 18-month programme includes:
- A two-day training workshop focusing on clarifying, planning and preparing the project for implementation: problem definition, innovation development, and creating robust measures and processes for testing impact
- A one-day session at the start of the year to ensure the first round of implementation and testing is ready to commence
- Regular sessions in the participant’s own school/centre or online to discuss progress and to support the iterative development of each participant’s innovation
- A mid-year meeting in year one to discuss data collection and to develop data analysis skills
- Innovations that have demonstrably led to strong outcomes will be supported to scale up – for example, implemented and evaluated in a greater number of schools or centres – in Year 2 of the programme.
The Bright Spots Awards gave us the support, development and access to professional development that really solidified our belief in our ideas. We are now implementing in-school research, practices and skills in the leaning environment.
Find out more
Information about the next Bright Spots Awards program will be available soon.
Register your interest now and we’ll keep you posted.
SUPPORTED PROJECTS – 2019
Raising Scientific Literacy in Primary and Intermediate Schools
This charitable trust is busy developing and delivering resources to improve science programmes in New Zealand's primary schools
Seeing Learning Better
Developing a more impactful way of providing guidance to new teachers, to ensure they receive more support and mentoring
Removing barriers to success in learning; Understanding neurodiversity to enable success
This initiative involves understanding the strengths of each student and building the capacity of teachers to work effectively with diverse learners.
Congratulations to The Education Hub and the awardees. You are lucky to have been selected and I know that you will get fantastic encouragement and support.
SUPPORTED PROJECTS – 2018
Oracy Framework
A partnership with a speech language therapist is enabling teachers to explore how they can improve pupils' language skills of new entrants
Te Waka STEM Innovation Hub
A pilot programme for Year 9 students aims to improve engagement and enrolment in STEM subjects among Māori girls in particular.
The Student at the Centre
Maths teacher Bernie Wills proposed “flipping” teaching and assessment practices in order to put the student at the centre of their learning.
Unlock achievement
Micro-credentialing in secondary school classrooms aims to make the language of NCEA assessment more engaging for students and their parents.
Enhancing Student Achievement through Teacher Inquiry and Collaborative Quantitative Analysis
Through an innovative reporting tool, Gisborne teacher Darcy Fawcett is working to help teachers evaluate their initiatives and improve student outcomes.