See more about the Sport in Education project in the Managing Sport section.

Positive results at Aotea

This year Porirua's Aotea College is expecting even bigger and better things from SiE after a period of exploration in 2013.

"The first year of the SiE project was about experimenting with how the project might fit best with Aotea College and trying out new ideas, as well as challenging ourselves about where the potential lies for the years ahead," says Celia Fleck, the school's SiE project lead.

"This allowed us to develop a plan and proposal to influence the school's curriculum and timetable this year."

A key outcome of this planning and proposal has been agreement for the introduction of a Year 11 Sports Studies course in 2014.

"It contains 23 students hungry to learn and achieve in English, Mathematics and Physical Education, with the twist being that the 12 hours per week course is being taught by two PE staff."

In 2014 Aotea College is also placing greater emphasis on the culture and values workstream within SiE. This comes as a result of a thorough consultation process conducted in 2013, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education led Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) initiative. There are also plans to develop a sport policy and consider sports infrastructure requirements to better support student, staff and community involvement in sport at the college.

This year Aotea College has also reached the point of being able to gauge the impact that SiE is having on its students. To help measure progress, a review of the 2013 Year 13 SiE related PE course was undertaken. It identified the following range of student benefits.

• Improved self-confidence and a greater willingness to take risks.
• Growth in how students were able to relate with others and manage conflict.
• More perseverance with difficult tasks.
• Improved leadership skills.
• A greater sense of connection and making a meaningful to contribution to their community.

Taking one example of SiE's impact, three Media Studies students produced a compelling documentary called Behind the first XV in 2013.

One of the three students was disengaged from learning in the class and was not going to attempt the assessment. But as a result of the Sport in Education approach and collaborative conversations between staff, the student went on to gain 13 Level 3 Media Studies credits at excellence level.Celia says this great outcome is evidence of why the school is working hard to ensure that SiE continues on beyond the project's pilot period.

"By the end of year 3 we hope that we'll have identified and put in place sustainable practices that will continue to achieve the three outcomes of the project - increased academic achievement, increased participation in sport, and increased positive social behaviours," adds Celia.

Growth the name of the game at KVC

If there's a word that typifies Kaikorai Valley College's (KVC) Sport in Education journey so far it's 'growth'.

For starters the Dunedin college has managed to increase sports participation by 9% since introducing the SiE approach. From a classroom perspective, more cohorts are using the approach in 2014, while there has also been growth in the subjects aligning to SiE, with Science, Social Studies, Home Economics and Technology classes all getting involved this year.

However, most importantly, KVC's SiE project lead, Craig Reddington says the growth in the programme at the school is being matched by the growth he's seeing in the students.

"We're very pleased with the increase in student engagement shown by our students - they're clearly more excited about learning and that's backed up by what they're telling us," says Craig.

"We're also getting great feedback from parents, with 59% saying their child had enjoyed Maths and English more in 2013 because of SiE."

SiE benefiting teachers as much as students

"Sport in Education is challenging, stimulating and a most interesting experience." That's the view of Kaikorai Valley College's (KVC's) Sport in Education project lead, Craig Reddington.When he took on the task of being the Dunedin school's SiE leader, he saw it as an opportunity that would have benefits not only for students but for himself personally. And so it has proved.

"I have always been passionate about sport and the values that sport can teach everyone," says Craig.

"And I'd already been using some of the SiE strategies from teaching Physical Education in other subjects I was teaching, like Biology and Science, and had had pleasing results using the approach.

"So being involved in this project is allowing me to further apply these strategies and values to help the students at KVC achieve their potential."

Craig also saw the project as a chance to improve his knowledge and leadership skills. He's found the cross-pollination of ideas from the ever growing network of teachers and professionals involved in the project, as invaluable.

"It has exposed me to lots of high calibre knowledge and different ways of thinking and this has helped me develop my leadership and project management skills."

"Also, by working to a much greater extent with our contributing primary schools I've been able to see how they operate and I've been impressed with their leadership, and in turn, the leadership opportunities they offer their students.

"It's an area we're developing here (at KVC) and there are learnings and ideas from our contributing schools that I'm looking to roll-out here."

"That's one of the great by-products I'm seeing in this project - not only are we harnessing the power of sport to help students with their growth and development, but as teachers we're growing and improving our knowledge and skill set too."

Collaboration key to PD

Sport in Education project lead at Wellington's Aotea College, Celia Fleck says collaboration has been the key to the rewarding professional development opportunities the initiative is providing her.

"The (SiE) project has been massive in terms of the access we have to experts both here in New Zealand and overseas," says Celia.

"It's been really rewarding to give and take with regard to collaboration - there have been people who've helped me immensely, but I also know that I've shared my knowledge and experience with others.

"I think the power of collaboration is being tapped into more and more, especially in the PE network.

"Hopefully that collaboration will start happening more across departments in schools and throughout the country because of this project."

The project has also impacted on Celia's own leadership style. "More than my teaching style, it's challenged my leadership style."

"I've had to become a lot more deliberate in my leadership actions, especially when working cross-curricular and I've learnt a lot about perseverance and how I measure success.

"With my teaching style, especially this year with the Sports Studies class, I've become more explicit in using effective coaching practices in my class learning environment."

Celia Fleck's professional and personal development is proving that Sport in Education is not only benefiting students, but staff too.

SiE evaluated by NZCER

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), which is providing a progressive independent evaluation of Sport in Education, recently completed a first year evaluation of the project.

Among the key findings, the values and characteristics of sport such as teamwork, competition and effort, were identified as critical components of SiE evident within the classroom setting of the pilot schools.

It was also found that the participating schools are increasingly interweaving four of the project's five workstreams (i.e. curriculum development, student leadership, primary school connections and culture/values), and are connecting well to other school initiatives like Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L).

In addition, NZCER found that the schools are extending the SiE approach into more senior levels, after initially focusing on Year 9 and 10 students.

Manager of the Sport in Education project at Sport NZ, Roger Wood says the evaluation is pleasing and encouraging.

"We see the key out-take from NZCER's evaluation being that schools are continuing to broaden the scope of what they're doing in relation to Sport in Education.

"This is a clear sign that the approach is working and that Sport in Education is making a positive difference to students, the schools they attend, and the communities they're part of."