Date
03 December 2024

Support positive peer relationships

In the ngahere plants grow together into communities. Support peer relationships to help ākonga to care for one another and support everyone’s wellbeing.

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Build relationships for learning

Build relationships for learning

McAuley High School staff and students talk about how they are conscious and caring of each other and seek to build a collective sense of belonging and acceptance.

Facilitate friendships

Facilitate friendships

Friendships are an important foundation in an inclusive classroom.

Some strategies to create and maintain friendships.

  • Identify interests – Allow learners to express their interests through discussion, surveys, games, and clubs to help them discover other students who are like-minded.
  • Highlight strengths – Highlight student strengths to help learners to feel valued and confident among their peers.
  • Emphasise social skills – Embed opportunities to teach social skills in the curriculum, for example, in games, problem-solving activities, class meetings or discussions.
  • Provide opportunities –  Encourage friendships through social opportunities such as play, group work, class trips or school-wide activity days.

Source: Friendship Circle (opens in a new tab/window)

Foster buddy systems

Foster buddy systems

The tuakana-teina relationship provides the model for a buddy system. The older or more expert tuakana helps and guides the younger or less expert teina as these students create digital stories.

Circle of friends

Circle of friends

Creating a student support network.

A teacher shares how she uses the Circle of Friends strategy to tackle challenging behaviour and promote inclusion in year 7.

Foster collaboration and group work

Foster collaboration and group work

Provide opportunities for ākonga to work with others. Carefully design group or pair activities to maximise productive interactions and learning.

  • Encourage tuakana-teina relationships and create a culture where students provide support for each other.
  • Provide a kete of strategies to help students to listen actively to each other, share ideas, and recognise different points of view.
  • Use a variety of thinking tools, such as De Bono's thinking hats.
  • Assign roles such as speaker, listener, and note-taker to the group members.
  • Develop cross-cultural communication skills, learning how conventions for conversation vary across cultures and contexts.
  • Monitor the discussions to ensure that all students understand the task and have opportunities to participate.

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

Sparklers website

The Sparklers website offers a variety of activities to support kindness and friendship.

Publisher: Sparklers

Visit website

Website

Kei Whea a Mauri Tau

Resource for parents and teachers to read to tamariki aged 6 to 8 years to help them learn about connecting with themselves, others and the environment, and to learn how to respond to their emotions.

Publisher: He Paiaka Tōtara

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Website

Building school culture to address students’ needs

In this Edutopia video, students and staff at Pearl-Cohn High School talk about a daily practice similar to a whānau or home group time called “The Nest”. For students, the impact is increasing connection and community.

Publisher: Edutopia

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Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Foster relationships and partnerships”:

Return to the guide “Behaviour and learning”

Guide to Index of the guide: Behaviour and learning

Strategies for action:

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