Teachers key to scholarship success

High achieving students believe making a special connection with at least one teacher was crucial to their scholarship success, Victoria University PhD research has found.
“It was a really affirming finding for good teachers,” says Dr Jenny Horsley, a member of the Government’s Gifted and Talented Advisory Committee, who graduated with a PhD in Education from Victoria University in May.
“Students had overwhelmingly high praise for the teachers who had supported them.”
Of the 332 students she surveyed who were successful in NZQA Scholarship, 79.5 per cent identified their teacher as the person who had the greatest influence on their success.
“Although my research found some school communities didn’t support or promote scholarship or NCEA Excellence, as long as these students had at least one teacher willing to support them they were successful.
“Many of these teachers supported students well beyond school hours, helping them in the evenings, weekends and holidays. They were characterised by their enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge of their subject – and in turn the students were inspired and motivated to do well for their teachers.”
Dr Horsley says there is huge variation in the enrichment and acceleration options for high-ability students in NZ schools.
“Ideally, it would be great to create differentiated programmes for high ability students in every school to ensure that these students have the opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability.”
Dr Horsley currently works as a lecturer at Victoria University’s School of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy.
She has recently been sub-contracted by the University to work with Cognition Education to identify ways in which schools in low socio economic regions can make provision for students of high academic ability. She completed her PhD with the assistance of support from the Jessie Hetherington Research Centre. Her primary supervisor was Professor Luanna Meyer.