Unitec Institute of Technology

Nice one Mr Kelso

Mike Kelso was looking to keep his brain sharp when he entered the Master of Educational Leadership and Management programme at Unitec. Four years on and with well-regarded research under his belt, he has become the 100th person to complete the programme, finishing with 2nd class honours.

Mike Kelso works with some of the brightest secondary students in New Zealand and for him constructive feedback is a two-way street. But in most schools the idea of students critiquing their teachers is unusual, so it is that concept that Mike chose to research for his Master of Educational  Leadership and Management thesis.

Mike is currently the Year 13 Dean/University Counselor at Auckland International College, a very academic, private senior high school, which offers only the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme.

The school has a mix of international and domestic students in years 11, 12 and 13, with their focus firmly on winning places at prestigious Northern Hemisphere universities. Students at the school regularly provide feedback on the performance of their teachers as part of professional appraisals.

“Student feedback is a regular reality in my current school and I am personally fine with it,” says Mike. “But on the whole, high school teachers tend not to ask students for feedback on their teaching, for a number of reasons.”

Mike says student feedback can make teachers feel insecure or concerned about how management might perceive the feedback, while others believe students are incapable of providing meaningful feedback.

“For these and other reasons, student feedback at high school level has therefore largely escaped the attention of academics and there is a gaping hole in the knowledge base. I wanted to know how teachers reacted to, and were affected by, student feedback. Did it discourage them? Hurt their feelings? Assist them? Did they use it to inform or improve their practice?”

Feedback findings

“My research revealed strong support for, and minimal negative consequences of, student feedback as a source of data for appraisal. Few teachers report being negatively affected by student feedback, and most report that they reflect on the data provided by students and seek to apply the feedback to their practice in a formative sense. My thesis concludes that the impact of student feedback as a part of the formal appraisal process within a school, on the teachers at that school, is overwhelmingly positive.”

Mike says that he is open to being involved in further discussions on the student feedback work and sees a place for it in the education system. “I do believe the research has contributed meaningful knowledge to education in New Zealand on an issue that is not well understood and researched.”

He has been at Auckland International College for seven years in senior management and started the Master of Educational Leadership and Management as a mental challenge. “I think it is a quality programme, so with 100 graduates already it is contributing meaningfully to the development of educational thinkers and leaders in New Zealand. The programme was recommended to me by a previous principal at my school, who also completed it, and at the time I was open to some challenging professional development opportunities. "

“The Education Department at Unitec is very strong and runs challenging programmes and I suspect the MEdLM is one of the most rigorous in the country. Professor Carol Cardno has my complete respect – she is a formidable academic and deserves much of the credit for the quality of the education qualifications at Unitec.”

Accidental career

Mike stumbled into teaching by accident after he graduated with an environmental science degree in the 1980s but couldn’t find work in the field. “After relief teaching for a couple of months I realised that I quite enjoyed it and it was a positive career with plenty of opportunities.” He completed a one-year teaching diploma and then got his first job teaching Chemistry and Biology at Auckland Grammar School. He still teaches senior Biology and Theory of Knowledge (an introduction-to-philosophy course, mandatory for all IB students) at his current school.He says working with his current students is very rewarding.

“They are really engaged and focused and have some wonderful successes. Every year, since our first students graduated in 2006, at least one of our students has received an offer from either Cambridge or Oxford, and this year we are delighted to have a student entering Harvard University and another Princeton on a full scholarship.”

Mike sees himself moving towards a more senior role in a high school, but says the fit has to be right.