MoE Funded PLD

The MoE regional PLD fund can be used to fund PLD delivered by Longworth Education. We have facilitators endorsed in the provision of cultural capability PLD, as well as localised curriculum and assessment for learning – the current national PLD priorities.

To learn more about this PLD visit their website or contact us for assistance in making your funding application.

Classroom observations, teacher coaching and environment reviews

Using the practice-based coaching PLD model (Aiono, McLaughlin & Riley, 2019) our facilitators visit your school, observe teaching practices and provide feedback about learning through play. As well as providing individual professional development, our feedback is designed to improve school policies, teaching practices and the establishment of environments that support effective learning through play.

Across-School/Kāhui Ako and In-School teacher only days/Workshop Options

Every school has unique needs for teacher support and development. We can design workshop material to specifically address the needs of your school. Workshops can be presented during teacher only days or for a specific team or syndicate within your school. We’ll design the content your team needs to continue the journey of implementing learning through play.

Parent evenings / workshops

Your parent community also need support to better understand and accept the value of play in school. Alongside teacher support in the school, we can provide parent evenings or full day parent workshops to achieve this. These presentations are designed to be specific to your wider school community and their learning needs.

Online Coaching

We can provide one-off or ongoing online coaching with classroom teachers, teams and school staff groups to answer any questions related to teaching practice unique to your school context, or to provide new knowledge and skill development for your teaching team by distance. This is a great opportunity for those in more rural locations, based internationally, or who are in ‘hard to reach’ spots.

School Leadership Support

Teaching through play can be challenging for senior leadership when faced with the additional responsibilities of local curriculum design, reporting to BOT, health and safety decisions and parent/whānau engagement. We can support senior leadership to feel confident in moving ahead with their school’s vision and philosophy by providing ongoing research, coaching and peer support.

Custom Teacher/School Support

If you have specific challenges or barriers to overcome, we can design a professional learning and development package to help you move forward when transitioning to a play-based learning approach. We design these packages after talking to your team so we can help you achieve optimal teaching practices within play-based settings.

Teaching Workshops

Longworth Education provide teaching workshops and professional learning opportunities for educators, senior managers and parents. Our teaching workshops focus on learning through play and professional development for teachers at all levels of experience.

All our teaching workshops are hands-on, evidence-based and reflect a practical application to the latest research about how to support students living and learning in the 21st Century.

We offer numerous Workshops:

Play in the Junior Classroom LEVEL 1
Aimed at teachers of Years 0 to 3, this workshop introduces the fundamentals of the use of play within the primary school setting.

Play for Older Kids LEVEL 1
Aimed at teachers of Years 4 to 6, we examine how inquiry models integrate with play-based pedagogy to further support children’s development.

Responding to Play: How to ‘teach’ when children are playing LEVEL 2
In this workshop, participants will learn ways to intentionally teach learning areas and competencies while honoring child-led play.  The workshop will provide highly practical tips and tricks to know what to say and how to respond to critical learning opportunities observed and how this relates to the New Zealand Curriculum.  
The focus will be on the ‘Respond’ component of ‘Notice, Recognise, and Respond’ – the guiding pedagogical underpinning of teaching through play.
Participants will also be provided with a new ‘Teacher Observation Kit’ to assist observation of children’s play

The Role of the Teacher LEVEL 3
Learn how to intentionally teach through play while meeting curriculum and assessment demands in a play-based classroom.
Pre-requisites:
– Must have completed Level 1 and 2
– OR have been working in a play-based classroom setting for a minimum of 18 months
– OR be attending with a colleague from the same school who has completed Level 2
– OR be ECE trained and working in a play-based early years setting

Play Based Learning & Structured Literacy: Co-Existing In the Primary Classroom
This workshop supports teachers implementing a Structured Literacy approach to provide literacy rich play environments focused on ensuring child-led learning alongside the goals of the classroom literacy program.