For Teachers and Schools

Evaluation is an essential and ongoing component of all education programmes. As this project is developing new learning resources and using new teaching strategies, it is essential that we collect in-depth evidence about how students respond to these. This will inform the programme development and future use of the learning resources in the Cook Islands, Tonga, New Zealand and elsewhere in the Pacific region.

The evaluation will invovle collecting evidence about how students, teachers, families, schools, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health respond to the programme.

Each school

and government ministry

involved is a partner within the project. The school or ministry leadership and the Principal Investigator will meet annually to complete a survey about the development and use of the learning programmes, to formally discuss the project progress, and to record this in a way that can be used to inform future project development.

For teachers

the evaluation will invovle participating in either a focus group or interview (each teacher can choose which they participate in) each year of the project. This is an opportunity for the voice of the participating teachers to be formally recorded so that ideas and reflections on the project can be used to inform future project development.

As part of the evaluation, the project leaders will observe a random sample of classes. This is so that we can confirm that the learning and teaching programmes were being used. It is expected that each teacher will use the programmes in a unique way to meet the needs of their students. This is expected when learning programmes are delivered in schools.

For students

the evaluation will involve a series of questionnaires that will assist the project team to understand students knowledge, attitudes and behaviours within the context of the learning programme. These will be conducted four times being:

• Before taking part in the learning module
• 6-8 weeks after taking part in the learning module
• 1 year after taking part in the learning module
• 2 years after taking part in the learning module

A randomly selected sample of students will take part in focus groups to support the project team to gain a deeper understanding of the student experience.

For families

the evaluation will invovle a series of questionnaires that will assist the project team to understand from the perspective of the family how the learning programmes impacted on the students. These will be conducted 6-8 weeks after taking part in the learning module and again 1 year after the learning module.

A randomly selected sample of families will take part in focus groups to support the project team to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of the learning programmes. 

The privacy of participants is very important to the research team. Names are never used in any reporting from the project.

Why do we need to name the questionnaire?

The questionnaires are named so that we can compare each person's response at different times during the project. Your name is removed and replaced with an individual code for you so that no one can identify who the response is from when we are analysing the responses. Only the project leader and one administrator in New Zealand have access to the file where the names and codes are linked.

Can I trust the interviewers not to talk about the interview or focus group with other people?

Only trained research staff who have signed confidentiality agreements that they will not discuss any of their interviews are allowed to interview people enrolled in the study.

How is the interview or focus group recorded?

The interviews and focus groups are recorded on a laptop computer and then transferred to a secure place within the University of Auckland's computer network. At that point it is deleted from the laptop.
Each interview is transcribed so that the answers to the questions can be analysed by the research team.

Where will the data from the questionnaires be stored?

The questionnaires will be scanned and sent to Auckland where they will be stored in a secure part of the Univeristy's computer network. Only the lead researcher and the project team have access to the files. Each person on this team has signed an agreement not to talk about the content of the data outside the project group.

Ethics committee approval

The University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee and the Cook Islands Government Ethics Committee approved all the interview questions, questionnaires, consent forms and information sheets before we started the evaluation.

The data will be analysed and reports will be written to help the project team, schools and New Zealand Aid understand the value of the project in supporting education and health for young people in Pacific communities.

The reports will be available on this web site. The reports will not name or identify any individuals.

The project partners will also report to education and health meetings and publish the results of the evaluation in academic journals so that other teachers, health professionals and governments can learn from our experience.

Can parents give oral consent rather than written consent?

Yes - a research team member will call parents to explain the evaluation programme. Parents can choose to either give oral consent on the phone or in person, or they can sign the consent form.

Can teachers give oral consent?

No - all teachers who are taking part are required to give written consent.

Can children consent to take part if their parents do not want them to?

No - children under the age of 16 years can only assent to take part once their parents have given permission.
Young people 16 years of age and older are able to consent independently of their parents.

Can parents agree for their children to take part but choose not to take part themselves?

Yes - while it would be very helpful if we had all parents taking part, we understand how busy people are and appreciate it is not always possible for parents to take part.

Can parents take part using Cook Island Māori or Tongan?

Yes - questionnaires and focus groups / interviews are offered to parents in both languages. These will be translated by a trained staff member who has signed a confidentiality agreement that they will not discuss any of the interviews or questionnaires with other people.

Can parents take part in the questionnaire orally?

Yes - a research team member will meet with the parent and take them through the questionnaire.

Can children and parents take part in the questionnaires but not the interviews?

Yes - that is fine.