Getting the best out of Arinui

Arinui is designed to support educators to make their appraisal process a meaningful learning experience. This will work best when Arinui is used throughout the year, rather than an end of year activity pulling disparate pieces of evidence together into a portfolio.

We suggest that greatest emphasis is placed on two key reflective processes in Arinui:

Teaching (or leading) as inquiry
Analysing student or learner progress

These two aspects focus on how the teacher or leader identifies learner strengths and needs, inquires into what they need to do differently to meet their learners’ needs, and monitors the impact of their changed practices. Teachers and leaders who do these things are likely to make a significant impact on their learners’ progress. By documenting this, they will likely have strong evidence of meeting many of the Standards for the Teaching Profession, particularly if the documentation includes evidence from a range of sources and perspectives.

The other aspects of Arinui (e.g., examples of practice, feedback, other goals, or professional development log) can then supplement the rich set of evidence described above.

As mentioned above, Arinui works best to improve educator practice when it is led by the appraisee, the appraisal collection is developed and refined throughout the annual appraisal cycle and is part of a robust process which is clearly understood by all. Here’s an example of how an annual appraisal process using Arinui might look.

Term 1	Add professional context Add and explain baseline evidence of learner progress Start a teaching (or leading) inquiry Record other goals if you have any Add and reflect on any professional development undertaken	Co-construct Arinui expectations Share appraisal timeline Define what “strong” and “supporting evidence is in your context
Term 2	Analyse learner progress by comparing it with the baseline information added in term 1 (if appropriate within these timeframes) Add to or complete your teaching or leading inquiry (or start a new inquiry) Describe progress against other goals Add and reflect on any professional development undertaken Add any significant feedback or examples of teaching practice outside those included within the inquiry Add and reflect on notes from formal appraisal meeting (the examples of my practice module is a great place for this).	Observations of practice to occur Appraisees and appraisers to meet for formal interim appraisal meetings Gather staff voice on appraisal process and Arinui use
Term 3	Analyse learner progress by comparing it with the baseline information added in term 1 (if appropriate within these timeframes) Add to or complete your teaching or leading inquiry (or start a new inquiry) Describe progress against other goals Add and reflect on any professional development undertaken Add any significant feedback or examples of practice from outside those included within the inquiry	Observations of practice to occur
Term 4	Analyse learner progress by comparing it with the baseline information added in term 1 Complete your teaching or leading inquiry Complete reflection on other goals Add any significant feedback or examples of teaching practice outside those included within the inquiry, particularly focusing on any Standards for the Teaching Profession which do not yet have robust evidence provided for them Add and reflect on any professional development undertaken Complete final reflective comments Choose which entries to submit for the final appraisal conversation Hold final appraisal meeting and complete and sign final appraisal summary	Appraisees and appraisers to meet for formal end of appraisal cycle meetings Appraisers to ensure that final appraisal summary signed by appraisee, appraiser, and principal/ECE leader Appraiser uploads final appraisal summary form Principal/ECE leader monitors completion of appraisal cycle (using their Arinui leader role) Gather staff voice on appraisal process and Arinui use to inform future decisions

What to include in an appraisal collection?

It is important to factor in the recommendations from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand of an appraisal collection.

Amongst your evidence will be feedback from at least two formal, planned observations
It is expected that there would be at least two formal appraisal meetings annually. One may be both end and beginning of cycle and another would be interim. A record of key points from these would be kept
Reflections on evidence should include multiple sources of evidence, multiple perspectives of practice, and be curated over time.

More information is available on the Teaching Council website.

Some things for leaders to think about when you’re getting started…

Arinui will have the most impact when it is woven into the everyday practices of the school, centre or organisation, rather than being an add-on.

Some schools or centres ask teachers to log in at the end of each professional development session to add key learning to Arinui and reflect on previous professional development and the impact it is having on their practice. Others use established professional learning time to engage in professional conversations about teacher inquiries or to seek other perspectives on their practice.

What happens when a teacher leaves?

If a teacher leaves, the first step is for them to contact their principal/leader and Arinui administrator to arrange for the account to be released. The teacher needs to be aware of the professional obligations regarding maintaining privacy of data and learner information.
The Arinui administrator contacts us by emailing info@arinui.com to inform us of this change.
We can move the teacher into a new school, centre, or organisation if it is using Arinui, or the teacher can continue to use Arinui without further charge for the remainder of the current appraisal cycle.
From that point on the teacher will have the choice to continue by paying an individual user charge or cease subscription. They would still be able to access their collection but no longer make changes.
If the new organisation is using Arinui we can transfer their account or set up a new account, whichever the teacher and the new leader prefer.