Ngaire
Shepherd-Wills

Qualifications

Bachelor of Education – Massey University
Diploma of Teaching – Massey University

Professional profile

Ngaire has worked for Tātai Aho Rau Core Education since 2015. She works alongside educators to reimagine possibilities for teaching and learning. Ngaire supports them to develop and extend their practices in innovative ways. She has particular strengths in local curriculum design, assessment for learning, and is an attested cultural capability facilitator. Ngaire is passionate about keeping learners at the centre of change and supports teachers to develop learner agency and to use learner voice to enhance engagement.

Ngaire has also been extensively involved in the Grow Waitaha programme, providing tailored professional learning to schools involved in the rebuild or redevelopment of their teaching and learning spaces, developing communities of practice, and creating supporting resources for the programme. Ngaire’s particular strengths include creating innovative learning environments, implementing modern learning pedagogies and developing collaborative teaching practice.

Ngaire is a highly experienced classroom teacher and middle leader, having taught all primary year levels in a range of local and international settings. She has held team leader roles in large schools and been an ICT coordinator, inquiry lead teacher and curriculum lead teacher. Ngaire is the Professional Learning Manager for Canterbury, supporting our facilitation team based in this area.

Expertise

Ngaire has expertise in the following areas:

Curriculum design

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• review their local curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of their students
• implement the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum as it is released, including the Aotearoa New Zealand histories content
• develop coherent pathways of learning across the learning community
• design rich opportunities for learning through student inquiry approaches and the integration of learning areas
• design a local curriculum with a focus on place based, authentic learning opportunities.

Assessment for learning

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• strengthen their evidence-based local assessment practices
• build coherence across the learning community and develop evaluative capability
• rethink and redefine success for all learners
• develop assessment capable learners who are the owners of their assessment information
• ensure that assessment is culturally responsive and provides equitable outcomes.

Cultural capability

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• explore what it means to be a culturally capable educator in Aotearoa New Zealand
• demonstrate their commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• analyse, critique and adjust practice with a focus on inclusion and diversity
• teach and design learning in ways that sustain and value cultural identity.

Recent conference presentations, keynotes, seminars, workshops

2021 NPDL Global Deep Learning Lab presenter
2017–2020 NPDL Deep Learning Lab presenter
2016–2020 uLearn conference presenter

Professional memberships

Learning Environments New Zealand

Personal statement

As an educator and mum to two school-age children, I love watching their natural curiosity and how they investigate the world around them. In my work with educators, I want to empower them to support learners to create their own learning pathways. I believe that learners should be following their passions, making global connections and collaborating in order to prepare for an exciting future.