Sue
Bridges

Qualifications

Teacher Registration: Tūturu Full Practising Certificate Category One (113143)

Ministry of Education Accredited Facilitator (ACC 262)

National Diploma in Educational Management – Christchurch College of Education

Master of Education (Distinction) – University of Canterbury

Diploma in Education of the Deaf – Christchurch College of Education

Advanced Diploma in Teaching – Christchurch College of Education

Bachelor of Education – University of Canterbury

Teachers College Diploma (Distinction) – Christchurch Teachers’ College

Bachelor of Science (Psychology) – University of Canterbury

Professional experience

Sue joined the CORE team as a facilitator in January 2015. In this role, she has mainly supported schools and educators with Literacy, Inquiry-based learning, Assessment for Learning (A4L), Inclusion, and Local Curriculum learning. Until recently, she also facilitated the TKI Primary Literacy Online community where her Gathering Thoughts regular updates were read and responded to by approximately 1600 educators, librarians, authors, and literacy leaders throughout Aotearoa.

As Practice Lead for the Teacher Education Refresh (TER) practicum course (in partnership with the Open Polytechnic), Sue supports many TER students on practicum and the Practicum Observers who work with them. She also provides Quality Assurance processes around this aspect of the programme. It has been a real privilege for her to help many high-quality teachers to re-enter the teaching profession and nurture our ākonga.

Sue has a wide range of skills and experiences gained through teaching and leading across primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors in mainstream and special/ additional education settings. She has extensive experience of distance and online/ blended learning practices, as well as face-to-face learning, and has led the learning of children, student teachers, teachers, and senior management.

Before working with CORE, Education (now Tātai Aho Rau Core Education) Sue spent 23 stimulating years as a teacher educator at the University of Canterbury (UC) / Christchurch College of Education, holding various leadership and team roles in literacy, education, professional studies and practice, inquiry-based learning, and numeracy. She was also an active, published researcher; and marker of theses for other universities.

Sue’s background includes primary teaching, and the team leadership and Education of the Deaf in several Christchurch schools. Her role as a UC Professional Practice lecturer also allows her the opportunity to visit many schools around the country, and the privilege of observing and supporting the transformations that schools are making as they move towards new learning and teaching practices.

Expertise

Sue offers expertise and support including the following areas:

Literacy

Successfully supported facilitators and learning communities to:

• boost capability to lift literacy achievement of all learners in reading, writing and oral language
• engage in deeper pedagogical connection to current thinking about literacy learning
• engage learners through development of digital fluency
• boost the engagement and achievement of reluctant readers and writers
• explore and use relevant best-fit digital and non-digital tools to meet learners’ literacy needs within a balanced programme
• use data effectively to lift achievement; especially target students
• empower student, whānau and community voice, relationships and involvement in authentic contexts of literacy development
• use children’s literature to effectively enrich and extend literacy skills
• promote reading for pleasure as a powerful evidence-based tool for success.

Inclusive education

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• nurture students as they achieve personal learning success; recognising and celebrating their range of diversities
• construct learning experiences to appropriately challenge, nurture and grow learners, whatever their personal contexts might be.

Local curriculum

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• evaluate current practices and identify future-focused goals embedded in local contexts
• appreciate and build on the heritage contexts of their community; creating vibrant, relevant local curriculum
• co-construct realistic and reflective action plans.

Evaluative capability / Assessment for Learning

Successfully supporting learning communities to:

• identify and support target students through the targeted analysis of achievement data
• identify and use data from rich formative assessment opportunities inherent in students' learning experiences
• supporting student agency, and using assessment data to suggest next steps
• collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative information about students from multiple sources
• apply Science of Learning principles to underpin and enhance A4L processes.

Sue also has extensive experience and expertise in inquiry-based learning; effective pedagogy and practice, and Deaf Education.

Conference presentations, keynotes, seminars, workshops

Reading for Pleasure Symposium NZ (2023 and 2024):

• Invited participant along with top researchers and key literacy experts

Multiple international conference presentations (2006 - 2018):

• British Educational Research Association
• UK Literacy Association
• London International Conference on Education

Keynote speaker:

• 2016 School Librarians Aotearoa New Zealand (SLANZA - Christchurch) - keynote and workshops
• 2016 International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Congress
• 2016 Reading Recovery Tutor Trainers, Auckland

Recent publications (selected)

2023 Storylines to the Rescue. Literacy Forum 38 (3).

2016 Books Hanging in the Balance? Aotea Centre, Auckland. IBBY International Congress, Aug 18-22 2016.

2015 TKI’s Literacy Online: Strengthening Communities of Practice. Literacy Forum 30 (3).

2015 Guest editor and author of several articles. Literacy Forum 30 (2).

Personal statement

Working long term in education and with learners from diverse age groups, cultures, ways of thinking and experiential backgrounds, has reinforced my belief in these elements as the cornerstones of educational practice where learning is powerful, authentic, timely and meaningful:

• Know the learner in order to empower them to succeed
• Establish strong professional relationships
• Connect ‘best-fit’ learning and teaching strategies to specific learners, being mindful of context
• Ensuring a rich balance in approaches to learning – what best meets individual learners’ needs
• and is not driven by a particular tool
• Develop active, self- regulated learners
• Celebrate learning as a socially-constructed activity.