Richard Hope
Te Whatu Kairangi Award
Creative strategies transform learning for diverse ākonga
Richard Hope | Senior Academic (SASM) teaching automotive trades, Ara Institute of Canterbury | Ara rau taumata rau
Richard’s successful and innovative teaching methods for serving previously under-served learners comes from a heightened awareness and experience of many students in his subject area coming with failure as their educational experience. Others are at sea in the typical learning situation for many reasons. Richard responds by consistently giving his own time and crossing his own bounds of knowledge and understanding to find a winning way for each one.
A colleague describes his work ethic as “truly commendable”, and his development of tailored resources to assist diverse learners as “nothing short of an exemplar for professionalism.”
Richard explains, “When I identify a learning barrier, I create and implement a strategy to overcome it.” Examples include: learning Te Reo Māori and using it to write learning materials to help a student for whom Te Reo was his first language; learning NZ Standard Sign Language and developing an online resource for kaiako to support deaf akonga, and developing the “Professional Conversation” method of assessment.
His ability to collaborate with other departments and services at Ara, as well as the wider community, is critical to his mission.
One learner commented, “He was great at giving one on one advice when I needed it, and I can say he greatly contributed to me enjoying my time at Ara so much.”