Teaching to the North East: Relationship-Based Learning Guide

Imagine walking into a classroom where every student knows their teacher expects great things from them and genuinely cares about their life outside school. That feeling of being both challenged and supported isn’t just nice to have — according to educational researcher Russell Bishop, it’s the precise combination that can transform outcomes for marginalized students. This guide breaks down the teaching to the north east framework, showing what it means in practice and how teachers can start using it tomorrow.

Author: Russell Bishop ·
Year First Published: 2019 ·
Publisher: NZCER Press ·
Primary Focus: Māori and marginalized student outcomes ·
Core Approach: Relationship-based learning

The key facts below anchor the model in its New Zealand origins and formal publication history.

What is teaching to the north east?

Origin and development

• Russell Bishop developed the teaching to the north east framework after leading the Te Kotahitanga research project, a multi-year study of what works for Māori students in New Zealand secondary schools (NZCER (education research body)).
• The concept first took shape in 2003 through the Te Kotahitanga Effective Teaching Profile and was formalized into a book by NZCER Press in 2019 (NZCER Press (academic publisher)).

Key metaphor: north and east directions

• Bishop describes the “north-east” as a metaphor for where effective teachers position themselves: the north represents high expectations and academic rigor; the east represents caring, family-like classroom culture (Cognition Education (educational consultancy)).
• The model presents teachers as “leaders of learning” who create a family-like learning context, interact within it in ways known to promote learning, and monitor progress and impact (The Education Hub (teacher training organization)).

The implication: teaching to the north east isn’t about being nice. It’s about being effective, and that requires a deliberate combination of relationship and rigor.

What are the core principles of teaching to the north east?

Relationship-based pedagogy

• Principle 1: Teachers must reject deficit explanations for student underperformance (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• Principle 2: Create a family-like classroom context (east) where students feel cared for and nurtured, including caring for their language and culture (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• Bishop argues that strong caring and learning relationships are an essential first step because they enable teachers to teach effectively (The Education Hub (teacher training organization)).

Agentic positioning of teachers

• Principle 3: Maintain high academic expectations (north) for all learners and voice those expectations explicitly (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• Ensure all learners can learn in a well-managed environment and know what they need to learn (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).

Cultural responsiveness

• Principle 4: Use culturally relevant and relational teaching practices, drawing on students’ prior learning and languages (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• The interaction phase includes co-construction processes, power-sharing strategies, and formative assessment feedback and feed-forward (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).

The pattern: each principle reinforces the others — rejecting deficit thinking makes high expectations believable, and a family-like context makes demanding work feel safe.

How can teachers implement teaching to the north east in the classroom?

Practical steps for building relationships

• Teachers should engage in professional learning about relational pedagogy, recognizing that relationships alone are insufficient unless pedagogy also shifts (The Education Hub (teacher training organization)).
• Build classroom routines that foster belonging and mutual respect — greeting each student at the door, learning their names and interests, and creating spaces where student voice is heard (Cognition Education (educational consultancy)).

Strategies for maintaining high expectations

• Use dialogic teaching where students talk more than the teacher, share their thinking, and engage in co-construction of knowledge (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• Continuously reflect on teacher-student interactions — is the feedback you give pushing every student or just the ones you already believe in? (The Education Hub (teacher training organization)).

Assessment and feedback aligned with the model

• Formative assessment feedback and feed-forward are central — students need to know where they are and exactly what to do next (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).
• Bishop’s monitoring of impact includes checking whether each student is making progress, not just delivering the lesson and assuming it worked.

The trade-off: implementing this model requires significant teacher time for reflection and professional development — schools that treat it as a one-day workshop rather than a sustained commitment will see marginal gains.

What evidence supports teaching to the north east?

Te Kotahitanga research findings

• The approach was tested in multiple New Zealand schools with positive results for Māori students, including improved attendance, engagement, and academic achievement (NZCER (education research body)).
• Peer-reviewed studies and book citations from Taylor & Francis and NZCER Press document the outcomes (NZCER Press (academic publisher)).

Student outcome improvements

• Data from participating schools showed gains in NCEA achievement for Māori students who had previously been tracked below their peers.
• Students reported feeling more engaged and respected in classrooms where teachers used the approach (Cognition Education (educational consultancy)).

Comparisons with other approaches

• The model stands out because it was developed directly from Māori student narratives about what effective teaching looks like to them — not from a theory imposed from outside (Dr. Russell Bishop (researcher interview)).
• Bishop contrasts his approach with generic “warm and fuzzy” relationship-building by insisting that relationships must be put in service of learning, not as an end in themselves.

Why this matters: the teaching to the north east evidence base is built on what students say works, not what adults assume. For policymakers, that’s both a strength (it reflects user needs) and a limitation (it was designed for a specific population).

Where can I find resources on teaching to the north east?

Key publications

• Primary text: Teaching to the North-East by Russell Bishop, published by NZCER Press in 2019 (NZCER Press (academic publisher)).
• Follow-up: Leading to the North-East, which extends the framework to school leadership (NZCER Press (academic publisher)).

Online summaries and videos

• Free summaries and articles from The Education Hub provide a practical overview for teachers (The Education Hub (teacher training organization)).
• Dr. Russell Bishop’s lecture “The End of Failure” is available on YouTube and explains the rationale for the model (Dr. Russell Bishop (researcher interview)).
• Teacher reflection blogs like Cargill’s Classroom offer practical applications and critiques of the framework (Cargill’s Classroom (teacher reflection blog)).

Professional development programs

• Cognition Education offers professional learning workshops based on the relationship-based learning principles of the model (Cognition Education (educational consultancy)).
• Te Kotahitanga materials, including the Effective Teaching Profile, remain available for schools implementing the original research framework.

“The fundamental issue is that many teachers have been taught to think that if they are warm and caring, that is enough. It’s not enough. You have to have both the relationship and the pedagogy.”

— Dr. Russell Bishop, author and educational researcher

“I started using the north-east approach in my Year 10 class. Within a term, students who rarely spoke in class were leading discussions. It wasn’t magic — it was structure. I had to change how I listened and how I framed questions.”

— New Zealand secondary teacher (from a school case study)

Teaching to the north east offers a concrete path out of deficit thinking — a shift that many educators believe is overdue. For New Zealand teachers working with Māori and marginalized students, the choice is becoming clear: adopt a framework that centers both relationship and rigor, or risk continuing patterns of underachievement that the current system has failed to solve.

For educators seeking a concrete example of this approach in action, the inspiring story of Ron Clark demonstrates how a relationship-based teaching framework can transform outcomes for marginalized students.

Frequently asked questions