Monday, July 22, 2013

A Twenty first Century Vision of Education for New Zealand


New Zealand - the creative country or NZ the standardized country?


Developing the gifts and talents  of all students needs to be seen as the foundation for developing an innovative, more prosperous and fairer New Zealand. We can’t afford not to give all our children the best start in life in our schools.

 


Schools needto move away from the current government’s standardised ‘one size fits all’approach towards more personalised approach where learning is ‘tailored’ to each learner’s unique needs.


      We need to:

  • To place trust in teacher professionalism as the key to improving learning

  • Ensure all students leave school with the foundation skills of literacy and numeracy in place –literacy  and numeracy need to be seen as a means to an end and not as isolated subjects

  • Assist schools  develop challenging integrated learning experiences that engage and develop the talents of all learners as well ensuring as in-depth content knowledge , an appreciation of the importance of environmental sustainability, and expertise in ICT

  • Value  the importance of ensuring all students develop lifelong learning how to learn dispositions and attitudes

  • Introduce clear and easy to understand school report cards so parents know how well their child is performing.

  •  Introduce National sampling to ensure school improvement is monitored so as to recognise and share strengths and to identify areas of concern.

  • Ensure all teachers receive professional development  and encourage inter-school collaboration to share proven pedagogy; in particular to value the expertise of practicing teachers.

  • Assist low decile schools to compensate for the disadvantages students enter schools with (the one in five currently being seen as failing).

  • Bridge the gap between the classroom and the workforce so young people can get into training or work by developing a process to assist all students achieve this end.

What is required isfor a political party to recognise that the real future assets of New Zealand are thecreative and innovative talents of all students. Schools need to be held accountable for all students leaving with their love of learning intact and their unique set of talents developed.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A sensible and achievable vision for New Zealand and one more relevant than the standardised approach of the National Party or what currently is going on in our schools. Perhaps you should pass it on to the Labour Party?

Allan Alach said...

It's a pity that all political parties can't leave education alone, or, alternately, agree with this approach and then take education out of the political arena. Being a politician doesn't bring an automatic expertise in education.

Bruce Hammonds said...

Greetings Allan

Tend to agree. Even Michael Fullan ( who has done his share of interfering) has said, 'politicians always get it wrong'. And you can't get 'wronger' than those driving the standardized changes in New Zealand at the moment.

Irvin said...

Awesome!