Assignment Number Two – Project Brief

The project brief is a preliminary description of the project you wish to complete as part of the programme. The purpose of the Project Brief is to provide a short summary of your proposed project and make a preliminary argument for why the project is desirable.

Learning outcomes for this assessment include:

  • Analyse and critique key literature relating to the organisational needs of the Māori sector.

  • Critically review theories and analyse strategies and approaches related to leading culturally responsive change in the Māori sector.

  • Explore assumptions and mental models that underline leadership roles and organisational structures in order to critically reflect on enablers and barriers to change.

  • Explore the political dynamics infusing Māori and Indigenous organisations.


My assignment:

The aim of this project is to decolonise the New Zealand education system through the following actions:

  • The Ministry of Education must explicitly affirm the value of Māori Leadership across all areas of the education workforce as identified in its own commissioned research;
  • The Ministry of Education must create preferential pathways for Māori to earn educational degrees and careers;
  • The Ministry of Education must recognise and promote existing successful outcomes and careers of Māori principals and teachers.
Introduction – We Are Not OK:

The publication, the Hunn Report (1961), formally illustrated the global disadvantage of Māori within contemporary New Zealand society. This disadvantage is still prevalent within Māori society 62 years later with 2019 data showing that over a third of Māori leave school without Level Two NCEA. Retention rates for Māori are 12% lower than tauiwi (non-Māori). Term Two 2020 attendance rates for Māori dropped to 47.5%, 21.2% behind European students.

The “statistical blackhole” of Māori engaging in higher education (Hunn, 1961) has been corrected, however the picture it paints is bleak. In terms of attainment Māori continue to lag behind non-Māori in tertiary education qualifications.

The negative effects of low tertiary outcomes are clearly detailed in Nair and Smart’s 2007 report to the Ministry of Education. Those without a formal education qualification are ten times more likely to suffer from severe hardship in their living conditions as compared to those with a Bachelors level or higher qualification. The report concludes that the return on investment in tertiary education is significant on employment, income and improved health and lifestyle outcomes (Nair et al., 2007). All are areas where Māori feature significantly at the lower end of the statistics. Yet the latest data still illustrates the continued failings of the New Zealand education system to provide equitable outcomes for Māori (Jackson, 2016).

Tertiary Level Equivalent Full Time Students in 2019

Bachelors Degrees and higher
Total Students Enrolled – 167 840
European Students Enrolled – 92 205
Māori Students Enrolled – 18 360

Why Leadership Counts and Why Māori Leadership is Transformative:

Wagner and Kegan (2006) explain that our education system was not designed for the skills needed in today’s society. They propose that a new form of leadership is needed that grows the personal capacities of all members of an organisation. In fact they often refer to the leadership structures needed to transform our schools as leadership communities. Within these communities the leader becomes the mediator that encourages growth and new opportunities for learning, even when there are contradictions evident in the communities thinking (Wagner et al., 2006). The new transformational leadership model shifts away from the traditional capitalist model of leadership which priorities power and control (Wagner et al., 2006).

School Leadership and Student Outcomes: What Works and Why: Best Evidence Synthesis [BES] (Robinson et al., 2009) is a significant document which seeks to test the notion that “school leaders make a critical difference to the quality of schools and the education of young people” (Robinson et al., 2009, p.48). This Ministry of Education document indeed makes this connection between leadership and successful outcomes, and it also specifically differentiates Leadership from Māori Leadership and in fact goes one step further by differentiating Māori educational leadership from Māori-medium educational leadership. This is important because it identifies two distinct concepts:

  • That Māori leadership is present and important within both the mainstream and Māori-medium educational settings – a point completely absent from all iterations of the Māori education strategy.
  • Those tumuki (Principals) in Māori educational leadership positions and Māori-medium educational leadership positions have a disproportionately higher workload than their contemporaries due to the cultural and societal needs of their communities (Robinson et al., 2009, p. 70).

The qualities, skills, and priorities of transformational leadership described in Wagner and Kegan (2006) are imbued throughout Māori history both in pre and post colonial time periods. Katene (2010) states that the primary characteristic of good leadership is vision and the ability to bring one’s community along with that vision. The talents listed by Katene (2010), and synthesised by Mead (2006) to incorporate traditional values within the modern world are all mirrored in Wagner and Kegan’s book. Mead’s (2006) eight Māori leadership talents for today are also found within the five leadership dimensions found in the BES (Robinson et al., 2009, p.95). The research is clear that to be a Māori Leader is to be a transformational leader, the leader needed in today’s society.

An analysis of the Ministry of Education’s Māori Education Strategy:

The Māori education strategy (1999) has had three redevelopments since its launch in 1999. Through these developments it is interesting to analyse the evolution of the language used; in particular the use or non-use of the terms “authority” and its Māori equivalent “rangatiratanga”. These terms are important as described in the Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Whānau o Waipareira Report (1998).

Partnership thus serves to describe a relationship where one party is not subordinate to the other but where each must respect the other’s status and authority in all walks of life (The Waitangi Tribunal, 1998, p. xxvi).

This is reflected in the 1999 publication of the Māori education strategy

“To support greater Māori involvement and authority in education” (The Ministry of Education, n.d.).

The analysis of the evolution of the strategy into its current form Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia is fascinating as the term “authority” completely disappeared from two of the three rewrites. Most concerningly with in all three of the documents the terms ‘Māori Learners”, “Māori pedagogy”, “te ao Māori”, “Māori medium“, and ”whānau“ are all used to differentiated the diversity of the needs of Māori. The term “Māori Leadership” does not exist within the Ministry of Education’s premier Māori education strategy.

One must question why the Ministry of Education is unwilling to state outright that Māori Leadership is the transformational form of leadership needed to meet the needs of all learners in today’s society. The fact that the Ministry of Education commissioned the research which confirmed this as fact (Robinson et al., 2009) demands explanation.

Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi – Cast the old net aside … :

Models of tauiwi organisations adopting Māori governance and leadership structures can be found throughout the New Zealand business landscape. Companies such as CORE Education Tātai Aho Rau have completely rebranded and created the successful Te Aho Tapu, Tiriti Honouring work programme to actively demonstrate their commitment to partnership and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This is a private company which has built Māori Leadership into the fabric of their leadership and governance structures.

The Otago School of Medicine has enacted the successful “Mirror on Society” enrolment policy creating pathways into medical careers that were once unattainable by Māori unfairly disadvantaged by the effects of institutional racism (Jackson, 2016). The programme is built on the well documented benefits to society of having a socio demographically diverse health workforce as they will lead to better health outcomes for diverse populations such as Māori (Crampton et al., 2018).

These are just two examples of how Māori Leadership and diversity of workforce which must be recognised, supported, and actively recruited as change agents. The steps to replicate these policies and outcomes within the education workforce are not difficult.

The aim of this project is to correct the under representation of Māori in the Education workforce which will in turn enable Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaiti’s (2020) first key measure of success “Māori learners are engaged and achieving excellent education outcomes” (The Ministry of Education, 2020).

What is Good For Māori, is Good for All – Dr. Russell Bishop:

Moana Jackson (2016) states that “The education system still continues to fail so many of our mokopuna because that’s what it was designed to do” (Jackson, 2016, p. 41). The Ministry of Education’s continuous attempts to change the people within (the system), to create achievement for the people without, must be recognised as flawed. The overwhelming evidence of Māori Leadership success must be acknowledged, and built upon for the benefit of all learners in today’s society.

The aim of this project is simple, it is the acknowledgement and implementation of research that has existed for years. When The Ministry of Education officially acknowledges and places value on Māori Leadership they will be able to create preferential pathways for Māori into the education workforce through tertiary qualifications. The proven return on investment of a tertiary education will in turn create a forward momentum of positive outcomes for Māori. The entrenchment of Māori rangatiratanga within the framework of the New Zealand education system will reverse the cycle of poverty and hardship within one generation if those in control of the system, The Ministry of Education, are truly committed to their 30 year vision for education:

Whakamaua te pae tata kia tina – Take hold of your potential so it becomes your reality …
We are descendants of explorers, discoverers and innovators who used their knowledge to traverse distant horizons.
Our learning will be inclusive, equitable and connected so we progress and achieve advances for our people and their future journeys and encounters
Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata – Explore beyond the distant horizon and draw it near!
(The Ministry of Education, 2020)

Bibliography

Crampton, P., Weaver, N., & Howard, A. (2018). Holding a mirror to society? Progression towards achieving better sociodemographic representation among the University of Otago’s health professional students. New Zealand Medical Association Journal, 131(1476), 59 – 69. https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal-articles/holding-a-mirror-to-society-the-sociodemographic-characteristics-of-the-university-of-otagos-health-professional-students

Hunn, J. K. (1961). Report on Department of Māori Affairs: With statistical supplement, 24 August 1960. Wellington: Government Press.
Jackson, M. (2016) Reclaiming Māori Education. In Hutchings, J., & Lee-Morgan, J. (Eds.), Decolonisation in Aotearoa: Education, Research and Practice (pp. 19 – 39). NZCER Press.

Katene, S. (2010). Modelling Māori leadership: What makes for good leadership? MAI Review, 2010(2), 1 – 16. http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/mrindex/MR/article/view/334.html

Mead, H. M.,(2006). Hui Taumata Leadership in Governance Scoping Paper. Wellington: Victoria University. Retrieved March 5, 2021, from https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/27440364/maori-leadership-in-governance-unitec.

The Ministry of Education. (n.d.). The Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga. https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/overall-strategies-and-policies/ka-hikitia-ka-hapaitia/ka-hikitia-history/first-maori-education-strategy/
The Ministry of Education. (2020). The Māori Education Strategy: Ka Hikitia – Kapāitia. Wellington: Group Māori

Nair, B., Smart, W., & Smith, R. (2007, July). How Does Investment In Tertiary Education Improve Outcomes For New Zealanders? Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, (31), 195 – 217. https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj31/31-how-does-investment-in-tertiary-education-improve-outcomes-pages195-217.html

Robinson, V., Hohepa, M., & Lloyd, C. (2009). School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why. The University of Auckland.

Wagner, T., Kegan, R., Lahey, L., Lemons, R. W., Garnier, J., Helsing, D., Howell, A., & Rasmussen, H. T. (2006). Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.

The Waitangi Tribunal. (1998). Te Whānau o Waipareira Report. GP Publications.

What are the characteristics of the best leader you’ve worked with to date?

I wonder if he will ever read this …

Mr David Reardon – Former Principal of Russell Street School.

David was famous for wall papering his DP’s entire office with colour photocopies of The Muppets. I believe his photocopy budget was much higher than ours. Another time he minded the entire school, for some strange reason I can’t remember, and showed the kids really stupid Youtube Videos that I don’t think anyone else would have got away with. He’s more comfortable in shorts than a tie.

He knew you well, and he knew what you could do better than you did yourself. He created opportunities for his staff to thrive. He made so many of us leave. From my ‘cohort’, three of us are successful Principals, and three are DPs in large schools, one is an ‘Across School Teacher’ and two others are Team Leaders.

He taught me to always make your Office Manager a cup of tea in the morning, and that a staffroom should be brimming with laughter, delicious food, and a room full of equals where you can sit down and chat with anyone.

We got him a good once during our special announcements at morning tea.  There were four of us young women on our staff around ‘child rearing’ age. One by one we each stood and announced the impending birth of our first child. OMG his face was hilarious, his look of genuine joy for us morphing into disbelief as you could see him calculating his potential staffing disaster. I think by announcement number four he was starting to cotton on but when our 89 year old librarian stood up to announce her pregnancy the whole staff just lost it (they were all in on the joke). You could see the relief wash over his face … but still double checked with us that we were actually joking. A very thorough leader lol.

He had a stern conversation with me once as a second year teacher. I had gone away for the weekend and had come back late Sunday night. I was exhausted and rang in sick Monday morning. On Tuesday, I can’t remember his exact words, but he made it clear that I had a responsibility no only to the kids but to our staff, our team. I needed to suck it up and get through because my slacking off put additional pressure on our team. I was so ashamed I had let him down. His conversation made me a better person.

He is kind and he would never make anyone do anything he wouldn’t do himself. He is more than happy to let others shine, in fact he encouraged it. He is hard working, honest, and funny. He knew me and how important my family is to me, and he helped me to shine. Thanks David.

 

Well I Got Published

So I saw this article … https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-06-2018/these-education-reforms-put-the-sector-at-the-precipice-of-disaster/

It made me grumpy so I wrote this article … https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/15-06-2018/why-must-schools-be-immune-to-innovation/

The thing is, up until I saw my writing up in ‘print’; published by an actual media outlet I quite like, I didn’t actually realise that I am quite a good writer.

Writing has never particularly appealed. I didn’t engage with it at school with any enthusiasm and I don’t think I ever was formally taught how to write beyond assignment feedback at University.

Seems like if you find a purpose for it, and you practice at it, one can actually become quite good at something with minimal teacher interference … ;-P

A Reply to Ian McKelvie, MP for Rangitikei

When Measuring Kids is More Important than Educating Them.

By Mārama Stewart, Principal of Waiouru School

Ian McKelvie’s Article in the Ruapehu Bulletin, 15th May 2018

A response to Ian McKelvie’s article “Measuring Kids’ Progress, or Not”, Ruapehu Bulletin – 15 May 2018

One of the perks of being a Member of Parliament, is that for some miraculous reason, most of the drivel you write for the media tends to become gospel. Furthermore, this ‘expertise’ doesn’t seem to require any qualifications or experience working in the profession you are commenting upon. As our local MP, ‘apparently’ you know it all. ‘Apparently’ you know even more than the 47 000 principals, teachers, and support staff that make up the membership of the Teachers’ Union (the New Zealand Educational Institute – NZEI).

I’ve been a bit busy lately and I’m afraid I didn’t get the chance to read our little local paper that week, well not until one of our teachers pointed out this article during our research project’s lead teachers conference.

You see we had been talking about the relief we are all feeling now that “Labour had dropped National Standards”. Gone was this ‘imperfect’ system which has been having a detrimental effect on all young New Zealanders over the last ten years. Then we see this article, Mr McKelvie’s opinion piece, Mr McKelvie’s comedy of errors.

We were seriously wondering if we had missed a calendar month or two and it was actually April 1st! His entire first paragraph seemed to come straight from Opposite Day – that day is actually celebrated on January 25th, so it could be that! Which one of our 47 000 Teacher Union Members did he actually speak with to form this opinion? Maybe he couldn’t find us, as a point of note for the future – you can find us with your children and grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, your best friend’s sons and daughters, and the kids down the road at your local in schools.

Our school is on Ruapehu Road in Waiouru if you want to come visit Mr McKelvie. At our school we will tell you that National Standards did not provide a “universal platform … to track a child’s progress”. Mr McKelvie, National Standards were not “universal”. They were not “easy” to use and did not “determine how a child was getting on at school”. They did not show progress or identify “when intervention was required or alternatively, when a child showed exceptional ability and needed extension”. Mr McKelvie, they did none of the things you asserted in your poorly informed opinion piece.

But then again, how would we know? We are not politicians who can magically turn opinion into fact. Why would we know that Mr McKelvie was wrong? Well probably because we the that have actually read the growing body of research and evidence that emphatically states that the National Standards were not good for our tamariki. In fact this school is has been part of a rigorous research project which shows that

Unfortunately for the 47 000 members of the Teachers Union, explaining why the National Standards system did not work does not fit neatly into a 60 second sound bite in the news, or an easily consumed half a dozen paragraphs in the local newspaper. You actually can not simplify Education into neat and tidy ‘standards’ that children will meet at specific points in time. It is a lifelong developmental journey which must encompass the whole child, their whanau, their culture and their place in their community.

But don’t just take my word for it, don’t ever just take what you read in the newspaper as gospel. Demand evidence that what you are reading is factually correct and come from experience, research, and evidence. So here is my evidence that Mr McKelvie is wrong. This is an extract from the Key Findings from the report “NZCER National Standards Report – National Standards in their Seventh Year” by Linda Bonne of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

  • Concern was evident about the negative effects on those students whose performance is labelled as ‘below’ or ‘well below’ a Standard and whose progress is not visible in terms of current reporting practices. To a lesser degree, there was also concern about students who perform well above a Standard not having their high achievement acknowledged, using the existing terminology of simply being ‘above’ a Standard.

    • National Standards seemed to have little to offer students with additional learning needs. Concern about the negative effects of labelling these students’ performance—often as ‘below’ or ‘well below’ National Standards over the long term—was particularly clear. Few agreed that National Standards help with the inclusion of students with additional learning needs. Some principals and trustees were concerned that including National Standards data for students with additional learning needs in their overall school data lowered their results, leading people to think the school was not performing as well as it was.

“Education is not a tool to be used to play petty politics”. It’s far too important to ignore the research, the evidence, and the 47 000 voices working everyday with our tamariki. To do that will have a detrimental effect on young New Zealanders as they chart the course of their future.

Just Go To Sleep Will Ya!

So I ready should just be going to bed, I’ve got a bit of a headache and a queasy tummy. My mind is buzzing. I have soooo much to do and for the first time in my life I think I am experiencing real work related stress, unfortunately “Marama Stress” induces insomnia … What’s up with that Brain?? No fair! You see some how I have ended up an idealist in a position of leadership, bugger me if that don’t cause stress I don’t know what does?!
Last week I attended my annual big week out at the uLearn12 conference in Auckland. I looooove uLearn, I always leave inspired and ready to up the anti in my classroom with my students and community. This time however, I now need to figure out how to infect our staff with my inspiration and vision (in a good way mind you, not a you will do this or else kinda way). Add to that I have five amazing initiatives I wish to implement (inspired by five of my amazing uLearn breakouts, promise I will blog about that later) and I have just realized that I need to delegate – I forgot to add perfectionist to idealist leader. I see this amazing big picture, now I need to train my scatter brain to plan and deal with the small puzzle pieces in order to engage our staff into a shared journal towards a cohesive vision (wow, sorry I’m rambling, tricky to compose on my iPhone). Anyway, I just thought I would try blogging about my “mind buzz” to help me beat the insomnia. I’m ok, I have amazing support from my super PLN, old friends, colleagues, a husband who politely nods when he has no idea what I’m talking about and an appraiser who’s worth his weight in gold, but some times I just need to vent – which brings up a point which has bothered me for a while now and has made me avoid blogging: As a teacher,
I blogged about my practice and classroom, as a sole charge principal I blogged about my practice and classroom. Now, as the Principal of a five teacher primary school, how do I blog about my leadership and management practice without invading the privacy of our staff …?

20121016-230429.jpg
Stacey and I in our ULearn12 awesome dinner gears, go disco fever!!! Whoop, whoop!

A Letter of Recommendation from my Board Chairman

The Magic Apple by Andrew Law (Chairman of the Board, Pukeokahu School)

There was a young teacher, I’ll call Harriet Potter
When she got an idea in her head nothing would stop her.
She had done all her research, she knew all her business
Harriet had a great big ginormous wish list
We need new computers, these old ones are stuffed
I done my very best but enough is enough
What sort do you want, asked the Board of Trustees
After all the moaning had brought them to their knees
Compaq, Asus, HP, Acer or Dell?
Harriet frowned, looked down and said, They all smell!
I need something special, magical classy
Something with style and cojones a brassy
A machine reliable and super dooper good
Saving money’s not an option, is that understood?
The one that I want is the magical Apple
It’s the one this school needs to snaffle
So the Board counted it’s pennies and doled out the cash
For the magical Apple to make a big splash
Harriet was pleased, she chuckled with glee
Now all I need is another three!
What! cried the Board.  This is not cricket
We seem to be playing on a sloping wicket
I need them, I need them, I need them, cried Mrs Potter
And once again, nothing would stop her.
More Apples were purchased, they are very good
Incredibly reliable the Board understood
Then came the sad day when the magic was gone
An Apple broke down.  What’s going on?
Did the Apple have a worm or coddlin moth
Harriet didn’t know, it had to be sent off
To the Apple workshop to have the magic restored
Meanwhile of course the kids were all bored
Cause school’s no fun without magic Apples to educate and amaze
Wistfully and sadly the Chairman looked back through the haze
To a time when all a school needed were paints, pencils, and paper you see
And Boards could afford to send Chairmen on trips to Fiji.

Andy wrote this for me last year and read it at our end of year celebration assembly.  I just had to share it because it is so good 🙂

Shifting Leadership to the 21st Century

A very short post, I should be in bed asleep not blogging.  Actually I should of done this earlier instead of watching the first season of Sherlock.  Best ever, now addicted.

So I last year, I managed to volunteer to be chairperson of my local New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) cluster.  Therefore, I now represent my cluster at the annual NZPF Moot.  Thankfully I quite enjoy this, despite what certain other principals in Auckland mutter about ‘fossils’, and met a whole bunch of very knowledgeable, interesting educational leaders.

Unfortunately, I have noticed, that about 95% of the leaders of our education leaders were completely missing the 21st Century boat :-/  In fact, I doubt most of them would understand that emoticon I just used … *

So I am on a mission, a Social Media mission, to shift the thinking of our educational leadership to the awesomeness of the 21st Century Waka!!!  Well after whole school camp that is …

I shall begin my campaign to ditch the eighties at the First Time Principals’ Programme Residential in Auckland (this holidays).  Unfortunately this means rejigging my entire presentation, but hey ho, it’s not like I need sleep ;-)*

*translation :-/ disappointed face

*translation ;-)* cheeky wink with a zit.

Managing Your ICT Infrastructure

On Monday I am presenting the Prezi below at Massey University to Sector Leaders involved in the NLC Cluster programme.

Click here for resource website – https://sites.google.com/site/managingict/

The Big Questions.

Just Because I Meet Richie McCaw :-)
Just Because I Meet Richie McCaw 🙂

I wrote this little piece this morning for the school newsletter.  To be honest I am not quite sure where it came from, but there you go it’s out now.  Anyway I was quite proud of it, then I received an email from our local reporter asking permission to publish it in our Taihape Times.  I had a good hard think about it, and he sent a second one pleading so I said yes.  Anyway hopefully I get a few people thinking.

Earlier this week I was having a chat with our senior students about how different primary school is compared to when attended in the Eighties.  The kids were amazed when I explained that we had ask permission to leave our desks, go to the toilet or to get a drink of water.  For these 21st Century Kids who were sitting on a cushion in front of the fire, doing their math book work while munching on an apple, the thought of being confined to one’s desk was just abhorrent.
I guess that’s what much of education was like back in the bad old days (which really is not so long ago).  Children confined to a classroom, a year group, an achievement level, a set of standards or a desk.  Learning was confined to Three Rs, and occasional PE.
According to Sir Ken Robinson and many educational experts, this is called the Industrial Model.  Schools were formed to create batches of cookie cutter graduates that fit into an industrialized society.  Below is a link to a fabulous Youtube Video, which explains how education needs to change and move away from this industrial model in order to meet the dynamic needs of our 21st Century society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
The wonderful thing is, that New Zealand is already way ahead of the ball game, when it comes to dynamic education, with it’s world renowned New Zealand Curriculum.  The Vision Statement for our curriculum is to have “young people who will be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners”.  How wonderful is that!
I believe that it is really important that our community have a long hard think and begin a robust conversation about what we really want for our children in education. Our society has changed irrevocability, as a consequence shouldn’t our education system also evolve to meet our society’s needs?
Lately the media has been full of accusations that our education system is in a ‘crisis’, and how we need to get back to the ‘basics’.  Well, I say (and I will probably get in trouble for this but …) rubbish to that!  Can’t you remember how bored and uninspired you were at school?  Sure, if you were lucky you had one or two teachers who inspired you and broke the mold, but in general we were confined to our desks waiting for lunch time.
As I watched the kids this term, bubbling with excitement while preparing the school fundraising fair, experimenting with technology and science, and interacting with Richie McCaw on our Richie Day a horrible thought occurred to me.  If we went back to the basics, if we conformed to aspirational standards and league tables, if we turned to national testing like Australia, we wouldn’t have been able to participate in any of our exciting learning this term.  We would have been too busy pushing our children into their prescribed achievement levels, so that we could report that they weren’t ‘failing’.
I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem right to me.  I just want the school I teach in to be a place that inspires children to shine in all areas of their life, not just where the politicians deem necessary.
So that’s what I want for education, my question is what do you want?  And do those Suits down in Wellington know it?

Earlier this week I was having a chat with our senior students about how different primary school is compared to when attended in the Eighties.  The kids were amazed when I explained that we had ask permission to leave our desks, go to the toilet or to get a drink of water.  For these 21st Century Kids who were sitting on a cushion in front of the fire, doing their math book work while munching on an apple, the thought of being confined to one’s desk was just abhorrent.

I guess that’s what much of education was like back in the bad old days (which really is not so long ago).  Children confined to a classroom, a year group, an achievement level, a set of standards or a desk.  Learning was confined to Three Rs, and occasional PE.

According to Sir Ken Robinson and many educational experts, this is called the Industrial Model.  Schools were formed to create batches of cookie cutter graduates that fit into an industrialized society.  Below is a link to a fabulous Youtube Video, which explains how education needs to change and move away from this industrial model in order to meet the dynamic needs of our 21st Century society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

The wonderful thing is, that New Zealand is already way ahead of the ball game, when it comes to dynamic education, with it’s world renowned New Zealand Curriculum.  The Vision Statement for our curriculum is to have “young people who will be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners”.  How wonderful is that!

I believe that it is really important that our community have a long hard think and begin a robust conversation about what we really want for our children in education. Our society has changed irrevocability, as a consequence shouldn’t our education system also evolve to meet our society’s needs?

Lately the media has been full of accusations that our education system is in a ‘crisis’, and how we need to get back to the ‘basics’.  Well, I say (and I will probably get in trouble for this but …) rubbish to that!  Can’t you remember how bored and uninspired you were at school?  Sure, if you were lucky you had one or two teachers who inspired you and broke the mold, but in general we were confined to our desks waiting for lunch time.

As I watched the kids this term, bubbling with excitement while preparing the school fundraising fair, experimenting with technology and science, and interacting with Richie McCaw on our Richie Day a horrible thought occurred to me.  If we went back to the basics, if we conformed to aspirational standards and league tables, if we turned to national testing like Australia, we wouldn’t have been able to participate in any of our exciting learning this term.  We would have been too busy pushing our children into their prescribed achievement levels, so that we could report that they weren’t ‘failing’.

I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem right to me.  I just want the school I teach in to be a place that inspires children to shine in all areas of their life, not just where the politicians deem necessary.

So that’s what I want for education, my question is what do you want?  And do those Suits down in Wellington know it?