Activity 6: Contemporary Issues - Local or Global

Identify two contemporary issues or trends influencing or shaping NZ or international education. 

The most dangerous phrase in the language (education) is "We've always done it that way!"

Grace Murray Hooper's quote here is a strong indication of what I see as a major issue facing and shaping our education system. One that The MindLab is attempting to address. 

While New Zealand's education system is recognized as a world leader and out teachers as some of the most professional in the OECD, we still fail to achieve equitable outcomes for all learners. Are we still doing the same things in the same ways, just because we always have done so? 

Issue 1: High Quality, Low Equity Education System 

Source: OECD(2001) Knowledge and Skills for life, Appendix B1, Table 2.3a, p.263

While the above chart is dated 2001, information from the most recent report from the OECD, shows that there has been little success in addressing the inequities in the New Zealand education system. 

In all the stats, Maori and Pasifika lag well behind their European/Pakeha peers. This is strongly linked to socio economic status. 
'New ZEaland children from poor familires are six times more likely to do badly at mathsn that children from well off families' (Edwards, 2016, P.1.)

'While there has been dramatic progress in recent years, we are not satisfied. The overall results for Maori and Pasifika still lag behind this of other population groups. The achievement rate for all 18 year olds in 2014 was 81.2 percent, an increase of almost 14 percent over six years. That compares to 67.7 percent for Maori and 75 percent for Pasifika' (Parata, H., n.p).

There have been numerous initiatives, some such as Te Kotahitanga, more successful than others. The most recent iteration of projects / programmes to improve educational outcomes for Maori students is Kia eke Panuku . We are in the second year of a professional learning programme, relationship based, with building positive learning relationships; adaptive curriculum and power sharing an integral part of what changes we need to make to the way we construct the learning for our students,

Trend 1: The rise of creativity - the development of adaptive and responsive curricular and classroom practice.

Ken Robinson's writings and presentations focus on the absolute need for education to move away from a standardized assessment regime and to develop a responsive and adaptive approach to curriculum planning and delivery that is centered around creativity.

                   Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en


The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC 2007)  gave teachers as a professions and as individual school communities licence to make changes, In particular changes to to what our school curriculum just might be. I would be happy to generalise as many schools have made the changes needed  in order to creatively deliver a curriculum and any senior courses.

I believe that we need to challenge ourselves to look creatively and to think about - what constitutes learning? what constitutes a subject? If we're truly honest (in the secondary system anyway) about putting students in the centre, we need to start with what does engagement look, sound and feel like? We have to challenge ourselves to think about creative contexts for learning - along the lines of HPSS
Different approaches to curriculum and course design are part of the solution, This I believe will lead to the rise of creativity in the schools, that Sir Ken compels us to consider.

                   Source: http://sirkenrobinson.com/creative-schools-the-grassroots-revolution-thats-transforming-education/

Sources: 

Big turnaround for young Maori (n.d). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://gisborneherald.co.nz/opinion/2159970-135/big-turn-around-for-young-maori

Do schools kill creativity? (n.d). Retrieved February 19, 2016, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?lnaguages=en

http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of -learning/what-students-will-learn-in-the-future

OECD (2016). Low-Performing Students:Why they fall behind and how to help them succeed. 

PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264250246-en

NZ Politics Daily : NZ's unequal education system. (2016, February,16). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/nz-politics-daily-nz's-unequal-education-system