Inside NZ Education Documentary

Notes:

Old system educated but compliant

New system needs creative thinkers -esp. In a small country to compete on a world stage

China vs NZ

Need complex thinkers that can work through complicated problems that have more than one solution

World is entering a creative phase. Need creative thinkers not compliant thinkers. Future trades are knowledge and creativity.

Computer gaming could be a huge export but need kids to be flexible thinkers. High school prep vs primary - I think at pap st we encourage our kids to be creative problem solvers and minimise emphasis on testing - do high schools also do this? Is it too test driven?

Risk of being wrong. "Being wrong is ok, it's stopping after you're wrong that's not ok"

National system/government level of management. System is stacked against our poorest kids.

The joy of learning-inquiry method! We need to do more of this. We are encouraging kids to find their own answers but need to encourage more inquiry based learning. I want to look into this more - doing it well in 'topic' subjects not in core curriculum.

Student centred approach to learning that reflects real life. Tests should be largely diagnostic. NZ primary teachers do this - national standards restrict this somewhat. Different teachers in different schools are using different methods - competitive testing?

Finland - trust teachers to do what they are trained to do. Teachers encouraged to take risks and make mistakes. This expectation is mirrored to students. Need to develop the curiosity of children.

Teamwork- more jobs involve teamwork. Need to teach and assess these skills. New ways need to be developed to assess these skills. If teachers were trusted to make these judgements as well as official OTJs then good judgements would be made.

Role of oral language in early education is vital to success later in life. Same with problem solving and exploration. Do we under value the role of parents as first educators? Paid parental leave amounts.

Big question:

What is the purpose of education here?

Reflection

This programme gave me a lot to think about. A lot of the messages in the programme align closely with my own philosophy. The area that I feel I need to improve in my practice is inquiry based learning across the curriculum. Inquiry learning is something I see as really important and valuable to our kids however I need to spend some time investigating how to use the inquiry process in literacy and maths. I think kids in our class do have a joy of learning, at least that's the feedback were getting from colleagues and parents! I now want to think about how to take this joy of learning and develop it into a desire to learn.

Manuwera intermediate case study