National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
For the past 20 years educators have sought to articulate be localised has further confused matters. The recent NZPF/ what students need to learn in a rapidly changing world. Ministry of Education curriculum road trip exposed the lack Such a notion poses a challenge to a schooling system that of a clear definition of localisation. Many principals hold had hitherto enshrined the provision of a widely divergent definitions. Some viewed teacher who was a font of knowledge expert The advent of localisation to be engaging with iwi and in curriculum content. This approach reflected hapū to understand and then teach local the nature of the knowledge economy, a place the internet and knowledge particular to tangata whenua. where knowledge could be learned because it the explosion Some judged localisation to be the freedom to was finite and therefore could be organised sift and sort the national curriculum so that within a school curriculum and taught by a of available local curriculum paid prioritised attention to teacher. aspects of the national curriculum, and others The advent of the internet and the explosion of knowledge thought localisation is delivering the full scope available knowledge changed that. Knowledge changed that. of the national curriculum but through local was viewed as secondary to competency-based contexts. approaches that positioned the learner as a researcher of the Such divergent views will clearly impact on national coherence. world, able to deploy learning tools to utilise knowledge in response to real-time problems. However, while ‘learning how to learn’ is important, we are now seeing the folly of delegitimising the place of knowledge in Engaging resources our curriculum and of casting our teachers as coaches. empowered learning The risk of such an approach is that students become competent collaborators, co-creators, anywhere-anytime learners, but about big books for the what in particular? shared reading experience To be a collaborator and co-creator to meet the challenges of the future requires not only learner attributes but knowledge student and library books as ‘food for the mind’. Such knowledge in a national system teachers’ notes included of education should be important and foundational. We must guard against the dysphoria that comes from the view that ‘any’ knowledge is appropriate. Such an approach undermines the integrity of a teaching workforce built on the efficacy of the teaching act and coherence of content. Since the advent of the revised NZC (2007) teachers have tried to make clear sense of the generic curriculum and found it difficult to act as arbiters of challenging, discipline-based learning. Increasingly young curriculum-aligned people have been expected to choose what they want to learn. positive psychology This is a recipe for students choosing what they already know. It is difficult for a student to recognise important new knowledge wellbeing if they do not know what counts as important. Our national resilience curriculum has always played a vital role in articulating this emotional intelligence Enlighten for our teachers who, as professionals, lead young people into Press knowing. We have privileged student ‘choice’ and in doing so have let become a wellbeing school go of the reins of a national education system and teaching as with enlighten press an intentional act. This challenge is captured in the philosopher 09 283 0003 Immanuel Kant’s (1871) famous dictum, ‘Thoughts without info@enlightenpress.co.nz content are empty’. The expectation that the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) enlightenpress.co.nz
N Z Principal | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 1
An urgent and clear definition is needed. There is yet another We have been implementing a localised curriculum and critical question that localisation raises, that is the tension doing so with little clear guidance about what localisation between local knowledge (important to individuals, communities means. Further, we have been localising curriculum in the most and cultures) and universal knowledge (important across deregulated schooling system in the world where we have little communities, countries and cultures). This universal property horizontal connection between schools and where every school is the imperative of education systems in is expected to reinvent the wheel. democratic nations; an imperative which We have been The implication of a move to focus on accepts that all children, no matter their competencies has substantially disabled teachers’ background or circumstances, have a right to implementing deep curriculum knowledge. Despite the huge knowledge which enables them to generalise a localised explosion in information caused by technology, beyond the confines of their experiences. Such we are learning that humans still need to be led knowledge grows understanding outside of curriculum towards important understandings that reflect oneself and one’s own sphere of reality, a key our goals as a nation. It is a teacher’s job to do learning process for young people who by dint and doing so with this. of their age, are limited in their experience of little clear While we no longer have finite, narrow fonts the world. of knowledge to teach, such is the nature of Both are legitimate but the role of local and guidance about the information age, we do still need to teach universal knowledge and the relationship important knowledge. We must do everything between them is not made clear in the NZC. what localisation we can to eliminate the huge and unnecessary A clear and unequivocal understanding means. workload associated with the constant demand of the role of knowledge within national to generate curriculum. Instead, we should curriculum is vital and of particular importance in a profession focus the Ministry of Education on being clear about ‘what’ that is struggling to make sense of the role of knowledge in a should be taught and the teaching workforce on ‘how’ curriculum world crammed with information. should be taught. The teaching profession needs to know – to what should they pay attention?
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Come and find out why over 740 of your colleagues use Education Services Limited – and have real peace of mind. For a no obligation free demo and quote contact Pete on 027 243 5785 or e: pete @educationservices.co.nz
The grass is always greener
WHAT TO DO WITH OLD CONCRETE OR ASPHALT, HARD TO MAINTAIN AREAS AND HIGH TRAFFIC SPACES? PROBLEM SOLVED WITH SMARTGRASS. SmartGrass™ is a new type of artificial grass that is realistic, durable and eco-friendly. Hundreds of NZ education providers are throwing away their ‘KEEP OF THE GRASS’ signs in favour of weather-proof, durable artificial grass that keeps kids being active. A SIP funded SmartGrass™ sports court and artificial lawn has dramatically enhanced the appearance of the outdoor area at Wairakei School, adding vibrancy and colour that the students love. Principal, Shane Buckner, says:
“
The area didn’t look very inviting and the kids didn't use it in an appropriate way, because they couldn't. Now it’s become this gymnastics area and we’re finding all our children are here all the time, practicing cartwheels, practicing their somersaults, and doing dance moves.
”
SmartGrass is 100% NZ owned and operated and board members love the sustainability and market leading 10 year full replacement warranty on the product. To create an outstanding outdoor space for children to play and learn at your school, get in touch with SmartGrass today.
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Protect ākonga from the worst of the web with N4L’s Safe & Secure Internet
Network for Learning’s Safe & Secure Internet gives schools and kura a range of industry-leading services to provide ākonga with a baseline level of protection while learning online. Safe digital learning is so important, and the team at N4L are here to help protect ākonga from online threats and inappropriate content. While Aotearoa’s education sector and telco community have been working out how to ensure ākonga have access to the internet, suitable devices and quality online resources, we’ve been busy making sure there’s one less thing for schools to think about… online safety and security! In many of our conversations over the years with principals, school leaders, educators, IT administrators and companies that support schools, ‘it just works’ is a recurring phrase that keeps popping up. Our smarter, safer Managed Network has meant that we’re even better at ensuring this remains true. With that in mind, we worked with schools, the Ministry of Education, CERT NZ, Netsafe and IT providers to reframe the way we provide our suite of online safety and security services. We’ve combined the most important elements into one easy to implement baseline level of protection called Safe & Secure Internet. And best of all, it’s fully funded for state and state-integrated schools.
So what’s included? Web Filtering: Helps protect kaiako and ākonga from accessing inappropriate content. Firewall: Helps protect schools and kura against threats and malicious activity accessing your network. DNS Threat Protection: Provides an additional layer of protection to help block unwanted content. It also enables Google SafeSearch. DDoS Protection: This is automatically included as part of every school’s connection and can’t be disabled. It helps to protect against the impact of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which can cause your school’s internet to crash.
Gone are the days of wondering whether you’ve implemented the right N4L services, or more importantly, if you have them set up appropriately.
Recommended settings:
Web Filtering
Firewall
DNS Threat Protection & SafeSearch
With all default categories blocked
With specific settings applied
Enabled
Now it’s super easy! If you have our Safe & Secure Internet, then you have the baseline level of protection that we recommend for all schools – meaning your online learning environment, and the ākonga using it, are protected by N4L. If you don’t, then it’s likely we’ve been in touch about this.
How do I get Safe & Secure Internet for my school? To enable N4L’s Safe & Secure Internet schools need to have our recommended settings applied. These recommended settings are also supported by our friends at Netsafe and CERT NZ. It’s important to remember that there’s no way to guarantee 100% protection from online threats or inappropriate content. There are other measures schools can take to help keep their online learning environments safe and secure, such as promoting good digital citizenship and making sure that systems and software are up to date. CERT NZ has helpful information about keeping school networks secure, and Netsafe has some resources on online safety, which we highly recommend checking out!
Want to supercharge your protection? To protect ākonga online even further, schools can choose to add these additional options to their Managed Network connection. Enhanced filtering and reports Schools and kura can get greater visibility, security and management of ākonga on the network by using HTTPS Inspection or Identity Awareness.
When used together, these options significantly improve a school’s ability to protect ākonga while learning online. Mail Relay Mail Relay allows schools to send large volumes of emails to keep in touch with whānau and the school community. It also provides an additional layer of spam and virus protection. Secure Remote Access Our Remote Access provides teachers and school staff a secure way of accessing a school’s onsite systems and resources regardless of where they are. This means they can work anytime, from anywhere. It also aligns with the Ministry of Education’s security guidelines for remote access.
For more information on Safe & Secure Internet head to n4l.co.nz/managed-network or call us on 0800 LEARNING