The New Zealand education system is one of the most devolved in the world. At a time when other jurisdictions developed more layers of education organisation, New Zealand moved to fewer – national, regional and local levels. The current Te Mahau MOE restructure will add a fourth layer between the national and regional levels, to serve our 2,500 schools.
At a national level, the Ministry of Education, ‘ITE’ providers, the Teaching Council of Aotearoa, Sector Groups, NZSTA, the unions and external PLD providers, all support education. How they do this is influenced by organisational culture, competition for resource, funding mechanisms and political decision-making. Joint projects are developed when agendas align, but organisational priorities ensure most work on individual tracks, running in parallel.
Regional offices implement a mix of national, regional and local initiatives. Information is communicated and collected, but there is little opportunity to use the expertise that lies within each group for joint projects to thrive.
Similarly, since 1989 individualism has underpinned the role of the principal. Principals develop and lead the school charter, curriculum priorities and pedagogical practices, informed by the community they serve. Schools have evolved within a culture of competition, reinforced by funding mechanisms linked to schools’ roll size.
Education research tells us we have more within-school differences in teaching practice than there is between schools. Some schools have schoolwide pedagogical practices, while other schools do not. In the secondary system, subject teachers use different teaching strategies that have evolved from different disciplines. Consequently, learning experiences vary.
My question is, how do we strengthen collaborative capacity at each level of our system and better support students?
Time for a reset
Through Covid, traditional ways of working were abandoned. National and regional offices collaborated to share information, procure resources and problem solve. To accommodate home and school learning, teachers and whānau collaborated in new and different ways.
This was a significant paradigm shift from individualism to collaboration. At every level, we metaphorically met at the train station, left our individual tracks, linked up carriages, combined our engine capacity, pulled together and took the best track forward, making sure no one was left behind.
Collaboration – more than just sharing
Collaboration is joint inquiry, where information is shared and then used to develop new learning, new understanding and better solutions and outcomes.
It requires:
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Time for people to share their views,
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Time to reflect upon what has been shared, and then
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Time to jointly construct something new, based upon the combined contributions of the group/s.
Effective collaboration is when the outcome of the joint work is greater than the sum of the parts. It is based upon a distributed leadership model, where all contributions are valued and heard. Decision-making through the process is shared, transparent and owned by all the participants. Trust is built as new ways of working are developed, tested, reviewed and improved in an open-ended cycle of continuous improvement.
Collaborative change – harnessing our collective potential
At a national level, there are encouraging signs that new systems of communication established during Covid will be retained. This year our Ministers have linked with the sector through Zoom and regional meetings, sharing their priorities and workstreams. In the process of appointing new Leadership Advisors, principals were invited to engage in Zoom breakout rooms, to share their thinking about how these new roles could best support them. The recent Zoom webinar on the ‘Professional Growth Cycle’, involving NZPF, NZEI and the Teaching Council of Aotearoa, used collective expertise to support principals setting up appraisal processes for 2023.
Collaboration results in the best outcomes and we can continue this practice over the next 3–5 years as we work through the Curriculum Refresh process and as we re-engage learners lost through Covid. We could participate in a collaborative inquiry process, linking leaders from across the system. These projects could be led by the newly appointed Leadership Advisors and Curriculum Advisors. More agile schooling systems already do this. They quickly ‘turn data and evidence to practical experimentation and innovation, with the right experts, the right resources, and the right supports, at the right time, to make a practical difference for learners/ākonga’ (Our Schooling Future; Stronger Together, 2018, Pg 17).
At a local level, many school leaders already work with Kahui ako colleagues and network partners. New collaborative partnerships are being created through changes to the appraisal process, through links with community groups, universities and iwi groups.
Finally, we want to enrich our students’ learning by drawing on the experts in our local communities. We want opportunities and time to collaborate with teachers, students and whānau, to give our students the best possible education.
As individuals, we can do so much. In collaboration with others, we can do so much more for all ākonga in Aotearoa.
Kia tere ake tātau, engari ka haere tahi tātau ki tētahi atu. Alone we go faster, but together we go further.