NZPF and APPA (the Australian Primary Principals’ Association) are good friends . . . who have become great friends. There is nothing quite like meeting up with your Aussie neighbours for a cheap and cheerful dinner, a drink or two, a bit of sparring, and a few laughs. And where better to do this than at the Trans-Tasman conference?
After enduring the unsolicited ‘Covid era’ cancellations, this year’s was the first Trans-Tasman conference since 2016 – eight years between drinks is a very long time.
The conference report (pp. 16–33), provides extensive coverage of the three-day event, hosted last month at Te Pae in Ōtautahi|Christchurch.
As New Zealand Principal readers, you can immerse yourselves in the professional learning and latest research from top-class presenters, such as Dr Hana O’Regan on race relations, Dr Jordan Nguyen on the use of AI to improve the lives of differently abled people, Sophie Renton on social research and trends in staff retention, the loneliness epidemic and other wellbeing related topics, Iain Taylor on transforming a school, and Gilbert Enoka on being an All Blacks leadership manager and coaching mental skills.
All speakers tailored their presentations to be relevant for school leaders, allowing ample ‘take-aways’ for delegates. The report provides a record of the conference – mocking jokes included – which all principals can enjoy and use, whether they made it to Ōtautahi or not.
What is particularly satisfying and confidence building about our Australian neighbours, is learning that our educational differences are few. Take literacy and mathematics, for example. There is little difference in the achievement levels of each country. We have both dropped a tad since the Covid era, and we both have relatively stable results over time. These results follow the same trajectory. The big difference is that Aotearoa New Zealand is showing growth in its inequities. Our inequities are not just greater than Australia’s, they are greater than every other country in the OECD. This is well reported and thoroughly researched by renowned academics such as Professor Pasi Sahlberg.
Both our governments tend to focus more on the literacy and mathematics subjects rather than the much bigger equity issue. Politically, it is easier to focus on two ‘basic’ subjects, for which you can readily produce assessment data. Governments play up the weaknesses – manufacturing crises if necessary – then propose and enact solutions and trumpet the successes.
The Australians have their NAPLAN assessment data as a constant threat. As we all know, data and statistics can be used in many ways to either enhance results or diminish them. We once had the national standards measures, but they didn’t outlive the Government that installed them. Now we have a new Government intent on a different approach – broadly referred to as the Science of Learning – including structured literacy and structured mathematics. Our Australian friends are now experiencing the forced introduction of the Science of Learning too. Like the Neo-liberal Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) of the last decade, this ‘Science of Learning’ phase will no doubt run its course – until a new model emerges to take its place.
So why all this focus on two basic subjects, when we know that the much more serious problem is inequity?
Inequities are growing at viral speed and they impinge on the educational outcomes we see in schools. Take Māori and Pacific Island students as an example. They are over-represented in our low achieving group of students. They are also over-represented in societal inequities. They are more likely to be living in sub-standard housing and have poorer health. They are more likely to have lower incomes and struggle to provide food and clothing for their families. They are less likely to have books and technology in their homes. They are more likely to feature in the transience statistics as they move from social housing to rental accommodation and back again. They are more likely to feature in the court system and are over-represented in our prisons. They are more likely to be disconnected from society, to experience racism, and mental health issues and to be living in poverty.
All these factors impinge on young peoples’ ability to concentrate and engage in school. In many cases, because of the highly stressful environments they live in, and the instability and insecurity of their lives, their school attendance is also erratic.
It is hardly surprising that these students are not featuring in the group of world class achievers. They simply do not get a fair go. Schools do their best and there are some easy wins for governments such as the supply of free school lunches to schools in the lowest socio-economic areas. That helps, but it will never be enough for the young ones experiencing the stress and trauma of living in insecurity and poverty every day.
All governments give inequities a wide berth. Resolving them means major upheaval and risks upsetting the government’s voter base. In education, it’s much the same for learning support. Learning support is riddled with inequities too, but what the system can’t handle is the growing number of ākonga requiring learning support services. There simply aren’t the specialists or therapists, counsellors or teacher aides to go round.
So, for now, structured literacy and mathematics it is.