Ko Tainui te waka Ko Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga te iwi Whetu Cormick
National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
This year begins as last year ended – with the Tomorrow’s Schools review. The Tomorrow’s Schools Taskforce has completed its work and published its report, signalling the next phase of debate. The report contains thirty-two recommendations, covering eight topics. You have all received the report and I have included links to it in your Principal Matters newsletters. We have until April 7 to make our next submission. I do hope that you will take the time to discuss the report with your staff and school community and make your own submission based on what is best for your school, your children, your community and your country. The report and its recommendations will be the most important focus of NZPF this year. The final recommendations and implementation of them will form the shape of schooling, possibly for the next thirty years. That is why it is so important to get it right. By the time you receive this issue of NZ Principal magazine, your national executive will have met three times. That is some indication of the importance and urgency of this work. We are not alone in thinking this is the most pivotal work being undertaken in our sector at present. Professor Martin Thrupp, Waikato University says in his own blog post ‘ . . . Whatever results from the Tomorrow’s Schools report will likely have very significant implications for policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand in years to come.’ He notes that there is little time to comment in depth about the report of the Task Force, due to its late release last year and the long hot summer that has followed, and the lack of educationalists in universities and the media, who would, alongside the profession, normally lead such debate. In addition he notes that the unions are right now focused on industrial matters and don’t have the time to attend to this report as well. All of that means that the regional hui planned to debate the issues, may end up being more about imparting information than contributing reflective comments. In our debates as an executive group we have raised several issues which I will share with you in this column. The first of these is examining the underlying driving forces of the report. Tomorrow’s Schools was based on four main drivers. They are self-management, partnership, accountability and equity. The report addresses all of these to some extent but most importantly, equity. We all agree that we want to see equity in our system at all levels. We want all schools to be fairly and equitably funded, and all children to be receiving an education of the very best quality and of the type that best meets their needs, no matter where they live, whatever their ethnicity or social circumstances
and no matter what level of capability they have. We are also aware how easily schools can become the default for every social failure. It happened under the last regime and it could happen again, if we do not take care to avoid this. It is important that the report reflects the reality that there are factors schools cannot and never will overcome because these factors reside outside of the school gate. Without a firm commitment that Government will apply substantial resources to external issues such as poverty, housing, health and mental health and child welfare issues, the prospect that schools can substantially lift learning success for all is a pipe dream. The goal of equitable outcomes for our young people is completely unrealistic. A second concern raised by the national executive was local versus central or regional control through hubs. One of the aspects of Tomorrow’s Schools that proved more popular than
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most was the ability of schools to self-manage in partnership with their local community. Whilst it has been well acknowledged that there are communities that struggle to find community members to stand for election to their school’s Board of Trustees and some communities simply do not have the parents with the necessary skills for school governance, nevertheless, both parents and schools have enjoyed the close connections they have fostered under Tomorrow’s Schools. Largely parents feel satisfied having higher levels of participation in both school administration and in curriculum matters. Few relish the idea that the responsibilities and influence of the local school’s Board of Trustees may be diminished. We acknowledge that there is much detail missing from the report, so the true intent of hubs is difficult to fully realise. That said, your national executive has its own suggestions. They noted that Communities of Learning (CoL), a similar concept to hubs, were not universally well received by the sector, partly because they could envisage CoL might eventually become a compulsory structure in the system, providing a multitude of services and functions, advisories, even funding and ultimately result in reduced self-management. Hubs may be seen in the shadow of these issues. On the other hand, hubs might become the source of huge improvements, much needed expertise for special education needs, leadership support and governance. The devil will be in the detail, which is why I will continue to urge you to use your voice now and ensure you add your comments during the consultation phase. You have until April 7.
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ADVERTORIAL
Principals are key to the success of New Zealand’s first funded financial capability programme Sorted in Schools launches the first in a series of online teaching and learning packages Principals are integral to the implementation and success of Sorted in Schools, the first governmentbacked financial capability programme aligned to the National Curriculum.
The programme collaborates closely with the educational community to ensure the resources meet the requirements of diverse learning environments, and promote both teacher and student-led learning.
A 2017 Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) survey revealed 82% of school leavers wanted to learn about money during class. That same year, the government chose CFFC to launch Sorted in Schools into secondary schools.
One hundred and twenty schools and kura registered to participate in a 5-week pilot of the resources, one of which was Glenfield College. Principal Paul McKinley said
Our vision for the programme is to equip all young New Zealanders for their financial futures, and we need your help to achieve this by encouraging teachers and students to participate in the free programme. It’s never been easier for young people to gain access to credit than it is today. Our youth are constantly targeted by and vulnerable to lenders. Acting Head of CFFC Peter Cordtz said today’s young people need help to ensure they don’t get sucked into cycles of bad debt that can hold them back from a healthy financial future. “As a community we need to ensure all students leave school confident about money and how to make it work for them,” Cordtz said. Sorted in Schools offers an online learning platform with all teaching and learning resources available via our website, sortedinschools.org.nz, along with additional programme information and a dedicated support team.
“Students love it because it gives them knowledge they can use, and knowledge is power.” “They understand the why, and when they understand the why they buy into it,” McKinley added. Post pilot, we conducted a robust and independent evaluation of the resources. The feedback from the evaluation was used to refine and improve the finalised package, which is now available online. Improvements include a dashboard functionality, allowing teachers and students to register for personalised accounts to simplify the teaching and learning experience. The resources can now also be filtered by core subjects including maths & statistics, English, social science and technology to ensure ease of integration into lessons. Also launching in March are the trial resources for the second teaching and learning package for years 9-10 for NZC. This package is based on the theme of sustainability, and includes the topics of KiwiSaver, retirement, insurance and investment. Towards the end of Term 1, we’ll also be launching the first trial resources for MME in te reo Māori. Success for Sorted in Schools is in ensuring equitable access for all young New Zealanders to financial capability education.
In September 2018, we released our first learning and teaching resources for years 9-10 for the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). For the first time ever, young New Zealanders had access to funded financial capability education. The resources aim to provide students with the tools needed to make informed and effective decisions about money.
sortedinschools.org.nz
We’ll achieve this by releasing eight learning packages for each secondary school level for NZC and MME by the end of the 2021 calendar year. We welcome all schools and kura to access the resources via our website and register to participate in trialling the packages. We hope you’ll join us in promoting the lifelong benefits Sorted in Schools will bring to students.
Visit the website today sortedinschools.org.nz