National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
For Māori, Cape Reinga is the most spiritually significant what they are and are not good at, about their ability to learn and place in New Zealand. An ancient pohūtūkawa tree and a lonely their sense of worth. Subjects outside literacy and numeracy have lighthouse mark this special place. not had the same status; nor have dimensions such as a student’s From the lighthouse, on a clear day, practical skills, their ability to relate you can see the break point where the Today, 145 years on, to others, their cultural knowledge or Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. their resilience. A system that does not Like all opposing forces they clash, reading, writing and value the whole person and all skills merge, tussle, gain momentum, find a and talents equitably, perpetuates the mathematics are still way forward and move on. belief that success is dependent on In a world that has changed forever considered key measures of academic skills alone. with the arrival of the COVID In the ‘National Standard’ years we pandemic, we too face opposing a successful student, heard over and over that one in five forces. As we move forward, we need students were failing. What we did not school and nation. to celebrate our developing expertise hear was that, in New Zealand, our in COVID logistics, our flexibility in achievement results were significantly managing constant change and our adaptability, collegiality and influenced by socio-economic factors. While a possible commitment to our tamariki and their learning. COVID has exposed equity gaps and systemic structures that do not serve PLD Provider all students well. In this chaos, a new paradigm of educational well-being and success will emerge to challenge traditional Is your school definitions of educational success. ready to progress its improvement The ‘Well-being Education Success Targets’ Concept: journey? In 2019 the New Zealand government developed the concept of Do you want to work a ‘Wellbeing Budget’, where economic reporting was expanded with PLD Facilitators from reporting on fiscal and economic indicators only, to who are informed embracing social and environmental indicators. The 2019 by research and Wellbeing Budget was a bold experiment in not only shifting innovative practice? understandings of progress but also embracing a new way of designing policies. Te Kete Hono is proud to be supporting schools The New Zealand public education system was established in in the following areas: 1877. Today, 145 years on, reading, writing and mathematics are still considered key measures of a successful student, • Graduate Profiles & Local Curriculum school and nation. While they are important measures, like the • Learner Agency & Engagement government’s fiscal budget, the concept of success in education • Designing Rich Learning Opportunities needs stretching. Success in a test of literacy or numeracy does • Weaving Assessment into Teaching & not make for a confident child, a successful life, a happy society Learning or a healthy nation. If measures of success included dimensions such as wellbeing, identity, agency and aspirations, interwoven • Developing Progressions for curriculum with Te Ao Māori, education would look very different. subjects and learner capabilities One of the dilemmas of traditional measures of achievement • Designing improvement dashboards and is that they have never encapsulated the whole child as a learner, longitudinal data collection strategies or learning as a life-long activity. Defaulting to what is easy to measure has devalued the things that matter most – values like Contact Te Kete Hono NOW to find out how we manaakitanga, integrity, compassion, curiosity, adaptability, can support you. kotahitanga, whanaungatanga and service. Traditional assessment has influenced peoples’ views about www.tkh.nz/home admin@tkh.nz
20 per cent of students were failing and in need of additional support, government budgets have only ever funded additional support for 8 per cent of those students. What to move to? – ‘The Well-being Education Success Concept’ Possible targets could encompass students’ ■■
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Sense of self – their culture, their language and identity, as it links to a Te Ao Māori World view. Achievement in literacy and mathematics across many subject areas, using an array of measures to monitor progress and to define success. Friendships, social connectedness and the quality of relationships they build – with their class, their school, their community and globally. Equitable access to learning support to achieve ‘personal bests’ with access to resources such as devices and specialists as and when needed. Assessment routines that are not timebound, and are used to determine ‘next steps’. Socio-emotional resilience – their mental health and wellbeing – what they know about wellbeing and what they do to enhance it.
The Te Ao Māori world view embraces concepts such as manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and kotahitanga, which are examples of the values we aspire to live by. Post pandemic, to grow, live and work we need to have good relationships with others, social connectedness, resilience and understanding of what wellbeing education success could be, individually and collectively. In our education system, we need to ensure students learn through their strengths and that they have the support they need to be successful in learning. Because of the disruption of COVID, we need to ensure assessment is used to inform students about progress they have made and to identify next steps in their learning. At a systems level, we need data to inform change in policy design and implementation. We then need a ‘Well-being Budget’ to invest in this generation of students, whose learning has been disrupted by a global pandemic, so their holistic needs can be met. To develop a new paradigm and indicators for success in learning that are culturally imbued, broad, inclusive and supportive of all learners is our opportunity. Every day two great bodies of water at the top of Aotearoa clash, tussle, merge and move forward. To reset our education system priorities to make ‘well-being education success’ a reality will require us to do the same.
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The smarter, electronic way to manage access control Traditionally limited to just a few exterior openings, access control is now not only possible but increasingly critical throughout the interior of schools. Extending access control to interior and classroom doors allows you to implement application-specific lockdown strategies to prevent blind lockouts, improve key control and reduce rekeying costs, and enhance school security, creating a better learning environment. Aperio® wireless technology combines the convenience of wireless with the real-time communication of online access control, making it ideal for schools.
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