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Dr Cheryl Doig: We have a new curriculum which is a good start. We have variable teacher training and an increasing focus on research in universities. While I believe that teachers should be highly intelligent and need to understand research, they also need to understand the art of teaching. This is being lost under our current system which pumps trainees in, gives them all the same information (which can be focused on the past) then pumps them in to schools. Internationally there is a shortage of teachers and an even greater shortage of principals. In the next two years it will really bite in New Zealand and then the quality will drop even further the standards will be lowered and training shortened to get a warm body in front of a class.
We have a number of very average teachers already partly due to poor conditions and lack of standing of the profession (as different for say Singapore where it is one of the top 4 jobs that bright students would want). It needs to be made more attractive and the leadership opportunities need to be better. The Ministry of Education has put in programmes for new principals and for experienced principals; and in 2008 is trialling an aspiring principals programme. That's a start.
We need to do more to get creative people in teaching. We have lots of good people who want to do the right thing but we need people who will challenge the status quo a bit more.
Dr Vicki Compton: The current compulsory and senior secondary school education structure is capable of providing a robust educational environment. However, many aspects within this structure can be seen to impose restrictions that led to schools working ineffectively. For example, the strong emphasis in our primary sector on literacy and numeracy, a lack of focus on seamless education programmes caused by poor handling of within and across school transition points, and the lack of cross curricula links in secondary schools are three current impediments to optimising educational opportunities within the current structure.
Teacher capability is another big issue for education. Many of our teachers were themselves educated for a world firmly embedded in the 20th century, and in ways that reflect outdated learning theory and pedagogy. There is a significant issue to be addressed in this area, with a need for teachers in the primary sector to become more knowledgeable and competent in the foundational knowledge and practices associated with technology, science and the arts in particular. For teachers in the secondary sector, there is a need to address a general lack of pedagogical knowledge, and a broadening of the sort of career options that their students will have open to them.
We need to encourage more people into teaching who have a passion and enthusiasm for learning themselves, and who are knowledgeable and competent in the areas identified as foundational for a critical literacy.
Bruce McIntyre: Education is currently a system. Systems exist to process the status quo that is their purpose and design. New Zealand's education system is designed to carry the past into the future, with a few tweaks every so often to trick ourselves that we are making adequate progress.
Like the rest of the world, New Zealand is facing a rapidly increasing rate of social and environmental change. News articles constantly report surprise that change is greater than previously expected. That's an outcome of a century or so of systemised thinking we are frogs, and the water we're in is approaching boiling point, but we haven't noticed yet. If we want to solve the problems we've created, we need a higher level of consciousness. No amount of system tweaking will get us there.
One of the most heartening discoveries I've had in the past year, is the great number of teachers who know that the current system is failing badly. These people know that we need to change from just passing on yesterday's ideas, to allowing the new generation to grow and develop into who they can and want to be. So the raw material is there, in part at least. But the necessary change simply cannot originate within the current system with its diverse political/ideological blockages.
Vincent Heeringa: I left teaching after six months because of the teachers. I found the staffroom boring and mean-spirited. That's the result of a system that allows limited individuality or diversity of practice and opinion. The state's stranglehold on education is the greatest threat to our future, because by nature the state is controlling and mean-spirited. Innovation comes from diversity and engagement in real life not from Wellington.
Andrew Hamilton: There is not enough focus on what it is like to live in the global world today and there is too much duplication in our system. We need to create better understanding of New Zealand's place in the world to maintain relevance. I also worry about over-run and duplication destroying any chance of scale in our education provision.
Our teachers are very good the world knows and respects the quality of our teachers. It would be great to enable higher pay of teachers, so they stayed as opposed to leaving if they want to earn more money.
Your feedback is gratefully received.
