Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
We have developed information n a variety of specific topics describing New Zealand education and schools.
Many secondary schools offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities to their students, although they are generally referred to as co-curricular activities. The extensiveness and diversity of the activity program depends in part on the size of the school.
New Zealand educators are reassessing traditional measures of academic achievement. Achievement Bases Assessment (ABA) appears to be in vogue among educators. This approach would assess achievement on the basis of individual goals based in part on the student's abilities. Some teachers, however, question this approach and wonder in a competitive world if students should not be measured against objective standards.
A key component of education is grading and report cards to keep parents informed of their child's propgress. The main purpose of assessing students' progress is to improve both learning and the quality of learning programmes. A student's strengths and the areas needing development are identified to provide information for the teachers developing and delivering the programmes, the student, and the parents. The main information will come from ongoing school-based assessment. In addition, information will be obtained at key points in the education system, such as at school entry and the start of Year 7 (Form 1) and Year 9 (Form 3) which will help teachers and the government to target teaching and resources more effectively.
New Zealand as a nation has not been noted for affording great prestige to intelectual pursuits. Like America and other pioneering scocities, intelectuals purdsuitsd in New Zealand, have been looked down on and regarded with some suspicion. It is brawny Rugby player or hard working farmer that was highly regarded. The general attitude toward education was that not a great deal was needed. A work ethic and a strong back was what was required by the early settlers. This attitude has slowly changed as the demands of the modern economy for well educated, skilled workers has become more apparent.
Boarding is an important option available to a substantial number of New Zealand students. In most English-speaking countries, boarding is primarily an option available to relatively affluent families who has chosen private schools. The cost of school fees, particularly private boarding schools, generally restricts boarding to affluent parents. Most of parents involved choose boarding because they believe that their is an educational and social benefit. Many are influenced by the British boarding tradition and some of the most prestigious boarding schools are often those based on the academic system of the British public (private secondary) school. Others simply believe that their children can better focus on academic work with the individual attention and closer supervision. Some parents have jobs with hours and responsibilities that make normal child care difficult. In some cases, fortunately few, parents simply find it more convenient to farm out their parental responsibilities.
Books are of course an important part of any school. The internet is having a powerful impact on schools, but books continue to be essential. It is not clear what the impavt of the internet is going to be. It is likely to msake books more accessable rther than replace them. Various kinds of books are used in school. There are both text books and workbooks for classroom use. There are also a wide range of books available in the library, both fiction and non-fiction which teachers encourage the students to use in a wide range of class activities and student projects. Most can be checked out, but each library also has a reference section for use in the library. Most New Zealand schools have excellent school libraries. And there are books for pleasure reading. Teachers vary greatly in the effort and success in encouraging the students to read.
The women's movement of the 1970s often attempted to tell us that boys and girls were the same and only sozilization made them different--often to the detriment of girls. While we have no difficulty will legal equity and issues like equal pay for equal work, we do strongly disagree with the proposition that boys and girls are the same. From the earliest pre=school days, boys and girls are clearly different, before they are strongly affected by any socilization process. This basic fact affects how boys and girls learn and how they should be taught. The women's movement was concerned about girls' performance in school, especially self image after they enter secondary school. This is an issue that needs to be addresses, but only recently has the problem of boys' under-accievement in school become seriously discussed. There are in addition substantial differeces in course selection and activities pursued. Here the socilization process does seem to be a an important factor.
Figure 2.--It is interesting how even in a coeducational class New Zealand boys and girls seem to segregate themselves by gender. It seems to be that in my American ghigh school the seating patterns were much more mixed, but impressions can be misleading. |
We noticed all kinds of classroom arangements in the New Zealand schools we visited. This was especially true in the primary-level schools. Some schools had very traditional arangements with desks pointed to the front where a blackboard and teacher's desk was located. There were many other alternatives. Some classess had tables which were pulled together in small groups. Other classess had arrangements that allowed different activities to be conducted at the same time. Several primary-level classes had small play areas or linraries where some of the students could work while the teachr focused on selected students for various purposes. In the cecondary schools, the traditional patterns of desks facing the front was fairly standard with the excetion of specialty classes like science, art, and shop.
Computers were in the late 1980s an interesting if challenging novelty at New Zealand schools as well as schools in other countries. They have become by the late 1990s indespensable to the operation of many schools. They offer special advantages to a small country, isolated from world academic, artistic, and finalcial centers. Students now have trouble conceiving how schools functionded before computers. Teachers are feeling increasingly compfortable working with computers. One of the many advantages is an ibcreased ability to communicate with parents. Computers also, however, present some problems for the schools.
New Zealand has had a National Curriculum since 1877 requiring each school to meet curriculum objectives prescribed by the Government. The Government recently developed a new National Curriculum. The MOE issued a draft document for discussion in May 1991. The purpose was to create a framework for the overall school programme which includes all the learning experiences in a coherent, systematic, and balanced approach. The National Curriculum is designed to set national directions and explicitly inform parents, students, teachers, and the community as to what is being taught and learned. The goal is to meet the educational needs of every child, giving each the opportunity to excel and access to the knowledge, skills, and understanding needed to participate effectively in New Zealand society.
Discipline standars at New Zealand schools have changed dramatically over the past generation. The rigid disciplie imposed by harsh corporal punishment has been replaced by more compasionate, modern methods. The private chools have been able to make the transition without a significant erosion of discipline standards. Many of the state schools, especially the state secondary schools have been less uccessful. Many scgools are now grapling with how to achieve acceptable discipline standards in an age where modern children are increasingly testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
The Educational Review Office (ERO) is the government department which assess each school in New Zealand and reports pubically on the quality of education at those schools. The ERO not only assesses the state schools, but also private schools, early childhood centers, Maroi language immersion schools (kura kaupapa Maori), and Maori language early childhood groups (kohanga reo). Sample reviews are presented here to show how the results of representative assessments. These reviews assess the strong points of various schools and point out weaknesses. We have selected reviews for representative schools to give an overview of educational trends at different types of schools. We have included our photographs, but stress that the photographs are representative of the type of school, not the specific school assessed.
Most New Zealand schools have well-equipped physical plants. Facilities vary, primarily depending on the size of school. There are large schools with over 1,000 pupils with elaborate facilities. There are also small rural elementary schools with only the most baic facilities. The most basic and single most important facility is the classroom. Most New Zealand schools, including both private and state schools are purpse-built school facilities. The classroom facilities vary widely from school to school. New Zealand is one of the most "on-line" countries in the world. New Zealand schools are installing increasingly sophisticated computer facilities. Computers prices have fallen to the level that they are more and more affordable to schools. New Zealand schools, like American schools, usually have well stocked libraries, in contrast to the lack of attention often given to libraries in British schools. Elementary, intermediate, and secondary schools almost always have excellent libraries. Most schools have modern music suites including classrooms, often with elaborate equipment such as electronic keyboards, as well as practice rooms for individuals or small groups and coral music. Classroom music is usually available at each form level. Most New Zealand intermediate and secondary schools have very well equipped workshops. The secondary schools in particular have specialized wood working and metal working shops. They serve both to provide an introfduction to students pursuing academic programs and important vocational training for students planning careers in manual arts. New Zealand schools put a heavy emphasis on physical education. Schools have extensive facilities for physical education, gymnastics, and sports such as basketball, badminton, and volleyball. Most schools also have weight rooms.
Public education is free in New Zealand. Governmen funding was esentially frozen with only minimal increases at most schools. The schools as a result had to carefully assess their finances and expenditures. As a result, modest fees were either implemented or expanded. There is a general activity fee as well as a various other fees for different activities are certain classes such as shop where the students use a variety of materials.
The levels of resourcing are set by the government to ensure that they are adequate for the delivery of the New Zealand Curriculum to all students entitled to attend
school. Many boards of trustees choose to supplement this resourcing to provide extra activities and opportunities, using locally raised funds. Each state school is given a grant for operating costs and the board of trustees is responsible for making sure the school is properly maintained. The funding of capital works (building projects) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. All state schools are staffed and funded to deliver quality programmes to all their students. Supplementary funding is available on application for delivery of programmes to students with special needs, for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programmes and for senior programmes in secondary schools.
New Zealand was once one of the most isolated countries in the world. Contacts, other than with Australia, were primarily with England. There was little or no contact with neigboring Asian countries. Until World war II, even contacts with the United States were limited. Since the 1960s, New Zealand schools have aggresively pursued contacts with schools in other countries. Foreign students are being incouraged to study in New Zealand. Schools participate in many exchange programs providing opportunities for their children to study abroad.
New Zealand has over the tears referred to school forms or grades in different ways. The most common system has become chronolgical year of school. Some basic information on the different forms is discusses in this section.
New Zealand schools place considerable emphasis on games, or sports as Americans would frase it. This reflects the outdoor, sporting live style so prized in New Zealand. The students, especially the boys, clearly reflect that interest. In school after school, the major activity that the boys took up in their free during lunch and breaks was rugby and other sports and outdoor games. Sports in New Zealand have a distinctly British flavor, but some American sports are also played.
Many New Zealand private and public secondary schools follow the English system of organizing the students by houses. Various inter-school competitions are then based on these houses which may be named after colors, places, famous people, or other devices. The system is based on the baording house system of the English public (private) school.
All schools, whether independent (private) or state, must operate under the provisions of the Education Act of 1989. All state and state integrated schools in New Zealand are governed by boards of trustees which includes elected parent and community volunteers, the school principal and a staff representative. Secondary school boards may also have a student representative. Committees, trustee boards and management boards on behalf of the owners, control independent schools. All participants, schools, parents, and students have certain responsibilities.
The conflict between the Maoris and the European settlers in the mid-19th century looked by the end of the century as if the Europeans had virtually destroyed Maori culture. Some obsevers at the turn of the 20th century saw the Maori as a dieing people destined to be a tiny fraction of the New Zealand population with a lost culture. The Maori have, however, revived. They have been joined byba influx of people from the Pacific Islands. Modern New Zealand schools are no longer transplanted English schools, but rather having to deal with with the often perplexing issues of multi-cultural education.
The first names chosen for New Zealand children are an interesting reflection of social and cultural trends. Early European settlers used their traditional English, Scottish, and Irish names. Some Maori accepted English names, many proudly retain their Maori first names. Modern parents are increasigly moving away from the common names their parents once chose from.
The internal orgazization of New Zealand schools, especially the secondary schools, vary substantially from school to school. Some of the feeling of an English public school, organized on the house principal. Others have more of the feeling, if you forget the uniforms, of an American highschool.
Prefects play an important role at many New Zealand schools, especially those schools with strong boarding rolls. Initially prefects played a major roll in running the schools and even in discipline. The prefects now play a much more limited, but still important roll. There precise details vary from school to school, but is generally greatest in those schools with strong British influences.
Under the present system, secondary school students may take the following national examinations: School Certificate; Sixth Form Certificate; Higher School Certificate; and University Entrance, Bursaries and Scholarships. National school examinations are based on curriculum statements developed by the Ministry. NZQA administers regulations, conducts examinations and issues results and certificates.
Each individual school prepares its on rules and regulations on student behavior and conduct. These rules are fairly standard, but there are differences from school to school. Here are some examples of the rules and behavior codes established by different schools in New Zealand.
School hours are generally from 8:45 am to 3:20 pm. Many schools have special short days to provide time for afternoon activities. Lincoln High School, for example, ends school on Wednesday at 2:30 pm to permit time for sporting activities. Many schools also provide longer lunch hours for sports and cultural activities which are unable to operate after school because of the school busses.
New Zealand schools have given great attention in recent years to meeting the special needs of children with disabilities. Condiseable resources are now being devoted to this effort. as a result children who once would have been institutionalized or taught in special schools are now being nmain streamed into ordinary schools accross the country. Educators are hopeful that both the disabled children and the ordinary New Zealand student will benefit. It has been a costly undertaking, but so far it seems to be working.
One of the aseryions of private schools in New Zealand is that they offer the parents and children unique features or a special character not available in the public system. The New Zealand Government has pursued a policy of incorporating or integrating private schools into the state system. As part of the integration process, the Governent has promised to allow the schools to retain their special character.
Figure 3.--Most New Zealand private schools require uniforms. Generally state elementary schools do not, but intermediate and secondary schools do. These boys attend a traditional preparatory school. Notice one boy wears a grey shirt and the other a white shirt. |
The composition of the staff at New Zealand schools has changed significantly at New Zealand schools over the past generation. There are many more women as well as substanially more Maori teachers. The staff is also much better educated.
Support services for students vary from school to school. A typical secondary school offers a wide variety of services to the students. These vary from tutoring and counseling services to more mundane, but still important canteens and transport services.
School uniforms are very common at New Zealandlands schools--more so than in any other English-speaking country. The traditional English styles are still quite common in New Zealand, perhaps to a greater degree than in England. Many parents continue to feel they are beneficial for secondary students. Many New Zealand schools require the children to wear uniforms. Public primary schools generally do not require uniforms, although most private and Catholic generally do. The great proportion of intermediate and secondary schools require uniforms. A relatively few, but increasing number of secondary schools are dispensing with uniform requirements. Some schools have a uniform, but do not strictly enforce the regulations. We have addressed this topic in more detail in Volume II of our New Zealand eBook.
