I find this a fascinating topic, as we are in such a state of hyper change at the moment that education is under particular pressure to adapt, while being simultaneously affected by a multitude of trends, both in society in general and more specifically in an education context.
In their 2012 report, ERO identified the “three most pressing issues” for our education system. The first of these was the need to shift the focus to student-centred learning. I find it very interesting that the report notes that New Zealand prides itself on this, yet practice is often still not matching these ideals. In my experience and talks with colleagues, there is no shortage of desire to make this shift, however I agree that in actuality it doesn’t always happen, and meeting ‘official’ requirements regularly gets in the way. This is, however, in my opinion the most important issue that needs to be addressed in education worldwide.
I am fortunate that my school embraces this approach and we have a heavy focus on students taking control of and managing their own learning. It relates closely to self regulation, which is also identified in the ITL Activity Rubrics as one of the key 21st Century skills required by our students. I am attempting to address this with my teaching partner as we embrace collaborative practice and endeavour to put systems in place that enable students to make choices about how and what they learn, and give them the chance to take ownership over this process. We are creating a ‘stations’ approach in our space which encourages the children to make choices around their tasks. We also try to follow student interest wherever possible, and keep our learning relevant to our learners!
CORE Education also identify trends that are likely to have the largest impact on New Zealand education, and their 2016 Top Ten can be found here. The trend that particularly stood out to me was ‘Community Focus’, in which they include things like strategies for engaging parents, using portfolios, and effective community participation.
This is something I’m working hard on in my own context at the moment. We have started using the programme Seesaw to build online portfolios and encourage parent engagement and involvement in children’s learning. It makes such a difference to the students’ own engagement when they have a chance to share and a greater audience and purpose to their learning tasks. Our class blog is another medium in which we communicate with families. I first started a blog two years ago and have had overwhelmingly positive feedback and a huge increase in community engagement. With today’s technology we have so much more scope to encourage this participation and should be utilising these opportunities!
References:
CORE Education (2016), Core Education's Ten Trends 2016, Retrieved 5 March 2016, from http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends
Education Review Office (2012), The three most pressing issues for New Zealand's education system, revealed in latest ERO report, Retrieved 5 March 2016, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Releases2/The-three-most-pressing-issues-for-New-Zealand-s-education-system-revealed-in-latest-ERO-report
21st Century Learning Reference Group, ITL Research, Retrieved 5 March 2016, from http://www.itlresearch.com/images/stories/reports/21cld%20learning%20activity%20rubrics%202012.pdf
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