Week 27

Week 27

Activity 3: Contemporary issues or trends in New Zealand or internationally




Global Challenges/ Globalisation

Climate change including temperature change leading to water shortages and reduction in agriculture and horticulture.Rises of inequity between and within countries

Climate change.
"Climate change presents a global challenge of a magnitude that human beings have not encountered before." "Climate change is increasingly recognised as an emerging crisis requiring radical and immediate action." Not Just Hot Air: Putting Climate Change Education into Practice,. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2015

In New zealand we have supporting documents relating to environmental education which are quite explicit in the importance of sustainability education.

Structuring learning around a unifying theme such as sustainability provides opportunities for students to make connections between learning areas, competencies, and values. It requires teaching and learning approaches that draw on all elements of effective pedagogy and focuses on empowering students to take action for a sustainable future.

Sustainability in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa connects to the principle "environmental health is personal health". This curriculum endorses a place for the school, the family, the community, the hapū, and iwi groups to focus on the place of the student in their own world. http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/Education-for-sustainability .

Climate change has proven to impact weather patterns, we are facing some of the most extreme weather from devastating droughts to equally devastating floods and rising sea levels. We have been impacted in New Zealand, not to the extent of some other countries however we are feeling the effects of weather patterns. In Rotorua for example we have had issues for a number of years with air quality during the winter due to extensive use of inefficiency wood burners.

Education can raise awareness of climate change and the impact it has now and the possible impacts in the future. We have the ability to influence not only the way people use resources but how many resources individuals and communities use.

If we show our students a different way of doing things, they can and will take this to their homes and communities and can initiate safer, better, less destructive practices in their own homes, which has a flow on effect.

When we teach our students simple things such as recycling paper and plastic, we instill in them an understanding on their individual and collective impact on our environment.

When we teach our students how to organically grow their own produce, we teach them skills they can take into their homes, and use throughout their life. This also lessens their impact on other resources, including fuel, packaging, and develops and understanding of how everything is connected.




.Rises of inequity between and within countries
According to Trends Shaping Education 2016 "Education has a role to play in providing the skills and competencies needed to operate in the new world. It has the potential to influence the life outcomes of the most disadvantaged and is a powerful tool to reduce inequity."

In 2015 an OECD report while acknowledging New Zealand's educational success highlighted the need to address educational inequality. The report confirms that while educational attainment has been rising for all groups, rates remain considerably lower for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and/or of Māori or Pasifika ethnicity.




, Lochner and Moretti 2002,O’Neill 2000, and Neal and Johnson 1996) have all highlighted and demonstrated the quantification of the importance of education and how low achievement can affect late life outcomes.

There are numerous studies which show educational inequality starts early, even before a child starts school. Studies in the UK show figures show a one year gap in 'school readiness' between 3-year-olds, and a 15 month gap in vocabulary development between 5-year-olds, in the richest and poorest families.

Education is also linked with happiness, well-being, mental and physical health, life expectancy, and crime rates.

Thrupp, M. (2008) discusses how poverty effects children in a number of ways including level and nature of family resources available to them, - including poor nutrition, over crowding, transience. He also states "Low socio-economic schools often find it difficult to recruit permanent, long-term teaching staff. Teachers at low-socio-economic schools struggle more to meet the learning needs of children and spend a lot more time on pastoral care than in those middle class settings."




It seems that inequity is increasing in many cases for our kids, not reducing. This has a flow on effect into schools,and into students ability to function and achieve at school. Technology in some ways has highlighted this and at times made it even harder for some students. For students from families that do not have the resources for devices, connection to the internet they can miss out on learning. Many schools are now providing devices however, it is extremely expensive to provide devices for each student, as well as the cost of maintaining systems.
Safe, warm, dry housing and having enough food is also an area that effects some children. Hungry, cold, children can find it difficult to focus on learning.
EOTC can also be an area where inequity is very apparent. Finding extra money for trips, sports, and excursions can be impossible for some families, and again it is the children who loose.
I personally get very frustrated with those that argue that it is the parents fault - regardless of why - we have far too many students in New Zealand who are in a position of inequity. The answer to this? Now that's the debate and million dollar question.






OECD. (2016). Trends Shaping Education 2016. OECD Publishing:Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Thrupp, M. (2008). Some inconvenient truths about education in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In S. St John & D. Wynd (Eds.), Left Behind: How Social & Income Inequalities Damage New Zealand Children (pp. 109-119). Auckland, New Zealand: Child Poverty Action Group.After reading the Class Notes, create a blog post where you identify and evaluate two contemporary issues or trends that are influencing or shaping NZ or international education, which you find most relevant to your practice.

Elaborate in your own words how you would address those issues or trends in your context within your learning community or professional context.

Study notes

Trajectory your practice should be heading towards? Heard this before and often it is completely incorrect.

International context; Globalisation era = connection across platforms and settings= 21st century learners=  globally connected= actively seeking knowledege = learning extends beyond class room walls/ global phenomenon.
NZ ed context; high quality education performer+ critical issues.A report by the Education Review Office (2012) indicated that New Zealand’s education system needs to pay more attention to three key aspects including i) students-centred learning, ii) responsive and rich curriculum, and iii) assessment used for students’ learning.  
Changing  Paradigms, 
I remember our principal showing us this a few years ago - he obviously is a foreward thinker. This is still relevant

 He is correct
Why would you lower standards?




ADHD plague - interesting, kids medicated too routinely -  i actually thin this guy has hit the nail on the head there is sooooo much going on and we want them to sit still and do the same stuff I did at school = bored restless kids. I also agree we are punishing kids and far too manmy are on medication when they shouldn't be