Key education announcements
29 January 2018
In late 2017 the Government made a series of key education announcements. The Education Gazette summarises them here.
The idea behind the Kāhui Ako Local Curriculum Design Toolkit is that your Kāhui Ako will be empowered further to gain crucial oversight over learning programmes, beyond that which happens within individual schools, kura, and early learning services, and therefore add value to the educational experience of your ākonga. The tools will afford opportunities to make structured yet flexible evidence-based decisions as your Kāhui Ako goes about the work of creating a local curriculum that maximises coherence and depth of learning opportunities.
Four tools are grouped in a Māori worldview (under the title ‘Rapua Te Ara Tika’). Another four apply to English medium.
To see a video about the tool, its various parts and how it all fits together, go to https://curriculumtool.education.govt.nz/(external link)
Māori medium – Rapua Te Ara Tika
Rapua Te Ara Tika, or “Seeking the right pathway”, promotes a Māori approach to curriculum development, teaching and learning. Kāhui Ako can use the tool to facilitate discussion to guide the planning and thinking for collaborative inquiries. The four tools within RTAT are:
Each of the tools are interconnected and support the development of a mārau ā-kāhui ako or localised curriculum.
The English medium toolkit comprises the following tools:
Rich Learning Opportunities tool -
this tool helps Kāhui Ako to utilise the environment that they are part of, and the relationships that contribute to that environment, to design meaningful learning opportunities and work out what capabilities they want to prioritise. It enables Kāhui Ako to design opportunities for their learners to contribute to their communities in ways that build on and strengthen both community and learner capabilities.
Helen Taylor Young is principal of Victory Primary School in Christchurch, a learning centre which trialled the Local Curriculum Design tools late in 2017. She’s excited about their potential for collaboration.
“[The Local Curriculum Design tools] are very exciting tools for Kāhui Ako to be able to collaborate across schools, but more than that, working with iwi for example. It’s a great central place where we can develop a body of work.
“One of the great things about it is that you’ve got a Māori-medium pathway and an English-medium pathway - the Māori-medium pathway has been developed by whānau and iwi.”
Helen also says that she’s impressed by the clarity of the tool, and how it is delineated into four parts: collaborative inquiry, pedagogy development, building relationships with community groups like iwi, and a space for coherent pathways.
Helen also likes the fact that the suite makes it easy to expand collaboration.
“You can invite people into different parts of it, so you can be working on things together without having to be together, which is fantastic. You can be a contributor, or if you’re someone like a community group, you can simply keep track of what’s happening.”
The project team has been training Regional Office staff so they can assist Kāhui Ako to explore and to use the Toolkit. Expert Partners will also be providing support to Kāhui Ako on using the Toolkit, tailored to their needs and stages of development.
If you want to know more about the Local Curriculum Design Toolkit, or arrange a demonstration for your Kāhui Ako, email us at: curriculum.design@education.govt.nz
BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz
Posted: 9:00 am, 29 January 2018
29 January 2018
In late 2017 the Government made a series of key education announcements. The Education Gazette summarises them here.
26 February 2018
2017 NCEA and NZ Scholarship results were eagerly received in January, with more prestigious education awards and events on their way in the next few months.
25 January 2019
A shared commitment to great curriculum learning outcomes for students saw educators from around the country getting together in 2018.