Schools work together to support future-focused learning

Future Education Conference

A Future Education conference held earlier this month at Ormiston Junior College in Manukau and attended by 350 staff from seven schools aimed to build collaborations, share expertise, and show the community that there’s an effective and progressive education pathway for students.

Sessions run by teachers ranged from connecting with culturally diverse learners and utilising modern learning environments to using robotics in learning, building 21st century skills and play-based learning.

Mission Heights Junior College Principal Ian Morrison says the schools have been on a 14-year journey since the Flatbush Strategy 2007 proposed the establishment of a network of schools to support new housing developments in Manukau.

“The spirit of collaboration has been in existence for some time, with former Baverstock Oaks School Principal Mary Wilson as the catalyst.

“The landscape is changing so quickly that we all need to collaborate more and more to stay relevant.”

The principals agree that the real value of the day is establishing connections between teachers to support students on their learning pathway.

Feedback from the schools

(From left) South Auckland principals Ian Morrison, Heath McNeil, Veena Vohra, Diana Patience, Genée Crowley, Mel Bland and Luke Sumich

Riding the wave of change

How do you prepare students for jobs that don’t exist yet?

It’s a question New Zealand Ambassador for Singularity University and TEDx curator Kaila Colbin helped answer at a Future Education conference held by seven south-Auckland schools recently.

With innovation and automation having the potential to replace the jobs we prepare students for, she says what success looks like will need to change if we are to prepare students for jobs of the future.

KEEPING UP WITH CHANGE: Kaila Coblin (left) TedX curator and Australian Ambassador for Singularity University, talks with Baverstock Oaks School Principal Genée Crowley.

“I would suggest the opportunity is to shift our focus even further and prepare our children to be questioning the underlying assumptions that underpin our society.

“So assumptions like we have to have a 40-hour work week, or the idea that if you don’t have a ‘job’ you’re not a productive member of society.

“We need to be thinking about ‘work’ not as the thing you do to get a pay cheque but as the solving of human problems. If we dedicate our resources to addressing challenges like poverty, hunger, climate change etc then I think we’re going to be in a much better shape.”

What does this mean for teachers? Kaila says the World Economic Forum’s 21st century skills map is a good place to start.

“They have foundational skills like literacy and numeracy, but then they have additional skills which we learn in kindy, like curiosity, initiative, grit, teamwork and resilience.

Students will need to be adaptable so they can tackle fast-paced change in technical environments.

“When we’re little, we’re constantly coached on those things, but that active coaching starts to go away in primary school and really goes away in secondary school and by the time we’re at uni it’s really up to us to learn how to navigate our own lives.

“That ability to navigate is actually one of the things that is the most marketable skill going forward. How we manage our own emotional lives, this is the kind of stuff we need for the future.”     

What can you take away from the day?

Did you know games can be used to engage students in learning activities?
Gamification is taking a learning process and applying game principles (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to it. Game-based learning is taking a game and using it for learning. Find out more here: NZCER and elearning TKI.

Ready-to-learn routines can be used by students to calm the brain and create an environment conducive to positive, creative, productive learning. This can help students to perform better at school and improve their engagement levels. Pause Breathe Smile is an example of a routine that can be used.

“Hei awhina i nga purapura o ngā tikanga, hei whakapakari ki a tātou kaiarahi mō apōpō” – “To help sow the seeds of tikanga to strengthen our leaders of tomorrow”.

Strengthen numeracy achievement and NCEA results through the cross-curricular and collaborative teaching and learning approaches. For example, PEH and mathematics collaborative use of the Math AS91036 bivariate data standard.

Using the Teacher Led Innovation Fund (TLIF) to support development of innovative practices that improve learning outcomes especially for students who are Māori, Pacific peoples, have special education needs, or come from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Reframe how we assess our students. [US educational expert] Art Costa questions: “How do we exist between the current paradigm of assessing the acquisition of content and the needed new paradigm of teaching and assessing dispositions?” (Dispositions Reframing Teaching and Learning).