In the New Zealand context we are facing times of incredible change in our education system, including a review of our Education Act. The consultation process for this review is incredibly short – particularly given the scope of what the Act addresses and the complexity of issues that arise from it as we endeavour to operate an effective and efficient educaiton system within it.
One of the things the consultation process focuses on is making sure everyone knows the goals for education. According to the consultation documentation, the current Act doesn’t say clearly what the education goals for our children and young people are. The document claims:
[The Act] should describe what early learning and schooling should achieve for our children and young people, and say what things are most important to learners, parents, whānau, teachers, education services, businesses and the public. The Update should establish a way for national priorities about what is most important for education to be made clear, so schools and kura know what is expected of them, and can be sure that their planning is focused on the right things.
The consultation documentation identifies that we currently have multiple purpose/goal statements in documents such as the NZ Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and Te Whariki. We need to consider these collectively and identify what it is we have as our 'moonshot' goal for the NZ education system. The groups at the consultation sessions I've attended to date haven't really engaged with this in any depth – moving more quickly to some of the more detailed questions for conisideration – yet I can't help feeling that without a clear alignment on this first one it becomes difficult to answer any of the others. (Without a vision the people perish!) We see this currently in our education system where national priorities, no matter how well intended or valuable they may be, can simply emerge (and do so) at the whim of the Minister or senior officials.
This issue is not unique to NZ, and is the focus of systems around the world. I found it useful to read the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030, which sets out a new vision for education for the next fifteen years. It was developed by UNESCO together with UNICEF, the World Bank, UNFPA, UNDP, UN Women and UNHCR at the World Education Forum 2015 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from 19 – 22 May 2015, hosted by the Republic of Korea.
I really like the following from this document…
Our vision is to transform lives through education, recognizing the important role of education as a main driver of development and in achieving the other proposed [Sustainable Development Goals] SDGs. We commit with a sense of urgency to a single, renewed education agenda that is holistic, ambitious and aspirational, leaving no one behind. This new vision is fully captured by the proposed SDG 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and its corresponding targets. It is transformative and universal, attends to the ‘unfinished business’ of the [Eduation for All] EFA agenda and the education-related [Millennium Development Goals] MDGs, and addresses global and national education challenges. It is inspired by a humanistic vision of education and development based on human rights and dignity; social justice; inclusion; protection; cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity; and shared responsibility and accountability. We reaffirm that education is a public good, a fundamental human right and a basis for guaranteeing the realization of other rights. It is essential for peace, tolerance, human fulfilment and sustainable development. We recognize education as key to achieving full employment and poverty eradication. We will focus our efforts on access, equity and inclusion, quality and learning outcomes, within a lifelong learning approach.
Now that's a transformational vision! Imagine the possibilities and permissions there are within that statement, with it's emphasis on…
- access
- inclusion and equity
- gender equality
- quality
- lifelong learning opportunities
How might we lift the level of conversation in our NZ Education Act consultation process to dig deep into these themes and issues, and consider how our Updated Education Act might create the platform for a wide range of truly transformative activity in our schools and communities, rather than attempting (as it does now) to manage our system with an unecessary amount of minute and detail that belongs more appropriately in the subsequent policy documents and priority statements that will change and evolve over time.
