Building System Coherence: Lessons from the Past, Hope for the Future

A conversation with Cathy Wylie on what New Zealand education needs to thrive

In the latest episode of our “conversations about the future of education” series, I had the privilege of sitting down with Cathy Wylie, one of New Zealand’s most experienced educational researchers. Cathy has been tracking our education system since joining NZCER in 1987, just before Tomorrow’s Schools transformed our educational landscape. Her perspective offers both sobering reflections and hopeful directions for the future.

The Pattern We Keep Repeating

As Cathy and I shared together, a troubling pattern emerged. We’re living through a déjà vu moment. The overwhelm teachers experienced in the early 1990s (with rapid curriculum changes, increased autonomy without adequate support, and competing demand) has returned. We’ve swung from one pendulum extreme to another, each time with a convenient political narrative that ignores the complexity of what actually works.

“What really made a difference,” Cathy noted, referencing influential research, “was having a middle layer between schools and the ministry – something to work with you locally, something in which you were invested as local schools, that not just had your back, but that you were working to continually improve together.”

This insight connects powerfully with themes from my previous conversation with Jason McGrath, where we explored the critical importance of networking and shared knowledge-building within the system.

The Missing Middle: Hubs for Learning

One of the most compelling ideas from the Tomorrow’s Schools Review was the concept of local “hubs” – not a return to the old education boards, but something fundamentally different. These would be organic, educationally-focused networks where schools are invested in each other’s success.

Cathy encourages us to imagine having permanent staff at the local level who bring deep curriculum knowledge, assessment expertise, and practical understanding of effective leadership. Not bureaucrats checking compliance boxes, but experienced educators who’ve been through it themselves, helping schools marry policy requirements with practical classroom realities.

Cathy described visiting Te Pā o Rakaihautū School in Christchurch, where teachers met regularly after school to discuss individual learners, share what was working, and collaboratively problem-solve challenges. “It was that kind of collaboration that joined everything up,” she explained. “So you need at the local level people who have access to good research.”

The key phrase that resonated with me was being invested in each other’s success. This isn’t about competition for students or resources. It’s genuine collaboration where your neighbouring schools’ achievements become part of your shared progress.

Knowledge-Rich, But What Kind of Knowledge?

The conversation took an interesting turn when we discussed what “knowledge-rich” education really means. The current narrow interpretation focuses on prescribed content delivered through structured programmes. But Cathy articulated a richer vision:

“I would hope that their experience would be engrossing – that it would be really interesting. And I can feel as if I can understand and do more than I could a little while back. I can look back and think, oh, now I get that.”

True knowledge-richness means students developing deep understanding, appreciating complexities, and feeling confident they can take action in their world. It’s about curriculum that allows young people to comprehend, synthesise information in new ways, and work collaboratively with others.

We’ve seen glimpses of this in climate change projects where students engage with real-world complexity for example. These experiences build genuine confidence – not the spurious confidence of test scores, but the deep assurance that comes from authentic achievement.

The Permeability Problem

Toward the end of our conversation, I raised what I called the “permeability” of school walls. Tomorrow’s Schools, for all its rhetoric about community involvement, actually created isolationism. Schools have become autonomous islands, often struggling alone.

The good schools Cathy has visited demonstrate a different approach. They see parents and whānau as integral parts of the school, making them genuinely welcome and finding meaningful ways for them to contribute. They connect with other agencies and services, recognising that supporting students requires a whole-of-system approach.

But here’s the crucial insight: this shouldn’t fall on individual schools alone. This is where those local hubs become essential – facilitating connections between schools and other agencies, sharing the load, and building regional coherence.

What Teachers Can Do Now

While we wait for systemic change, Cathy offered practical advice for educators:

• Network actively with other schools. Don’t wait for formal structures – share what’s working and what isn’t, both the successes and the honest analysis of failures.
• Identify and connect with reliable sources of knowledge about effective teaching and learning for your specific context and students.
• Visit schools doing it well. Seeing something in action and talking through implementation is invaluable.
• Focus on what matters. The essential messages about effective teaching and learning haven’t changed dramatically. Don’t get lost in every new initiative.
• Build collaborative inquiry within your school. Make space for teachers to discuss individual learners, their progress, and what to try next.

Looking Forward

What strikes me most from both this conversation and my earlier discussion with Jason McGrath is the consistency of the message: we need to move beyond isolated schools toward genuine networks of shared learning and mutual support. We need the middle layer that was largely dismantled, but reimagined for our contemporary context.

New Zealand showed promise with Kāhui Ako (Communities of Learning), and just as some were really finding their stride, we pulled back. We need to reclaim that collaborative spirit, but with the proper resourcing, permanent staff, and educational focus that makes these networks genuinely effective.

The future Cathy envisions for our grandchildren is one where learning is engrossing, where students feel their world expanding, where their sense of who they are deepens, and where they can relate to others with optimism and confidence.

That’s not a utopian dream. It’s what happens when we build coherent systems that support both students and teachers, when we share knowledge generously, and when we invest in each other’s success.

Listen to the full conversation with Cathy Wylie in the video below:

Previous episodes include my conversation with Jason McGrath on networking and collaborative knowledge-building.

What are your thoughts? How can we build stronger networks in your region? Share your experiences in the comments below.