A Mini Lesson in the Modern History of New Zealand Education
As change happens at a seemingly exponentially accelerated rate of late, so have many priorities and perspectives changed. In this climate fixed-mindsets will be very uncomfortable, indeed, so uncomfortable that they may be forced to become more flexible in order to survive. Part of this flexibility is opening up to the myriad of possibilities that the future could bring. Just as in inclusive practice, all life choices require a “new” paradigm from which they’re made, in order to keep up with the rapidly shifting energies that we find ourselves surrounded by.
Education is a collective contract on how and what we’re going to learn and teach at any given time. The historically fixed nature of most education systems has left us with a large proportion of disenfranchised and consequently discombobulated young people. Education must become flexible and responsive in order to serve us, rather than control us. When we have a centralised system, as we do presently, the contract becomes immutable and unresponsive, even when it tries not to be. This is because the mechanisms of control have become a fundamental part of the whole; national curriculum, national initiatives (such as PB4L, etc.), standardisation (ERO, NCEA, NZQA) and a centralised administration (Ministry of Education) all make for a very slow moving and unresponsive machine.
Tomorrow’s Schools was an education reform implemented here in NZ in 1989. This was a global trend at the time. The underlying kaupapa (principle) was Neoliberalism. Children and young people became products and schools ran/run on business principles. Phrases such as “achievement standards”, “no child left behind” and “bang for your buck” became the vernacular. “National Standards” were the pinnacle of this “movement” and have seen the rates of illiterate, anti-social, mental health issues, and criminality rise rapidly within our young people, especially.
Bali Haque - ex-principal, researcher and author (Image from NZ Herald)
In 2018 there was a review of “Tomorrow’s Schools” led by Bali Haque. Haque came up with 8 recommendations that would essentially re-revolutionise education. The Labour Government, who had commissioned the review (back in the days they were trying to ingratiate themselves to the general populace), balked at the recommendations and all but swept the report under the carpet. This was because the recommendations would have loosened the strangle-hold that politics has on education and relinquish control, giving it back to communities. Haque’s overall kaupapa was decentralisation, responding to community needs and re-humanising education. He advocated for “Education Hubs” who would be the business administrators, support services and employers of staff - leaving principals and Boards of Trustees with the sole responsibility of leading teaching and learning. Schools would concentrate on their central reason for existence - our children and young adults. He was advocating for local curriculum and community building around schools. He also advocated for learning support services to be easily accessible via the Hub with clear pathways and not reliant on centralised funding and competition to acquire it. Had our Government followed the recommendations, we’d be in a much less precarious position today.
We have the blueprint for the beginning of a formal education revolution. I say “the beginning of”, because in my opinion, this can be taken much further. However, every journey starts with the first step. Our future depends on building responsive, flexible systems. It is high time we empower ourselves with knowledge and start planning an alternative pathway for ourselves, this could be a place to begin.
