The Nitty-gritty of an Education Rebirth (Part 1)

Lately, I have been asked a lot about how I see “a new way” in education. What would it look like? How would it work? Last year I had a look at a few modalities that could be emulated and integrated into a “new look” system, and there are many helpful principles from which we can draw on, however, I have concluded that for any authentic and sustainable change to happen, we have to shatter the very foundations of the present system in order to create what we may want to see. You see, the foundations are what keep any structure upright and if they are set, the structure has no choice but to grow within their confines.

The Maori have a wonderful word that no one English word can fully explain or translate into - kaupapa. 

“Kaupapa means principles and ideas which act as a base or foundation for action. A kaupapa is a set of values, principles and plans which people have agreed on as a foundation for their actions.” (Te Ara -The Encyclopedia of New Zealand) 

This word embodies what I am talking about here so perfectly. 

If we are to create a different system, we need a completely different kaupapa. To create a different kaupapa, we need to be clear about what the present kaupapa is, in order to create what’s different. How can we know what the real kaupapa is? As we all know, documented intentions are not worth their salt if what they purport is not actually applied. All too often the walk is completely different to the talk. So to be sure about what the true intentions are that lie beneath the surface, it is necessary to look at the outcomes or the fruit that is borne. 

Our present system is floundering in all aspects that matter: engagement, meeting needs and relevance. This is reflected in the statistics around student behaviour, attendance and drop out rates. I will use New Zealand as my model because that is the system I am most familiar with, however, be rest assured that these statistics apply globally to the systems that emulate the likes of the neoliberal models of the Western giants such as the U.S. and the U.K. 

The rise in difficult anti-social behaviour in schools is evidenced by the ever increasing incidence of violence in schools. Only the most violent are ever reported on and although shocking, I can assure you that violence pervades the language and actions of the majority of student bodies and spills into society in general. I am talking at ALL levels. Stand-downs, suspensions and exclusions increased overall in 2021 in NZ (Education Indicator, 2021) and children aged from 5 years are included in the statistics. 

Attendance rates have plummeted in the last few years (see figure below) (Education Counts, 2022). Indeed covid has a lot to answer for in this respect, but all it did was intensify a growing trend before its arrival. I have regular calls from parents seeking help with an alternative to school because their teenagers are refusing to go to school, or their child is desperately unhappy at school and they cannot see an alternative. Home educating rates have risen exponentially after covid, indicating the rising mistrust and disillusionment in the present System. 

From https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance

2022 saw educators worried about the number of students dropping out of school without qualifications because of the need to go to work in order to keep body and soul together ( see this article). This is not the only reason so many of our children are leaving school early - so many just don’t see the relevance of the curriculum or a school qualification to the real world. I tutor students struggling with literacy and numeracy, and of late I’ve had two students leave school at the age of 14 to get part-time work and study via correspondence. Both have thrived since leaving the institution and are gaining “qualifications” much quicker than had they stayed at school because they have agency and choice about not only how they learn but what they learn.

Teacher retention is a vague business! I have read a couple of papers but get the sense that more is left out than included. Projections in 2021 for 2022 are not followed up and it would seem that only the “good news” is discussed. In one breath it is stated that retention was 91% and in the next we’re told that $23.626 million was issued to employ 177 more domestic teachers and 760 teachers from overseas to keep up with supply in 2023. This would indicate that the mandates had a more significant impact on teaching staff than has ever been admitted,and that the anecdotal evidence that teachers are leaving the profession in droves is possibly true. What the mandates did very effectively was rid the system of any fundamentally non-compliant teaching staff - staff who have probably been questioning the system for years. They’re the ones who keep things honest! 

I think it’s pretty clear that this system is failing those who are supposedly meant to be served by it. If we are to extrapolate the kaupapa from the fruits of this system, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that the system serves the system - not who it’s meant to. Without going into too much boring detail, it is an indictment that approximately 30% of the education budget actually reaches the chalk-face. Let that sink in…60% of the budget is spent on bureaucracy and public-private partnerships. Education is big business. So in the end the kaupapa is about money and economic growth and fiscal targets and compliance to innumerate regulations and ultimately, control.

In the next part, I will discuss the more cheery, creative part of the shift in paradigm that I envision. I will describe an alternative kaupapa and put forward some universal ideas about how we could implement and operationalise it.