Greetings as we start the 2019 school year.

2019 promises to be a challenging time for schools. Staff shortages still exist for many schools and the unresolved industrial disputes for NZEI and PPTA members will continue to impact on staff morale as we try to focus on the challenges of teaching and learning.

To add to these challenges, we have the division that could be created among our schools over the future of its administration and organisation. The report entitled “Our Schooling Future - Stronger together” was released just prior to Christmas. Its proposed intent is to address underachievement and inequality by eliminating competition and choice. It has initiated some intense debate in our sector. In the next two weeks APIS and NZCEO will prepare discussion papers for Boards of Trustees to help them look at some of the issues raised in the report. We understand that support for the report is divided across our schooling network as it is in the state network. The purpose of the papers we will share will be to point out where tensions and challenges might arise for integrated schools if we devolve to the new administration.

We encourage all Boards to spend some time thinking about these issues and to make a submission on the report.

This will be a pivotal year for the future of our schools. If change is to happen we need to get it right and the collective wisdom of everyone engaged in schooling will be important in achieving that end.

Ngā mihi nui,

Paul Ferris
Chief Executive

EARLY CHILDHOOD STRATEGIC PLAN REVIEW

The Early Learning Strategic Plan is open for consultation until 15 March 2019. The full length draft plan is available English and Te Reo Māori. If you are considering making a submission, you can do so directly via online survey or written submission. If you think it would be helpful for NZCEO to make a submission let us know by 20 February.  

TEACHER LED INNOVATION FUNDING

The Teacher-led Innovation Fund, which supports teams of teachers to collaboratively develop innovative practices that improve learning outcomes, is now open. Proposals for round 5 close 27 February 2019. Link here.

NCEA REVIEW REPORT

This is now available and summarises the many submissions made over the review period. It can be found at NCEA Review: Findings from the public engagement on the future of NCEA . Roger Moses and Jeremy Baker made the following comment: It’s clear to us both that the conversation on NCEA has moved leagues since the Ministerial Advisory Group released the Big Opportunities Discussion Document in May 2018. It’s clear that those who responded to the NCEA review engagement want to keep NCEA’s flexibility, but want to push NCEA to be more coherent; to offer stronger, more diverse pathways; and to be simpler and easier to navigate.  

The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, introduction states “This report provides invaluable insight into the diverse experiences that New Zealanders have had with NCEA, and their thoughts on how NCEA could be improved. I look forward to the opportunity to shape change to NCEA which reflects these experiences, and to testing a fulsome vision for NCEA’s future with New Zealand in mid-2019.” 

At the end of 2018 we farewelled Susan Apathy from her role as Deputy CEO of NZCEO. Susan has given 17 years of excellent service as Deputy CEO. We particularly acknowledge her work on the assimilation of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975 into Part 33 of the 2017 update of the Education Act (1989). We wish Susan well in her retirement and appreciate the great work she has done for Catholic schools.

At the beginning of this year, we welcomed Carol Coddington (pictured right) to the Deputy CEO role. Carol was the Principal of St Dominic’s Catholic College in Henderson for 23 years prior to moving to Wellington. She was also an active member of the National Association of Principals of Catholic Secondary School’s Executive, the First-time Principal Mentor programme and involved in local Principals’ groups in Auckland. We warmly welcome her.

Student Voice, from Bullying-Free NZ, sets out the importance of student voice in finding solutions to bullying and promoting good practice in student participation. For more bullying prevention tools and resources go to the Bullying-Free NZ website: www.bullyingfree.nz.

The annual Zayed Sustainability Prize evolved from the Zayed Future Energy Prize, broadening its coverage in 2019 to recognise Global High Schools that demonstrate innovative, impactful and inspirational solutions in the areas of sustainable health, energy, water and food.

Entries for 2020 will open soon. Contact the Melbourne based Oceania Outreach Partners for more information or visit www.ZayedSustainabilityPrize.com.

“It reminds me of Thomas Jefferson's dumbwaiter. Now, we like to think that he made the dumbwaiter in order to spare his slaves all that labour of carrying the food up to the dining room for the people to eat. That's not what it was for, it wasn't for the slaves, it was for Thomas Jefferson and his dinner guests, so they didn't have to see the slave bringing the food up. The food just arrived magically, like it was coming out of a "Star Trek" replicator. It's part of an ethos that says, human beings are the problem and technology is the solution. We can't think that way anymore. We have to stop using technology to optimise human beings for the market and start optimising technology for the human future.”

- Douglas Rushkoff, writer and filmmaker on media, technology and popular culture, teacher of media studies at NYU and the New School University and technology columnist.

A recent Anglican Schools Office newsletter featured an article about meditation in a Catholic primary school in Christchurch:

St John Bosco School features on the Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) site in an article describing their journey to student agency within their school. The focus of the journey has been collaboration in planning, teaching, reflection and assessment.  

The focus was on pedagogy rather than the buildings. They wanted to get out of the way of students by using digital technology as the accelerator. After 18 months the school has seen a huge shift in maths and writing, with students working at two stages above where they are expected to be. 

Check out St John Bosco’s journey at the TKI site here. View their slide presentation from the 2017 ULearn Conference, about Learner Agency and Digital Tech (link here). or visit a mock-up of the St John Bosco Senior Learning Hub (link here). 

We will return with our full Congratulations section in February, when schools are well underway. Please be sure to include us on your school communications so we can recognise the wonderful achievements of your students and staff!

In the meantime, well done to three St Theresa's School students in Invercargill, who were praised for helping an elderly women who had injured herself in her garden. Click here to read more.

St Theresa's School students Keilani McKay, 11, Brylee McKay, 8, and Lucy Dermody, 11