President's Message
Kia ora koutou whanau
Election campaigning is now intensifying. This week, education policies have been the focus, with the government announcing two new policies. Compulsory teaching of financial literacy and mandating the requirements of teaching reading, writing and mathematics. They both have merits and downsides. I outline the policies in more detail below. What concerns me is that once again, education is being used for political ends.
We’ve said it once (see the NZPF 2023 Manifesto) and we will say it again - Education should not be used as a political football. Opposing political parties frequently exploit education for political gain during election campaigns, leaving us all frustrated. We are tired of politicians choosing politics over the well-being of tamariki. Education's significance makes it a powerful talking point, but when parties prioritize point-scoring, it hampers plans for quality teaching and learning. We, as principals at the frontline, witness this impact firsthand. While policy debates are necessary, collaborative, learning focused efforts should supersede political games. A bipartisan approach to education, focusing on akonga, not partisan politics, is what we need. Our young people deserve that for their future.
Principals have raised issues about the recent policy announcements. They have expressed concerns about the timing of these policies when we are bedding in a new NZ Histories curriculum, still struggling to access PLD for the curriculum refresh, still recovering from three years of covid, staffing shortages, support staff shortages and relief teacher shortages. The profession is overworked, under-staffed and under-funded already and these two new policies could tip the balance for some.
At a recent Australian conference, Dr Simon Breakspear spoke of ‘The Pruning principle – unlocking progress by mastering the art of strategic subtraction’. If you want to add something, ask the question, what are you deleting to make room for that new thing? Its an excellent question and one worth contemplating. We cannot just keep adding new things without balancing the workload by also deleting.
Below I outline for you the main features of the policy announcements.
Financial Literacy
The Prime Minister announced that all young people will leave school with a core knowledge of saving, budgeting, banking, borrowing, bills, taxes, KiwiSaver, mortgages and insurance.
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti said that schools will have flexibility as to how they deliver the financial literacy programme, but there will be essential learning outcomes at different year levels, and it will have to be prioritised.
The Minister added that “this won't be an extra demand on teachers, rather it will make sure they have what they need, including access to existing programmes and partnerships and support through the newly established curriculum centre at the Ministry of Education.”
Some schools already include financial literacy within their mathematics and social sciences programme, and use free programmes from Kiwibank or ASB, or some other source to deliver financial skills to young people. This policy would make financial literacy compulsory for all schools.
Compulsory Requirements for Teaching Mathematics, Reading and Writing
Core teaching requirements of Mathematics, reading and writing will be released in Term 4 2023 and used from 2024. The policy is to ensure that these subjects are taught the same way right across the country. The requirements will be legislated in the Education and Training Act.
NZPF voiced concerns about the teaching of these three subjects some years ago. We called for clarity about what constituted the national curriculum and was therefore not negotiable, versus the local curriculum which was community based. In particular there was a focus on mathematics, reading and writing.
More recently with the curriculum refresh underway, practitioners have been involved in the development of the ‘Common Practice model’ which will drive teaching requirements. This would be the ‘how’ of teaching these subjects.
As professionals we are not comfortable with politicians telling us how to teach. The Common Practice Model has however been developed by practitioners working with the Ministry. The assessment component is not yet completed and won’t be until the progressions, on which it will be based, are determined.
What we most certainly do not want is a return to the high stakes national standards debacle which assumed that every child in the different year levels was the same and progressed in the same way. Having progression rather than standards-based assessment will overcome that. There is more work to be done before the teaching requirements are mandated.
The Minister said, “Teachers will be supported with guidance, professional development, and materials to implement these changes and ensure there is consistency across all schools to give all kids equal opportunity.”
My reservation is that currently we see high inequities in the application of professional development which will have to be overcome if this policy is to be successful. That will require a significant investment of resources.
Ngā Pou E Whā
To listen, to learn, to act.
Pou Tahi - Te Kaiarahitanga / Leadership
Tracy Fraser, Stephanie Thompson, Jason Miles, Leanne Otene
Induction - principals deserve better!
ERO’s recently published, ‘Everything Was New’ Preparing and Supporting New Principals, identified many areas for improvement. One of these is principal induction - or lack of! New principals (1-5 years’ experience) were asked how well supported they felt when they started in their school. The findings show that 15% of Boards, who had employed a new principal, did not provide an induction and 42% did not know if there had been an induction. New principals reported that the delivery of inductions is inconsistent.
As a result of working through these findings with the MOE, NZPF has been invited to work with Tim White, Chief Advisor of the Leadership Advisors, to co-construct a programme that can be used to support all principals when beginning in a new school.
In doing so we look forward to building a consistent, supportive, and thorough induction processes with the MOE, local principals’ associations, and Boards playing their part to support principals, as they navigate important information about their new school’s contexts - local culture and mana whenua, personnel, local curriculum, key contacts, and more.
Pou Rua - Te Marautanga / Curriculum
Heidi Hayward, Karen Brisco, Jen Rodgers and Blair Dravitski
Update to our work:
This week Minister of Education Hon Jan Tinetti announced new requirements to help lift achievement of maths and literacy. The MoE has asked us to share this information with our members. These measures are not new to us, but can be summarised as follows:
- From 2025, schools must use the new mathematics and statistics, and English learning areas from Te Mātaiaho, the refreshed NZ curriculum, which were released in May this year.
- From 2026, all schools will use the Common Practice Model when teaching literacy, communication, and maths.
- From 2025, Māori Medium settings (rumaki and bi-lingual units) must use the new Te Reo Māori and Pāngarau areas of the redesigned Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.
- From the start of 2026, Māori Medium settings (rumaki and bi-lingual units) will be required to use the Ako Framework (the equivalent of the Common Practice Model).
- Separate discussions will be held with kaupapa Māori education organisations on how to enhance te reo matatini and pāngarau teaching and learning in their settings.
The Common Practice Model will be available to schools in Term 4, 2023 and schools will be supported to successfully use it from 2024. Schools will be able to engage with The Ako Framework at the beginning of 2024.
A full range of supports and resources will be available to help schools start planning to meet these new requirements. You can find these resources, and more information on the following web pages:
Common Practice Model – Education in New Zealand
Te Mātaiaho | Curriculum Refresh (education.govt.nz)
The implementation deadline for the full curricula remains at 2027.
Pou Toru - Students / Ākonga / Inclusive Education
Shane Buckner, John Bangma, Phil Palfrey and Gavin Beere
In-Class Support (ICS) funding was introduced to contribute towards providing a teacher aide (TA) for students with continuing high learning needs, who are not funded through ORS. From the outset, the demand was great while the resource was limited. Completing the application is time consuming and the outcomes frustrating when schools are declined, yet the child clearly meets the criteria.
Currently there are some reviews of this resource underway. The MOE has agreed that regionally, things can be done differently. This is already happening in some areas, including Canterbury, with mixed feedback. In Auckland, the MOE and RTLB are moderating data from the last 3 years to guide their decision making. There is a desire to avoid over assessment and provide schools more agency. This has the potential to ALL change if the accord TA funding gets any traction.
The Scale of unmet need! - far more tamariki are meeting the criteria for way too few places. This is frustrating for all. There have been allegations that ‘some’ schools were not using the resource for its intended use, however, most schools, with ICS allocate far more support than they are funded for.
Pou Wha - Te Tikanga Ture/ Policy/ Systems
Hayley Read, Julie Hepburn, Cherie Taylor-Patel
What is Te Rito?
- Te Rito is a national information-sharing exchange that enables data about ākonga to follow them throughout their education.
- Te Rito also offers a range of tools to support teaching, learning and classroom administration but the focus of this phase of the Te Rito programme is to:
- Connect kura and schools’ SMS to Te Rito
- Progressively give kura and schools access to Te Rito so that when ākonga enrol, the data is available to their new kura or school.
Why do we need it?
- To enable information about learners and ākonga to be held securely in one place throughout their education. Right now, there is no way to share learners’ information safely and easily when they move from one school to another.
- When schools’ SMSs are connected to Te Rito, ākonga data will be copied into Te Rito every 24 hours, creating a continual record of core information about ākonga and providing an extra level of data protection.
- When kura and schools get access to Te Rito, they will be better able to support learners and ākonga from the day they enrol, and the transition will be less stressful for learners, families and whānau.
Actions going forward
Myles Ferris and Graeme Barber (Co-Chairs) want to speak to school leaders to explain the process of how to join and what it entails. Feel free to contact them anytime: Myles.Ferris@education.govt.nz, Graeme.Barber@education.govt.nz.
Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti arahia ō tātou mahi
Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work
Ngā mihi,
Leanne
NZPF President