Journal article

Applying for a new teaching job in New Zealand and Australia used to be pretty cut and dried - the best qualified was selected and appointed by the Education Department. Times change. In New Zealand all appointments are now in the hands of Boards of Trustees. In Victoria the community has a hand in choosing school principals.

Early this century one particular piece of 'wisdom' about human nature gained endorsement from very different sources. These suggested that early characteristics, whether genetically or environmentally influenced, were set into a fixed mould, thereafter changing with the greatest difficulty or not at all. In advance of reliable empirical evidence these views arose from three unrelated and at that time over-simple theories: genetic, psychoanalytic and behaviourist.

Learning only testable facts will not be enough for survival. Learning fact-finding skills will not be enough. Independent thinking, being able to make good decisions, having clear values and a store of useful knowledge are needed.
So teachers want to help students develop effective methods for handling the overwhelming flow of information surrounding them. This means adapting your thinking in a flexible manner. Adapting and regulating your cognitive processes is the key to independent and life-long learning.

In 1990 it may be relatively easy to set up state-funded schools in New Zealand which do not teach in English. Although many countries have parallel school systems teaching in different languages, somehow, in Australia and New Zealand the idea seems strange. What are the facts about going to school in a language which is not the major language? Does it hurt?

Therese: Because, you know, Maoris are considered to be pretty dumb, you know. I've always had this strong desire to be a criminal defence lawyer, but that's a pretty high class job!
R.S.: And Maoris and high class don't go together?
Therese: Not really!
R.S.: Would Maoris and low class go together?
Therese: Seems to be these days . . .
R.S.: What's low class?
Therese: Just . .. They seem to all be city council workers, cleaners and all that.





 

No matter where you go in the world, secondary schools have a lot in common. This article describes high schools in the USA, but the description of the good news and the bad, problems and solutions, traditions and innovation, rings very true for Australia and New Zealand.

Believing that it is our responsibility to address from our particular disciplines the most dangerous and destructive activities of our species, violence and war; recognising that science is a human cultural product which cannot be definitive nor all encompassing; and gratefully acknowledging the support of the authorities of Seville and representatives of the Spanish UNESCO, we, the undersigned scholars from around the world and from relevant sciences, have met and arrived at the following Statement on Violence.

In 1984, in one hundred Form 2 (Year 7) classes and in one hundred Form 5 (Year 10) classes throughout New Zealand, six thousand children wrote three pieces each. Their work was collected and the 18,000 pieces analytically marked according to internationally agreed criteria. Now the results are known. Not all the international results and comparisons from the other 13 countries and systems are available. It would be good to know 'how well New Zealand scored', but there are dangers in that - international surveys are sometimes treated as academic Olympics.

Nine out of ten children change from one school to another as they go from primary to secondary school. There is much discontinuity at the divide for the children, reinforced by the way in which the administration and functions of education have evolved, with separate systems of primary and secondary education, separate funding, separate teacher associations, inspectorates, training, curriculum and conditions of service.

This story about sex-stereotyping was used by two American researchers to illustrate the persistence in United States' schools of traditional ideas on sex roles. But it could have come from a New Zealand kindergarten. Or an Australian one. In all three countries educational institutions have been slow to recognise the special problems faced by girls and even slower to deal with them.