Teach International
2012 / www.educationreview.co.nz
Kiwi teachers abroad tell it like it is
Focus on second languages
League Tables:
Learning from international experience Pathway of the poor?
Vocational education under scrutiny
New Zealand
Part of the
EDUCATION REVIEWseries
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“Who dares to teach...”
“One day, the school might be faced by a riot with things being smashed and students being removed from the premises. The next day all the students come in, sit quietly and listen to almost everything you have to say, ask questions and work to the best of their abilities.” These are the words of Cameron Andrew, a Kiwi teacher working in London teaching children removed from the mainstream, mostly for behavioural issues. (p18) “...however, it was Madame Ranson who gave me the opportunity to practise and to hear real French being used on a daily basis down to swearing in the car at all the other useless drivers.” This is Chris Durrant recounting his experience in France on a Language Immersion Award. (p12) “In the classroom, we see shelves of activitybased text books and booklets apparently devised by government staff. The teachers are not consulted in the process, which often results in outdated resources.” Maggie Twaddle, sharing her encounter of a vastly different education in Tanzania. (p9) “New Zealand teachers are generally highly regarded. Parents love them because they can individualise the learning for their children. They also bring a different perspective to teaching and learning.” Peter Cowie, on teaching in Qatar. (p6) “Sometimes, I wonder what impact I am having. Am I making a difference? It’s not easy to measure or observe the effects of what I do.” Laurie Williams, reflecting on his time volunteering in the Solomon Islands (p10). Cameron, Chris, Maggie, Peter, and Laurie are just a handful of New Zealand teachers featured in this issue, who have followed the lure of adventure, money, experience, altruism, learning, or travel to far-flung classrooms around the globe. Their stories are compelling and candid, giving readers a glimpse of the realities of teaching abroad – sometimes negative, mostly positive, never boring. This issue of Education Review looks beyond the passport stamps and photo albums to the nitty gritty of international education. Education New Zealand reveals its new vision for New Zealand’s international education industry. We take a closer look at the private training establishments making headlines for failing to provide an adequate education for their international students and the NZQA’s role of watchdog in maintaining quality control. More than ever, we are looking to other countries to inform best practice on current issues pertaining to our education system. Here, we consider the experiences of countries that have ‘been there and done that’ with league tables. We listen to international experts on early childhood education, vocational education pathways, and programmes to help children with Asperger’s Syndrome. John Cotton Dana once said, “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”. This Teach International issue of Education Review embodies this sentiment. The teachers, organisations, and researchers featured here see global opportunities rather than international barriers. Do visit our website, www.educationreview.co.nz, for more articles including those that look at international schools, Cognition Education’s expansion into South East Asia and more teacher experiences abroad. Jude Barback, editor editor@educationreview.co.nz
Teach International
2012 / www.educationreview.co.nz
Kiwi Teachers abroad TeLL iT LiKe iT is
Focus on second languages
League TabLes:
Learning from inTernaTionaL experience paThway of The poor?
Vocational education under scrutiny
6 14
INSIDE: New Zealand
Part of the
EDUCATION REVIEWseries
2 League tables: learning from experience 4
PTEs and the watchdog
6
Kiwi teachers abroad tell it like it is
9 Margaret and Margaret: two teachers from different worlds 10 Making a difference in the Solomons 11 Education New Zealand’s bold new plans 12 Focus on second language teaching and learning
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14 In Piaget’s footsteps: leading child psychologist
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15 Secret Agent Society: a new programme for children with Asperger’s Syndrome 16 Pathway of the Poor? Vocational education and training 18 From Dannevirke to Dangerous Minds: one teacher’s experience 20 From Nelson to Nepal: volunteer teaching
Editor Jude Barback Advertising Belle Hanrahan production manager Barbara la Grange Layout Aaron Morey Publisher & general manager Bronwen Wilkins EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shane Cummings Contributing writeRS
Myra Francis Serina Esposito Lawrence Watt Grant McPherson Martin Weren Rick, McKinley Cameron Andrew Chris Durrant
Teach International
Vol. 3 Issue 4
APN Educational Media Level 1, Saatchi & Saatchi Building 101-103 Courtenay Place Wellington 6011 New Zealand PO Box 200, Wellington 6140 Tel: 04 471 1600 Fax: 04 471 1080 © 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. New Zealand
EDUCATION REVIEWseries
ISSN: 1173-8014 Errors and omissions: Whilst the publishers have attempted to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information, no responsibility can be accepted by the publishers for any errors or omissions.
Education Review Teach International 2012
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feature education Primary
League Tables:
Learning from experience
because they do not take account of a school’s whole context. NZEI president, Ian Leckie, agrees. He has written to schools advising them not to release information to the news media under the Official Information Act. Leckie suggests that any country that used league tables had gone backwards.
International experience
If there was a league table for international education systems, New Zealand would likely rank near the top. Will the introduction of primary school league tables see our ranking plummet? JUDE BARBACK considers the differing international viewpoints, research and experience.
T
he Ministry of Education’s proposal to release data on primary schools’ performance levels has been met with mixed reactions. The main cause for controversy is the potential for media to compile and disseminate public league tables based on the information given, under the Official Information Act. A Herald DigiPoll revealed that almost 59 per cent of respondents approve of publishing information on schools’ performance, either by the Ministry, or the media, or both. While the survey didn’t explore the rationale behind the participants’ stances, a common reason people are in support of league tables is the need for democratic openness. Parents, in particular, are likely to value the ability to compare the performance between schools in their area. League tables can also help provide targets for change. If a school is lagging behind, and everyone knows about it thanks to the published league tables, the lagging school is likely to try harder to raise its game, so the argument goes. However, there is also strong opposition to the idea. While only 36 per cent of DigiPoll respondents believe comparisons between schools are unfair, it is a very audible minority.
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Among them is Paul Drummond from the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, who says league tables would provide an incomplete picture for parents on which to base their choice. “Parents have always compared schools so that they can choose the most suitable match for their children, which usually ends up being their neighbourhood school. They access ERO reports, talk to principals, and teachers, and other parents, and visit schools before enrolling their children. League tables will not help them because they will be based solely on immature national standards data in two subjects, which cannot provide a picture of a whole school,” says Drummond. A large cluster of education academics from universities across New Zealand share Drummond’s stance. Over 100 names were attached to an open letter, which called on the Government to halt plans to compile league tables of schools. The letter outlined how league tables have the potential to cause harm to learners, teachers, schools, and local communities. “Data release in league table form will ... misinform rather than inform parent and community judgments about how well children are learning,” the letter read. It also affirms that national standards are unsuitable for comparing schools
Certainly there is some staunch opposition to league tables in England, when used as a basis for parents’ decisions on where to send their children. Rankings of schools’ exam results were first published in England in the early 1990s, followed by the publication of key stage test-score ranking at the end of primary school. The rankings appear in the national and local media and are used by schools in their promotional material. Initially, the simple school averages formed the basis of rankings and unsurprisingly, schools with the brightest and advantaged students tended to emerge at the top of the rankings. In 1995, the government accepted the weaknesses of the system and moved to a ‘value-added’ system, which takes account of the different levels of achievement of students entering their schools. More recently, these have been tweaked again to form a ‘contextual value-added’ system, which takes into account school-level factors such as the previous achievement of students, eligibility for free school meals, lack of spoken English at home – all in an attempt to create a fair ranking system. However, expert on the subject, Harvey Goldstein, of University of Bristol, argues that the contextual value-added ranking system – or any of the previous systems – is not appropriate for parents making decisions on school choice. Goldstein says if a school-level factor is associated with achievement, this is strictly part of the effect being measured and therefore not something to be adjusted for, making the system inappropriate for choice purposes. Goldstein also argues that league tables result in parents choosing a school based on future predicted results. For example, parents of 11-yearold students selecting schools on the basis of the published exam results of 16-year-olds in the same year, are basing their choice on results predicted five years into the future. An article by Goldstein and colleague George Leckie, School league tables: What can they really tell us? states categorically that ‘parents relying on league tables to select a school for their children are using a tool not fit for purpose’. Their article also touches on the perverse side effects of league tables. Goldstein and Leckie discuss the incentive for schools to concentrate excessively on borderline students at the expense of those likely to achieve high results, and the incentive to discourage students from taking difficult subjects such as foreign languages
and sciences, because they fear depressing the proportion achieving passes. In another article published this year, Measuring Success, Goldstein and co-author Beth Foley point to evidence that schools engage in ‘gaming’ to improve their ranking, by manipulating exam entry policy to the detriment of student choice, or even by excluding low achievers. These concerns echo those raised by teachers in New Zealand over the proposal to move to performance-pay incentives. In fact, the prevalence of league tables has grown out of the performance-management movement in the private sector. Advancing technology and availability of large administrative databases have also played a part. League tables are now widely used in the public sector, in health, social services, policing, and now education sectors. Goldstein and Foley give a number of caveats and recommendations for the use of league tables in education, based on international research and pilot studies. Top among them is the suggestion that league tables should not be closely linked with rewards, to discourage ‘gaming’ tactics as described above. This would also serve to make the tables a more objective measure of performance. Interestingly, the authors suggest the government should consider ways to prevent league tables being exploited by the media. Further, the limitations and strengths, including
the degree of statistical uncertainty, should be made clear to the public. Ultimately, Goldstein and Foley argue that consideration should be given to alternative ways for measuring and comparing educational performance. They suggest performance information should be used for screening device purposes, that are not published or made available beyond those schools involved, but used as part of an improvement programme, so that schools can seek improvement without perverse incentives that may arise from ‘exposing’ them using public rankings. Russell Wildeman is also sceptical about league tables from his experience with the South African system. He says school league tables ‘could only result in a race to the bottom in an environment that is already too competitive and deeply unequal’. However, British research, also from the University of Bristol, shows that the performance levels of Welsh schools has fallen in the ten years since league tables have been abolished, particularly for schools in the poorer areas. A study earlier this year showed that the same decrease was not apparent in English schools where the league tables remain, suggesting that the competition provided by the league tables could be a necessary driver for performance. The Australian government introduced public reporting of national literacy and numeracy results last year and like here, there are both proponents and opponents to the decision.
Upon the launch of MySchool, the website used to report Australian schools’ results, teachers threatened to boycott the tests. Federal president of the Australian Education Union, Angelo Gavrielatos, is strongly opposed. “There’s ample evidence that high-stakes testing and the comparison and ranking of schools leads to deepening inequity and segregation of schooling.” A scathing piece in Australia’s The Punch, published several years ago when the decision was being made in Australia whether or not to introduce school league tables, suggested that the Australian government should not be looking to countries like the UK and the USA for educational direction, but rather to New Zealand. “Countries that do not use league tables include Finland and New Zealand – two countries that consistently top international benchmarks for student performance. So why would we want to follow the lead of education systems that Australia clearly outperforms, and ignore the lessons from those education systems that do it better than ours?” reads the article. If that was the feeling several years ago, it will be interesting to see what light is cast on New Zealand’s education system, both here and internationally, once school league tables are in full swing. Of more significance, will the naming and shaming tactic help drive performance as suggested in some studies? Like so many educational initiatives, only time will tell. n
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Education Review Teach International 2012
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student recruitment
PTEs and the Watchdog Private training establishments catering for international students have rarely strayed from the media spotlight in recent years as concerns over corrupt and ill-equipped institutions continue to grow. JUDE BARBACK looks at NZQA’s tricky role as watchdog.
A
s New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) continues to crack down on private training establishments (PTEs) not making the grade, a murky picture of corrupt and greedy education providers begins to emerge in the media. While NZQA points out that the vast majority of PTEs are compliant and providing quality education, the organisation has been just as quick to take a hard line against the few that are breaching standards. Perhaps too quick, say some institutions.
The high price of international students Interestingly, the most recent concerns to emerge around the enrolment of international students at PTEs have little to do with NZQA. The Herald recently exposed several Auckland education providers for offering up to 45 per cent in commission for agents to enrol international students in their schools and one provider, Kingston Institute, that offered 70 per cent. Andy Leighe, who heads up Kingston’s international department, defends the high rate of commission, and says the 70 per cent was a one-off special offer intended to increase student numbers. Leighe says the information reported in the Herald was unnecessarily and unfairly damning. He has a right to feel hard done by. Kingston Institute and others are within their rights to offer whatever level of commission they see fit. While Education New Zealand says the normal rate of commission is around 20 to 25 per cent, there is no regulatory body to dictate to providers on this matter. NZQA does not have a guideline for agency rates. After all, they can make their own business decisions. So the real question is: why are such high rates necessary? Why are institutions struggling to recruit international students? Is the number of international students seeking qualifications from PTEs declining? Is fierce competition driving institutions to offer such high commission rates? The recent migration trends report released by the Department of Labour earlier this year shows that the number of international students approved to study in the last financial year has decreased by seven per cent from the previous year. The decline forms part of a gradual
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Education Review Teach International 2012
downward trend since 2002, when international student numbers peaked. Despite a decrease in the very high number of Chinese students a decade ago, China remains the largest source of international students, followed by India and South Korea on 10 per cent. Dr Richard Goodall, president of AIS St Helens, says, like many others, AIS is finding it hard to keep up with the international competition. The international student market is typically seen as a lucrative boost to economies and countries like the UK, Australia, USA, and Canada typically invest more into the international education market. Furthermore, the immigration opportunities are not what they once were for those coming to New Zealand. Potential migrants are likely to see a weakened economy that favours New Zealanders for jobs and choose elsewhere to pursue their studies. Compounding these pressures is the local education agent market, which Goodall describes as “quite savage”. The main regulating factor for the rate of commission appears to be the agents themselves. Unlike immigration agents, education agents are not required to be licensed, leaving a system open to the altruism or greed of the agent. Goodall says there is a strong call to license local education agents to help level the playing field. As it stands, an education agent could potentially lure a student with the promise of splitting the commission with them. However, it is important to emphasise that the vast majority are reputable agents, who play an invaluable part in recruiting international students with a genuine interest in their chosen course for institutions with a genuine interest in providing the students with a quality education. A good example can be found in Education New Zealand’s Specialist Agent training programme, developed several years ago to increase the effectiveness and commitment of agents promoting New Zealand education. The programme also requires a commitment to an ethical agent code of conduct.
Immigration concerns Perhaps the issue of empty classes may be explained in part by the increasing number of fraudulent student visas, resulting in enrolled students who sought work instead of attending the school.
An immigration agent told the Herald that at least two PTEs were offering him from 70 to 85 per cent commission if he could find foreign students who ‘did not utilise school resources’, meaning students who only require a student visa to remain in New Zealand but do not intend to attend school. Typically, these students may seek work instead of study. At least eight Chinese on student visas had been found working in a vineyard in Blenheim, despite being enrolled in Auckland training establishments. This is where the NZQA is not so tolerant. The organisation confirms that an establishment proven to be enrolling non-attending international students may face cancellation of their registration as a training establishment.
NZQA’s hard line NZQA has certainly wielded its power in the past over such matters. One of the notable incidents was the closure of API Institute of Education in May last year, when staff blew the whistle after over 150 international students gained fraudulent qualifications in less than a year. Ivy College was forced to close its doors last August after NZQA expressed a lack of confidence in its qualifications. For the same reason, Oxford International Academies was placed in voluntary liquidation in June this year. Just weeks ago, Ellipse Institute was deregistered for repeatedly failing to keep student fees in its trust account, an action claimed by the school to be an administrative hiccup. The real victims are the students, many of whom have difficulty in transferring their studies because other institutions will not accept their work, and demand full payment for them to start a new course. Oxford International Academies (OIA) is a case in point. The affected students struggled to transfer to other institutions. One student reportedly paid $6000 for a New Zealand Institute of Management diploma, which began in March and was due to finish in November. Upon its closure, the student received a partial refund of $3600 based on the amount of the course he had completed. NZQA advised him to apply to an approved provider to complete his studies, but four of the suggested schools insisted on him paying the full amount to start the course again. Lloyd Quartermaine of NZQA says this particular incident has been resolved and NZQA strives to protect the interests of all students in these circumstances. The student fee protection mechanism means that students shouldn’t be out of pocket in the event their training provider closes. NZQA does claim to have the students’ best interests at heart when it comes to their fees and education.
As part of its quality assurance processes, NZQA operates an external evaluation and review of each tertiary education organisation, including PTEs. The external evaluation and review process provides an independent judgement of their educational performance and capability in self-assessment. Judgements are reported as highly confident, confident, not yet confident, or not confident. The reviews are initiated through an annual scheduling process: they occur at least once every four years and are increased in frequency if concerns are noted. Beyond academic and financial concerns, the Ministry of Education has developed a Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students designed to ensure the wellbeing of students from overseas. While academic concerns remain in the domain of the NZQA, the code sets out standards for advice and care and procedures for making complaints. Code compliance sits within the remit of Education New Zealand.
Too heavy handed? It seems clear there is a need for quality control measures to be taken with PTEs, but is the NZQA being too heavy handed with some providers? The recent closure of Ellipse Institute highlights this concern. The institute’s lawyer describes NZQA’s actions as “draconian and wrong”, claiming the students’ money was withdrawn from the trust account for cashflow purposes but covered by insurance; the failure to note this in writing was put down to a clerical error. An Education Counts case study of an English language PTE reveals a conflict between students’ needs and compliance with government regulations. “The compliance burdens are far in excess. Really, what we’re trying to do is help the student to move on,” says one representative from the institution. “[I’m caught between] NZQA and
TEC and the aspirations of the students.” The case study gives a clear indication of the NZQA’s presence, but questions whether their reviews are an accurate measure of what is happening within the PTE. One case study participant makes this point. “We do have staff meetings, and I will probably call the Director of Studies on a regular basis. We don’t record those anywhere. That’s one of the issues. NZQA do audits. … ‘How many meetings do we have? Where’s your documentary evidence?’” In protecting the students, NZQA appears to be walking a fine line between providing quality assurance and allowing PTEs some flexibility to meet the individual needs of their students. Dick Cook, from Ames IT Academy, welcomes the presence of NZQA. He believes it is necessary for periodic audits for all tertiary education providers to ensure New Zealand is seen to be maintaining the delivery of quality education. However, he agrees it is a “fine balancing act” catering for students’ needs and complying with NZQA’s standards. Cook says, as a general observation, that NZQA’s review process appears to favour the more traditional tertiary education providers like universities and institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs), where private institutions have different needs and tend to operate quite differently. The NZQA Quality Assurance Framework does appear to lump PTEs in with wānanga, ITPs, industry training organisations and government training establishments.
Necessary measures Another Education Counts article says that PTEs may be incentivised to be less inclined to select students with ‘high needs’ as most operate primarily as profit-making businesses. While the pursuit of profits certainly does not equate to poor-quality education, the very nature of the PTE model cannot help but place more onus
on the directors and owners to ensure quality education is at the heart of their operation. For this reason, reputable PTEs, like AMES IT Academy, and indeed the vast majority, welcome the NZQA’s presence. AIS St Helens certainly does. “We had been pressing NZQA to take action on institutions not upholding standards we thought were warranted,” says president, Richard Goodall. In fulfilling the role of whistle blower, AIS felt NZQA was initially slow to act. Goodall says he is pleased that action has finally been taken and the “less desirable operators” made accountable. Goodall believes it is these operators that are tarnishing the good name of other providers. He says he has discussed with the ITI (Independent Tertiary Institutions) the possibility of being categorised as something other than a PTE. He has a point. AIS St Helens, a large established operation that has been running for 22 years, offering up to Masters-level programmes, appears to be a vastly different institution to a smaller trades-based training provider. Goodall believes that to the international decision makers – the parents and the students – the categorisation as a PTE is detrimental to AIS, especially given the bad reputation earned through the exposure of noncompliant establishments. Goodall says AIS invests a lot of resources and time into meeting quality standards and finds it frustrating when other institutions fail to make the same commitment to quality. If all institutions acted altruistically, there wouldn’t be a problem. But as it stands, the increasingly fragile international student market is dependent on PTEs collectively raising their game. Regardless of whether they need to be fine-tuned to better suit the operation of PTEs, NZQA’s evaluation and review process and other quality assurance measures are an important part of keeping this part of the education sector running smoothly. n
Education Review Teach International 2012
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feature experiences Teacher
Kiwi teachers abroad
tell it like it is JUDE BARBACK asks New Zealand teachers overseas the important questions about recruitment, money, family, culture, and teaching. Recruitment agent, Lauranne Croot, also shares her views. What is involved with the Q agency registration process including the time frame involved? What was your experience of the recruitment process?
Peter Cowie, Qatar: I went through the
Teachanywhere agency. For me, there was a threemonth gap between starting to look for a teaching position and being offered one. This was mainly to do with the timing of international jobs being advertised. Most of the best schools hire in January for a September start. As far as the process, I updated my CV, talked to the agent on the phone, outlined the type of jobs and places I was interested in, and just waited to see what turned up. I was offered the first job I applied for. Anonymous, China: Very easy. A quick process to register with Teachanywhere, and I was contacted quickly by possible employers. The agent was in touch regularly and continued to present me with options. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: I don’t remember much other than submitting my CV, in and it didn’t take long for Teachanywhere to ring me, and give their feedback and where they think I would be best suited. After that, I got an interview with the school, a week later I got offered a job, and a lot of paperwork followed. Excellent communication from my recruiter made this easier. Karl Signal, Malaysia: Registration was fine – a few documents to fill out as to be expected, and I cannot remember the time frame as I am an organised person who does not need time frames or deadlines to work to! Recruitment was fairly straightforward. Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: Firstly, Teachanywhere (Randstad) is a reputable and professional agency that I would recommend to others. Secondly, the registration process consists of putting together a profile of the teacher, their strengths, qualifications, experiences, gaining their CV, being in correspondence with the teacher and the agency either by emails or telephone calls. My experience with Dubai was very fast. It happened well within a week from the time I was informed about the vacancy, to the interview on the telephone, then to getting the job. Lauranne Croot is excellent. She is friendly, approachable, helpful, patient, and very informative. Her support and encouragement was vital in the process. Anonymous, UAE: The registration process is very thorough, quick, and informative. Leading into my new role in HR Education Administration/ School Support, I deal with recruitment agencies to pre-screen candidates for selection as EMTs (English Medium Teachers). Due to security clearances of the UAE, set criteria is required which the agency has to ensure all candidates meet before
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Education Review Teach International 2012
progressing forward to the interview stage. This is an essential part of the agency’s job, which has always been very thorough. Justine Wedge, Malaysia: Since I was already registered with the agency, it was just a matter of informing them what I was looking for and within a few days I was already looking at possibilities. The experience is fine/normal, since I have done this three times already with the same agency. Lauranne Croot, recruitment agent: Teachers are required to register on our website. Once they have registered their details, we then send the teacher our registration requirements with an international CV sample for them to update their CV. The CV is your first introduction of you to a school and it is vital you put the time into following our advice to meet the CV requirements of our international principals. International schools are very pedantic about what must be included in a CV as this helps our schools complete a work permit for a successful teacher. Teaching certificates, references and police checks then follow. Once we have an updated CV, the process can be very quick from us submitting your CV, to a school requesting an interview, to an offer being made the next day. We have had teachers placed within 2-3 days of registering with us. We also do a phone screening of our teachers once they have registered online.
Did you have a clear idea of Q where you wanted to teach – if so, why this destination? Peter Cowie, Qatar: I wanted to teach
somewhere in the Middle East because of the generous contracts and proximity to major travel destinations. It was also the furthest from New Zealand, which meant that we had a large travel allowance. Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: Financially the move had to be of benefit, so the UAE was a natural choice. In the future, my priorities will change and curriculum and school reputation will become more important. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: Yes, I read about the UAE as a going-forward country, but still had that strong grip on its tradition and culture. It was also so different from home and halfway around the world, which made a perfect spot to live and see Europe and the rest of this side of the world. They also offered the best package to teachers. Karl Signal, Malaysia: I initially wanted to go to the UAE, but a lot of positions I wanted (advisory) were ‘drying up’. The opportunity arose to be an advisor in Malaysia and when I thought about it, sounded better than the UAE in many ways – cost of living, climate, proximity to New Zealand.
New Zealand teachers are generally highly regarded. Parents love them because they can individualise the learning for their children. Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: When I first made the enquiry, I asked about Spain! For its culture, warm weather, and close proximity to other neighbouring European countries. However, Spain wasn’t a popular destination. So Dubai was the ‘hot spot’ where teachers were travelling for work in 2008. Lauranne Croot: We recommend doing some research on countries you would like to live and teach in. We will advise by looking at your experience and qualifications to best match you to positions available and will discuss countries that are more family-friendly for teachers with dependents and non-teaching spouses.
How do you think New Zealand Q teachers are perceived at your school, and overseas in general?
Peter Cowie, Qatar: New Zealand teachers are generally highly regarded. Parents love them because they can individualise the learning for their children. They also bring a different perspective to teaching and learning. New Zealand teachers are generally much more adaptable. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: Top of the range, we have qualities that most other teachers don’t have. Or maybe it’s because of the harsh treatment we get from the New Zealand Government; we were overworked at home. We work less here but are still seen as the most hardworking and effective teachers in our school. When local people meet us and when they find out we are New Zealanders,
How has working with other Q English-speaking teachers of different nationalities impacted on your teaching?
Peter Cowie, Qatar: It has made me realise that New Zealand teachers are great!
SAnonymous, China: Incredible growth in my leadership role. Different culture, language, expectations. I have now learnt to speak one of the most difficult languages (Mandarin) at a basic level. The various nationalities of the teachers and children have had only a positive influence on me. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: Half of our English speaking staff are from New Zealand. I don’t really see any impact on my job other than the usual moaning from the Brits. Karl Signal, Malaysia: It has helped me to refine and sharpen my own practice by analysing others’ work – I am a consultant rather than a teacher. Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: I have enjoyed sharing our diverse experiences with fellow teachers from around the world. Each one of us bring something different to the table and it keeps you continually learning, expanding, and growing. Anonymous, UAE: I am a strong believer that the New Zealand education is amongst the best in the world. I have learnt that as educators we all bring strengths and have weaknesses. However, the current reform project in the UAE is ideal for teachers from New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom in particular, as the curriculum is very much student-centred/outcomes-based/integrated. Teachers from these countries find it very easy to implement in class and have a higher success rate in teaching and behaviour management. you see their eyes open wide and the lamb chops, kiwi fruit questions come. I think we are loved here in the UAE and with Oman next door, where we get to go for free, it’s amazing. My US friends were jealous when they had to pay 200 AED each to enter Oman and we paid nothing. Karl Signal, Malaysia: New Zealand teachers are held in high regard as we are ‘Westerners’. Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: New Zealand teachers have a very reputable name around the world. We are recognised for our numeracy and literacy programmes. We are hardworking and amicable. Anonymous, UAE: From my perspective as being part of the HR team that recruits/interviews candidates selected from the recruitment agencies, New Zealand teachers are well respected. Justine Wedge, Malaysia: Being a South African, I can say that New Zealand teachers are welcomed in international schools. Like South Africans, they are well trained, and work hard. Lauranne Croot: New Zealand teachers are liked by international schools. However, in some schools the fee-paying parents can dictate the teachers they want teaching their children. I’m afraid our Kiwi accent is not always preferred especially in British and American Curriculum schools. The Queen’s English is definitely preferred. New Zealand primary teachers are sought after for their skills in literacy teaching.
Has working in a different Qacademic year been difficult?
Peter Cowie, Qatar: It takes a while to adjust
to the rhythms of school life in the northern hemisphere school year. Your first Christmas is the hardest. When all your teacher friends in New Zealand are looking forward to a long summer break, you are just finishing term one. After the first year, you get used to things. Job-wise, it may be hard to come back to New Zealand because you will be finishing your contract in June. Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: Initially yes. The first year has in fact been 1.5 years. From now on, it will be fine. When I eventually move back to New Zealand, it will be in August so there will be a few months of relief work before the school year begins. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: Yes, especially for the first year where I left my job at home halfway through the year and start another year straight away. I am looking forward to my summer holiday after 18 months of teaching. Karl Signal, Malaysia: The Malaysian school year is early January to mid-November, so very little difference. Justine Wedge, Malaysia: Not at all, this is what I am used to. For a first timer, it can be a bit disorientating. But overall, it’s fine! Lauranne Croot: The international academic year from September to July can work against teachers here. It’s not ideal, as it means you are leaving your New Zealand class part-way through the year. Secondary teachers find this especially difficult. August/September is when the majority
of international teaching contracts are available, so New Zealand teachers do need to consider making themselves available part-way through our year to secure the better contracts.
What has your experience of the Q different cultural aspects been? What is similar or different to New Zealand?
Susan McKenna, Abu Dhabi: For the past two and a half years, I’ve been working in a Government Girls’ High School in Abu Dhabi. In the school, we had local Emirati teachers, Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian teachers, as well as eight American and Canadian English teachers. As the school was in the early stages of a new school reform, there were many changes happening daily. Some of the Arabic teachers were very receptive to change but others were not. There were Science and Maths teachers who totally embraced the professional development on learning studentcentred instruction, critical and creative thinking, and other pedagogical changes and are now wonderful teachers delivering lessons to a very high standard. Whereas other Arabic teachers struggled with the change and may never move forward. Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: It has made me understand some generalisations about other countries and their people. It has taught me to be stronger and fight more for what I want as a person rather than the Kiwi laidback attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ as that isn’t always the case. It has also made me proud to be a Kiwi as New Zealand is a well-respected country. In terms of every day, in Abu Dhabi the expat community is big so you don’t spend any time with locals; in fact, the only time you really speak to them is when they come in as parents or for official things i.e. police, airport etc. Most people who work there are expats from somewhere. There is also a big class system i.e. Emirati at the top; white faces (and yes, I do mean that as white faces as you could be anywhere with a white face and fall into this. This is where South Africans have trouble, as white South Africans fall into this but black and coloured don’t); other middle eastern countries (this varies from country to country and some are definitely above the white faces but not all); then ‘workers’ which include builders, nannies, drivers etc. who mostly come from South East Asia, Pakistan, India etc. The workers are treated very poorly by a lot and this rubs off on children who continue the habit i.e. treating their drivers and nannies like slaves. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: I love it; I try to participate in whatever is happening culturally and I try to make friends with the locals. People are friendly, loving, family-oriented, and very helpful. Daily routine is different. Breakfast at 11am after your first few classes, lunch when you go home after school at 4-5pm, dinner at 10pm, and go to bed at 1am. Karl Signal, Malaysia: Malaysia is a Muslim country and is also a country of mixed races, with a large ethnic Chinese population. It is rich in this respect. Where I live now (Sarawak on Borneo) also has the added dimension of the indigenous tribes like the Iban and Bidayuh. It’s been great being able to witness the various ethnic festivities, dancing, and food. Education Review Teach International 2012
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Teacher experiences Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: I love to travel and have had the privilege of travelling to many different places around the world. It’s fun and exciting to be in a new city, learning a new culture, trying new foods, making new friends, and planning more travelling experiences. At the end of the day, I believe New Zealand is stunning, it’s breath-taking, and it’s wonderful to always return back home. Anonymous, UAE: Living and being immersed into a Muslim society was initially challenging. However, after living here for five years you quickly adapt to the ways of life in the UAE. Being more conservative with dressing has been a big change in my thoughts. You become quite a prude in some ways and when visiting other non-Muslim countries, you feel a sense of freedom to do whatever you like. Justine Wedge, Malaysia: In Malaysia, there is nothing similar to New Zealand! It’s a very different mindset and a mixture of Asian cultures and foods, etc. If someone wants to experience something different to New Zealand, then Asia is the right place. The UAE, my previous place, is also different. At the end of the day, it’s what you make of it.
your financial QHave expectations been met?
Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: Financial
expectations have been met. All the benefits exist. However, it is interesting that the teaching profession is not regarded as such. It is considered more of a technical job, unfortunately. Anonymous, China: Salary is good for someone in my position (Principal/Director). There is a wide variation for teachers in the international schools. I get flights home and a lot of unexpected ‘treats’: trips to places in China, etc. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: More than expected. I got lucky with my contract and with some changes in the school, I got paid more than I expected. Accommodation is top class, brand new, spacious apartments. They gave me a three-bedroom apartment with two lounges, kitchen, separate dining room, laundry, maid’s room, store room, and four bathrooms. But that’s for a married couple with two children. Flights were paid for all members of my family, and they give you cash annually to fly homem but that’s up to you if you want to go home or somewhere else. Karl Signal, Malaysia: Yes, on the whole. The added bonus is that the cost of living is low compared to New Zealand – one must always factor that in – as savings are higher when you have fewer expenses. Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: My experience with Dubai (which is tax-free) was there was more opportunity to save and to enjoy the luxuries of travelling. I did expect more salary, only because of what others were earning, but they worked outside the teaching profession (e.g. engineering etc). Lauranne Croot: Salaries are relevant to the cost of living for each country so this needs to be factored in. Many New Zealand teachers have unrealistic salary expectations. They haven’t taken into account the cost of living. For example, the cost of living in China is a lot lower so the salaries are reflective of this. The salaries offered in China might be lower when put into New Zealand dollars, but the outgoings are far less in China and therefore, teachers can save a lot more. For the
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Middle East and Indonesia, it’s a tax-free salary. International schools offer the complete package: competitive salaries, return flights (with some providing home flights at the end of each year), accommodation, and general medical coverage.
If you have family members Q accompanying you, how has the experience affected them? Peter Cowie, Qatar: My wife and son came
with me. They both loved the experience. My son was nine when we arrived. He was just the right age to enjoy travelling the world. If you have children, read the education allowance section of your contract closely. Education costs big time internationally, and not all schools offer an education allowance. This is very important if you have teenage children as the availability of good-quality high schools that you can afford can be a bit hit and miss. Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: Wife and two young children. All adjusted well. No issues. For my children it has opened up new ideas, thinking etc. in both school and culturally. Anonymous, China: I have my wife with me. She has a teaching position at the same school. She has made friends with many of the other international staff along with the Chinese teachers. We have quite a large ex-pat community in the area so we have friends away from the school. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: All members of my family love it, in fact we are thinking of staying here for longer than initially planned. Karl Signal, Malaysia: They love it here. My wife has met other ex-pats. The children go to a nice international school, where they have made friends of various nationalities. It is good for them, even though they miss New Zealand and family. Anonymous, UAE: My family joined me two years later. They enjoyed the experience but the novelty wore off. They decided that life in New Zealand was where they wanted to be. Three years later, I am still working in the UAE continuing on with my contract. I see my family as much as I can, travelling home or half-way to meet up. Benefits for all.
What advice would you give Q to New Zealand teachers considering teaching overseas?
Peter Cowie, Qatar: Go through an agency the first time. They know the good schools and which to avoid. I have met teachers over here on very poor contracts who dealt directly with schools. Be prepared to do things differently. As a New Zealand teacher you will always be in the minority. You will have to fit into the British or American school systems. This will be a shock at the beginning as you realise how unique the New Zealand education system really is. However, once you overcome the initial homesickness, you will adapt and thrive. The three to six month period of time is the worst for culture shock. Don’t make any major
decisions about going home then. Everyone goes through it. Accept it as part of the rites of passage for an international teacher. The best international school will be on par with an average New Zealand school. This is partly due to the fact most are run for profit and partly to do with the education system. International schools generally have a top-down dictatorial management style, which is very different from the New Zealand way of doing things. Anonymous, Abu Dhabi: The culture of teaching and administration may be different to what you are used to. What is expected of you may not be what you consider good teaching practice. You can make a difference in the lives of children, just not administration. Anonymous, China: First, make up your mind that you are really going; second, speak to teachers in positions overseas; third, have a positive outlook to overcome all those little quirks associated with moving abroad; fourth, use an agent; finally, when you get there be flexible – you are in someone else’s culture. Siosaia Pomana, UAE: Why are you still working for a government who doesn’t think much of you? Get out of there if you want a future for your family. I will only go back to New Zealand if I get a principal’s job, which is the only job that will give similar pay. Karl Signal, Malaysia: Do your research, use an agency to help, ask lots of questions, look closely at a contract, talk to others who have taught overseas - and if things look good, go for it! Sharona Jayavant, Dubai: Go for it! It’s a great experience; utilise your teaching qualification and experiences. Make new friends and travel further. My advice would be to do research on the country you are going to or pick a destination where perhaps you have already visited or would always love to live and work there. Anonymous, UAE: Do research on the country you want to teach in, what type of school you will be teaching in and the curriculum they use, what benefits are included, do a comparison to costs of living, salary etc, what facilities are available for recreational pleasure/accessibility to shops etc. Justine Wedge, Malaysia: If you are keen on travelling and want a different experience (whether it be culture, weather, food, money, travel), then absolutely I would encourage it. It’s a fantastic way to travel and learn about the world. You meet wonderful people and make great memories. It’s a great way to pay off any loans if that be the case. Lauranne Croot,: Do some research on countries that you are interested in, ask teachers who have taught overseas for their recommendations but more importantly, be flexible on location and monetary expectations and let your consultant advise you. They know the schools, they keep in regular contact with their teachers they have placed, and they can match your skills and experience to teaching positions that are going to be the most suitable for you. Be active in your search for a good position whether that’s through the agency’s website or keeping your consultant up to date with jobs that are of interest. n Teachers interviewed for this article were placed through Teachanywhere. Lauranne Croot is a recruitment agent for Teachanywhere, based in New Zealand.
Teacher experiences
Margaret and Margaret:
Two teachers from different worlds Kiwi teacher Maggie Twaddle’s chance meeting with an aspiring young teacher in Tanzania reveals a world of difference in our education systems and opportunities. Twaddle’s husband, RICK McKINLEY, shares their story.
M
argaret meet Margaret. Maggie Twaddle, environmental educator with Genesis Energy and former principal of several Auckland primary schools, now teaches about solar power and renewable energy. Margaret Mzava, from Marangu village on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, aspires to become a teacher in a very different world. They met recently on a walk to a school – a very muddy walk as it had been raining for five days and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. October marks the start of the ‘short rains’, and if these were short we would be happy to miss the serious rainy season in March and April. The school in question was in Mzava’s humble village, which Twaddle and I encountered on a 14-day camping safari between the Serengeti National Park and Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Tanzania. Life is tough in Africa, hopelessly so in many cases, and we admired Mzava’s ambition to become a teacher in a developing country that seems totally undeveloped in so many ways. Mzava is attractive, dressed in jeans and a black top. She is well groomed and constantly flashes her big white teeth in a beautiful warm smile that typically greets the visitor to Africa. She has started working as a guide in her village, which is visited by tourist groups like ours once a week. A few tips will earn a few Tanzanian shillings, which she puts towards her two-year teacher’s training course. She speaks broken English and struggles to understand some of our questions; nevertheless, her story touched us.
On the other six days of the week, she raises six goats and five pigs, which makes us wonder how she will ever meet her goal. Mzava explains that a government student loan would prove difficult for her to repay. Teachers’ salaries in Tanzania are low and this is an issue for the teaching profession in their country. From our observation of several schools, teaching and learning are at a very basic level. Large class sizes make individual learning difficult while extremely limited resources are mostly donated. Mzava tells us that the form of Swahili spoken in Marangu is used only in the immediate vicinity. “It stops at the corner down there,” she says, pointing along the valley below. Learning English is clearly imperative to current and future generations of her people. “There are no computer keyboards in Swahili,” she jokes as she shows us the Internet facility used by villagers who know how – and can afford the fees. The dated computers were evidently donated by a British businesswoman who set up the school some years ago. In the classroom, we see shelves of activitybased text books and booklets apparently devised by government staff. The teachers are not consulted in the process, which often results in outdated resources. “Why don’t they ask us what works and what we need?” complains Dilli, a retired, wellspoken teacher who joins us for the first leg of the steep walk. His rhetorical question echoes our own National Standards controversy. Dilli soon bids us farewell and begins chatting to a woman wearing a head bandage. She smiles warmly as Mzava introduces her to us. We
later learn the woman is her mother and that Mzava lives with her grandmother down in the village. This seems quite common in Africa. She says she has no intention ever to marry as polygamous marriages are also common here. The Islamic religion and marriage under customary law allows up to four wives. Each wife is expected to raise her children, often with no assistance from her husband, who may return to claim the children years later. With large families and school fees to pay, it’s easy to see why many children do not attend school at all. Marangu is a typical village of 6000 people. Eighty per cent of Tanzania’s 43 million people live in rural areas, most in small mud or grass huts that sit on the dusty red earth. Electricity and running water are rare. The bare earth surrounding the huts rapidly turns into a quagmire when it rains, yet somehow everything happens in the mud. Village folk sell produce displayed in baskets or on mats, sitting amongst dilapidated market stalls and squalid shops. Women do the laundry outdoors in plastic buckets, while some of the men simply stand around in the mud and watch the traffic go by. As in most developing countries, women work extremely hard to support their families. Collecting wood, cooking over the fire, washing clothes, working in the fields, buying and selling produce at the market; women do the lion’s share of the work. How some manage to pay annual school fees (around $50 for primary, $400–$800 for secondary) is remarkable, considering the average family survives on one or two dollars a day. Even if Mzava achieves her goal, she can only expect to earn $150 to $400 a month. It’s hardly surprising there is a desperate shortage of qualified teachers. Twaddle donates pencils and a copy of Kiwi Kids Discover the Sun, a fun way to teach sustainability and the solar energy story to New Zealand students. She hopes the teacher could understand the text, written for Years 4 to 8 students. Some children walk up to two hours to the school, which comprises just one classroom, and we notice the basic wall charts and teaching aids in the simple surroundings. The children are excited by the visit and show their appreciation of our gifts by singing several delightful songs. Clapping cheerfully, their sheer joy is infectious. They love to shout the local greeting “Jambo!” while looking to be photographed, giggling gleefully when shown the results. On the way back, we inquire about Mzava’s mother’s head bandage. Apparently it was the result of an attack by young Maasai, to whom her mother had offered shelter. They beat her brutally, robbing her of a few hundred shillings. With more than 1300 shillings to one New Zealand dollar, the money could not have gone very far. Life can’t get much tougher than in Tanzania. As our safari truck pulls away, we marvel at Mzava’s extraordinary tenacity to persevere beyond all odds; and we feel very privileged to live in a country where education and career opportunities for women are taken for granted. n
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Volunteer teaching
Laurie Williams (right) plans a series of staff development meetings with Nemisio, the head teacher of Naharahau Primary School on the island of Makira. Year 1 to 3 students in the classroom of the school in village of Toroa.
Making a difference in
the Solomons The welcoming Solomon Islands lifestyle and the enthusiasm of the local teachers keeps school leadership adviser LAURIE WILLIAMS motivated.
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he wildlife in the Solomon Islands can be a challenge. There are rats, sand flies and even the occasional snake crossing your path. Travel can be challenging too. It takes hours by sea to get to many of the schools I have visited since I began working in the Solomons as a VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) volunteer in March last year. And once you do arrive, there’s no running water and no electricity – which means no computer, no Internet, and no cell phone coverage. You need to be self-reliant and prepared to make do with the few resources that are available. Over the last year, I’ve visited coastal schools on the island of Makira, and spent time at King George VI National Secondary School in the capital of Honiara, working as both a leadership adviser and as acting principal. Schools in the Solomon Islands get very little professional support – it’s an economic and physical reality. But with almost half the country’s teachers being untrained, professional support for teachers and school leaders is very important. It was in response to this need, combined with a call from VSA, which took me to the Solomons. The schools on Makira were very happy
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to have me stay for two-week periods (in the staff room, in a teacher’s house, or in a village house), though they were perhaps a little fearful of having a ‘whiteman education expert’ in their midst. At the same time, the staff were exceedingly receptive to professional discussions, and really open to new ideas and strategies – new to them, though standard practice for a teacher with nearly 30 years’ experience in the New Zealand education system. The fact that New Zealand volunteers are willing to ‘rough it’ makes them even more appreciated and respected. Sometimes I wonder what impact I am having. Am I making a difference? It’s not easy to measure or observe the effects of what I do. When a volunteer leaves a school, staff always have kind words. But the real sense of achievement comes when you get positive feedback from a third party – as it often does. Besides, measurable outcomes are not always the most important objective, especially in the short term. What really matters is the laying of foundations, the ‘leaving of residues’. New Zealand educators have much to offer in developing countries. Regardless of the frustrations or the working conditions, there
is always a warm welcome, a respect and receptiveness to being reflective. Improvement is not an outcome, but a process. Volunteers can have the greatest impact when they are supporting classroom practice. A significant number of Solomon Island teachers are out of reach of support services and to have a practical New Zealand teacher available, even for a short time, is seen as a great blessing. For me, meeting new people and experiencing the Solomon Islands’ culture and lifestyle are wonderful motivators, and to a large extent, they mask they challenges of being away from family and friends. In fact, being away can be harder on family than it is on the volunteer. Fortunately, Skype, text messaging, and the relative ease of getting back home make the absence easier to bear. I have now worked in schools in Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, and the Solomons, and spent time teaching in the Middle East. These experiences have confirmed that New Zealand has a highperforming education system. Providing we don’t export performance management systems, National Standards, school league tables, New Zealand educators have a lot to offer education under the clear blue Pacific skies and the sweet smell of the frangipani. n
Government direction
ENZ’s bold new plans
Education Review asks Education New Zealand CEO GRANT McPHERSON how the new government agency plans to achieve its international education targets.
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ducation New Zealand’s vision for the country’s $2.7 billion international education industry is for one that provides quality, highly sought-after services while at the same time expanding its social, cultural, and economic links, both internationally and here in New Zealand. The industry also makes an important, often overlooked, contribution to New Zealand’s social and cultural fabric, as well as the educational experiences of New Zealand students. ENZ is a government agency formed in September 2011 to lead the promotion of New Zealand education around the world. The Government has given the New Zealand international education industry a set of challenging “export” targets, including doubling the value of our international education industry to $5 billion, part of which will be to increase revenues from the export of education services to $500 million a year from $109 million in 2010/11. All over the next 13 years. To achieve these targets, our top priority is to
collaborate with stakeholders to identify how we can collectively work towards them. The industry is a disparate group ranging from 600-plus schools enrolling an average 25 feepaying international students through to eight universities, with an average of 2375 students. There are also 18 institutes of technology and polytechnics with an average of 615 students. Last year, private providers catered for nearly half of the 98,930 fee-paying international students studying in New Zealand. A starting point for ENZ is a comprehensive survey of institutions, education providers, and consultants to improve our understanding of the industry’s growth plans and challenges. The results, along with information from other direct industry engagements, will give us a solid grounding for planning. Telling New Zealand’s education story is one of the areas where ENZ is looking to do things differently. Research shows that the quality of New Zealand education is often not as appreciated as it should be. The focus on quality means that we are
not seeking to double the number of students studying in New Zealand as a means to achieve our targets. We need to understand how and why international students decide on New Zealand. There is evidence that our promotional efforts have focused too heavily on our scenery and adventure activities rather than our educational excellence. Paradoxically the quality of New Zealand’s international education system is well understood by governments around the world. A relevant target for ENZ is to increase the number of international students enrolled with New Zealand institutions offshore from 3000 to 10,000 over the next 13 years. Another target is to double the number of international post-graduate students (particularly in programmes in addition to those at PhD level) from 10,000 to 20,000. To date, New Zealand has been relatively successful in attracting a small, but significant slice of the international student market, but competition is intensifying. n
Ministry of Education Language Immersion Awards 2012-2014
Open to all language teachers currently teaching a second language within the New Zealand curriculum For travel in 2013 applications close on 30 August 2012 For travel in 2014 applications close in July 2013 Applications are open to teachers currently teaching French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Cook Island Maori, Samoan, Korean, Gagana Tokelau, Tongan and Vagahau Niue Awards are available for short or long term placements in the host country “General consensus was that within a month I advanced from A0-A1 to B1 on the Council of Europe Language Levels. My teachers commented several times on how quickly I was improving, and in the family environment I advanced from very basic conversation to being able to discuss different learning styles, compare recipes and styles of cooking, discuss and compare different birds and animals, aspects of our respective societies etc” - Participant 2012 “... my increased vocabulary will hopefully inspire the students to learn more. Each day I made vocabulary cards of my new vocab. I practiced them often, so that the words would stay in my mind. I hope that the students will be encouraged to do the same”. - Participant 2012
Candidates should be able to: • provide evidence of a strong commitment to ongoing professional learning relating to second language teaching and learning. • demonstrate a high level of engagement with the New Zealand Curriculum (2007), including a specific focus on the learning area statement, proficiency descriptors and achievement objectives of learning languages. • identify specific goals for their own professional growth in terms of linguistic, cultural and pedagogical knowledge. • identify specific goals for the learning outcomes of their students as a result of their immersion experience.
Contact Prue Elwood on: lia.info@afs.org To find out what the Language Immersion Awards can do for your language teaching visit www.afs.org.nz/lia
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feature language focus Second
Bonjour Kiwi Teachers! Two New Zealand teachers and recipients of Language Immersion Awards share their different experiences in Montpellier, France.
CHRIS DURRANT, head of languages at Otago Girls’ High School I was lucky enough to be awarded one of the Ministry of Education Language Immersion Awards (LIA) for 2012. The award covered three months of language tuition in France from March to June along with return airfares, accommodation, and relief costs, so this was a sizeable investment in a teacher. I had lived and studied in Germany for six years in the late-eighties to mid-nineties and have since taught German to all year levels for the past 15 years. I have also taught a Year 9 class French for around seven of those as and when the timetable needed it. Although my language knowledge was sufficient to teach this class the very basics, I always felt like I was a bit of a fraud in the French classroom and wasn’t able to really communicate with the students and have that instant knowledge a competent language teacher needs at their fingertips to be able to adapt quickly, improvise, and make the best of every learning opportunity in the classroom. Before gaining the award, I took part in The University of Auckland Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) course, which focuses on improving language teaching pedagogy by helping teachers to implement a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach to classroom practice, and I selected French as my subject language for that course. This gave me a leg-up into using classroom language in French and whetted my appetite for some real improvement in my own language skills. After learning that I would be going to France, I selected Montpellier for my destination because I knew it was an education city with a good university and the language school there had received good reports. The fact it was in the south of France in spring didn’t hurt its selection chances either. After a 43-hour odyssey via Auckland, Beijing, Frankfurt, and Lyon, I arrived at the train station in Montpellier and walked across the road to Madame Ranson’s (pictured left) apartment. Madame Ranson was perhaps one of the most important factors in my language improvement over the three months. The school did a really good job in providing me with the theoretical knowledge to advance me
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from A2 to B2 on the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR), which runs from A1 beginner to C2 near native competency with B1 being the official final level for school students in New Zealand; however, it was Madame Ranson who gave me the opportunity to practise and to hear real French being used on a daily basis, down to swearing in the car at all the other useless drivers. After a really full set of experiences in Montpellier, I have returned to school with an enormous lift in my fluency and implicit and explicit knowledge of French. This has already made, in the four weeks I’ve been back, for far better use of teacher language in the classroom. My students are also using more French in the classroom as they model themselves on my usage. The ultimate goal is to have the class communicating independently through a number of task-based activities during the rest of the year so that their level of fluency improves to where they can fulfil the requirements of the A1 level of the CEFR, which closely aligns to levels 1 and 2 of The New Zealand Curriculum. See Table 1 below.
Table 1. A1
Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/ she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
My experience in France as a student made me very aware of the difficulties and challenges which learners encounter when taking on a new language and has made me aware of the things teachers do which work and those which don’t. I saw both while in the classroom in France, and this has affected my own approach to teaching languages enormously – not only for my French class but for the German classes too – and is having a major effect on my practice in the classroom. In my opinion, the three months has been money very well spent.
MYRA FRANCIS: French and German teacher at Westlake Girls’ High School I decided to apply for the Language Immersion Award because it has long been my dream to spend an extended period of time in a French-speaking country. This was a wonderful opportunity to improve my fluency. As a long-time teacher of
French, this is very important to me along with learning as much as I can about the culture, the people, and their way of life. During my three months in Montpellier from September to December 2011, I attended language school while staying at the home of a very hospitable retired lady who showed me around and introduced me to various facets of French life: the theatre, her village of origin, and important landmarks such as the Millau Bridge and the Gorges du Tarn. I took every chance to go on the outings organised by the school, which included the medieval village of St. Guilhem le Desert, a Knights Templar village at Larzac, a cheese factory at Roquefort, a fishing village at Sete, and the walled medieval city of Aigues-Mortes. Of course, I must not forget the traditional dancing and petanque lessons. During these three months, I kept a blog, which gives more detail of my activities. Apart from all the places I saw, one of my highlights every day was to go to the French bakery for the most amazing bread in the world. I loved being part of local daily life and not just a tourist. I especially liked visiting the local high school and teaching some classes there. Challenges included understanding the dialect of local young people, as many of them used slang and loan words from other languages. It is easy to see why some people are surprised that they still find the speech difficult to understand when they arrive in France after studying in New Zealand. Since spending this time in France, I have a better understanding of spoken French, including television, radio, and everyday conversation. I am much more confident in participating in situations with native speakers who are not making any special allowances for me being a foreigner. In the classroom, I use more French as a medium of instruction, and I enjoy sharing my new knowledge of culture with the little anecdotes that come from living experience. If you are able to spend time in France, I encourage you to mix with French-speaking people as much as possible and get involved in their activities. Don’t forget to be appreciative of your hosts, the local community. There will be things that you may not like, but it will broaden your experience as you learn to adapt and accept without criticising. Your French will improve and you will gain much satisfaction. You will enjoy new tastes and see the most amazing spectacles, allowing your world view to expand, and you will see your own country in a new light. I would certainly recommend this opportunity. n Myra’s blog can be found at http://spacekiwimum.blogspot.com.
A month in Argentina?
Si, por favor!
MARTIN WEREN of Hillcrest High School shares his Argentinian experience.
Last year, I was one of about 20 teachers from around New Zealand who won a Language Immersion Award (mine was in Spanish) from the Ministry of Education, and late in January I received confirmation that I would be going to Argentina for a month. March 22 duly arrived, and after a 12-hour flight and a 13-hour overnight bus trip, I arrived in the city of General Roca in Rio Negro province. I met my wonderful host family and was soon beginning an intensive language course at Roca’s Universidad Nacional del Comahue. The city, 1200km south-west of Buenos Aires and approximately 400km equidistant from the Andes in the west and the Atlantic in the east, has about 80,000 inhabitants, and is the centre of Argentina’s fruit production, with some 70 per cent of the country’s apples and pears grown in the region thanks to massive irrigation in the fertile but arid Alto Valle. There are also significant plantings of peaches, plums, cherries, and grapes, table and wine). The city is completely flat and set out in a square grid system with the Big Canal flowing across the north of the city and the Little Canal across the south. This meant that it was almost impossible to get lost, and the city was compact enough that I could walk everywhere I needed to go. I did the language course with a second New Zealand award winner who will spend the full year in
Argentina. As a relative beginner in Spanish, I was delighted with the progress I was able to make in the month. Of course there were challenges and frustrations, but they were relatively minor, and overall the trip was hugely positive and rewarding. The two other New Zealanders who flew to Argentina with us went in a different direction, and had more time in schools and less time learning. My school experience was limited to visiting a class of eight-year-olds learning maths and two early evening visits to a private English school. They enjoyed the opportunity of listening to and chatting with a native English speaker – and of course for them New Zealand is an exotic location! – and they loved the simple Powerpoint I showed with some iconic Kiwi images (All Blacks, cows, sheep, beaches, wine, etc.) and a few personal slides of my school, fishing in the Coromandel, and so on. Argentinians all very much want to learn English, and those who can afford to are happy to pay more for private tuition.
»» »» »» »» »» »»
glaciers, and a 3500m mountain at the end of a very challenging road (a local freak of geography means that one of two lakes, which are only a kilometre apart, drains into the Pacific and the other into the Atlantic); asado – the Argentinian family weekend feast of grilled beef and pork, salads, and wine; visits to a winery and a boutique brewery; lingering like the locals in cafes with a coffee and a newspaper; visiting a feedlot sheep and beef farm in a desert-like environment; walking in the parched hills behind the river; helping the two boys in my host family with their French and English learning;
»» having the time to do some
independent language study;
»» not having to worry about NCEA »» »» »» »»
»»
or any school deadlines for a month; feeling safe at all times in a new environment; a month of no rain and continuous autumnal sunshine; executive class travel in buses to and from Buenos Aires; hilarious dinner-time conversations, discussions, and arguments with my host family on all sorts of topics, with Google and Wikipedia as referees; meeting lots of interesting, friendly, and welcoming people and realising that aside from a few cultural differences, we are all quite similar.
Some of the highlights included: »» spending Easter in Bariloche, 500km away from General Roca and very similar in many ways to Queenstown; »» gaining an insight into how big and relatively empty the country is; »» the Pampa Linda area near Bariloche, with its lakes and Education Review Teach International 2012
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Child health
In Piaget’s Footsteps American professor Alison Gopnik is emerging as a leading light in child psychology. LAWRENCE WATT reports.
M
ost Kiwi teachers probably recall studying the famous Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Piaget’s research was ground breaking; Piaget has provided a world view, using intellectual stages, through which it’s possible to understand how children think, from the age of only a few months until the teenage years. But Piaget is beginning to totter from his perch. Modern research in developmental psychology, led by Dr Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, shows young children are smarter than Piaget thought. Gopnik hasn’t quite thrown Piaget out with the bathwater, but she does see children’s brains, particularly pre-schoolers’, quite differently. Gopnik is author of New York Times best seller ‘The Philosophical Baby’ as well as numerous academic papers on her experimental work. She gave three Sir Douglas Robb lectures at The University of Auckland in June and appeared on nationwide television and radio. Her focus is to try to look inside the “downy heads” of children as young as 18 months. She began her career as a philosopher, asking questions like “how do we learn?” But realising that philosophers make little reference to children, she switched to psychology – where she began to think Piaget and Freud had got quite a lot wrong. She says Piaget saw children as egocentric and not quite logical beings. “Piaget was a wonderful scientist; he was the first person to try to work out what children were thinking. But his methods were pretty limited,” she says. She says there has been a lot of work done since then, asking children very precise questions, rather than Piaget’s open-ended ones – and using video cameras and a gadget called a ‘blicket detector’ – a mysterious device that lights up and plays music, according to how children place blocks on it. Being inside that child’s head would be “a bit like being in love in Paris for the first time, after you have three double espressos,” she says. “It sounds great but it would make you wake up in the middle of the night crying.” The point is that the child’s brain is set up to learn, although not quite in the way that people think. “You often hear people say things like ‘children are like little sponges’,” she says. But her research shows children are doing much more than just soaking up information. “The big discovery was they were not just randomly putting things together working things out, but are actually going out and testing.” This is the so-called ‘theory theory’ about how
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Education Review Teach International 2012
young children behave like little scientists, who learn by experimenting. “Think of them as little psychologists. We are actually the lab rats. They will push their fingers just that much closer to see if Mummy will actually explode,” she says. The science is based on 12 years of laboratory research by Professor Gopnik and many others. The conclusions “have been replicated many times,” she says. Study samples had in excess of 300 subjects. Gopnik showed her audience a film of preschoolers experimenting with blocks, which they rested on the ‘blicket detector’ device to make it light up. By and large, the children’s approach was logical and experimental. “Somehow children seem to have done the math… just like scientists do,” she says. Adults call this phase that all kids go through ‘getting into everything’, but in the space of a few minutes, your four-year-old will easily try six different theories to explain something new – meaning that “scientists are really like big kids,” she jokes. Children need a long period of learning, due to the complexity of the human species. So children’s brains are designed to learn; adults by contrast are utilitarian beings who exploit more than explore. She describes children as the ‘research and development division’ of our species while adults are in production and marketing, focusing on and blacking out a lot of information. There is no doubt that young children’s and adults’ brains are qualitatively different. But by age two, Dr Gopnik says children are far less egocentric than Piaget thought. Around 14-18 months old, children start working out that “sometimes people don’t want the same thing as you”. By age two, children could actually work out that adults may like broccoli, which of course kids generally detest. Many (but not all) pre-schoolers have ‘pretend friends’. “They spend so much time pretending. Walk into a pre-school and you will see tea parties and imaginary ninja battles going on,” she says. In another test, children were told it was “Monkey’s birthday” and the blicket device would play music if you put a block on it. “But what if you just pretended? What would the device do then?” the researchers asked the children. By age four, many children could actually use their imagination to pretend the device would play ‘pretend’ music. But 40 per cent of three to four-year-olds could
not grasp the idea of counter-factuality and some children were somewhat more articulate and some more motivated than others. “Children realise their imaginary world can sometimes be preferable to real life – and you have to agree they have a point,” she says. They speak about what could happen. She says the children reminded her of Einstein’s thought experiment about what it would be like to travel on a train at the speed of light. “But rather than live in that fantasy world, as Freud and Piaget thought, children can snap back into to the real world,” she says. “Even the very youngest children are already perfectly able to discriminate between the imaginary and the real, whether in books or movies or in their own pretend play.” Gopnik says her research indicates even younger pre-schoolers have a sense of right and wrong, against the gist of Piaget’s ideas about infants’ natural egocentricity. For example, when experimenters accidentally dropped their pens, 18-month-olds were quite happy to give them back. “Babies (i.e. 18-month-olds) are more caring and more conscientious than adults,” she says. Such work will no doubt affect teaching methods over time. Before the great thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau, Freud, and Piaget influenced our ideas, many people treated children like little adults, dressing them in ‘Mini-Me’ clothes and expecting them to work. Then it was realised that children were very different. Today we have so-called ‘Tiger Moms’. Some parents have very high expectations for Johnny and Mary. However, Gopnik advises against ‘pressure cooking’ children, whom her research shows learn naturally from everyday life. If you have young children, forget about so-serious words like ‘parenting’ and try to be a kid yourself, she cautions. “Get in the mind of children and look at the world from their perspective,” she says. That sounds like a happy place, even for us utilitarian adults. Piaget, of course, is unable to reply to criticisms, but little doubt, would favour all in-depth research into children’s minds and behaviour. His view of how children’s thinking changes and grows is so comprehensive, it is hard to imagine that his ideas, like the ideas of the great educational thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau or Aristotle, will ever disappear. n
Tertiary research
Secret Agent Society Renae Beaumont
An Australian PhD study that trialled a programme to help children with Asperger’s Syndrome is fast becoming an international phenomenon.
W
hat started out on a small scale as the Junior Detective Training Programme, has now matured as Secret Agent Society (SAS) – a programme aimed at regulating the emotions and improving the social skills for eight to 12-year-olds with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder conditions (Asperger’s type).
What is SAS? As its name suggests, SAS revolves around the theme of espionage and there is a big emphasis on having fun. An animated computer game is a key feature of the programme, which is supported by child group therapy sessions including strategic play activities. There is the walkietalkie Voice Transmission game, the Challenger Board game, and Helpful Thought missile game, all aimed to train “cadets” to become mind-reading agents able to detect, recognise, and react appropriately to emotions and social challenges. The 12-session programme is designed to help children gain essential life skills such as recognising emotions, expressing feelings, interacting with others, coping with change, and dealing with bullying. It can be delivered in a clinical setting, but is increasingly being used in schools. A three-year evaluation of SAS is currently under way in five Australian school districts.
Clinically proven Behind the fun and games, however, the clinical aspects of the programme are what are driving the success of SAS. A study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ,reportedly shows the best clinical results to date for a social skills programme for children with Asperger’s Syndrome. A randomised controlled trial found that 76 per cent of children diagnosed with Asperger’s improved from clinically significant delays in social functioning, to
showing social skills within the range of typically developing children. Perhaps even more impressively, this improvement was maintained five months after the programme was completed. This highlights one of the strengths of the programme – its relevance to a child’s life outside of the 12 sessions. Parent education, teacher tip sheets, real life missions, and a system to monitor progress and reward achievement are all ways the strategies learned from the programme can be applied to real life.
Asperger’s syndrome Those familiar with Asperger’s Syndrome will know that it is something individuals have to contend with on a day-to-day basis. The condition was named after Dr Hans Asperger, an Austrian paediatrician who originally described the syndrome in 1944. More recently, the Asperger’s Syndrome was classified as an autistim spectrum disorder. Despite being classified in this manner, children with Asperger’s generally do not experience the same language or cognitive deficits as children with autism. While children with autism often (but not always) have some form of intellectual disability, children with Asperger’s Syndrome do not, by definition, have significant intellectual problems. Asperger’s is characterised by difficulties with social interaction, misunderstanding social cues, and misinterpreting language. At the same time, those with Asperger’s Syndrome can have highly developed language skills and are usually of normal to high intelligence. While statistics vary on the prevalence of Asperger’s, it’s believed to affect around one in 250 children. The vast majority are boys. Interestingly, the World Health Organisation’s original claim that Asperger’s was eight times more common among boys than girls was revoked because studies began to show that girls with Asperger’s are better at learning and copying social skills. While there is no cure for Asperger’s, early treatment and intervention including parent education and training, social skills training, language therapy, and behavioural therapy can all help. This is where programmes like SAS come in.
SAS in New Zealand Awareness of the SAS programme is growing in New Zealand. The Ministry of Education has allocated funding to use the programme. Autism New Zealand and IDEA have so far trained 18 professionals in New Zealand to deliver the SAS programme. Part of the two-day practitioner training course that professionals attend involves a discussion of how professionals will tailor the programme to the cultural needs of the families they support, as well as the different developmental levels of children they may work with. There are also materials included with the programme resources to support this tailoring process. Celeste Littek, a Resource Teacher for Learning Behaviour (RTLB) in Napier, is one of the 18 New Zealand practitioners and has run the SAS programme over the last three years. “The course works well within my situation, as I am employed to support the social and emotional development of diverse students, and the cost of buying the parent packs is able to be funded through our Learners Support Fund (LSF), as many of our Asperger and high functioning ASD students rarely draw on that fund.” The packs are $300 and they include the virtual reality computer programme, the teacher training book, the parent training book, the student work book, and all of the support material.
“The programme can be linked to the class through the teacher, the parent links the learning goals at home and into the community, and the child gains valuable support in self-regulation (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy component of the course) and social skills/social understanding through the weekly missions and group work.” The links between teacher, home, and community are obviously an important aspect of the programme. New Zealand parent, Tracey Brough, whose son Matt participated in the SAS programme, found the different computers at home and school proved to be a limiting factor. “I found the SAS programme rather difficult, as at the time we did it I only had a laptop at home and Matt hated using it, he preferred the desktops like at school...so he steadfastly refused to do it at home. In the end, Matt’s teacher aide worked on the programme with him during school time,” says Brough. Brough says that although she didn’t notice any big changes in Matt’s behaviour as a result of the programme, they will persist. “It’s something that we can continue to work on as we do still have the pack.” n Secret Agent Society Practitioner training will be held 10 and 11 September, 2012 at the Triple P Centre, Level 2, 15 Sultan St, in Ellerslie, Auckland. For more information please contact training@sst-institute.net
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Education Review Teach International 2012
15
feature Vocational education
Pathway of the poor JUDE BARBACK talks to Australian expert, Dr John Polesel, about the need for quality, structured, and well-resourced vocational education and training programmes at secondary schools.
O
lly is 16. He doesn’t feel he is particularly academic and therefore, doesn’t have his sights set on going to university when he finishes his secondary school education in a year’s time. He would rather pursue a career as a chef, but Olly’s school doesn’t offer much in the way of training that will lead him into this vocation. There are a handful of subjects that might suit, but one of them requires his family to fork out extra money. Olly’s family is not well off and therefore, he’s not sure exactly what to do. Perhaps he would be better off leaving school early and seeking employment. ‘Olly’ is fictitious, but he represents many young people who are ripe for a clearly defined, well-resourced, school-based vocational training programme. According to Dr John Polesel from the University of Melbourne, the majority of young Australians now complete school, and only four in ten will go to university. Yet, secondary qualifications remain geared for entry into university. Vocational training programmes are generally acknowledged as a necessary alternative pathway for the six out of ten who won’t opt for university, but these
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programmes appear to lack the quality and esteem needed to make them an appealing option for students. From Polesel’s research, pursuing a vocational programme at secondary school constitutes enrolling in one or two vocational subjects as part of a broader senior certificate. Typically, these programmes are unstructured and fail to provide a positive or clear pathway into a vocation. It is rare for a student to do enough vocational training to get even a basic vocational qualification. Polesel has spent much time investigating this paradox. He shared his research at the recent ‘Te Ara Whakamana: Pathways, transitions and bridges to tertiary education’ forum in Wellington, which was cohosted by Ako Aotearoa: National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence and The Centre for Studies in Multiple Pathways at Manukau Institute of Technology. Many New Zealand educators, policy makers and researchers from both the tertiary and secondary sectors believe students, whichever pathway they choose to pursue, should receive the tools, guidance, and support they need. Unsurprisingly, many were in attendance at the Te Ara Whakamana forum, interested to learn from Polesel’s research and experience concerning vocational education in Australia.
The origins of vocational education in Australia are interesting. Schoolbased vocational training emerged in Australia at the beginning of the 20th century, at a time when Australia’s growing economy had labour shortages in key areas of trades and technology. The government argued that it needed state secondary schools, not to compete with the existing private schools but to address the need “to prepare the sons of the working classes for some special trade or occupation”. Thus, Melbourne Continuation School emerged in 1905. The school was supposed to be vocational in orientation; however; the curriculum was not exclusively vocational, and it was made clear that the school was designed to assist poor children in gaining access to the University of Melbourne. As a result, students ignored the technical, industrial, and agricultural subjects and chose subjects that would lead to university, without the price tag of a private secondary school education. However, the technical and scientific competencies needed by the economy were not achieved. In 1912, a decision was taken to establish the first technical schools – separate and specialised state schools focussed on vocational training. At the time, many in government opposed technical schools, fearing it would lead to social selection, with middle class children in university and working class children in trades. Although there are no longer technical schools of this kind, there is still debate today about the role that vocational education should play for young people. Polesel, originally a secondary school teacher, has long had an interest in the link between socioeconomic status and educational outcomes. His research initially focussed on disadvantaged children, but funding in the area of vocational education and training prompted him to hone his studies in this area. He points out that there are many parallels between disadvantaged kids and the role of vocational education in upper secondary school. Indeed the fears held 100 years ago, that a divided curriculum would be socially selective, are
well-founded. Polesel’s research confirms that the social background of vocational education students is very different from the background of students heading to university. There is considerable evidence that the students who take vocational training where it is offered are more likely to come from poorer social backgrounds. A study Polesel conducted in a working class school in a poor suburb echoed the findings of his research at a more macro level. The study showed that most students in this school take vocational subjects, but even within this school, these subjects were much less likely to be chosen by the few children with university-educated parents. Interestingly, Polesel found that even at this school, where vocational subjects are favoured, the traditional subjects are given priority. “If there are teacher shortages, maths is top priority. If a teacher is made permanent, they are allocated to ‘proper’ subjects – not vocational subjects. I would argue that this is a problem of school culture.” However, vocational programmes are expensive to run. Schools often need to generate funding by charging the students themselves. Therefore, vocational education can’t make a legitimate claim on school resources, like science or maths. Given the link between socioeconomic status and the likelihood of pursuing a vocational pathway, it is disturbing that those students most likely to have to pay additional costs for their education are those who are least able to afford it. The social stigma attached to vocational education could be one reason programmes have struggled to cement themselves in secondary schools. Many parents and students still perceive the vocational pathway to be inferior and many teachers don’t believe it’s a legitimate part of secondary schooling. It isn’t a problem unique to Australia. International research and literature show that many countries are grappling with the same sorts of concerns. A recent published New Zealand book, Children of Rogernomics, describes how in the 1990s, more New Zealanders
participated in tertiary education than ever before. As a result, many young people now believe that university is the best, and in many cases, the only, transition pathway following secondary school, despite a changed economy, fewer university places available, and higher fees. The book describes how a failure to achieve a straightforward transition, from school to tertiary education to employment, results in personal inadequacy. Meanwhile vocational education is low in the status hierarchy of education. Polesel describes it as a tool used by government to fix problems, like skills shortages or unemployment. He suggests we are risking the learning of young people by focussing on narrow vocational competencies instead of broader generic competencies and the broader cultural base of knowledge. How are we to change an education system that appears to be at odds with the needs of our students and economy? Polesel says the one-size-fits-all approach will not continue to work. He believes the curriculum needs to be broader to allow for better and more positive tertiary-level or workplace-based training. “Change will require ensuring the pedagogy used is relevant to a broader range of kids,” he says. Polesel says we can learn from the European experience, where many continental countries have specialised vocational schools that are funded largely by industry. This model allows industry to have input into the training their future employees will be receiving, allowing them to get the level of skill they desire in their workforce. Industry unions play a strong role between school and employers. Polesel thinks it is unlikely such a model would work in Australia, as industries do not perceive it to be their role to fund the education of their future employees. Instead, he says the Australian Government is increasingly relying on importing cheaper migrant labour at the expense of Australian students, a situation reminiscent of the UK’s. To change to a model where investment was poured into the vocational education of students by industries themselves, would require significant political change and leadership. There are, of course, initiatives afoot that are aligned with this line of thinking. New Zealand’s
industry training organisations (ITOs) are taking an increasingly prominent role in liaising with training providers to ensure a skilled and competent workforce. Similarly, and more along the lines of Polesel’s research, New Zealand’s trades academies, designed to generate more pathways for students, are gaining momentum. The academies are the result of a Ministry of Education policy that gives priority to high schools engaging with the tertiary sector and industry. Such academies are typically partnerships between schools, tertiary providers, and ITOs aimed at providing 16 to 17-year-olds with the opportunity to combine a secondary school programme with learning in tertiary education and/or industry settings. Government funding for the initiative means that senior secondary students enrolled in a trades academy programme can make a start on their trades career without paying fees and earn credits towards NCEA at the same time. Eight trades academies opened around the country in January 2011, with 13 more set to open their doors this year. West Auckland Vocational Academy, a joint Unitec and Massey High School programme, is a good example, allowing students to attend classes in subjects like electrotechnology, carpentry, and hospitality with Unitec tutors two days a week in addition to their regular school work in the remaining three days. However, Polesel doesn’t think trades academies present the whole solution. While no one appears to dispute that schoolbased vocational education programmes are required, the evidence suggests the real problem is the quality of these programmes. Polesel says there is an onus on schools as institutions to raise the status of vocational education, both in terms of resources and in symbolic terms. The next phase of Polesel’s research will look at structures for reform. Australia’s federal system presents many challenges as it will mean liaising with the education departments in every state, each with an interest in protecting its academic certificate. It will be interesting to continue to observe the Australian experience. Meanwhile, should we be looking to effect similar change here in New Zealand? n
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Education Review Teach International 2012
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Teacher feature experiences
Education Review talks to Kiwi teacher CAMERON ANDREW about combining teaching with travel and his eye-opening experiences teaching difficult kids in London.
From Dannevirke
to Dangerous Minds Q
What was your teaching experience in New Zealand before you headed to London? Cameron: Before teaching in London, I taught at Dannevirke High School for two years. There, I became fully registered while teaching physical education and health. I also taught maths four lessons per week in my first year at the school. After finishing teaching in New Zealand, I took two years off teaching to travel before getting back into teaching when I arrived in London.
Q
What steps did you take in finding a teaching job in London? A: When I first arrived in London,
I talked to mates who were also teachers and asked them about the best agencies to deal with and what type of work each agency has been able to provide them. There are a lot of teaching agencies over here. I then signed up to three different agencies that I think suited the type of work I was looking for (secondary teaching) and that paid reasonably well on a day-to-day supply basis. I managed to do all of this within two weeks of arriving in London, then went travelling for four months. During these four months, the teaching agencies applied for Police Checks
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for me from New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Canada as you need a check from all the countries you have lived in for more than six months. They also sorted out all the other paper work required to teach in the UK. This meant that when I arrived back in London, I was able to go straight into teaching. I worked on a day-to-day supply basis at this point for two months in a mixture of secondary and primary schools. During this time, I was placed in the school I am currently at and they were looking for a maths teacher. After working there for a week, I was offered a job beginning in January. I didn’t have an interview at all. Instead, the head teacher came into one of my lessons and must have been happy with how I controlled and taught the class, then offered me the job.
Q
Was your visa status an issue in terms of finding a job? A: I’m on a two-year working
holiday visa and it wasn’t an issue at all in getting a job. There are so many people in London on working holiday visas that all employers are used to it. The agencies see the visas come through every day, and schools have Kiwis and Aussies on contracts all the time on all sorts of different visas.
Education Review Teach International 2012
Q
Q
what most teachers will opt for and experience when they come to London. I work in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) school. It’s a school for students who have been excluded from mainstream education for many different reasons. These include repetitive instances of bad behaviour, drug use, serious violence, carrying a weapon, and so on. Some have also come from juvenile detention centres. The students all have pretty rugged backgrounds and the majority are heavily involved with the police and social services. The students at the PRU I work at are 14-16 and the older students have just finished sitting their GCSE exams (equivalent of New Zealand’s NCEA). I’m the only maths teacher at the school and am in charge of data analysis. We’re also looking at starting up a sports course for the next academic year, which I’ll run with the science teacher. The school has 40 students on their roll, but only 30 students are at the school on a day-to-day basis at present. We run class sizes of a maximum of eight students and always have a second adult in the room to help deal with behaviour and extra learning.
have to take a different approach to discipline. Just because you can discipline a student one way, another student will not respond the same to the same approach. You have to be really on your toes to know what is going to work with the situation you’ve been presented with. It took a while initially, thinking about and watching people use different strategies. Also getting to know the students made a huge difference when it came to discipline. We also use a far more physical approach to classroom and student management as well, as we do have to look after the safety of others. I face several instances of misbehaviour a day: some small, some huge. I’ve had a student get angry and let off a fire extinguisher in class at teachers who were trying to get him to calm himself. This was after he had sprayed a 1.5L bottle of water across the classroom. I managed to take the fire extinguisher from him and he had to be physically removed by four staff. I’ve had to physically intervene between a guy and a girl who were kicking each other, after one tried to throw a water
How would you describe your teaching job? A: My job is quite different to
I imagine this sort of teaching environment has been an eye-opener for you. What are some of the sorts of behaviour you’re faced with? A: It certainly is tough. You definitely
balloon at the other in my class. I ended up wearing the majority of the water balloon, the rest of the water was all over the students’ work. I’ve restrained students so that they won’t harm others and also when they have lost control of their temper. You cop a lot of abuse for this. The words I get called should not appear in an article! But at the end of the day, it’s their temper talking, not what they actually think. The majority of day-to-day management, though, is getting students into classes and keeping them in the class, including keeping them in their seats for the majority of a lesson. I’m pretty happy with a couple of lessons a week in which students actually learn for the entire lesson. The things I overlook in this school in comparison to what I would in mainstream is astounding. You definitely have to pick your battles, otherwise you would never achieve anything in class.
Q
What do you enjoy the most about your job?
A: Every day is different. I never know what I’m going to get out of the students from one day to the next. One day, the school might be faced by a riot with things being smashed and students being removed from the premises. The next, all the students come in, sit quietly, and listen to almost everything you have to say, ask questions, and work to the best of their abilities. I also enjoy how well you get to know these students in such a small setting. The students will tell you almost anything and they see the school as a safe haven for them. For a lot of the students, it’s the only place in their lives that has any structure. We struggle to get students to leave a lot of the time at the end of the day. Even though the students might not always show it, they enjoy being at the school and it’s a real pleasure seeing these students achieve, no matter how big or small the achievement might be. It really feels like you are making a difference in their lives.
I face several instances of misbehaviour a day: some small, some huge. I’ve had a student get angry and let off a fire extinguisher in class at teachers who were trying to get him to calm himself. tube is often packed on the way to work. It gives me an opportunity to catch up on the news though, or read a book.
Q
How does your experience of teaching in UK differ from that in New Zealand? A: The type of school I am at is far
different to what I had experienced previously. The exam structure is also quite different. It is more toward the old New Zealand School Certificate structure, and the announcement that has been made very recently is that an overhaul of the exam system will take it even more towards that old system. There is also a much larger range of ethnicities in London to teach than most schools would experience in New Zealand. The similarity is that even though the exams are much different, the subject matter is still the same. The students still respond the same to praise and the teaching in general is still what I experienced in New Zealand.
Q
What is the attitude towards Kiwi teachers in general? Are there any others on the staff? A: Kiwi teachers are definitely
sought after. There are a lot in schools all over London. Any student I’ve ever spoken to has had a Kiwi
teacher at some stage in their learning and schools are happy to take them on. Currently, there are no other Kiwi teachers on the staff but we have a huge contingent of Aussie teachers and support workers at the moment. At Agincourt House, there are more Antipodeans than there are Brits.
and where there are gaps before reaching us. A change in subject for me has enhanced my knowledge and repertoire of teaching experience. Dealing with data every day also has made me look at how to approach learning and think about strategies in more depth to improve student learning. The UK is a brilliant place for expanding and developing your teaching. You are faced with new challenges that you don’t see in New Zealand, and it puts you outside your comfort zone where you tend to learn best.
Q
Q
Have you been able to fit in much travelling around your job? A: I’ve managed to travel every set
of holidays so far, and I can’t see that changing. With how the holidays are set up here, you have school holidays every six–seven weeks, so it’s not long between each bit of travel. The travel opportunities are massive. I’ve been on skiing holidays, sailing the Greek islands; I’m off to Ireland soon and hopefully the Balkans as well.
Q
Do you think your experience has enhanced you as a teacher? In what ways? A: I certainly think my experience
here has enhanced my teaching. My repertoire of behaviour management strategies has grown ten-fold. I feel my preparation for anything and my ability to think outside the box has expanded. Teaching in primary schools prior to this job has opened my eyes more to what is involved before entering the secondary schooling system
What advice would you give to other Kiwi teachers considering teaching in London? A: Do it! It’s a great experience
and there is no shortage of opportunities. You can come over here and just do supply every day through different agencies or you can let them help you find full-time work. It is in the benefit of the agency to place you, so they are always trying their best to get you work. Schools enjoy having Kiwi teachers in. Sign up for no more than three agencies as they call you all the time. You don’t want to be confused as to who you’re talking to! If you can also bring a current New Zealand police check over with you, it will reduce the time you need to wait for it to be sent over. Give it a good shot if you do come over. Some people come and don’t enjoy it straight away. If you don’t, then just stick it out. It becomes easier, and people I know who have just turned around and left, have regretted it. n
Q
What do you least enjoy?
A: Honestly, I can’t think of anything I don’t enjoy about my job. I enjoy going to work almost every day. It’s a great environment and the students are always interesting to deal with. I guess the one thing I could say I enjoy the least is getting to work on the tube. Work is a 50-minute journey from my front door and the Education Review Teach International 2012
19
feature Volunteer teaching
From Nelson
to Nepal
Last year Education Review talked to Nelson early childhood teacher SERINA ESPOSITO prior to her volunteer adventure in Nepal. Here, we find out about how she got on.
M
y motivation for travelling to Nepal was driven by a strong willingness to help others in need and I was lucky enough to discover First Steps Himalaya, a charity focused on improving life in Nepal. First Steps Himalaya promotes early childhood education as a solution for a better future with established centres in the most disadvantaged areas. In the short time the charity has been running, it has raised the funds needed to build centres and access resources in Nepal. They are also fortunate to have a passionate group of teachers who are open to training and improving their practice. I met with the directors, Fionna Heiton and Durga Aran, and felt immediately inspired by their compassion for others, and their enthusiasm and determination. It was not long before I had my tickets booked and my bags packed. I was off to Nepal for two months.
Sangachok village I was immediately captivated by the beauty of rural Nepal. It made the painfully long bus ride worth the while and proved to be a nice change after the pollution and waste in Kathmandu. Sangachok village itself was quiet and peaceful. Goats, dogs, cows, and buffalo wandered the dirt roads happy and unassisted, while small groups of men sat quietly to chat. The houses in the village were scattered broadly across the landscape, made from tight bamboo, mud, and cow dung. Large families lived within these small homes, along with all sorts of lizards, rats and spiders. Initially I questioned the whereabouts of the women and children, until a group came into view carrying large baskets on their backs. I soon learned that only the lucky children were able to attend school. Most children spent their days working with their mothers completing, the jobs that needed to be done. These jobs included taking care of the animals, collecting
20
firewood, gathering water from the village tap, and working in the fields, harvesting food. It was tiring work. Although I was a strange sight for the locals who had not encountered many tourists before, they welcomed me with open arms, and I became fully immersed in the culture and way of life. Rural Nepal was so different to the materialistic western world I was used to. People in the village lived from day to day just meeting their basic needs, and there was no real importance placed on material things such as clothing, toys, and furniture as the villagers were unable to access such things. The toileting facilities were merely a hole in the ground, and villagers washed themselves with a bucket of cold water. Most of the locals had one set of clothes, and some of the children had none. If the villagers were lucky, they had two meals a day, both of which were traditional Dal Baht, consisting of rice, lentil soup and curried vegetables. During my time in Nepal, I worked closely with Durga in all six of his centres. I worked specifically with the teachers, sharing my knowledge and skills, while educating them through interactive workshops on the environment, basic standards for early childhood, the role of the teacher, and health and safety. We achieved a great deal and it was hugely rewarding. We also went to visit other early childhood centres in Nepal run by different charities. These centres challenged and upset me the most. I was shocked to see such a poor standard of care and education. The centres were filthy with very little ventilation and space; they were extremely under-resourced and some of the teachers had absolutely no motivation or desire to teach. In one centre, I noticed children wandering around the room aimlessly, some lying on the floor virtually motionless. Children with disabilities were also disregarded in the classroom because of the lack of support. It was so disheartening.
Education Review Teach International 2012
The government-funded primary and secondary schools were overcrowded with around 65 children in a confined space. The children sat close together on benches with attached tables, and were segregated by gender, forbidden to mix. Children start school at different ages in Nepal and are required to pass each level before moving on. It was strange to see a nine-year-old in a classroom with a 15-year-old. The teaching style was also bizarre. Teachers showed a lack of respect for their students and had great authority over them. They physically ill-treated the children as a way of discipline and in turn, children were fearful of their teachers. The programme in primary school consisted of reciting the alphabet and numbers repeatedly over the course of the day. When the children lost interest or became disruptive, they were hit with a stick. My time in Nepal was a real eyeopener. It made me realise how lucky we are here in New Zealand and how much we take for granted. The standard of education in Nepal is
inexcusable, but sadly, it is a reality along with the devastating poverty, gender inequality, sex trafficking, poor child care, and child labour. I believe these issues are a reflection of the lack of quality education available. With quality care and education, children can grow up as competent learners with stronger awareness and understanding. They can grow to feel empowered and confident with more motivation to stand up for their rights. With quality care and education, parents can have other options during their working hours, feel assisted in their parenting role, and learn the importance of education, therefore fighting to keep their children in school. n First Steps Himalaya is currently looking for a long-term volunteer (four months) in Nepal to oversee its early childhood and school projects working alongside their local supervisors. Please visit www.firststepshimalaya.org for details.
Supporting the Teaching and Learning of Languages in New Zealand Schools
Contact our National Advisers for: expertise in intercultural communicative
language teaching information about teaching materials,
resources and networking opportunities
Wang Yu
Glenda Palmer
Bernd Schliephake
Chinese National Adviser
French National Adviser
German National Adviser
chinese@ilep.ac.nz
french@ilep.ac.nz
german@ilep.ac.nz
advice and guidance on immersion
experiences, scholarships and language assistants
Contact our Professional Learning Coordinator for: support for schools to establish and
develop language programmes Pablo Mateu García
Dr Christine Biebricher
Japanese National Adviser
Spanish National Adviser
Professional Learning Co-ordinator
japanese@ilep.ac.nz
spanish@ilep.ac.nz
c.biebricher@auckland.ac.nz
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