Principals' Reflections
Members of the NZEI Principal's Council reflect on aspects of the revised curriculum.
Karl Vasau - Managing Implementation
Karl Vasau describes how children enjoy seeing their parents at school and talks about practices used to make parents feel comfortable about coming into the school.
Kay Stevens & Cath O’Loughlin - Managing Implementation
Kay Stevens talks about the importance of using informal opportunities to consult with parents. Cath O’Loughlin talks about forging links with the wider community eg local business and industries.
Peter Verstappen - Managing Implementation
Peter Verstappen discusses changing approaches to provide the community with a voice to shape the curriculum. He shares creative ways to involve the community and the positive impact this has had on his school.
Paul Potaka - Curriculum Fluency
Paul Potaka discusses the journey his school is taking to design their local curriculum. He started with the important ideas students need by the time they leave school, backward-mapping across their school life and then overlaying and interweaving the identified aspects of the curriculum.
Jan Tinetti - Vision
Jan Tinetti talks about creating a living vision for the school which has been key to the involvement and commitment of boards, whānau and staff in her school.
Paul Potaka - Key Competencies
Paul Potaka started with the important learning students need, overlaid that with social learning and other matters. Paul notes that through an inquiry focus, interweaving the key competencies and the disciplines, and their finer points, could be covered.
Anne Gover, Kay Stevens & Cath O’Loughlin - Learning Areas
Anne Gover shares her staff’s enjoyment of autonomy the New Zealand Curriculum has provided but cautions that care must be taken so that some areas are not crowded out. Kay Stevens agrees and emphasises the responsibility of providing students with a balanced curriculum. Cath O’Loughlin sees whole-school-planning as a way of ensuring a balanced curriculum is provided.
Margaret Civil - Learning Areas
Margaret Civil says in her school "the essence statements" are the glue or the building blocks for an integrated curriculum. She discusses how her school plans their curriculum design.
Charles Oliver & Dave Henderson - Effective Teaching
Charles Oliver talks about learning relationships between professionals and learners that become a partnership. Charles says that teachers have to manage the learning environment but do not always have to be the one in charge. David Henderson agrees and sees the rapport between student and teacher as the key. He talks about his job as creating an environment so teachers can be confident to take risks.
Charles Oliver - Effective Teaching
Charles Oliver talks about teacher collaboration which has put teachers in control of the curriculum in his school. He argues that this has led to teachers having a greater investment in student outcomes in their classes.
John McKenzie - Effective Teaching
John McKenzie maintains teachers need to open their classrooms and share their practice. John describes what this would look like in the school.
John McKenzie - Effective Teaching
John McKenzie discusses how teachers can help their students to articulate and understand how they can learn best by raising questions.
Ian Leckie - Effective Teaching
Ian Leckie talks about involving students so that they are leading their learning. Ian also talks about the learning culture and focus of his school and how this is maintained.
John McKenzie - Assessment
John McKenzie reflects on past practice of over-assessment and recording and suggests different ways of assessment practice.
John Mckenzie - Putting It All Together
John McKenzie talks about applying the school vision to the choices made within the teaching and learning programmes which help teachers to make the right decisions about the context, content, and the direction of their teaching.
Steve Hayward - Putting It All Together
Steve Hayward believes that the task of implementing the curriculum is a large one and that professional sharing of resources, knowledge and skills develops the confidence for teachers to stand up and be proud of their professional practice.
Jan Tinetti - Te Marauranga o Aotearoa
Jan Tinetti discusses how her school worked with both Māori medium and English medium documents by starting with the learner profile. Jan talks about how staff have responded to connecting with the learner and their world.
