How will be able to keep up?
Will I have a job when I leave school or will a robot take my place?
How can we create sustainable water supplies?
Will there be enough food? What will we eat?
Personally it is not one trend that concerns me, instead I am captivated by the opportunity to change the way we educate students to be creative, self-managing, critical thinkers and innovators. To be the solution and not the problem. To be World Changers. In the words of Nelson Mandela ~ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Over the past year our school has seen a significant change to our curriculum delivery, with a greater focus on student agency. Students are thinking about their learning and taking ownership of how, when and why they learn. We are encouraging students in intermediate age to think about these important questions, and to inquire further. There is an urgency to engage students in relevant, deep learning tasks that encourage collaboration, innovation and so much more.The impact this is having on our students is that they are developing confidence, curiosity and lifelong skills to enable them to succeed in the future.
Inquiry learning in itself is a trend in education that is impacting education in NZ and Australia. Kath Murdoch says that inquiry learning can "sustain, nurture and grow that natural disposition that we all have to find out, to be researchers" (Kathleen Murdoch, 2015).
What is the the NZ curriculum doing to equip students to be able to cope with these changes?
The illustrative vision of the New Zealand Education system in 2025 plans for students to be:
- Self-directed
- Empathetic and inclusive
- Innovative
- Authentic problems solvers
- STEM foundation
This aligns with the changes we are having in our school, and with the future vision of the NZ curriculum.
So where to from here? Keep calm and keep learning, keep reflecting on my own teaching practise and inquiry. Become an inquiry learner myself. Maybe you could help me with my journey?
How is your school supporting students with inquiry learning?
How are you/school developing to help students become more self-regulated learners?
So where to from here? Keep calm and keep learning, keep reflecting on my own teaching practise and inquiry. Become an inquiry learner myself. Maybe you could help me with my journey?
How is your school supporting students with inquiry learning?
How are you/school developing to help students become more self-regulated learners?
References:
Ministry of Education. (2015, April). New Zealand Education in 2025 - Lifelong Learners in a Connected World. Retrieved April 31, 2017, from Education.govt.nz: https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Initiatives/Lifelonglearners.pdf
Murdoch, K. (2015, October 9). 01 What is inquiry learning C hires. Retrieved June 12, 2017, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXF7IV2C7KE
Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g
National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf
How is your school supporting students with inquiry learning?
ReplyDeleteHow are you/school developing to help students become more self-regulated learners?
Well, we are working towards being an ILE. We are actively working with our children encouraging and supporting them towards being independent learners. The development by staff of a clear mission statement a few years ago along with a well defined graduate profile aided the development of the school's GOLD learner qualities and our learning process guide. The latter two are the foundations that we work from. These are an adaptation of the Key Comp's which have been adjusted to reflect the community's values.
The children have greater agency in their learning and have a much greater input in to their progress. The senior children this week will lead their learner led conferences where they get to discuss their year's progress, reflecting on earlier goals and set themselves new goals for the second half of the year.
One benefit of our studies with Mind Lab has given me is a clearer understanding of the course our school has embarked on. Some areas had been a bit of a mystery but now I have a more indepth understanding and can see where we are heading.
Great post - thanks for sharing. I really like your 'Keep Calm, Keep Learning, Keep Reflecting' comments and it made me think of where we are at my school. At the moment there are syndicates operating at different levels of the self-directed, innovative pathway - which is fine, it's good to be on the pathway and not sitting on the side of it wondering when to put your running shoes on. Your blog reminded me to remind staff to do as you said - 'Keep Calm, Keep Learning, Keep Reflecting'. If we all commit to this spiral of reflective practice then our school system will be on track to fulfil the aspirations of the New Zealand Curriculum 2025 - which is not all that far away.
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