Applied Practice in Context - Activity 6

Professional Context - Broader Context

What's certain is that the world is changing faster than at any time in human history.

Philip Stephens, FT, December 2012

Global trends such as increasing migration and climate change, national trends on government spending in health and pensions, familial trends of child well-being as well as technological trends (Education & Skills Today, 2016) lead us to ask, "How will these trends will influence education?"

Contemporary Issues

In this activity, I have been asked to identify two contemporary issues or trends which are influencing or shaping New Zealand education and are most relevant to my own practice.

Below is an illustration of the 10 Trends that are expected to make a growing impact on education in New Zealand, according to Core Education's team of researchers, digital experts and educators.

The two trends that I wish to evaluate are Cultural and Economic;  in the areas of diversity and computational thinking.  

Cultural - Diversity

Core Education refer to cultural diversity as being pedagogies that cater for diverse learners and groups of learners, UDL, different belief systems and multiple languages in schools.  At the beginning of this year, I began working as a Learning Coach at Ormiston Primary School in Flat Bush, South-East Auckland.   This school opened at the beginning of 2015 and is attended by children from a variety of ethnic groups - many coming from homes where English is their second language.  

The school is also a satellite unit for the Kelston Deaf Education centre.  Sign language is prominently used right across the school.   The aim is to help students with hearing difficulties integrate into school life and achieve educational success.

Impact on my practice

Currently, the school role is 250 and will eventually, with further building plans in the pipeline, cater for 700 Learners.  A large proportion of these learners will come with diverse needs and cultural backgrounds.  As of December 2015, the ethnic composition at Ormiston Primary School was:

• Māori 3%
• Pākehā 7%
• Chinese 26%
• Indian 25%
• Cambodian 10%
• Fijian 10%
• Middle Easter 5%
• Other Asian 3%
• Other 11%

The cultural diversity that is already present in my school (from both cultural identify and the deaf learners) has meant that I am having to make a change to the way that I have previously taught.   My own cultural beliefs and language are almost alien to this school's environment, even though I live only 17 kilometres away!  

I have spent that past ten years working in a school which was predominantly mono-cultural - with cultural backgrounds, expectations and beliefs that were close to my own.  The authentic learning experiences that I planned were derived from my own cultural world and were accessible by my students.

Now, in this culturally diverse environment, I am having to review my 'Pakeha' way of thinking as many of these students have had limited 'kiwi' experiences.

How do I address this trend?

Questions, conversations and collaboration.  These are the three actions that I will initially undertake in order to get to know my Learners.   If I am to meet the needs of these Learners, then I need to know more about their cultural background, what makes them 'tick' and how we can get a balance between the culture at home vs the melting pot of culture at school.  This will mean getting to know not only the Learner, but also the family.  Whanau and community involvement will be one way to access and embrace their culture. 

I feel that the move away from the traditional 'industrial' model aligns with the acceptance of diverse cultures and needs of each learner.   I'm looking forward to working within an environment that is quite unique, yet a reflection of how our world is evolving to be a melting pot of cultures.

Economic - Computational Thinking

Core Education describe this trend as the impact of STEM on curriculum, coding, the drive for skills for employment vs holistic education outcomes for all, and play-base curriculum.  

According to Sir Ken Robinson (2006), schools are killing creativity by standardising learning and consequently not enabling personalised learning.  National Standards were introduced to New Zealand schools in 2010 and since then, I feel that literacy and numeracy have been at the forefront of learning - leaving other curriculum areas to be squeezed in whenever time permitted.  Over the course of a week, there is time to include The Arts, Science, Technology and Social Sciences but I don't feel that these curriculum areas are valued as much as literacy and numeracy.  Take a look at the the reporting system to confirm this feeling.

Impact on my practice

Global changes will require future-focussed learning to include these less recognised curriculum areas and I find this, along with the inclusion of coding to be very exciting.  Science, technology and coding are areas in learning that often provide learning opportunities for hands-on exploration - along with collaboration, problem solving and creativity.   If STEM is to be valued in the learning environment, then I may need to flip my planning around to put the STEM subjects first; with literacy and numeracy woven through.

Play-based learning is encouraged in my current school and I am currently learning how to provide my Learners with 'play' opportunities to encourage social skills, exploration and creativity. 

How do I address this trend?

A typical day at my current school begins with a provocation and time to explore.  Here, my fellow Learning Coaches and I have an opportunity to introduce science, technology and engineering related ideas to initiate curiosity within the 6-7 year old Learners in our habitat.  I would like to find out more about the 'maths' part of STEM - as numeracy is 80% of our learning at the moment.  Does STEM desire this, or should it be more strand related and problem solving content?   

Coding has been something which I have 'dabbled' with in the past.  Reasons for not using it have been due to limited technology and my own knowledge.  Yet, when I have included it in our learning there has been much excitement and engagement from the Learners.  I'm sure that coding can be included across all curriculum areas.  I need to put some time aside to research online coding communities to find out what is currently been done in other learning environments, then consider how I can initiate coding.

Play-based learning is currently happening within my school - especially within the New Entrants habitat.  I am interested to find out how play-based learning with my 6-7 year olds can be integrated in our curriculum areas, without the Learners thinking of it as 'just' play.  There are several online communities can help to answer this question as well as provide me with examples and ideas.

Where to from here?

Preparing today's Learners for tomorrow's world - if I think too much about it, it can be quite daunting.  However, I can also feel excited by having the opportunity to be part of the change in our current education system.  

References

CORE Education's Ten Trends 2016 | CORE Education. (2016). Core-ed.org. Retrieved 22 February 2016, from http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends

Education & Skills Today, (2016). The trends shaping the future of education, 

Oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.co.nz. Retrieved 22 February 2016, from http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/the-trends-shaping-future-of-education.html

Robinson, K. (2006).  Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?  Retrieved from

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

Stephens, P. (2012). State versus citizen in tomorrow’s world - FT.com. (2016). Financial Times. Retrieved 26 February 2016, from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/75dfa02c-448d-11e2-932a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz42xx4cDGB