What’s The Plan??????
I recently attended an Asia NZ Foundation meeting here in the sunny Bay. The meeting was held for school principal’s to express that students need good, strong and positive Asia links within the curriculum. There were a number of speakers, who spoke about how important the Asian market is to New Zealand, especially around the dairy industry.
It is would appear the the next economic super power will be a country in the Asian region, in fact probably a couple of countries, and that we need to prepare students for this. I directed a question to one of the guest speakers, who spoke really well I might add, about what the big picture is. I asked the following question;
“It is clear that we will never be able to produce enough dairy or produce to satisfy the Asian market. It is also clear that it would not be sustainable to clear all forests and towns to put into farms, orchards or the like. The Asian area is renown for their ability to produce goods to a very similar appearance to other well know goods. New Zealand’s Cookie Time Cookies, to the USA’s Apple Stores have all been reproduced in the Asian area. So what can we offer to an area that they can’t make for themselves, and is unique to us? What is the 20 year plan? Making Chicken Korma and learning about the Punjabi area is all nice but how can we really prepare our students to be ready to be part of the Asian economy?”
The answer I got wasn’t really what I wanted to hear, which was a whole lot of not much. Being told that schools need to prepare students with ‘skills’ is fine, but schools need to know what these skills are and what plans government has that we can ready our students for.
This was when Mary-Anne Mills from Core Education then offered a differing point of view. She suggested that schools really need to focus on Science in the classrooms. Students at secondary level are dropping out of science at a large rate and it is an area she suggested would be of great benefit for schools to target.
This was music to my ears, as we have just begun developing a science curriculum for our school. I believe that by infusing the Key Competencies with Science and Technology and throwing in some Kiwi Ingenuity our students can truly be ready to be global traders. What do you think?
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Clustrmaps
Given that the Asian communities come from cultures that are thousands of years old, and that there are already many thousands from those communities now living here, I think it more likely that they will be the trade links of the future, rather than our kiwi kids.
A science curriculum is great for the children who show a leaning in that direction, but not necessarily suited to all the students across the board. Computing and internet skills however, already being suitably emphasised at Kaimai, strike me as the most useful tool you could put in their hands as it gives access to knowledge that represents hundreds of years of experience from all those who have contributed to it.
In short, we think Kaimai is already on the right track, and there’s no point in us all being astronauts. There would be precious few of us who could accurately predict what 20 years will bring, so flexibility may be of more importance than anything, since truth is ever-changing as more knowledge is compiled. Self-confidence may be the single most valuable foundation one could equip a child with, for an exciting future.