Imagine the School of the Future

university-of-waikato

Thu Sep 20 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Imagine the School of the Future

Thursday, 20 September 2007, 10:49 am
Press Release: University of Waikato

Self-directed and relevant learning, a values-based curriculum and access to a global community were suggestions proposed at the recent Our Schools of the Future Competition.

The University of Waikato School of Education organised the event, which attracted six secondary school teams from Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga and Manurewa. The teams had 15 minutes to present their vision of a school of the future.

The winners were Gabrielle Scott-Jones, Carla Johl and Rachael Gresson from Waikato Diocesan School for Girls. The girls discussed the use of new technology, teacher and student relationships and the curriculum in the School of the Future. They advocated for self-directed learning, where students prescribed their own curriculum and teachers were facilitators. They said new technology would strengthen relationships between students and teachers and enable access to a global community.

Second equal were teams from Auckland’s James Cook High and Tauranga Boys College. The James Cook High students were political in their approach. They challenged the audience to think about the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in the current education system. Mixing drama and media to make their point, the all girl team praised NCEA, but scorned wealthy school’s poaching of top sports students from less wealthy schools.

Tauranga Boys College explored what a student led curriculum would look like and discussed the benefits of new technology. The boys wanted a curriculum, which catered for individual needs instead of an education catering for the masses.

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The teams were judged on their presentation skills, quality of content, teamwork, audience reaction and use of technology. The winning team members each won a scholarship for their first year of study at the School of Education.

Competition designer Terry Locke, a School of Education lecturer, says the presentations were inspirational and faintly disturbing. “I was awestruck and humbled by the teams’ thought, energy, commitment, imagination and flair.”

This annual event for senior secondary students aims to encourage students and challenge educators to think critically about the education system and to consider ways of making it more responsive to students’ 21st Century needs.

ENDS

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