Education Futures 21C - What? Why? How?

Resource Description

To teach as we have always done so is to ignore the needs of the millennial students in the
21^st Century! Students have different needs now and these differences in needs is becoming more apparent as society changes from a knowledge-based society that relies on just-in-case learning, to one that needs people to be just-in-time learners.

Learning and teaching should have changed dramatically in 2007 with the launch of the “new” New Zealand Curriculum. As the former sentence suggests, learning rather than teaching has now been placed at the top of the priority list.  This implies that pedagogy, values, implementation of the Treaty of Waitangi principles, Key Competencies (unified by Thinking), Capabilities, Future focused learning, use of information technology to support learning and inclusiveness have now been promoted to become more important, with greater emphasis than prior to 2007. This process of change is continuous with new perspectives and needs for 21^st century learning.  These new perspectives include leadership, digital literacy, communication, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, global citizenship, problem solving and team working.

The changes in learning and teaching must lead to changes in assessment strategies and styles. There is a great need to develop assessments to signal the extent of development of the values, Key Competencies and Capabilities explained in the NZ Curriculum document. The assessments must reflect the development of future-focused attitudes and capabilities. Teachers must become more involved with Technology and Home Room/Form Class teachers need to be provided with professional development and recognition of their important function in the school.