Is our modern education system meeting the needs of students?

There have been many changes to New Zealand’s education system, drastically reshaping the way in which high school students engage in their learning. To discuss our system and the students within it I met with Renee Hutchinson. Renee is the head of the English faculty at St John’s College Hamilton, in addition to being the vice president of the New Zealand Association for the Teaching of English (NZATE).

“For students now NCEA requires you to be on fire all year round. We used to bugger about at school a fair bit. There was no challenge in it. There was no pressure of internal assessment, and now suddenly students are constantly heading into internals.”

Internal assessments are when specific topics are isolated for mid-year assessment to give students both a wider knowledge of literature, and to space the work load throughout the year. It allows students to be more prepared for the content that will arise in the external exam.

The content that was previously taught was scarce in comparison to the curriculum that is in place now. When discussing the changes Renee commented, “When I was in high school we didn’t look at literary theory, critical lens, or what the author/directors purpose was. Everything was very much theme, characters, and setting.” The teaching was focused on how the text was written, as opposed to why it was written.

“There is still that focus on literature, but now we are trying to instil a love for literature in students. An appreciation that words and language shape our world, and have a profound impact on how we understand ourselves and other people.”

With these changes to curriculum, inevitably the students must adapt as well. Students now have more opportunity to absorb knowledge through technology, such as Google Classroom and video lectures. Renee had extensive insight in regard to what is expected of students in this modern learning environment.

“With BYOD being implemented in schools, so much now is online. It used to be that you had to copy a whole lot of notes. It used to be that you had to be there otherwise you got behind. Now, using all the different tools that are available to us. Students are expected to be more self-directed”.

NCEA is an advantage for our young people, though there was a huge amount of internal assessment, it means that more students are able to pass. That doesn’t mean that the level is lower. It just means that we’ve recognised a vast variety of skill sets. We can now give students greater opportunities to work to their strengths, whilst utilising the technology that is available in this generation.