By Andrew King, Principal at Ōropi School and President of NZ Rural Schools Leadership Association
For the past twelve months, the educational landscape in Aotearoa has been fast-paced and challenging. During periods of rapid change, we need to remind ourselves of the power to be focused on the long-term vision and not be distracted by the ‘noise’ and pressure coming from all directions, perceived or otherwise, and remain steadfast in ensuring quality educational provision in our context.
Most rural school contexts in New Zealand are very much the central hub of the community and serve as more than just a place of academic delivery. This is combined with the fact a rural school’s link to the local context is fundamentally important. Often this is about connecting our tamariki to their outdoor environment, surroundings, and landscape.
At the same time, the small, rural and isolated schools are faced with additional challenges to implement curriculum changes. Recruitment and retention in these communities is a significant barrier to sustainable long-term change improvement and implementation.
Then there is the day-to-day complexity of these teachers and principals being able to access professional learning and development opportunities. This is due to the geographic distance to get to workshops and meetings, along with the juggle of teaching and leading a school, with a limited number of other staff to delegate and share tasks with. Let alone the time and ability to learn with peers face-to-face.
The system must be mindful of this and responsive to these challenges. Our decision makers must be asking, how can we address these issues to ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for all types of schools.
However, the irony is that our rural contexts often provide a rich local platform to deliver innovative learning opportunities that gives meaning and enables the curriculum ‘to come alive.’ This is in our easy access to farms, agriculture, the land, and often the natural beauty that is Aotearoa. This is literally at the doorstep of many rural and isolated schools.
Alongside this is often the close-knit sense of community and benefits of tuakana-tenia (mixed age group learning opportunities) that foster all those values and dispositions that are important in learning. Children in these contexts often have opportunities to apply their learning and engage outside of the school gates at ease.
So, as we consider our next steps with the new curriculum, we cannot forget the local environment we are in and the important role that plays to give life and meaning to the curriculum we deliver. I would argue this is where many rural schools have an advantage over their urban counterparts, along with being the type of context that is responsive to and provides solutions for many modern-day problems and needs.
