24 January marks the International Day of Education. This year’s theme is the power of youth in co-creating education.
New Zealand secondary teachers are calling on the government to ensure young people are at the centre of education change, especially when it comes to NCEA.
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie is calling for student-centred change and says education isn’t something done to or for students, but something created with them.
“For changes to our curriculum and qualifications to be effective and lasting, they must have students at the centre, and they must acknowledge the different ways in which students learn, and the wide range of circumstances in which young people live.”
He says teachers were concerned that proposed qualification changes would further disadvantage vulnerable youth.
He says, though the current NCEA system isn’t perfect, it’s a vast improvement on the previous system that saw too many young people leave school without a qualification and with “a diminished sense of their own worth”.
“Teachers are concerned that the proposed changes will take us backwards in that regard.”
He says commemorating the International Day of Education was impossible without reflecting on the plight of the hundreds of millions of children and young people whose right to education was currently being denied.
“Education is a human right, and a springboard to greater opportunity and living your best life.
“However, right now around the world, about 270 million children and young people are being deprived of an education because of poverty, discrimination, conflict, displacement and disasters.
“We urge all governments and international agencies to do everything they can to ensure every child and young person, wherever they live in the world, has access to the education they deserve.”
UNESCO notes that half of the global population is under 30 years old, so youth are a driving force for sustainable development, innovation and social change.
Yet they are disproportionately impacted by poverty, inequality and limited access to quality education and work opportunities.
“When it comes to shaping the future of education, youth have a special role to play: they are the beneficiaries of education programmes, and their future depends on it,” its website reads.
“For this reason, meaningfully engaging students and youth in co-creating the education they want is essential to meet their aspirations and ambitions.
“This is particularly true at a time of radical transformation induced by the technological revolution, which calls for rethinking the purpose and modalities of teaching and learning.”
