The International Summit on the teaching profession that took place in Wellington last weekend has raised the question of how countries can best learn from each other in meeting common educational challenges.
In today’s world, many countries are considering how to improve their global competitiveness through education. Attention is focusing on issues such as the skills and knowledge students need for the 21st century, what constitutes effective teaching practice, the use of technology and where to invest to gain the greatest returns. An issue facing governments everywhere is that the future is unknown, and that by its very nature the education system must prepare both students and countries for a world that does not yet exist.
In such an environment – where the focus is on the future not the past – it is not possible for governments simply to roll out tried and true policies they know will be successful. Rather they need to consider how to design the system as a whole in ways that will best equip it for the future. This requires an integrated approach to areas such as curriculum design, regulatory and funding policies. Because these are whole of system issues, often the best point of comparison is what other countries are doing.
Despite – or perhaps because of – its geographical location, New Zealand is frequently at the centre of international comparisons, both because of what it can offer other countries and because of what it can learn.
There is considerable interest internationally in what makes New Zealand’s education system successful. New Zealand does well in most international studies such as PISA. However, we have large gaps in achievement between students and the rate of improvement is not as great as in some other countries. International attention is often focused on aspects of the system that are different, and/or where New Zealand has introduced changes in advance of other countries. This includes the curriculum and qualifications frameworks, aspects of tertiary education, and the devolved nature of the schooling system. There is also strong interest in innovative educational policies, for example National Standards, where New Zealand is one of the few countries not to have gone down the route of national testing. And finally there is interest in how New Zealand is dealing with equity and indigenous education issues. This is because success for all is increasingly seen not only as a social issue but also an important contributor to economic growth.
In recent years Government policies have been focused on increasing the value of education exports. Like many other countries New Zealand is interested in increasing the number of international students it attracts, as well as its market share. This is occurring in a context where strong government to government relationships are an important pre-requisite for international trade. For example India wants to invest in large-scale technical and skills training but is specifically interested in how New Zealand can add value to the provision of such training by sharing its experience of vocational education.
In areas where New Zealand has a history of educational success and implementation (such as qualifications changes) there may be opportunities for New Zealand to exploit this knowledge commercially through the sale of education knowledge and services, but policies in this area will need careful design and management.
On the other side of the equation, New Zealand has much to learn from other jurisdictions. Traditionally the points of comparison have been “similar” Anglo-Saxon countries, such as Australia, the UK, Canada and the US. However, such countries are faring no better (and in some cases rather worse) than New Zealand in international studies. This has led to demands for New Zealand to examine more closely the policies of countries such as Finland, which has done very well internationally, and more recently Asian countries including Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai China. Such comparisons have prompted a vigorous debate about the importance of social, cultural and political factors in educational success, and the extent to which policies in one country can ever be extrapolated successfully to another.
However, because experiences cannot be readily translated does not mean that there is nothing to learn. Like other countries New Zealand stands to gain both economically and socially if the education system can be made more successful through careful consideration of what has contributed to others’ success.
A key issue for our education system – as for systems worldwide – is how to improve outcomes for all students. New Zealand has one of the most devolved systems in the world, combined with one of the biggest gaps in achievement between students. The risk is that unless our policies are well designed, integrated and cohesive, students will continue to fall through the cracks. The themes of the International Summit – Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness – highlight areas where we need to focus our attention and where other countries can perhaps provide some useful lessons.
