One of the biggest challenges of taking up a new job, in your home country or abroad, is figuring out how you fit within a larger structure of the organization. As teachers, we have to take whole courses in our training programs about this topic. We study how the public education evolved, how schools are funded, various levels of governmental involvement, legal requirements at each level, etc. The US is unique in a lot of ways because of our highly stratified structure, from local up to federal levels and state-to-state variety. A lot of teachers choose to know the basics and then get down to the business of their work: giving content to students. These people have a knack for separating the wheat from the chaff and then getting on with their lives. They know how their jobs relate to politics, how their personal budgets depend on funding formulae and the rights that they and their students have within the system. These basics are the issues that affect day to day operations in the class so most of us choose to know these and leave the rest to department heads and senior management.
And then there are people like me. We can't help but dig into details even if it means not doing anything meaningful or immediately necessary for hours on end. We're pickers of the worst kind: complete and unrelenting. We learn the basics and then can't help but learn the basics of other peoples' positions and responsibilities, as well. I've come to terms with this part of my psychology and have managed to get some use out of it. There are times, though, when I succeed in collecting nothing but mental junk that sits in my mind, the likes of which may or may not be usable in the future.
Before coming down to New Zealand I was working as a substitute teacher in my district's middle and high schools. If you or someone you know has been a substitute teacher you'll know that the work is sporadic and is prone to periods of unemployment not long enough to take on a second job. To fill in the time I decided to do a little background reading on New Zealand education. A little reading turned into a lot of reading, which turned into a full-blown quest for any and all information relating to NZ schools: I read the official information from the official sites and then dug into news article, school sites and newsletters, student projects I found on-line, and any articles on the web that included the terms "New Zealand" and "education".
One thing that I found during my search was that there really wasn't much out there for overseas trained teachers. The jargon was, honestly, pretty foreign despite the fact that New Zealand speaks English. In addition to this, the education system had recently been revamped and included new vocabulary and names for those structures that remain the same throughout time (such as grade levels, subjects, certifications, exams, etc). Older vocabulary was still commonly in use throughout most documents. This meant that two different articles about the same topic could be using two different terms for the same thing. I was expecting a certain amount of new terminology but nothing to the extent at which I had just uncovered. Luckily I had the time to sift through it all and break it down. If I had been working full time I probably would have had to take the approach of the more prudent researcher and start looking for wheat amongst the chaff, and I can honestly say that that approach probably wouldn't have yielded much in the way of wheat.
This is the first in a series of posts titled "How NZ High School Works". My aim is to break down the structure of secondary education for those who grew up with the American education system. The information about New Zealand education that is published on the internet is confusing at best, indecipherable at worst, and there doesn't yet exist any information geared specifically toward an American audience. In this series I hope to explain some of the basics of the system and lay out what outsiders need to know to start their study of education in New Zealand. The information presented here is simply what I've managed to glean from my forays into public documents and my few years of experience here. Please forgive any misinformation that might slip into any article in the series. I'll try to make sure that my information is as accurate as possible.
Part I: The Overall Structure
Students in New Zealand experience basically the same educational trajectory that American students experience. They go through a period of exploration and social growth at a very young age, then learn the basics of language and math with applications in social studies and science topics. They enter a period of enhanced freedom before high school where they are allowed to manage themeselves more independently while getting the support structures that they need from attentive teachers. In their final years they more or less take the reins of their own education and navigate a catalog of required and optional classes that will eventually lead them to a certification. With this certification they head off into whichever direction the magnatism of the Earth pulls them.
Within this general trajectory are subtle differences that ultimately give a New Zealand child a much different experience than that of an American child.
Children in New Zealand begin school at the age of 5. This means that on their 5th birthday they get to go to school. This could be late in the academic year or early in the year, but it happens on their birthday. According to law the NZ education system is required to provide all children ages 5-16 with 180 days of school per year. This is changing and will soon expand to cover students aged 5-18 years. Legally all of these students must be supervised or involved in a structured program during his/her school's operating hours.
Most children have access to early childhood education (ECE) centres. These are called Kindergarten and are the American equivalent of pre-school. Many of these centres get federal funding and thus the staff who run them must hold certifications in ECE. From what I've learned these certifications are as thorough and involved as those held by other teachers.
From the age of 5 students then move from Kindy (another short-hand version of Kindergarten) to Primary school (Elementary School). They are placed in a full day programme in Year 1 of the curriculum.
New Zealand refers to class levels as years, so Kindergarten in the US is the same thing as Year 1 in New Zealand. First Grade is Year 2, Second Grade is Year 3 and so on up the line. These students have a school day that begins around 9 am and goes until 3 pm. They get a 20 minute break in the morning and a 30-40 minute lunch break at around 1 pm. These students learn the basics of reading, writing and math within the context of larger units, much in the same manner of US students. The vast majority of these schools are uniformed and nearly all are co-ed. They learn all of their subjects from one teacher and stay in one classroom for the full day. They get PE regularly and rotate through optional subjects like art as the school sees fit. Very few of these primary schools offer music; there is no such thing as a Primary or General Music teacher.
Once students reach Years 7 and 8 they enter what is called Intermediate School. Unlike American middle schools or junior high schools, these students do not adopt the traditional high school bell schedule. Intermediate school looks, for the most part, just like primary school. Students are still taught by one teacher all day and stay in one classroom within a co-ed context. They go through math hour, then a regiment of punctuation and grammar and handwriting before morning tea (New Zealand's equivalent of recess) at 10:30. Students then come back for practice with reading or some other sort of science-based activity. At this level they begin to study Maori language and culture in more depth and are expected to work on larger projects that take days to complete. This is where they begin to learn independence in academics. They don't learn time management skills at the same level as American students, however; Kiwi intermediate students work in one classroom all day and don't have to plan out which books to prepare, when to be at a different location, etc. The social structure of the groups looks very much like upper-elementary groupings, with most students opting to spend time with others of their same gender. Little teasing between genders is seen in the classroom, but lots of mixed-gender project work is generated from seating arrangements (also controlled by the teacher and not the students).
In Year 9 students make the jump to secondary education model. This jump involves adjusting to bells, class schedules and the levels of responsibility and accountability that most American students learn in middle school. Most secondary schools are uniformed and nearly half of the New Zealand secondary schools are single sex. Students can progress through Year 13 before leaving for University, although some leave in Year 12 to pursue apprenticeships or two-year degree programmes at trade schools.
A note here on terminology is needed for clarity's sake. The old secondary system, Bursary, referred to Years as Forms. Beginning at the current Year 7 age, students were categorised as Form 1 (Year 7) up through Form 7 (Year 13). Many schools still use the Form label when referring to a students level of academic study in secondary school. I prefer to use the Year label as it seems to be the direction many schools and teachers are heading in their choice of lingo. It also clears up my daily interactions with other teachers surrounding one period of the day called Form Period. This is America's version of home room and is a short period of the day dedicated to reading out notices, passing out forms, homework checks and so on.
High school is divided into two phases: Junior school and Senior school. Junior school comprises Years 9 and 10 and covers basic academic skills in English, math, science, social studies, PE, and a rotating elective line. This is loosely termed "technology" and can include anything from drama to media to wood working to music to food technology. The aim of this block is to give students a sound knowledge of the basics before allowing them to specialise in Senior school. Senior school covers Years 11-13 and is the period in which students begin to explore their options for their lives after high school. All students have to take English, maths and a science of some variety. Depending on their post-secondary aspirations they pick and choose which courses will get them the proper certification.
Senior school is also where students begin taking NCEA or Cambridge classes. Not every school offers both, but all except one offers NCEA. The school I teach in offers both, but restricts who may enter which pathway. These are two different curricula that give students access to a secondary certification similar to a High School Diploma.
NCEA is a New Zealand developed system that is designed to work with local tertiary programs. The Cambridge curriculum is based on the UK secondary curriculum and is targeted at those students wanting to study abroad after high school. Both deliver the same basic skills, but Cambridge eventually narrows to just four core subjects (English, math, science, history) as a means of preparing students for highly academic tertiary programmes. NCEA offers a wider range of courses including hard and soft materials, hospitality, health and physical education, business studies, economics, accounting, te reo Maori, and a host of others. In both NCEA and Cambridge systems, students must pass certain classes in order to earn a certificate. NCEA students earn credits and can earn a variety of certificates based on how many credits they earn at the three levels of NCEA study: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Cambridge is an all-or-nothing system like the US's: you must take a series of courses to the end of the line, and only then will you earn your degree. In both systems, social promotion as an accepted practice and course content is catered to both the academic and social needs of the student group. I will post other articles in the future further detailing the nuances of the NCEA and Cambridge systems.
The school day for secondary school is very similar to that of the younger Kiwi students. High schools generally begin at 8:45 am and end at 3:10. Many students come to school before classes or stay late to practice sports, music or other group activities. For the most part sports teams do not train five days per week as in the US. Top teams usually train 2-3 days per week and compete on weekends. Very few competitions occur during the week, with most taking place on Saturday.
About half of New Zealand males leave school by the end of Year 12 to attend two-year programs in trade schools, or take up apprenticeships. The other half have their eyes set on a four-year diploma through one of New Zealand's universities. This is a well established trend that has been strengthened over the last few years by feedback from the business sector. Most employers claim that they do not prefer employees with university degrees, but instead competent workers with a sound work ethic and some relevant experience, be it in the classroom or the workplace. As opposed to US employers, who seem firmly acclimated to a workforce flush with degrees and diplomas in every subject under the sun, New Zealanders still very much see work and life experience as equally valuable as advanced education.
There is one thing that Year 13 students have in common with the American high school senior; most view their last year of high school as a significant accomplishment and relish the last year of what they come to regard as their childhood. While some here stay on just long enough to finish out their last Rugby season and then sign out, most attempt to enjoy their friends and school community as much as they can...before they have to leave.
