Kia Ora New Zealand Contemporary Learning Tour 2023

Lutheran Education Leaders highly modelled the elements of rich collegiality and collaboration to enable all to thrive during the Contemporary Learning Tour. All attendees made reference to the richness the group brought to their learnings as well as the incredible knowledge and insights shared with us from each of the 7 schools.

Some Learning Highlights:
School 1 – Green School NZ – New Plymouth

An incredible day exploring and learning at this Years 0 – 13 (P-12) with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• Rich experiential, student agentic contemporary learning
• Authentic Learning
• Social Equity students, teachers, staff, community
• Innovative Learning Pods
• Sustainability and Community
• Connection to place and the environment
• First Nations priorities
• The Incredible landscape and environmental offerings

School 2 – Freeman’s Bay Gov. School

Collaborative Contemporary teaching was a huge focus at Freeman’s Bay School on the NZ Contemporary Learning Tour – A deep exploration into:

• Whakawhanaungatanga – establishing good relations
• Ako – to teach and learn together in a reciprocal relationship
• Tuakana-Tiena- A model for buddy systems and agreements

The complimentary award winning innovative learning environments were also a highlight to be explored.

School 3 – The Age School enabling creative minds to go out and make the world a better place.

A full morning exploring and learning at this Years 0 – 13 (P-12) with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• A disruptive contemporary model of private schooling which is allowing students to leverage authentic connections and pathways to enable rich learning
• Students who will serve and connect with community and who are not afraid to challenge the status quo.
• Using the local community, environment, and resources to enable rich learning. The whole town, surrounds and community are part of the school.

School 4 – Hobsonville Point Secondary Gov School

A full half a day exploring and learning at this Years 0 – 13 (P-12) with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• A highly recognised contemporary learning model which is driven by recognising traditional aspects of education which need to stop and contemporary practice and growth mindsets need to be front and centre.
• Diverse teacher teams and flat structures
• Student/staff cultures supporting social equity, wellness and inclusion.
• Dynamic flexible learning hubs  – not a classroom in site
• Flexible timetabling and scheduling

School 5 – Teoamarama Private Partnerships Gov. School

A half day exploring and learning at this Years 0-6 (P-6) school with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• Strong First Nations emphasis for ways of learning, doing and being
• How “Teachers First” strategy helps build a rich culture for the school
• Further dive into the autonomous nature of curriculum and the richness of learning that evolves from creative leaders
• How a private partnerships model enables greater capacity.-    
• The Priority is always Culture

School 6 – Albany Senior School

A half day exploring and learning at this Years 7-13 (grades 7-12) school with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• The dynamic simplification of timetable
• Student independence in learning
• A major focus on senior authentic passion projects
• Managing and monitoring contemporary skills and dispositions
• Innovative learning environments
• Café Culture
• School Contemporary Culture

School 7 – Stonefields School

A whole day immersion at this Years 0-9 (grades p-9) school with the staff and students. Many aspects were explored including:

• Contemporary pedagogy through rich Project Based Learning
• Collaborative Teacher Teams across the whole school
• How to do more with less
• How all leadership prioritise learning first, other second
• Managing and monitoring contemporary skills and dispositions
• SchoolTalk and Slider – digital Tools
• What does a culture of professional learning look like for a Contemporary School
                

Some testimonials so far!

• An incredibly thought provoking and challenging  tour of contemporary NZ schools that are taking contemporary and innovative approaches towards student education whilst showing deep reverence to their indigenous culture. 
• The NZ tour was an amazing, eye-opening experience. It is so wonderful to be able to communicate with other educators who are wanting to do more in education and step outside the traditional outdated ways of teaching. All of the schools are unique in their own way so there is something to take away from every location. Be ready to learn and be inspired!
• Challenged my thinking in a way that it hasn’t been challenged before. Forced me to push my thinking and delve deeply into why and how we do things. Amazing to see schools that are bravely redefining what education is and how it looks.
• The New Zealand Contemporary Learning Tour was insightful, and incredibly inspiring. It is a wonderful opportunity for any open minded educators curious and wanting to positively inform their practice, particularly in the areas of Wellbeing, cultural sustainability and empowering learning.
• This tour has given me amazing clarity and understanding of purpose in relation to my role within my school. Apart from learning and seeing a whole lot of new approaches to “doing” schooling, I’ve also been reminded of many fundamentals which are central to our Lutheran way of doing schooling – reverence to God; focus on restorative practice and wellbeing; quality teaching and learning that places the learner at the centre.
• Touring New Zealand schools was a humbling experience in respect, acknowledgment and immersion in First Nations culture as a given in schools. Visiting both mainstream and bespoke schools, we saw many examples of how to innovate structure, pedagogy and methods of engagement in order to transform education to better meet the needs of all learners.
• Collaborating with fellow professionals within the Lutheran system from schools I didn’t know existed was incredibly valuable. Together we are going to change the face of education to authentically enable our learners. The absolutely best prof learning ever!