I distinctly remember being in year 12 and being told as a class our physics internal was going to be scaled up because too many of us had passed. The explanation that was provided to us was that in every assessment some of us had to fail because otherwise the assessment was considered too easy. This is a micro situation that is indicative of how the public education system is run. The idea that someone has to fail is built into every assessment sat by students across all levels of schooling. I understand the logic and practicality behind it but this ideology goes directly against the founding principles that public education is grounded.
The education system is set up on the premise of providing everyone the opportunity to reach their full potential As clarence Bebby said “all persons, whatever their ability, rich or poor, whether they live in town or country, have a right as citizens to a free education of the kind for which they are best fitted and to the fullest extent of their powers” (Bebby, 1992) However, at the same time, some students enter the system destined to fail. If you walk into any year 9 class in any school you will see many of them. The students the the system was never designed for. These kids will leave school with nothing but a bad taste in their mouths. Last year in New Zealand only 72% of students enrolled in level 1 NCEA passed (Ministry of Education, 2019). That’s not counting all of the students who were not enrolled. That means that at least 28% of New Zealand students did not achieve our lowest educational qualification.
The problem is that our school system was not designed for the students it serves. Public education in New Zealand is over 100 years old. Society has come a long way since we first implemented our school system. We’ve been to the moon and back yet we haven’t changed how or what we deliver in our education system. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So why do we do this year in and year out with our schools.
We are failing the same demographic of students year in and year out.
Future focused education gives us the chance to change schooling to be more inclusive and not based off a model designed to serve societies in the 1800s. To me the idea of future focused education is a chance to overhaul our current system and try to actually build a system that is designed for today’s kids. Not just today’s kids but today’s kids futures. Our society is constantly shifting and changing it is a living breathing thing that will always evolve. Our education system should follow suit. We shouldn’t try to education children for a changing world in a stagenet system.
The future is uncertain, we can not guarantee anything. There are many issues that need to be tackled and it will take a brave society to take the leap and try something new. We know that children today need to be prepared to face an uncertain always changing future. The skills and values that our students need to be successful have drastically changed. Future focused education gives us a chance to reimagine a system where these students are the guiding light. Where all students can enter into the system with a fighting chance and hopefully come out victorious.
References:
Beeby, C. (1992). The biography of an idea. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER
Ministry of Education. (2019). Annual report: NCEA, University entrance and New Zealand Scholarship data and statistics. Wellington, New Zealand
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