Achievement Challenges: Future Ready

Aspiration Statement/Tauākī Wawata

Kāhui Ako ki Orewa we believe in preparing students to be Future Ready through integration of the digital curriculum and the development of 21st century skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, innovation and technological fluency, in order to prepare akonga for an ever changing world.

Strategic Initiatives/Ngā Kaupapa Rautaki

• Establish learner-centred opportunities and workstreams/connections across Kahui Ako ki Orewa

• Support teachers’ integration of 21st century skills through the use of digital tools and the digital technologies curriculum.

• Develop progressions for digital learning available to all kura within Kāhui Ako ki Orewa

Rationale/Te Take Why? He aha ai?

Why focus on Digital Curriculum?

Digital technologies are transforming our homes and our workplaces, changing the way we interact with each other and live our everyday lives. Our education system needs to grow and adapt to this technology. We are gaming how we equip our children and young people to participate, create, and thrive in a fast-evolving digital world. link

Kahui Ako ki Orewa believes that supporting students to be effective users and creators of digital technology will promote engagement and equity in outcomes for our students and help overcome the challenges of learning.

Why focus on integration of digital technologies?

The New Zealand Curriculum vision includes the aspiration that our young people “will seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies to secure a sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental future for our country” (Ministry of Education, 2007, page 8). The curriculum’s future focus principle (on page 9) recognises that young New Zealanders need the tools to understand and address a range of issues and concerns of global significance.

The goal of the digital curriculum is to ensure that all learners have the opportunity to become digitally capable individuals.

When technology integration in the classroom is seamless and thoughtful, students not only become more engaged, they begin to take more control over their own learning, too. Effective tech integration changes classroom dynamics, encouraging student-centred project-based learning. Full Article

Why focus on 21st Century Skills?

Why focus on 21st Century Skills? As David Parsons, Associate Professor at Massey University, states “…..we’ve got to try and equip them (students) with the thinking skills, with the ability to work in teams, with the ability to understand different points of view, to use every tool that they have available, to increase their power, to affect change in the world, hopefully for the better”. Therefore as a Kāhui Ako we believe in equipping our akonga with the skills required to collaborate, think critically, innovate and have technological fluency in order for them to contribute and engage in an ever changing world.

Measures/Ngā Mēhua

• Measure engagement with the Digital Hub using Analytics.

• Collaborate, collect and document teacher voice within Kāhui Ako ki Orewa.

• Offer opportunity for the wider Kāhui Ako community to contribute through Google site feedback and comment section.

• Throughout the creation process, document: reflections and discussions as qualitative data. Using surveys and/or interviews.

• Embedded pedagogy as evidenced in the weekly newsletter.

• Seek feedback from key stakeholders throughout the planning, creating and implementing stages.

Goals/Ngā Whāinga

• Create a Digital Hub using a Google site linking lessons with digital technologies curriculum progressions and resources.

• Gather a range of digital technologies resources for use in classrooms to enhance learning through digital integration.

• Gather a range of digital fluency resources for use in the classrooms to enhance learning through digital integration.

• Collaborate with teachers to create digital progressions (‘I can’ statements) linked to each Progress Outcome in the digital curriculum. Support these progressions with resources.

• Identify and highlight resources which enhance 21st Century Skill development within lessons, including unplugged lessons.

• Work alongside teachers within classrooms to integrate the digital curriculum resource.

• Collaborate with key stakeholders within Kāhui Ako ki Orewa and identify key skills which can be shared across the Kāhui Ako ki Orewa.