DOCUMENT RPSUME CE 065 895 ED 367 837 Tomorrow's Learners. An Approach to Implementing the TITLE Qualifications Framework in New Zealand Secondary Schools. Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te rangitahi = The old net is cast aside, the new net goes fishing. New Zealand Qualifications Authority, W!llington. INSTITUTION ISBN-0-908927-41-X REPORT NO PUB DATE 94 NOTE 76p. Non-Classroom Use (055) PUB TYPE Guides MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Change Strategies; Check Lists; *Educational Change; DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; Program Administration; *Program Implementation; *School Organization; Secondary Education; *Seco.dary Schools; Strategic Planning; *Student Centered Curriculum :Tational Qualifications Framework (New Zealand) IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This guide is designed as a resource for use in in New implementing the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Zealand secondary schools. Discussed in the introduction are the development of flexible learning in secondary schools, the context for the New Zealand curriculum, the NQF, and transition to flexible learner-centered schools. Section 1 explains the differences between course-based and learner-centered schools and presents a series of checklists on the following aspects of learner-centered programs: entry services, flexible access to learning, flexible access to assessment and credit opportunities, supporting learning, and infrastructure. Discussed in section 2 are strategic, curriculum, and operational management that must be considered during the transition to learner-centered schools. Section 3 contains guidelines related to th, following aspects of NQF implementation: strategic management (organizational structure, funding, staff development); curriculum management (barriers to access, curriculum organization, managing and supporting learning, tools for flexible learning, and assessment and credit opportunities); and operational management (staffing and accommodation, administration, and quality and efficiency). Outlined in Section 4 are strategies for managing the process of change to learner-centered schools. Appended is an annotated list of related videos, booklets, and serial publications. (MN) ****1:****************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Jr AN APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTING THE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK IN NEW ZEALAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS a a CZ B NI-4614 I irmi7Tir low I I _IV& vallry I I kr ...... - . -."..- ir-A7VATTry___,w 1 x , X I _-A,._ .."&k -74,1116 7 5q, VW I '7.7( r . 7' I 41/1111 vw I ;11 TOMORRO 'S al.basas LEARNERS V y rangitahi Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te net goes fishing The old net is cast aside, the new 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS U B. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Office ot Eclutahoner Research and leProvement ED CATJONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER tERICI _77 document has been reproduced as Th.5 ecelved trom the De1son or organuanon o,gmatelp .1 Mmor changes have Peen made to :morove duality troh reprodur TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ommons stated m firs ClOCu 01 vIeW Or Poems INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" rnant do nnI necessarrir represent o*.c.a. CWRI poston or pohcy tfl . /.1":/k/ IJ . NEW ZEALAND QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY Terryc t Aotealoa \ land IIII1EI \lot ItItatw.a (Orvver /yew. :.\ /0 NS BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 ePly .e.nr TWF lem-4 1: vskr7, ,44116 , 'W MITiki '34 1 & 1, The New Zealand Qualifications Authority will promote improvement in the quality of education and training in New Zealand through the development and maintenance of a comprehensive, accessible and flexible National Qualifications Framework. The Authority's mainfunctions are to: coordinate all qualifications in post-compulsory education and training (from upper secondary to degree level) so they have a purpose and relationship to one another that the public and students can understand set and regularly review standards as they relate to qualifications ensure New Zealand qualifications are recognised oveiseas and overseas qualifications are recognised in New Zealand administer national examinations, both secondary and tertiary. 0 (New Zealand Qualifications Authority 1994) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. CONTENTS 3 Preface 5 Foreword 7 How to use this book 8 Introduction learning in The development of flexible A: 8 secondary schools 11 curriculum The context for the New Zealand B: 12 Framework The National Qualifications C: 15 schools Transition to flexible learner-centred D: SECTION 1: 17 Defining the Structures and Procedures 17 1.1: The learner-centred school 19 1.2: Using the checklists 20 1.3: Checklists 20 1.3.1: Entry services 22 1.3.2:Flexible access to learning 1.3.3:Flexible access to assessment 25 and credit opportunities 27 1.3.4:Supporting fearning 29 1.3.5: Infrastructure 32 1.4: Continuum chart SECTION 2: 33 Questions and Issues to Consider 33 schools 2.1: Transition to learner-centred 34 2.2: Strategic management 35 2.2.1:Organisational structure 35 2.2.2:Staff development 37 2.3: Curriculum management 38 2.3.1:Barriers to access 39 2.3.2:Curriculum organisation 40 2.3.3:Managing and supporting learning 41 2.3.4:Tools for flexible learning 43 2.3.5:Assessment and credit opportunities 44 2.4: Operational management 44 2.4.1:Staffing 44 2.4.2: Accommodation 4 2.4.3:Administration 45 2.4.4:Quality and efficiency 45 SECTION Summary and Priorities for Action 47 3.1: Introduction 47 3.2: Strategic management 49 3.2.1:Organisational structure 49 3.2.2: Funding 49 3.2.3:Staff development 49 3.3: Curriculum management 51 3.3.1:Barriers to access 51 3.3.2:Curriculum organisation 51 3.3.3:Managing and supporting learning 51 3.3.4:Tools for flexible learning 52 3.3.5:Assessment and credit opportunities 52 3.4: Operational management 54 3.4.1:Staffing and accommodation 54 3.4.2: Administration 54 3.4.3:Quality and efficiency 54 SECTION 4: Managing the Change Process 56 4.1: Introduction 56 4.2: Starting points 58 4.3: Sample initial strategy 59 4.4: Managing the process 61 ation Planning Documents 4.4.1:Change management group (3.1) 62 4.4.2:Strategic management group (3.2) 63 4.4.3:Curriculum management group (3.3) 64 4.4.4:Operational management group (3.4) 65 APPENDIX: Other resources 66 Booklets 66 67 Regular publications January 1994 5 PREFACE Every school needs to: explore the vision that is inherent in the Qualifications Framework and to understand the potential it offers; establish goals that encornr_ass the school's slice of the vision; identify where the staff are at now; develop a strategy for heading from the 'here and now' towards the goals. This booklet is a resource that will help open up the issues that need to be considered. The process of change vilI necessarily take time. It should not be rushed. Most schools will begin cautiously as the System Starter developed by a group of Christchurch teachers illustrates. The Qualifications Authority is very grateful to Ron Martin for writing this booklet which is based on a British publication Flexible Colleges (Further Education Unit, 1992). The permission of the Further Education Unit, whose publication was the outcome of a project funded by the Department ot Employment, is gratefully acknowledged. Ron Martin has been involved in English teaching and in teacher education, has been a secondary school inspector, and more recently has worked as a reviewer with the Education Review Office. lie is therefore well placed to write about the ways in which the potential in the National Qualifications Framework has major implications for the management of secondary schools. The writ2r has employed an advisory group to act as his sounding board. This group comprised: Ann Dunphy, principal of Penrose High School; Pam Stone, principal of Pakuranga College, and Peter Grant, acting principal of Waiheke High School. The Authority has no jurisdiction over a number of the significant issues that at e raised. These are included, however, as they are relevant and the exploration of the purpose of the booklet is to stimulate comprehensive implications ot flexibility and access. It should also be clear to schools that while this booklet raises many issues, the way in which schools respond to them is likely to differ considerably depending on the school's particular set of circumstances. It is possible for schools to introduce the Qualifications Framework within current parameters, or, at least initially, with minimal changes to its current structures. Others will plan from the beginning for a more fundamental change to their current structures. This booklet is not a blueprint for mandatory changes to the secondary school system. It is intended to help schools ask the questions needed to guide their decision making over the next few years. 7 FOREWORD Qualifications Framework Like many of you, no cLubt, I viewed the that it was just the Next Big publications with some scepticism, a suspicion that in the Framework structure Thing in education. My perception was with some changes in senior schools would continue much as at present but school structures. I have revised my views. In the course of preparation of this booklet will ultimately affect almost every It now seems to me that the Framework fundamental change since aspect of secondary education in the most While this change may be gradual, compulsory schooling was introduced. changes in the initial stages, I and for many schools there may be few will permeate every aspect of believe that over a period of years the changes school management. present schools with I believe that while in the short term the changes may inevitable if we are to continue to serve many challenges, these changes are the coming decades. the learning needs of our students in of the management of our This is not an implied criticism of teachers nor from the quality of our schools. The need for change does not arise and certainly not from a lack of teachers, nor of their skills, or their training schools. Schools are more diligence and energy of the managers of our have ever been. Every school effective in meeting student needs than they of the system. Las ingenious ways of getting the most out themselves are no longer The problem is that the school structures for change comes from outside appropriate for the times. The imperative analogy, Henry Ford made continual the school system. In an automotive and for much of that time changes to the ubiquitous Model T over 19 years of manufacture he ignored it sold well. However in its last few years design was no longer competitive warnings from his managers that the competition from other car companies until he was forced to abandon it by longer profitable. Ford's next with better designs. The company was no and the company design was the Model A, superior in every way, prospered again. workers or Ford's managers but in The problem lay not in the efforts of the the design. 8 The existing school structures were designed for a world in which change occurred slowly and where students had limited access to information and knowledge outside the classroom. Now almost every group of workers in New Zealand has experienced significant change in their work. The way in which people access information has changed also. Change is continuous and rapid and the qualities that our young people need to take a full part in this society have changed also. It follows that a different school structure is required, one which is as flexible as the demands of society. The Qualifications Framework provides New Zealand with the structure to meet the challenges to education in the coming decades. I believe that the changes will benefit everyone. Ron Martin December 1993 9 I. BOOK HOW TO USE THIS first for reflection This book is intended to be used actively as a resource, intended to offer answers. It is and then for strategic planning. It is not all involved in determining intended to be used as a reference point for school changes necessary to the nature and management of the It offers some strategies for implement the Qualifications Framework. initiating the process. the process systematically over a Every school will need to work through the structures to make the most of period of years to make sure that it has the opportunity offered by the Framework. background to the need for change and The introduction: provides a brief Schools have copies of a number of the development of the Framework. publications which provide clear New Zealand Qualifications Authority involved in the introduction of the and detailed information. Everyone consider these Qualifications Framework will need to read and professional publications, preferably in the context of an active 'development programme. the course-based school and Section 1: describes the differences between in a simple polarised checklist the learner-centred school. It is presented rather on a continuum than in one or for clarity but of course schools are continuum line activities other of the divisions. Simple checklist and school structures. should help clarify the current and future considered by the school as it Section 2. lists the questions and issues to be implement the Framework. All staff works through the changes needed to these issues. Some of the issues members should be involved in considering Many of and may have national implications. are complex and daunting forums. the issues will also be discussed in other the groups and Section 3: is intended to offer some guidelines to for the school. individuals who are working through the issues and strategies for managing the Section 4: offers some starting points change. 1 0 t