October 2024
Tirohanga Whānui | Overview
The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS) welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Education & Training Amendment Bill 2024. We support the kaupapa to consider how the government can realise the potential for technology to support personalised and tailored learning in the future, through the Long-term insights briefing process. NZCCSS welcomes the opportunities that technology presents for the future of education and advocates for the LTIB to reflect a holistic and accessible approach to learning and development.
Our main points are:
- That the LTIB reflect a holistic understanding of education
- That the LTIB consider known challenges to the use of technology in education
- That the scope of the LTIB be broad and holistic
- That the LTIB support development of long-term, non-partisan commitments within education
Taunakitanga | Recommendations
We raise the following points and recommendations for consideration:
1. That the LTIB reflect a holistic understanding of education
Our report Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki (NZCCSS, 2024) explores the context of middle childhood in Aotearoa and shares information and evidence that highlights what is needed to support children’s holistic development during this period. Technology offers many opportunities to support this and other stages of development beyond simply being a learning area of the curriculum. We are concerned that the LTIB will focus on academic attainment rather than educational holistically
“While the impact of ICTs (digital technologies) on student achievement has been thoroughly investigated by researchers, other aspects related to school life that are also affected by ICTs, such as equality, inclusion, and social integration have received less attention”
Timotheou et al., 2022, p.6717, explanation added
As an example, we see potential for technology to enable increased investment in social and emotional learning to support future workforce needs:
“The specific skills that will be required for future occupations and careers are difficult to predict, and this points to transferable social and emotional skills as important foundations for future resilience”
(MBIE et al., 2023, p.13)
Technology offers new opportunities in relation to social and emotional learning, as well as pastoral support for students. This is reflected in the increase in online tools and resources to support this learning area and a broader societal increase in digital health services. While these changes may have been fuelled by a pandemic and health system under pressure, they are likely to persist beyond these crises and enable social and emotional learning initiatives and services such as counselling to be more accessible to all students.
Similarly, we see opportunities for technology to improve current barriers to education, such as
accessibility. This includes the ability to provide specialist learning to large groups of students or
remote communities, to engage children in different approaches to learning that may be more suited to them and to provide for situations where students cannot learn within a physical school
environment. Technology also provides cost-efficiencies that can enable learning and achievement in different forms, such as micro-credentials, online internships, and broader intercultural or international connection than can be found in one’s own community.
Technology has shifted the educational approach needed to support children’s learning and the
acquisition of skills needed for modern society. However, changes to the foundations of teaching are required to see these opportunities realised. An example of this is the move from teaching information itself vs. teaching information literacy and the skills needed to navigate and assess the validity of such vast amounts of information as are found online today. Haworth (2024) highlights this shift, demonstrating the importance of investment in areas such as school libraries to enable students to fully participate in and benefit from the changes that technology has brought and will continue to bring to learning. It is fundamental that we “address relative under-investment in education sciences and build the New Zealand education research and evaluation evidence base” (Ministry of Education, 2023, p.33). This will aid in ensuring the need for such shifts in practice are recognised and integrated into education delivery in a timely manner.
Recommendation 1:
That consideration within the LTIB of the opportunity’s technology presents reflect a holistic understanding of education and child development.
2. That the LTIB consider known challenges to the use of technology in education
NZCCSS identifies the following challenges, among others, to the use of technology in education including:
a. Pace of change: This is a significant challenge to the use of technology in education.
Educators and our education system struggle to keep up with the changes that are
occurring. Unlike other areas of the curriculum, children and young people frequently
display more advanced capability in these areas than those positioned to educate them.
Significant investment is needed in the areas of developing specialist expertise within the
Ministry of Education and sector leadership and integrating developments in technology
into curriculums at a pace that is useful. This is essential if New Zealand wishes to have an
education system that is suitable for our own nation and comparable and/or competitive
internationally.
b. Workforce capability: This presents a challenge to the use of technology within schools
and other education settings. Greater prioritisation of professional development focused
on growing technology skills, fluency and confidence, is critical to seeing students well supported in this area. Equally teacher training programmes must be at the forefront of
technological change to ensure that the learnings brought into the education system by new kaiako are fit for purpose and do not result in a knowledge and skills-deficit that schools/education providers become responsible for rectifying.
c. Accessibility: This is a current challenge to the use of technology in education and will continue to limit the extent to which children and young people benefit from the opportunities that technology presents. Greater investment is urgently needed to remove barriers to access for groups of children and young people, and communities, that are disproportionately disadvantaged and to signal a genuine commitment to equitable access. He Whakaaraara (2024) describes the digital divide in Aotearoa and its impacts on education for tamariki Māori and other groups, such as refugee children. Affordability, rural connectivity and a lack of culturally appropriate content are found to be contributors to this divide.
d. Government and sector leadership: Policy priorities and sector guidance must provide justification for education providers to prioritise and invest in digital technologies alongside other aspects of the curriculum. As stated in the current digital technologies area of the curriculum, focus must be placed on students gaining literacy in being both effective consumers of, as well as contributors to, the field of digital technologies.
Recommendation 2:
We advocate for the LTIB to consider how barriers to effective use of technology in education can be overcome.
3. That the scope of the LTIB be broad and holistic
We believe that the LTIB should focus on the opportunities offered across all aspects of the
education system (students and their families, teachers and teaching and wider system issues).
These areas are inter-connected, and it would be difficult to focus on one in isolation. A literature review focused on the impacts of digital technologies on education found that integration of digital technologies in education was impacted by the following factors: digital competencies, socioeconomic school context and emergency situations, teachers’ personal characteristics and professional development, students’ socioeconomic background and family support, administration and data management processes, connectivity, infrastructure and government support, and school leadership and management (Timotheou et al., 2022, p.6715).
We also believe that the LTIB should focus on the whole education system (early learning, schooling, tertiary) to ensure a cohesive and holistic approach at all stages of education. This is consistent with the government’s focus on a lifespan approach to child and youth wellbeing and ensures that the focus will not only be on the stages themselves, but on the transitions that occur throughout and between these stages. To reflect a truly holistic view of education, particularly in 10-20 years’ time, the LTIB may extend beyond these learning institutions to consider what other organisations and contexts are relevant to the use of technology in education in future.
Recommendation 3:
That the scope of the LTIB reflect the interconnected factors that impact effective use of technology in education and a holistic view of education across the lifespan.
4. That the LTIB support development of long-term, non-partisan commitments within education
We believe that this area of education requires us to be courageous and invest in developing the
expertise, capability and resources across the sector that will enable us to fully benefit from the
opportunities that technology offers and to position our education system at the forefront of
change. This can only be achieved through commitment to and investment in the delivery of a non-partisan, long-term strategy that is protected from policy swings that occur with a change in government.
Recommendation 4:
NZCCSS advocates for cross-party agreement on education strategy to maximise investment in this area.
Tohutoro kua tohua | References
Haworth, A. (2024). Children’s Librarians. In Wilson, M J., Hurst, N A., Hamlin, K M. & Mackay, R P.
(2024). Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki (pp 91-92). https://nzccss.org.nz/wpcontent/uploads/2024/06/NZCCSS_Te-Korero-mo-nga-Tamariki_May-2024.pdf
He Whakaaraara (2024). He Whakaaraara Tōkeke Realising Education Equity for Whānau Māori.
https://www.hewhakaaraara.nz/
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social
Development & Ministry for Women. (2022). Preparing All Young People for Satisfying and
Rewarding Working Lives: Long-Term Insights Briefing.
https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/our-work/LTIB-Preparing-All-Young-People-forSatisfying-and-Rewarding-Working-Lives.pdf
Timotheou, S., Miliou, O., Dimitriadis, Y. et al. Impacts of digital technologies on education and
factors influencing schools’ digital capacity and transformation: A literature review. Educ Inf Technol 28, 6695–6726 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11431-8
Wilson, M J., Hurst, N A., Hamlin, K M. & Mackay, R P. (2024). Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki.
https://nzccss.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/NZCCSS_Te-Korero-mo-nga-Tamariki_May2024.pdf
Ingoa whakapā | Contact Name
Nikki Hurst