Lessons from New Zealand:
Last February, members of ISTE’s Special Interest Group for Teacher Educators (SIGTE) traveled to New Zealand as part of a SIG-sponsored study tour. While there, the
13-member group visited seven schools
and attended the Learning@School
2010 conference. In this third and final
installment about their trip, they share
observations about New Zealand’s
distributed leadership for achieving
student, staff, and community learning.
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A Vision for Education
In New Zealand, education policy and
strategy focus on building a world-leading education system that equips
all citizens with the knowledge, skills,
and values to be successful in the
digital age. School leaders, teachers,
students, families, and communities
across the country share the Ministry
of Education’s vision. Its curriculum
empowers each constituent of the
education community by including
key competencies for self-realization
of critical thinking, communication
and development of relationships, and
participation in and contribution to
the community. We saw individuals,
both students and staff, learning their
leadership roles as interdependent
members of the community at school
and beyond.
By Sarah McPherson
and Arlene Borthwick
