Something else than just pictures
In the last few months we have mainly updated our blog with pictures and travel stories. Something that most of the frequent visitors of our blog like: it is a peek into our life, a way of keeping up with what we’re doing, seeing and experiencing. When we were in Canada, I also updated the blog with experience of my teaching, especially in the first year, when everything was new and when I had heaps of time to write updates. I haven’t written a lot on my professional experiences in New Zealand, which may cause many to conclude that teaching here is quite like teaching in The Netherlands or Canada. It definitely isn’t. So apart from the time issue, why haven’t I written about it until now?
New media, new rules
Especially on the north American content, there have been some recent issues with teachers using social media with regards to friending students / parents, with regards to opinions about students / parents / employers. Bottom line: as a professional teacher you have to be careful. You have to present yourself on media like Twitter and blogs like you would in the school, still leading by example and all the yada yada. Privacy settings aren’t fool proof, they change and sometimes through ways you could not have predicted your personal thoughts can become public. And from what I’ve read and seen of colleagues I know, this can have very negative consequences. So even though I will update you on how my job has been so far this year, I cannot tell you everything and I will be politically correct where needed. If you want to know more about specifics, you are more than welcome to Skype me or ask me otherwise about it. In case I have to make this clear: this blog contains my opinions, my observations and the conclusions I deduce from those observations. I am still learning about the NZ system every day, so it is by no means complete and by no means representing the opinions of my employer.
So what about teaching in New Zealand?
Teaching in New Zealand is yet again very different from teaching in Canada or The Netherlands. A short list of differences / uniques:
- NZ students are more like the Dutch students, which means they are direct, frank and less polite than Canadian students. It has been a bit of an adjustment for me, but like in every country you meet interesting individuals and you get to add to their development in becoming a (hopefully) responsible and educated adult. Teaching them, as I have found in Canada and The Netherlands, is rewarding. I really like my job most of the days. 🙂
- Year levels / class numbers are different again *sigh*. A comparison:
New Zealand Canada The Netherlands IS, YR 8 MS, YR 7 HS, class 1 HS, Year 9 MS, Year 8 HS, class 2 HS, Year 10 HS, Year 9 HS, class 3 HS, Year 11 HS, Year 10 HS, class 4 HS, Year 12 HS, Year 11 HS, class 5 HS, Year 13 HS, Year 12 HS, class 6 Abbreviations used:
HS: High School
IS: Intermediate (School)
MS: Middle SchoolLeaving High School - In New Zealand, you can leave High School after gaining enough credits at Level 1 (Yr 11) or Level 2 (Yr 12). Not all students will continue until the end (Level 3, year 13)
- In The Netherlands, depending on level you started High School, you can leave High school after Class 4, 5 or 6, after you have passed the final examination of your school level
- In Canada, at least in the NWT / Albertan system, the goal seems to be to have everybody in HS until year 12 (the longest) You can pick different levels within a subject (dash 1, 2 or 3) in Year 11 and 12
Start and duration of High School
The Netherlands: Age 12, 6 years
New Zealand: Age 13, 5 years
Canada: Age 14, 4 years - The system in NZ is mostly inclusive, quite like the Canadian system, with a small twist. This means that in Years 9 and 10 the classes are mixed: all levels are present. There is a “low band” class with students that really have a low level or other severe learning disabilities, there is a “high band” class with a lot of more academic students that get a bit more challenge, but the majority of the classes have a mixed level (especially for the Dutch: from VMBO KB to high HAVO / low VWO students)
- The way of assessing learning is completely different. The way of giving feedback on learning reminds me of my time teaching in a Montessori High School. Depending on how well students do in the assessment, they can get an Achieved, Achieved with Merit or an Achieved with Excellence. Of course there is also the Not Achieved for those who fail to pass a test. What I found very refreshing is that, unlike the system in the Montessori school (or like the old school American system), the categories are not attached to a percentage based mark. Rather than that, questions can have different outcomes, that are very specifically mentioned in a marking schedule. Not all questions will have an “Excellence” outcome, or even a “Merit” outcome. So there are easy questions that get you Achieved, somewhat harder questions with an Achieved and a Merit outcome, and even harder questions with an Achieved, a Merit and an Excellence outcome.
The advantages:- Students with a lot of easy answers will not get an inflated score: all teachers know what I mean. That kind of student that doesn’t really show the 75% or even 80% work, but by scraping a lot of little points gets there anyways. Is the work of Excellence level? Is it quality? No, it is quantity that gets them the mark. So is it really excellent / far above average? Nah…. So with the NZ system you can have like 15 achieved answers out of 18 questions. But without scoring the Merit components of the harder questions, you will not very likely get a Merit score. Your score really reflects the quality of your work and although quantity does matter, it doesn’t influence the mark in an unfair way.
- The tests allow all levels to do well. All levels write the same test. Some classes will be prepared to the level that they can answer only the “Achieved” questions, some will be taught everything needed to do Achieved and Merit questions and some classes will be taught to have a shot at all the questions. Students can pass if they only do questions to an achieved level, which I like a lot. It makes class hopping easy as well: you can show your work is on a high level, since all students write the same test.
The disadvantages:
- High level students achieve too easily. There is almost no challenge in getting an achieved if you’re bright.
- Low level students often cannot get more than Achieved. I like this better in the Dutch system: if you’re in a VMBO TL class (mid level), you can get a good mark when being compared with achieved, merit and excellence outcomes on your working level. So you can get a 90% score on a test that tests your own curriculum. I feel this is often perceived by students as more rewarding.
- Working hard in class gets less rewarded. Closely connected with an advantage, you cannot get a Merit if you don’t get Merit answers. Even if you get all questions right on the achieved level! I mean, in Canada and The Netherlands that would easily give you a 75% score! What is the difference between getting 10 out 20 answers at an achieved level and 20 out of 20 at an achieved level? Both tests get an “Achieved”. Unfair? I could see how you could think so.
- The amount of Science per student per year:
- The Netherlands: 40 weeks x 2 classes x 60 minutes = 4800 minutes = 80 hours (last school I taught in the Netherlands)
- Canada: 20 weeks x 5 classes x 80 minutes = 8300 minutes = 138 hours (last school in Yellowknife)
- New Zealand: 40 weeks x 3 classes x 60 minutes = 7200 minutes = 120 hours (current school in New Zealand)
- The amount of time at teacher spends in front of a classroom with students:
- The Netherlands: 40 weeks x 25 classes x 60 minutes = 60000 minutes = 1000 hours (last school I taught in the Netherlands) (may even be higher)
- Canada: 40 weeks x 17,5 classes x 80 minutes = 56000 minutes = 933 hours (last school in Yellowknife)
- New Zealand: 40 weeks x 20 classes x 60 minutes = 48000 minutes = 800 hours (current school in New Zealand)
- Average amount of students a Science teacher teaches on a weekly basis at max class sizes
- The Netherlands: 300 students
- Canada: 120 students
- New Zealand: 210 students
- To say something about work pressure: New Zealand feels as busy as a 75% job in The Netherlands (I have never worked fulltime in The Netherlands). Then again, in The Netherlands I have always been busy with studying next to teaching. I have felt that the work pressure in Canada was the least for me for the following reasons:
- Least amount of students, less marking (even with more formative assessment)
- Same students / classes every day of the week
In Canada I made long days (in early, out late) and had everything done 95% of the times. In New Zealand, I get in early, out late and felt I had everything done 50% of the time. Mind you that this is my first year in NZ, it is likely this number will improve if I would teach here a second year. In The Netherlands, I wasn’t in that early, out pretty late, though not as late as in NZ or YK, and never done. So maybe with my new work ethic and more experience, I may do better in a next job in The Netherlands, but hey, the numbers speak for themself as well. Keep that in mind Dutchies, the next time you trash a Dutch teacher on his holidays at a birthday party 😉
I could tell so much more about teaching abroad. I love it. It is what motivates me, it is my drive. Some teachers have a drive to climb up on the ladder in a school: to become (vice-)principals or deans, my aim for now has been to teach in different countries and to learn from that. We’ll see what it brings me in the future. For now, I think I have told enough and hopefully haven’t bored you too much. Maybe I should conclude with thanking you, if you’ve managed to read this far. 🙂
