Should Our Students Participate in the Climate Change Protests...and Should we Support Them?

Over the last while you will have seen the news articles in the print media, seen reports on the news and in social media about the upcoming Global Protest Against Climate Change on March 15, 2019.

Article from Stuff 09/03/19

You will have heard the arguments for and against.  So should our young people be protesting and should we support them in this protest against climate change - a global movement?

The short answer is yes, they absolutely should and we should absolutely support them.

We keep saying that our students don't care, don't have empathy, aren't interested in current events and issues and yet, the minute that they do show an interest or a passion for change, we want to shut them down and we belittle their efforts with comments in the vein of the students just wanting time off school.  So some are saying to mark them as truant. This is just plain wrong and smacks of someone throwing a tantrum.  Why not mark it as an unjustified absence? Why choose truant?  Or could we perhaps do the right thing, in my opinion, and mark them as a justified absence?

Are we really listening to - and understanding - what they're saying - and do we really believe that this is just about a day off?  Yes, that may be the case for some but we're really doing our young people a huge disservice if we continue to minimise their beliefs and opinions. To be honest, it's insulting to our younger generation.

The New Zealand Curriculum (2007)

The New Zealand Curriculum is held up to be a world-leading document. Perhaps it's time for some of our educators to carefully revisit its content and intent. It is full of examples of requiring our learners to be "...lifelong learners who are confident and creative, connected, and actively involved" (NZC, 2007, p.4).  This statement, by the then Secretary for Education, Karen Sewell, appears in the Foreword of the document and underpins everything else.  This is the "...starting point..." (ibid).

The Values, Vision, Principles and Key Competencies sections all go on to discuss participation and contribution as essential aspects of learning and teaching programmes (see for example pp.7-10).
According to our document from which all learning and teaching is derived, our goals are to help our learners become individuals who can contribute locally and globally and stand up for what they believe in. We want them to connect to their wider communities - again both local and global.  We want and need them to be critical, creative thinkers who problem solve and problem create - that's how change happens.  Isn't the current local and global protest the perfect opportunity to connect our learners to the real world context - to apply learning and teaching in a meaningful and connected way.  It's making learning real and flattening the classroom walls.  In 2012 I blogged about this in a post It's About Authentic Learning - Dancing with Change.  My thoughts have not changed on this. Students will lead the way and are encouraged to do so in the NZC - if we facilitate this for them - and trust them.

At every level of the Social Sciences section of the NZC, the Achievement Objectives include those designed to encourage this independence - with our support and guidance - the goal is to help them become confident and connected individuals who can think locally and act globally. Again, the current protest is the perfect opportunity for this. What better way to connect the current situation and learning to the events of the past, to economic and social issues, to place and environment. If we fail to support them in this, we are missing a valuable learning and teaching opportunity and, even more importantly, our students are also missing out on this valuable opportunity.

This is agentic learning at its best - it's what we as teachers strive for in our students. They're taking responsibility for their learning and applying it in an authentic context.

We say that they're too young to make a difference, that what they're doing will not change anything but then we turn around and want to stop them from even trying.  History is full of people who were told that they couldn't make a difference because they were too young.  We only have to think back to the protests of the 1960s and 1970s against the Vietnam War and to protest Treaty of Waitangi issues, and what about the 1981 Springbok Tour?  As a very young student I attended some of these marches and was proud to do so. Was it because I wanted time off school or to follow the crowd - no, it was because I strongly believed that this was the right thing to do and I wanted to be part of a collective voice. Why should it be any different for today's young people.  For so many, this is also about having their voices heard - locally and globally, also one of the goals of the New Zealand Curriculum (see for example pages 8, 12, 13, 30, 39).


The upcoming protest on March 15 is a global one.  Instead of shutting down our students who want to have a voice in this issue, should we not be supporting the fact that they want to take action so that there is a brighter future for our planet.  Have they struck a nerve with some of us...because we know we should have done more...should have done what they are doing now?  It's time for the adults to support them - not shut them down.

A Celebration...and a Caution

Last week saw the exciting announcement from the government around increased recognition and funding for gifted education.  Dr Tracy Riley of Massey University has blogged about the latest developments and provided a succinct background of the history of provision for our gifted learners over the past 20+ years in her blog - Gifted Learners: The Heart of the Matter.  This is recommended reading and focuses on what is needed in order for provisions to be successful - and equitable for our learners. As in the title, the learners are the focus of Dr Riley's post.

To give another side or perspective to the recent announcements, this post will focus on what is needed in order for educators to meet the needs of this unique group of students.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

What do Teachers Really Need?

What's on Offer so Far?

Te Kete Īpurangi (TKI) - This is continuing to be updated and provides a wealth of professional learning and development resources for schools and other professionals.  It's exciting to see the changes on the site and I would absolutely recommend this as one of your resources to add to your tool box or kete.

Awards for Gifted Learners - this new initiative will provide opportunities for gifted learners to undertake special and unique learning opportunities either on their own or as part of a group.

Increased funding for One-day Schools (MindPlus through the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education, NZCGE) - these exciting learning environments provide a tried and trusted experience for learners to be challenged in their learning.  They provide a crucial environment where like-minds can connect. This is a key aspect of provision for the social and emotional development of our gifted learners.  There is also a wealth of resources available for Professional Learning and Development (PLD) from this organisation.

Other PLD is able to be accessed through the Network of Expertise - Gifted Aotearoa, a collaboration between some of the main organisations involved in gifted education in this country (REACH Education, NZCGE, NZAGC).  These organisations, along with giftEDnz are access points to invaluable PLD.  They are currently offering a range of initiatives but how do we as professionals take responsibility to sustain this learning once we've finished a course, qualification or programme? 

The key idea here is taking responsibility for our own learning - just as we expect our younger learners to do.  These PLD provisions will only be as effective as possible if there is sustainability built into what is offered but it is unfair to leave it solely to the organisations involved.  This is where communities of practice, particularly blended CoPs that offer asynchronous learning (any time, any where learning) and learning that is owned by its members, really come into their own.

Sustainability of Programmes and Supporting the PLD

Communities of Practice

What is a blended community of practice and how does it differ from a community of learning?  I've blogged about this many times over the years, see here and others listed below, for example.  My Masters' research was in this area, so it's a bit of a passion due to the fact that it is owned and created by the members in the community. It is not a top-down model. It is a learning environment that matches what we know to be the most effective for our students. This also applies to our teachers' learning.  Teacher agency is at its heart; it is ongoing and constantly changing to meet the needs of the learners.  It's an environment where everyone learns from and with each other - no hierarchy - everyone has expertise.

Additional posts on CoPs

Communities of Practice - this outlines the basic premise of a CoP and what it needs in order for it to be successful, particularly in relation to blended CoPs which have an online and face-to-face component and have proven to be the most effective in changing practice.

Improvements and Feedback in a Community of Practice  

CoPs were developed by Etienne Wenger - this video is from one of his presentations. An 'extra' if you are keen to learn more.

Why the Caution in this Post?

Although it's exciting that we have a government that acknowledges that our gifted learners have unique social, emotional and learning needs and is prepared to put its money where its mouth is, we need to also do our part in ensuring that there is much open and honest discussion around this area of education.

We can't continue to sit back and adhere to that old chestnut that "Every child is gifted, they just unwrap their gifts at different times" or we will be failing to provide a learning environment for a group of learners with research-based unique needs.  This is a matter of equity.  Yes, all students have gifts, but not all students are gifted.  We need to stop ignoring the wealth of research that backs this up.

The recent announcement of increased funding and recognition is a powerful step in the right direction but it absolutely must be backed up by professional learning and development at all stages of teacher education - from pre-service to inservice... and it must have sustainability built into it or it will just be another PLD provision that has a start and end point before we move on to the next area.  This is not an easy ask and this is why it is so crucial to get it right this time.  

Gifted learners have unique social, emotional, academic and cultural needs and the area of gifted identification is very broad.  There is no quick fix after many years of  piecemeal approaches to gifted education and PLD in gifted education.  The government has stated that there are more announcements to come, and hopefully sustainable PLD will be a part of those announcements.  We've got some fantastic organisations willing to provide the PLD, it's how we sustain and support those learning opportunities that will be key to changing practice for our learners and teachers.