Last month we ran the N4L Presents webinar series, where we hosted open conversations with educators from around the country. The aim was to allow them a space to share what they were thinking about and working on, but was also an opportunity for them to unpack some of the issues they may have been struggling with.
Our first guest was Chris Clay. Originally from the UK, Chris has been in Aotearoa for the last 12 years. He has worked in all kinds of education focussed roles including teacher, faculty head, education consultant, professional development facilitator, postgraduate lecturer, writer, speaker and sweeper-upper. These roles have seen him work across 4 continents for government departments, schools, tertiary and higher education institutions, businesses and non-profit organisations. Most recently he was one of the founding members of The Mind Lab by Unitec.
Chris is now an independent consultant, who works with schools in preparing for the future. In the webinar he spoke about the changes facing schools, including economic, societal and technological reasons.
As Chris points out, some would consider that the education system as currently designed, is arguably out of step with these complex changes. There are of course many ways in which we’re trying to affect change within our schools. From Chris’s perspective very often these methods are centrally delivered, and they miss the unique contexts that we know every New Zealand school works in.
The challenge Chris poses in the webinar is to consider how we can move from “professional development” of teachers, to developing teachers’ ability to think about their unique situation, so they can figure out their own innovative practice. How do we focus on empowering teachers so that new ideas are fostered across the sector?
If you’d like to get in touch with Chris, you can follow him on Twitter or visit his blog.