OUR Education System

These are my own public thoughts about Education in New Zealand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

On that Index, we Remain one of the top Education systems internationally.. Number 1, alongside Finland, Denmark, Australia and Cuba.

We still have 99% Literacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

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We have 2539 Schools http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/july_school_roll_returns/school-type

And many of our kids go to school, EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
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Last time I checked, The countries Teacher Education providers produce in excess of 3000 New teachers a year.
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In all the world, We are the only country I know, that have 3 national curricula, as well as effective, tailored National Standards to measure the efficacy of the delivery of 2 of those curricula.

We have Te Whariki, the world's first bilingual ECE Curriculum. We have an English medium curriculum And a Maori-medium Curriculum.

These curricula are underpinned by values of Excellence, Innovation and Inquiry.

Tikanga Maori and the Principles of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi are infused in to all 3 of our national curricula.

Nationally, as far as I see, we have a huge expansion of ECE Centres, indicative of our commitment to getting young kiwis to learn, as early as possible.
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I don't know of any other country that has so many different types of Educational facilities at ALL Levels of Education.. reflective of the countries ability to cater to diverse learning needs, gifts and talents at all levels.
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The Ministry of Education has recently released plans to CELEBRATE Educational Excellence. Something rare, but also something to reward the amazing things happening in Education across our Nation.
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Unlike other countries with multi-levelled bureaucracy, All of our state-schools are directly connected to the Government and are ready to receive help and assistance.

Our best authors still write books for our kids. Our artists still teach our kids to be creative.

Our teachers are highly trained and have experiences that make them leaders in their field internationally. Our teachers are sometimes unsung heroes.

We have one of the BEST Education systems in the world. The result is that people, [comparative to all nations across the planet] are highly skilled. All thanks to an incredible Education system.

For the most part, these highly skilled people are in jobs, where those very people are creating a new future for the World!!
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I know that there is always a lot of room for improvement and many many almost insurmountable challenges.

But bit by bit, day by day, as we try.. we are Proving that we CAN meet these challenges.