At the end of term 2 staff came together in Christchurch for three days of professional learning. The theme was "21st Century Learning".
The 21st century has seen and will continue to see rapid change and the impact of this on our learners means that we as teachers need to rethink our approach to teaching and learning. We need to prepare our students with the skills they need for a changing world. Alvin Toffler a futurist who began writing in the seventies claims "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." Future employees need transferable skills and to be agile and adaptable to global changes. These will be the skills that our students need:
Our students have access to more knowledge and information through the internet than ever before. They no longer need to acquire and regurgitate knowledge but need to "actively interact" with it.
So as teachers we have begun the journey to develop the capabilities and the dispositions that will be needed to support our students to engage productively in the 21st century.
All the best for Term 3.
Helen Mantell
Principal