Does a degree really mean increased job opportunities, positive and balalnced lifestyle choices and a healthy outlook on life?

Does a degree really mean increased job opportunities, positive and balalnced lifestyle choices and a healthy outlook on life? Richie Poulton hopes to find the answer to these and other questions over the next 10 years.

Final year graduates will receive a email today to determine if they are one of the selected few to participate in Richie Poulton’s longditudinal study into the impact, positive or negative of having a graduate degree in 2011.

"Participants will fill in an online survey designed to reveal how their careers develop, when they begin to have families, where they live, their finances, health and social relationships. "We want to make this the most comprehensive examination of lives and careers of a graduate population in the world," says Poulton."

Read more...

So place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Is a degree all its cracked up to be?


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Graham Henry on Education

Teaching students is ''way more important'' than being coach of the All Blacks, Graham Henry says.

I know that. You know that. But isn’t it great to be having the importance of teaching highlighted in a positive way.

"...Henry says he was also a keen advocate of athletes pursuing an academic career, which was an important way of finding the right on and off the field balance..."

It also nice to know that when the boots are hung up then there is a life beyond the field. I know most of us never get to play at a high level but even so. A sporting career really only lasts a fleeting few years at best and then ‘normal life’ has to kick in.

For the vast majority of those 'dreaming of being an All Black' it remains just that, a dream. ‘Normal life’ is what we work towards from the beginning.

With a solid education behind each of us we have the opportunity of greatness in own field of expertise.

Solid careers are built on positive role models and sound education.

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NCEA 3: Is it worth bothering with at all?

The article entitled ‘Year 13 NCEA pass rate OK’ appeared to be littered with excuses and ‘reasons’. We were in for apologetics with the opening:

 “Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand president Patrick Walsh said the level-three rate was no cause for concern."

So here is the breakdown:

• "With the downturn in the economy, we've got a large number of students who, traditionally, would not have been there as they may not be as academically able, so they would've left for apprenticeships or work, but they can't, so they're staying on," – Read: “they shouldn’t be on the course anyway cos they were bound to fail."
• "There was also a "significant jump" between levels two and three, he said, so some pupils struggled to attain level three" – Read: "we have to accept all comers, even those that we think are just wasting time and resources."
• "The figure also included special needs and international pupils who did not study NCEA, as well as those seeking mixed-level NCEA credits." – Read: "We’re just lumping the figures all together and it seems to be muddying the waters."
• "Many pupils were focused on the more practical unit or achievement standards and national certificates or were involved in the Government's Youth Guarantee trades scheme." – Read: Actually, I don’t know what this means, were they or were they not sitting Level 3?
• "We are and should always be working on improving level three [achievement], but it's level two that is the minimum qualification students should have in order to be prepared for the world, work and further education." – Read: "Level three is just there, but it doesn’t really matter... it is of no consequence in the REAL world."
• "It's level three. It's not easy, and it's not designed to be, as it is a challenge," he said. – Well good, it should be, shouldn’t it?

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Emerging Leaders' Symposium 2011

Nga mihi,
Some of you have seen the article in this month's Interface magazine about the 2011 Emerging Leaders' Symposium, but here is more information. It's an 'unconference' for emerging leaders in education; please consider either registering yourself or passing it on to the young guns in your school. It promises to be quite an exciting and inspiring event.

Did you know?

• 10,000 of New Zealand's 50,000 teachers are nearing retirement age.
• 50% of newly-qualified teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years.
  

We need to foster emerging leaders in education. We need to give them a voice and support them to develop a vision for the future of education, because soon that future will be in their hands. To this end, a group of emerging leaders have convened a two-day symposium in Auckland on 28th and 29th April 2011. Emerging leaders are invited to attend this 'unconference' to prepare a vision for the future of education in New Zealand-Aotearoa. This vision will be presented to Karen Sewell on the second day of the symposium.


Useful Links:
Emerging Leaders' on Facebook page


Thanks Mark for the info.
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5 places to start when trying to tackle the drug problem in schools

A former drug enforcement officer says the P epidemic was brought on by the New Zealand police force's "she'll be right" mentality.

Its all well and good wringing our hands and saying ‘if only..’ but the reality is that there is a drug problem in this country and there is no point in saying that it is someone else fault or someone else’s responsibility.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

    Edmund Burke

So here are five places for us to look to begin dealing positively in our sphere of influence:

• Sign up for DARE to Support your Kids. This programme is designed to help you, as parents, support your Kids.  Check with your local DARE Society for when the next programme is in your area.
• FADE’s Parents and Caregivers. This online community has been developed to support you help answer some of the questions you have related to alcohol and drug education.
• MethCon Group can provide presentations to community and family groups which give a broad overview of the problem of methamphetamine as it relates to individuals, wider society and how as communities working together we can make a difference.
• The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free.
• Drug Education.Net  This site was created to provide drug information for both legal and illegal drugs. Each drug page has a drug description, photo, and side effects.

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Education will be the death of us

Education may not be the key to national prosperity.
Pumping funding into tertiary education is far from the answer to national prosperity. All that will be achieved is a weakening of the value in educational qualifications.
If degrees are too numerous and relatively ‘easy’ to obtain then employers will be looking for higher qualifications for candidates to prove their worth.

‘Does New Zealand really need people with diplomas of tourism running bungy jumps?’

Peter Lyons

There is value in a degree for teachers and many are returning to ‘school’ to obtain one in order to reap the financial rewards but if diplomas are required for bungy jump operators then degrees will be required for Front of House staff, Masters for Conference Centre Assistants  and you can’t possibly go anywhere in the hotel industry without a PhD.
So where is that going to leave the traditional professions.

I know for a fact that science has been suffering over the last few years... But who would do science, Physics, chemistry, biology? Especially if there are easier subject to get degrees in.
Hence the shortage of science graduates over the past few years.

So, what is going to make Universities look at a student’s capabilities as criteria for admission rather than simply trying to fill the quota and grab the cash?
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