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How do we develop an education system that Dr Cheryl Doig

creates well-rounded individuals that can adapt to has an extensive background in
our rapidly changing society? education, including 14 years as a
school principal. She has served on a
How do we develop an education system that creates well-rounded individuals that number of boards including two schools
can adapt to our rapidly changing society? How do we best prepare students for – Discovery 1 and Unlimited Paenga
their future as citizens? What are the skill sets that build good citizens as distinct Tawhiti – and was involved in the
from the skills that build good workers? How do we create lifelong learners? establishment of these schools.

Many thanks to our contributors for this edition: Cheryl has a doctorate in education with
a particular focus on leadership, change
management, futures thinking,
z Dr Cheryl Doig >> click for bio
information technology and innovation.
z Dr Vicki Compton >> click for bio
z Bruce McIntyre >> click for bio
z Vincent Heeringa >> click for bio Cheryl is a trained facilitator in the use of
z Andrew Hamilton >> click for bio Hermann’s Brain Dominance Instrument.
She is the founding director of Think
Beyond Limited.
Click here to tell us what you think

Dr Vicki Compton
is a research director with UniServices at
Dr Cheryl Doig the University of Auckland. She has
I think the new curriculum has potential to do this if schools focus on using the new been involved with technology education
key competencies. These encourage students to manage self, work together, think, in New Zealand from its early
participate and contribute and become multi-literate. The heart of this is to get these development, being involved in the
ideas into secondary schools – they are lagging behind. The education system also development of the draft 1993
needs to be flexible so it can change to meet individual needs and community technology curriculum, the final 1995
circumstances. There shouldn’t be a one size fits all education system. If you want document and more currently the
well-rounded individuals you need to involve parents and community. In terms of the revised 2007 technology curriculum.
future we also need to be up with the play in terms of ICTs. They have a powerful
role in changing what life long education is all about. Gaming is just one example of Bruce McIntyre
this growth. See the websites/blogs below for examples pulled out of University and founded
www.secondaryfutures.co.nz Macpac at age 19. Macpac has been a
www.ted.com and look at Ted Robinson’s video business model much studied for its
www.goodworkproject.org product innovation, international success
http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/ and cultural innovation.

Vicki Compton In recent years, Bruce’s search for

solutions to our social and environmental
I believe the goal of education is to support the development of citizens able to
woes has led to the realisation that
participate in a democratic fashion. In order to achieve this, there must be equal
education is key. A plethora of recent
priority given to realising the individual potential of students and to providing them
discoveries in various sciences (e.g.
with the knowledge and skills required for their enculturation into society. The
biology, chemistry, psychology, quantum
resultant ‘citizen’ can be envisaged as an informed critical and creative individual
physics) support the awareness and
who can participate both independently and collectively in a confident, competent
understanding that humans are living to
and innovative manner to both support and change the world in which they live.
a small fraction of their potential.

Preparation for such a role rests upon a broad multiple literacy that rests upon
He is currently leading the development
philosophical understandings of disciplines such as technology, science and the
of a new school, which is intended to

http://www.designindustry.co.nz/Newsletters/dec-07/issue-1-web.html 14/02/2008
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arts, and understandings of the foundational knowledge and practices associated serve as a model of education for the
with these disciplines. Preparing students of today for what is an unknown future future. Its three major principles are:
must inherently include the development of the capability to work with incomplete whole person development, full
and fast changing knowledge where uncertainty is viewed as an opportunity for engagement learning and re-connection
making informed decisions that acknowledge complexity without being with nature.
overwhelmed by it.
“The world is in a race between
The skill sets required for good citizenship are no different to those required to be education and catastrophe”
fully participatory members of any workforce. Both rest upon being able to critically Buckminster-Fuller
reflect on ‘what is’ and work towards ‘making things better’ – whether this be in
terms of a better life, a better service, or a better product. The development of both Vincent Heeringa
practical and functional reasoning is key to decision making about the feasibility of
taught maths and sciences at secondary
courses of actions, based both on what is ‘desirable’ and what is ‘possible’.
school before becoming a journalist and
publisher. He was founding Editor of
Lifelong learners are therefore not so much created by education, but should be
Unlimited and a founder of Idealog. He
enabled by it. Learning is a natural state of the human condition. Education must
hopes to return to teaching one day
ensure that it does not shut this down through contrived contexts, constricted
when he has something worth sharing.
opportunities or the lack of access to foundational knowledge and practices as
outlined above.
Andrew Hamilton

Bruce McIntyre was the founding CEO of The

ICEHOUSE in 2001.
Currently, education is openly focussed on training students to play a role in the
economy. It does not hold a vision for the growth of human potential beyond earning The ICEHOUSE is a business growth
a livelihood. To quote our Prime Minister, “We need a skilled and educated centre that creates learning
workforce to drive an innovative economy”. The open agenda of the education environments for owners & managers to
system is success, but only in economic terms. enable them to significantly grow their
companies. It is a charitable trust
Personal growth is left to the parents. This is extremely problematic, because for founded by the University of Auckland
many generations now, parents have gone through the same system, thus creating Business School and some well known
today’s situation where parents know no more about human development than the New Zealand and International
system that shaped their minds. Companies. Since 2001, The
ICEHOUSE has worked with 50 start-
Education has to take on the role of facilitating whole person growth if we have any ups and just under 1,000 owner
chance at all of preparing people for life. ‘Good citizens’ are happy people. manager firms. It has raised close to
Happiness is not a skill, it’s a state of being. We NEED to develop capabilities that $30m for these start-ups and the owner
allow people to grow self esteem and personal satisfaction. Instead of being shut managers are growing their EBIT on
down, boxed into packages of skill sets, we NEED to be taught how to open up into average 38% per annum.
our innate, individual potentials. By doing this at school, we will be creating a joy-
filled model of lifelong growth and discovery, replacing the current model of survival, Andrew was the founding Chair of
emptiness and addiction to escapism. Incubators NZ, is a Board member of
ICE Angels and also a Board member of
Vincent Heeringa ANZATEC based in Silicon Valley, a
group who is tasked with creating a
I’ve always thought that the apprenticeship system was a great way to learn – work, better gateway for NZ and Australian
generate questions, then head to the classroom. It’s like learning how to use a new technology companies to enter the US.
piece of software: just start using it and then you have a mind to ask questions. So
my ideal education system starts with everything basic in the liberal arts and Prior to joining the ICEHOUSE, Andrew
sciences for kids and then gets involved in business, crafts, society and real life as was CEO and Director of Inventure,
soon as practical. Real life is the best education, so why not expose kids to it early? Fletcher Building’s venture capital arm
which he established in 1998.
Andrew Hamilton
We need to give the participants in the education system a broad spread of learning
opportunities. Both functional elements like Maths, Languages, Science, Internet etc
and life skills – like being a member of the community and contributing to it. The key
to me is not being too stringent – learning environments should be tailored to the recommendation
children, not tailored for society as a whole – which means we need flexibility. “Marketing, sales and engineering all look
at opportunities and obstacles very
Get children into the community and contributing from an early age. Get them differently, so it's critical that each of
studying what it means to live and ‘be’ in this global world. Projects on these disciplines understand our
internationalisation need to be a part of the curriculum. customers' needs and perspectives.

In terms of school sets that build good citizens worldliness would be a good start – Personas help all of the teams across the
and the community engagement. But you know we don’t want all chiefs and no company gain intimate knowledge about

http://www.designindustry.co.nz/Newsletters/dec-07/issue-1-web.html 14/02/2008
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how our products fit into the lives of our

Indians – that would be chaos! customers, and to collaborate more
effectively with each other. That
I love the question about creating lifelong learners and this is an area where we knowledge can make the difference
have serious issues in New Zealand if we do not address it. It has to start at home between a product that meets a
and at our schools – the key is how you imbed in people the desire to continually specification and an industry-leading
learn and ask questions in life. While it is hard to create that, we can provide the solution that truly benefits the user.
opportunities for people to be lifelong learners, and in time the pressure from society
to not fall behind will force more people to do this. With the help of designindustry, Tait has
been building the personas of our key
target customers for use by the whole
company, and it's beginning to pay
dividends. I love it when an engineer talks
about a new idea or an innovation that
A Merry Christmas to all our clients, was inspired by these personas”.
contributors and readers
Linda Smith, Group Marketing
Christmas image by Adrienne Rewi, Photographer and Journalist ajrewi@caverock.net.nz
Manager, Tait Electronics Limited

More Information Click here to enquire about our persona

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http://www.designindustry.co.nz/Newsletters/dec-07/issue-1-web.html 14/02/2008