In July 2024, the Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao and the Royal Society Te Apārangi hosted a national summit Science Education: Fit for Purpose. The aim of the summit was to contribute to national discussion about future directions for science education. At the time, the science learning area of the New Zealand Curriculum was under review.
The Summit was opened with words of welcome and acknowledgement by Kahu Hotere, Pou Tiaki –Te Apārangi | Director – Māori, Royal Society Te Apārangi, and Dr Cathy Buntting, Director, Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao.
“There are many challenges in front of us all. Challenges that we can face with positivity, kotahitanga – unity, toha toha – sharing, mana taiao – care for the environment.”
(Kahu Hotere)
“Any curriculum effort is only ever as good as the implementation plan and the will of those implementing it, and all of us here today, we are part of that movement.”
(Cathy Buntting)
Prompting questions
- What and who inspires you as a science educator?
- What do you think the purpose(s) are for school science education?
Transcript
Kahu Hotere
Kia ora
Mānawatia a Matariki Engari, kōrero mai - mānawatia a Matariki.
Ka pai.
Ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a tātou katoa. He hōnore, he korōria, he maungārongo ki runga i te whenua. He whakaaro pai ki ngā tāngata katoa.
Peace and calm throughout the world and goodwill to all – something that is sorely needed at this time.
Kia wehi rā ki te Atua, whakahonōretia ki Te Arikinui, Te Kingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero te tuawhitu me te Makau Ariki, Atawhai me ā rāua tamariki me te kāhui ariki whānui. Pai mārire ki a rātou
I pay respects to the Māori King, his wife Atawhai, and their extended family.
Tēnā koutou katoa, koutou kua tae tawhiti mai i te whenua moemoea. Ka nui te mihi, nau mai, haere mai, koutou nō Deakin University, kia ora. Koutou hoki kua tae mai ngā tōpito o te motu, ngā karangatanga maha, ngā hononga iwi, tēnā koutou, nau mai haere mai. Haere mai ki tēnei whare i raro i te mana o Waikato-Tainui. Tēnei whare, kī ana kua hangaia e Tainui mō te katoa.
Ka huri ki ngā mātāpono o te Matariki. Ko te tuatahi, Matariki hunga nui, me mahara, me whai whakaaro ki a rātou kua whetūrangitia. Haere atu rā, moe mai rā.
So we acknowledge those who have passed, especially since Matariki rising last year to now, but all those who have passed. Our whānau, our family, our friends, those whom we have loved and those who have loved us. May they rest in peace.
Ko te mea tuarua, Matariki ahunga nui. Ka huri ki a tātou anō te hunga ora. Me tuku whakamoemiti nā te mea, kei kōnei tātou e menemene ana.
We give gratitude for what we have and the fact that we are now here, smiling. Are we smiling? Ka pai. Tēnā koutou.
He aha te tino kaupapa o tēnei hui? Ko te whakawhanaungatanga. Te whakawhanaungatanga ki a Ranginui, ki a Papatūānuku, ki ngā whetū o Matariki.
So we’re here, not just to listen to each other, although that will be fantastic, but to connect. To connect with each other. To connect with our environment – Ranginui, Papatūānuku and the stars of Matariki, which represent every aspect of our lives. Make sure that you connect with at least ten other people that you didn’t know before this.
Nei rā te mihi maioha ki a koutou, whakapiri mai, whakatata mai, whakatau mai rā.
You have heard “haere mai, nau mai” many times. And that’s how much we value your being here. And that is the extent of our welcome to you all.
Ki ngā kaiwhakahaere, kua tae te wā. Karawhiua, kia kaha he maha ngā wero ki mua i a tātou.
So to the organisers, let’s go, get the message out there. There are many challenges in front of us all. Challenges that we can face with positivity. Kotahitanga: unity. Tohatoha: sharing. Mana taiao: Care for the environment, awareness of our environment.
Hei te mutunga, hakari. Feasting. Matariki heri kai. Ehara i te kai anake, engari nō whea? Tō tātou nei kai?
Not just about eating, not just about feasting. But acknowledging the source of all our food.
Matariki manako nui. Me haere whakamua i runga i te aroha me te kotahitanga
Looking forward to the future and the promise of a new year.
Kia tau ngā manaakitanga o te runga rawa ki runga i a koutou. Kia noho tōna rangimarie i roto i a koutou. Mā tōna ataahua e whakamārama o koutou ngākau inaianei, ā, mō ake tonu.
May the peace of God bless you. May His peace abide within you. And may His beauty illuminate your hearts now and forever. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā katou katoa.
Haere mai.
Waiata
Ko te aroha anō he wai
E pupū ake ana
He awa e māpuna mai ana
I roto i te whatu-manawa (x2)
Ko tōna mātāpuna he hōhonu
Ā inā ia ka rere anō (x2)
He tai timu
He tai pari
He tai ope
He tai roa
He tai nui
Kia ora!
Cathy Buntting
He mihi tuatahi ki te Atua
He mihi tuarua ki te Kīngi, ko Kīngi Tuheitia
He mihi tuatoru ki te mana whenua, ko Tainui
Kahu, rāua ko David, ngā mihi nui ki a kōrua
Ki ngā kanohi ora e huihui mai nei
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Ko wai au?
He uri ahau no Pākehā
Ko Tangata Tiriti te iwi
Ko Kirikiriroa te kainga ināianei
Ko Cathy Buntting ahau.
Greetings, greetings, greetings! How wonderful to have you all here today and absolutely to see the smiles that Kahu talked about.
In opening, I begin by acknowledging the spiritual realm, Kīngi Tūheitia, and mana whenua Tainui – Tainui who also owns this beautiful venue.
Kahu, thank you for your warm welcome and your leadership. Colleagues, friends, all in the room today, welcome, welcome, welcome! My name is Cathy Buntting, and I am incredibly proud to be here today as the director of the Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao. Along with colleagues from the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and welcome you, along with Kahu and our two teams.
The idea for the summit was born earlier this year out of a desire to find a way to support positive discussion about science education within Aotearoa moving forward.
We all know that we’re in the middle of a curriculum refresh and I think it’s fair to say that before the election last year [2023], the media drove a very polarising agenda after the release of the very early draft of the science curriculum. The good thing was people were talking about science education, and we want to keep that conversation going. The timing is particularly significant because the Ministry at the moment has a call out through subject associations and other organisations for nominations for the 2024 writing team.
But any curriculum effort is only ever as good as the implementation plan and the will of those implementing it, and all of us here today, we are part of that movement. Looking around, it feels like there – that we’re oozing with commitment and passion for science education within Aotearoa, so I’m excited about today and about the discussions we’re going to have and the thinking we’ll do and the provocations that we will encounter.
And I’d just like to celebrate the diversity of people here in the room. We have got teachers, and we’ve got teacher professional learning providers, we’ve got those of us who teach pre-service teachers, education researchers, we’ve got scientists, we’ve got resource providers, we’ve got colleagues from the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and we’ve got colleagues from the Ministry of Education. Richness and a wealth of experience.
We also bring with each of us the people who have gone before us, so those who have influenced science education within Aotearoa, and those who have inspired and influenced us. And I invite you just to pause for a few seconds and think about who the inspirations might be in your lives. I know for many teachers the inspirations feed forward and your students are your inspiration.
Because we’re not the first people to be thinking about what science education should and could look like within Aotearoa, and indeed internationally, I’d just like to draw your attention to two reports that are now 14 and 13 years old.
So this one, Looking ahead, science education for the 21st century – a 2011 report that was put up put out by Sir Peter Gluckman and a wider team when Sir Peter was the Prime Minister’s chief science advisor. And the report concludes with some hope and some challenge: “I believe that by encouraging innovative thinking by educational policymakers, teachers and the science community, and by thinking more laterally about how science education might be conducted, we might move from what is an adequate but promising situation to one that could be outstanding.”
So some provocative words in there around innovative thinking and lateral thinking and being outstanding.
Another report came out the year afterwards in 2012, published by the Royal Society, and the contributors to that report will be known by many of us in the room. And that report produced a number of recommendations and calls to action. And I know there’s a lot. It’s just this slide, but please bear with me while I read through it. OK, so one of the key recommendations: “Build community-wide understanding about the role of science education in developing New Zealand as a smart nation. There needs to be community-wide debate,” and we saw some of that start last year. We need to have leaders in science and education and government and business contributing to that discussion and we really do hope and see today as part of a contribution to national discussion.
The team who put together the he report also had the recommendation about building professional capabilities and again, I mean, how salient to read this now, “drawing on the science curriculum, there needs to be systemic agreement about the knowledge and skills needed by students in the early years, middle years, and senior years of schooling, and how science programmes can take account of current knowledge of learning, science, and of young people.”
Also, a comment about assessment and whether the assessment assists or hinders the implementation of the kind of science programmes we need in order to ensure that all students leave school with a high level of scientific literacy.
Now, could it be that we are starting to see the fruition of some of this, now 12 years later, with people like us talking about committing to inspiring change for what happens in our classrooms?
Acknowledgements
Kahu Hotere, Royal Society Te Apārangi
Dr Cathy Buntting, The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao and Royal Society Te Apārangi
Science Education: Fit for Purpose
Find out more about the national summit and the other speakers in this article.