Step 1 What:
The trend I
have identified as having an impact on education is the movement of populations
into cities. This is not an isolated trend, as it links in with the impact of
global warming on cities in low lying areas, cyber threats taking out whole
cities, lack of water and food due to population density and location, and the
anxiety impact on people living in densely populated cities.
Step 2 (So What):
More than
half the world’s population live in urban areas, expected to rise to 50% by
2050. Reasoning behind this is easier access to education and public
healthcare, and better economic prospects. Concentration of human resources can
stimulate research and development, leading to innovation and growth (OECD,
2016).
Negative
impacts of urban growth are that it can lead to high levels of poverty and
labour market exclusion, disconnection from family and communities, leading to
high levels of violence and distrust. Living in highly populated areas results
in air pollution and related respiratory and health problems, rapid spread of
virus and disease, and mental anxiety and mood disorders (OECD, 2016).
The trend
toward living in cities has an impact on the education sector, and demands an
increased role to play. Important roles are supporting community engagement,
supporting creativity and innovation and teaching civic literacy (OECD, 2016).
Challenges
will continue to be educating safety of students, monitoring physical and
emotional well-being as urban stress increases, planning for increasing and
decreasing neighbourhoods and protecting school buildings from the impact of
extreme global events (OECD, 2016).
The impact
across New Zealand is already being felt in the growth of cities. The rising
cost of housing outstripping wage increases is impacting the education sector.
Teacher shortages are rapidly increasing in urban areas as teachers cannot
afford housing or the cost of living in these areas. Forced to the fringes of
lower decile schools, teachers are seeing the first hand impact of poverty on
the education and wellbeing of students facing health issues from poor quality
housing, malnutrition, overcrowding and lack of resources to compete with
higher decile schooling. Teacher incentives to move to urban areas are not
enough to shift the trend of seeking employment in more affordable regions.
Step 3 (Now What):
One in
five Auckland schools face teacher shortages due to rapid population growth,
declining numbers of teacher trainees, and sky high house prices. Educational
organisations have addressed this trend in the short term with overseas
recruitment drives, and waiving the retraining fee for teachers whose
registrations have lapsed. Work arounds include bringing teachers out of
retirement, moving teachers out of their subject areas and into high demand curriculum
areas, and bringing in relievers (nzherald, 2018).
These solutions appear to be quick fixes for
a trend that is continuing to increase. Real long term solutions will need to
be implemented including addressing areas of impact such as housing, and
meeting wage increases. If not, the quality of education will nose dive, and
urban education will not address the issues discussed above that are a result
of the urban population rising. Teachers will continue to leave the main urban
areas and become competitors for jobs in less populated regions where housing
is affordable.
Some possible solutions in the education
sector could be flipped learning and global classrooms. Technology can make it
so students can learn in alternative ways if teachers are not available for
traditional classroom teaching. This is the direction education is headed, so
perhaps looking to countries implementing models of alternative education could
be a direction to research.
REFERENCES:
New Zealand Herald. (2018). Education crisis: School’s in, but
where are the teachers? 1 in 5 Auckland schools short of staff. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11981812
I enjoyed reading as i found it very relevant to what is happening in New Zealand and how the government is trying to a track teachers to Auckland to help deal with teacher shortage by creating a package that is offering more money and then on the other hand you have the government offering packages to relocate out of the city for other types of jobs to help with the unemployment rate in Auckland.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ahinekura. I heard recently in a discussion after writing this post that New Zealand has something like a 40% teacher shortage, so not just in Auckland but across all of the country. Many schools in hard to staff areas are not getting any applicants, or unsuitable applicants for advertised positions. So although populations are relocating to urban areas, professions such as teaching are being impacted by this trend and the flow on effect in education is teacher shortages.
DeleteHi Cassandra,
ReplyDeleteYou blog resonates with me on many levels. The over population of cities is going to have a severe impact on housing, poverty and schooling. I am overwhelmed how in a society where so much is supposed to be better and where we are supposed to be closing the gap between learners. The world's poverty stats are reducing - numbers of people in poverty are reducing - BUT - this seems to be going the other way in New Zealand. The gap is increasing within communities and our children are suffering for it. The technology squeeze is on - we have more access to technology and online learning/ development, but other areas of societal life is not so accessible. Lack of teachers due to housing issues, the stigma around teaching and increasing workload and pressure of the job (as well as other building issues) creates a vacuum where the people that miss out are the children.
Flipped learning and global teaching will create a short term band-aid fix to some issues, but I think we need to look into how the profession can be improved to keep bringing teachers in.
The media has a big part to play in creating some of the stigma around rural living and the teaching profession.
It seems like we are in a catch-22 situation at the moment and a big shake up will be needed (housing and development wise and well as pushing city ideologies) to right any issues that we currently have.
Thank you for you insights.