The Wonderful Blog Which You ve Never Seen

New Zealand (or Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand) situated south-east of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean, is famous mainly for two reasons - amazing scenery and quality education. It is a wonderful place for tourism, and also a superb destination for study. This feature is corroborated by thousands of international students from various countries like South East Asia, the UK, North Asia, Japan, South America, India and Australia, and many others.

Travel to New Zealand is easy, with many cities offering direct flights. The two main international airports are in Auckland and Christchurch. Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city is also connected to Australia.

New Zealand has an excellent reputation as a place where education is synonymous with quality, offering a safe learning environment and excellent study opportunities. Various types of courses are available for academic, professional and vocational studies at universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, secondary schools and private training establishments. The education system of New Zealand provides a progressive education to students, thus helping them in achieving a leading position in the global scenario. Many New Zealanders are working internationally and are involved in collaborative research with prestigious universities world wide. Students can enroll on short-term course such as English language programs, secondary schools for ultimately enrolment into tertiary institutions. They can also enroll in vocational courses and degree programs.

There are many reasons for choosing New Zealand over others. High standards of education, internationally recognized qualifications, excellent facilities and study support for international students are to name a few. Students have access to more advanced technology than they could wish for. New Zealand produces top graduates who can take their place with confidence in the international arena. Also, English being the everyday language of New Zealanders (English and Maori are the two official languages), it proves to be a big help to international students, specially for those who don’t have English as a native language in their home country. Since the education programs and degrees are based on the British education system and are well recognized internationally, it is possible to do an undergraduate degree in New Zealand and a post-graduate degree in another English-speaking country. Foreign students are accepted at all levels of learning and there is a wide variety of subjects to choose from.

The cities are quiet, clean and beautiful and are ideal for studying in. The cost of living and education is not high when you compare it to other places with the same standard of education. It is not difficult to obtain a visa and the country is stable and safe. The climate is relatively mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The weather can also change dramatically and very quickly, so that people joke about experiencing “four seasons in one day”. The weather varies a lot between different geographical regions. Since New Zealanders are well-traveled and have a great interest in people from other cultures, international students can acclimatize much sooner than they would in other countries. Students from all corners of the globe studying and socializing together also help them in feeling at ease.

A Code Of Practice, operated by the Ministry of Education, provides a framework for looking after international students. It covers pastoral care, accommodation and provision of information. All members of Education Tauranga are signatories to this code. Schooling is compulsory in New Zealand for all children from their sixth until sixteenth birthday. Schooling is free at state (government funded) schools until the age of 19. There are 10 levels of study in New Zealand schools and universities. The lowest level is a Certificate and the highest is a Doctoral degree. Each level is more complex than the one below it. These are the names of qualifications and their levels: . Levels 1 to 4 - Certificates . Levels 5 and 6 - Diplomas . Level 7 - Bachelors degrees and Graduate Diplomas . Level 8 - Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas, and Bachelors degrees with Honors . Level 9 - Masters degrees, and . Level 10 - Doctoral degrees. There are eight national universities offering degree programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in academic and professional studies.

All universities offer a broad spectrum of subjects for degrees in commerce, science and the arts. Each university has also developed its own specialist subjects, such as technology, engineering, computer studies, medicine, agriculture and environmental studies. There are 20 Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology. These provide education and training at tertiary levels ranging from introductory studies through to full degree programs. Specialized training for teachers is available at Colleges of Education. Additional university studies may be undertaken as part of the courses. All colleges offer advanced courses for trained teachers. There is a comprehensive system of distance education, providing courses similar to those in conventional New Zealand educational institutions. There are also private (i.e. not state-funded) tertiary institutes and training providers, including over 100 English language schools.

English language is one thing about which international students have to take special care. It is especially applicable for those who are not well-versed in English. The English language requirements for international students are strict in most tertiary institutions. IELTS (International English Language Testing System), is used at most tertiary institutions in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and increasingly used in the United States too. It assesses the ability to read, write, speak and listen in English. Care should be taken to find out what standard of English is exactly needed for the course chosen for study. But it’s also true that most of the universities offer English language tuition for students who are already enrolled and also to those who want to study there.

Even though ample choices are available in respect to institutes and courses, it is important to choose an institution according to the field of specialization and the institution’s reputation in that field.

One point worth mentioning is the Quarantine regulations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry enforces very strict quarantine requirements in order to protect New Zealand’s agricultural, horticultural and forestry industries. Live animals or plants, or animal or plant products, including seeds, or perishable food, are not allowed into the country. It’s a good idea to follow these regulations to avoid unpleasant situations.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to New Zealand

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Since I choose to primarily home school my children, I often feel reluctant to condemn even a small part of the public school system. However, this year, my youngest daughter has chosen to enter the Public School system for a few class periods a day. Her experience there has been both positive and negative.

An algebra teacher instills a sense of humor and joy in her students as she portrays equations and mathematical problems as fun and exciting to complete. Her energy in class brings a smile to the students. Her enthusiasm for teaching has resulted in many hours of energetic participation on the part of my student at least, who comes home each day chattering away about her class, and asking for help to ‘get’ a new method of math, that we chose not to study at home. Sets, geometric forms, and systemic orientations will probably not be part of her useful information as she sets about her chosen career of homemaker, but learning about them may instill a sense of curiosity that she never forgets.

On the other hand; an English teacher sharing fine literature and writing skills should have an extreme positive affect on my daughter’s life. Her example of stilted, demanding instruction, unbending to the students who attempt to take her classes, is deterring my daughter’s natural interest in literature. Her abilities are being discouraged. An instructor overwhelmed by the educational demands of political gain, corporate structure, and extreme limitations of educational authorities limits her choices. The issue here is not the topic; it’s the enthusiasm of the instructor. A teacher should want her students to learn because that is their opportunity to gather information and glow in the process of gathering knowledge. This teacher, at some point was good at her job; I remember hearing other students comment on her abilities. However, she’s lost her exuberance for teaching.

CSAP’s may have a purpose in our system, but when the purpose our teachers have for teaching is to get a good grade on CSAP’s - they’ve missed the reality. Students need to learn for the sake of learning, because knowledge is a powerful and wonderful tool for living. Encouraging students to learn is a bonus to getting a paycheck. When we forget the purpose of education and begin to teach children for the wrong reasons, we loose ground. Our children suffer.

Copyright © 2005 - Jan Verhoeff

A Home school mom for life, Jan believes education is a life long pattern of living. Join her in discussion on her blog at http://homeschool101.blogspot.com

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It is important for every teacher to have a personal philosophy of teacher education based on a set of values and principles. It should reflect the person’s ideologies and philosophies of teaching and the overall development of the children. It becomes a crucial element in guiding the children towards a successful life.

The most famous and important people who contributed to the development of the world had personal, deeply insightful educational philosophies on their own. Albert Einstein, Paul Freire and Rudolf Steiner were some people who wrote and followed powerful educational philosophies in their careers.

John Dewey, one of the most prominent educational philosophers, in his book ‘Democracy and Education’, even devoted an entire chapter on teacher education philosophy and talks about various aspects that play a formative role in the education of children. Philosophies of teacher education can be classified as Liberal, Behaviorist, Progressive, Humanistic and Radical. Each of these has specific purposes in education and defines the role of a teacher and his relationship with the learner, in the unique perspective of particular philosophical contexts. The liberal philosophy aims at developing intellectual powers, while the behavioral ideologies focus on the survival skills of a human being and the role of education in teaching them. The Progressive philosophy motivates cultural development of an individual in order to bring about societal change, whereas the Humanistic trends look at the overall development of the personality and characteristics of an individual. And the radical philosophers are interested in beneficial changes that should happen in a society from time to time, and the role of education in bringing about political, social and economical changes.

Teacher education philosophy is now used as a major marketing strategy by teachers and has become an essential component of a teacher’s resume. This has evolved to become part of the teacher’s personal profile, which outlines all of his essential skill sets and unique qualities, and highlights his specialties.

Teacher Education provides detailed information on Teacher Education, Online Teacher Education, Teacher Education Philosophies, Teacher Education Programs and more. Teacher Education is affiliated with Online Special Education Courses.

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