Education and Life in New Zealand and Australia

• Split into groups of 4• I’ll assign each group either New Zealand or

Australia• For your country, answer:– Where is this country located? (Describe in words,

and don’t look at a map first!)– What do you know about this country?

Which map is correct?

The Flag Debate

• Which flag would you want to have? Why?

Education in NZ

• Years 1-13, correspond to our K-12• High school=college. College=university.• High school/college also numbered Level 1, 2,

and 3 (like grades 10, 11, and 12).

Graduation and Testing

• You don’t really graduate in NZ, you just get to be done when you have enough credits

• Some assessments are graded by the Ministry of Education (like our MEAP and MME is), but the credits you earn in school depend on how well you do!

• You can get a varying number of credits based on how well you do and what courses you take

• So if you’re an overachiever, you can earn your credits, leave high school/college and go to university

You have to wear uniforms!

Social Studies in NZ

• Social science classes required through year 9, but then students have option of taking classes including:– History (mostly special topics)– Geography (like human/environment interaction)– Econ (for business-track people)– Sustainability (science and social science)

A snippet on Australian schools

• They have same numbering system as us, K-12• Government is a federal system, so education

has been controlled by the states, but is moving toward more federal control

Mr. Carman does the haka

• https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4rlznvph5yf2j5x/slHyha0oOD

There must be a reason I showed that…

• There is!• New Zealand is really proud of its Maori

culture• Maori culture is infused into NZ culture as a

whole

• Maori make up about 12% of NZ’s population and retain many land rights

• They still lag socioeconomically behind Europeans, called Pakehas

• NZ government based on partnership between Maori and Pakeha

Australian Aborigines

• Treated much worse than Maori• Why do you think this might be?

• Aboriginal people make up <2% of Australia’s population

• Very socioeconomically underprivileged• Very recent history of extreme discrimination

—massacres in the 1930s and not explicitly able to vote until 1967