Communities of Learning: Radically Reshaping the Educational Landscape of New Zealand

In 2015, the Government launched a $360million project “Investing in Educational Success”. Its central purpose was to break the silo mentality of schools and encourage them to work collaboratively from early childhood through to secondary school. It seeks to introduce programmes which engage students learning and work seamlessly across schools in each community.

Communities of Learning (COLs) are creating new paradigms of school leadership, student transition and educational target setting. Significantly it is ensuring that all Principals and teachers in a COL take ownership of all students in the COL irrespective of what school they are in.

Patrick Walsh was an early adopter of IES, leading a Faith-Based Community of learning of nine schools with over 3000 students and 300 staff.

Patrick will share practical and valuable insights from this bold initiative including what has worked well and the fish hooks.