Thursday, 21 April 2011

Review Summary: Recognition of Cultural Diversity



Most New Zealand schools have several cultures represented on their rolls and do well embracing this diversity and valuing each student and family in their community. Schools celebrate their different cultures in various ways throughout the year, and most of the comments from reviewers were very positive.

This topic was reviewed in the first term this year by board, staff, and parents.
Most New Zealand schools have several cultures represented on their rolls and do well embracing this diversity and valuing each student and family in their community. Schools celebrate their different cultures in various ways throughout the year, and most of the comments from reviewers were very positive.
Reviewers gave the content high marks generally and felt that it was clear and thorough. Reviewers were less happy with the implementation of the policy, however, and we urge school principals and boards to look at their implementation reviews and discuss the matters raised.
Several schools have non-generic versions of this topic and other schools may wish to in the light of their implementation review. There is no customisation charge for this, it is part of the standard SchoolDocs offering and asked about in the tailoring questionnaire. 
Some reviewers felt that Maori culture was overemphasised and that the content failed to acknowledge all cultures and people as equal in New Zealand. The fact is that Maori has a special place in New Zealand – to quote from the New Zealand Curriculum online: Te reo Māori is indigenous to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a taonga recognised under the Treaty of Waitangi, a primary source of our nation’s self-knowledge and identity, and an official language. By understanding and using te reo Māori, New Zealanders become more aware of the role played by the indigenous language and culture in defining and asserting our point of difference in the wider world.
At SchoolDocs we acknowledge that while each individual has equal rights and status in New Zealand, our Maori culture has a unique position, and schools have legal requirements and specific goals relating to Maori students. These must be reflected in each school’s policy or ERO will certainly notice.
The SchoolDocs topic lists ways in which schools recognise cultural diversity;  feel free to email us specific ways you celebrate at your school and we will include these on your site.

Review Summary: Staff Leave


We were pleased, again, to see a large number of reviews for this topic. Both the content and the implementation were rated highly and we have made a few changes to the topic as a result of review comments. The draft topic is on the Demo site and will be rolled out on May 31.
This topic was reviewed in Term 1, 2011, by boards and staff.
We were pleased, again, to see a large number of reviews for this topic. Both the content and the implementation were rated highly and we have made a few changes to the topic as a result of review comments. The draft topic is on the Demo site and will be rolled out on May 31.
Several reviewers questioned details such as the number of days leave in the different categories in the table, and who the leave is administered by. These are details that do vary from school to school and if advised, we can change it for your school. Look at the topic on the Model School site (http://model.schooldocs.co.nz/381.htm) and you’ll see where the variable data is. Use your admin username and password to get in. Note that the topic on the Model site is the old one but the areas for variable data are unchanged in the new one.
As you’re aware, the Holidays Act has been amended this year and now allows employees to apply to cash in a week of their annual leave. Employers are not obliged to grant this and we have followed NZSTA’s advice that boards should decline such requests. We’re interested to hear your feedback about this.
We have changed the way we link to the Collective Agreements by creating a link to the relevant page on the Ministry of Education’s website, and separated them from the list of Relevant Legislation. As always, we urge boards to look at their school's specific implementation comments and discuss as appropriate.