Chemical Education in Asia-Pacific
Chemical Education in New Zealand
Janet Burns
Dept of Educational Psychology Massey Univercity, Private Bag 11-222 Palmerston North-NewZyland
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Chemical education in New Zealand is currently enjoying strong support from government and industry, as science and technology are promoted for research and development and ultimately social and economic growth. While new curricula and associated teacher development have been introduced for school science and chemistry, as part of a new national curriculum framework, these subjects have received further support through events such as national science and technology weeks and teacher fellowships. Beyond school, research funding and post-doctoral fellowships are made available and science centres are promoted for community education. This chapter describes the context of educational provision in which this situation occurs, that is the New Zealand education system, the national school science and chemistry curricula and the tertiary courses offered. Uptake of chemistry beyond the level of compulsory provision is also described and the nature of educational activities outside the classroom is elaborated.
1. THE NEW ZEALAND EDUCATION SYSTEM
Education is compulsory for students between the ages of six and sixteen years, although most children begin school at the age of five. In 1995 just over one million students attended educational institutions, from early childhood to post-compulsory, and most attended state-funded institutions. The majority of students are of European extraction, eighteen percent identify themselves as of Maori descent and six percent as of Pacific Island descent. An increasing number, over 11,500 in 1995, are overseas students of whom two thirds are from Asia (Ministry of Education, 1996a).
Early childhood education is offered through a variety of providers from birth to five years, and by kindergartens for children from three to five years. Primary schooling takes place from age five years (year 1) to twelve years (year 8), although years 7 and 8 are often undertaken in intermediate (or middle) schools. Secondary education follows from age thirteen (year 9) to age seventeen to adult (year 13). Various year groupings provide different types of schools. Post-secondary education is undertaken in a number of different types of institutions. This is outlined in Figure 1.
2. SCHOOL CURRICULA IN CHEMISTRY
Provision for national curricula in chemistry was made with the introduction of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 1993a). Chemistry contributes to science, one of seven essential learning areas required for all students in compulsory education, through the national curriculum for science, Science in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1993b). This curriculum provides the basis for programmes in science, including chemistry, for years 1 to 13, in relation to eight levels of achievement. The national curriculum for chemistry, Chemistry in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994) provides the basis for programmes in chemistry for students in the senior school at the three highest achievement levels, levels 6, 7 and 8, normally years 11, 12 and 13, who wish to study chemistry more intensively. It builds on the chemistry introduced through the science curriculum. A curriculum for science, including chemistry, which is informed by the science curriculum for level 1, is included in the national curriculum for early childhood education.
2.1. Chemistry in the Science Curriculum
Chemistry appears principally in the curriculum strand, 'making sense of the material world'. This strand parallels three other 'contextual' strands, oriented toward making sense of the 'living' and 'physical' worlds and 'planet earth and beyond'. Two further 'integrating' strands are concerned with 'science and its relationship with technology' and 'scientific skills and attitudes'. Within each strand specific achievement objectives are identified at each of the eight levels of achievement.
Year of study: 8 Doctorate
7
6
5 Masterates
4 Honours degree
3 Degree, DiplomaDegree, Diploma Degree, Diploma Dip. Teaching Diploma
2 Wananga Colleges of Private
1 Universities (for Maori) Polytechnics Education Training
Year of
schooling: 13 17
12 Secondary schools 16
11 Primary and Secondary Education 15
10 also occurs in: 14
9 13
8 Intermediate schools Area schools (5-17yrs) 12
7 Full Form1-7 schools (11-17yrs) 11
6 primary 10
5 schools 9
4 Contributing 8
3 primary schools 7
2 6
1 5
Playcentres Kindergartens Early childhood education also 4
occurs in: Childcare centres 3
Te Kohanga Reo (for Maori) 2
Pacific Islands language groups 1
0
Modal Age
The overall aim of the science curriculum is to provide all students with an interest in science which will be maintained beyond school. To this end it seeks to meet the needs of all students through flexible implementation by way of school schemes and classroom-based programmes that are designed, within the framework of the curriculum, using learning contexts that are familiar and teaching strategies that are appropriate to the particular students concerned. Underlying the curriculum is a constructivist approach to learning that provides the opportunity for students to 'clarify their ideas, to share and compare, evaluate, and modify those ideas, leading to scientific understanding' (Ministry of Education, 1993b, p.10). A stated feature of the science curriculum is that it should involve the students 'in a wide range of activities'(p.18) .
Within the 'material world' strand, achievement aims are identified that run through the eight levels of achievement and find expression in achievement objectives at increasing levels of complexity and theoretical interpretation. The aims state that '... students will use their developing scientific knowledge, skills, and attitudes to:
1. investigate the nature and properties of substances, identify patterns in these properties, and understand why chemists group substances in the ways they do;
2. apply their knowledge of the properties of substances to the safe and appropriate use of these in the home, in industry, and in the environment;
3. investigate reactions, and applications of these in chemical processes;
4. make informed decisions about the interrelationship of chemical substances and processes, with technology, people and the environment.' (p.88)
Teachers are given 'possible learning experiences' and 'assessment examples' at each level of achievement to use in the development of school schemes and classroom programmes. In relation to the first aim, for example, the achievement objective at level 6 is to 'investigate and understand how familiar chemical substances can be grouped into families which have characteristic chemical properties' (p.100), a possible learning experience is 'identifying the carbonates from a range of compounds', and a related assessment example is the 'ability to use an identification test for carbonates, when the students identify the carbonate compound from a group on unknowns' (p.101). The achievement objective related to the first aim at level 8 requires students to carry out an extended investigation which may integrate achievement objectives from other strands of the science curriculum.
It is expected that most students who choose to study chemistry in the senior school will embark on the chemistry curriculum after completion of level 6 of the science curriculum. They would thus begin the chemistry curriculum at level 7. However, the identification of achievement objectives in chemistry at level 6 allows for three years of specialisation in chemistry, if desired. The chemistry curriculum is designed for all students, including those who require a background in chemistry for further study.
The chemistry curriculum is organised in a similar way to the science curriculum with achievement aims that are expressed in achievement objectives at each level of achievement. In this case, however, the curriculum is not split into strands and only the three highest levels of achievement (levels 6 to 8) are concerned. At each level, in addition to the identification of possible learning experiences and assessment examples and, in contrast to the science curriculum, content also is identified. Teachers are expected to develop school schemes and classroom programmes with this guidance.
As with the science curriculum, the underlying perspective on learning is constructivist, and accordingly teaching programmes should '... recognise(s) that the students bring to the chemistry classroom their own unique ideas, experiences, interests, values, and attitudes about the material world.' (Ministry of Education, 1994, p.7) Teachers are expected to provide a range of learning experiences through a variety of teaching strategies, including group and class discussion, practical investigation, multimedia and computer simulations, and links with chemistry-related enterprises. The approach that is encouraged is the adoption of a context familiar to the student, such as fuels, cosmetics, agriculture or the kitchen, as a starting point for a topic that will integrate several achievement objectives.
The chemistry achievement aims state that '... students will use their developing scientific knowledge, skills, and attitudes to:
1. investigate and develop an understanding of the ways materials and chemical processes interact with people and the environment;
2. carry out a range of practical investigations and use this and other information to explore chemical behaviour;
3. understand important concepts in chemistry and major patterns of chemical behaviour.' (p. 14)
In relation to these aims, special mention is made of the need for students to understand the language of chemistry, including the use of formulae, equations and models. In addition, further development, in relation to chemistry, of the scientific investigative skills and attitudes identified in the science curriculum is outlined through minor revision of those skills and attitudes for levels 5 to 8. The aims are expressed as specific achievement objectives at each level of achievement, in relation to the following four content areas: atomic structure, bonding and related properties; chemical reactions; quantitative chemistry; and organic chemistry. The content identified at level 8, the last year of schooling, is shown in Figure 2. By the time students have completed level 8, it is expected that they will have carried out at least one extended practical investigation.
Figure 2. Content Included in the Chemistry Curriculum in the Last Year of Schooling (Level 8)
Atomic structure, bonding, and Nature and properties of buffers
related properties: Solubility of sparingly soluble salts; Ks, Kw
Radioactivity Standard reduction potentials and
Electron configuration of first 36 elements electrochemical cells
The weak intermolecular forces
Periodic trends in atomic properties Quantitative chemistry:
Chemistry of Group 17 Calculations involving K, Ka, Ks
Chemistry of the transition metals of the
first long period Organic chemistry:
Characteristics, properties, and reactions of
Chemical reactions: alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines,
Exothermic and endothermic processes; halo alkanes, and acid chlorides
bond making and bond breaking Polymers formed from amino acids and
Calculations of enthalpy change glucose
Equilibrium constants Polyamides, polyesters
Spontaneous chemical reactions Stereoisomerism
Strength of strong and weak acids and
bases; Ka
2.3. Implementation of Curricula
Just as the particular school and classroom programmes are the responsibility of the teachers, so too are the textbooks. Teachers select textbooks that are appropriate to the particular programmes they develop, and these programmes, as indicated above, are designed in relation to the students in the school. Thus particular student interests and learning styles can be accommodated. It is possible for Maori students to be taught in the Maori language and to use textbooks and teachers' notes written for the purpose. Because of the numbers involved, textbooks are more likely, however, to have been written specifically for the New Zealand curriculum at lower levels of achievement than at higher levels, where United Kingdom, United States and Australian textbooks are also used.
Approval of the school schemes and classroom programmes, and thus the textbooks, is provided by regular school inspections carried out by the Education Review Office (ERO). This government agency is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the curriculum and the achievement of students in schools. It is distinct from the Ministry of Education, which is responsible for setting curriculum and assessment policy.
Schools are required to develop their own assessment policy in relation to the curriculum. In chemistry, this requires ongoing school-based assessment of students in terms of the achievement objectives and assessment examples of the science or chemistry curriculum as appropriate. At 'key transition points', namely, school entry and years 7 and 9, standardised tests and test items, available from a national item bank and designed in relation to the relevant curriculum, are used for more formal student assessment. Another form of assessment has been established to monitor national student performance through the National Education Monitoring Programme (NEMP) (Crooks and Flockton, 1993). This programme does not aim to assess every student but to assess the performance of a national sample of students at years 4 and 8, in a cycle that will examine each essential learning area (and thus chemistry within science) at four-yearly intervals.
From level 6, usually year 11, assessment for qualifications is to be made in terms of 'unit standards' designed by another government agency, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), in relation to the relevant curriculum (New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 1991).
Description of student competence in terms of these unit standards provides a profile of their achievement. Presently, at these levels, student achievement is also measured through national assessment for School Certificate (level 6), Sixth Form Certificate (level 7), and University Bursaries and, for some students, also University Entrance Scholarships (level 8). These qualifications are administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, which is responsible for the approval of the subject prescriptions and examinations, where external examinations are required by the prescription (New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 1993). The student's achievement in Sixth Form Certificate, for example, is the responsibility of the school, within moderation procedures established by the Authority, while in School Certificate and University Bursaries there is both internal school assessment and external examination in a number of subjects. Some schools also enter their students for the International Baccalaureate or the A-level examinations for England and Wales.
3. POST-SECONDARY CHEMISTRY COURSES
Post-secondary courses in chemistry which lead to a formal qualification are offered at universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Although Wananga offer university and polytechnic type programmes for Maori, they are still a relatively new development and courses focus on Maori language and culture. Community education offers nonformal courses usually in applied chemistry.
3.1. University Chemistry Courses
All seven New Zealand universities offer undergraduate courses in chemistry. While six of these universities offer undergraduate majors and postgraduate qualifications in chemistry, the newest , Lincoln University, offers this degree of specialisation only in biochemistry and applied sciences, which includes soil chemistry. This is indicative of a trend in the older universities to offer more courses in applied chemistry, alongside the traditional inorganic, organic, physical and analytical chemistry. Environmental chemistry and industrial chemistry have been widely introduced, while specialisms that relate to the particular interests of the university include pharmaceutical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, food chemistry, dairy chemistry, forensic chemistry, engineering chemistry and the chemistry of hazardous substances. These specialisms reflect links with industry and these links are encouraged by government, in particular to provide additional research funding. Some university chairs in such specialisms are funded by industry.
Many of the chemistry graduates of these programmes will pursue careers in industry or teaching rather than in academic research. Victoria University of Wellington has established a conjoint chemistry and business masterate in order to both better serve the needs of students planning to enter industry and provide industrial management with graduates who have a sound chemical background. Graduates entering a teaching career undertake a one-year diploma in teaching, usually at a college of education.
Encouragement of students into science and technology, and into tertiary education in general, has resulted in students without the usual background in mathematics and the sciences embarking on university study. Most universities have responded by offering, usually short, introductory courses that help to prepare students for particular first-year courses (Burns and Little, 1995). Increasingly, university credit is awarded on completion of these foundation level courses, but this normally has to be forfeited for degree purposes when a higher level, first-year course in that subject is satisfactorily completed.
Assessment of learning is under the control of the particular university, although this may not continue if the goal of the newly formed New Zealand Qualifications Authority, to establish an integrated system of qualifications, is realised.
3.2. Polytechnic Chemistry Courses
Most of the 25 polytechnics and institutes of technology offer chemistry courses leading to the New Zealand Certificate in Science for science technicians, and to diplomas in science and laboratory technology which can be taken following completion of the Certificate or a science degree. Chemistry and applied chemistry courses are offered in other areas such as engineering and the health sciences. Smaller and rural institutions are unlikely to offer chemistry or other pure sciences. In recent years, since the introduction of the National Qualifications Framework (New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 1991), discussed below, the larger institutions have begun to offer degree courses, particularly in the applied sciences. Assessment of the national certificates, diplomas and degrees offered by these institutions is under the control of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
Polytechnics and institutes of technology also increasingly offer full-year introductory and foundation level courses in chemistry and related science subjects, for those without the usual school background in these subjects (Burns and Little, 1995). Students completing these courses can then enter the New Zealand Certificate in Science and other courses in the host institution or apply for entry to university degree courses. From the foundation course at the Central Institute of Technology, successful students are awarded an integrated Ordinary National Certificate which has recognition by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, but this is the exception rather than the rule. However, these courses provide a new and important route to tertiary study in this time of expansion in post-secondary education.
3.3. Chemistry in Colleges of Education
New Zealand's four independent colleges of education and the Massey University College of Education and the University of Waikato School of Education, which have developed from the merger of colleges of education with their local university, offer undergraduate courses in, usually, applied chemistry to primary school teacher trainees. Topics such as environmental chemistry aim to develop the chemical knowledge of these trainees, many of whom bring a weak scientific background from school.
4. NONFORMAL CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Nonformal education occurs through programmes with specific educational objectives, but without assessment for formal qualifications. In chemistry this is offered to the public and increasingly to school students through Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC). As a form of experiential learning, EOTC is strongly supported by a range of developments that have occurred in New Zealand in recent years. The larger developments are described below, but in addition New Zealand student may participate in locally organised chemical analysis competitions and science quizzes, and in international chemistry and science competitions, including ones from Canada and Australia, respectively. They may also participate in open days run by universities and scientific laboratories, in programmes like Skills and Opportunities in Science (SOS) and in Summer Schools for high achieving students run by a number of the universities. Students' participation in EOTC may be encouraged in order simply to enhance the richness of their experiences in chemistry, or their participation may be used by the teacher to contribute to the classroom programme, including formal assessment.
A major development in the last five years has been the establishment, with substantial financial support from government, of six interactive science centres around the country. Although not all have been equally successful, they have had a significant impact in some areas, particularly in early childhood and primary school science, where teachers have been able to take classes to experience the science that they are unable to provide in class with their more limited school resources. EXSCITE in Hamilton and The Science Centre and Manawatu Museum in Palmerston North, in particular, have benefited from their links with their local universities. Chemistry exhibits, however, have been found more difficult to develop and are less common than exhibits in physics or biology. The science centres are also popular with family groups and potentially contribute to development in the public understanding of chemistry.
Science fairs for school students were introduced in New Zealand thirty years ago with the support of The Royal Society of New Zealand and industry. They have grown and developed in that time with national and regional fairs now regular events. School science fairs are now also frequently held, especially in primary and intermediate schools, where every child may be expected to participate as part of their science programme. Chemical topics lend themselves well to investigation with the action of cleaning liquids, fertilisers and cosmetics popular among students. Environmental consequences of chemical waste are also frequently examined.
The Science Badge Scheme has been introduced with the support of the New Zealand Association of Science Educators for students in primary and junior secondary school. It provides tasks that when accomplished will reward the student with a badge they can wear on their clothing. Teachers may introduce these tasks as extension work for students or as part of their science programme.
4.4. Creativity in Science and Technology (CREST)
The New Zealand CREST programme is modelled on that existing in Britain and is designed to facilitate student creativity in investigation with the support of a professional scientist or technologist. The investigations are undertaken by secondary school students, normally as extension work, at one of three levels of competence, bronze, silver and gold. The programme has been in operation for almost ten years and is based at Massey University where it is strongly supported both financially and through the commitment University's scientists and technologists.
In the last few years, New Zealand students have taken part in the International Chemistry Olympiad run by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry: Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry. Their participation has been made possible by the support of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, organisationally, financially and through the work of its members in training students. Although only four of the most able senior students are selected to participate each year, many more students are involved in local training and in the national training camp. New Zealand students have already been successful in gaining bronze and silver awards.
4.6. Science and Technology Week
Science and Technology Week is an annual event supported by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. Schools, tertiary institutions and industry, individually or in collaboration, stage events, displays and demonstrations to raise the profile of science with students and the public. Recently, the Ministry has funded a speaking tour of the country by a noted scientist, technologist or science or technology educator during the Science and Technology Week.
4.7. Community Education in Chemistry
Nonformal community education in chemistry is offered by universities, polytechnics and schools, in addition to the formal education they offer. A number of other organisations, such as the Workers' Education Association (WEA) and the Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP), offer nonformal programmes. Chemistry in gardening and in pottery glazing are typical subjects, but compared with the health and life sciences and the arts, chemistry provides few courses. Continuing education programmes of universities and polytechnics also offer courses that give a taste of tertiary study and introduction to formal study, often particularly for women and Maori and Pacific Islands people, and these courses may relate specifically to chemistry.
Student assessment in school chemistry is carried out in terms of the assessment policy of the school which is itself established in relation to the curriculum framework and the specific subject curricula. Overlapping this framework in the senior school is the National Qualifications Framework (New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 1991) which identifies units of learning to be accomplished according to 'unit standards'. In chemistry, in the senior school, these are developed in terms of the chemistry curriculum, such that level 1 unit standards correspond to level 6 of the curriculum, and levels 2 and 3 unit standards to curriculum levels 7 and 8. Unit standards are developed beyond school for academic and vocational qualifications. They are intended to extend, to level 8 which would correspond to learning at doctoral degree level.
The purpose of the qualifications framework is to integrate qualifications into one coherent system that would then allow transfer of qualifications gained in one educational sphere to another. In chemistry this might mean that unit standards gained in pursuit of a New Zealand Certificate in Science could be transferred and credited towards a degree in chemistry. While this already occurs, it is at the discretion of the institution accepting the evidence of prior learning. In the new framework the transfer would be as of right. However, since unit standards break down assessment into small units, the result is a fragmentation of learning that is especially inappropriate to learning at degree level. The setting of standards by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority also puts the primary activity of universities, the generation of knowledge, under state control, and creates a rigidity that is inappropriate to the continuing development of degree level courses which occurs with the generation of knowledge (Hall, 1994). The inclusion of universities in the framework is still under discussion.
6. STUDENT SELECTION OF CHEMISTRY AT SECONDARY AND POST-SECONDARY LEVEL
Chemistry, as part of science, is now compulsory for all students to age sixteen, through the new curriculum in science which was implemented in 1995. Any effects of this change for student uptake of chemistry, however, are unlikely to be evident even in the most recent figures available from the Ministry of Education (1996a). The new curriculum in chemistry will be implemented in 1997. In 1995, 85% of students took science in form 5 and just over 2% took chemistry. Approximately one quarter of sixth form students took chemistry that year, a proportion which has changed little over the past twenty years, despite concern among chemists and in industry, and curriculum changes that have seen the removal of conceptually difficult material from the curriculum and the development of the contextual relevance of remaining topics (Burns, 1988). Chemistry is nevertheless the sixth most popular subject, behind English, mathematics, biology and computer studies and close to physics. Its uptake is largely determined by the number of subjects which students are able take in form 6, normally five. In form 7, in preparation for the University Bursaries Examination, students usually continue with subjects they have taken in form 6. Uptake of chemistry in the senior school in 1995, in comparison with uptake of other science subjects is shown in Table 1. There is some gender difference, with more young men than young women taking chemistry, but this difference is less than that in physics, and the direction of the difference is reversed in biology
Table 1 Uptake of chemistry and other sciences in the New Zealand senior school in 1994
Subject
Form 6
Form 7
female
male
female
male
N
%
N
%
N
%
N
%
Chemistry 4997
23.6
5058
25.6
3062
23.3
3507
30.4
Physics 3561
16.8
7051
35.7
2015
15.4
4393
38.1
Biology 8857
41.9
5806
29.4
5657
43.1
3778
32.8
All students 21144
19749
13114
11527
First-year university chemistry is enormously popular, with typically hundreds of students enrolled in courses around the country. However, most of these students are taking chemistry as a service subject for study in other areas, including engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, the life sciences and biochemistry. Numbers drop dramatically in the second year of chemistry study. Only 133 bachelors graduates in 1995 had majored in chemistry, though with the addition of biochemistry graduates this figure exceeded 200 (Ministry of Education, 1996b). The total number of chemistry and biochemistry graduates amounted to just 1.6% of all bachelors graduates. The proportion, however, increases for postgraduate degrees as chemistry graduates are more likely than many others to pursue higher levels of education. Gender differences evident at the senior school level continue, and differences related to ethnicity are identifiable. Although numbers are small, these ethnic differences are consistent and it is possible to suggest that chemistry is more popular with students of Asian than European descent, and least popular with students of Maori descent. These figures are shown in Table 2. Increasingly, New Zealand institutions are seeking overseas student enrolments in their programmes. Many of the students enrolling are from Asia and it is possible to see the impact of their enrolment in the numbers of chemistry graduates appearing in the category identified as 'other' in Table 2.
Table 2. Graduates in chemistry and biochemistry in New Zealand in 1995
Ethnicity Bachelors
female
male
all
chem
bioch
ch/bioch all
all
chem
bioch
ch/bioch all
N
N
N
%
N
N
N
%
European 5534
32
31
1.1
4603
59
28
1.9
Maori 461
5
3
1.7
371
1
1
0.6
Asian 521
12
5
3.3
419
9
0
2.1
Other/Overseas 676
12
7
2.8
610
3
2
0.8
All students 7214
61
46
1.4
6003
72
31
1.9
Masters/Honours
European 1205
25
21
3.8
1262
41
21
4.9
Maori 57
0
0
0
48
0
0
0
Asian 56
5
0
8.9
114
0
2
1.8
Other/Overseas 168
4
1
3.0
243
5
1
2.5
All students 1486
35
22
3.8
1667
46
24
4.2
Doctorates
European 51
3
6
17.6
129
10
5
11.6
Maori 2
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
Asian 2
0
0
0
12
0
0
0
Other/Overseas 13
0
0
0
32
0
2
6.2
All students 68
3
6
13.2
176
10
7
9.7
Teacher development in the school and early childhood sector takes place through preservice training, inservice professional development and through a variety of nonformal and informal means including teacher scholarships and awards. In the tertiary sector teacher development is more varied. Within polytechnics and institutes of technology a minimum number of hours of training is made available through the employing institution, but in universities any training acquired is at the initiative of the individual and the institution. Some teachers in tertiary institutions do however participate in the university courses which are recognised for school teacher inservice professional development. Teacher deveopment in the school sector will be described.
7.1. Preservice Teacher Training
Primary and early childhood teacher trainees begin training usually after form 7 or after a period in the workforce. Training takes three years and is undertaken in a college of education or in a college or school of a university formed as the result of a merger with a college of education. With the increase in flexibility introduced by the National Qualifications Framework, polytechnics are seeking to offer preservice training. Students who have completed their three year Diploma of Teaching can undertake a fourth year of study at a university and gain a Bachelor of Education degree.
During the course of their Diploma study, trainees are required to undertake a minimum number of hours, usually 50 hours, of science teaching study. They may choose to make science one of their specialist subjects and they will then undertake further science teaching study as well as science study. The approach to science teaching is built on a constructivist understanding of learning and emphasises teacher-student interaction in order to elicit students' ideas and to address them. Science study, as discussed earlier tends to focus on applied science, but topics also tend to be more concerned with biology and physics for the opportunities that they allow for learning at primary level. While training is based in the college, during the three years increasingly extended periods are spent in schools where trainees observe teaching and teach themselves. Students completing a fourth year for a degree in education undertake more theoretical work. This may be in the area of science education if such courses are available in the institution.
Secondary school teacher trainees begin training after completing an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Training takes one year and leads to a Diploma of Teaching. Teachers usually specialise in teaching two subjects, thus chemistry graduates would develop strategies for teaching chemistry and maybe science in relation to the curriculum. Development of professional practice takes place especially through work in schools.
7.2. Inservice Teacher Training
Schools are allocated funding for the professional development of their staff. How they spend this, the content and style of the training, depends on the priorities of the school. Much training is now school-based, with schools running their own 'teacher-only days', maybe bringing in invited speakers. Many schools also fund teachers to attend inservice courses run by tertiary institutions and other agencies, and this includes sometimes funding of teachers' fees when they undertake Advanced Studies for Teachers Units (ASTU) run by the colleges of education, and higher degrees in universities. Most universities now offer postgraduate qualifications in education that provide a specialism in science education. Development of particularly chemistry education courses is underway, but normally students are able to develop such specialist focus within science education courses. Some universities, including the University of Waikato and the University of Auckland, now support centres for science education.
Many schools have recently contributed teacher development funding to the training of their teachers through inservice training carried out, mostly by colleges of education, under contract to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry presently offers contract funding for training in areas of the curriculum where recent development has taken place, with the requirement that participating schools make some contribution to the cost. Thus in science, where there has been substantial recent development, contracts have funded teacher development around the country. This teacher development is based on and in clusters of schools.
In the last few years, the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology has funded annually approximately twenty New Zealand Science and Technology Teacher Fellowships. Through these Fellowships, teachers are released from teaching for up to a year to work in industry, a university or a Crown Research Institute, or some combination of these to develop their understanding of a curriculum area and to develop curriculum materials for use in schools. The British Council offers an annual travel award to members of the New Zealand Association of Science Educators which allows the recipient to visit the Edinburgh International Science Festival and other sites of interest to the New Zealand science teaching community.
There are also sources of funding for teacher personal professional development, for which chemistry and science teachers can compete alongside teachers in other areas. These include the approximately 70 awards made annually by the Ministry of Education for teachers to be released from teaching for a year in order to carry out full time study. Educational research opportunities for teachers, through funding for teacher release, is made available by the Ministry of Education through most of the universities in an arrangement in which each university has access to funding for the equivalent of one teacher per year.
A number of chemistry, chemistry education, science and science education associations are available for the support of chemical educators.
8.1. New Zealand Institute of Chemistry
The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (NZIC) admits, among other categories of membership, chemistry graduates with professional experience in education. The Institute publishes a monthly journal, the Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, and a less frequent, usually quarterly, journal for chemical educators, ChemNZ. It operates through its six branches located in the major university cities which come together at an annual conference. The conference normally provides a day devoted to chemical education, largely at the secondary and tertiary level, and fosters chemical education further through the annual award of a chemical education prize to a chemical educator based in a school.
8.2. Royal Society of New Zealand
The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry is an affiliated member body of the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) which supports the activities of the Institute, its other member bodies, and its individual members. It is through the Royal Society that the Institute recommends national representation on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry: Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry. The Royal Society supports chemistry education through a science education subcommittee, periodic national fora set up to consider the state of science education in the country, and presently funding for educational development work undertaken by a school teacher.
8.3. New Zealand Association of Science Educators
The New Zealand Association of Science Educators (NZASE) is another member body of the Royal Society of New Zealand and is open to science educators in all levels of education, although its greatest concern is with education at primary and secondary levels. It operates through branches in regional centres throughout the country. The Association publishes a quarterly journal, The New Zealand Science Teacher, and Newsletter, and is responsible for the organisation of an annual national conference. It also administratively supports science teacher awards, such as those described above, and facilitates nonformal science education activities, such as the Science and Technology Week. A biennial ChemEd conference has been established under the auspices of NZASE over the last six years. It is becoming a significant feature of chemical education in the country.
Activities of the women's movement in science are represented in Women Into Science Education (WISE) and the Equals: Maths/Science Network, which are associations supporting teachers working to make science teaching more appropriate for girls and women, and by the Association for Women in the Sciences (AWIS), which is a support group for women working in the sciences. A group which aims to facilitate the development of strategies to improve Maori participation and achievement in science is the National Association of Maori Mathematicians, Scientists and technologists (NAMMSAT).
Active promotion of chemistry education, as part of science education and in it own right, occurs through government, industry and professional associations. Chemistry as part of science is compulsory for all students to age sixteen years, and at this age specialist uptake of chemistry occurs for one-quarter of students. Beyond school, chemistry is popular as a service subject and applied chemistry courses are numerous. Though few students take chemistry as a major in a first degree, the retention rate to higher degrees is significant. Recognition of diversity in the student population, in background and need, is increasingly evident in the preparation of chemistry education programmes, but differentiated uptake by gender and ethnicity persists.
References
Burns, J. (1988) An evaluation of senior secondary school chemistry in New Zealand secondary schools. PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington.
Burns, J. with Little, M. B. (1995) Tertiary Bridging Into Science and Technology: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Certech Learning Centre, Massey University. Report to the Ministry of Education and Massey University. Palmerston North: Educational Research and Development Centre, Massey University.
Crooks, T. and Flockton, L. (1993) The Design and Implementation of National Monitoring Outcomes in New Zealand Primary Schools. Dunedin: Educational Assessment Research Unit, University of Otago.
Hall, C. G. (1994) Obstacles to the Integration of University Qualifications and Courses into the National Qualifications Framework. Occasional Paper No.1. Wellington: Syndicate of Educational Development Centres of New Zealand Universities.
Ministry of Education (1993a) New Zealand Curriculum Framework. Wellington : Learning Media.
Ministry of Education (1993b) Science in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education (1994) Chemistry in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education (1996a) Education Statistics of New Zealand. Wellington: Data Management and Analysis Section, Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education (1996b) Unpublished results. Wellington: Data Management and Analysis Section, Ministry of Education.
New Zealand Qualifications Authority (1991) Designing the Framework. Wellington: NZQA.
New Zealand Qualifications Authority (1993) School Awards: Prescriptions. Wellington: NZQA.
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