Exploring the Relationship between New Zealand Education Reform and the International Baccalaureate

Abstract

This paper critically examines the public perception created by local media reports: New Zealand (NZ) school leaders who were dissatisfied with National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and/or The New Zealand Curriculum adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes into their schools. The paper first describes a brief history of the NZ education reform policies focusing on the development of new national qualifications and curriculum frameworks. This provides the historical context, as well as the legal and pedagogical basis, for some NZ schools to adopt alternative curriculum frameworks including the IB programmes. Then, a brief overview of NCEA and The New Zealand Curriculum is provided for readers who may not be familiar with the NZ education system. Finally, the findings of the research study conducted by the author are presented regarding school leadersʼ motives for adopting the IB programmes into their schools. The author argues that the above mentioned perception created by media reports at that time does not describe school leadersʼ intention to use the IB programmes accurately. In fact, contrary to the media reports, most of the IB school leaders who participated in the research project showed their strong support toward NCEA as well as The New Zealand Curriculum . The research findings indicated that the IB school leadersʼ attitudes towards the NZ governmentʼs education policies were very different from those of the school leaders who adopted the Cambridge International Examination (CIE) and criticised the NZ government policies vocally as well as openly in the media from time to time.