Powell, A., & Barbour, M. K. (2012, March). Tracing international differences in online learning development: An examination of government policies in New Zealand. A paper presented at the annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Austin, TX. In 2006 the North American Council for Online Learning surveyed the activity and policy relating to primary and secondary e-learning, which they defined as online learning, in a selection of countries. They found most were embracing e-learning delivery of education as a central strategy for enabling reform, modernising schools, and increasing access to high-quality education. While North American countries appeared to be using the internet as a medium to provide distance education at the secondary level longer than most countries, the lack of a guiding vision has created uneven opportunities for students depending on which state or province they live in. In New Zealand, the government has sought to provide a vision or guiding framework for the development of e-learning. In this article we trace that vision by describing three policy documents released by the New Zealand government over the past decade, and how that vision for e-learning has allowed increased development of primary and secondary online learning.

1. Tracing International Differences
in Online Learning Development:
An Examination of Government
Policies in New Zealand
Allison Powell
International Association of K-12 Online Learning
Michael K. Barbour
Wayne State University

2. Rationale for the Study
“Industrial society is being overtaken by the
knowledge society, we are told, and our
country is in danger of being left behind,
should we fail to prepare today’s students for
tomorrow” (Goodwin, 2007, p. 4).

3. Rationale for the Study
“Personalized learning is an idea for our time. It’s
recognition of human uniqueness – we are not trying
to turn out assembly-line children. It means
redesigning our schools to fit the pupils rather than
what we do now, which is to force them to fit into
existing structures. It means a focus on learning,
learning for understanding, learning for meaning and
giving people time” (Pullar& Brennan, 2008, p. 11).

4. Rationale for the Study
With the advancements in technology, the
ministry has focused their goals on e-
learning, which “can provide accessible,
relevant, and high-quality learning
opportunities so that every student is better
able to achieve their full potential” (New
Zealand Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 4).

5. Purpose of the Study
• The purpose of this study was to
examine the policy environment that
has allowed the growth of K-12 online
learning initiatives in secondary
schools in New Zealand.

6. Research Questions
1. What are the nature and extent of online learning in
secondary schools in New Zealand?
2. What steps have been taken by the Government of
New Zealand to encourage online learning
environment across the country?

7. Study Context

8. Study Context
• Two main islands separated by the Cook Strait.
• Closest neighbor is Australia (over 1200 miles away)
• 4.4 million people (1% increase from 2001)
o 67.6% European
o 14.6% Maori
o 9.2% Asian
o 6.9% Pacific Peoples
o 2% Middle East, Latin America, and Africa (Statistics New
Zealand, 2006, p.2).
• three official languages: English, Maori & American Sign
Language

9. Study Context
• Managed by provincial boards
• Maori population had schools independent of government until 1880
• Thomas Report 1944 (changes to curriculum, access to education for all)
• Picot Report – major changes
o Charters
o Boards of Trustees
o The Maori population
o Teachers and teaching
o Coordination of tertiary education
o Special education and advisory services
o Parent choice
o School property
• Schools are independent

10. Methodology
• Existing Data
• Newly Acquired Interview Data
o MOE Officials
o Secondary School Administrators
o Secondary School Teachers
• Archived Document Review

11. Virtual Learning Network
The intention of the virtual leaning network site was for kids to
come on and pick what course they want, when they want
it, and how they want it, and enroll themselves, and it was part
of the community and how that had been worked out. The
VLN is a community website. We’re implementing it so that at
the national level, each student can enroll, we can relay that to
the school and find out how they did, and that would be sort of
automatic. And theoretically, it could send an e-mail to the
video conference unit, that there’s a class at 3:00 and
automatically start it.

12. “so these rural high schools are typically small; some of them are under 200 pupils,
with small cohorts in their senior years. Youngsters didn’t have too many options
once you got past Year 11. So then, for Year 12, those subjects are teased out and
covered in greater depth individually, and then you do Year 12, Year 13, and then
go on to tertiary study. So in Year 12 and Year 13, these rural high schools didn’t
often have specialist teachers. Because of the nature of the schools, they often
had sort of generalist teachers or teachers who primary school trained and didn’t
have specialist skills.
In a [city] of, let’s say, up to 100,000, I’m just thinking of Dunedin as an example
here, up to – which has got a population of about 110,000, and has about seven
high schools. You might only have one Latin teacher, but you might have a number
of kids in that area who want to do Latin. So now what they’ve done in Dunedin,
they’ve put their own videoconferencing network in place, and again, they’re
sharing these specialist teachers that are in short supply. If you have web
connectivity, and you have your course sitting up there in the cloud, then that
solves all of those problems, and again, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the States or
New Zealand, or whatever, you can just continue and get on with it. That’s a pretty
revolutionary position to be in. Where once upon a time you were tied down to one
person being able to transmit knowledge to you, supported by textbooks that often
had to be interpreted by that person, because they were difficult to understand, and
now you’ve got all of the other tools out there that help simplify life.”

13. Virtual Learning Network
New Zealand
e-Learning Cluster Map
+
Te Kura/The
Correspondence School
(nationwide)

14. Government of New Zealand
National Government Policies
• ICT Strategy, 1998
o Develop the use of ICT in Schools
o Build Infrastructure
o Build School Capability
o Enable educators to gain skills and insight into potential of ICT in
education

15. Government of New Zealand
National Government Policies
• Digital Horizons Learning Through ICT, 2002
o Improve learning experiences and outcomes for all students
o Support educators in integrating ICT into curriculum and
management practices
o Increase efficiency and effectiveness of educational management
and administration
o Develop partnerships with communities, businesses and other
stakeholders

16. Government of New Zealand
National Government Policies
• ICT Strategic Framework for Education, 2006
o Provide a mechanism to guide and co-ordinate ICT investment
o Provide a strategy for effective and integrated use of ICT across all
parts of the education sector
o Improve learner achievement in an innovative education sector, fully
connected and supported by the smart use of ICT

17. Government of New Zealand
National Government Policies
• Enabling the 21st Century Learner:e-Learning
Action Plan for Schools 2006-2010, 2006
o Describes the goals for e-learning in schools and the
projects, tools, and resources that are being developed to address
those outcomes
o Demonstrates how e-learning can contribute to the Schooling
Strategy and its priorities for the next five years
o To build an education system that equips New Zealanders with 21st
century skills, through the increased use of e-learning in schools

18. Government of New Zealand
National Government Programs
• ICT PD
o A total of 267 clusters are currently active or have gone through the program since its
inception in 1999
• The Correspondence School
• Open since 1922 and serves over 24,000 students a year
• TELA (Teacher Laptops)
• the MOE is running a $20 million a year laptop program. We provide every teacher a
laptop. This is a voluntary program, so every teacher who wants a laptop, we pay two-
thirds of the cost of the laptop, and then the school pays the other third. Currently, we
have about an 89% take-up on those laptops, so it’s quite high we think. That’s called
the TELA Program, teacher laptop. We also give every principal a laptop. Every three
years we give them a new one.”
• TKI Website

19. New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2010d

20. Conclusions
• Grassroots approach works!
• Policies have created an environment to encourage
development of K-12 online learning
• Programs have been flexible enough to allow them to be
used to foster K-12 online learning
• 4 components of success: research and innovation,
capability or professional development, online services,
infrastructure

21. Unanticipated Conclusions
• Universal Implementations
o New Zealand’s model would work in other countries
o Has worked with Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and
Australia
o Recognizing cultural differences is important
• Advice/Lessons Learned
o Strong team - 4 components of success
o Grassroots
o Have a plan
o Leadership is key!

22. Future Research
• Expand the research sample to include students and parents
• Case studies of other countries who have implemented
online learning
• Looking at organizational cultures that foster innovation in
these models
• Further study on leadership and management practices that
support quality and innovation

23. Questions & Comments

24. Allison Powell
International Association of K-12 Online Learning
apowell@inacol.org
Michael K. Barbour
Wayne State University
mkbarbour@gmail.com