What Britain could learn from New Zealand about home-schooling

If ever there was a moment to address the issue of home-schooling, it is now. The pandemic has disrupted teaching, school life and examinations in catastrophic ways. Many children will now never get the education they would have had. But every crisis is an opportunity — and this crisis offers the chance to reform education in radical ways for the better.

Britain could learn a lot from New Zealand. Since 1922, the Kiwis have run a state-funded national correspondence school, known now in Maori as Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura for short). In Western Australia, a similar school has existed since 1918 and is known as the School of Isolated and Distance Education.

The Correspondence School/Te Kura approach is not a revolutionary concept. It is similar in many ways to the Open University. In New Zealand, Te Kura has delivered distance or home learning to children at all school levels over many generations. Te Kura educates around 23,000 pupils each year (in a population of around five million), making it the country’s largest state school. It covers all curriculum years at primary and secondary level, as well as helping mature pupils study for exams they previously missed. During New Zealand’s lockdowns, day school pupils have been able to enrol in Te Kura to help supplement their education, and Kiwi pupils who are overseas are also able to enrol at the school.

My mother worked as a primary school teacher for the NZ Correspondence School for many years. In those days teachers marked ‘sets’ sent in by pupils, based on written learning materials supplied in large canvas envelopes sent out regularly to families. Teachers established strong bonds with their pupils, and would help advise parents on their children’s education.