One more sleep...

Well...I am officially excited. I have been trying to keep the trip as low key as possible. That has worked for the most part...until this morning. I started thinking more about what the next two weeks will entail. I even lost some sleep through the night thinking about what it is going to be like to steer a rental car on the left side of the road. I may need to feign tiredness and defer to one of my more confident driving colleagues at the beginning of our travels.

Personally and professionally, this trip promises to be extremely rewarding. At a personal level, like many others, visiting New Zealand is one of those bucket list things. At a professional level, I get to go accompany a Manitoba delegation on a tour of one of the top performing educational systems. The OECD's Program for International Student Assessment ranks New Zealand's system as one best in the world; with students performing exceptionally well in reading, mathematics and science. The country has an adult literacy rate of 99 percent. It is worth noting that other countries considered among the top performing in the world, include Finland, Singapore, South Korea, and of course, Canada.

Many educational programs and practices that we use in Manitoba came from New Zealand. Reading Recovery, an intervention program used in many of our schools to support students who require additional support in literacy, originated in New Zealand. New Zealand has also done considerable work focusing on aboriginal student success, which has tremendous relevance both in my school division and province.

New Zealand has had considerable success with international students. China is New Zealand’s single largest source of international students with approximately 25 000 students studying there annually. This number is expected to rise considerably, so much that New Zealand Education is developing what they have called a China Plan. In Manitoba, many divisions view international student recruitment as a means to counter declining enrolment in rural schools.

I expect that I will see and learn a lot during my two weeks in New Zealand. I am most excited about visiting schools and seeing teachers and students working and learning together.

To my colleagues from mRLC, Interlake, Lakeshore, and Prairie Spirit School Divisions...see you on Sunday.