E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha.  Tena Koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Thank you Nick (Nick Billowes, Director of Development for CORE) for your introduction and for your warm welcome.  Good morning to all delegates - those from around New Zealand and to those who have traveled from overseas to be here.

I am delighted to be here today to open this, the fifth annual ULearn conference and my first as Minister of Education. 

For me this conference brings together the Government's commitment to provide ultra-fast broadband to all New Zealanders, with our overarching educational priority which is to lift educational achievement for all students.  

Whether you are educators, providers of ICT services or have other ICT interests, we know it is time for our education system to fully commit to the digital age. And we are eager to see all schools taking teaching and learning into the 21^st century.

This is what I want to talk to you about this morning.

 

We want to have an education system that helps all young people to achieve their full potential.  We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people are engaged in the curriculum and can move successfully through the education system.

We want schools, students, parents and communities to work together to ensure that our young people succeed at school, at home and in their communities.

And we want people to stop thinking of technology as new or a bit of an ‘add-on', but rather as a key tool to achieving learning success.

Our educational future must have young people at the centre of a digital system with access to educational content and research topic information.  Students and educators must be connected to communities of learners and to parents and experts beyond the classroom.  And to fully succeed, students must have access to timely assessments and feedback.

Teachers must be able to select from a broad range of teaching resources and to participate in professional learning networks.  They must have real-time access to information, student progress and diagnostic tools to enable them to individually tailor programmes to meet the needs and levels of all students.

We need seamless interfaces between early childhood education, schools and tertiary sectors so that educators can access information and share ideas to enable  our young people to move smoothly through the education system.

To achieve all of this we require investments of time and resources.

This Government came into power with a promise to roll out ultra fast broadband to 75% of New Zealanders - where they live, work and study - within ten years.  We believe that access to ultra-fast broadband is part of the essential infrastructure of a productive and growing economy and will be crucial to New Zealand improving its competitive advantage in the global market.

We have backed that commitment with an investment of $1.5 billion over the next 6 years.  My colleague, the Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce released the details of that investment initiative last month.

Schools connected to ultra-fast broadband will provide a critical initial base to anchor the development of the fibre network.  Schools are one of our first priorities as the benefits of greater broadband capacity in the education system will be realised very quickly. 

The Government's Broadband Investment Initiative will eventually see 97% of schools connected to the fibre network making the New Zealand education system one of the most connected in the world.

Ultra-fast broadband has the potential to open so many doors:

• in the curriculum; with student engagement, teacher professional development, learning networks, social support, and career possibilities


• in access to a wider range of online resources and tools,


• for school administrators,


• in overcoming the isolation and geographical barriers of many areas of New Zealand and


• in decreasing the digital divide that is caused by socio-economic backgrounds

Ultra-fast broadband in schools has the potential to greatly enhance teaching and learning.  Students will be able share information with other New Zealand students and will also have access to the information and experiences of their peers around the world.

$150 million has been signalled to make more schools broadband-ready, including upgrading schools' internal networks.

Upgrading school internal networks will provide opportunities for teachers and students to make greater use of digital learning technologies in every classroom and encourage the sharing of information and strategies between teachers.

As part of the government's initial $34 million boost for broadband in schools, fourteen mostly large, urban schools are to receive major upgrades prior to the end of this year. The next group of around 100 schools will be targeted for upgrades in early 2010, with more to be announced over the course of the year. This will build on the 480 mainly smaller rural schools that have already been upgraded through previous stages of the School Network Upgrade Project.

Though the Government has committed to a national roll-out of fibre, there are some regions who have taken the initiative to do it themselves.  Independent fibre companies are currently planning to extend their networks and offering to connect schools as they pass. In many cases this would mean schools could be connected to fibre much sooner than the intended national roll-out timeframe.

To enable schools to take advantage of the opportunity to be connected to independent fibre networks, the Ministry of Education will subsidise schools for the drop costs (connecting fibre from the school gate to school buildings).  To ensure that schools connected to independent fibre networks are not disadvantaged, approval for drop cost subsidies will only be granted if the fibre is provided on an open access basis.

We want to encourage state-integrated schools to upgrade their school networks as well and I am pleased to announce today that state-integrated schools will now be eligible for government subsidies to enable them to upgrade their ICT networks and connections.

The Ministry of Education will fund 68 per cent of the upgrade costs for state integrated schools, with the remaining 32 per cent funded by the school owners.

This will ensure equity of treatment between state and state-integrated schools so that students will have the same access to improved broadband services.

The Ministry of Education is working closely with the Ministry of Economic Development to ensure network upgrades are aligned with the national rollout of fibre connectivity. 

There are over two and a half thousand state and state-integrated schools in New Zealand.  Many of these schools have been identifying e-learning opportunities and getting on with the task of implementing digital initiatives with their students.

There are e-learning opportunities for students at all levels. For example, Sunnybrae Normal School on Auckland's North Shore is using e-Stories to extend their students understanding of e-learning in the New Zealand Curriculum. And at Wellington High School, technology students are using 3D design tools to create their design portfolios.

However not all our schools are managing e-learning quite so well.

Although around a quarter of our schools have the infrastructure, teacher capability and skilled leadership to take advantage of high-speed broadband as soon as it's available, roughly another quarter of schools are unaware of the advantages that access to broadband can provide. 

Half of schools fall somewhere in between those two extremes. They are the schools that may be taking advantage of upgrade opportunities, may recognise some of the possibilities that broadband and e-learning can provide for them and their students, but may be limited in progressing their interest because they lack confidence, expertise or opportunity. 

Some of these schools may be isolated, and it is in these schools where high-speed broadband can often make the most visible difference, through access to online libraries, video conferencing and discussions.   

For example, the Virtual Learning Network has provided the infrastructure that has enabled itinerant Teachers of Music from Hagley Community College in Christchurch to tutor students on the West Coast of the South Island in violin, cello, clarinet, drums and voice.

So we have schools that are cutting edge, schools that are developing, probably in a fragmented manner but who need support, and schools that are lagging behind and need considerable assistance. 

We have some schools that are racing ahead, some that have developed local solutions, some that are still trialling ideas, some who have experimented and given up, some who have made mistakes and learnt from them and some who are possibly hoping it will all go away.  I have a message for them - this is not going away. Hiding from, or ignoring e-learning is not an option.

We need to put together our collective knowledge and experience and structure a coherent, rollout of broadband and ICT to all schools.  We cannot afford to continue to drift on in a fragmented fashion.  It is time for schools to be seen as ICT leaders and to encourage innovation and development.

We want all students - regardless of their backgrounds, their cultures, their locations and their abilities - to be able to achieve to their full potential. 

The opportunities provided by increased investment in ICT will be included in all professional development programmes and will be particularly important for the implementation of National Standards.

The foundation for learning throughout our schooling and our lives are skills in reading, writing and maths.  At the moment too many of our students are not getting the literacy and numeracy skills they need, with nearly one in five students leaving school last year without NCEA Level One. National Standards will help us get the best possible results for our children. We want to see all students start secondary school with excellent numeracy and literacy skills; more students leaving school with higher qualifications; and parents, families and whānau having a clear picture of how their children are doing at school. 

National Standards, which will be introduced in English medium primary and intermediate schools next year, will lift student achievement by providing clear expectations of what students should be able to achieve in literacy and numeracy and by when, and will help inform teaching and learning.

To take full advantage of the broadband investment, teachers and principals will need to know how to maximise the possibilities presented by the digital classroom. Ongoing professional learning and development will ensure all teachers progressively adapt to the new environment.

A programme of ICT professional learning and development will:

• target innovation and best practice for the quarter of ‘broadband ready' schools


• lead to in-depth programmes to improve teaching practice and student outcomes for around half of schools who see the potential of e-learning but lack confidence


• raise awareness of school leaders and teachers in the remaining quarter of schools who are unaware of the advantages that digital services would provide


• and provide continued ongoing support to schools.

We know that successful learning needs parents, communities, schools and students to be working together.  All of you here today are advocates for e- learning.  I challenge you wherever you are, to find ways to involve your parents and communities in e-learning and what your school is doing.

Start thinking now of how you will build e-learning into your three year strategic planning, how you will explain it to students, parents and communities and what you want to be able to achieve.

Without parent and community engagement and interest your job ahead will be so much harder.

We are seeing some exciting results for Māori students coming out of programmes like Te Kotahitanga.  Teachers are embracing digital opportunities to enhance and further develop those programmes and to access professional development. 

For example:

• three schools delivering Te Kotahitanga professional development and sixteen kura were upgraded in the first stages of the school network upgrade programme.


• ICT is diminishing distances and helping schools to share knowledge and experiences.  In the Far North students are teaching waiata and haka to a group of West Coast South Island primary students who will be taking part in a festival at Franz Josef.


• teachers benefit from web resources that provide access for te reo teachers to the te reo Māori curriculum guidelines and resources.

Skilled and committed school boards make a big difference to the way that schools operate and on the learning environment for students.  Web-based training programmes for board members such as webinars, information pages on the Ministry of Education's website and online training all provide support and assistance to board members.

I have focused today on high-speed broadband because it is a tool for so much we want to achieve in schools. 

I know many of you are using the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) to extend the range of subject options for senior students by sharing subject specialist teachers through web conferencing, video and audio conferencing and a managed learning environment.  Agencies such as Te Papa, the National Library and LearnNZ are offering a range of in-class, virtual learning experiences.

The majority of schools involved are rural or otherwise isolated and are benefitting from their ability to share ideas and access resources.  For example, VLN is being used to establish a virtual kura across the lower North Island.

The service has shown how education can be transformed through a national online, networked learning environment. 

The rollout of ultra-fast broadband will mean increased access for schools to not only the VLN, but to a broad range of online services.

I am pleased today to announce that the national education network trial will be extended until June 2011 and expanded to include more schools. We are also preparing a business case for an education network which could potentially incorporate all schools.

The existing trial provides 23 schools, or around 16,000 students, with access to a range of content and services across the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN).

The estimated 200 schools that will be on a fibre service by mid-next year will be able to join  the extended trial. Schools on the trial will be able to access a range of content and services at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. It will also provide opportunities to further test and implement design elements and content.

Officials are working on the details of the trial extension and more information will be provided to schools early next term.

There are many aspects of e-learning that schools can be involved in, without high-speed broadband access.  Most, if not all, schools are now using computers, digital cameras and other digital devices to enhance learning opportunities for students.  But digital literacy is more than being able to operate a computer - it is also about participating in social, creative and cultural practices.  It has links with employability, educational success and community connection.

Digital literacy is no longer a novelty. It is not new and untried.  For the sake of our young people all schools must embrace e-learning and we must work in partnership now and in the future.

Our classrooms are changing and will continue to change - constantly adopting and adapting the best tools, the best techniques and the best of the knowledge available to enhance students' learning opportunities.  We will never ever be standing still.

I think we all have the vision; the challenge for all of us is to make it a reality.  This Government is making the financial commitment, you have the knowledge and between us we can ensure our young people are at the centre of digital education, now and in the future.

I wish you the very best for your conference.

Thank you.