Science Education Delegation to New Zealand and Australia

August 6 – 18, 2004

Delegation Leader: M.J. Savaiano

Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - Auckland Grammar School

We arrived at 9:15 a.m. The delegation was greeted by Mr. Keith Simento, head of the science faculty, and then we met with Headmaster, John Morris, in his office. Mr. Morris described the basics of the school for the delegation. The state funded, boys-only school was built in 1914. It now supports 2,500 students. Since it is state funded, it is not able to select students. Rather, students are admitted based on the location of their family’s residence. There are 150 full-time teachers and 50 support staff at Auckland Grammar School. According to Mr. Morris, teachers employ a very didactic manner of teaching. In addition, the school has chosen to utilize a small canon of subjects – 17 or 18 – of what Mr. Morris refers to as “very traditional” subject areas. Each class period lasts 40 minutes. The students range in age from 13 to 18 years old. Students are streamed according to attainment of information. Class sizes are larger in the top form (the class for students who are excelling) than in the bottom form (the class for struggling students).

Next we met with Mr. Simento and the heads of the departments for biology, chemistry and physics. Mr. Simento described the general science schedule a student could follow at the school through the forms. For example, during Form 3 (age 13), students learn about the following major areas: skills in science, particles of small size, community study, forces and motion, the plant way of life, introduction to chemical reaction, energy, earth sciences, growth and reproduction and biotechnology; they also do a project on electronics.

We were then invited to share tea, finger sandwiches and biscuits.

We learned that in forms 11, 12 and 13, students can choose either to be in the Cambridge or the National Certification of Educational Achievement (NCEA) stream. The Cambridge (a U.K. program) stream is more demanding and therefore more selective.

Each subject area has a lab component. The assessments include practical exams. Approximately 15-20 minutes of homework is assigned daily.

Following Mr. Simento’s presentation and a question and answer session, delegates broke into small groups to visit a classroom.

Reporter: Kathleen Norton