Expatriate US voters discuss their voting decisions from New Zealand

Members of the American Club of New Zealand (Auckland) and their friends join to watch the final hours of the count-up of votes for the 2012 US presidential election. Event hosted by the Revelry Bar, Ponsonby.

Soundtrack:
TV3 news reporter Jono Hutchinson interviews New Zealand based US voters. They discuss their reasons for voting for the Democrat incumbent, President Barak Obama. Republican voters declined to attend the interview.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Romney-votes-candidates-face-nervous-wait/tabid/417/articleID/275725/Default.aspx

Source videos

Auckland American club celebrations. (2012, November 7).Close Up. Auckland: TVNZ, TV One. Retrieved from http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/auckland-american-club-celebrations-video-5203261

Ex-pat Americans on the US election - 3 News. (2012, November 7). Auckland: TV3. Retrieved from http://www.3news.co.nz/Ex-pat-Americans-on-the-US-election/tabid/313/articleID/275755/Default.aspx

Related

American Club New Zealand Inc. - Home. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2010, from http://www.americanclub.org.nz/

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Young Enterprise Trust 2012 - Team Unitec - Photos

About sixty bright young secondary students from throughout New Zealand met in Auckland to compete in the Young Enterprise Trust competition 2012. The competition was held at Massey University Albany. However, the students were allocated into a dozen teams that were dispersed in several sponsor-mentor premises throughout the city.

These photos illustrates the journey of one team, Team Unitec, hosted on Unitec Institute of Technology’s Mount Albert campus. The soundtrack presents their response to the challenge: “Create a new venture business plan using a wood-based product sourced from New Zealand that can be used to create a valuable business solving human issues in Indonesia”.

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Advancing educational outcomes through Education for Enterprise in a Maori/Pacifika school: The case of Nga Kakano Christian Reo Rua Kura Part ONE: Strategic development issues

Nga Kakano Christian Reo Rua Kura (Nga Kakano) is a small private school based in Auckland, New Zealand. In October 2011, a team of business students from Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec) presented a workshop introducing pupils at Nga Kakano to the principles of business finance and law. The highly interactive workshop engaged the school pupils to such an extent that the Principal, Te Rangi Allen, invited Unitec teacher Peter Mellalieu and his student Aroha Vause to explore how business education could be introduced into Nga Kakano’s educational programme.

As a precursor to pursuing the initiative for introducing what later became known as ‘Education for Enterprise’ (E4E) into the school, Vause and Mellalieu conducted an assessment of the broader development issues facing the school, informed by the principles of Strategic Audit (Mellalieu, 1992). This article presents the issues as identified in October 2011, and outlines the subsequent progress towards addressing several issues through implementation of selected strategic development initiatives.

Top five issues

The following strategic issues defined the ‘top five’ most important issues identified for  confirmation and option generation purposes by the senior management, parents, and board of Nga Kakano. The initial set of issues were identified by Vause and  Mellalieu through discussion following examination of the Business Plan for Nga Kakano (Vause, 2011, October).

Each strategic issue statement was intended to provide a succinct definition of a challenge faced by Nga Kakano as a basis for subsequent option generation, strategic planning and organization development. The challenge could be an organisation-wide threat, an opportunity, a weakness, a strength, or combination thereof. In framing the issue, care is taken to AVOID suggestion solutions, alternatives, or choices. Outlining alternatives and making strategic choice wasw to come later in the stratgic development process.

The top five issues facing Nga Kakano were identified in October 2011 as:

ISSUE 1: Broadening the funding base for a school with ‘special character’
ISSUE 2: Developing a suitable physical location to cater for expansion in the student roll
ISSUE 3: Embedding education for enterprise across the curriculum
ISSUE 4: Acquiring specialist staff who can harmonise with the school’s special character
ISSUE 5: ‘Right-sizing’ the adoption of teaching and learning technologies

ISSUE 1: Broadening the funding base for a school with ‘special character’
The school runs a tight budget with a balance sheet that provides limited support for investments in quality improvements, development, and growth. The school is funded currently through a modest level of school fees charged to parents. As a private school, the school receives around 10 to 15 per cent of its costs from public education funds. However, the school has a ‘special character’ in terms of its focus on a ‘low-decile’ Maori/Pacifika demographic and Christian values. Given its superior educational achievements for its targeted demographic there are likely to be several opportunities to gain public sector, private sector, and philanthropic cash and non-cash contributions to support the school’s development. One important source is public sector funding from New Zealand’s Vote: Ministry of Education for Schools of Special Character (such as the existing practice for Catholic private schools). This source could provide substantial funding towards a new building, equipment, and staffing costs. The challenge is to prepare the documentation necessary to support applications to these additional sources of funding.

ISSUE 2: Developing a suitable physical location to cater for expansion in the student roll
The current location (2011) of the school is within a light industrial manufacturing/service building complex. The space available limits growth from the current roll of 60 students, although the construction of a mezzanine floor is feasible. However, space is available in nearby units for rental. The current space is a pragmatic, cost-effective solution for the school, but is inappropriate as a long-term ‘home’ for the school. The location is near to a park where outdoor recreational activities can be conducted. Also nearby is Henderson’s Lincoln Road business district that includes light industrial, service, retail, and medical facilities. The current financial situation of the school inhibits the jump to the next stage of growth.

ISSUE 3: Embedding education for enterprise across the curriculum
Education for Enterprise (E4E) offers students feasible, alternative pathways to a ‘good job’ (Clifton, 2011) beyond traditional secondary school educational pathways focused on training for a technical trade or for professional/tertiary education. A three-hour pilot teaching module lead by business students of Unitec Institute of Technology achieved considerable engagement by many students in the Senior Class of the school. (The Senior Class is a mixed class combining students aged 13 through 17 years.) This positive engagement encouraged the Principal and School Administrator/Project Manager (Vause) to begin exploring how to embed education for business and enterprise (E4E) into the senior school curriculum. Consequently, the school became committed to learning and adapting lessons from E4E schemes such as Onehunga High Business School, the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES), and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE). Coincidentally, a new national curriculum for business enterprise education is being rolled out through secondary schools in New Zealand. Several staff at Unitec Institute of Technology’s business school are willing and able to support the school’s adoption of E4E through its teaching and applied research programmes in E4E.

ISSUE 4: Acquiring specialist staff who can harmonise with the school’s special character
The school employs several general purpose educators and teaching assistants highly committed to the special character and values of the school. These educators are committed teachers giving time and effort far beyond the normal call of duty. However, there is an urgent need to enhance the existing capacity for Maori language teaching and new areas such as Education for Enterprise (E4E). The challenge is to devise arrangements to employ full and part-time people who can contribute specialist teaching whilst also contributing to the development of the school’s special character.

ISSUE 5: ‘Right-sizing’ the adoption of teaching and learning technologies
The school currently utilises a paper-based self-teaching system based on a US curriculum system, Accelerated Christian Education (ACE). The system is cost effective, and simple to implement given the wide age range and capabilities of students in the Senior Class. Furthermore, the ACE curriculum enables students to gain qualifications necessary to enter university. However, resources for learning and teaching are becoming increasingly powerful, interactive, and engaging through the application of digital computing and communications technologies. Furthermore, the work-place increasingly requires its employees to be ‘digitally literate’ in terms of using information technologies to plan and coordinate activities with others. The performance:cost ratio of information technology is improving. However, leaping onto the ‘treadmill’ of technology-enhanced learning presents challenges for the school in terms of maintaining technology. What are the best technology adoption pathways for the emerging ‘cloud‘-oriented post-Personal Computer world of digital technologies?

Developments November 2011 through March 2012

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