There is ongoing development in New Zealand of our “Teaching as inquiry” model. It was added to our new national curriculum in 2007 as an expectation that teachers formally record inquiries into aspects of their practice which they felt required challenge, research and improvement. This was quite a new mindset for the any profession to realise. Self-development is often an alien concept to generations brought up on formal education where learning is delivered at you. I’ve lost count of how many teachers have uttered the words “When will we get PD on this?” The information age is also new and so the world now expects people to rely less on face-to-face contact with experts. The self-driven learning mindset also matches New Zealand’s preferred inquiry-based learning model for students. But the understanding that one drives one’s own learning is crucial for another reason.

Employment “Gigs”

Gig: noun; plural noun: gigs
a live performance by a musician or group playing popular or jazz music.
a task or assignment.
“working on the sea and spotting whales seemed like a great gig”

I was listening to the excellent Curious Minds podcast by Galye Allen and she was interviewing Karie Willyerd on how to future proof your career. Karie used the term “gig” when referring to a job to emphasise how people were now viewing employment roles. This struck me as an excellent term to use with my students.

“It’s important to picture your future career as a set of music gigs. The current average means that each Gig (job) will last less than 4 years and will require a particular set of songs (skills). Like a musician, it is critical to write and learn new songs and instruments to ensure you stay fresh for future gigs. Like a rock star, you need to learn how to work with others and adapt / improvise during each gig. 
Develop this mindset and you’ll shine a rock star!” – @EDUWELLS

Job satisfaction & technology

I’ve blogged before on discussing careers with students in the plural and not singular tense. It is well documented that the job market now is increasingly fluid. This is for two reasons:

1. People of all ages (Karie was quick to discourage the myth that it’s only millennials) now expect more satisfaction from work and often move on when it’s not forthcoming,
2. Technology now significantly changes the employment landscape every year, predominantly with a lessening of available posts.

It is time for teachers to realise why both “teaching as inquiry” and growth mindset are so important but also why it is critical we pass on this approach to our students, who arguably need it more than we do!