School is COOL!

Wow – what a success! The School Is Cool art competition has made a big splash. All those gorgeous entries are giving the judges plenty to think about. Around 2500 students entered artworks, with a large number of impressive digital entries as well as truly inspirational paper-based works.

The competition deadline had to extended due to requests from educators. At EA, we were astounded by the quality of the art. “If only I could draw like that!” said our designer.
More than 50,000 people visited the site, meaning more Kiwis know just how good our kids are.
Let’s hope this transfers to a more meaningful debate about how to foster and promote this talent in our education system – how to move our system from being one of the best performing education systems in the world, to being the very best.
Judge Gavin Bishop says, “I am very impressed with the entries. The use of different materials and processes adds tremendous variety to much of the work.”
Gavin taught art in high school for 30 years, before turning to work full-time on his award-winning children’s books. “I thought, and still think, that art is one of the most important subjects you can do in school.
“It is basically about problem-solving using images instead of words or numbers. It is a very demanding discipline and requires the utmost in concentration and imagination. I found that those students who sat quietly and worked on their own always produced the best artwork.”
New Zealand students on the whole are good artists, he says. “This is because in many schools art is taught well. It is also an important part of the curriculum.”
His advice to teachers of art is to be familiar and comfortable with the processes involved, whether it be a lino cut or a crayon drawing. “Give good, clear guidelines and know what to expect from a particular exercise but, be prepared to accommodate something out of the ordinary if it arises.
“Sometimes a student will surprise you with something terrific and unexpected that is outside the guidelines. A teacher should be relaxed and comfortable enough with the subject to allow this to happen and to recognize and enjoy it when it does.”
Fellow judge Gretchen Buwalda agrees, “Making art is empowering when free of being judged whether it is right or wrong.
"I believe that if children are encouraged to learn art skills and processes they are equipped to create interesting, individual art. Being given the freedom to create visual art sets children up to be creative is other areas of their learning.”


15 finalists in each of the categories (ECE, years 1-10, digital) will be announced on August 1. Check them out on www.schooliscool.org.nz. Judges will name the winners on August 15.



In New Zealand, school is cool:

- Out of the 65 countries who took part in the 2009 PISA assessments, students in only two OECD countries performed better than Kiwi students.

- New Zealand's education system was ranked best in the world by the Legatum Prosperity Index 2010.

- New Zealand primary school students finished in 5th place on World Maths Day 2011. A Kiwi student took top place in the 8-10 yr old category.

- Close to one in six of New Zealand students were top-performing readers (PISA 2009).

- In a Gallup World Poll, 92% of people felt that children in New Zealand were learning and growing every day.


- New Zealand 15-year-old students’ overall reading performance rated 4th out of 34 OECD countries (PISA 2009).

- In 2009 The National Education Monitoring Project at the University of Otago found that 47% of year 4 students (8-year-olds) practiced basic mathematics in their own time.

- Only one OECD country and three non-OECD partner countries or economies achieved a higher mean scientific literacy score than New Zealand (PISA 2009).

- New Zealand leads the world, along with Norway & Australia, in the 2010 UN Human Development Index, which measures education, health, and income.

- New Zealand is ranked second in the world by the OECD in terms of entry rates to diploma-level study (Education at a Glance 2010).

- New Zealand is the second most peaceful place to be a student – 2011 Global Peace Index.

- NZ's early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, was considered a world-first when it was developed in the 1990s. It is still considered an international leader.

- New Zealand is ranked second in the world by the OECD for the share of people aged 25 to 64 with a qualification at Level 4 or above.