The "New Pedagogies for Deep Learning" approach did not do away with National Standards but taught children in "a much more real-life and exciting way", she said.
She had already introduced some of the techniques at Wanaka Primary School after she and Hawea Flat School principal Sue Heath attended a seminar in Christchurch last year with the founder of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning global partnership, Canadian education expert Michael Fullan.
His message was quality teaching should be the driver and digital fluency the accelerator in education, but in New Zealand assessment had become the driver, Mrs Bamford said.
"We know we’ve got good teachers in Upper Clutha — you can tell that by the results — but this new approach teaches kids to be creative, connected and collaborative problem solvers," Mrs Bamford said.
As part of the implementation of the approach, Wanaka Primary School was one of only 10 schools in New Zealand nominated to join a global partnership of schools aimed at developing pupils into lifelong learners.
It allowed Wanaka Primary School to have input into and access to a database of NPDL resources from 1000 schools around the world, Mrs Bamford said. More than 75 teachers from Wanaka, Hawea Flat, Tarras, Makarora and Aspiring College attended a one-day New Pedagogies for Deep Learning workshop at Wanaka Primary School yesterday.
