Business Education Partnership
Latest Business Education Partnership news:
 | NEW: Low levels of Asia content in secondary schools – report258 heads of department from 73 secondary schools took part in survey. Read about what was said at the launch on 16 March. |
 | NEW: Unique Opportunity for Bay of Plenty PrincipalExpressions of interest invited from secondary school principals in the Western Bay of Plenty region to join the Mayoral and Business delegation to the Shanghai World Expo 2010. |
 | NEW OPPORTUNITY: Free language courses open to New Zealand PrincipalsEuroasia is offering two free places on a standard Asian language course for Principals of New Zealand primary and secondary schools to support the Business Education partnership. View our opportunities section. |
 | NEW: Perceptions of Asia surveyThe results of the latest Perceptions of Asia survey are available now. Conducted by Colmar Brunton in August and September 2009, it can be downloaded here. |
 | NEW: Bell Gully's engagement with Asia
Why the leading New Zealand law firm hopes the BEP will encourage a greater understanding of the Asian region. |
 | Connecting Bay of Plenty schools and businesses on the importance of AsiaThe INSTEP programme successfully links secondary schools with the local business community. |
 | New Zealand Curriculum and Asia GuideAimed at teachers and principals, the document was published to coincide with the launch of the BEP |
A new partnership between companies, peak business associations, employee organisations, and education institutions, was launched in Wellington on 16 November 2009 by Education Minister Hon Anne Tolley (view media release). Initiated by Asia:NZ, the Business Education Partnership aims to encourage schools to prepare young New Zealanders for a future with the Asian region by increasing the amount of Asia-related material included in the curricula of New Zealand schools.
The organisations signed up to the partnership cover a wide range of influential entities that play a leading role in the New Zealand economy. Click here for a full list of partners. Asia:NZ Chairman Hon Philip Burdon explained why they signed up in a recent opinion piece in the Sunday Star Times.
Asia:NZ executive director Dr Richard Grant citing newly commissioned research on the lack of focus on Asia in New Zealand schools comments, “We need greater emphasis in education on the Asian region to prepare young New Zealanders for a world that’s very different from the one we grew up in.” View full report on this research, launched on 16 March 2010.
“It is an urgent call for the New Zealand public and educationalists to think deeply about how we prepare our young people for a future increasingly dominated by Asian economies,” Dr Grant added.
The declaration, in setting out the motivations behind the initiative, notes that understanding what is happening in Asia is the key to New Zealand’s future: “Building our knowledge of Asia, its cultures, its languages and its peoples, is a priority task for our education system, so that New Zealanders can become more informed about the region and better equipped to deal with it.”
The launch is accompanied by the release of the New Zealand Curriculum and Asia Guide (PDF). The guide includes school stories and comments from principals, teachers and students already engaging with Asia and Asian communities as well as a series of questions to trigger discussion in schools about how to become more Asia Aware.
This initiative is being championed by the Action Asia Advisory Group, a representative group of New Zealand business leaders, for which Asia:NZ provides the secretariat.
Read more:
NEW: Low levels of Asia content in secondary schools – report
NEW OPPORTUNITY: Free language courses open to New Zealand Principals
NEW CASE STUDY: Connecting schools and businesses in the Bay of Plenty
Preparing young New Zealanders for Asia, an opinion piece by Asia:NZ Chairman Hon Philip Burdon, published in the Sunday Star Times on 15 November
