Overview of the New Zealand Education System

　　新西蘭教育體系綜述

　　An overview of New Zealand (or Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand – meaning land of the long white cloud) is situated in the South Pacific Ocean 2,000 kilometres South-East of Australia. It has a total land area of 269,000 square kilometres (3/4 the size of Japan). The capital is Wellington and the largest city is Auckland. The population is 4 million, with 4/5 of European ethnicity, 1 in 7 Maori (the tangata whenua or indigenous people), 1 in 15 Asian and 1 in 16 of Pacific Island origin. New Zealand is an increasingly multicultural society.

　　新西蘭在毛利語(yǔ)中有“白云之鄉(xiāng)“的美稱(chēng)，她位于南太平洋與同在南半球的澳大利亞相隔2000公里。地域面積約為269，000平方公里（相當(dāng)于日本國(guó)土面積的3/4）。首都是惠靈頓，奧克蘭是全國(guó)最大的城市。 新西蘭約有4百萬(wàn)人口，其中4/5為歐洲后裔，1/7為毛利人，亞洲人約占1/15，其他太平洋島國(guó)人口約占1/16。 新西蘭已經(jīng)逐漸成為多元文化交融的國(guó)家。

　　Introduction

　　簡(jiǎn)介

　　Education is increasingly international in character driven by trends which include the Information Communications Technology revolution, employment markets transcending national borders and a geographically mobile population of students, teaching staff and researchers.

　　In this fast-changing environment, policy-makers, teachers, students and employers in all countries need access to relevant and up-to-date information about each other’s education and qualification systems.

　　在通訊技術(shù)的變革，逐漸消除國(guó)家界限的雇傭市場(chǎng)和地域流動(dòng)性越來(lái)越大的學(xué)生，教師和研究人員等多方面力量的推動(dòng)下，教育變得越來(lái)越國(guó)際化。

　　許多決策者，教職員工和學(xué)生都必須了解和不斷更新對(duì)其他國(guó)家教育體系的了解，以適應(yīng)不斷發(fā)展變化的環(huán)境。

　　Central Agencies and Providers – A Devolved System

　　中央機(jī)構(gòu)和 – 完善的管理體系

　　New Zealand education has moved from a centralised structure to one in which individual schools and tertiary institutions have considerable responsibility for their own governance and management, working within the framework of guidelines, requirements and funding arrangements set by central government and administered through its agencies.

　　新西蘭教育體制已經(jīng)由從前的中央集權(quán)的管理模式轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橛蓪W(xué)校和高等教育學(xué)院各負(fù)其責(zé)進(jìn)行管理，但是必須遵守由中央政府和其下屬機(jī)構(gòu)所設(shè)立的法律法規(guī)及基金分配等諸項(xiàng)要求。

　　The Ministry of Education, established under the Education Act 1989 carries out the following function:

　　· Provides education policy advice to the Minister of Education and the Government;

　　· Allocates funding to schools and early childhood providers;

　　· Oversees the implemtation of approved education policies;

　　· Collects and processes education statistics and information;

　　· Monitors the effectiveness of the education supplier as a whole.

　　根據(jù)1989年教育法案要求而建立的教育部主要承擔(dān)以下職責(zé)：

　　· 為教育部長(zhǎng)和政府提供教育政策建議和咨詢(xún)

　　· 為學(xué)校和幼兒教育機(jī)構(gòu)合理分配基金

　　· 保障教育政策在海外的實(shí)施

　　· 收集匯總教育領(lǐng)域的相關(guān)信息

　　· 監(jiān)管整體教育工作開(kāi)展的效力

　　Separate education agencies have national responsibilities for qualifications and quality assurance.

　　各個(gè)教育代理機(jī)構(gòu)在全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)對(duì)教育質(zhì)量和學(xué)歷文憑進(jìn)行質(zhì)量監(jiān)控。

　　Administrative authority for most education service provision is devolved away from central government to the educational institutions which are governed (in the public sector) by individual boards (schools) or councils (ITP’s), members of which are elected or appointed.

　　絕大部分提供教育服務(wù)的管轄權(quán)已經(jīng)從中央政府移交給各教育院校，這些院校通常受校董會(huì)，理事會(huì)（行業(yè)培訓(xùn)組織的）或者通過(guò)選舉或者任命推選出得成員的管理。

　　The Tertiary Education Commissions’ (TEC) key role is to oversee the implementation of the Tertiary Education strategy and associated set of priorities.

　　高等教育委員會(huì)的職責(zé)是監(jiān)管高等教育政策及舉措在海外的實(shí)施工作。

　　TEC takes an active role in facilitating collaboration and cooperation in the tertiary education system and a greater system connectedness to wider New Zealand businesses, communities, iwi (tribes) and enterprises is emerging.

　　新西蘭高教委在促進(jìn)高等教育與商業(yè)，社區(qū)，種族以及企業(yè)之間的溝通和合作方面一直扮演著非常積極的角色。

　　It is also responsible for funding all post-compulsory education and training offered by universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, wananga (public tertiary institutions that provide programmes with an emphasis on Maori tradition and customs), private training establishments, foundation education agencies, industry training organisations and adult and community education providers.

　　新西蘭的大學(xué)，技術(shù)學(xué)院，教育學(xué)院，毛利傳統(tǒng)教育學(xué)院，私立培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)，教育基金，行業(yè)培訓(xùn)組織和成人及社區(qū)教育機(jī)構(gòu)為社會(huì)提供義務(wù)教育之后的各項(xiàng)教育服務(wù)，高教委也必須對(duì)此類(lèi)教育教學(xué)工作給予扶持。

　　Education in New Zealand

　　新西蘭的教育

　　The New Zealand Education System is based on several guiding principles including; culturally appropriate early childhood services; primary and secondary education that is free for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, equitable and affordable access to tertiary education and quality assured and portable education qualifications.

　　新西蘭的教育體系建立在以下幾個(gè)主要監(jiān)管原則的基礎(chǔ)上，它們包括：文化包容性強(qiáng)的幼兒早期教育， 給予新西蘭公民和永久居民的免費(fèi)初級(jí)和中級(jí)義務(wù)教育，平等的高等教育機(jī)會(huì)以及高質(zhì)量的學(xué)歷文憑。

　　The provision of flexible pathways for study is also an important feature – for example students are not streamed or channelled through particular types of school from which future study options are determined.

　　靈活實(shí)用的學(xué)習(xí)途徑也是新西蘭教育的一個(gè)重要特點(diǎn)，例如學(xué)生可以以專(zhuān)業(yè)興趣為出發(fā)點(diǎn)選擇適合的橋梁課程為正式專(zhuān)業(yè)學(xué)習(xí)打基礎(chǔ)，這樣的學(xué)習(xí)方式可以保證學(xué)生不被分流。

　　Although there is diversity in the forms of institutions through which education is provided, national policies and quality assurance provide continuity and consistency across the system.

　　盡管根據(jù)所提供的教育類(lèi)型，教育機(jī)構(gòu)往往在形式上呈現(xiàn)多元化，但是國(guó)家的教育政策和對(duì)教育質(zhì)量的監(jiān)管保證了整個(gè)教育的高水平和延續(xù)性。

　　Early Childhood Education

　　早期幼兒教育

　　A wide range of services is provided which care for young children and infants from birth to 6 years of age.

　　新西蘭為從出生到6歲的兒童提供廣泛的教育和養(yǎng)護(hù)服務(wù)。

　　Primary and Secondary School Education

　　初級(jí)和中級(jí)教育

　　Schooling is available to children from age 5 and is compulsory from ages 6 to 16. In 2004 average teacher student classroom ratios ranged from 1:19 to 1:24.

　　The New Zealand School year usually runs from the end of January to mid-December and is divided into 4 terms. Both single sex and co-educational schooling options are available and state (public) schools are secular.

　　在新西蘭孩子5歲之后就可以進(jìn)入學(xué)校接受教育，6歲到16歲是法定接受義務(wù)教育的年齡。2004年的統(tǒng)計(jì)表明教師，學(xué)生和教室的平均比率是1：19 到1：24。從1月底到12月中旬被分成四個(gè)學(xué)期。另外學(xué)生和家長(zhǎng)可以根據(jù)自己的意愿選擇單一性別的學(xué)校（男校或者女校）也可以選擇男女混校。

　　Most schools are English language medium, but some schools teach in the Maori medium.

　　絕大部分學(xué)校采用英語(yǔ)授課，個(gè)別學(xué)校也會(huì)采用毛利語(yǔ)教學(xué)。

　　Tertiary Education

　　高等教育

　　The term ‘tertiary education’ in New Zealand is used to describe all aspects of post-school education and training. There are currently 36 public tertiary education institutions, including 8 universities, 21 ITPs and 4 colleges of education, three wananga (Maori tertiary education institutions). There are also 46 industry training organisations and approximately 895 private training establishments which include private English language schools registered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

　　“高等教育”在新西蘭通常含蓋高級(jí)別學(xué)校教育和培訓(xùn)的各個(gè)方面。 目前全國(guó)有36所公里高校，其中8所大學(xué)，21所行業(yè)技術(shù)學(xué)院，4所教育學(xué)院以及3所毛利高等教育機(jī)構(gòu)。另外還有46所行業(yè)培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)和大約895所私立培訓(xùn)教育機(jī)構(gòu)在新西蘭學(xué)歷評(píng)審委員會(huì)注冊(cè)的許多私立語(yǔ)言學(xué)校。

　　Tertiary education providers meet the needs of learners of all ages, ethnicities, abilities and educational backgrounds. They offer courses at widely different levels from transition programmes to post graduate study and research. There are no fixed divisions between the types of courses offered by each classification of provider. The key focus is on their ability to offer programmes to the required quality standards, rather than on their organisation type.

　　高等教育機(jī)構(gòu)必須要滿(mǎn)足所有年齡，種族，能力和教育背景的求學(xué)者的學(xué)習(xí)需要。學(xué)校要求提供從橋梁課程到研究生教育和課題研究等各種級(jí)別的課程，但是在課程種類(lèi)的劃分上各個(gè)學(xué)校可以根據(jù)實(shí)際情況自行定度，關(guān)鍵是要對(duì)學(xué)生因材施教，并保證教育的質(zhì)量。