Kerre Woodham: Why shouldn't we give hybrid learning a go?

Well, that's one way, isn't it, to deal with your problematic pupil attendance record – do away with attendance requirements altogether.  

Hagley College in Christchurch will allow some of its students to work from home two days a week, in a trial to believed to be a New Zealand first. The college is offering 20 NCEA Level 2 students the chance to do hybrid learning. There'll be 16 hours of math, science, and English, and they will be required to be at school three days a week for in person learning and two days will be online via scheduled video calls. Hagley representative Nathan Walsh said the school had tried to get students to attend the traditional five-day face to face education model, otherwise known as school, but they'd really struggled, especially when it came to getting kids back into the classroom who'd experienced mental or physical health issues, or children who had extracurricular activities they prioritised. Gaming, you know, that's an all-night thing —you're knackered by the time the morning rolls around— all sorts of other extracurricular activities that are best done in twilight or by dark of night.  

So the prospective hybrid learners would need to prove their ability to work independently when out of school, and caregivers had to be clear on their responsibility to support ongoing learning. It's a trial for now, but if it's successful, if students achieve well, and if they attend their classes, hybrid learning will be offered to pupils for NCEA levels 2 and 3 in 2026, at Hagley College.  

Now the old school amongst us may think this is a load of lefty tosh. But have a look at all the adults who claim to be just as productive working from home as they are in the office. There are so many people who have incorporated working from home as their working model. Students, especially the older students, see their parents working from home and think why not? Especially if they are part of that cohort who was told to stay home, who were kept out of classrooms for two years. If we have been told that you can learn just as well outside of the classroom, why wouldn't you give hybrid learning a go?  

And then there are the young people who have really struggled to get back into the rhythm of going to school. I remember a youngish mum ringing in, and she had a great big giant of a 16-year-old son who would not go to school some days. He said I can do it in three hours, I can do what I need to learn in three hours. It's all a crock, most of it is just time wasting. I can get it done and still do my own thing. And he was too big for her to drag to school. He was too old for her to bribe, and she was at her wits end. Good family, an expectation that school was part of a young person's life, but she said he was right, he could do the learning in three hours and then do his own thing.  

So surely any learning is better than none if young people will not go to school. We've seen many who don’t want to go, can’t go, are too anxious to go, surely getting some learning into them is better than them dropping out altogether?  

My initial response was oh for God's sake, for the love of all that is Holy, there aren't many expectations on young people but going to school is one of them. But then you think about it and you know, going to work used to be an expectation. Not now. People will work from home, and if their employer’s reluctant for them to do so, they'll find another employer. You're a kid, you see Mum and Dad working from home, then you're going to want to do the same thing if it suits you better.  

And if you are one of those parents who has struggled to get their young person back into the classroom, would you welcome the opportunity for hybrid learning? We've heard from parents who have said, look, I negotiate with my child and say three

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the carrywood of morning's podcast from News
Talk sed B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, that's one way, isn't it to deal with your
problematic pupil attendance record. Do away with attendance requirements altogether.
Hagley College in christ Church will allow some of its
students to work from home two days a week and
a trial to believe to be in New Zealand. First,
the college is offering twenty NCA Level two students the

(00:34):
chance to do hybrid learning. There'll be sixteen hours of math,
science and English and they will be required to be
at school three days a week for in person learning
and two days will be online via scheduled video calls.
Hagley representative Nathan Walsh said the school had tried to

(00:54):
get students to attend the traditional five day face to
face education model otherwise known as school, but they rarely struggled.
She when it came to getting kids back into the
classroom who'd experienced mental or physical health issues, or children
who had extracurricular activities, they prioritized gaming. You know that's

(01:20):
an all night thing, Jan ackert. By the time the
morning rolls around, all sorts of other extracurricular activities that
are best done in twilight or by dark of night.
So the prospective hybrid learners would need to prove their
ability to work independently when out of school, and caregivers

(01:41):
had to be clear on their responsibility to support ongoing learning.
It's a trial for now, but if it's successful, if
students achieve well and if they attend their classes, hybrid
learning will be offered to pupils for NCAA Levels two
and three and twenty twenty six at Hagley College, now

(02:02):
the old School amongst us may think this is a
load of lefty, but have a look at all the
adults who claim to be just as productive working from
home as they are in the office. There are so
many people who have incorporated working from home as their
working model. Students, especially the older students, see their parents

(02:24):
working from home and think why not, especially if they
are part of that cohort who was told to stay home,
who were kept out of classrooms for two years. In
christ Church, not so much. The lockdowns and the school
closures weren't as long. But if we have been told
that you can learn just as well outside of the classroom,

(02:48):
why wouldn't you give hybrid learning a go. And then
there are the young people who really struggled to get
back into the rhythm of going to school. I remember
a young mum ring, oh, youngish mum ringing in and
she had a great, bignt of a sixteen year old
son who would not go to school some days. He said,

(03:11):
I can do it in three hours. I can do
what I need to learn in three hours. It's all
a croc. Most of it is just time wasting. I
can get it done and still do my own thing.
And he was too big for her to drag to school,
he was too old for her to bribe, and she
was at her WIT's end. Good family an expectation that

(03:32):
school was part of a young person's life. But she
said he was right. He could do the learning in
three hours and then do his own thing. So surely
any learning is better than none. If young people will
not go to school, and we've seen many who don't

(03:55):
want to go, can't go, are too anxious to go,
surely getting some learning into them is better than them
having out all together. You know, there are some conditions
around it, but I mean for all of us at
My initial response was, oh, for God's sake, for the

(04:18):
love of all that's holy. There aren't many expectations on
young people, but going to school is one of them.
But then you think about it, and you know, going
to work used to be an expectation. Not Now people
will work from home, and if their employers reluctant for
them to do so, they'll find another employer. You're a kid,

(04:38):
you see mom and dad working from home, then you're
going to want to do the same thing if it
suits you better. And if you are one of those
parents who has struggled to get their young person back
into the classroom, would you welcome the opportunity for hybrid learning.

(05:00):
You know, we've heard from parents who said, look, I
negotiate with my child and say three days out of
the week you've got to go. Two days you can
stay home for some appearance. I imagine this would be
a blessing.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
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