Heather McRae: Retiring principal of Diocesan School for Girls on the future of NZ education

The principal of Auckland's Diocesan Girls, School for Girls is stepping down after more than 16 years in the job.

Heather McRae is the retiring principal of one of Auckland's biggest schools, and she says she's optimistic about the school's future, and the education of children in New Zealand. 

She said she likes the changes that Education Minister Erica Stanford has made to the curriculum, saying a focus on making the curriculum more specific is the right move.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for a bit of an insight into our

(00:01):
education sector from someone who knows it best. The principle
of Auckland's Diocesan Girls School for Girls are stepping down
after more than sixteen years in the job. Heather McCray
came into education all the way back in nineteen seventy
eight and she's with us right now. High Heather.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, Heather, bitterly to see that you're filling in for
Mike Costkins.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Great job, Thank you very much. Nice to talk to
another Heather. But a sweet decision for you.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes, it was a big decision, but that it is
the right one. And you know, I feel that there's
a time that schools need fresh eyes and a new
look at the world and having I did actually tell
the board when I first went there that I would
be there for five years, but after five years it
wasn't quite enoughs. And then after ten and twelve, well,

(00:49):
we had COVID and then we came out of that,
and we had some floods to manage. So once we
had dealt with all those things, I thought, okay, right,
it's it's a good time. And it's good because a
school is running really well and I'm very happy to
step away and have some fresh eyes come in.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
I don't know how unbiased you can be about this
because you are on the Ministry of Education's Curriculum Assessment Group.
But what do you make of Erica Stanford's plan changes
across the board from primary school all the way through
two year thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes, having experienced we're where we've come from as a country,
I think it's really important to make changes, especially on
a regular cycle. And probably in New Zealand we're a
bit over influenced, I think at government level, and we
don't seem to have good agreement across all the parties

(01:46):
about education in that kind of change in philosophy every
time the government changes is challenging to work with. But
I do like the changes. I think having a curriculum
that's far more so at the moment. The existing curriculum
has eight levels for thirteen year levels of a school,

(02:08):
and you can see the problems thrown away with that.
It's very hard to decide, you know, to unpack the
curriculum for a start, and to also know as students
transition across different schools. It's very difficult to actually, you know,
plan you know, for those students and make sure that
we adapt the curriculum as they say they have the

(02:31):
curriculum walks through the door. And you know, no child
is an empty vessel. They all have, you know, knowledge
of their own and I think it's important that we
continue to make changes and make curriculum more specific. So
I do support the changes. I just think they've landed,
you know, in a busy time for teachers, and obviously

(02:52):
the unions have been involved in quite active in discussions.
But I like the specificity of the new curriculum. It's
set out in terms of knowledge for every year level
and that's what you know what, that clarity will be
much easier to see and to unpack for teachers. Now.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
It seems to me that we have all kind of
broadly landed on the biggest threat to kids at the
moment as social media. Would you say that's about right
or are we way off?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
No? We are in a social media world, and of
course AI is following closely behind that, and sometimes you know,
as human beings, we create these wonderful technologies, but we
don't work out the downside of those technologies quickly enough.
Social media has been a classic example, and you know,

(03:39):
While it connects people, it can also create a lot
of damage for young people, and I do think we
need to address those things as well as AI as
it's becoming far more prevalent.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, thank You'll bang on hither, look, go and enjoy
your retirement. Then, thank you so much for your sharing
the expertise with us. That is Heather mccraye, retiring principle
of DIO in Auckland's sixteen years in the job. For
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