Abstract:
This paper uses the metaphor of a board game to illuminate recent changes within the educational arena in New Zealand. The game is Post-Compulsory Education. In the 1980's the game was shifted to a new room with a bigger table requiring a new board. Some old players wanted a bigger part and some new players entered the game. At this stage the board was changed by one group of players, dominated by one particular viewpoint. Other views of how the board should be set up were either discounted or were underdeveloped. The result is a stand-off with players talking past each other, trying to play by different rules, producing an unsatisfactory game in which there can be no winners. There are deep ironies here in the claims players are making and the interests to be served. The deepest irony of all is that despite all the "reforming" activity, the pain, the energy consumed and the expense, to date there have been few significant changes in the directions for post-compulsory education: there are still no clearly stated purposes.