Lara Thompson - Kaiako Te Tai o Poutini

Lara moved to the West Coast to be in the outdoors as an Outdoor Ed teacher.

While teaching she noticed students who excel in practical learning experiences were struggling in traditional education where written literacy is the main form of assessment. These students were good at developing solutions to real-world problems through experiential, problem-based learning but did not excel in the written component. Passionate about curriculum Lara resolved to make a change to her delivery and assessment styles to lift the outcomes for her students.

“Papa Taiao allowed me the opportunity to construct authentic, meaningful practical learning experiences that offered flexibility - this was crucial to meet the needs of students and bring their strengths to the forefront.

“We live in such an environmentally rich location which often finds itself the centre of public debate. We are reliant on the environment to provide economic opportunities for our people and with this there is a need to develop sustainable practice. There has been a shift from mining to tourism and young people need to make informed decisions about their local environment.

“The fact that students felt confident, passionate and successful by the end of the course is an added bonus.”