What if?
What If We Really Transformed Education?
Five Essentials for a System That Works
By Karen Tui Boyes – Learning to Learn Expert
Following my recent article on the flaws in our exam-focused education system, I was overwhelmed by the response. Messages poured in from parents, educators, and even students, all echoing the same sentiment: We know it’s broken. But what should we do instead?
If we’re going to reimagine education in a way that actually prepares young people for life, not just for the next test, then we need to do more than tinker. We need to be bold. Below are five foundational shifts that would move us toward a system that genuinely serves our children and their futures.
- Let’s Put Wellbeing at the Heart of Learning
One of the biggest issues I see today is that students are increasingly overwhelmed, anxious, and burnt out—and much of that pressure stems from school. The stakes are high. The system is fast. And the message—whether spoken or not—is often: your worth depends on your grades.
This pressure starts young. I’ve met 10-year-olds who worry about failing, and teenagers who crumble under exam stress, believing their future depends on a few hours of performance. According to the Youth19 Rangatahi Smart Survey, nearly one in five New Zealand secondary students reports significant psychological distress, and those are just the ones who admit it.
What if school felt like a place of safety and growth instead of performance and comparison? Imagine a classroom where students start each day with a check-in, where they learn tools for managing stress, get guidance in building self-confidence, and feel safe enough to ask for help when they’re struggling.
When students feel seen and supported, learning stops being a threat. It becomes an invitation.
- Teach Students to Think with Technology, Not Against It
We are living in the Digital Age. Tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, and Google Search are now part of the learning environment and trying to ban them or ignore them is like trying to un-invent the wheel.
Rather than resist technology, we need to teach students how to use it wisely. That means showing them how to prompt AI tools effectively, how to cross-check facts from multiple sources, and how to use tech as a thinking partner, not just a shortcut.
Recently, a student showed me how they used AI to summarise a dense science article, then highlighted the parts they didn’t understand, took those questions back to class, and engaged in a deeper discussion. That’s the kind of learning I want to see.
It’s no longer about who can memorise the most, it’s about who can ask the best questions, think critically about the answers, and use digital tools with discernment and creativity.
- A Truly Fair System Must Include Every Learner
Not all students learn the same way and yet the system still largely rewards one style: fast, confident, quiet, and test-savvy. But what about the child with dyslexia who shines when speaking but stumbles on paper? Or the student who needs more time to process, but whose ideas are rich and deep?
When we assess students using only written exams or timed tasks, we ignore the diverse ways in which intelligence can be expressed. That’s not just outdated, it’s unjust.
I once worked with a student who couldn’t sit still for longer than 10 minutes, but when given the chance to demonstrate his knowledge through a video project, he lit up. He taught himself editing software, built a model to explain his thinking, and confidently presented it to the class. He had mastered the content, we just needed to let him show it in his own way.
True equity doesn’t mean lowering expectations. It means widening the doorway so more students can walk through.
- Other Countries Are Already Leading the Way
It can be tempting to think this kind of transformation is too idealistic. But globally, many countries are already shifting their systems to reflect what we now know about learning, brain science, and human development.
Take Finland, for example. They don’t use standardised testing to drive their education system. Instead, they emphasise trust in teachers, integrated subjects, and learning through play and inquiry—yet their literacy rates remain among the highest in the world.
In other countries, schools are adopting real-world projects in place of traditional assessments. Students build businesses, create campaigns for social change, or design sustainability solutions for their communities. Learning becomes purposeful and memorable because it’s rooted in reality.
New Zealand has always been a country of innovation and creativity. We don’t need to copy others, and we can learn from them. We have the opportunity to lead the Southern Hemisphere in building an education system that reflects our values: curiosity, equity, connection, and courage.
- Let’s Finally Teach the Skills That Really Matter
Think back to what you wish you’d learned at school. For most people, it’s not how to calculate the area of a parallelogram. It’s how to budget for your first flat. How to navigate conflict without shutting down. How to stay motivated when things get hard. How to ask good questions, think critically, and manage your time.
These are the skills that shape a life—and yet we rarely make them the core focus of education.
Imagine if every student left school knowing how to learn anything. Not just the content of today’s curriculum, but the tools and strategies to learn a new job, a new language, or a new idea in the future.
Let’s also consider what the future demands. Futurists suggest that around 40% of our students will need to be self-employed at some point in their lives. That’s a completely different skill set to what we typically teach in school. Self-employment requires initiative, adaptability, resilience, communication and the ability to identify and solve problems, skills that often go underdeveloped in traditional classrooms.
Our system continues to reward compliance: turn up on time, do what you’re told, don’t ask too many questions. But the world our children are entering values problem-solvers, innovators and lifelong learners.
It’s Time to Rethink, Reimagine, and Rebuild
We don’t need more grades. We need more growth. We don’t need more standardised testing. We need more humanized learning.
So let’s be brave.
Let’s put wellbeing at the centre. Let’s embrace technology as a partner in learning. Let’s create inclusive environments where all students can thrive. Let’s learn from the best of global models. And let’s teach what truly matters—how to learn, adapt, and grow in an ever-changing world.
Because when students know how to learn, everything changes.