Join us for an evening with four influential members of our education community as we discuss what it means to help children learn and thrive in difficult times. Questions such as:

1. What structural change is required in our education system?
2. What traditions will serve us best in the future and which could we leave behind?
3. How do we cultivate genuine connections in an overconnected world?
4. What are the lessons we need to be learning from Papatūānuku now?

Let's reimagine education together.

• Doors open @ 6:30pm
• Light refreshments
• Panel starts @ 7pm - please arrive early to ensure we can start promptly at 7pm.

PANEL GUESTS:

• Kirsten Simmons - Founder Talking Tree Hill
• Mike Hollings - Chief Executive of Te Kura
• Frances Salt - Education Consultant
• Dr. Tresna Hunt - Co-Director Institute for Social Sustainability

Kirsten Simmons is a mother, educator and lover of all things creative. Her latest project “Talking Tree Hill” is an accumulation of 20+ years of educating, teaching, travelling and observing what makes children thrive. “Learning through difficult times” is a topic close to the mahi of her current research and strategies to education. She is dedicated to a whole-listic approach to children’s well-being for positive lifelong learning.

Mike Hollings is the Chief Executive Te Kura, New Zealand’s largest school and provider of online distance education. He has had wide ranging experience in education from teaching, management, policy review and evaluation. Ākonga (learners) at Te Kura are engaged in highly personalised learning based on their passions, interests and potential in authentic real-life contexts.

Frances Salt - has had a wide range of teaching experiences in secondary schools both in New Zealand and Vancouver, Canada. She was a foundation member of the staff of the Auckland Metropolitan College, one of the two state alternative secondary schools in New Zealand. Her interest in education evaluation led her to work as an inspector of secondary schools and as a manager in the Education Review Office. Frances took up scholarships studying evaluation at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Education, University of London.

Dr. Tresna Hunt - is co-director of The Institute for Social Sustainability in Auckland, alongside Brett Oetgen. For the past six years Tresna and Brett have been doing research and development with New Zealand businesses to explore ways of supporting businesses to become adaptive, innovative and flourishing social systems as we move further into the 4th Industrial Revolution. Tresna has a PhD in psychology and leadership from the University of Otago and a MSc in Organisational Psychology from the University of Canterbury; she is an ICC registered coach, a registered psychologist and an experienced therapist, researcher and educator.