Once again, the key elements for the Board in the period 2016 - 2017 has been trying to support and grow the partnership we share with our existing schools yet at the same time leading and developing new initiatives and ventures to grow and develop innovative practice that will become the norm for education in the future. 

The risk for the board and executive on NetNZ is to ensure that we don’t kill the golden goose that got us to where we are on one hand, yet on the other hand accepting that if we don’t continue to lead and innovate then we will not be of value to the learners of the future to whom we have a responsibility.

The situation creates both a financial dilemma of trying to fund new initiatives and also a personal dilemma of managing the workload of our current executive staff, many of who are already extremely over committed.

Having said that, our staff, the Executive and Board are our greatest asset and need to be acknowledged for the huge amount of time and energy they put in to ensure that we remain an exciting and ground-breaking organisation. Without the ‘labour of love’ mentality of all involved the organisation would not be in its current and strong position.

We were very sad to see board member, Steven Higgs, leave the board this year. A partner at Polson Higgs, Steven brought both a legal and financial perspective in particular, to the board that has enabled us to now have an organisational structure with policies and procedures in place to enable future growth seamlessly.

The process for Steven’s replacement, and for further co-option onto the board, is currently under way.

The board has a cyclical process for replacing its members and it was pleasing to report that Bill Feasey, was re elected, unopposed, for another term on the board. The board is also looking at its own composition and what might be needed in the months and years ahead with further co options and will also look at its own office bearers following the AGM and see what role changes might be in the best interests for its members.

The Executive team have continued to work tirelessly and manage an extremely diverse operation yet they all still find the time to continue keeping the organisation as a national leader in networked education.

The other wider contributors to NetNZ, such as the eTeachers and eDeans continue to play a huge role in giving many of the online students a level of success and satisfaction that they may not have otherwise achieved in a conventional learning environment. And for many of these students the research already shows that an online class is often one of a student’s most successful subjects.

Continuing to provide these successful options and continuing to lead the country into seeing the future of online learning is the immediate and on going goal for all Executive and Board members of NetNZ.

Maurie Jackways, NetNZ Board Chair