Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa
Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!
As our schools start heading off on their well deserved summer break, we invite you to take some time to dip into our end of year newsletter.
We have all the information you need on getting ready for joining us in 2026. For our returning schools please use this as your first point of reference. Share with your school networks and encourage them to join us too! We look forward to confirming your registrations in the new school year.
Check out our Celebration of Learning for 2025 for more on what our learners have been up to this year.
We bid a fond farewell to three of our awesome eteachers. Between them they have racked up 19 years of online teaching! We have been blessed with a stable and experience eteacher workforce in recent years, and we will miss them. Read their farewell comments for their perspectives of working as an online teacher with VLN Primary and Kōtui Ako.
These are some big shoes to fill and teachers are invited to express their interest in working with us next year. These are small part-time roles, so not a big career move, but a starting point and one that will contribute to your growth as a teaching professional.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. We value the role of everybody in our organisation and wish to invite you to think about how you can contribute to our network of schools as a trustee on the Governance Group. As you have time to reflect on the year thats been and the year ahead consider putting yourself forward as a trustee to support our kaupapa. More information will be out at the end of Term 1.
AI has been a big focus in our professional learning this year. We have developed AI guidelines for teaching and learning, alongside an AI Digital Literacy online program for learners. Find out how Kōtui Ako are committed to equipping our ākonga and kaiako with the skills to use AI ethically, safely, and effectively.
It was an honour to participate in the International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) annual conference, with the conference theme of Āko: Exchanging ideas for inclusive, scalable, and sustainable education. Although specifically targeting higher education, the topics and themes, whether policy, practice or research were just as relevant to us in the schooling sector. It was a bonus to meet and make new connections with colleagues from Te Kura.
Thanks to our schools, kaiako, learners, whānau and suppporters for making 2025 a success, we look forward to seeing you again in 2026.
Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou
Rachel and the Kōtui Ako VLN team