The NZFlag.com Trust
Media Statement
For immediate release 26 May 2004
Avondale College leads the way in NZflag debate Year nine and ten students nationwide will have the opportunity to take
part in the current debate to change New Zealand's flag with an innovative new teaching unit being launched at Avondale
College today. New Zealand's biggest secondary school will become the first school in the country to teach "Let's Flag
it", as part of its social studies curriculum.
Launched by the www.NZflag.com Trust, the lessons fit with the current curriculum and are designed to engage students on
the issue of whether New Zealand should change its flag. Students and teachers can explore a range of questions and
issues such as "How well do you know the New Zealand flag?"; "Why do we have a national flag?"; "Let's fly a new flag
with pride"; "Our flag needs to be unique"; "A new flag or not?" Students are asked to undertake online research and
survey public opinion as well as submit an essay or design a flag for a national competition.
"The sequence of nine lessons has been written by an experienced Social Studies teacher to help teachers focus on the
current debate about the flag and the social action that can be planned as part of it," said John Pipe, TEAM Solutions
the teacher advisory service of the Auckland College of Education.
"If a Social Studies department wanted their students to engage with a real social issue, www.NZflag.com can support an
interactive investigation into the desirability of changing this icon of identity." Avondale College Principal Brent
Lewis supports the school teaching "Let's Flag it" as he believes New Zealanders simply take the current flag for
granted.
"Every New Zealander should have a sense of pride in our flag. It's a tragedy that many young New Zealanders do not
recognize our flag and even worse they confuse it with Australia's. "School is the ideal place to be discussing an issue
of such importance to our nation. Our young people are our future - they deserve the opportunity to be informed about
and heard in this debate." Teachers can access the lessons, including full classroom activities by simply downloading
the document from the www.nzflag.com website.
ENDS