Two experienced principals say it’s important for schools to be fully licensed for copying creative work. Not only does having the available licences allow teachers more freedom to use a broad range of content, but it’s the right thing to do.
Point Chevalier Primary School will definitely be renewing its copyright licences on 1 July 2019. The Auckland primary school is one of many New Zealand schools to take advantage of the partnership between three licensing agencies which allow schools to get licensed across all media, including print, music and audio-visual.
Being fully licensed allows teachers to access all the content needed to make teaching and learning come alive, says principal Stephen Lethbridge.
Our teachers can focus on being creative with their content and lessons, rather than be creative with getting around copyright.
"Copyright compliance is incredibly important. Teachers and students can focus on learning and not spend time dreaming up ways to work around it all,” says Lethbridge.
Onehunga High School principal Deidre Shea agrees. The Auckland secondary school has been licensed for many years.“I can’t imagine not being licensed,” she says.
“It provides our staff and students greater access to a variety of work, and in particular, New Zealand content.
For the sixth year running, three licensing agencies have teamed up, working with New Zealand School Trustees Association to make it easier for schools to get licensed across all media at the same time.
- The Print Licence from Copyright Licensing New Zealand allows schools to copy and distribute material that originates from printed books, journals, magazines or newspapers.
- The OneMusic Licence (a joint initiative between APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ) allows schools to use music in the classroom, assemblies and musical events as well as photocopy sheet music.
- And the Screenrights Licence allows teachers to record and save television and radio shows and download online content to use in the classroom.
Each of the three licences are available individually, however a fully licensed school has the freedom to use a range of different resources to create lessons that truly come to life without worrying about whether they are being compliant.
For Lethbridge, it’s important that his school is fully licensed.
“We expect our students to use a variety of resources in their school work and projects. It’s our job to enable them to comply, and the copyright licences do that. We can’t pick and choose; we must walk the talk and lead by example. It’s about respecting copyright and giving credit to the people who are producing the work that is getting copied and shared.”
We must walk the talk and lead by example.
Deidre Shea also emphasises the importance of being copyright conscious. Not only does it open up more possibilities but it sends all the right messages to students.
“Being licensed is the right thing to do in every sense of the word,” she says, “Not only for our students and teachers to access and share more content, but what’s equally important is supporting the people that create the work. Because without those people creating content, we wouldn’t have the resources to teach the youth of New Zealand.”
Lethbridge echoes this. “By being licensed, it makes things simple. And it’s the right thing, knowing that we are not doing people out of what they deserve.”
As copyright conscious schools like Point Chevalier Primary and Onehunga High School get licensed this term, they ensure their teaching staff can access the content they need, while at the same time ensuring income received from licence fees is rightfully paid to the owners of the teaching materials.
The licences are renewable annually and are up for renewal on 1 July 2019. Costs are based on student numbers. For more information, please go to www.getlicensed.co.nz.
Sponsored article originally appeared on EducationCentral.co.nz, 26 June 2019