There is no seed of a doubt in the Public mind that National is bungling through the Education system and are creating a great big mess along the way.
First we see the bungle from the Government of introducing National Standards in our schools. The teaching profession informed the Minister at the time that testing of our Primary School children in reading, writing and math was a narrow measure of learning progress and had the potential to narrow the way in which NZs rich curriculum could be delivered.
Many schools are meeting the reporting requirements of the Ministry not because they think it makes a huge difference to learning outcomes for children, but because they have to.
We have since found that there is a huge variance between schools and within schools as to how the Overall Teacher Judgment impact on a student’s assessment. Parents want to know how well their child is doing while they are at school, their rate of learning and what can be done to improve their progress.
New Zealand needs well rounded engaged resilient and creative learners confident in who they are. National just don’t get it! And they are proving it day-by-day!
Classrooms around the country are full of children with diverse learning needs and the Ministers response this year – cram them into larger classes – it won’t make much of a difference! Well the parents knew that things had got out of hand and mobilized.
When their children came home from school saying that they might not have a technology, science, art, drama, kapahaka, music or extension teacher, parents became very angry with the National Government. Many of these parents were possibly National voters and now they question that support.
Labour tabled research in the House which showed that larger classes for our youngest, most vulnerable and disadvantaged learners did not improve achievement outcomes. Labour committed to reversing such a silly policy.
Vigourous lobbying, damaging polls and finally common sense prevailed and the Minister had to back down and turn around her decision on larger classes.
That initiative it was supposed to make a savings of $114m over 4 yrs and be used for Teacher Quality and now the Minister is scrambling around looking for funding to invest in Quality teaching – stump up with the funds Minister!
Quality teaching does matter and should never have been considered as a trade-off. Get rid of the Charter school initiative, cap the amount of funding for independent schools, reverse tax cuts for the top 3% of income earners and you will have the resources necessary to address the ongoing needs of professional development, mentoring and training supports for teachers.
Hot on the heels of this bungle was another blunder, a rush of blood to the head saw the PM promote league tables, ‘but it would depend on the shape of the reporting so that schools would not be disadvantaged’ we hear. Whatever that means?
League tables and ranking schools based on reading, writing and math confirms exactly what education professional thought would happen after National Standards.
League tables will end up changing the culture of teaching from a collaborative to a competitive environment, drive teachers away from vibrant decile one communities, narrow the teaching curriculum and further stigmatise our most challenged learners. Under National the education system will be designed for winners and losers rather than developing the potential of diverse learners and all children.
Round pegs into square holes that’s what National want.
A fine example of National saying one thing before the election and doing the complete opposite after the election. Who is driving education is it Treasury?, Bill English? Or the PM? – Because it certainly isn’t the Minister in the seat.
The Bungle Bluster Education Bus is the name for it they want you to get on board, that’s Nationals plan for a brighter future.
One of the by-products of League Tables is to cause a desertion of “bottom schools.” This leads to empty buildings and closures. Meanwhile the gates of “Good” schools are jammed with the hoards demanding to get in and overcrowding/new buildings makes the school falter.
Sadly the motivation or not of learners makes the real difference, and not the buildings.
“Under National the education system will be designed for winners and losers rather than developing the potential of diverse learners and all children.”
Too right!
If National really wants to lift the ‘tail’ in achievement (which by the way is NOT the 20% that they postulate) they need to dialogue with the education sector.
League Tables = more weighing of the pig and NOT feeding it. There are many reasons why the National Standards and League Table assessment frenzy does nothing for learning
1. It changes nothing that goes before learning – it only measures the end.
2. League tables are a simplistic measure open to all sorts of creative adaptations – eg private schools only accepting certain students, schools encouraging students with English as a second language to go elsewhere etc etc.
3. The Education Review Office already reports in depth about schools and these reports are online and public.
4. You are often measuring oranges with apples – different communities.
5. They disadvantage schools in areas with poverty.
6. It could lead to a narrowed curriculum for students.
7. League Tables will of course adversely affect those schools with high numbers of Pacifica and Maori students.
This idea is truly abysmal to anyone with knowledge of learners and how students learn.
Strangely, this Government, and Treasury, seem to think that they know far more about education than teachers and principals.
As a nation NZ is currently 4th in the OECD with regards to educational outcomes – I shudder to think of the consequences to our Education system of the proposed changes.
Thanks mel for the feedback
Politicians should send their children to the local public school. Those of ‘right’ persuasion very often cosset their ofspring in expensive private or privileged public schools.(so do some of the left!) Such politicians then become divorced from close contact with the ‘real’state school system. Cynically we might even wonder if they have come to realise that their children are actually advantaged by degrading most state schools… less effective competition! And anyhow they seem certainly to prefer we did not produce students who think broadly on social and political issues. Parents of privilleged school atudents have less incentive to maintain ordinary state school standards of whole education. Cunningly they attempt to dupe parents with talk of reading and writing excellence , but such narrow education best produces useful fodder for the elite to manage.
Of course the determined policy to destroy Channel 7, clearly the best free to air medium able to inform the adult public, shows their true intention ….”Keep `em dumb, Stupid”
But really, one has to suspect that National and its two compromised toadies (well… elected on advice from John Key to his faithful in an attempt to cheat!?), see teachers as an intelligent and tight lobby which they despise. It is sometimes hard not to wonder whether some ‘National and co`s’ policies are not primarily designed to create strife in the staffroom – (to divide and conquer?)
Is this the ‘Smiling Assasin’ at play?
The consequence of the policy will be to further undermine confidence in low decile schools and this will lead to some closing and either being replaced by charter schools (that do not have to comply with national standards) or pupils being bused to surrounding higher decile areas.
This means placing in the hands of ethnic parent groups whether they want a charter school or to bus their children to surrounding higher decile areas. This is part of the development to planned break up of public service delivery to private providers – just as the 4 year student allowance term limit sets the stage for getting the public accustomed to welfare time limits (American model)
Of course the problem with national standards, and thus rankings based on them, is that it they are not moderated (thus can be gamed) and they are a second rate format for assessing child learning progress.
Given the proven benefit of food in schools to educational attendance and performance (Northland) and the government opposition to this continuing, there is no actual government intent to improve underclass educational performance.
Yes, best to keep parents in the dark about how the local school compares with others. They might get strange ideas about doing what they can to help their children. Shocking.
@onetrack parents already make decisions based on their existing perception of what counts for quality. League Tables will not show some of the teaching excellence that occurs in a range of schools (including low decile schools). League Tables continue to pigeon hole narrow Indicators of achievement. Creative thinkers, great sportspeople, resilient problem solvers have a broader skill set, diverse and rich connections to their view of the world. It’s not just about reading, writing and math – sure it helps – but it’s not everything!
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One Track… the trouble is that education is as broad as life itself. Perhaps we should have a ‘league table’ comparing NZ and Australia. Just possibly, One Track, we would find it difficult to produce widely acceptable, or even very sensible, parameters to ‘Score’. Can we even quantify such parameters half accurately? I do not think so.
The Nats and Co are probably mainly and desperately trying to be plausibly populist and to turn the population against the profession and the profession against itself. Do not underestimate the cunning of Key, Joyce, and co
Onetrack, parents who really care about the quality of education their child is getting should do more than read a quick newspaper snippet about a decile rating or league table. A league table doesnt tell a parent anything about their child. Now, sit down and read through ero reports, that will give a great insight into quality and outcome, but i have yet to meet a parent who read an ero report before or after enrolling their child.
Parentsvare being informed and can approach schools and teachers any time. Being concerned for your childs future and loving them does not make a parent an expert on teaching or education. Of course they have a right to know about their child and its school but tell me, what are your qualifications for understanding what is best for the education system in nz? Having a child is not a foundation for education expertise unless you add something else to it.
Labors long-standing policy of allowing Teachers Trade Unions to do whatever they want is just cowardice.
@Allyson you are very foolish, don’t you think allowing the experts in the field, ie teachers,have significant input will lead to quality outcomes?
The evidence show is does; NZ 4th in OECD education rankings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
All the countries much further down the list have already introduced National Standards, School Ranking and Charter Schools.
What is John Key and Hekia Parata trying to fix? National clearly knows nothing about Education Policy and their policies will hurl us down the the OECD rankings
Allyson, funny how people think it makes sense to have a former currency trader running the country cos of his financial nouse, but god forbid teachers, principals and education experts should be advising on education
If we allow teacher trade unions to determine education policy we must allow parents and students to join ‘em too. Thats democracy
@Allyson then what of the BOTs where parents, teachers, and student reps influence to focus of their school at the local level???
Calm down.
After 2014 the Labour/Green/Winston Coalition will have all the numbers to change whatever they want.
Its only approx 860 days away.
“After 2014 the Labour/Green/Winston Coalition will have all the numbers to change whatever they want.”
They have the numbers now.
“Its only approx 860 days away.”
Or one scandal, one resignation and one confidence vote away.
And thank you for also pointing out another blunder, Nanaia, in your press release about Gifted Awareness Week:
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/government-must-support-our-gifted-children
I agree wholeheartedly when you state that:
“Gifted and talented children come from all walks of life. Giving them the chance to extend themselves within the public education system will result in all our children being offered the opportunity to succeed.
“The Education Minister should respond to the recommendations which are currently sitting idle in her Ministry and demonstrate that the achievement aspirations for all learners can thrive in our schooling system,” said Nanaia Mahuta.
I think there are problems with the parties currently in power assuming that all their ideas are better than the status quo in education. While our education system has shortcomings, it remains one of the very best in most international comparisons. This means that careful attention needs to be given to what our schools are doing well before blundering ahead with rash changes. We must not throw out the baby with the bathwater. In general, we are doing very well with the middle 80 percent of our students, and that is a lot of kids who we risk doing worse by if we make ill-considered changes.
However, our educational bell curve has a “long tail” – many struggling learners – who often have stresses in their lives compounding their lack of school success. Change needs to support teachers in their efforts to improve life and learning outcomes for these children. Some of that change needs to be about fairer distribution of wealth even more than it needs to be about what happens in the classroom.
Furthermore, this Gifted Awareness Week, we must be honest that our teachers, despite their good will, are usually insufficiently trained in differentiation of curriculum to meet the needs of gifted children. We really do want our best young minds discovered and nurtured in every school and community. Every educational setting produces kids who love to think, love to solve problems, and show the potential to learn in more depth and complexity than their peers. It is to the benefit of these children, their communities, and the economy, if our education system can keep these children challenged and progressing. But, this Gifted Awareness Week, what have we heard from National about how they plan to achieve this? I have heard nothing.
Thank you for posting on this very important matter earlier in the week.