Dangers of National's Standards; let's get as mad as hell!

Intelligence testing on Ellis Island for immigrants entering the land of the free. Testing has had a long history sorting out people using doubtful measures. Nothing has changed it seems. Testing reflects the 'mindsets', or ideology, of those who set the tests.I recently read about a book 'Wounded by School' and ordered it on Amazon. By chance I happen to read an online discussion about the very book.It ties in well with the current standards debate.The discussion centred on all those who have not found schooling to their liking . It seemed to sum up the sad story behind the phrase 'achievement tail'- a tail created by outdated mono cultural schools and by the political decisions that force citizens to live lives of poverty and then blamed...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Leadership,national standards,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Are we heading down the same failure track in NZ?

It is time for new thinking in education. If we are to transform our syten then our current minister and all the lackeys at the Ministry must go down with the ship. Who needs national standards that will sort out who fails and which will narrow the curriculum and take us back to a mean Victorian era?An article,see below, was printed in the Auckland Herald last week and seems to sum up the inherent problem in our education system; a system with its genesis in the wrong century.We can no longer afford to patch up our creaky system, we need a real transformational change. Too much reform of the past decades has been akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.And worse still our current Minister seems intent in looking back to past for...

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Posted in: Assessment,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves

National Standards or political dogma

School principals need to have a vision, no matter how undefined, and a set of shared beliefs to propel their imagined waka into an unknown future. Imposed distractions must be ignored.I am off to the far north this week to share my ideas of the dangers implicit in politically imposed national standards which will take schools attention away from the New Zealand Curriculum.This blog is an attempt to clarify what I want to say.I used to be totally opposed to the previous New Zealand Curriculum (NZCF) and all those who 'delivered' it to schools through predefined Ministry contracts. It was an incoherent curriculum; a futile attempt to impose an impossible confusion of strands, levels and countless learning objectives. It was all about accountability,...

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Posted in: Assessment,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves

More information please: National Standards

It all seems so simple but does it give a true picture of a learners progress and what will be neglected while the focus goes on improving the graphs? With the 'real' plunket graphs parent could at least feed their child to improve height and weight.Newspaper editors and opinion writer have had a field day with the national standards 'debate'. Actually 'debate' there hasn't been. Opinion has held sway fed by Ministry of Education spin.Where are the investigative journalists these days are are papers just worried about pandering to the prejudices of their readers?Anyway I was motivated to write to our local paper after a poorly written editorial featuring the full range of shallow writing that seems to have taken the place for editorials these...

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Posted in: Assessment,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves

Creativity places creativity further at risk.

New Zealand creative teachers about to be straitjacketed by the imposition of the failed concept of national standards.NZ is introducing national standards in education. This is akin to shifting the deck challenges on the Titanic! It will finally destroy what is left of creativity in the system after a decade of conformist ‘best practices’. We need a better vision of what the world can be and then to develop education systems to develop all the gifts and talents of our students to help this vision be realized.In NZ we have a futurist curriculum but it is now being sidelined by reactionary national standards.New Zealand currently sits in the company of the best in the world educationally yet the populist (and thus popular) conservatist government...

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Posted in: Assessment,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Guy Claxton - building learning power.

Anyone who has attended one of Guy Claxton' presentations ( as I did yesterday) ought to buy his book 'What's the Point of School'. This book is powerful and timely examination of why our schools are built to fail, and how to redesign them to meet the needs of the modern world.' The challenge of redesigning schools is a big ask but the book gives lots of very practical advice about how to create enthusiastic learners and more effective teaching. In particular the 'learning power' ideas gives guidance to how New Zealand teachers can implement the 'key competencies' of the new curriculum.I have just spent an enjoyable day listening to Guy Claxton talk about 'Building Learning Power'.All the more enjoyable because I have long been an avid reader...

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Posted in: Creative teaching,Educationalists,Ministry NZCurric,teaching and learning

Are we brave enough to live for the future?

The past seems a simpler place to think about - the future is so messy and unpredictable.Years ago educational philosopher John Dewey wrote that the best preparation for the future is to live well today. Good advice.A while ago I listened to an interview about such things.Hindsight bias, it seems, drains the uncertainty from the past while looking into the future is just so unpredictable. This uncertainly interferes with our judgment and provides us with a bias to conservatism.Our conservative autious minds tend to see minor changes as progress but most of such changes are inconsequential. We, it seems have two sorts of minds - a reasoning one and an emotional one. Over the centuries we have learnt to distrust our emotions but they still underpin...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Rants and Raves

Creativity or back to the past?

If you haven't heard Sir Ken Robinson speak about creativity you have missed a treat. A great antidote to the current back to the past diversion of national standards. Google him and listen to his TED Talk video. Teachers' attention seem to have been taken up of late by the issue of national standards where all students in the future will be reported on to their parent about where they stand in comparison to their age group. There is little research or evidence that students actually achieve better when such testing is in place as in the United Kingdom. The opposite is almost true as initial improvements have plateaued and are now trending down. And to make matters worse students attitudes towards the tested subjects is falling and...

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Posted in: Assessment,Big Picture,Creativity,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning