A warning for New Zealand from Aussie about National Testing/Standards

Standardized Blanket Testing - A Moral Issue for Principals.By Phil CullenI was motivated to write this after reading the efforts of Bruce Hammonds and Kelvin Smythe in Leading and Learning  http://www.leading-learning.co.nz/  and  http://www.networkonnet.co.nz/ (This view comes from Australia where national testing is in place - it is presented warning to New Zealand schools - Bruce)Standardised blanket testing on a national scale in schools is a malady that has spread over a number of countries under different names. The United Kingdom calls it ‘National Testing’; New Zealand 'National Standards';  the U.S.A. calls it 'No Child Left Behind' [NCLB] named after its emotional political launch ; Australia calls it ...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Leadership,national standards,Rants and Raves

The need for leadership in an age of standardized education

Brain research has shown how individual brains grow depending on the experiences they are exposed to.Education has the power to amplify or limit intelligent behaviour and skills. As educators we can either value the diversity of students talents or conform them to our expectations or imposed standards.Fish, the saying goes are the last to discover water, so it is with teachers - so busy teaching that the bigger purpose is overlooked. As in everything purpose is vital. When things change unlearning is as important as learning. Writers from the fields of science, business and philosophy  are certain of one thing, not since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, have leaders, in any field more to learn (and unlearn).And this applies to those...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative Schools,Leadership,national standards,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves

The danger of National's Standards!

One Dinosaur has noticed things are a- changing - for the worse -  for them!Guest blog by Allan AlachAs the weeks go by, and as the pressure to implement the “national standards” (better phrased as ‘National’s standards”) is increased, I’ve been noting, with growing concern, what seems to be an increasingly tacit acceptance of the situation. I guess there are three possible reasons for this development. One of these is that many principals, even though very well informed, and anti-standards, have come under pressure to implement them, either from their BOTs or a result of the MOE bullying. Principals, teachers and BOTs giving way to MOE pressure is understandable, if regrettable. It can be very lonely out there.Another possibility is that...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Educationalists,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards

How long can principals ignore the dire warnings about the consequences of National Standards?

Are principals turning into sheep?'Set yourselves free' Peter Simpson President NZPPFA principal, in a recent blog comment, said he we was tired of ex principals, and 'outsiders;, giving principals advice about how to lead their schools.Two things come to mind such  'outsider' advice is true advice - readers are free to completely ignore the views of people like myself  unlike the 'advice' they get from the education Review Office,  the Ministry, and worst of all the SAPS  (Student Achievement Practitioners) .The second thing is that the same warnings are coming from educationalists both within New Zealand and overseas including the Teacher Union ( the NZEI) and the Principal Federation.The...

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

Schools being taken down the wrong track -and many to busy to notice?

This is a book all schools should have on their professional reading shelf. Professor Linda Darling Hammond is a internationally renowned leader in educational reform and former adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Unfortunately her ideas have not had any influence at 'our' Ministry of Education . Our technocrats seem determined to follow shadowy advisers of their own choosing - ones that fit the  populist accountability ideology of the current government. Mind you the Ministry equally ignores the ideas of Sir Ken Robinson, Guy Claxton, Howard Gardner, David Perkins, Andy Hargreaves,  Professor Yong Zhan and the success of such countries as Finland.  And, of course the expertise of  such New...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Creative teaching Educationalists,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves

The need for new mindsets and the importance of a future orientated education system

The first astronauts experience transformed their concept  of Earth;  as world of interconnected systems bigger than the ambitions of any one country - a planetary view.We are reaching a stage in human development where we all need to appreciate the importance of the health, or sustainability, of the very planet we live on. In the past man made changes were restricted to  individual nations but now it is  widely understood that human changes have world wide consequences.   Marshall McLuhan, in the 60s, foresaw this writing: 'On Spaceship Earth there are no passengers, everybody is a member of the crew.We have moved into and age where everybody's activities affect...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Creative Schools,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves

Time for moral courage -will the real leaders stand up!

I have been impressed with the writings of Kelvin Smythe and, with his permission, I have selected some of his thoughts to share.  He is calling for moral courage to be shown by principals and teachers in the face of  increasing authoritarianism - of a state imposed regime of education that has little to do with what most teachers  hold dear to them.Teachers , increasingly, now live in surveillance culture where compliance is becoming a way of life.  There are courageous schools who stand against such impositions while others show a growing corrosion of character and fall into compliance mode -who go along to get a long. And, worse still, there are a few who see current doctrinal  directions as as worthwhile!It...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves

Who needs the new Ministry SAPS?; the 'disgraceful 50! asks Kelvin Smythe?

Kelvin Smythe rightly warns schools of the danger ahead with the appointment of the new SAPS ( Student Achievement Practitioners) . I hope school ‘leadership’ has the foresight to scan ahead and see what the appointment of the new Ministry SAPS really mean. In a recent networkonnect posting Kelvin talks directly to those who have taken up such positions , the disgraceful 50, and asks them to consider the dire consequences of their new positions. To the 'disgraceful 50' he asks: 'Did you know that to become one of Tolley’s 50 was a moral issue; if you didn’t you really shouldn’t be around children. Did you read what has been happening overseas with national standards? Did you consider the way national standards is just the first...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards