Elwyn Richardson: NewZealand's pioneer creative teacher.

Elwyn Richardson with Margaret MacDonald. Margaret has just completed a thesis on Elwyn Richardson's place in creative teaching in New Zealand.Take 15 minutes to view this U -Tube video of Elwyn's work and pass it on to others.I was reading in an art book I was given for Christmas about all the influences that had contributed to the development to the artists personal style.Everybody has people who have contributed to the beliefs they currently hold and I got to thinking who had made the greatest contribution to my own views about education.In one way I was was rather privileged because most of my time in teaching, since the 60s, has been as an itinerant specialist teacher, first in nature study, later...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative Schools,Creative teaching,Creative teaching Educationalists,Ministry NZCurric,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Extreme views on Education -I think not!

In a comment to my  Christmas blog Mr and Mrs Symonds , formally of Auckland and now living in Sydney, wrote that it was 'because of people like you we have taken our children to be educated in Australia'.  'Your views on education', they wrote, 'are extreme' and 'out of touch with what parents want of a modern education system'.They began their comment by saying they were 'glad I was going from New Zealand education' and concluded with the phrase 'weird and creepy' - I presume they were referring to themselves? And I have no idea who they  include in the 'people like you' comment nor what they define as a 'modern education system' that parents like them want.Below is a comment from a New Zealand...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative Schools,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,Ministry of Education,national standards,national tests,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Merry Christmas to All!

Our family father Christmas manufacturing last minute gifts for our 2010 Christmas - another bloody cheeseboard! Only joking GraemeIt is the night before Christmas and it's a beautiful still hot nightAfter some last minute shopping I spent the day out at my good friends Sarah and Wayne's drinking wine, eating, and enjoying conversation - now sun burnt and tired! Fished up having coffee at the beach and a restful meal with some old friends.Tomorrow I am having family around for drinks in the morning before going off to eat more food and drink more wine with one branch of our extended family. The weather promises to be superb - the only downer is news of more earthquakes in Christchurch. It doesn't seem fair !2012 is a 'tipping...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Rants and Raves

A message from Australia

I think it is worth sharing the below posting by Australian educator Phil Cullen ( Phil used to be Director Primary Education Queensland ) .Thankfully he hasn't lost his belief in creative education. Australia has moved further along the downhill  accountability track than New Zealand but we are rushing to catch up - a race to the bottom!To access Phil's site click here.IS 2012 THE YEAR FOR AN EDUCATIONAL R/EVOLUTION?On Wednesday, 21 December, the ASIDE blog commented upon the TIME magazine choice of The Protestor as the person of the year. ‘Frustrations felt by millions nationally and internationally reached breaking point ... in 2011...by teachers as well.’ http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-2012-year-for-educational-reform.htm“To...

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Posted in: Assessment,Big Picture,Creative teaching Educationalists,guest blogger,national standards,national tests,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Read this and be scared!!

 Read Kelvin Smythe's latest posting."It is unusual for networkonnet to post articles from other sources, but this article was too relevant to pass over. Academies or charter schools are what that imported Longstone person, our new secretary, was brought in to impose. Read and be very afraid"No choice but to become an academy?Schools around the country are facing enforced conversion to academy status – against the wishes of parents, staff and governorsWarwick Mansell guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 December 2011 20.00 GMT Article history On a sunny winter's afternoon, Downhills primary school looks like an advert for the inclusive possibilities of inner-city, multi-ethnic education.Children of different races are...

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Advice for 2009!!!!!

From a NZ teacher teaching in Melbourne – is this is what is in the future for us? Not so much the ‘nanny state’ but the ‘big brother’ state!‘We are right into national testing over here. There is now national testing of all year 3, 5, 7, and 9 students. It just used to be in the other states. Victoria used to be told that we were lagging behind the other states but now, low and behold, after national teaching we are one of the top states. We also have online testing in Numeracy and Maths with the results going to the Department. This is done 3x a year. Our reports are also put directly into the Department. Accountability is everything, don't worry about the teaching. We are told that it does not matter where the students start our job is to...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,inquiry learning,Integrated Learning,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,Personalized Learning,project based learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Where John Key and John Banks get their educational ideas from?

Something amusing for the end of term - or is it?Watch this u-Tube video clip:So this is where the National Party gets its standardised ideas ideas from!And an Ofsted (ERO) ReportAnd there are lots of others if you have the time!Urgent : read Kelvin Smythe's latest posting - u-tube clip not so amusing after all!READ THIS EXCELLENT NZ ARTICLE ABOUT THE NEGATIVE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT'S EDUCATION POL...

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

A new sense of direction for the Labour Party -and New Zealand

Today the New Zealand Labour Party will select a new leader.  This new leader must work with the people to develop a shared sense of direction for our country - one that all feel part of - or at least enough people to win the election in2014. Some how the party has to connect with over a million voters who couldn't be bothered voting - more people than those who actually voted for the winning National Government.The question is where do we go to next?  To succeed as a nation we need a vision, a destination, a point of view about the future, a direction in which to channel the efforts of the people we work with and for.  Like early explorers there are no maps to assist us as we journey into ‘terra incognito’.The new leader must...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Leadership,Rants and Raves

Something all principals ought to have written to their students' parents

A principal and his website posting to parentsWhere are we heading, and what have we lost to get there?Danny Nicholls is principal of St Patrick’s Catholic School, Taupo. He runs a website intended for the school community and other interested readers. The beliefs and opinion expressed are his personal ones. Danny's blog is a well balanced description of the current environment schools find themselves in - if only more school principals ( or better still groups of principals) had written, or even shared similar newsletters.One of the big building blocks of any school is curriculum delivery. Here in New Zealand we have a fantastic national curriculum which gives sufficient breadth for schools to develop and deliver really exciting and innovative...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative Schools,guest blogger,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,teaching and learning

Whose agenda ought we be following in education?

While  schools are increasingly being constrained by the imposition of National Standards right wing politicians introduce another failing idea from the USA (and the UK) -  Charter Schools' -  which are to be given considerable freedom.I made use of 'The Most Important Speech' posting - based on Diane Ravitch's for my blog below. The linked blog is well worth a read by all principals and BOTs - as is the PDF file it refers to.When politicians interfere with educational provision without democratic consultation we are in trouble. All too often such ideas have popular appeal until they are given more thought. Without time to consider implications the ideas develop a life of their own.These politicians are undermining education...

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

Let's not lose the point of school now we have 'the standards'!

Just as we need creativity the government imposes standardisation. Not that schools haven't been there before.I have just discovered, in my tidy up, a copy of Guy Claxton's ' Whats the Point of School - Rediscovering the Heart of Education'. Claxton's book provides inspiration for a real 'step change' in education to cope with the demands of a dynamic new century that is already a decade old.Our current system fails too many children but the answer is not to go back to the failed standardisation of the past.The trouble with the standards is that the cure may be worse than the problem as school are pressurised to focus more on more on ensuring students succeed they will neglect more important things such as attitudes and individual...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Creative teaching,Creative teaching Educationalists,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Personalized Learning,School Vision,teaching and learning