Educational Reading for the weekend: Jon Banks,Marion Brady, Tony Gurr

Weekend Readings

By Allan Alach

The ‘coincidences’ continue. Hot on the heels of the UK announcement that academy (aka charter schools) can hire unqualified teachers, the New Zealand Government have followed suit with the teaching staff at the proposed ‘partnership schools’ (aka charter schools).  On the other hand the government wants all teaching qualifications to be at post graduate level. Further, they have decided to review the Teachers’ Council that manages teacher registration, to ‘improve quality.’ Am I missing something here? Why is it that school ‘deform’ around the world sees untrained teachers as a solution?

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Charter Schools – Another lie from John Banks!

This article needs no introduction.

http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/charter-schools-another-lie-from-john-banks/

The American revolution in English schools

And Australian and New Zealand schools…..

http://bit.ly/QM6qgF

UK Academies told they can hire unqualified teachers

Next step in the denigration of teaching as a profession - “anybody can be a teacher.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19017544

In Support of the Whole Child

This is an excellent article - the title says it all.

http://tinyurl.com/bp9ule3

Education’s biggest design flaw

Another punchy article by Marion Brady. Very relevant: “Traditional instruction is dumping poorly organized information on the young, and they can’t process it.”

http://wapo.st/NCRYcH

Are Standardized Tests Worthless?

Apparently so, what a surprise!

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/30/are-standardized-tests-worthless/

What Economists Don't Understand About Educators

Everything?  However, what do you think of ‘loss aversion’ instead of performance pay? Pay a bonus upfront at the start of the year, then remove some/all depending on test results at the end of the year. Will this make you work harder? A better teacher?

http://bit.ly/NHW8Qt

Education reform’s central myths

“The education debate rests on two faulty premises: that public schools are failures, and choice is the solution.” Written about the USA situation, and equally applicable wherever ‘deform’ is on the agenda.

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/01/school_choice_vs_reality/

Can a teacher “create” LEARNing THAT LASTS?

To end with something more positive, here’s an excellent blog post by Tony Gurr.

http://tinyurl.com/cz8npk7

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