PRINCIPALS’ CONFERENCE
The Darwin Effect
By Phil Cullen ex Director of PrimaryEducation Queensland
Phil's website Primary Schooling
I
remember the day when the first news came through that Darwin had been bombed.
The Japs knew how to spoil my 14th birthday. We school kids mirrored the grim
faces of our parents and teachers; another ‘Pearl Harbour’ was right on our
door-step. Things were very, very serious.
As
far as almost all Australians knew, Darwin was bombed for a couple of more days
after that ...and all was clear. It wasn’t until the end of the war, over three
years later, that the Australian population learned that Darwin was bombed over
fifty times, but the news was hidden for morale purposes. Someone somewhere
controlled the supply of news.
Over
one thousand primary school principals from Australia and New Zealand gathered
in Melbourne on 18-21 Sept. 2012 to discuss issues attached to ‘LEADING
LEARNING’. It was meant to be huge and it was. It was meant to be forthright and
meaningful and it was. For those who attended, it was a huge event. For many, it
was a once-in-a-life-timer.
The
conference had been advertised and marketed with outstanding style for world to
see, for the Australian and New Zealand public to learn more about the
principal’s place in leading pupils through vital learning experiences during
these tumultuous times; and press releases were made on Conference Eve and
through the period. All sections of the media knew what the conference was about
and where it was located.
For
parents, grandparents like me, teachers, and for those interested in primary
schooling, there was a promise of headlines in the daily press to inform us of
the world’s best practices and what Australia and New Zealands’ pupils and
parents could look forward to....especially the place of NAPLAN and ‘National
Standards’ in the processes of leading learning in schools.
Things
looked so promising. .
NOTHING IN ANY NEWSPAPER OR ON ANY TV OR RADIO NEWS.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
HOW COME ?
Should
we imagine that a covert embargo on expert-based professional comment is an
extension of the overt government control of professional opinion and action at
the school level?
Too
close to a conspiracy theory isn’t it....but ...it is weird, isn’t it? How?.
Why?
Thank
God for Google. Here you can find audio clips, abstracts, a full text or two on
a well organised site. Click...
I
have listened to the learned presenters and authors on this site. An hour each
spent on the provoking opinions, statistics and anecdotal evidence with Andy
Hargreaves, Pasi Sahlberg, Kishore Mahbubani and Yong Zhao means four hours well
spent....and to then read their books! Trust me. Their cogent, thoughtful views
should be of enormous assistance to those principals and officials, whom we
trust to Guide Our Nation’s
School Kids Intelligently.
One such person, a local keynote speaker, Tony Cook of the
Department of Education etc., forewarned the unsure, however, with his
well-presented, well-organised paper illustrating that Australia principals will
be required to get their NAPLAN scores up to scratch according to the 2025
Gillard Goals. They will! He concluded his address, “ And
if you have done that, then you will truly have helped to make the world a
better place, and your contribution will have been an immeasurable
one.” ?
Tony
Cook’s viewpoint was unremarkably similar to that of Peter
Garrett, the Australian Minister for Education and other things, who
spoke of his government’s plans for the future. Peter boasted to our
visitors:-
“We
now have a national curriculum, national teacher standards and a national
teacher performance and assessment framework.”
“And
there is more to do – a second wave of reform is underway
“Between
2000 and 2009 our performance overall, declined relative to other
countries.”
“
By Year 9, a student from the poorest quarter of Australian schools is, on
average, up to three years of schooling behind a student from the wealthiest
quarter of the population.”
“We
are prepared to invest substantially more in our schools, but only if there is
agreement from state governments to a National Plan for School Improvement. Our
plan will help us to see Australia ranked as a top 5 country in the world in
Reading, Science and Mathematics by 2025. The Gillard Government intends to
continue to work in good faith with state and territory governments, the
Catholic and Independent school sectors to deliver our plan. We have a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. It is an objective that has
escaped us as a nation in the past.”'
“I
know it’s an objective that you share.”
It
is fortunate for Peter that he was not present for all of the conference,
because he prefers hard evidence from tests and tends to ignore child-oriented
provocations. Testees are children and they have no feelings nor
thoughts....can’t vote. Classrooms teachers don’t care....and Principals are on
side....as he indicated. The presentations by world reputed thinkers would have
made him feel uneasy. But then...
He’s
on a roll. The objectives are shared with Australian principals [he said].
{Are they? That’s a worry.} 2025! Here come the heavies!
Preferring
to trust the opinions and anecdotal evidence of experienced commentators, I went
seeking through the papers to find some solutions for the needs of ignored present-day school children. I went looking
deliberately for statements about leading-learning that might apply to NAPLAN
[Aus.] and National Standards ]NZ] testing; and help such pedagogical purulence
to be banned. The tests are so evil and nasty. I found a gem.
Paul
Drummond Paul Drummond, President of NZPF, said directly to both NZ
and Australian politicians...to their face :
”You have unravelled a first
class schooling system [NZ has always been near the very top on PISA];
you have removed the right of every child to follow the richness of a sound
curriculum along multiple pathways; you have not invested wisely; you have
replaced collaboration with competition; your adoption of GERM principles has
caused great sadness; your gimmickry [e.g. charter schools] is unprofessional.
You have altered our children’s social future.”
He
said to his colleague principals from both sides of the Tasman
: “ Our
profession has been under siege. We share the despair of working in a system
that is entirely political and not educational. Morale is low in both countries.
It is such a difficult time in which to live. We are being used as political
pawns. We need to strengthen our moral purpose and stress our professional
ethics courageously and loud.”
“Let’s
stay true to our moral compass.”
This
was the most profound address of the conference. Listen to it carefully. My
summary does not do it justice.
Some
extracts and quotable quotes from other distinguished visitors ....
Kishore
Mahbubani [Singapore]
“
The West’s domination has been an aberration in world history, and all
aberrations come to an end. Now that the west is receding, the two western
countries left in Asia are New Zealand and Australia. They will have a positive
future but they will need different mental images.
“China
is having a sputnik moment; the US needs one as well.”
“The
most optimistic people in the world are young Asians.”
Andy
Hargreaves [Boston College]
“Globally,
we are poised on the edge of a great transformation of what teaching and
learning will look like and how schools will appear to us. It will be the
greatest change since our present industrial model of schools started in the
19th century.”
“The
issue is about Professional Capital. We need to promote the concept widely –
Capital includes social capital, human capital, natural capital. It you want a
return, you need to make an investment.”
“We
cannot replace teachers with technology
“We
must be proud of who we are and what we do. Teaching is the most valued
profession in the world. BE PROUD.”
”How
does your government see you? Does it understand? Do politicians appreciate the
joys of teaching and learning?”
How
many years at the work-face does it take to become an efficient, experienced
teacher?
“Unions
need to become the agents of positive change as they used to
be.”
Pasi
Sahlberg [Finland]
“There
has not been a miracle in the education system, in Finland.”
Equity
rather than choice is the keynote of the system; co-operation rather than
competition; individualisation rather that standardisation [the enemy of
creativity].
“GERM
Global Educational Reform Movement [market-based thinking about education];
competition [among schools], standardisation [setting standards and then
measuring], school choice [private vs public], test-based accountability [high
stakes testing] has become the way of thinking for a number of countries.
Australia is hot and strong on this, as well as NZ.
GERM
LEADING-LEARNING
Test core subjects only Teach broad &
Creative Learning
Standardise – same skill for all Customise – ‘each one is
different’
Encourage pre-test panic Each at own pace – NBT
[No Blanket Tests]
Adopt ideas of corporate world CHILD as inspiration for
change
Rant measurement numbers Share evaluation as part of
learning
Drill and skill Look to
future, play & dare to dream
“Does
GERM work ? Maths results are declining in GERM countries. Finland’s results are
up.”
“Students
in Finland have less classroom time [190 days per year] and are given less
homework, so they have more time to play [that’s what a kid’s job is – learning
to understand how their mind and imagination and body work.”]
“When
they take the PISA test at age 15, Finnish kids have had 4 fewer years of
schooling all told than Australian and New Zealand kids. Finnish kids start
school at age 7. Australia and New Zealand start at age 5.”
“People
think that choice enhances equity and equality – it does the opposite. Highest
performing countries combine quality with equity.
“Lessons
from Finland:
- More collaboration, less competition.
- More trust-based responsibility, less test-based accountability.
- More professionalism, less bureaucracy.
- More personalisation, less standardisation.
- More pedagogy, less technology.”
Yong
Zhao [Oregon]
“Where
are we? How did we get in this mess?
What
do you want to do?
What
kind of education do you want for your kids?”
“There’s
a new middle class – the creative entrepreneurial class – filled with new ideas,
confident, developmental, exerting leadership qualities with ease.
Global
homogenisation is not the way to go. The drive for higher test scores does not
produce confidence, energy nor passion to succeed. Why teach a fish to climb a
tree?”
Fortunately
for NZ and Australian politicians and testucators the Conference material has
been kept secret and not made public!
Our
children will be stuck with NAPLAN and National Standards.
Darwin
will continue to be wrecked; and the public won't know.
