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| 99 day to vote for the future of creative teaching |
By Bruce Hammonds
Allan
Alach, the regular complier of Educational Readings, is away holidaying in the
UK and Europe for a few weeks but plans to take up compiling the weekly
Educational Readings from next week Geography is no barrier in the age of the
internet. In the meantime I have put together this set of readings with the NZ elections in mind.
The
Global Education Reform Movement ( GERM)
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| Corporate control of teaching |
This blog/reading
is deliberately biased towards critiquing the current neo- liberal ideology that
has ‘infected’ Anglo/American Education. The Global Educational
Reform Movement as it is known - often referred to as 'GERM'.
It is important for educators
to appreciate that the business/private enterprise approach is not restricted to
education – it applies to all
aspects of public service organizations. Behind it all is the power of the big corporations
and the business elite and, at risk, is a true participatory democracy that focuses on protecting
the common good for all citizens.
It is well to remember that it was the business elite that created the Global Financial Crisis
(GFC) of 2008 And also, as a result of decades of the ‘market forces’ ideology, Anglo-American societies have developed very unequal
winner/loser societies that weaken the social fabric of their communities. Inequality in these countries is a growing issue; the 'rich have got richer and the poor poorer!'
The upcoming
New Zealand Elections – a possible ‘turning point’?.
It is vitally
important that opposition political parties present an alternative to this
neo-liberal business ideology but so far any sense of a viable alternative has
yet to capture the public's’ imagination.
The public needs to face up to the realisation there is ‘no level playing field’ and that wealth does not ‘trickle down’ and that the growing inequality will increasingly cause social breakdown’
There is
an alternative.
The
market forces model is not the answer, it is the problem. We need a new vision
based on creating the appropriate opportunities or conditions to ensure all
people benefit. A vision that values the common good
not one biased towards private greed; an approach based on economic and
environmental sustainability; one that values collaboration as much as
competition; a vision that does not lend itself to measuring only the easy
targets.
Transforming education is central to the
development this more equitable and innovative society.
Voices such as educationalists like Sir Ken Robinson and Howard Gardner are calling for a
transformation of education (not reform which is more of the same at best); an education system that creates the
conditions to develop the talents and passions of all students.
In this respect
schools (as with society) are facing an ‘opportunity gap’ rather than an ‘achievement gap’.
The
coming elections will either cement in and amplify the neo-liberal ideology or
be the beginning of a fairer society, providing opportunities for all; one valuing
individual creativity and respect for sustaining the environment.
Alan
welcomes suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to him at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
This week it has been hard to
ignore the debate around the governments Investing in Educational Success (IES)
proposals involving the establishment of 'super' principals and teachers to help schools deemed as at risk.
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| Straight shooter |
If want to clarify your thoughts read Pat Newman’s opinion piece against the proposals in the May
Education Review and make sure you read the contrary comment by Tom Parsons
from the Secondary point of view.
And if you haven’t read Kelvin Smythe’s response visit the links below. The NZEI is against the IES proposal
but where does the NZPPF stand? Tom Parsons make the secondary principals approval clear.
Be Afraid
And if you aren’t certain about the desire to capture schools by private corporations
read ‘Be Afraid; the Privatisation
of Public Education’ in the latest Education
Aotearoa by Michelle Nixon.
Some thoughtful videos sharing the ‘big ideas’ from the Jan 2014
NZEI ‘Taking Stock. Moving Forward’ Conference.
From England : Meg Maquire- and coming soon to NZ!!
Meg's presentation was based on how
teachers face up to the challenges of
holding on to their teaching beliefs
while accommodating the corrosive effects of ‘league tables’.
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| Meg Maquire |
The emotional and intellectual demands of teaching, she says, are compounded by the
politically inspired crisis in literacy and numeracy, a public nostalgia for
rote learning and accelerated calls for accountability.
She also talks about growth of
private school academies (charter schools). In England, she says, is all business
jargon – raising standards, drowning out
the ethos of caring and doing your best for children - and the notion of public
educations role preserving democracy .
From The United States: David Berliner – the vital ( and ignored) issue of poverty.
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| David Berliner |
The crisis in education is
being manufactured by people like Bill Gates. ‘Mean scores in International Tests are about cohorts .. not to do with
the quality of teaching’. There is a lot of lot of inequality
in countries with remnants of British Capitalism and class system; in contrast in high scoring
Finland only 4% of children are living in poverty.
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| Not quite the real truth!! |
From Australia Bob Lingard
says that testing technologies are taking over from ideas in education.
Lingard criticises the OECD’s slogan ‘you can’t improve what you don’t measure’ and that its Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA)
is increasingly
influencing local policy and that many of its tests are funded
by huge US corporate interests.
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| Bob Lingard |
Lingard talks about
the negative effects of the National Australian Assessment Programme – Literacy and Numeracy Tests ( NAPLAN) in Australia. If the National Government returns this could well be the model to
extend the power of National Standards.
Now for something positive : Education is about building character.
"he punitive cloud hanging over
teachers is darker today than it's been in a long time," writes Nancy
Flanagan. "Let's not make it worse by taking the human element out of
teacher evaluation, in favour of numbers."
From Bruce Hammonds ‘Oldies but Goodies’
There are well over a thousand postings on my blog and the blog data show which
ones are being read each hour, day, week,month , year and all time. One that is popular at the moment relates to the theme of these readings
is;
The Corporate takeover of Society
New bureaucratic practices are now
well in place in all public organisations and increasingly in education.
Corporate jargon is now common in this new educational environment – inputs,
outputs, targets, key performance indicators, performance
management, efficiency,
accountability, bench marking and quality assurance.
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| The 1% knows best! |
Corporate domination, to be put in
place, needs an acquiescent and a disciplined workforce.
The corporate model is pushed on
schools by policy makers who have little or no experience of the reality of the
classroom ignoring the ‘voice’ of educationalists.
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Valuing creative
teachers.
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| Value creative teachers |
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| Super teachers; Not the answer |
Inequality in New Zealand – Max Rashbrooke
God’s own country – once
supposedly the best place to bring up kids in the world, seems no longer to be
the case. A country originally founded to escape the worst of the class
structure of England seems to have given up on the idea of giving a fair
go to
all citizens. The view of many well off people now is that the poor are the
authors of their own misfortune and only need to set about and pull up their
socks and all will be well; there seems little empathy for those in difficult
situations.
Is this divided disconnected
world of rich and poor to be our future? Is there an alternative
2 comments:
A great run down of the forces influencing he direction of education but I wonder if members of the public are aware of the issues or the alternative. So far the Labour Party have yet to capture the imagination of the public. The average citizen would have little idea of their position and unless it is made clear National will sleepwalk to victory. Then we will see their real agenda in action.
Just think it so important that all teachers appreciate the consequences of re-electing the current government. Too many teachers see themselves as apolitical - easy meat for politicians.
There are two competing agendas - both more or less invisible. Competition, privatisation and self interest and one focusing on the common good and opportunities for all New Zealanders.
The return of the National party will extend the winner/loser gap and greater inequality with all the social consequences.
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