Stressed principals in NZ / Less is more / coding and mindfulness / poverty and education / new thinking required

Education Readings

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Preschool teachers need better training in science

Not just preschool teachers …

‘Gerde said preschool teachers may struggle with science due to lack of quality training, preparation or an aversion to science. Teachers may also feel pressure from policymakers and school administrators to focus on literacy -- to the possible exclusion of science.’

http://bit.ly/2fAmqd6

Another Example of Less Teaching Leading to More Learning

Delinquent boys made huge academic gains when freed from classroom lessons.

Teach less - observe more

‘The experiment was started in January, 1924, and lasted until the beginning of June that year. During that period the boys were excused from regular school classes and, instead, were assigned to a special room created for them in a technical school. The room was equipped with desks, blackboards, a large table, and a collection of books, including storybooks, nonfiction works, and textbooks for the various grades. The boys were given standard academic achievement tests in January and again, four months later, in May.’

http://bit.ly/2xyclnP

Could You Teach Naked?

Don’t panic - its not what you think!

‘Every September it seems like there’s a new Whole School Initiative hitting the fan. As the Headteacher takes the podium on that first inset day, you hold your breath, waiting to find out what new, quirky trend will permeate your staff meetings for the year ahead…

But what if your headteacher stood up and told you that this month is all about Naked Teaching?…Are you game for it?’

http://bit.ly/2yIoqEY

11 Research-Based Classroom Management Strategies

‘Do unresolved behavior issues keep you awake at night thinking about what strategies might enhance responsible decision making and increase academic learning time? It’s natural to feel personally and professionally challenged—as I have, too many times to count.

The good news is that there are some research-based strategies called kernels that you can add to your classroom management toolkit.’

http://edut.to/2y9V9pC

Those Who Can’t

Variation of the original, supposedly written by George Bernard Shaw.

T’hose who can’t,
Teach.
For example,
Those who can’t sit alone at a desk all day,
Whose energy demands movement and interaction,
Teach ….’

http://bit.ly/2xMb7Fl

Tech's push to teach coding isn't about kids' success – it's about cutting wages

Just in case you were wondering why coding has jumped on the bandwagon:

'Yet it rests on a fundamentally flawed premise. Contrary to public perception, the economy doesn’t actually need that many more programmers. As a result, teaching millions of kids to code won’t make them all middle-class. Rather, it will proletarianize the profession by flooding the market and forcing wages down – and that’s precisely the point.’

http://bit.ly/2xyps8B

Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:

Does Mindfulness Actually Work in Schools?

‘A research team in Chicago has spent a year studying whether students who are taught to be in touch with their emotions do better academically. And they say the initial results are promising.Perhaps counterintuitively, when kids take a break from a classroom lesson on the solar system to spend a quiet moment alone watching a three-minute nature video, or participate in a teacher-guided breathing exercise with their class after lunch, they seem to become better overall students. That’s likely because the children have a renewed sense of focus.’

http://theatln.tc/2yaAH7W

The Curious Incident of the Choice-Based Classroom

‘Don't touch things without permission. Only ask questions when it's appropriate. Generally, by the middle of 2nd grade, our students have internalized these messages regarding respect and orderliness in the classroom. As a K–8 visual arts teacher, I've noticed how students' innate curiosity about their surroundings diminishes as the years go by, often at the prompting of well-intentioned teachers reminding students to "wait and see" what materials they'll need before touching anything. Although I do appreciate the lesson in respect, I sympathize with my students, knowing that feeling that paint brush on their hand or squishing the clay with their fingers would pique their curiosity for learning.’

http://bit.ly/2xGYpHt

Increased stress pushing New Zealand principals away, departing school leader says

‘The principal of a top Taranaki school has resigned after 12 years in the role - and says other school leaders have congratulated him for getting out of an increasingly stressful profession. Charles Gibson is one of five Taranaki principals and deputy principals leaving their posts this year.While Gibson said he was mostly leaving Lepperton Primary School because it is "the right time to do something a little different", he warned the stresses of the job, national standards, and a lack of respect for teachers from the Ministry of Education had all been contributing factors and were putting others off taking up top positions.’

http://bit.ly/2yaX25l

Facts Don’t Change People’s Minds. Here’s What Does

Something to consider when debating education with others:

‘Drowning the other person with facts, I assumed, was the best way to prove that global warming is real, the war on drugs has failed, or the current business strategy adopted by your risk-averse boss with zero imagination is not working.
Since then, I’ve discovered a significant problem with this approach.
It doesn’t work.’

http://bit.ly/2x001by

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

A living world - the end of industrial aged thinking.

Linear thinking

‘It is time we appreciated that the 'machine age' is over. The idea that ‘man’ can control and dominate everything has had terrible environmental and social consequences. It is far better to see the world, and all our organizations, as living systems and to see our role as part of a range of integrated systems than underpin all life. This ‘systems thinking’ is the new 'world view' that we all need to learn to appreciate. Strangely enough the concept has direct links with earlier indigenous wisdom that everything is interrelated, often in ways we can’t at first recognize.’

http://bit.ly/2fRJlNJ

Educational failure - it is all about poverty

‘In recent years, though, we have gained considerable insights into the pre-requisites for human fulfilment. Health and security may be at the top of the list, but we also thrive on community, fairness, bonding, altruism, playfulness and celebration. Politicians would do well to look to these biological principals.’

http://bit.ly/1GBnzV9

Reflections about New Zealnd's recent election by Chris Perley

There have been a number of excellent reflections relating to the recent elections and one that caught my eye was written by Chris Perley titled 'I want to write about...'

I want to write about...

I want to write about how we cannot afford poverty, how stupid it is, how

degrades  our economy and our spirit.

 I want to write about the trends in our New Zealand economy to a power-crazed, corporatist, extractive, one-dollar-one-vote destruction of democracy; the destruction of local enterprise and family owned farms – and why those targets of the corporate agenda would even think of voting for their own turkey christmas.  There is nothing good in this trend.  There is no creativity, nor meaning, nor soul.

I want to write about how a strong community is your business friend, how treating people as things is stupid if you want a future for your own town and region.  The only people – if you could call them that – that benefit from treating us as third world colonial slaves are the corporates who do not live here.  Wake up.  We are being colonised – and that colonisation is supported by the right because they are paid by the colonisers and the media is owned by the colonisers.

I want to write about how the environment is your friend.  Not just in building your soul and a meaning in life, but in your business as well – unless you are an absolute scumbag who will pillage the kauri, the water, the soil, the fisheries for your immediate self-gratification.  Vice.  Business does not have to be vicious.  It can be virtuous.  Realise that building the hope and dreams and connections and laughter and spirit and trust and participation and esprit de corps of people – community – staff – *creates* and drives our world.

I want to write that only an unthinking moron would throw the capacity and value of their land down the stream by washing away soil and nutrients. Pure and utter stupidity. Dumb and dumber.  Fed Farmers type moronity.

 I want to write that land capacity to cope with drought and flood is your friend. I want to write that you get

benefits from a functioning landscape where diversity and biota are your friends. Free gifts, cashflow options, resilience, beauty, function, stock health, less need for inputs – more dollars made for less dollars spent.

 I want to write that the environment means you have a story to sell, a market position essential to a premium while commodities continue their downward slide.  Better environment, more resilience, better economics, a better place within which to create and be.

I want to write about systems thinking and strategy and getting your head out of the technocratic falsehood of only looking at the measured things in a spreadsheet. At the insanity of discounting your future by 10% real.  The immorality.  Thedeath of art, and with art, wisdom.

I want to write about the need to be able to differentiate lies from truth, to dig into the root causes and not – ever – be influenced by some empty cliché like “a war on P”.

I want to write about scapegoating, and the nonsense of some economic theories, and the history of stupidity within various economic extremes. Beware of economics, especially  “the market will provide,” “the state will dissolve to a worker’s collective,” “there is equal powerlessness in the world,” and “people make rational all-knowing asocial choices to be poor.”  Think for yourselves.  Learn for yourselves.  Dig into the assumptions.  They are easy to find.  You’ll quickly spot the bullshit there and realise that the smartly dressed men in suits do not have superior minds.  They have no authority of thought – and we should never give them that.  They live within a social paradigm of unquestioned belief without internal critique when it involves absolutes –

I want to write about Modernity and finding our way back home to becoming native to place – to return to *being* *in* and *of* our lands and our communities where they are never defined by the measurement of stocks.  We do not raise children by measured

calorie flows alone.  Why would we do that for economics or society.

I want to write about the radical radicle root core philosophical depths of wisdom.

And how we are not being wise in our political choices.

Chris Perley

https://chrisperleyblog.wordpress.com/

Educational readings:Time to return to the democratic vision of John Dewey and creative teaching

Whatever happens in the New Zealand
Elections Jacinda Adern has made us proud 
to be Labour.

Education Readings

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Don’t Say “Times” When Teaching Multiplication (And What to Say Instead)

‘Choosing our words carefully can have a big impact on student understanding, especially when it comes to multiplication. Make this small change to your multiplication vocabulary today, so students can better visualize and comprehend this important concept.

The word “times” doesn’t mean anything to students.’

http://bit.ly/2xkf8Pa

Should we 'pupil' kids or 'NAPLAN' them?

Phil Cullen:

‘Australia's casual indifference to the effects of mass testing on the learning progress of its school children, and its penchant for using children for excessive periods of school time for 'test-prep', as if they are mere  inanimate objects available for the collection of  data, contains the seeds for its developing inabilities as a nation to mix with the world at large.’

http://bit.ly/2hhXmbl

Most primary classes 'get less than two hours of science a week’

If I had my way, Science would be a major part of children’s learning experiences at school. The article is about England but I fear it applies all over.

‘Three in 10 primary teachers did not receive any support to teach science last year, according to Wellcome Trust study Many UK primary schools are teaching science for the equivalent of less than two hours a week, according to a study. A report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust argues that the subject is not being given enough priority or time by most of the nation's primaries.’

http://bit.ly/2xgHnAK

Cooperative Conflict: Neither Concurrence Nor Debate

By Alfie Kohn.

I’ve been to a workshop run by the Johnson brothers - one of my best professional development experiences. I strongly recommend exploring their work.

‘The good news is that we aren’t forced to choose between creating a classroom in which students must arrive at an artificial consensus and one in which conflict is present but manifests itself as an adversarial exercise.  The alternative is to invite disagreement but nest it in caring and a framework of shared goals. This has been called cooperative conflict, constructive controversy, or, in a poetic turn of phrase by the brothers and social scientists Roger and David Johnson, “friendly excursions into disequilibrium.”’

http://bit.ly/2wHTwtR

Opinion: The value of ‘slow schools’

‘The “slow education” movement, was founded by Maurice Holt in the UK, who advocated that schools should provide students with time to engage in deep learning, curiosity and reflection. This led advocates of this approach to oppose the use of high-stakes testing and rapid improvement in favour of more time spent developing collaborative and supportive classroom relationships for learning.’

http://bit.ly/2xnTACD

A textbook dilemma: Digital or paper?

‘Do we learn better from printed books than digital versions? The answer from researchers is a qualified yes.’

http://bit.ly/2wHuXxq

Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:

Learning Goals… Success Criteria… and Creativity?

‘While I am aware that setting clear standards are important, making sure we communicate our learning goals with students, co-creating success criteria… and that these have been shown to increase student achievement, I can’t help but wonder how often we take away our students’ thinking and decision making when we do this before students have had time to explore their own thoughts first.’

http://bit.ly/29WT7tf

Portfolios hold new promise for school

Digital portfolios

‘Decades ago, portfolio assessment—using samples of classroom work to document students’ progress toward learning goals—meant finding room for bulging binders stuffed with paper. But digital technologies that make it far easier to collect, curate, share and store student work have dismantled the physical barriers that once made portfolio assessment daunting. Schools are now taking a fresh look at the practice.’

http://bit.ly/2xgKLeR

10 Surefire Ideas to Remove Writing Roadblocks

Reggie Routman

‘So you want to teach writing well. It’s not as hard as you think. Yes, it’s a challenge, but it can be exhilarating.I believe writing – more than anything we teach – has the power to change students’ lives, for them to see themselves, sometimes for the first time, as smart thinkers and writers across the curriculum.’

http://bit.ly/2fbiGei

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Time for a rebirth of the creative spirit

‘In the early 50s primary education was a very formal and inflexible affair. By the 70s a major revolution had occurred and today we take for granted the colorful child centred classrooms of our primary schools. Early educational innovators came to believe in ‘education through art’. Such teachers embraced enthusiastically: the writing of poetry, movement, dance and drama, story telling, myths and legends, social studies and natural science, the making of creative music, and of course a wide experience of the arts and crafts, including clay and paint – and at the same time the arts of the Maori were introduced.’

http://bit.ly/1Vh3awH

Henry Giroux - lessons for New Zealand educators. Revitalizing the role of public education.

Henry Giroux

Time to call an end to neo liberal free market drivel before we ruin our country.

‘There is no doubt that current political leadership, influenced by a neo –liberal philosophy of small government, individualism and the need to privatise of all aspects of living has led to the erosion of the belief in the common good resulting in a growing gap between so called ‘winners and losers’.The winners are the financial and corporate elite - the one percent.The corporate and financial elite, right wing think tanks –and extreme fundamentalist political groups (the Tea Party in America and the ACT party in New Zealand) are increasingly focusing on privatisation.’

http://bit.ly/18ntJX8

Experience and Education - John Dewey 1938

Time to listen to John Dewey again?

‘Maybe, as the self centred greedy capitalism of the West is crumbling, the time is right to develop a new democratic vision for the 21st Century. John Dewey's book Experience and Education provides idea to think about for the century ahead of us? Dewey wrote extensively about the relationship between education and democracy (1916) - a link that those in power today choose to ignore but what better place to establish democratic ideals through example than the school.’

http://bit.ly/17J12HR

New Zealand education at risk/ technology for and against / creative education/ and the NZelections and education

Education Readings

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Data Driven Into the Weeds

Data data everywhere and not a thought in sight

‘Having a data-driven school has been all the rage for a while now, because when you express your ideas, thoughts, and biases in numbers, they qualify as "facts," whereas judgment expressed in words obviously lacks data-rich factiness, and so should be ignored. Yes, the fact that I am 100% an English teacher may make me about 62% bitter about the implied valuing of numbers over words; I'd say I'm at about 7 on the 11-point Bitterness Scale, and that's a fact.’

http://bit.ly/2vUFcPc

Don’t Spend A Penny On Education Technology Until This Is Clear

Virtual reality is it enough?

‘This ‘keeping up with the Jones” is a familiar practice, especially in anything related to technology. That approach, though, can lead to imbalanced education policy, mediocre edtech programs, and a lot of wasted money. Integrating education technology is a complex thing that depends entirely on local and constantly changing factors.’

http://bit.ly/2h3tRGx

Why Students Should Take the Lead in Parent-Teacher Conferences

‘But at schools built on Deeper Learning principles, the meetings are often turned into student-led conferences, with students presenting their schoolwork, while their teachers, having helped them prepare, sit across the table, or even off to the side. The triad then sits together to review and discuss the work and the student’s progress. The message, once again, is that the students are responsible for their own success.’

http://bit.ly/2x24UUY

The Power of Visualization in Math

‘The power of this moment, the change in the learning environment, and the excitement of my fifth graders as they could not only understand but explain to others what the problem was about convinced me it was worth the effort to pursue visualization and try to answer these questions: Is there a process to unlock visualizations in math? And are there resources already available to help make mathematics visual?’

http://edut.to/2xzgzMH

How can teachers introduce forest school principles to their curriculum?

‘More commonly, forest school is part of a bigger educational mix in which pupils enjoy time outdoors perhaps once a week, but the same principles apply: a drive to build young people's independence and self-esteem through experiencing the natural world. Lili Pluck, forest school assistant at Ashdon, says: "It's about learning to realise what is around you, appreciate nature and enjoy the freedom, space and sense of peace.”’

http://bit.ly/2y6NKUH

Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:

The Internet Is Killing Creativity - And Analog Is About to Make a Comeback

‘In some ways, I think the internet has made it harder to become creative because it encourages us to be interested in all the wrong things. (Note: I differentiate between becoming smarter--educating yourself on every topic ever, which the internet is like freakin' fantastic at, and being creative. Artistically putting yourself out there.) Why my negativity around creativity?’

http://bit.ly/2xZTCht

Sir Ken Robinson on how schools are stifling students’ creativity

‘While many Canadian educators struggle to find the solution to students' declining math scores, there's one expert who says we may be looking at the problem the wrong way. Sir Ken Robinson – education guru, author and adviser – says relentless testing and the push for standardized scores are destroying students' imagination and talent. He argues that schools are stifling instead of nurturing kids' creativity.’

http://bit.ly/2vUPnU2

Reasons Today’s Kids Are Bored At School, Feel Entitled, Have Little Patience & Few Real Friends

‘Today’s kids come to school emotionally unavailable for learning. There are many factors in our modern lifestyle that contribute to this. As we know, the brain is malleable. Through environment, we can make the brain “stronger” or make it “weaker”. I truly believe that, despite all our greatest intentions, we unfortunately remold our children’s brains in the wrong direction.’

http://bit.ly/2vV7Kbc

A New Zealand  Haeata student gives her view on modern learning       

Three years ago when we knew some of our local schools would be closing, my school, Aranui Primary, started what was called "modern learning”. At first it was really weird and we didn't know what we were doing, but then the teachers got trained in modern learning. Over three years we changed the way we learnt to the way that best suits us so we could self-manage, but not too much depending on how good you were at self-managing. We had stages: Manager, Self-Managed, Self-Directed, and Self-Driven.’

http://bit.ly/2vUgVsN

The Troubling Trend to Collect Behavioral Data on ALL Children

‘As school starts, many parents are being bombarded with information about behavioral data collection on their children. A lot of this is tied to the trendy push for social-emotional learning (SEL), and the attempt to connect behavior with a child’s ability to read and do well in school. But it’s troubling to see schools monitoring the behavior of every child so tightly. Children will not have perfect behavior.’

http://bit.ly/2vVc5vi

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Back to school to see what really happens in New Zealand classrooms – Nigel Latta

‘In recent years politicians from the ‘right’ have given the impression that our schools are failing – our current Minister is fond of saying ‘one in five of our children are failing’ and that the introduction of National Standards will solve the situation.  ‘We so often hear stories about how standards have fallen,’ said Latta, ‘that you would be forgiven for thinking the sky has fallen in’.’

http://bit.ly/1C9DHuX

For New Zealand readers - a few articles to consider before the general election on September 23rd, which will hopefully see the end of national standards and charter schools.

National Standards – which Parties will keep them and which

will ditch them?

‘It’s election time again, but before choosing which Party to vote for, make sure you know what their education policies are – and pay attention to what isn’t mentioned, too. This time we are looking at National Standards.’

http://bit.ly/2vVfSJ5

Election questions are for all of us

Before we settle on which political party to support this election, let’s ask a few questions of ourselves. An election is traditionally an opportunity to ask questions of would-be politicians. More fruitfully, it’s an opportunity to ask questions of ourselves. Questions to candidates will then follow, but the self-examination is actually the more valuable for democratic engagement.

http://bit.ly/2wYjZrw

Nigel Latta: The New ‘Haves and Have Nots’ – Time for Moral Leadership in New Zealand

As we begin to focus on the upcoming elections it is surely time to move away from on the personalities of leaders and to focus on the real issues facing our country.

‘The programme was a serious attempt to get to the core of inequality in NZ and its consequences for us all.Once NZ had one of the highest home ownership figures in the world and we didn’t see examples of extreme wealth. Latta is careful to say he is not against people doing well but he was stunned to learn that over the past decades the gap between the rich and poor in NZ has widened more than anywhere in the Western World.’

http://bit.ly/1slX9hB

 NZ National government gets an F for education

‘OPINION: My verdict on the Government's track record in education is that it is an epic fail.

The reasons for this verdict are many and varied, but I will focus on three main areas:

1. Our student achievement data is declining nationally

2. Ideology is overriding evidence

3. Trust has been completely eroded in the sector achievement data’

http://bit.ly/2eXerD5

New directions in education in New Zealand / current standardised approach gets an "F"/ teacher stress and workload andthe importance of creativity and lots more....

Leader of the NZ labour Party Jacinda Adern

Education Readings

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Why I Teach

‘Every action, every thought spent on these children is holy. The tiniest gesture is magnified through infinite time and space. When I help a child gain confidence in her reading, I help not just her. I help everyone she will ever come into contact with –her co-workers, her friends, family, even her own children if she someday has some.’

http://bit.ly/2wDDODx

How can teachers encourage more girls to study mathematics?

‘As a maths teacher at a large sixth form college, I’m concerned by the disproportion of female students in the department. I spoke to three groups of girls in year 12 about their experiences; one not studying maths, those studying single maths, and those studying double maths. Based on their feedback, I have the following suggestions for encouraging more girls to take the subject at A-level.’

http://bit.ly/2wDZcIO

Imagined futures 5: Robot teachers?

Steve Wheeler:

‘In a conversation with Sugata Mitra several years ago, the novelist Arthur C. Clarke stated: 'Any teacher who can be replaced by a computer ... should be.' 

Clarke was right of course. Teachers cannot be compared to machines, and should certainly never function as such. If they do, then they aren't teaching.’

http://bit.ly/2w4JKlo

Spinning Plates -we need to drop some

‘Workload is the issue that won't go away, perhaps quite rightly so, it is not sorted. As teachers, and leaders, we are plate spinners. However, we sometimes need to work out what plates we can afford to drop. This is perhaps the single most important question that all of us should be asking - if I don't do this, what will happen?’

http://bit.ly/2f1WFih

Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying

‘

Kindness changes the brain by the experience of kindness. Children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it.’

http://edut.to/2w4ShVl

If I was teaching Social Studies today…

‘Some folks know that I started my education career as a middle school Social Studies teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina. If I was still doing that now, I would be incredibly excited because so many wonderful resources would be available to my classroom. For instance, if I was teaching Social Studies today…’

http://bit.ly/2wFcSDl

Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:

Nine reasons New Zealand's National Standards aren’t working (and other issues with our education system)

Out with standardisation

‘Sometime during the 1970s, jet engines superseded propeller driven planes for most domestic air travel in New Zealand, as it had for pretty much all international flights. The same should now happen to an archaic back-to-basics system like National Standards, which a modern understanding of effective teaching and learning had rendered out of date before they were even introduced.’

http://bit.ly/2wDhbij

Embracing Failure: Building a Growth Mindset Through the Arts

"Students have to take risks," says Cristina Gonzalez, the former chair of NMSA's visual arts department. "That’s something that is so unique to learning in the arts. Great art comes from risk taking, from being willing to fail. Maybe it will work. Maybe I'll discover something about myself, something about my capacity that I wasn't even aware of, and that's so exciting for a student.”

http://edut.to/2eD8jQ0

How To Weave Growth Mindset Into School Culture

‘The Academy of Health and Medicine, a small learning community within Arroyo High School in California, has been pioneering a focused approach to teaching growth mindset that starts with

Strong Start, a summer institute that incoming ninth-graders are highly encouraged to attend."We'll purposefully try to put them in situations where they'll be uncomfortable, and yet not feel vulnerable — it's a kinda fine line we walk — and then provide opportunities for them to work their way through it and find some success," said Jim Clark, who helped start the program.’

http://bit.ly/2eMBdAO

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

The teacher’s role in the creative process.

‘

Authentic problems are not hard to find if you listen to your students and enter into dialogue with them. Perhaps some favourite dog or cat has died. An older brother or sister is getting married. A new baby has been born. A grandparent is very sick. Dad has bought a new car. A tree has burst into bloom. There has been a flood.They mightn’t sound like a curriculum but they are things that really matter, they cause anxiety or delight, and need a resolution. This is the reality of the children in your classroom but how often do you see this world celebrated?’

http://bit.ly/2f4Vizo

Learning is about constructing meaning.

Dame Marie Clay

‘Marie Clay was 'constructivist' or more accurately a 'co-constructivist' believing, like such researchers as Jerome Bruner, Piaget and Vygotsky that students create their own meanings and that this is best achieved by sensitive teacher interaction, always leaving the responsibility of learning in the child's hands. Holdaway(79)calls this need to make meaning a 'semantic drive' - one that it put at risk by insensitive teachers who do not value student creativity as the source for all learning.’

http://bit.ly/1kV5g08

Cathy Wylie outlines new wave of change for New Zealand Schools!  NZ Labour has an alternative

‘

Kathy Wylie

In the 1980s a new political ideology swept through Anglo American countries. It was a time of dramatic change as the democratic welfare state was replaced by  what has come to be known as a ‘Market Forces business oriented’ approach based on small government, valuing self-interest, privatisation, competition, choice and accountability. This neo liberal approach was believed to be the only way to cope with dramatic worsening worldwide economic circumstances. A common phrase at the time was TINA (there is no alternative).New Zealand was not immune.’

http://bit.ly/TNlnzy