tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post8151686790285526291..comments2024-03-28T00:28:06.035+13:00Comments on leading and learning: Education Review Office School Evaluation and some better Criteria for a 21st C classroom.Bruce Hammondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07031065790535111400noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post-21340351789508019672016-03-13T09:53:09.414+13:002016-03-13T09:53:09.414+13:00This a comment I wrote in 2004 to an early blog - ...This a comment I wrote in 2004 to an early blog - things have got worse since then. Maybe a lot off principals are still pretending?<br /><br /><br />That a number of principals and teachers seem to be stressed, by not quite knowing what the Ministry wants of them, reminds me of a R.D. Laing's 1970 poem.<br /><br />Knots<br /><br />There is something I don't know<br />That I am supposed to know,<br />I don't know what it is I don't know.<br />And feel I look stupid<br />If I seem both not to know it<br />And not know what it is I don't know.<br />Therefore , I pretend to know it.<br />This is nerve wracking since I don't know what I pretend to know<br />Therefore, I pretend I know everything.<br /><br />If making meaning, and feeling in control, is vital to an individual's mental health, then feeling in a 'knot' is a real problem. It causes, what one writer calls, 'a corrosion of character.Bruce Hammondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07031065790535111400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post-32245901411851394342016-03-12T18:59:38.022+13:002016-03-12T18:59:38.022+13:00If you are right it would be a real worry but my f...If you are right it would be a real worry but my feeling is that there are still critical principals . Principals have little choice but to comply but they don't have to believe what they no choice but to do so.Bruce Hammondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07031065790535111400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post-61123243201614675952016-03-11T00:50:57.107+13:002016-03-11T00:50:57.107+13:00Have you considered that many current principals ,...Have you considered that many current principals , appointed for their 'managerial skills', actually believe in what they been asked to do. Sadly they know no better! The creativity that you, and such people as Sir Ken Robinson believe in, is beyond them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post-10903936144016132712016-03-09T23:48:12.632+13:002016-03-09T23:48:12.632+13:00Your comment reminds me of a saying of pioneer tea...Your comment reminds me of a saying of pioneer teacher Elwyn Richardson :'It's hard to remember you came to drain the swamp when you are up to your backside in aligators'.Bruce Hammondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07031065790535111400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438349.post-85578386261286494182016-03-09T22:36:35.527+13:002016-03-09T22:36:35.527+13:00Good to see you giving this some thought Bruce. We...Good to see you giving this some thought Bruce. We are just too busy doing our best to get on with the job and in the process lose sight of the forest by focusing on the trees. And, I fear, many principals don't like to admit that it is too confusing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com