Memo: the challenge of the NZ Curriculum

A close reading of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum would indicate that our schools need to dramatically change if they are to provide all our students an education to allow to thrive in the future.


The 'new' New Zealand Curriculum provides schools with a challenge but only if they are able to think out of the current 'mental boxes', or 'mindsets', they find themselves in.

This will requires more than 'makeover', or a few 'add-ons', what is needed the questioning of all processes and activities . All too often the basic assumptions underpinning schools remain unquestioned but unless the purpose of schooling in the 21st is faced up to, and 're-imagined', things will remain much the same. UK educationist Guy Claxton's latest book, 'What is the Point of School?', provides the question (and a few answers).

A few thoughts to consider:

1 Schools ought to be about keeping the love of learning alive in all students to ensure all are 'confident, connected and creative learners'(NZC).

2 As research indicates, and reinforced by common sense, that students learn when their, curiosity, interest, or attention is alerted. Ensuring this innate disposition to learn is kept alive, in all students, ought to be our number one priority. Guy Claxton has written that 'learnacy', or the drive to learn, is more important that literacy and numeracy'. This is echoed by creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson, who says that creativity will be as valuable as literacy or numeracy in the future. Our 'new' curriculum wants all students to be 'seekers, users and creators' of their own knowledge.

These thoughts are not reflected in the schools I visit.

A look at the time spent on various Learning areas, or a glance at the school wide assessment 'targets' that schools report on, would reinforce this lack of balance or reflection of past practices.

3 The 'new' curriculum indicates a need for future capabilities, or as they are called Key Competencies', to become central to all learning and that they are to be seen as a 'means and a end' to develop 'life long learners'.

Developing engaging 'rich' real life problems, based learning contexts, for all Learning Areas, is a future challenge. Schools need to see themselves as 'communities of inquiry' allowing teachers to utilize the idea that 'intellectual curiosity is the heart' (NZC) of all learning. If this were the case programmes ought to feature students' questions, 'prior ideas', tap into their individual talents and gifts, and take advantage of their immediate environment. The 'new' curriculum wisely recommends that schools do fewer studies in depth' to develop students competencies and understandings. This would also apply to maths studies.

Classrooms would need to feature such inquiries, drawing and integrating where necessary, all the Learning Areas. In contrast most primary classrooms spend most of their time and energy on literacy and numeracy, all too often, with little 'connection' (NZC) to other Learning Areas.

The 'essence' and the different perspectives, or ways of thinking, of each Learning Area, are vital to ensure the talents of all students are to be given a chance to be recognised and amplified and to develop key competencies in authentic situations. Currently Learning areas are being neglected simply due to a lack of time and a lack of appreciation of their value, by teachers, of how important they are to individual students.

4 Literacy and numeracy programmes need to be 're framed' to achieve the vision as outlined in the NZC. All to often the are taught as independent of other Learning Areas. This is not to underscore their vital importance as 'foundation skills' but to emphasize they are are also a 'means to an end' - 'confident learners' able to use such 'basic skills' to interpret and express ideas involved in inquiry learning challenges across the curriculum.

Future schools need to integrate into the literacy block all the skills students need to read and research information and also ways to express ideas gained. This would include aesthetic design and presentation skills and use of appropriate information technology. Meaningful skills of research reading are obviously of vital important if the limited time given to inquiry learning is to be taken advantage of. Every opportunity to integrate inquiry content into literacy block would, in effect, 'kill two birds with one stone'. First drafts of research tasks should be completed in this time to allow students complete their work independently in the afternoon 'inquiry block'. Science experiments ( shared science thinking and writing) could be completed and written up as models during literacy time.

The same integrated concept applies to maths that is required as part of students investigative work. This needs to be modelled in the numeracy block.

Such thinking integrates the morning skills block with the afternoon inquiry learning time ; and provide the means to infuse the Key Competences.

I think the above ideas expressed are worth consideration by schools.

To me, they reflect not only what modern research into learning, and how our brains work, but they also the creative work of both our 'pioneer' teachers and the 'creative' teachers still to be found in our schools. If such ideas were to be implemented then school assessment priorities would need to change to reflect the competencies as outlined in the New Zealand Curriculum. We need to assess what we value.

As mentioned the ideas above could provide the inspiration for a debate about how to implement the vision and the challenge provided by the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum?

It would be beyond much current'tinkering! Dramatic times require courageous thinking; it is time to escape from the limitations imposed by the past before it is too late.

Any thoughts?

Powerful Learning

What do we know about learning? What can we do to create powerful learning? This small readable book by Ron Brandt ( past editor of the ascd) draws upon findings from psychology and research to describe the conditions that promote learning.

Why schools don't implement such ideas is the real problem.


Learning, the introduction of the book, says is an ambiguous term. All forms of life learn - that is, they change their behaviour on the basis of experience.

This book, by Ron Brandt, focuses on creating the conditions for more complex learning - or 'powerful learning'. Young children learn to walk and talk through a natural process of trial and error and some accomplished artists and musicians are described as self taught. People can solve problems and make scientific discoveries without being directed by a teacher.

Some educators, the book states,are sometimes intrigued by the contrast between traditional school practices and the way learning takes place in other settings.

New research now offers teachers the information to make learning more meaningful for all their students.

The following are presented as guidelines for teachers who want to create powerful learners.

1 People learn what is personally meaningful to them. The search for meaning is innate. Problem based learning, or experience, or project based learning, where students investigate real problems, is a means to achieve this in the classroom. In other words people learn when they want to learn. When 'engaged', and if goals are achievable, they will extend effort and will also be appreciative of guided practice. Teachers are advised to tap into students interests and questions and ensure the tasks they negotiate are of optimal novelty and difficulty.

2 People learn when they are accept challenging but achievable goals. There is no limit to growth and educators must not underestimate what students can do. All students have greater potential for learning than is commonly recognised. Students learn more actively when they are challenged to reach for high goals, when teachers demonstrate confidence in their students, and when they are provided the necessary 'scaffolding'. Challenge is tricky as it is only effective if the learner accepts the challenge.

3 Learning is developmental. Because there are predetermined sequences of mental development in children individual and age differences need to taken into account. All learners move along 'novice' to expert' continuum; with new experiences learners may need more concrete step by step assistance. When some expertise is gained they need to be encouraged to show initiative and creativity.

4 Individuals learn differently. Every human brain is uniquely organised and all students make use of different strategies, approaches,and capabilities. The research of Howard Gardner ( 'multiple intelligences') indicates there is no such thing a single general intelligence; 'one size does not fit all'.Teachers need to be expert in 'negotiating' the curriculum with their students, to value students questions,and to provide a growing degree of student choice and control.

5 People 'construct' knowledge by building on their previous ideas. They learn through recognising patterns and their learning is not aways orderly because learning can be 'messy' and intuitive. All learners encounter new learning they 'construct' their knowledge but only if it makes senes to them. Teachers assist this process by challenging students views and/or by introducing material that conflicts with their current ideas. This approach to learning is called 'constructivism' and values acknowledging students 'prior' knowledge; the ideas, attitudes and skills the children bring with them to any learning situation

6 Much learning occurs through social interaction. The most radical of all the 'new ideas' is that the brain is a social brain and learns by relating to, and learning from, the views of others. Teachers need to create their classroom as 'communities of inquiry' where students work together to share ideas to continually negotiate meaning. This social interaction , or teamwork, is a valuable future disposition in the work force.

7 People need feedback to learn. Positive social interaction and respectful relationships allow teachers to provide positive feedback to learners. Students need feedback about the accuracy and relevance of their thoughts and actions. It is vital for feedback to be accurate, timely, and useful. Learners need to know what changes might help.

8 Successful learning involves the use of strategies - which themselves are learned.Learning is both a conscious and a unconscious process. People can learn 'how to learn' by sharing aims, planning targets, and reviewing achievement. Self management ( 'meta cognition' - becoming aware of their own thinking) is critical. Students can be 'coached' to think ahead, to envision possible steps, to reflect on their own progress ( self assessment) and to consider what they might do 'next time'. Future learners need a repertoire of strategies to call upon and to be able to use them effectively ( In NZ our 'new' curriculum calls these capacities 'Key Competencies'). 'Knowing what to do when you don't know what to do' will be a valuable future attribute in changing times and requires that students feel confident enough to act on their intuitions. People learn such capacities unconsciously by picking up on the 'messages' of the class culture as valued and modeled by the teacher.

9 A positive emotional climate strengthens learning. Thinking and learning is closely associated with our emotional well being. Motivation to learn is influenced by the individuals mental state. Positive emotions enhance memory and is associated with curiosity, excitement, laughter, enjoyment, and appreciation. This however does not argue against an orderly and supportive environment as learners need to feel safe so as to be able to take learning risks. Students need to feel their views and questions matter.

10 Learning is influenced by the total environment. Students absorb the values underpinning the class and so educators need to attend to all aspects of the setting - physical, social,and psychological. Our brains are continually monitoring the environment to 'see' if it supportive to our learning, picking up on the attitudes and actions of teachers.

The above guidelines are probably too abstract to be very helpful and educators need to think about them, elaborate them, and then apply them to their own circumstances. The conditions apply as much to teacher and school learning as it does to students and all are intertwined and need to be implemented holistically.

The book concludes that research, and creative schools, shows that these beliefs do work but only if they are shared by all and integrated into the culture of the school.

If we are to develop our students as 'confident, connected life, energetic and enterprising life-long learners' able to be their own 'seekers, users and creators', schools need to develop themselves as 'learning communities'.

This you would have thought, is what schools ought to be.

What's the Point of School?

Guy Claxton, University of Winchester,is one of the UK's foremost thinkers on developing students 'learning power'.

His most recent book is called 'What's the Point of School' and ought to be compulsory reading for anyone involved in education. His book is all about 'rediscovering the heart in education'.

His concept of 'learning power' is very much in line with the Key Competencies of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum (07).


I couldn't wait to receive my copy of Guy Claxton's latest book from Amazon as I have enjoyed his earlier writings. I wasn't disappointed.

'The purpose of education' Claxton writes, is to prepare young people for the future.Schools should be helping Young people to develop the capacities they will need to thrive.What they need and want, is the confidence to talk to strangers, to try things out, to handle tricky situations, to stand up for themselves, to ask for help, to think new thoughts'

'This is not to much to ask', says Claxton, 'but they are not getting it'.

'Education' he says,' has lost the plot'. It is not just the performance that counts, he believes, but rather the 'quality of the learning skills and attitudes in the long run'.

Claxton writes that we have to start by seeing just how bad things are and to appreciate that most of the school reform has made little difference. Claxton provides a viable alternative and his ideas resonates with the direction of our 'new' NZ curriculum.

The key resources that make up a confident learner:

1 Being curious - keen to engage in new challenges.
2 Being resilient - being able to stick with difficult things.
3 Know how to balance your imagination and your logical mind.
4 Wiling to ask for help and receive feedback without getting upset.
4 Being able to step back and take a deep breathe and calmly think things through.

These seem barely more than common sense but Claxton asks why are so few people in education talking about these 'habits of mind'. Young children are born to be enthusiastic learners pursuing whatever takes their attention. What happens to this learning drive or power?; schooling that dulls the mind and spirit rather than one that stretches students' learning power!


We need to move beyond the rhetoric of life long learning and developing all student's potential seen in all school documents.

What is needed is a 'sustained attempt to grow those qualities of curiosity, resilience, imagination and reflection that are collectively going to give you the deep-down confidence you need'.

Calxton's book provides a range of example of how to develop students' 'learning power'.

His message is that schools must change. We ought not to put up with students enduring a passive depersonalised assembly line experience. We now know enough , writes Claxton, that no student need fail if we 'attend more successfully to cultivating the qualities of character and mind that modern life demands; curiosity, imagination, disciplined thinking, a love of genuine debate, skepticism. These are the learning dispositions that students can use their whole lives.

There might be a danger that teachers might, in the process of developing such dispositions, neglect content. Claxton writes about 'learning power' but also states that this 'power' cannot be learnt without in-depth content or interesting and challenging contexts.

There is no doubt that we can do better in education if we ( teachers and parents) have the collective will and imagination. 'Happiness', Claxton writes, ' is better seen as a regular by-product of having done something challenging and worthwhile.'

'If we can help them to discover the things they most passionately want to get better at, and to develop the confidence and capability to pursue those passions, then I think more happiness and less stress will be the result.'

CLaxton hopes his book will 'inspire people to help their students and children become brave and confident explorers, tough enough in spirit, and flexible in mind, to pursue their dreams and ambitions'.

If education has 'lost the plot' we need 'a narrative for education that can engage and inspire children and their families - a tale of trials and adventure, of learning derring-do and learning heroism. Let's fire the kids up with the deep satisfaction of discovery and exploration.They are born with learning zeal; let us recognise, celebrate and protect it, but also stretch, strengthen and diversify It.

You need to to read Claxton's book to fully appreciate the power of the 'learning story' he is so enthusiastic about. All good for me.

Learning:It is all about Passion!

Nigel Ogle - the man behind the Tawhiti Museum. The Tawhiti Museum, an expression of Nigels' passion, is one of the most stimulating museum experiences you will see anywhere.


Although there is a lot of talk about students needing 'future learning capacities' ( called 'key competencies' in the new New Zealand Curriculum) so as to become 'life long learners' it is important to remember that learning needs to be about something. Students interests, gifts and dreams provide the passion that drives individuals to learn more and more...forever.

Author Rebecca Priestly, in her book 'The Awa Book of New Zealand Science', conveys the excitement of science and the thrill of discovery. She writes that she was not prepared for 'the ferocious passion - often crossing the line into obsession' she found in the journals. Reading their writings she found expressions of 'intense excitement' and 'burning curiosity'; a sense of surprise and awe as they made their discoveries.

The myth of the dispassionate rational, and rather boring, scientist is far from the truth. Scientists are driven by their curiosity to explore and explain things that attract their attention. In this respect they have much in common with any two year old, except young people do not have the need to ensure their findings stands up to inspection.

The message is clear for educators, we must do everything to keep alive the curiosity and openness to learning of our students. We need to tap our students innate gifts,interests, talents and dreams and then to encourage them to dig deeper into what attracts their attention.

At the beginning of learning, and science, is curiosity, and with curiosity is the delight in mastery - the joy of figuring it out that is the birthright of every child. One scientist said to another 'What we can't tell then that it's so so much fun' A Nobel prizewinner said 'We were like children playing'. It is, as another said, 'a rage to know - the acute discomfort at incomprehension'.The so called scientific method is not as scientific as you would think and is more a process of enlightened trial and error.

If teachers were to be aware of: the importance of passion and curiosity in learning; the need to explain as best we can; and the process of science, a curriculum would 'emerge'. As well, creative teachers can provide their students experiences with the potential to attract their student's attention . As educationalist Jerome Bruner wrote, 'teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation'.

Back to Nigel.

In an article in our local paper Nigel says he has 'aways been interested in old things - old waggons, old tools - just the feel and character of things' As a young person he collected old things but when he took history at secondary school he was disappointed there was no New Zealand component but, when attending Palmerston North Teachers College, he met tutors really interested in history and, as importantly, interested in the arts.

During this time Nigel visited creative teachers in New Plymouth to see what he said were, 'absolutely inspirational teachers working on what was then called integrated programmes'. They were, he said, 'ground breaking' and after seeing them he said to himself,' Yeah teaching is something I could really do'.


Nigel had short but successful career as a teacher. I had the opportunity to visit Nigel's classroom in those days and was always impressed with the stimulating programmes and environment he developed.

Nigel left teaching in 1980 to establish his museum, a museum that combined not only his deep interest in local history but also integrated his art and teaching skills.

He observed a young boy visiting his museum with his class who threw away his worksheet and 'did a runner' into the museum. Nigel followed him and found him entranced by a display of small figures of Maori in canoes. Nigel engaged the boy in an intense conversation about the display. This is the kind of reaction Nigel said he wants. 'In three questions', Nigel related, 'the youngster had got to the core of that display and related it to place he remembered and had experience of'.

Of a new display he is working on Nigel says, 'It's is all incredibly exciting', I'm working on it 24 hours a day - every waking moment.

Nigel is a brilliant example of a person following his own dreams and passions.


Helping each student realize their passions ought to be central to every learners education - and such passions provide something to develop those future capacities around.

A must read!

I haven't time to write a blog about this book written bu Guy Claxton - one of my favourite writers.

Suggest you check it out using google at Amazon.

Surprisingly inexpensive!

'A powerful and timely examination of why our schools are built to fail, and how to redesign them to meet the needs of the modern world.'

Written with passion blending latest advances in brain science and practical down to earth examples. Outlines the need to develop in all students learning capacities ( the NZC Key Competencies) and how to achieve them.

A powerful voice that has contributing to the thinking of the Ministry and which builds on the ideas of creative teachers who have always being in developing students ability to 'learn how to learn' in tandem with students passion to learn what engages them.

More later.

New Zealand Curriculum 07

The framework for the decades ahead? A lot of things will have to change if its vision of 'confident, creative and connected students' is to be realized.


The New Zealand Curriculum is a confusing and repetitive read and very little in it contains anything new for creative teachers. For such teachers it is a little 'back to the future' but for secondary schools in particular it will be a foreign language.

But for all that the NZC provides an opportunity for teachers to develop their school as learning communities centred on inquiry. It is strongly based on a co-constructivist and personalised approach although it mentions neither.

Cliches abound but they are saying the right things. Students are to be 'confident, creative and connected' 'life long learners' equipped with the 'key competencies' - 'literate, numerate' - 'active seekers users and creators of their own knowledge'. The emphasis on values and the principles all say the right things.

The five 'Key Competencies' , or 'capabilities to become life long learners', are a central feature and are to be caught rather than taught; a 'means as well as an end'.

(1)Thinking is all about students being 'creative, critical', and 'meta cognitive' thinkers, able to 'make sense of their experiences'. 'Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of thinking'. Students need to actively seek and create knowledge' able to 'reflect on their own learning'.

Thinking should 'draw on their personal knowledge and intuition' and be based on 'their questions' and 'challenge their current assumptions'.

(2)Language is all about students 'making meaning' through reading and 'expressing meaning' to writing etc and able to interpret texts and images of all kinds.

(3)Managing Self is all about the importance of 'self motivation', developing 'a can do attitude' and able to set goals and plan their own projects.

(4)Relating to Others is all about developing empathy for others; able to listen to others and 'be open to ideas'.

(5)Participating and Contributing. The need 'to develop a sense of belonging' and be actively involved.

The Learning Areas.

Students are to gain the essence of each area; they are to be seen as ways to assist students 'interpret their world'. Studies selected need to affirm New Zealand's unique diverse cultural identity. There is less emphasis on 'learning objectives' and these are to be 'selected to fit the needs of the students' and the learning context. Strands are to be covered over a period of time and not every year.

It is a shame that there is not a section on inquiry learning as composite statement as the need for such an approach is emphasized in all learning areas.

Learning is to be based on 'real life contexts' to engage and challenge students and that 'connections' between learning areas are to be encouraged.

1 English is about 'enjoying communicating' meaningfully, 'orally, visually and in writing, for a range of purposes'. Students need to 'be critical', able to 'interrogate texts'; able to 'receive, process, and present ideas or information' Able to receive meaning from reading and able to create meaning through all forms of communication.

Further into the curriculum document is states that for year 1-6 students that 'learning builds on the experiences students bring with them', as well as being exposed to the Learning Areas, with a focus on literacy and numeracy along with key competences etc. This is hardly a justification for the current time allowance for such areas.

2 The Arts.This area values children's experiences and are to be seen as powerful forms of expression. The arts provide an opportunities for students to 'use their imagination' and to 'create multiple interpretations'. The arts are all about 'developing students unique artistic expression' and visual arts 'begins with children's curiosity and delights in the senses and stories and develops visual literacy and aesthetic awareness'.

3 Health and PE is all about developing, in every student, a 'sense of wellness' ( Hau Ora) and developing 'resilience and a sense of personal and social responsibility'. PE develops 'positive attitudes towards physical activity'.

4 Mathematics and Statistics is about 'the exploration of patterns and relationships' and 'equips students with an effective means of investigating, interpreting, explaining, and making sense of the world'.

5 Science. is a way of 'investigating, understanding and explaining our natural, physical world and the wider universe'. It is about 'observations, carrying out investigations' and develops a 'respect for evidence'.

6 Social Sciences focuses on 'how societies work' and how people 'participate'. It is about 'people, places, cultures and historical contexts drawn from the past, present and future and from places within and beyond New Zealand'. This area helps students 'appreciate New Zealand's heritage' and develops students' identify as New Zealanders. It also is based on an inquiry approach based on 'students question's, the 'gathering of information', 'analyzing it' and 'reflecting' on findings.

7 Technology assists students develop 'practical skills as they develop models, products and systems'. Good advice is given to study 'fewer contexts in greater depth drawing on learning from other disciplines'. For primary classes it is more an aspect of science?

8 learning Languages to provide 'a means to communicate with people from other cultures'. This would seem to be another aspect of the Social Sciences?

Effective Pedagogy.

Although not mentioned in the NZC the pedagogy is underpinned by a co-constructivist approach to teaching and learning.

Teachers are to:

1 Create a supportive learning environment valuing the 'uniqueness of each learner'. The importance of 'acceptance' and positive 'relationships'.

2 Encourage reflective thought and action. This mirrors the thinking skills competence. Reflective learners are able to 'assimilate new learning, relate learning to what they already know' and 'translate into new actions' and in the process 'develop meta- cognitive ability' - 'the ability to think about their own thinking'.

3 Enhancing the relevance of new learning.Students need to know what, why, about their learning. Teachers are to 'stimulate curiosity, challenge students, and involve them in their own learning.'

4 Facilitate shared learning. To develop the classroom as a community of inquiry and to include in this 'the teacher as a learner'.'Teachers to challenge, support, and provide feedback'.

5 Making connections to prior learning. Children learn when it 'builds on what students already understand'. Teachers 'help students make connections'.

6 Providing sufficient opportunities to learn. Students need 'time to engage, practise and transfer new knowledge.' Teachers may decide to 'cover less' and to do what is selected to 'greater depth' Great advice.

7 Teachers as inquirers. Teachers need to continually 'inquire into the impact of their teaching on their students'.Teachers need to 'decide what is worth spending time on', decide 'what needs their students have', and 'what strategies are likely to help', and to 'evaluate what has resulted' from their teaching.

Assessment. An excellent section.

'The primary purpose of assessment in to improve students learning and teachers teaching.' Assessment is seen as 'ongoing process between teaching and learning. Much of which 'takes place in the mind of the teacher who uses insight' to assist their students. Schools need to be able to show evidence' of their programmes success through selective 'school wide data.'All too often assessment ends up by being the tail that wags the dog!Schools should assess what they value ( learning capabilities?) above and beyond 'basic' skills. Schools are asked 'to gather sufficiently comprehensive evaluation of student progress and achievement and to identify those at risk, and Maori students, to gain further attention.


The School Curriculum.

The New Zealand Curriculum is based on the premise 'all students can learn' and recognises that all students have idiosyncratic needs. The basis for personalisation?

'School have the scope and, flexibility and authority to design their curriculum in response to the needs, talents of individual and groups.'

'Schools may develop their curriculum's around central themes integrating values, key competencies, and skills across a number of learning areas.There is a need to address real life situations so that learning crosses apparent boundaries'.

A question was asked, under Teaching as Inquiry, about what is worth spending time on?. Schools need to look at how they distribute time at present and consider how to re-arrange their priorities to develop their school as communities of inquiry if they are to achieve the NZC Vision of developing 'confident , creative life long learners'.

I wait, in anticipation, to visit such creative 21st C schools. In the past I have been fortunate enough to visit very creative teachers but just imagine a creative school? Or groups of schools!

Power through reading!

Reading, and writing, are not just processes to be 'achieved' but are all about power - power of the imagination, power of gaining messages through literature, and power to gain and share ideas that can change how you think. Unless students, particularly those from from families who lack 'cultural capital', appreciate this power why would they bother to read or write?.

Arguments about literacy never seem to go away. Phonics or whole language arguments occupy literacy critics. Like the nature/ nurture argument the answer is both. Either or arguments only force proponents into corners; the future is always the best of both.

The trouble is that too many teachers can't see past literacy and numeracy demands ( 'targets) to see that it is the evolutionary desire to learn, to make sense of things, that is the most important 'literacy' of all. Guy Claxton calls this 'learnacy'.

If a lack of cultural capital is limiting many students who enter our school system then this is where teachers must begin. This goes well beyond what is called 'whole language' or phonics. Teachers need to look back to pioneer educators who really appreciated the power of personal experience and the power of having the skills to express things that attract learner's attention. It is this power that is the genesis of 'organic' reading and writing programmes. Such an 'organic approach' appreciates that the other learning areas ( now being neglected) are the key to provide motivation for students to utilize their curiosity and imagination.

In New Zealand, one such pioneer, was Sylvia Ashton Warner who developed her ideas in the 50s. Thankfully there are still some creative teachers who still utilize aspects of her ideas. She called her approach 'Key Vocabulary' and started her students reading and writing with words from their own experiences. She saw her young students as having a mind 'inhabited by instincts; wants, fears, desires and loves, hates and happiness. She saw her role as 'engaging in conversation' to help her students express their personal feelings and from their idea their first reading books. She believed in 'using the childs own imagery as working material; not wholly, but enough to keep it alive.' She believed that this native imagery was being replaced by images presented by modern media and when when idea come from somewhere else it results in 'lots of carbon copies' and we of 'get' conformity. 'Books made from their own vocabulary , their own lives, drama, and their own vocabulary, have a natural place in organic work.'

Thankfully there are still some creative junior teachers who continue to use aspects of Sylvia philosophy of valuing the natural imagery of each student as the basis for developing their reading and writing programmes -and with this the desire in each student to continue learning.

In the 60s and 70s these ideas were introduced into upper primary classes based on the ideas of another New Zealand pioneer, Elwyn Richardson. Developmental programmes, whole, or experience based learning, environmental studies, and integrated related arts, all contributed.

Unfortunately much of this creativity has been lost under the pressure of the standardised curriculums and associated accountability demands imposed in the 90s and, today, by the current obsession of schools to achieve reading and maths 'targets'.

The 'new' curriculum (07) offers creative teachers an opportunity to take centre stage once again but we will need new courageous pioneers who are able to inspire others.

Another who really valued the power of literacy was Brazilian educator Paolo Friere. His ideas reflected similar ideas to those of Sylvia Ashton Warner and other creative New Zealand teachers. Paolo worked with illiterate villagers who were under threat from those who oppressed them.

When Paolo, and his co-workers, entered a village his first step was to get the villagers to discuss their lives, interests, concerns and problems.Many were afraid to express their ideas or simply believed that nothing they could do would ever make a difference. It was, what he called, a 'culture of silence' and he set about to teach these villagers 'the awakening of consciousness'.

Slowly the villagers gained the confidence to talk and eventually they put more of themselves into their words, and began to speak with passion and conviction. As they talked Friere noted what he called 'key words'.Friere called these 'generative words' as they generated ideas out of which other words could be built from. Freire would write these words down and show the villagers how to write them, and by writing them, take hold of them, own them, possess them, and have them for their own use.

From such beginnings he was able to help the villagers, after a hard days work, become functionally literate over a period of eight weeks.

Too many of our failing children ( the 'achievement tail') and illiterate adults in the workforce, and in our prisons, have never felt the power of reading and writing. They have never understood the link between their speech and the written word, and that, behind every written word there is a human voice speaking, and that reading is a way to hear what these voices are saying. And, most importantly, that they have their own stories to share with others. This is all about 'learning power' rather than phonics and whole language.

Teachers don't 'teach' students to read, they provide the conditions to tap into students felt concerns to allow the innate evolutionary ability of all learner to 'make meaning' develop.

Sylvia Ashton Warner, Paolo Freire, and many creative teachers, have shown it can be done. What we now need are new creative pioneer teachers with the courage to believe to do whatever it takes. Such teachers, like Sylvia and Paolo, will have to believe that 'authentic' curriculums 'emerge' from their students innate talents, interests, dreams, passions, concerns and problems.

Reading needs to be seen by students as a natural extension of the own learning power. It is all about recognising the human 'voice' through reading and writing. It about recognising the power of their own stories the stories of others.

Reading is about power. It gives students a chance to celebrate who they are, to develop a positive learning identity, able to change things for the better.

Anything that increases peoples sense of their own dignity, competence and worth is sure to contribute to making the word a better place.

Literacy, in this respect, is central to being valuing the individuality of every learner but is not what I see in many classrooms today.

Educational heresy

Sylvia Ashton Warner introduced the idea of developing reading from the children's own experiences in the 1950s.




A recent National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP), looking at primary science teaching, stated that the lack of science teaching in primary schools was due to so little time being available to do science along with teachers lack of knowledge about science content.

It was a predictable finding.A one UK commentator has said ' the evil twins of literacy and numeracy have all but gobbled up the rest of the curriculum'. The same view was expressed by creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson who believes our current school system 'mines the minds' of our young children for literacy and numeracy ignoring other vital talents in the processes. Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences was developed to encourage educators to move away from an obsession with a fixed IQ focused on literacy and numeracy. Both writers see the need to develop the creative strengths of students ( or 'literacys' ) in a variety of creative areas.

A quick visit to any primary school will show that literacy and numeracy still reign supreme taking up all the morning teaching time. 'Targets' required by the Ministry to show 'evidence' of growth naturally focus on literacy and numeracy. As well schools are heavily influenced by formulaic 'best practice' literacy and numeracy contracts. Little time, or energy, is left for making the current studies selected from the other learning areas the focus of class learning. The future promises national testing in literacy and numeracy which will 'narrow' the curriculum even more.

Don't get me wrong, literacy and numeracy are important areas of learning but they ought to be seen as 'foundation skills'. All students need to achieve in these areas but where possible both should be integrated and used as learning 'tools'.

The 'new' New Zealand Curriculum provides inspiration for creative schools to develop exciting programmes based on the needs, interests and talents of their students and places the focus on 'learning how to learn' capabilities - called 'key competencies' in the curriculum.

My advice would be to assure all that students can achieve the agreed school levels in literacy and numeracy but to focus as much of the literacy programme on teaching students to apply and develop their skills in all areas of the curriculum. Students need to know how to to research, to comprehend what they read, and to express their ideas in range of formats ( involving aesthetic design and ICT skills). By this means extending time given to such areas as science. This is the intent of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum.

This type of integrated teaching was once well recognised as the 'New Zealand 'approach'. 'Pioneers' such as Sylvia Ashton Warner and Elwyn Richardson led the way, followed by 'developmental learning' and the 'whole language'( or 'language experience') teaching of the 60s and 70s. The work of Marie Clay, and others, continued this learning centred emphasis. The valuing of personal and environmental experiences was an important element and provided a seamless connection between reading, writing talking , reflecting, thinking, imagining and creative expression. Exciting class studies played a central motivating role in such classrooms

It is these learner centred, holistic, experience based and creative teaching approaches that we ought to look back to for inspiration.

If we were to do this then we would see content studied in depth and where individual students ideas and forms of expression were celebrated in contrast to the superficial studies currently seen or reported in the NEMP research. Such teaching develops the very 'key competencies' that the new curriculum asks of us.

The literacy programme and, to a lesser degree, the numeracy programme, needs to be seen as a diverse time to develop a range of skills and strategies to contribute to the afternoon 'content' programme.

Such ideas provided rich and challenging philosophy for teachers in the days before the imposed curriculum's of the 90s.

As UK educational Guy Claxton writes, 'learnacy is more important than literacy or numeracy! 'Learnacy' is about 'learning power' necessary if all students are to achieve the dispositions and talents to become 'life long learners'. Or, as the 'new curriculum says, 'active seekers, users,and creators' able to achieve 'personal excellence'.

All we need to do is to think hard about the place of our literacy programmes in all this.

A simple vision for literacy wold be ' to learn to read, to read to learn, and to learn read between the lines.

Joyful Learning

Children enjoying a science experiment.Marina Bay School


I was sent an article recently by Steven Wolk, from the Educational Leadership magazine, that should be compulsory reading for all teachers.

Wolk introduces his article by saying, 'joyful learning can flourish in your school if you give joy a chance'.

John Dewey, in 1936, wrote that 'to what avail if students absorb prescribed amounts of information.... if in the process the individual loses his own soul'. More recently, in 1984, John Goodland in his book 'A Place called School' after surveying high schools, wrote that he found an 'extraordinary sameness' and that 'boredom was a disease of endemic proportions, ' he asked, ,why are schools not places of joy?'

Even our 'new', progressive, NZ Curriculum dropped out of its final copy that schools should develop 'a love of learning', present in an earlier draft.

Although written for an American audience Wolk's ideas are relevant to us in NZ. Schools, he writes, should 'be joyful places where the minds of young children are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life'.

Wolk provides ideas for teachers to action to avoid the destructive powers that Dewey mentioned. Wolk writes,'what happens in schools has a deep and lasting effect on the mindsets that children develop towards life long learning.'

It gets back, Wolk writes, to the purpose of learning. What dispositions, he asks , do we want to cultivate? 'Is joy mentioned in any list'?

Wolk does not equate joy with simply having fun seeing it as being gained as the result of doing something personally satisfying.

Wolk outlines eleven essentials to put more joy into learning.

1 Find Pleasure in learning. With pleasurable learning we don't mind possible difficulties invoved in any in learning; we tend to see them as a natural part of learning, so we are far more open to taking risks. Schools need to tap into what children enjoy learning about and also make all school learning more enjoyable.

2 Give Students Choice. How much choice ( or 'ownership') do students have about their learning? Students can be given choices during the school day. Students can be given choice in their studies, the questions they want to explore, and how they wish to express their ideas. Schooling ought to inspire children to ask questions able to design their own tasks.

3 Let Students Create Things. People like to make stuff. Creating something original gives us a tremendous sense of agency and pride. As well, creating things gives us an appreciation of the creative process in action.

4 Show off Students Work. Our schools, and classrooms, should be brimming with wonderful, original student work. Classrooms should 'speak' to visitors.

5 Take Time to Tinker. We all learn by fooling around. Student's imaginative ideas , their intuitive leaps of imagination, should be encouraged. All too often our schools are too planned, leaving no room for spontaneity. We need to free teachers to take risks, experiment, to play with the art of pedagogy, and to feel the joy that comes from such on open approach to teaching.

6 Make school Places Inviting. All spaces, inside and outside of schools, need to be seen as learning spaces.

7 Get Outside. More of the school day should be outside. Fresh air and a sunny day can do miracles for the human spirit. Children need to have their sensory awareness expanded.To sit under a tree to read, draw, think, or talk. Much of our science could directly include the outdoors. Ecosystems are all around.

8 Read Good Books. Make sharing good literature an important feature of all classrooms. Give students time to share their own stories. All study topics have themes which provide opportunities to introduce good literature.

9 More Physical Education and Arts. In America many students have no art, music, and drama and little time for PE. For many students these are the areas that many children have strengths in and gain joy from.

10 Transform Assessment. Assessment is a pert of life and students need to see it as an important part of the learning process. We should make more use of immediate feedback, narrative assessment, self assessment, portfolios of authentic work, presentations, exhibitions and performances.

11 Have Fun Together. Teachers need to take a break from the seriousness of the school day and have some fun together. Anything that tears down the walls that often get built inside schools and builds more caring relationships is to be encouraged

Wolk concludes by referring back to John Dewey quote and says that schools can sap our souls is just as true for teachers as it is for students


If principals can help teachers find joy in their work, and help their teachers strive to 'own their own teaching' the teachers can enter their rooms every morning enthusiastic to help their students experience joy in their learning.

Myths of Inqury Based Classrooms

Students, as a part of an intensive bird study, undertake detailed observational study based on a 'stuffed' pheasant.

Canadian educator Sharon Friesen outlines myths of inquiry based classrooms in Canada in her video presentation.

Her ideas about how 'knowledge is created' are worth sharing.

1 Some teachers see no place for the teacher.This results in a lack of engagement by teachers and can be seen as a form of abdication. I can't see this as a problem in New Zealand where teachers, all too often, have been encouraged to apply intrusive 'best practices' teaching. Thankfully it is mostly restricted to literacy and numeracy teaching.

2 Teachers who do not learn alongside their students do not give their students timely feedback. Once again not such a problem in New Zealand where teachers over 'coaching' all too often results in quality work lacking in any individuality or real creativity!

3 Teachers do not act on student misconceptions. In new Zealand this would not apply in the literacy and numeracy programmes but applies in the, all too often, 'lightweight' content studies students undertake.

4 Teacher act as just facilitators. This role is not enough to ensure deep understanding in content areas. Teachers need to act as guides, coaches, advisers, co-learners, mentors, co- inquirers.

5 Teachers who feel they don't have to have in depth knowledge themselves as inquiry is about 'how to learn' not content. Teachers need to know both process and knowledge if their students are to develop in depth understandings. This is an issue in many New Zealand classrooms in content areas as science and social studies.

6 Students can learn by themselves. This myth is an abdication of teacher responsibility and is a form of abandonment.It is akin to handing the asylum over to the inmates. Hardly an issue in New Zealand literacy and numeracy programmes.

7 Teachers believe all student's answers are equally valid. This is obviously not so and teachers need to challenge and expand students ideas and theories. Once again this only applies in New Zealand to 'shallow' content studies.

Freisen is writing about Canadian teachers and from a position that develop a spirit of inquiry is central to all learning. Students need to be helped to create, through inquiry, their own knowledge so as to develop in depth understandings.

Inquiry teaching needs to be cultivated if we are to develop students able to thrive a unpredictable, but potentially exciting, 21stC.

Inquiry as a disposition

Students at Opunake Primary School dig deeply into life in Captain Scott's Antarctic hut as part of their in depth inquiry learning project about Antarctica.

The following blog is taken from a video presentation given by Canadian Sharon Friesen. Well worth spending five minutes to listen for yourself.


The biggest myth, Canadian educator Sharon Freisen says, is that inquiry is not just something you do, it is a disposition that underpins all teaching. Inquiry is a vital means of ensuring students develop deep understanding of what they study. Far too much of what is called inquiry, Sharon says, is shallow teaching.

This is certainly the case of much of what I see when I visit New Zealand classrooms. Unfortunately in our classrooms all too often there is simply not the time left after literacy and numeracy demands are taken care of. An inquiry disposition needs to be central to all learning.

Inquiry, Sharon outlines, involves a number of processes.

It is about students and teachers bringing their experiences to the learning situation.

The it is adding information to the mix

From this creating knowledge.

All in order to develop deep understanding.

This fits well with the New Zealand Curriculum of seeing students as 'seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge'. I would add to this phrase 'and their own judges'. It also links to the thinking of the creative New Zealand teachers of the 60s and 70s, before the imposition of standardized curriculums and accountability pressures.

Inquiry learning, Sharon continues, is about teaching and learning for deep understanding.It is knowledge, learner, and assessment centred teaching. In many New Zealand classrooms, if inquiry teaching is to be seen, it all too often centres around 'how to learn' processes and seems to downplay an appreciation of valuing deep understanding. Both, of course, are required.

Sharon makes the point that having an 'inquiry disposition' applies as much to teachers as the students. It is all about 'keeping the spirit of inquiry awake'.Teachers, she says, need to challenge themselves as well as their students. Once again this is in the spirit of the New Zealand Curriculum. Unless teachers model inquiry processes in their actions they cannot cultivate it in their students.

Sharon makes the very important point that you 'need something worthy of inquiry' to engage students. The topics students involve themselves in need to be worthwhile to avoid inquiry becoming 'trivial'.

Sharon reminds us that a time when the spirit of inquiry was fully awake was the Renaissance. At this time of awakening everything was questioned at a fundamental level. We are, she states, exactly at the same point again with the development of new information technology. In the Renaissance the inventions of the telescope, the microscope, the printing press, and navigational tools all inspired a total rethinking.

The spirit of inquiry is at centre stage again. It is important that schools do not trivialize this challenge. What is required , she says,is major transformational shift. Inquiry must permeate all aspects of our teaching and learning if students are to understand themselves and their world.

The end product of an inquiry should not only result in deep understanding but in new questions to explore. Inquiry is a continual disposition to question everything. It is about going deeply into what is to be learnt. To be truly engaged, Sharon concludes, is 'hard fun'.

Sharon's challenge aligns well with the spirit of our 'new' New Zealand Curriculum.

All we need now are for our schools to become 'communities of inquiry'.

Guy Claxton- 'Learning Power'

If you want to read a book that may change your mind about teaching and learning - or confirm intuitive thoughts you have always had, get yourself a copy of this book. I note I bought my copy in 2001 and my copy is almost falling apart with re-reading and underlining. I also note that he has a new book out called 'What's the Point of School'? published 2008. I am hooked - I must get a copy.

On the cover of Guy Claxton's book there is a quote from actor John Cleese, 'Just occasionally I get the feeling that somebody has said something important.

I have to agree.

I have never met Guy Claxton but once when I was working in a school in Hastings(NZ) the principal went off to a seminar to hear him speak. On return he passed on to me the 'messages' that he picked up.

Since then I have done my best to read everything he has written .I now have three of his books, each one challenging my thinking further than the previous. First I read 'Wise- Up', then 'Hair Brain Tortoise Mind' and most challenging of all, for me, 'The Wayward Mind'. I would recommend 'Wise-Up' or do a search of for his articles on 'google'. Maybe his latest book might sum up his present ideas about teaching and learning and be the one to get?

For those, who do their best to keep up with the ideas that 'trickle down' from the Ministry, they will recognise many of Claxton's ideas. He is evidently on their list of approved thinkers but this is not surprising for his thoughts align well with the direction of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum. Claxton's ideas make a great antidote to all the standardized curriculums that the Ministry was previously in favour of and insisting that schools comply with. Thankfully, for creative teachers and schools, the Ministry 'experts' have changed their minds.

Claxton is to return to New Zealand in November to run seminars and work with lucky schools and the Ministry.

Claxton is a believer that to thrive in the future students need to develop their 'learning power', or as we so often hear these days their 'learning capacity'. The NZC calls these future dispositions the 'key competencies'. Art Costa, in his writings, calls these future dispositions 'habits of mind'. Some us will be more familiar with the phrase 'learning how to learn' as against focusing only on content.

Claxton outlines in 'Wise-Up' his four 'Rs'; resilience, resourcefulness, reflection and reciprocity.

He also believes that Western thinking has focused too much on logical rational thinking ( which he calls 'fast', or 'hair brained', in his second book).This kind of linear thinking, he writes, is useful for solving problem to which there is an obvious answer. Unfortunately for most of the real problems facing individuals and nations such thinking is inadequate. Instead he believes in the power of reflection ,or meditation, of letting the mind have time to come up with its own answers. To solve such problem his advice is to 'prime' the mind and then to stop thinking and let answers just 'come to mind'. Go fishing, he suggest and who knows what you will start thinking about. The creative process is at best messy. This , he says, is how many of the important ideas have come to many of our great thinkers and creative individuals. In fact all of us. This 'slow-thinking' he calls our 'tortoise-mind'.

This 'slow thinking' is the realm of the unconscious and has been neglected by Western thought. Through exposure, and through the myths and stories we share, ideas seep into our unconscious and becomes available as and when required. The history of how we have seen the unconscious since the beginning of history is the theme of his book 'The Wayward Mind'.

Claxton believes that 'young people need to mull and drift as well purposefully problem solve, and therefor believes flexibility, adaptability, resourcefulness and creativity to be the qualities through which we can become truly educated. The key to being a life long learner is to have the confidence to 'know what to so when you don't know what to do'. One of his saying, that is now a,favourite of mine, is that, ''learnacy' is more important than literacy and numeracy'.

I do like the sound of his most recent book,'What's the Point of School'

Does maths deserve its time

Even Einstein worried that modern schooling had the potential to destroy the joy of learning. What is about maths that makes it worth keeping in our curriculum? Why are so many students 'turned off' mathematics? Are we using maths time wisely?


I am no expert in mathematics. I retain within me negative attitudes towards the subject gained from my schooling that stay with me to this day. There must be countless other adults who have similar feelings about school maths.

For all this the place of mathematics is rarely questioned.

As we enter the 21stC schools ought to be reflecting about the attributes and disposition that they want all students to gain from their school experiences. This surely is what is being asked with the introduction of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum?

All learning experiences need to be judged as to how they contribute to the overall vision of education that each school is being asked to define for itself to suit the needs and talents of their students.

All too often, however, how time is assigned to various subject areas remains unquestioned. Long after the Industrial Age has past, with its need for an elite of clerical workers, the Victorian 'three Rs' still remain central to learning. For those who failed in those days there were plenty of low skilled jobs available. This situation no longer exits. All students now need to gain success from their schooling.

Future students face an ever changing unpredictable complex world that will require new sets of attitudes - or key competencies as defined in the NZC.

As educationalist Guy CLaxton writes 'learnacy' ( or 'learning power') will be more important than traditional literacy and numeracy.

Looking around schools little has really changed. Literacy and numeracy still rule supreme and little time is left to introduce a range of rich learning experiences needed to provide contexts to develop future 'learning power'.

It seems only an outsider can see that the Emperor has no clothes because those in the system have no inclination to challenge the assumptions about how time is apportioned nor the the 'messages' that such an uneven approach gives to their students.

Mathematics ( leaving literacy aside ) seems to have claimed an unassailable place, as of right, in the daily timetable. But, according to Guy Claxton, 'its warrant is under scrutiny'. As the core purpose of education is being contested, he writes, 'powerful new models of teaching and learning are being proposed, and mathematics is in need of a new rational'.

He provides three challenges about the place of mathematics.

First it is not clear that much of mathematics is as directly useful as it has traditionally claimed to be. Many people, he writes, lead happy and successful lives with only basic maths. Research indicates that many people learn what they need through experience or need ( to play darts in the pub). Other research shows that children with a 'playful exploratory approach' to maths develop confidence in the future to involve themselves in more abstract maths later in life. If students are 'turned off' maths them they withdraw from future maths experiences.It seems many students, when faced up to a maths problem, give themselves a few seconds and then give up.

The message for teachers is to find ways to make maths fun and to teach maths in rich meaningful contexts. Less maths done well may mean deeper lasting understanding; much of what is currently taught is soon forgotten if not used regularly in meaningful situations.

Perhaps doing fewer things well would be a valuable idea as would, integrating maths in other areas of learning and defining what aspects of maths ought to be in place at any level, if positive attitudes are to be retained. If teachers focus on introducing fun exploratory maths then time can be reduced and used for other neglected learning areas such as science ? Seymour Papert , the computer educationalist, believes all maths( and science) should be applied.

A good idea is to make it clear when they are doing 'practice maths' and when they are doing real maths - applying it in real situations so they understand what maths is.

The second point Claxton makes is that their is no evidence to the claim that maths provides valuable generic training of the mind ( an argument once used for Latin). To achieve 'transfer' teachers have to highlight where and why maths is used in other problem solving situations.

The third point made is that there is no reason that maths should retain its central role in the school day. The worldview that sees mathematics as so central to learning is archaic.

Teachers need to be alert to see the maths potential in any learning experience including exploring the maths potential of the natural and man made environment.

The best maths, or any learning, is 'just in time' learning, rather 'than just in case', where the need to learn the maths required to solve a worthwhile task is obvious. During such learning students are able to construct their own meanings making what is learnt 'stick' in their brains available for future use; it seems it is a matter of 'use it or lose it'.

In such a classroom the boundaries between the traditional 'disciplines' becomes increasingly permeable. Mathematics becomes a valuable learning tool to solve problems.

According to Claxton, the the fixation of intelligence with literacy and numeracy has been shattered beyond repair. 'Learnacy', the desire to continue learning, is the real issue.

The important issue is to develop the positive appropriate habits of mind - the key competencies of the NZC. It is such attributes that schools should be focusing on achieving. To achieve such a vision will mean 'disrupting' current ways of assigning time to such areas such as mathematics.

Everybody ought to get a feel for mathematics and have the necessary skills and attitudes to make use of maths as necessary. No one is arguing that maths needs to replaced just redefined to suit the 21stC. Many mathematical topics are themselves ideal means to develop future dispositions as well as being embedded into other learning are problems.

Thankfully there have always been educationalists who have seen mathematics as creative and aesthetic and practical to provide resources and guidance. As well there are many creative teachers who have aways seem maths as both a creative learning area in its own sake and who integrate it creativity in the learning problem that provide the learning 'energy' of their classrooms.

Maths in this sense is creativity in action.

Powerful processes or in depth learning - or both?

Developing 'learning capacity' or developing students interests, talents, passions and dreams - or both?


A few things have been worrying me of late.

One is this emphasis on 'learning capacity' ( as seen by key competencies) as the central purpose of education . Another is the sidelining of in depth knowledge and the neglect of developing students talents and passions and the last is, what has really changed in primary classrooms to develop this learning capacity? Currently literacy and numeracy 'gobble up' most of the learning time. Is it all just rhetoric?

Learning, Mary Chamberlain from the Ministry says, has been strengthened in the New Zealand Curriculum through the inclusion of the key competencies and by an emphasis on pedagogy. She asks what is it that makes us want to learn? Her answer is if we feel have competencies and a positive disposition, it is these things that influence who we become.

Do they?

Is how students learn just as important as what they learn? Reading Mary's talk it seems the former but my experience of interesting people it is what they know and can do that singles them out. Obviously it is both.

Mary sees the competencies as 'the enablers' but I question is what what drives students to want to learn, and in the process develop these 'enablers'.

Students, Mary says, need to know you believe in their ability to learn and that you will support their dreams and encourage them to value effort and practice. No one would disagree with the above. I would just put more emphasis on the dream bit.

My worry is that the new emphasis on learning capacities and competencies is encouraging teachers to neglect in depth content. I see too many shallow studies where all that can be observed is an emphasis on learning capacities students have developed resulting in 'fragile' learning.

I do agree with Mary that plastering classroom walls with 'mind maps' and 'thinking hats' etc is not the answer, although, unlike Mary, I would not include Gardner's multiple intelligences because they are at the heart of what drives learners to learn.

To achieve in depth learning, Mary says, students need to be able to set goals, persist, work with others and look for links with other learning areas. Nothing new in any of that.

Quoting Margaret Carr ( University of Waikato) Mary continues that for a student successful learning is also a matter of inclination, of confidence, of knowing what is appropriate, and believing you have right to be curious to ask questions.

The right to be curious and to ask questions is, for me, the key to all learning.

Curiosity is an evolutionary drive as is the need to continually learn about whatever attracts the learner's attention. Curiosity is at the heart of all disciplined learning and leads into idiosyncratic talent development, or specialisation, and a growth of in depth of 'know how'. As A S Neil wrote , 'true interest is the life force of the whole personality'.

Competencies are obviously important but the development of lifelong deep interests are as important.

A few changes of emphasis in Mary's talk and I would have few arguments. Students obviously pick up learning habits from those around them who talk about their own learning. Fair enough but they are also inspired by seeing talented people demonstrate their skills. Students do need to be surrounded by adults who model and articulate competencies but are more impressed when such people demonstrate admirable talents that appeal to them.

Teachers need to focus on creating learning situation that inspire learners, that tap into their curiosity as well as focusing on developing learning capacities. I guess I am making a case not to lose the power that is gained from achieving ones personal best in an area that is meaningful to the learner as a compensation for an unbalanced approach to process. As Elwyn Richardson, one of New Zealand's pioneer educators wrote, ' a study without content is a study at risk'.

How the content is learnt is the issue and this is where a co-constructivist pedagogy comes into play; teachers rightfully being seen, as Mary says, as 'learning coaches' who are able to subtly 'scaffold learning' through feedback and focused assistance. Process and content knowledge are both vital. In my argument the coach does needs to know, his or her, content if fragile learning is to be avoided. A good 'coach' Mary says uses a 'split screen approach', an idea attributed to Guy Claxton, where the teacher teaches content/concept development with one part of the screen and strengthens learning capacity with the other. This is a valuable metaphor.

It is obvious that Mary has been influenced by the writings of Guy Claxton who has written that simply achieving does not make better learners. To be a competent learner students need the disposition to support their own continual learning and this is where the competencies come into the equation. Being a self learner, equipped with strategies, is vital.

I am simply making a case to value students interests and potential talents and to help students 'dig deeply' into such areas; to do fewer things really well.

Mary suggests that to develop learning as an active process it is important to look carefully about how time is used in the classroom.

This brings me back to classrooms I observe where the day is almost given over to literacy and numeracy leaving little time to expose students to a wide range of potential interests and ideas. This ought be impossible to justify but it does not seem to concern many principals or the Education Review Office. Or even the Ministry.

Mary shares idea about classroom environments from Claxton and Carr where they talk about 'inviting' and 'potentiating' classrooms. Inviting room make learning attractive but not necessarily 'stretching' while the latter are both appealing and challenging - developing capacity and new content.

Such rooms are aligned to the creative classrooms I have aways believed in. Guy Claxton believes such classrooms develop 'learning power' based on four Rs: Resilience, resourcefulness, reflection and relationships. He has written that 'learnacy' is more important than literacy and numeracy.This is obviously not what school are currently reflecting!

Mary concludes that 'expanding capacity to learn in these ways is a key goal of education' and that 'openness to learning is a key to success'.

I am just reminding people that another vital component is for students to develop their own set of personal interests and talents and to dig as deeply as they can into all they learn about.

I agree with Mary that if the curriculum is successful we will see our kids becoming more confident and more capable in the face of uncertainty and complexity.

I just want talented future orientated citizens as well.

Schools for talent development

The New Zealand Curriculum places great emphasis on ensuring all students leave school with the 'key competencies' in place but perhaps the real emphasis ought to be placed on the why students would want to use them - the inspiration to learn.

In the future we will need every kind of 'specialist' mind . Minds that excel in a few things even they may be inadequate at others. Everybody, it is now appreciated, has their own mix of talents and weaknesses. Developing strengths of individual students, and helping them compensate for weaknesses, is the role of education.

Imagine a school where all teachers dedicated to finding out what affinities,talents or gifts each student brings with them and then doing their best to value and amplify them. This has always been the dream of creative teachers throughout the ages. Such an approach would really value student individual differences and would result in the personalisation of learning.

Teachers should celebrate students strengths because such strengths provides students meaning in their lives enabling them to make worthwhile contributions to class life. For the most part adults who are leading worthy live do so by mobilizing their strengths and affinities. Teacher and parents should seek a consonance between a students education and their future career.

Providing experiences that have the potential to uncover and amplify such talents is the task for creative educators. It is not that strengths need to be seen as fixed as they will change and develop with age and experience.

Brains are extremely plastic and everyone learns in an idiosyncratic way .Many children fail to learn because traditional teaching methods are not in 'synch' with their individual needs, or simply ignore the motivating power of using students interests to learn. If students want to achieve something important to them they will often be prepared to learn whatever is necessary.

All too often those children with specialised minds are neglected as they are forced to achieve what their teachers have decided they need to learn. Education suits the well rounded academic learner at the expense of the strangely creative who in later life often prove their teachers wrong.

When students become involved in areas of strength, or personal interest, they are prepared to push themselves far beyond teacher expectations. In such purposeful situations students are often prepared to develop missing skills they once might have rejected. The best way to learn to read well is to read about something you know a lot about or want to learn more about.

Wise teachers will work with students and their parents to discover possible areas of interest. The eight intelligences defined by Howard Gardner make an excellent model to assist identification of areas of interests.

To value students strengths students need to be given time to develop their learning projects. It is important that all students do what they choose to do as well as they can and that they be given help to achieve quality learning according to particular needs.

This does not mean that every students will be following up only their personal set of interests but rather when topics are introduced into the learning environment teachers take advantage of individual students strengths to explore and express ideas. This approach aligns with teamwork in adult learning situations.

If school focus on uncovering student affinities from an early age students will find their education more relevant and will continue to remain life long learners with the possibility of ending up in occupations that match their talents.

By age eight or nine affinities should become obvious to teachers and parents and there is nothing wrong with students digging deeper in to such high personal interests are in consecutive years. This is how anyone with a deep interest progresses. Some children will become well known as school 'experts' in any number of things from spiders to computer use.

At the very least, every year after say year two, students ought to be given the opportunity to research a problem or topic that is of personal interest to them. Such a study would make an ideal way for teachers to assess whatever they count as inquiry learning competencies.

For such personalised projects students would need to plan and discuss how they are going to go about their project and what they hope to learn or find out about. They will need to consider how they intend to present, communicate, or demonstrate their learning. They will need to define their 'key questions' and consider their first steps.They then need to consider what information they will need (and where they will get it from) so as to gain some depth of insight to their chosen task. Finally they need to define who their intended audience will be.

For students to develop quality results teachers will have had to have introduced to the students, in previous class or group studies, all the information processing and expressive techniques for students to choose from.

Tapping into students affinities and talents is something that all teachers can include in their programmes. For other teachers it could well become a way of working that underpins all their teaching.

If this were the case teaching would become an artistic and creative activity a redefining education as we currently envisage it.

Tidy desks vacant minds?

Albert Einstein apparently maintained his desk in stupendous disarray. When it was suggested to him that a cluttered desk equates to a cluttered mind he replied,'And what does a tidy desk signify?'

I was returning from doing some work in one of our major cities when I ran across a principal I used to know in earlier years. He had just returned form the annual New Zealand Principal's Conference. I asked him what did he pick up from it all. He went on to talk about tidying his desk, passing more executive work onto his secretary and getting into the classrooms more. When he saw the look of amazement on my face he changed the subject.

Back home I asked the same question of another principal friend of mine and he went on to say similar things and how it had changed his life as a principal. I couldn't resist pulling his leg and I hurt his feelings. Didn't he already know this? I thought it was common sense? But it seem all over New Zealand principals are now Malachi Pancoast converts.

I had to search 'google' to find out Pancoast's hardly new 'powerful' message. It seems principals worldwide have become locked in their offices managing, or complying, obsessively to everything that goes on in their school with no time left to focus on what Steven Covey many years ago called, 'the main thing'. Covey wrote about the unimportant but urgent taking up time that ought to be spent on the important but not urgent; focusing on learning and teaching rather than fighting fires.

A few years ago a fellow principal asked me how many hours I spent on the job ( this was following a graph showing some principals working every hour God gave them!) and I said I was at the bottom of the graph. He admitted so was he and we both wondered what were the others actually doing? We, of course, agreed we were both effective pricipals!

Back to Pancoast 'enlightening' advice. It was all about reducing principals workloads; to work less but to be more effective. He told the principals that that they had absorbed the secretaries job as well as their own; that they needed to be out in the classrooms as a learning coach for their teachers.

Then came the big stuff.He advised principals to clean out their offices of anything personal and reeducate the secretary to take over work that they had been doing. Get her to handle all mail and paper work, get her to decide who gets to see you, meet with her daily to sort out actions for her to complete.

This was followed up principals re assigning two days to classroom coaching and support, three days in the office and and no work to go home in the evenings or weekends.

This is one book I could have written. Not the neat and sterile office stuff but leaving as much to other as possible so as to focus on being in classrooms. This is how I used to work and was also the case for other creative principals who believed it was all about teaching and learning - not endless clear folders. I was just discussing yesterday with my old secretary how we worked. She thanked me for empowering her.

I take up defence though for messy offices and thinking. Messy is just more effective than neat and tidy when it comes to creativity. Obsession with order is becoming a malady in modern management. Compulsive tidiness has its downsides and although it might suit the left brained 'control freaks' it is counter productive for right brained individuals who thrive in a mess that makes sense to them. Ironically when people tidy up things you often hear them say,'Since I have tidied up I can't find a thing!'

I can't see Pencoast's ideas being much use at a creative environment such as Google Headquarters which is anything but sterile and impersonal. There creative disorder is the name of the game to powerful effect. Google has a lot of 'play' in their system. The talented and trusted individuals who work there are given 20% of their time for their own pursuits. For all this Googles over all aim is the fierce pursuit of creativity, excellence and innovation; the results are anything but a mess.

So my advice is for principals, by all means return your focus to where it always should have been - teaching and learning but don't lose your creative soul in the process.

Remember a pinch of mess is an important ingredient in the creative process. As Einstein is claimed to have said , 'an empty office may only be the sign of an empty mind'.