Australian educator gives final broadside - lessons for New Zealand

Extinguished Guest Writer

Phil Cullen

Ex Director Primary Schools Queensland

The Janus Look

Phil's website 

An earlier letter from Phil worth a read

I’m totally disillusioned and disappointed by the lack of interest in the effects of NAPLAN on the lives of young Australian children shown by those who should care more than they do about child development and the nasty treatment of children at school. As a consequence. I worry a great deal about the future of our great country. I’ve been around for a while, done a lot of things connected to primary schooling, so I’d like to share an overview of what I reckon has happened during my life with kids; and then predict what is likely to happen.

I took over my first classroom in May 1946. I was so proud. I had always wanted to be a primary school teacher and I had arrived! I still love primary schooling 67 years later. Love it. Love it. Love it.

I started teaching in the way that I was taught, the way that everybody seemed to teach...from the front of the classroom near a blackboard with a desk and large space all of my own, spending a lot of time yapping my head off across a demilitarised zone to the youngsters who sat still in a confined space all day facing me. It was standard practice.The techniques were based on fear. Teachers had taught this way for hundreds of years, since the Dame Schools, Charity Schools and Common Schools first tried teaching in groups. Such explicit, didactic, sermonising forms of instruction featured, as a rule, some pretty nasty bang, crash, wallop techniques. They only worked for a few easily frightened kids.  – of the birch, of endless repetitive listings, of detention and public disgrace – applied to learning. We all believed in the prevailing dogma that children would not pass any examinations unless they were roused enough to fear the consequences of failure.

When Grammar Schools wanted to judge the scholastic ability of those who might be allowed to enter their hallowed halls, written tests for applicants became favoured, so much so that governments took over their preparation, publication and distribution. In my home state, it was called the Scholarship Examination. From it, the examination bug went feral. Those that could ‘pass’ them were offered privileges; those who couldn’t were dumped. The successful continued being schooled in a new arrangement of classroom setting, based on subjects that could be tested. The rest were not wanted at school and had to educate themselves out in the big bad world at about fourteen years of age. Not the best of schooling models, but the only one we knew. All children were schooled following the premise that universities wanted only the best scholars and schools should prepare everyone for a likely academic future. Schools were not run for ‘also rans’.

This sort of toxic psychology lasted for some years and, to my eternal shame, I was a part of it. I wasted midnight oil, school time and professional gumption -- retarding children’s development by being crazily focused on testing. Then, I realised that there is nothing honourable, nor ethical, nor professional about stern blanket testing, especially the prevailing 2013 dirt-raking political kind that is endemic to standardised external blanket testing. Never has been. Never will be. It took two little Year 2 pupils to make me notice how much stress, unhealthy competition, creative dullness and missed learning opportunities I was causing. I just hadn’t given a thought to professional ethics nor to the emerging knowledge about the school conditions necessary to help people to learn with self-motivated enthusiasm....without fear. Others were learning that the 3Ls [Love, Laughter and Learning] were essentials for high performance in the 3Rs....while I was mistakenly chasing high performance through tests. Slow learner that I was, I then did a complete 180 degrees. I now hate blanket testing with origins beyond the schools with an intense hate, that I never thought I could possess.

If I had taught them learnacy, then top levels of personal numeracy and literacy achievements would have come as a natural consequence, Hells, Bells and Buggy-wheels, we have NAPLAN running our programs. The longer that Australia’s NAPLAN has the kind of control that it has, the more that reasons arise for all teachers to hate and despise Standardised Blanket Testing supplied by non-local-school personnel. It stinks to high heaven and no form of it should ever exist.

Real learning

This model of test-based schooling, well entrenched in world schooling during my early career and not much different from present-day SBTs like NAPLAN and having the same negative effect on children, lasted in all western countries until the 1960s. In my home state, the rigorous Scholarship examination held at the end of primary school was abandoned in 1962 and the most advanced, most exciting, most learning focused period in the history of education memed itself around the world during this period. It arrived in Australia with the greatest examples of thought-provoking literature in history translated into a remarkable array of learning based models of schooling. Principals started to grasp autonomy and run their schools based on professionally based readings and personal research. What decent principal has to wait for autonomy to be granted from up-high, anyhow? What level-headed authority figure can claim to ‘grant autonomy‘ to somebody else. [Fair go, Peter and your like-minded State Ministers Stop playing God.] I’d love to list those schools that engaged in innovations that each principal believed would work and did....different from each other - sure. I can’t list them all. I’d leave out too many. If you give me a call, I’ll tell you about some of those schools that proudly based their teaching on multi-aged groupings or Emotions-ABC or play-way or thinking [de Bono style] or resource-rich subject centred or mastery learning or Literature-based.... or one [but it applied to many] which displayed “Living, Learning Laboratory” outside the school. The sign should now display “Testing Factory”.

The 1960s to 1980s was the most progressive period in history. It produced the creative geniuses that have since provided us with more comfortable living and working standards far beyond the expectations of the citizens of the period. Schools and their clients were free to learn, free to innovate. The world started to become a very small oyster. Achievement became self motivating; and schools were starting to use shared and self-evaluation techniques that involved the pupil, the parent and the teacher in the pursuit of excellence. A visit to a fair-dinkum child-oriented classroom was so exciting one could almost touch the LEARNING atmosphere. You could certainly feel it.

The present encouragement of didactic modes of instruction did not have the high priority that is now promoted in the test-based atmosphere of the classroom. Indeed the teachers, moved off the stage and shared more face-to-face maieutic and group modes than had ever been tried. It was working well. During this truly Golden Age of Education [1960s-80s], children were enjoying the role of ‘pupil’ with a caring teacher: “I learn. You teach. We’ve got this contract. Treat me as a pupil, not as a student!!” Today, in 2013, they should be internalising. “Hey Teach, You’re breaking the contract. Get rid of this NAPLAN crap and get back to pupilling.” NAPLAN now rules schooling. It shouldn’t; should it?

Even the School Inspectors, once feared apostles of the testing regime and making judgements about school quality from their own backboard tests and oral questioning, changed during the 60s and 70s. Appointed from the outstanding principals of the day, they free-ranged around their schools to assist in any way they could. The knowledge that they had accumulated over extensive experiences was shared. They knew what a good school was and what a bad school was without using paper-and-pencil tests. They knew which was which within minutes of arrival.They gathered pollen from the best practices that they had experienced and better ideas blossomed. Some were working partners of the State’s curriculum development. They worked with close contact to the specialist curriculum officers and the State’s multi-representative PCC – Primary Curriculum Committee. Quality control and guidance was at its peak. Curriculum changes and their effects on classroom activities were moderated at the classroom level and discussed with all and sundry as to effectiveness. Changes were alive, accepted or rejected; a far cry from the time when curriculum changes were received in the post.

[We had learned over the years that top-down curriculum innovations originating from desk-wallahs in centralised other places, just don’t work. New Maths, Cuisenaire, Whole Word or Phonic based Reading are examples. Nothing that is not endorsed unanimously by classroom teachers will work. That’s why NAPLAN, now in charge of the curriculum, wont help anything. It’s taking longer to get rid of than most execrable impositions have taken because the business- based cum profit-making cum totalitarian political force imposing its dictatorial will on the conduct of schooling is stronger than any previous.]

Things were going well, until, in mid-1980s, befuddled academics with high level politico-bureaucratic control absorbed a special scato-meme invented by corporate managerialists from Up-over somewhere, who believed only in impersonal structural alterations just for the sake of change. In scatological terms, it came from the bottom of the pit. In my state, the Education Minister and the Director-General, both of whom had had unpleasant experiences in their short teaching careers decided to get rid of Inspectors and those sections that were concentrating on curriculum delivery, teaching and learning and teacher development and seemed to be enjoying it. The pair just didn’t like their own lack of control over effective schooling and felt inadequate. So, they blatantly manipulated fellow officers and deceitfully arranged for a ‘preferred option’ to be preferred because it was the one that they wanted. With skilful adherence to managerialism’s impersonal forms of structure, they arranged for learning activities to be ‘outsourced’, introduced ‘performance indicators’ that relied on best-written CVs and thespian skills, ‘down-sized’ the Inspectorate by summarily removing their positions, and removed the school-experience-base of primary and secondary schooling by getting rid of divisional control. Out went any semblance of an Education Department that was supposed, from time immemorial, to be school based.

They made things easy for a rookie Premier, under the influence of managerial high-flyers such as Peter Coaldrake and Kevin Rudd to confuse the public service generally...especially the caring services.

This kind of organisation model, common to all Australian states and federal governance, has devalued school experience, caring for kids, belief in teaching as a pupilling enterprise, basic humanity and belief in professional ethics...from the Australian school system. It’s been hellish for children and caring teachers. It devalues down-to-earth, hands-on experience. It stinks.

NAPLAN is the devil child of these kinds of irrelevant and irreverent changes to schooling arrangements. Efficacy hawks and testucators, quite unfamiliar with classroom practices, went wild with the blessing of Joel Klein and his Australian agent, now PM, and have had a field day supporting the destruction of learning development and belief in the human spirit. Small wonder that little useful progress of the kind that was a probable dream in the 1980s has been bastardised and that irreparable damage has been done to at least a generation of our future citizens. Australia is now committed to mediocrity. Our controllers just do not know what they are doing

[ http://www.saveourschools.com.au “How Figures Show No Progress in Reducing Low Student Achievement in the Past 30 Years” ]

What a pity that we couldn’t have done what the Finns did in the 1980s? STOP and THINK ! THINK. What goes on in those classrooms, we should be asking. It’s not too late, if we are prepared to drop the stupidities completely, return the dignity of the teaching profession to its owners, trust our schools to produce the goods; and encourage a love for learning in each school child for his or her entire school life, Australia can do it. It has a teaching force, that has been the envy of the world. It needs to be trusted. It can lead the world if it tries, not fall behind as it is doing now....thanks to NAPLAN.

Principals. Stop being such gutless wonders. Reclaim your school. Reclaim your ethics. Believe in your professional ethics and exercise that belief. Stop being a party to the cruel outcomes of fear-based learning. You’ve been duped. No half-measures. You can get rid of all of the stupidity by simply saying, “No more”. Send the tests back, if your representatives have been too eichmannised to act on your behalf.

Teachers. You unfortunate pussy-cats. Your pleasant co-operative nature, part of your DNA, so necessary for the most wonderful of the caring professions, is being compromised. Your professional leaders are letting you down and your unions have deserted you. Believe in yourselves again. Things are tough for you. You can tell the parents of your pupils how you feel and advocate that they opt-out by removing their children from the May tests. It’s so easy. You are also part of an enormous, locally-influential voting bloc. You do have power if you wish to exercise it. Just talk about NAPLAN to everyone you meet.

Parents. You can help by sending a simple note to your child’s school, telling it that you opt-out. Also, you vote. So do teachers. If, together perhaps, you ask your local candidates where they stand in regard to the banning of NAPLAN with the intention of voting only for those who would ban it, there would certainly be more political thought about the pestilence.

Are schools suffering from Eichmanism?

Politicians. You can show a bit of spunk in your party meetings. Until now, you will have heard little of NAPLAN mentioned, because Peter and Christopher have you by the short and curlies. Think of what they are trying to do to your child. Think about Australia’s future. Mouthing commands, platitudes and ‘We will do it.” is all hot air without decent Aussie, fair-dinkum, experience-based care to back up their meadow mayonnaise. THINK!

In the early 1980s, I dreamed of a wonderful future of happy children at school – right through to Year 12 – bursting a boiler to get to school each day because of all the rich learning experiences that they could share. Shared evaluation of efforts to achieve at the highest level would change to self-evaluation as the pupils moved through school and would continue through life. The development of happy, exciting achievements in learning was on the way. My closer primary school colleagues of the 80s and I could feel the joys of learning in primary schools spreading, and, between us we had more experience at recognising learning improvement than most. We foresaw that the children at school at the time would love whatever they had to do and would constantly try to do better....whether it was digging a neat ditch or solving a tricky bit of space science. Learning would become a part of a happy, useful life-style. Ah well!

Then came managerialism....square pegs in charge...encouraged by a ridiculous, verging on a stupid, political take-over of school-based learning enterprises....pushing around compliant high-level pussy-cats who don’t give a rats about kids.

Dreams shattered. Truly, Today’s NAPLAN control of schooling in Australia is devastating and disgusting. The longer NAPLAN exists, the worse it will get.You can bet on it.

Poor little Treehorn. His parents, teachers and principals still ignore his problems and those of his school mates.

Hang in there, kid. One day!!! 2013 ?? Let’s pray.

We both have NO to NAPLAN stickers on our cars.

Have you?

Love you.

Phil Cullen

Educational Readings- supporting creative teachers.

By Allan Alach

A few themes in New Zealand over the last couple of weeks, all derivative of GERM 101 as practised around the world. The process to implement charter schools continues, with an emphasis on employing unqualified teacher ‘experts’ - yes that’s the expression used by a government MP. The Christchurch earthquake has been used as the justification to ‘reorganise’ schooling in Christchurch, with charter schools in the mix. Seems that schools in lower socio-economic areas have been listed as closing/merging, while schools in richer areas will continue. Government proposals for charter schools have lower socio-economic areas of Auckland and Christchurch as the preferred options for the first charter schools. Is there a rat to be smelled here or is my nose overly sensitive? Another theme, which has taken a while to arrive here, is the demonisation of teacher unions by ‘tame’ journalists and commentators - also straight out of GERM 101 handbook. Surprise, surprise.

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

At Long Last, We Are Treating Doctors Like We Treat Teachers

Performance standards for doctors? At last, let’s make them accountable, as we know this will lift their performance, as has happened with teachers.

http://huff.to/12qSeCe

U.S. teachers’ job satisfaction craters — report

Surprise. Who would have thought it? Of course NZ and Australian teachers will be fine…… won’t they?

http://wapo.st/ZiETay

Zombie Ideas in Education

Some really common ones - how many do you recognise? Are you able to add to the list?

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/02/15/zombie-ideas-in-education/

Characteristics of Highly Creative People (via Bruce Hammonds)

Creative people ( like Picasso) remain open to ideas .

This article is about adults, however it is easy to adapt to children. Look at your classroom - does it reflect these characteristics? Even more challenging - how does this interface with GERM? 

http://bit.ly/Y0aj4s

It’s Really Very Simple … The Solution to England’s Education Problem (via Ken Woolford, Australia)

And NZ and Australia and USA and ….. Guess what - not a mention of standards, testing, achievement, inputs, outcomes, performance pay and so on. 

‘...just as early years education was seen by the Victorians as little more than child-minding which came cheap, so secondary education was accepted as being specialised and expensive, and most often delivered away from the child’s local home community.  A century or more later primary education is still allocated significantly fewer funds, and far less status, than secondary (which means that classes are much larger when pupils are young, and smaller with more direct teacher involvement, when they are older).’

http://bit.ly/UFQf9A

Inquiring Minds Really Do Want to Know



The key is assisting not determining!

“How do we go from the natural curiosity of the two-year old to the practiced detachment of the stereotypical teenager? What is it about school that teaches kids to not care about their work — and by extension, their world?”

Also:

And if we want our students to really be thoughtful scholars and citizens, don’t we owe it to them to teach them how to think for themselves?

Who wants adults who can think for themselves? Why, they may start to question the status quo. Can’t have that.

http://bit.ly/YHGh4c

The need for creative schools – schools as true learning communities.

A very important article by Bruce Hammonds. We cannot afford to lose the voices of wisdom and experience!

‘ I am almost at a point of giving up my crusade for creative education because it seems a losing battle. In Australia ex Director of Primary Education Queensland Phil Cullen has finally given up a long fight against the evils of an over emphasis on testing in basic subjects. He is disappointed that teacher and principal organisations did not have the courage to confront such politically inspired approach.’

We don't want your thought control

Yup, Bruce and Phil. I look around New Zealand and see what you mean. Much too quiet for my liking.

http://bit.ly/12PAYa0

10 Ways To Fake A 21st Century Classroom

A light hearted article, yet has more than a grain of truth….

http://bit.ly/XeyyO6

Creative schools – schools as true learning communities.

Let's put Sir Ken's ideas into action.

It sure isn’t a good time to be involved in education.

First there is the major distraction of the pay debacle of Novapay causing time hungry checking and recording activities and stress in almost all schools.

Worse still is the growing emphasis on the testing of literacy and numeracy in schools. Read what ex Senior Inspector of Primary schools, a long-time supporter ofholistic education, Kelvin Smythe has to say. What a potential nightmare.  And it will get worse as testing becomes more established, tied into National Standards and as , sooner or later, competitive ‘league tables' as seen in  seen in the England will result.   And as part of this will come teaching to the tests ( cheating) and the narrowing of the curriculum to tested subjects.

As a result on this growing emphasis on assessment comes with a raft of so called 'evidence based best practices’.

I am almost at a point of giving up my crusade for creative education because it seems a losing battle. In Australia ex Director of Primary Education Queensland PhilCullen has finally given up a long fight against the evils of an over emphasison testing in basic subjects. He is disappointed that teacher and principal organisations did not have the courage to confront such politically inspired approach.

So called ‘best practices’ are now well established in our primary schools spread by contractual advisers. While they may seem to offer schools a means to ensure consistency across classrooms, even some degree of quality, they, if not used carefully lead to the side-lining of creativity and individuality. It seems all class teachers now use WALTS (we are learning that), success criteria, intentional teaching, feedback and (teacher determined) feed-forward.

The trouble is that all the above ‘best practice’ techniques is that they ‘teach’ the students to replicate , or deliver, what the teacher believes to be the indications of success.

 It is true that even the most creative of teachers havesome idea of what they want their students to achieve but they value theidiosyncratic voice of individual students

Einstein would be hard to assees?

 

This creative mind-set makes a real difference. Such teachers would be appalled at the clone like consistency of student work whether it is a science project, language work and even the most creative area of all art.

When schoolsdevelop a culture of approved (and enforced) ‘best practices’ such schools canbe defined as ‘best practice learning communities’. Where schools value thecreativity of both students and teachers they fit the ‘learning organisation’definition.  Michael Fullan has written that it is ironic that few schools are true learning organisations.

A ‘community of best practice’ follows the guidance of experts from outside of the school or classroom while ‘learning organisations’ value the inspiration of creative teachers.

The emphasis chosen makes a big difference.

The current government is pushing narrow ‘best practice’ approach to teaching by emphasising testing and National Standards.

 In contrast the side-lined 2007 New Zealand Curriculum encourages a ‘learning organisation’ approach where each learner is to be seen as a ‘seeker, user and creator of their own knowledge’.

I wishschools would take the advice of Sir Ken Robinson who sees the school’s main role to develop the gifts and talents of all students. He also say that ‘creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy’ a thought that echoes Guy Claxton who says ‘learnacy is as important as literacy and numeracy.

If the ideas of Sir Ken and Guy Claxton ( and many others) were to be taken seriously, along with the NZC ‘s phrase of students as seekers user and creators’ schools would be totally transformed.

At least ‘best practice’ schools could add to their criteria that whatever is undertaken the results should celebrate the individuality or creativity of every students.

Educational Readings - a focus on creativity

 

By Allan Alach

Times are getting interesting. There are increasing numbers of articles from Australia, USA and New Zealand that reflect a fight back against GERM. This even includes news from the well known radical state of Texas…..   

The situation in New Zealand is going from farce to farce with barely time to recover between events and we must now start to wonder if GERM in its present format will survive the year.  The present government will soon be keeping an eye on the general election at the end of 2014, especially as current polling suggests that a Labour/Green coalition will get the numbers.

Australia is heading towards an election in September this year; however given that the present Labor government introduced Naplan, it is not likely that the more conservative Liberal Party will undo this. This means that Australians have a bigger battle on their hands.

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

A Complete Guide to the Corporate Reform Movement

Here’s a good activity for a staff meeting. Play’ Spot the reform jargon.”

http://bit.ly/Wy0kFQ

Fundamentals of Creativity (via Bruce Hammonds)

‘Here are five fundamental insights that can guide and support educators as they endeavor to integrate student creativity into the everyday curriculum.’

Education to develop gifts and talents

Creativity can’t be mandated, nor can it be boxed into predetermined outcomes. Creativity by definition can’t be predicted or imposed through technocratic WALTs and the like. It can’t be ‘assessed’ and graded. It can’t be tested although there are those who have developed standardised testing for creativity, to decide whether creativity has increased or declined. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Pearson are developing programmes to teach creativity.

http://bit.ly/W5QeKh

 

How Standardized Curriculum Short-Circuits Innovation In Education

Using Sir Ken as a starting point, this article reinforces the previous article about creativity.

“And that’s what gets lost in a standardized curricula, where the artistry is replaced by this dead language of delivery.”

While the battle against GERM dominates at the moment, we must also keep our awareness on the way ahead. GERM will be eliminated - there’s evidence that 2013 may be the turning point. However, what will the post-GERM world be like? Educators must be ready to reclaim the playing field, otherwise another imposed ideology may take over.

http://bit.ly/WWWgLE

Are We Teaching Citizens or Automatons?

Automatons, of course. Powers that be don’t want a population who can think. Why, they may realise what is being done to them, and object. Can’t have that. Keep them in their place, hence skills based common core/national standards.

http://bit.ly/1259Qn5

The Dehumanization of Education

A teacher’s viewpoint.

‘I am a teacher because of the love I had for school. I loved my teachers. I loved having fun while learning. I loved the interaction with my peers. I felt safe and successful at school…even when I made mistakes.’

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/02/09/the-dehumanization-of-education/

A teacher evaluation session out of ‘Star Wars’

Seems to be a theme developing here - now for the the dehumanisation of teachers. Have you been calibrated yet?

http://wapo.st/WgnX3Q

http://bit.ly/YVv16o

Technology for the sake of technology: False promises, false prophets and false notions (via Bruce)

US educator Jamie McKenzie (always worth reading) making a salient point: ‘Technology is a false god, unlikely to do much for children unless schools focus on learning and make huge investments in professional development.’

Yes indeed.

http://fno.org/Jan2013/techsake.html

Schools as communities of fixed ‘best practice’ or schools as learning organisations based on the evolution of‘next practices’.

Teachers between a rock and a hard place!

A year or so ago I wrote an article for the Education Todaymagazine headed ‘Teachers in No Man’s Land’. My theme was that primary teachers are caught between implementing a student centred education and an education influenced by ‘best practice’s adapted from the business world.

Teachers, like the soldiers caught in no man’s area in World War One, were doomed no matter what direction they chose. Today teachers seem just as confused not knowing whichagenda to follow and, worse still, oblivious to the agendas being imposed – all too often exhausted just trying to implement what they are being asked to do. To extend the theme teachers are all too often ‘led’ by principals, who like World War One generals, have no idea what they are asking their teachers to do.  A s a consequence wrong decisions, influenced by Ministry compliance requirements (National Standards – and the inevitability of League Tables) and the surveillance culture created by the Education Review Office, being made

Easier it seems to do the wrong things well.

Forty year waves of change!

I read many years ago that big world-wide trends come in 40 year waves influences all in their way.  After the failure of capitalism resulting in the Great Depression and also the waste of lives in World War Two Western societies developed welfare societies in a democratic attempt to develop the potential of all citizens not just the elite power holders. In New Zealand the first Labour Government develop a range of state organisations and, as part of this, new liberal ideas about education were promulgated. Every student was too receive an education best suited to their needs.

The sixties were seen as the high point of these world-wide changes. After the austerity and need for security following World War Two the sixties, reflecting growing prosperity, was a period of great creativity challenging  traditional ideas in all areas of life. Education was no exception. Child centred educationwas encouraged by the then Director of Education, Dr Beeby, In England child centred education was officially recognised by the then government’s Plowden Report (1967). In New Zealand experimentation was also in the air. In 1964 pioneer creative teacher ElwynRichardson published his inspirational book ‘In the Early World’. Another creative teacher Sylvia Ashton Warner also published her book ‘Teacher’. The then Department of Education encouraged such developments. Junior teachers introduced developmental education, family grouping, integrated programmes and in particular the language experience /reading/writing approaches that were highly regarded worldwide. Another important influence was the work of the art and craft advisers (led by the late National Director for Art and Craft Gordon Tovey) which tapped into the creativity of teachers throughout New Zealand.

Exciting times to be a teacher.

By the 1980s economic conditions had changed for the worse and new worldwide trend  arose that was to change the direction of all aspects of society and, once again education was not to be excluded.

This Neo-Liberal ‘wave’, based on ‘market forces’,  individual responsibility, choice and the centrality of a  privatisation agenda influenced all aspects of life. The changes hit education with the introduction of Tomorrows Schools in 1986. The Education Department, regional Education Boards school inspectors and advisers were disbanded; proponents of the changes believed such bureaucracies stultified individual school creativity. The baby was to be thrown out with the bathwater! Schools were to be governed by Board of Trustees.

The market forces society!

Confusion and ambiguity reigned supreme. Schools enjoyed the greater responsibility to develop approaches that aligned with their philosophies (those that had them) but soon it became apparent that the freedom was in many ways an illusion as compliance requirements were imposed by the Ministry of Education and achievements reported on by the Education Review Office.   The imposition of the New Zealand Curriculum dictated to schools what was now to be expected.  Countless learning objectives in eight Learning Areas, arranged in arbitrary levels were to be assessed.

The revised 2007 New Zealand Curriculum briefly provided both relief and inspiration – every student to be seen as ‘a seeker, user and creator of their own knowledge.
 

This return to a learner centred education was to be short lived. A new conservative government set about imposing a return to a neo –liberal agenda based on business ‘bestpractices’. When ‘best practices’ are taken too seriously, as they are by far too many schools (once again reflecting a lack of real educational philosophy), creativity is crushed. As a result ‘communities of best practices may well be achieved   resulting in conformity rather than creativity. Formulaic ‘best practices’ becomes the norm.  Examples to be seen are an emphasis on teacher predetermined ‘learning intentions’, WALTs (we are learning that...); success criteria and an obsession with recording achievement in literacy and numeracy. Such ‘best practices’ do have value need to account for creative individuals otherwise sameness is reflected in classrooms.  National Standards, national testing and comparative ‘league tables’ are natural extensions of such ideas as are value added assessment leading to teacher appraisals and comparative school performance measurement.

So this brings us to the future.

Each forty year wave seems to sow the seeds for its own destruction. The freedom and creativity of the sixties finally resulted in individual selfishness the basis of neo liberal thinking. Welfare security led to a bureaucratic nightmare and middle class capture. Neo liberal thinking in education creates conformity and narrowness of thinking (teaching to the tests) requiring a new sense of creativity.

The future requireskeeping what is good from the past - reviving what has been lost and creatingconditions for new ideas to emerge. Emergence seems a key word. Someone has said ‘we need to return to the sixties but do it right this time’. Certainly in education the ideas developed by the creative teachers of earlier times such as Elwyn Richardson need revisiting.

Two educators that provide inspiration for future orientated teachers are Sir Ken Robinson and GuyClaxton – but they are only two of many innovative thinkers who are callingfor an educational transformation. Sir Ken says the ‘creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy’ and believes a future education system ought to focus on developing the gifts and talents of all students. Guy Claxton has written that ‘learnacy is as important as literacy and numeracy’. These ideas are reinforced by the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum’s (currently side-lined) phrase for teachers to see students as ‘seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge’.

Creativity as important as literacy

Currently, as one commentator has written about primary schools, ‘it is as if the evil twins of literacy and numeracy have all but gobbled up the entire curriculum’! ‘Best practice’ becomes ‘fixed practice’. As for secondary schools they are still locked in a traditional shape, with their timetables, subject compartmenting, streaming, bells and uniforms, determined by the factory metaphor of an industrial age.

The future requiresschools to move from the industrial aged vision of achieving mass education (with a focus on the ‘three Rs’) to a personalised education system to tailor, or customise, education to the needs ofeach learner.

Rather than developing schools as conformist ‘communities of best practices’ we need todevelop schools as ‘learning organisations’ – centres of ‘next practice’.

A new world wide theme is gaining strength. A world of connections. A world that needs to evolve so as to be sustainable. A new fluid organic  emerging world, continually recreating itself. The importance of ecology in both natural and human communities. The destructive ideology of market forces and individual greed is coming to an end.

A constantly evolving universe

World-wide there afew schools that are leading the way in this new educational development but, to my knowledge, few schools as yet in New Zealand.

 I would love to be proved wrong.

Educational Readings - think about what you are being asked to do!

By Allan Alach

It’s all too easy for people to dismiss concerns about the seemingly obvious connections between GERM implementation and rhetoric in many countries as ‘conspiracy theory.’ This phrase has become a very easy and convenient way to dismiss anything that does not fit the ‘party line.’ However we must not fall into this trap. It is so clear that every GERM country is using the same song book. This is no coincidence. This is compounded by the tendency of the ‘oppressed’ to unconsciously adopt the language of their ‘oppressors’, and so we hear educators start to use GERM language, even though they hold strong anti-GERM viewpoints. Listen to the language used in your school. Identify all the GERM related terms that have slipped into every day use.

( GERM = Global Education Reform Movement)

Thanks to Bruce Hammonds who contributed several of this week’s articles.

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Why Mathematical Practices Matter as Much as the Content (via Bruce)

‘the approaches and uses of the tools students learn in math matter just as much as the topics and situations in which they apply.’

http://bit.ly/Xy1zAz

Deeper Learning: Defining Twenty-First Century Literacy (via Bruce)

‘In today's world, being literate requires much, much more than the traditional literacy of yesterday.’

http://bit.ly/WAlG4t

Solving real life problems

Change the Subject: Making the Case for Project-Based Learning (via Bruce)

‘What should students learn in the 21st century? At first glance, this question divides into two: what should students know, and what should they be able to do? But there's more at issue than knowledge and skills. For the innovation economy, dispositions come into play: readiness to collaborate, attention to multiple perspectives, initiative, persistence, and curiosity. While the content of any learning experience is important, the particular content is irrelevant. What really matters is how students react to it, shape it, or apply it. The purpose of learning in this century is not simply to recite inert knowledge, but, rather, to transform it. It is time to change the subject.’

http://bit.ly/119pxdw

Three Trends That Will Shape the Future of Curriculum

‘What we as adults experienced in school, as educators and students, will bear little resemblance to what lies ahead. Here’s a look at current trends, their implications, and changes to watch for.’

Let’s see: National standards? Nope. Standardised blanket tests? Nope. League Tables? Nope. Performance pay? Nope. Focus on the 3Rs? Nope. 

Do you agree with this article?

http://bit.ly/XPXwiO

Bringing Students to Life With Memoir Writing (via Bruce)

Developing a sense of self ( identity)

‘Incorporating personal writing in students' education may seem like a waste of time to those who emphasize acquiring skills and mastering content, but countless writing teachers at every level have seen otherwise.’

This is where personal blogs can play a big part.

http://bit.ly/YMd9i3

If profit-making schools are the answer, what's the question?

Article is from England but….

http://bit.ly/Wqb332

There is no such thing as an objective rubric.

Rubrics etc are about conformity

Beware of rubrics and their relatives, such as WALTs, success criteria, national/common core standards, employee performance standards, key performance indicators, etc, all of which profess to use subjective judgements to make objective assessments. Thought experiments: how would Picasso have been judged using predetermined rubrics? The Beatles were rejected by Decca on the basis of a judgement that guitar bands were no longer current. Einstein struggled for many years to get a university post and was forced to work in a patent office. Any predetermined measure carries a huge risk, that the truly unique and original is overlooked due to tunnel vision.

http://bit.ly/TH6pz5

Kelvin Smythe: Primary School Diaries Part 1: Stories and Satires.

Conforming to 'best practice' !

Kelvin has published the first booklet of a series which will revisit his best articles from 23 years of writing, firstly in his Developmental Network Newsletter, and then on his networkonnet website.

I helped Kelvin put this together, and even though I have that inside view, I can affirm that this is a high quality document, well worth reading. The madness of the whole Tomorrow’s Schools ideology and implementation is so apparent and this helps reveal the present government’s agenda as a part of the same process that was started in the mid 1980s in the height of the neo-liberal agenda. Nothing has changed.

$20 per booklet or $17.50 each for two or more. Email Kelvin ksmythe@wave.co.nz

Educational Readings - Sir Ken Robinson and others.

 

By Allan Alach

One rather scary feature of GERM is the practice, regardless of country, of ignoring evidence, research, and the voices of experience that go contrary to ideology. One particular group, ignored most of all, are the senior statesmen and stateswomen of education who have both the knowledge and wisdom derived from life long experience to see what is being done to children in the name of increasing profits. Recently I became aware of yet another name, Tom Sobol, from New York State.

“I believe that one of the unfortunate consequences of the standards movement as currently practiced is the reductionism in the mission, goals, and purposes of the school. Somehow we have accepted a narrow, ungenerous vision of what life and learning are about. In the standards movement, the purpose of the school is to prepare students for success in a global economy; the curriculum of the school is the skills and knowledge pertinent to the separate traditional academic disciplines, narrowly conceived; and the measure of the schools is high scores on the standardized tests that assess this achievement in ways most suited to individual and group accountability. Yes, we want kids to be competent. But we also want them to be just and wise. Sometimes in all this intensity I wonder what we are really teaching our children - or rather, what they are really learning.”

Check his website http://mylifeinschool.com or track him down on Facebook.

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Academy schools: a flawed system that cannot be sustained

‘A report from the Academies Commission reveals a programme that is fundamentally flawed. The result will be to worsen inequities, significantly damaging education, argues Ron Glatter.’

More evidence that charter schools won't work, not that this will make any difference to ideologically driven GERM minded politicians. Maybe its the hand pulling their strings that is the problem?

http://bit.ly/VaTSAe

Pink Floyd.

We Don't Need No Education

Not Pink Floyd, sorry! Is education really the key to economic success? According to this article, no.  What does this mean for the rationale behind GERM?

http://bit.ly/14f4kxi

Ken Robinson: 1) Creativity & the Imagination  2) Building a Culture of Innovation

These videos feature Sir Ken. Is any other comment needed?

http://www.wobi.com/wbftv/ken-robinson-creativity-and-imagination

https://vimeo.com/58069426

Transform Education? Yes, We Must

An article by Sir Ken from 2009 - still very relevant. When he came to New Zealand in 2007, he had a long talk to a very interested minister of education (http://connect.vln.school.nz/creativityeducation/) Can you visualise that happening now? Ok stop laughing.

http://huff.to/X7fpcN

The Global Search for Education: What Is the Fourth Way?

‘The Fourth Way is a powerful new vision to bring about effective educational reform.’

"We need to establish platforms for teachers to initiate their own changes and make their own judgments on the frontline, to invest more in the change capacities of local districts and communities, and to pursue prudent rather than profligate approaches to testing."

-- Andy Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley

http://huff.to/114f6YA

Maybe we care too much about the wrong things.

Australian educator Pat Buoncristiani’s reflections after presenting at the recent International Conference of Thinking on Wellington. Another worthwhile blogger to follow… and another expert for GERM minded governments to ignore!

http://bit.ly/WwAzVy

Newman government open to for-profit schools

From Queensland: see what happens if you elect a right wing government - charter schools follow very quickly. Isn’t that amazing? I wonder why?

http://bit.ly/11joimy