Welcome to this national standards blog...
Kia ora
NZEI has set up this forum because we believe that as parents of children, as teachers, principals and school support staff, we all have a stake in our children's learning. The Government's proposed National Standards have prompted quite a lot of debate within the education sector, but we would like to see a broader discussion across our community about how we motivate, inspire and encourage children to succeed as learners.
As a parent of three children, two of them at primary school, I want to know more from teachers about whether they think the national standards will make their teaching of my kids more effective and help them achieve more.
Thinking about what I hear from my own school about my children's learning, I feel I get quite a comprehensive and varied picture of their achievement through their portfolios, the parent-student-teacher interviews, and the conversations I've had with the kids and their teachers. I'm not sure that getting another chart or graph with my child's progress represented on it will add much. But I want to know what other parents feel about the feedback they get, and whether it works for them.
And because I believe in the need for a healthy and robust public education system, I'd like to hear from principals about what risks sending all the data to Wellington for central collation creates. Having lived in the UK, I've seen the stress kids as young as 4 and 5 have been placed under because of high stakes testing and school league tables. It would be sad to see our world-leading education system going down that route simply because people accept simplistic answers rather than thinking hard about what we as a community really need to do to kickstart the desire for learning in ALL our kids.
Stephanie
NZEI has set up this forum because we believe that as parents of children, as teachers, principals and school support staff, we all have a stake in our children's learning. The Government's proposed National Standards have prompted quite a lot of debate within the education sector, but we would like to see a broader discussion across our community about how we motivate, inspire and encourage children to succeed as learners.
As a parent of three children, two of them at primary school, I want to know more from teachers about whether they think the national standards will make their teaching of my kids more effective and help them achieve more.
Thinking about what I hear from my own school about my children's learning, I feel I get quite a comprehensive and varied picture of their achievement through their portfolios, the parent-student-teacher interviews, and the conversations I've had with the kids and their teachers. I'm not sure that getting another chart or graph with my child's progress represented on it will add much. But I want to know what other parents feel about the feedback they get, and whether it works for them.
And because I believe in the need for a healthy and robust public education system, I'd like to hear from principals about what risks sending all the data to Wellington for central collation creates. Having lived in the UK, I've seen the stress kids as young as 4 and 5 have been placed under because of high stakes testing and school league tables. It would be sad to see our world-leading education system going down that route simply because people accept simplistic answers rather than thinking hard about what we as a community really need to do to kickstart the desire for learning in ALL our kids.
Stephanie
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Morris on -
Guten tag Stephanie
The issues of sending the data to Wellington is actually all about the level of trust principals have in the Ministry. Most principals would have a low level of trust in the Ministry based on their experiences of the system. That does not mean that a form of national benchmarking isn't useful. When I report to my Board about student achievement, comparitive information allows us to make better sense of how we are going and helps us identify the next target areas. I think what I am really saying is that this could be an opportunity to eliminate from the Ministry the "touchy-feeling, politically-correct" approach and have them present the collated data in a clear and comprehensive way, along with a proposed action plan to fix the problems and cultivate the successes.
I must admit I like the graphs - let's have the data in a clear and succinct way.
Auf wiendersehen
Chris
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Permalink Reply by Di Palfrey on -
As an experienced teacher of 30 students, I would like you all to know that while the Standards are to 'benchmark' students so that at a specific age they WILL have reached a specific level, they (MOE or who ever sets the rules from above), have omitted to let folks know that every teacher in every class MUST report on every students birthday date (or close there-to), and then again within 6 months of that child's birthday. Can you image how the teachers and students will feel when the teachers are writing reports every week of the year?
You mention receiving comprehensive portfolios, attending interviews, and participating in conversations, and that adding another chart may or may not be the best thing for you, so how would you feel about this new way of reporting? Do people realise that Primary school teachers have to teach the following... Reading- guided and shared, Writing, Maths (the 3 r's), Social Studies, Science, ICT, Maori, Sign Language, Technology, Physical Education and fitness, Health, Spelling, Handwriting, Oral Language, Visual Language, Drama, Art, Visual Art, Dance and probably a couple of other things that skip my mind just now, and these are mostly taught on a daily basis. Just when are we going to get the time for goodness sake to now also report each week (as the birthdays come up) on EVERY child in the above areas?
We need the support from Parents, to stop these 'standards' and for people to actually realise that the teachers are reporting successfully, albeit twice a year, and that there is no need for the interference of MOE - Ann Tolley and co, in our workplace. The schools that possibly need the help should be the ones that get that extra help and leave the rest of the teaching to the teachers, and the running of the schools to the Principals (BOT's are governors not managers!).
ps: in 2012 - Tolley states "all schools will report ALL data to MOE into a public database" - are you all aware of that? Hence the non-compliance of these 'Standards' in their current form. NZPF and NZEI (and some very clever Academics) are battling to have the Minister review her "compulsory" standards and deliver them through a 'trial' first so there's an 'out' when they DON"T work - She (Tolley) won't even countenance that! Her qualifications are what?... and how can we as a nation stop this "already tried and thrown away" way of 'benchmarking' students progress, so that the nation's education system will not be ruined because of this. Does anyone know the answer? AND, there has been NO consultation whatsoever with the people who are the Education system. Does anyone know why that happened?
Thanks Stephanie for drawing this to the Parents' attention. It's vital the word is spread! and to stop this nonsense or at least advocate for a 'trial period' at least.
Di Palfrey
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