DomPost attack on teachers
A number of individual principals' remarks, some of them ironic, about the risks of school league tables - and written in some cases months ago on MoE blogs - have led to a media frenzy this week. The DomPost made a virulent attack on ALL teachers http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/editorials/2823857/Edi... yesterday. You can read NZEI's response here:
Dear Sir
Your blinding editorial attack on teachers, following comments by one principal, is completely unwarranted and quite frankly, offensive.
You point to the so-called tail of underachievement as evidence of wholesale failure by teachers, while choosing to ignore the fact that New Zealand has a world class education system with students consistently performing at the top end of the OECD in literacy and numeracy. That doesn’t happen without an effective and committed teaching profession.
Teachers know that National Standards can give them another assessment tool to enable them and parents to understand where children’s learning and achievement is sitting within a national picture. What is not in the interests of children’s learning are narrow league tables which only measure static achievement levels and ignore factors such as interest, engagement, and social skills which contribute to a richer learning environment. Our opposition to league tables is not political as you suggest. Put simply, they do not promote nor encourage educationally sound practice!
Finally I suggest that rather than taking misguided potshots at teachers from your computer, you get out into the classroom and see what teachers are doing for children, instead of making sweeping assumptions about what they’re not.
Frances Nelson
President New Zealand Educational Institute
Dear Sir
Your blinding editorial attack on teachers, following comments by one principal, is completely unwarranted and quite frankly, offensive.
You point to the so-called tail of underachievement as evidence of wholesale failure by teachers, while choosing to ignore the fact that New Zealand has a world class education system with students consistently performing at the top end of the OECD in literacy and numeracy. That doesn’t happen without an effective and committed teaching profession.
Teachers know that National Standards can give them another assessment tool to enable them and parents to understand where children’s learning and achievement is sitting within a national picture. What is not in the interests of children’s learning are narrow league tables which only measure static achievement levels and ignore factors such as interest, engagement, and social skills which contribute to a richer learning environment. Our opposition to league tables is not political as you suggest. Put simply, they do not promote nor encourage educationally sound practice!
Finally I suggest that rather than taking misguided potshots at teachers from your computer, you get out into the classroom and see what teachers are doing for children, instead of making sweeping assumptions about what they’re not.
Frances Nelson
President New Zealand Educational Institute
Views: 4
Add a Comment
© 2012 Created by NZEI.
Powered by
You need to be a member of National Standards to add comments!
Join National Standards