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ED

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  • Walk on Water

    In relation to:

    National Standards don’t reflect improvement – Newswire

  • Steam-rolled!

    In relation to:

    Protests against education reform – Stuff.co.nz

  • Moving Google Sites to a different Google Account

    ePortfolio on Google Site

    When I first thought of a way to gather all my evidence as online documents, rather than print outs and photocopies that gradually fill up a clearfile every year, I knew that Google Sites was going to be the way. It’s seemless link into Google Drive allows for me to create an “Evidence” folder, and then link to any document inside those folders. Using the Practising Teacher Criteria as a guide and a structure, I created folders inside the ‘Evidence’ folder, and began collating and sorting the evidence appropriately.

    However, at a NZEI cluster meeting where I shared this with other teachers in the area, many were concerned that hosting this on the school’s accounts would be problematic should one leave that school and move onto another. They mentioned that being able to somehow host this themselves on a personal site would be better.

    Luckily, this isn’t too hard to do, even if you’ve already set up your site on your school account like I had!

    Gmail or Google Account

    If you have your own personal Gmail account, you essentially already have Google Sites. Next to your account name, there is the Google Apps ‘9-square’ button. Clicking on this will open up the available apps, including Google Sites (hopefully!) If you haven’t already created your site, you can create a new one by clicking on the red ‘Create’ button.

    However, if you need to move your existing Google Site to your own domain, or your personal account, then you’ll need to complete the following steps. These can be found at E-Portfolio Apps. I have added to these to match the current Google Apps UI.

     

    Moving a Google Site out of an Educational Domain

    Steps to take place under the Educational Domain:
    1. To begin, open the site from within the educational domain.
    2. Go to More Actions () -> Manage Site.
    3. Select the “Sharing & Permissions” (or select this from the More Actions button in step 2).
    4. In the section titled “Invite people:” type in the email address of the personal account.
    5. Select “Is owner” from the drop down box. 
    6. Click Invite these people. This will send an email to the account listed above which will include a link to the sites current location under the ed domain.
    Steps to take place in the personal Google account:
    1. Open Google account and Gmail to view the link to the account we just shared.
    2. This will take you to the Ed Domain log in page. At the bottom of the sign in section there is an option to “Sign in with a different account”. Enter the personal account log in and password here.
      Note: To avoid all this, try opening the link in a different browser.
    3. Once you are logged in, open the site and click the More Actions –> Manage Site options.
    4. Select the General option.
    5. In the middle of this page, there is an option to Copy this Site. Select this. 
    6. Type in the site name and take note of the new URL which should read:
      http://sites.google.com/site/(new site name here)

    7. Click the button to Copy Site.

    To remove the school account as an owner of the site:

    Go to More Actions –> Sharing & Permissions and remove the school account as an owner of the site.
    Note: I didn’t do this as I still wanted to have access to this from my school account at this stage.
    At any point the school site can now be deleted.

    Instructions written by Heather Stafford, Technical Communications Instructor at E-Portfolio Apps. These have been edited by Al Ingham to match the current Google Apps layout in August 2015.

    Conclusion

    And that’s all there is to it. Easy ay!

    I even went a step further, using my alingham.com domain to create a sub-domain for my eportfolio to sit in. Editing this is relatively straight forward by following this article.

    It is also important to remember that, unless you want to go through all your evidence and black out student names, you should keep your eportfolio as ‘private’, and never publish the site as ‘public’. This means that any sub-domain you’ve created will simply point to the sites.google.com url, but the information will remain private to you and anyone that the site has been shared with.

  • One Hundred and Fifty

    150teachers

    In response to:

    An ongoing glut of new teachers causes job search headaches – Dominion Post – 27 July 2015

  • Student Centred Learning

    We’re all about the buzz words here, and this one is getting quite a bit of attention of late.

    What is Student Centred Learning?

    EdGlossary states that Student Centred Learning is a broad definition of a variety of teaching strategies, but is commonly narrowed down to “Teaching and learning is ‘personalised’, meaning that it addresses the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students.” It also means that students are able to make choices about their own learning, including what, how, and when they learn.

    What does it look like in the classroom?

    There are a wide range of models out there; but there are some more common trends that are finding their ways into the classrooms around the country. Firstly is the initiative of “Inquiry Learning” which has pushed aside the curriculum collective “Topic”, and encouraged students to be a part of the initiation of learning. In a true inquiry model, students investigate or inquire into areas of interest and construct their own learning based on questioning and research. Allowing the students to be part of the planning encourages student centred learning, and engagement and motivation follow suit shortly after. Students inquire into things they are interested in and learning is given real world context.

    Another way in which I have seen student centred learning take off is using Daily 5; a literacy rotation type model in which students are given a structure in which to choose their own learning. While it is also important to have structure and limitations in Daily 5 (otherwise it becomes Daily 55!), allowing the students to choose their writing topic, their reading book, their spelling work, or even how they read, is all part of student centred learning. Individual conferencing with students allows the teacher to focus in on the student as an individual, meeting their specific needs based on observation of their reading or writing.
    Students also get the choice of when they carry out different tasks, so if they don’t feel like writing straight away, they can do some reading instead, and focus on writing later on in the literacy block.
    This is so much different than the ‘Guided Reading‘ approach that fills many New Zealand classrooms these days. Guided Reading requires small groups of students, all who read the same book, which is chosen by the teacher. The teacher directs the learning, based on the needs of the group.

    Why is it becoming standard teaching practise?

    The rise of student centred learning in pedagogical circles stems largely from one word. Relevance. We are told time and time again, that for students to fully engage, fully motivate themselves, and fully be a part of their learning, the learning has to be a real life context, and needs to be relevant for the student. It simply makes sense.

    However, in practise, it requires a lot of change. Teachers need to relinquish control of the teaching, and allow students to be in charge of the learning. Its a different mindset, and requires a different approach from the teacher. The ability for the teacher to predict where the learning will go, get the students thinking through prompting and questioning, and encouraging students to push themselves, is all very different to how we were taught as children.

     

    Your thoughts?

    How else do you encourage student centred learning in the classroom?
    Please leave your ideas in the comments below.

  • The True Cost of Charter Schools

    Its time to face some facts here. There is something terribly wrong with the current government’s focus for its funding, especially when it comes to education.

    I decided to do some comparisons on money spent (or not spent) and see if any of it makes sense. I wanted to compare the budget they approve for some initiatives, and deny for others. In particular, the comparison between keeping charter schools open, verses the Feed the Kids bill that was denied in March earlier this year.

    Embattled Charter School

    At the end of July, the Minister announced that she would keep a failing charter school open, even though she stated it would face closure, and even though clear evidence showed inappropriate use of funds and suspicious achievement results.

    “The Ministry of Education has directed a Northland charter school to replace its current principal with someone more “appropriate and experienced” or face closure. The beleaguered Te Pūmanawa o Te Wairua School in Whangaruru opened last year at a cost of $3million and has suffered a falling roll, truancy and low achievement levels in the year since.” – Feb 2015 – Māori TV

    Previously the Government could only confirm it would negotiate with the trust should it close. The Northern Advocate can reveal $4.4million has been spent on the kura, which opened last year, including a recent one-off payment of $129,000 to help remedy the ongoing issues. – July 2015 – Northern Advocate

    By keeping the school open, the ongoing cost of this school will have reached astronomical figures. By the end of this year, the cost of the school on the government will have surpassed $5.2million. It is important to note that this is the cost from its opening in 2014.
    The cost of this school to the government for it to remain open each year is only a mere $1.65million.

    There are 39 students at Te Pumanawa o te Wairua.

    That’s a cost of $42,271 per student each year (assuming the roll remains at 39).

    Feed the Kids Bill

    Let’s compare this cost with a recent bill that has been defeated by a mere 2 votes. This bill was nicknamed  the “Feed the Kids Bill”. It sought to provide breakfast and lunch for every student in Decile 1 and 2 schools across the country.

    Mrs Turei said the National-led Government is failing New Zealand children, as more are going without food than ever before.

    “They are funding some programmes, but not enough, so they accept that there’s a problem, why won’t they fix it?

    “It’s not that expensive either, it costs something between $10 million and $14 million to feed every hungry kid, every day in their school. What’s so hard about that?” – 19 March – Radio NZ

    Education Counts lists the July 2014 roll returns, which shows that the number of students in Decile 1 and 2 schools across the country; some 111,069 pupils.

    Doing some quick maths, I’ve worked out that using Mrs Turei higher estimate of $14 million, when spit among the number of students in Decile 1 and 2 schools, comes out at a staggering $120.

    One hundred and twenty dollars and five cents.

    That doesn’t sound right.

    According to FeedtheKids.org.nz, the full cost of the programme would be $100 million a year – including food, staffing, administration, monitoring and evaluation. That sounds a lot more than $14 million, but the reality is, that not every child at decile one and two schools will need breakfast or lunch. At the school I work out, I’d say close to 85% of the students come with suitable lunch each day. The 15% that don’t, would benefit from this service. This also works out with Mrs Turei says around the $14 million mark, being that it is 15% of the stated $100 million on the Feed the Kids website.

    Regardless, I did a little bit more maths calculations, and using the $100 million as the figures, the cost per student is a whopping $900.34

    Nine hundred and thirty four cents.

    Let’s just compare that to the one charter school that is being kept open for 39 students.

    Charter School: $42,271 per student
    Feeding Kids   :      $900 per student

    That simply cannot be right. Can it?

    Oh wait. Of course! The $900 per student is on top of their education cost, where as the $42,271 is the cost of their entire education for the year. We will have to account for the decile one and two student’s education.

    Taking an average decile two school, such as the one I currently work at, our figures per student work out at approximately $6,884.61 per student. Add on $900 to that, takes it to $7,784.61.

    Comparing this to the forty two thousand, two hundred and seventy one dollars spent per student at the embattled charter school, it puts some clear messages out there as to what is fair, what is equal, and what is right out there. It also shows us exactly where the focus is for this government – and it’s not for those that are struggling.

    What’s more concerning is that this is just one charter school. There are more in the pipeline. More that will take money away from the kids who, through no fault of their own, are going hungry this year.

     

  • How to be the kind of parent teachers like – Nigel Latta

    498571-240882-34

    From: Politically Incorrect Parenting – Nigel Latta

    It’s really easy to be the kind of parent teachers like. And it’s really important. Imagine, for example, just before first class two mums come to drop off their kids for school. The first mum smiles at the teacher, says hello, and then exits. The second mum smiles, says hello, and then traps the teacher in a long, tedious, and accusatory discussion about why her daughter isn’t in the top reading group when she is clearly reading at a level that is far above that of her classmates. Which kid do you think is going to get the broken crayons in art classes?
    Teachers have to put up with a lot of crazy stuff from parents these days, and they mostly do it with great patience and grace. I think that it would be fair to say, though, that there isn’t a teacher in the western world who isn’t at least a bit fed up with some of the nonsense they have to endure at the hands of generally well-meaning, but often ridiculously over-involved parents. Here are just a few examples of the mad stuff teachers have told me they have to deal with now:

    • A mother in tears because her six-year-old daughter didn’t get into the ‘advanced’ art class.
    • A parent who approached a principal wanting the next term’s syllabus so they could get a jump-start on it during the holidays.
    • A father who was outraged because his son was made to sit outside the staff room at lunchtime when ‘all’ the boy had done was tell the teacher to shut up.
    • A parent whose response to repeated angry/disrespectful outbursts from their child in class was that the boy ‘wasn’t being stimulated enough’ by the classroom teacher.
    • A principal had to endure an outraged blast from a parent whose daughter had lost a game of tennis at lunchtime after the other children changed the rules mid-game.
    • A parent complained that their child was being unfairly disadvantaged by having to sit at the back of the class, furthest away from the board.
    • A parent who engaged a lawyer to appeal the decision of a school talent quest which went against his daughter.
    • Complaints from several parents after a teacher told off some boys for yelling. The teacher allegedly ‘raised her voice’ which the parents thought was inappropriate.
    • A parent complained after being ‘told off’ by their child’s teacher for getting to school an hour late every day. The parent didn’t think the teacher had any right to tell them what time their child should be at school.

    Now, I could go on, but you probably get the point from even this brief list of examples. For some reason some parents of today believe that children always tell the truth and teachers always lie, and if anything goes wrong at school it’s the school’s fault.
    Teachers don’t like whiney, anxious parents. They just don’t. They may well act as if they are listening to Sarah’s mother as she angrily points out that Sarah never behaves that way at home because she is always stimulated appropriately, but inside they will simply be thinking unkind thoughts about Sarah’s mum, and making a mental note to give the girl the broken crayons next time.
    Apart from the whole crayons thing, the other reason it’s good to have a strong relationship with your child’s teacher is that if there is a problem they will often be your best ally. You don’t want them to roll their eyes when they see you coming — you want them to look up and smile.
    So how do you be the kind of parent teachers like?

    • Don’t make a fuss about every little thing
    It’s simple thing, but important. Teachers are busy people, and schools can be a bit chaotic at the best of times. Sometimes stuff doesn’t get done, and sometimes things are less than perfect. Be forgiving and understanding and don’t complain about very last little thing. If you don’t, they will be much more likely to take you seriously when you do need to talk to them about something important.

    • Take responsibility for problems with your child
    If your little one has got into trouble for something, make sure you get the message across loud and clear that you are taking the matter seriously, and want to get sorted. It isn’t the school’s problem, after all — it’s yours. We all want our kids to blend in with the school community and get about the business of getting educated. If there are problems, we need to make sure we’re onto it as soon as we can.

    • Work with the school, not against it

    You’d be surprised how many parents end up in fights with their school over things which shouldn’t have been fights at all. If you’re practising the previous step, you’ll find this one much easier as well. Basically, you need to sit down with the teacher if there’s a problem and work with them to get it solved. If you approach any problems with the philosophy that you’re part of a team, and the teacher gets the fact you aren’t out to blame them, then most of the time most problems can be resolved.

    It really is that simple. From time to time there might be things you disagree with, but my advice is pick the big ones and don’t worry about the little stuff. Obviously, if you’re really concerned or upset about something that you feel is important, you absolutely should go in and talk with the school about whatever it is you’re worried about. If, on the other hand, you constantly feel like everything is important and everything necessitates a sit-down meeting with the teacher and/or principal, the odds are you’re probably getting a bit too worked up about things, and should take a breath and a step back.
    After all, who wants their kid to be the one with the broken crayons? Where’s the dignity in that?

    Source: Nigel Latta – Just thought I’d share this from the ‘Politically…

  • Education Changes – 2008-2015

    In the last five years there has been a dramatic shift in Education. Since this government (National) came into power in 2009, they have been non-stop in making wholesale changes across the sector.

    WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 14: Education Minister Hekia Parata announces a Government partnership with New Zealand Rugby League at Westpac Stadium on November 14, 2014 in Wellington, New Zealand. The partnership has been set up to improve the education, health and wellbeing of thousands of young people and families associated with rugby league in New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
    WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – NOVEMBER 14: Education Minister Hekia Parata announces a Government partnership with New Zealand Rugby League at Westpac Stadium on November 14, 2014 in Wellington, New Zealand. The partnership has been set up to improve the education, health and wellbeing of thousands of young people and families associated with rugby league in New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

    There is an old Māori whakataukī that says:
    Inā kei te mohio koe ko wai koe, I anga mai koe i hea, kei te mohio koe. Kei te anga atu ki hea.
    If you know who you are and where you are from, then you will know where you are going.

    What I want to do is take what changes have been made since the start of the National Government, and track these changes to their logical conclusion. By using what changes have been made, we can follow the progress of the GERM in our country.
    GERM is the Global Education Reform Movement.
    The Government is trying to create a crisis in education and impose a business model on our world class schools. This model, known as the GERM (Global Education Reform Movement) has infected other countries by introducing standardisation, competition and test-based accountability. – NZEI

    National’s Education Timeline

    2008

    • National releases their education policy.
    • National: Overhaul NCEA; introduce national literacy and numeracy standards; extend 20-hours early childhood education subsidy to playcentres and kohanga reos; teach more trades in schools and set up five “trade academies”; ensure all 16- and 17-year-olds are in school, work or approved training courses.
      ACT: Scrap Education Ministry and replace it with new Education Authority; allow state funding to public or private school of parents’ choice; deregulate schools but require them to be licensed by education authority; move curriculum “back to basics”.The key part of these policies is getting rid of the current education schemes, and replace them with more privatised versions of them. National Standards introduced to help regulate and narrow the curriculum, including going “back to basics” of reading, writing, and maths. Collect and monitor this data in primary school, and use NCEA “overhaul” to position schools against each other, including league tables. Deregulated schools, or Charter schools are to follow very soon after the election as part of ACT’s coalition.
    • National elected into government, using MMP to go into coalition with Māori Party and ACT.
    • Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill passed under urgency, allowing it to bypass the Education and Science Select Committee where the merits of National Standards could have been debated. Government sets precedence of limited to no consultation with parents or the sector.

    Visit NBR.co.nz for more information on government policies from 2008 election.

    2009

    • Anne Tolley becomes Minister of Education.
    • National makes large cuts to Teacher professional development services. This leads to a rise in private companies offering courses for teachers, and schools having to fund their own education development of its staff.
    • $35million additional funds budgeted over the next four years for independent (private) schools.
    • Education Amendment Bill 2009 introduces the idea of a ‘…body corporate or corporation sole may be appointed as a limited statutory manager or commissioner’
    • ‘Consultation’ with the public over National Standards. Data somewhat ignored (38% against, 14% for). Teachers vilified by the media for ‘not getting on board’ with the government policy.
    • Changes made to National Administration Guidelines to essentially make National Standards compulsory in all primary schools.
    • The Ministry begins promoting teaching and teacher supply initiatives and TeachNZ scholarships, informing overseas teachers of employment opportunities in key shortage areas in New Zealand, and awarding 1,023 scholarships to student teachers to study across the early childhood education, and schooling sectors.

    2010

    • Schools expected to begin using National Standards from the first day of school.
    • Schools that oppose National Standards forced to adopt them through threats of charter rejection, enforced ERO monitoring, or even closure.

    2011

    • Lesley Longstone appointed as Secretary of Education. Ms. Longstone had been a key figure in the introduction of charter schools in the UK.
    • National win general election by a landslide, and are re-elected into Government. Partnership with ACT and Māori Party continue.
    • Hekia Parata appointed as Minister of Education.

     

    2012

    • Minister of Education Hekia Parata announces policy to increase class sizes in order to be in-line with Treasury to save $43million each year. Continues with precedence of announcing policy with no consultation of the sector. Teachers appeal on force, and show multiple flaws in the numbers suggested by the Minister (such as making exceptions for technical teachers at intermediate schools).
    • Ms. Parata makes first mention of performance based pay for teachers as an option.
    • Minister of Education Hekia Parata backs down on class size policy, due to incorrect figures presented by Treasury, and from widespread disagreement from teachers, and more importantly, parents. “Ms Parata said the policy had caused “a disproportionate amount of anxiety” for parents and she was responding to that.”.
    • Novopay introduced for all teacher’s pay with limited to no trial or testing, despite advice given not to roll out the system which wasn’t ready. Not surprisingly, the system causes widespread issues, with some teachers not getting paid for months on end.
    • School Report launched by Fairfax Media to make National Standard data publically available. First comparisons between school’s data begins.
    • School closures and mergers in Christchurch announced following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Limited to no consultation with those affected.
    • The Education Amendment Bill to allow charter schools introduced on October 15, 2012.
    • Lesley Longstone resigns after 13 months in the position, sighting a breakdown in relationship with Hekia Parata.

    2013

    2014

    • Government announces Investing in Education Success. $359million put into education through expert teachers and lead principals to oversee more than one school in an attempt to bring better practise across all schools. Initially accepted by secondary and principal unions. Primary school sector unhappy with the idea. Once again, limited to no consultation with the sector. NZEI negotiates changes with the Ministry.
    • First five charter schools open for the school year.
    • Government takes over ownership of Novopay. ‘All issues’ finally sorted out, two years after it’s release.

    2015

    • Removal of teacher elected Teacher’s Council. Rebranded as Education Council, with representatives selected by the Minister of Education.
    • Decile ratings changed for many areas around New Zealand.
    • Rules around teacher registration changed to align with the Vunerable Children Act 2014, introduced in light of child abuse and indecent assault of children, by teachers and those in authority. Examples: 1. 2. 3. 4.
    • PaCT tool being rolled out across the country for schools to ‘opt-in’ and use.
    • NZEI announces adjustments to IES proposal and seeks teacher vote.

     

    Where things are headed

    image-key-privatisationFirstly, your guess is as good as mine. All we can do is speculate and take what has happened and take it through to its logical conclusion. We can assume that this government what to turn schooling into a business, and privatise as many assets as it possibly can. The rich will get richer, and the poor even poorer. These are some of the natural conclusions of the moves that have been made in the reform of education in this country.

    • PaCT to become compulsory for schools to use to assess student achievement in Years 1-8, essentially becoming a Nationwide assessment.
    • PaCT data to be collected by the Ministry, and ‘failing’ students linked with their teacher so they can be monitored.
    • Teacher performance becomes linked to student achievement (or lack there of).
    • Performance pay introduced as a ‘reward’ for good teachers.
    • ‘Bad’ teachers ‘weaned’ out through lower performance pay, and increasingly difficult registration regulations and expectations. Some of these ‘bad’ teachers, however, will be ‘good’ teachers who have struggling students in their class and who aren’t getting ‘good’ results according to PaCT.
    • IES to make schools with ‘failing’ students adopt ‘successful’ school principal and lead teachers. Aligns with performance pay, and the removal of ‘bad’ teachers and principals from the school.
    • ‘Good’ principals to manage and run more than one school. Much like a CEO of a company.
    • School funding changes, along with IES, where groups of schools receive ‘bulk funding’ or ‘pooled resources time and money‘. (See 5.)
    • League tables introduced and made publically available through the media for parents to send their children to ‘successful’ schools, and avoid ‘failing’ schools; even though the quality of the teaching may be the same or even better. Schools funding also begins to be based on results of Fairfax Media’s “School Report“.
    • Failing schools to be merged into charter schools with private ‘managers’. More privatisation of the education sector.
    • Experienced teachers on highest pay packet to be replaced with young, inexperienced teachers on a lower salary, to save money in the budget.
    • Increase of class sizes to be rolled out.
    Notes

    In my opinion there are very few ‘bad’ teachers in education in New Zealand. When I make reference to ‘bad’ teachers in this post, I am making it from the perspective of the government, who would have us think that any teacher who has poor achievement results in relation to National Standards is a ‘bad’ teacher.
    In addition to this, I fail to see how teachers can be assessed in their ability to teach by the results of their students. I have had some students from struggling situations and home life who have made amazing progress in a year, but are still below where the Government reckon’s they should be according to the ‘aspirational’ National Standards. Furthermore, I have had some students who have made no progress, but I would challenge the best teacher in the country to do a better job and get that student to be At the National Standard, while still maintaining the teaching of the rest of the class as well. Therefore, this definition of ‘bad’ or ‘good’ teacher is completely flawed.

    Some may call this post ‘scare-mongering’; except it isn’t. The majority of it is laying out the facts, and then extrapolating them to their natural conclusion based on the precedence set by this government, and its desire to reform education in this country.

    Related Reading

  • Teacher Wellbeing – Got a Workplace Wellbeing Programme?

    Wellbeing programmes are commonplace in the corporate world, and even some schools, but not all. YOU can be the one who gets the wellbeing ball rolling at your place.

    Wellbeing is a relatively new concept, and schools don’t exactly have a reputation for being ‘before its time’. In general, Teaching is ten years behind the rest of the world, and with the increase of technology development, it may even be more. It may be some time before ‘wellbeing’ is accepted as an important part of the school environment.

  • Teacher Wellbeing – Tidy Up Your Workspace

    It feels good doing a good clear out; getting into all those shelves and cupboards and creating space. Have a chat to your principal, and see if they can help organise a team tidy up.

    We did this not so long ago. I’m not sure if it was ‘traded’ so much as suggested and we had a good clean out of the resource room at school. It also coincided with the fact we had a skip for part of a working bee the school had, and so making the most of this was also at hand.

    Even just spending an afternoon tidying up one part of your classroom can be one way to help break the cycle of the day.