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  • I am Man: Male teachers teaching males

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    I am man

    Male teachers teaching males .
    A study into the influence of male teachers on the education of boys at primary school.

    A lot is made about the education of boys and the problems surrounding them.
    We continue to see female students outperform their male counterparts year in and year out when it comes to academic ability. This happens mostly in secondary education, but is often assumed this starts earlier in life, when students are in primary school.
    In conjunction with this is the ratio of male teachers to female teachers, which is about 1:5. Only 16.5% of primary teachers are male (according to 2013 data), which compares to only 41% in secondary school [1]. When we begin to look deeper into these numbers it becomes even more interesting.
    For instance, we can discount principals from our data, as very few of these are full time teachers in a classroom. In 2012, the number of male principals was more than female principals by just 67 (compared with 437 more in 2004). Continuing this trend is somewhat inevitable, and we would expect by now that there are more female principals than male principals.
    There are 1,961 primary schools in total (including full primary, intermediate and contributing schools). The number of male teachers (excluding principals) in these schools is 3,633 [2].
    If all the male teachers were equally distributed across the country, there would be only 1.8 male teachers per school. Let’s be humane and round that up to 2 male teachers per school on average, just so we don’t have to remove 0.2 of one of our male teachers. Obviously, some will have 2, some may have 3, some even 4, while others will only have 1, or more concerning, none.
    Add in to this the specialist teachers in Intermediate schools who teach woodwork, art, music, computers, design, and other technology options, many of whom are usually male; thus bringing the number of males as classroom teachers down. In fact, you wouldn’t be wrong in saying there are less than two male teachers in the average New Zealand primary school.
    To me, it’s not good enough. 
    Take an average New Zealand primary school of 300 pupils for example. Based on the government’s current ‘ideal’ class size of 28 students, there would be 11 classrooms at this school. Of those 11 classroom teachers, we can apply the 16.5% of teachers being male. That leaves us with 1.8 teachers. Now I’ll be generous and make that two. Two male teachers in the school. That means there are only 56 out of 300 students who have a male teacher for that year. That’s only 18% of the school on any given year.

    If we extrapolate this further, we can work out some probabilities of students having a male teacher. For this, we will assume that there are no male teachers in the new entrants class at this school – as is the case for most schools around the country. This raises the percentage of male teachers to 19.8% given we are eliminating one year of teaching.

    Warning: Complicated mathematics approaching!
    Now, with this higher percentage, we can calculate the probability of having a male teacher at some point during your primary school years – Year 2 to 6. (This excludes Intermediate given the complications around tech teachers, as well as varying class sizes.)
    The formula is:

    Y = Possible years with male teacher (5) n = No. of Male T’s

    F = Female Teacher % M = Male Teacher %
    Yt = Total years at Primary School (6) n = No. of Male T’s

    So with that, we have the table of the probability of having ‘n’ number of male teachers during primary school. The chance of not having a male teacher at all is about 26%, and there is only a 32% chance of having only one male teacher in your primary school years. Not surprisingly, the chance of having multiple male teachers during your six years of primary schooling is even lower, and the probability decreases rapidly the more male teachers we put into the equation.

     

     

    We can take this even further when we start to place this into a real life situation, where most schools these days are splitting year groups up, and combining them into one classroom. We usually see this around mixed classes of year 3-4 and year 5-6.

    This shows us that having two female teachers for these two years (where year levels are split) is more than twice as likely to happen than having a male for one or both of them. It’s nigh on 70% chance that primary school students will have a female teacher for both years. This assumes of course that students have the same possibility as the first year (i.e. half the year group changes teacher). This becomes exponential when we throw the same probabilities for the following two years in 5 and 6. In the table below (Table 1) (filled with yet more complicated mathematics), we can see how the probability changes as students go through the education system today.

    Some interesting points to note:

    • There is nigh on 50% chance of not having a male teacher for Years 3-6.
    • During years 3 – 6, students are making the most neuron connections in their brain than they ever do in the rest of their life. This is a critical stage in the development of their personality, knowledge, emotions, health, and well-being. This can be seen in Figure 2 below. The connections are at their most dense at the age of 7, which is when a student heads into year 3. From there, the important connections that have been made grow stronger, and those that have been made upon misconceptions disappear.
    • We can see that there is less than 40% chance of having just one male teacher during these formative years.
    • That drops significantly for students to have two male teachers. Given that we have established that there would be 2 male teachers (on average) at a 300 pupil strong school, there is only 11.4% chance of a student being taught by both of them over the course of 4 years.

    I could spend hours going into the complexities of why men don’t want to be teachers. We can look at all the excuses. We can blame money or abuse claims. But to me it’s more than that. I want to put it back to the kids. That’s why I got involved in teaching. It’s not for me. Not for my benefit. I’ve had my education, filled with influential male teachers that to this day I still look up to and admire, and am infinitely in debt to for their impact on my life. No. The reason I am a teacher is for the kids.
    In a NZ Herald article by Nicholas Jones, he interviewed Phil Harding, the Principals’ Federation president, who said that ‘many schools struggled to hire male teachers, and there were good reasons why a more even gender split was desirable.
    “Look at the percentages of children that are living with no father in their daily lives. We see the fallout from that with boys that have lost their way, are desperately unhappy, and don’t feel like they can talk about it with mum.
    “So that all gets bottled up and rebounds in the playground in anger – deeply seated stuff.” [3]
    These kids need male role models in their lives – boys and girls alike – but especially boys. Some are lucky to have them. Fathers who love their wives or partners, and who adore their children give their kids someone to look up to. Some have grandparents who were born in a different and more disciplined era. Some have uncles who they admire. But all too many have no one. A father who is in prison. An uncle doing crack. A grandfather who passed away last week. They come to school and the only other male influence they have in their lives is a little brother who they had to make lunch each morning.
    This is the reality for many of our students today.
    I have a colleague who makes a good point when it comes to male teachers; and that is that a good teacher is a good teacher, regardless of gender. This view is upheld by Dr. Graham Stoop who says “Evidence tells us that the most important factor in lifting achievement is the quality of teaching, not the gender of the teacher”.
    But as a male teacher, there is something more to it. I agree that a good teacher will teach well. But there appears to be a different bond between males to males that don’t exist between males and females, and this begins at a very young age. I am speaking from experience; both as a boy learning from male teachers at primary school, and as a male teacher teaching in a primary school.
    I have seen that the boys gravitate more towards me, they watch and they learn from me in a way that they don’t with my female colleagues. I’ve seen them become engaged, and felt included as a guy, rather than just another student in the class. I’ve seen them try out their sense of humour because they know that it is safe to do so with a guy. I’ve seen them take risks and give things a go in physical education, because its the guy thing to do, and as a male teacher I have encouraged the bravado within the safety of the classroom or school grounds.

    There is no suggestion that females can’t or don’t do these things and provide the opportunities to do it, but there is something unknown going on when there is a male teacher who is able to engage and inspire the boys in his class.
    Think of it as a child version of when four men can go round to a mates place, slouch down into a range of seating options, say nothing at all to each other and yet have an entire conversation at the same time. No one can explain it, not even men themselves; but it exists.

    In almost an uncanny concurrence, we are forever hearing about the falling rates of boys achieving academically, being left behind in educational dust by their female counterparts. For a long time, girls have always been more academically inclined than boys, and this has shown up in New Zealand assessment results for decades. It would seem that boys have given up on education long, long ago, and would rather be out playing sport, building things, making things with their hands, and having a bit of rough and tumble.

    But there is more to education than academic results, right? We already know that the success of education rides on the ability of the teacher to engage and inspire, motivate and challenge, as well as, build relationships with their students. We know that there are many circumstances that hinder progress, but in the same way, there are many circumstances that foster it.

    Could it be possible that there’s a small chance that the key to improve boys educational success lies in male teachers? What if the difference that needs to be made in order for boys to become both academically successful, but also become valuable and responsible members of society is directly (or otherwise) linked to the influence they have from male teachers? What if the way of building up and equipping tomorrow’s men with the knowledge, skill, resilience and determination to be better men; be better husbands or partners; be better fathers; to stand up and say “I Am Man!”; was to present itself in the way of today’s men being an everyday influence on today’s boys. One of the most powerful ways, but certainly not the only way, to do this lies in teaching. Every day for six hours you have tomorrow’s men attention and engagement to make a difference.

    But how strong is this link between men in teaching and boys’ achievement in education.
    I’m certainly not the first to wonder about this. It is “One of the more common themes… that a relationship exists between boys’ achievement levels and the numbers of male teachers (Sunday Star Times, 1 Aug 1999).” [4]

    To do this, I want to look at the results of boys achievement at various stages through New Zealand education history. I then want to match these points in time with the decline of male teachers. Potentially, we may see a trend beginning to happen, where the achievement (or non-achievement) of boys is directly linked to the number (or lack of) male teachers.

    Because there is no national assessment data for primary schools like there is for secondary schools in the form of NCEA, or in years gone by School Certificate and Bursary, I have offset the years by five, accounting for the fact that those sitting NCEA Level 2 in 2009, for example, would have been leaving primary school in 2004, and therefore affected by 2004’s male primary teachers.

    Statistics around male teachers across the decades was initially obtained from Harker (2006) [5] who got his data from the Ministry of Education website at the time.
    We can see a downward trend from the 1970’s, to a plateau from 1991 onwards. Meanwhile, the number of female teachers has steadily increased over this time, and thus, the percentage of male teachers in classrooms continues to drop.

    In the following few pages I have made a series of charts and tables of information surrounding school leavers highest attained academic results.
    I have included students that have left with no qualifications at all, as well as, those that have achieved Higher School Certificate, NCEA Level 2 or higher. Comparing these with the numbers of male teachers should give some indication around the effect less male teachers has on the students.

    The table here shows the truth behind some common assumptions that are well known. Firstly, that there is a decline of male teachers in the primary sector. Secondly, it shows us, in two different ways, that females are outperforming boys when it comes to secondary school education achievement. In the ‘No Qualification’ columns, we see that more males are leaving school with no formal qualification than females.

    At the other end of the spectrum, we can see that from the mid-80’s onwards, more females are achieving Higher School Certificate or NCEA Level 2 than males.

    From this, it does not look good for the theory that the lack of male teachers is having an effect on boys academic results. In essence, if this were the case, we should be seeing the rate of males leaving with no qualifications increasing as the number of male teachers decrease. Along with this, we should see those male students passing with Higher School Certificate or NCEA Level 2 decrease at the same rate as the percentage of male teachers in schools.

    However, we see the opposite of this, and is only highlighted by the graph, where school leavers with no qualifications is slowly declining at about the same rate as the percentage of male teachers.

     

    There is only one glimmer of light that goes along to mirror the impact of male teachers. Whilst I have been purely looking at the performance of boys at secondary school, it is important to look at the comparison against females, as that tends to be what they are compared with each and every year. This is what tells us that there is a problem.

    The way to compare the two is to take the lower away from the higher to give a marginal difference and measure the gap between the two genders.
    From the graph above, we can see a range of differences across the decades which is to be expected. But if we imagine a trendline on the difference line, it might look a lot like the gray line that is representing the percentage of male teachers in primary schools. However, this is not nearly enough evidence to suggest that the lack of male teachers in primary schools is having a detrimental effect on the state of secondary school leavers attainment rates.
    It is hardly surprising, thinking back to my high school years, that primary school teachers have any effect on the exam and assessment results of teenage boys.

    DATA SOURCES
    1976-1986: No online copies available. See ‘Education Statistics of New Zealand Booklet’ for these years.
    1990: 1990 Education Statistics of NZ Booklet.pdf
    1996: 1996 Education-Statistics of NZ Booklet.pdf
    2000-2006: Education Statistics Downloads – Years 1999 to 2009
    2010: Highest Attainment Numbers

    Until there is measurable and reliable data on the progress and achievement of primary school students, there will be little way of actually proving that male teachers benefit male students more than female teachers. And even then, I am not sure that it would be that cut and dry.
    Some would say – ‘Why don’t you use National Standards to see the effect?’. Well, firstly, National Standards have only been around five years. The standard deviation for any percentages would eliminate any rate of drop for male teachers during that time. Secondly, the National Standards are still ‘being developed’ in the sense that teachers have only just gotten an understanding around them. Even the government admits that the figures are ‘ropey’ and cannot be relied upon to help use determine if there is any link between male teachers and male student performance. Without the National Standards being more robust, gathering any information around student performance at primary school is far too difficult.

    But what if, like many key areas of learning that go past unnoticed, the impact of male teachers on male students cannot be measured through student assessment? For instance, how does one actually measure influence? Or motivation? Or engagement? All of these aspects we agree would lead to students learning more and understanding more, but none are easy to calculate or measure so as to be compared with the declining percentage of male teachers in the classrooms.
    What if the impact of male teachers on students doesn’t make itself known until much later on; years after they leave school, decades, even generations later? Otherwise, why is there such concern over the dwindling numbers of male teachers in our primary school classrooms?

    I did a Google search for “male primary school teachers nz”, half expecting (but not really) to see articles about role models, positive posts about great male teachers, the range of skills needed etc.
    Instead, of the 10 results that were listed on page one, six of them were about the lack of male teachers.
    Even the article I featured in, which had all sorts of positivity around being male and being a teacher in a primary school had a negative headline leading the charge – “Wanted: Male primary school teachers” – as if we had suddenly reached dire straits and desperately needed more male teachers in Wainuiomata. While even more male teachers would be welcome, it isn’t as if there is a shortage.
    For me, it comes back to the unmeasurable factors that males bring to teaching that provides students with a balance. Without male teachers providing that important balance, education becomes very ‘one sided’ and female dominated.

     

    Role models. People we look up to for inspiration, encouragement, example. Someone we try and emulate and better ourselves to be like. Research in 2008 in the UK, carried out by folks who have more time for this kind of thing than I do as a practising teacher, have interviewed a sample of 800 males in the United Kingdom[6]. They found that over half consider male teachers they had in their schooling years to be a ‘fundamental role model in their life’. In addition to this, over a third of these men also thought they were challenged to work harder at school because of having a male teacher.
    In the article, Dr. Tanya Byron says “Male primary school teachers can often be stable and reliable figures in the lives of the children that they teach.”

    All of these factors mentioned in the article are not at all academic based, but definitely contribute to the overall education of students; in this case boys. While evidence explored earlier in this study shows that male teachers have little impact on the academic outcomes of boys at secondary school, we can definitely see how other factors could be definitely influenced by having a stable, reliable male role model as a teacher.

    We are forever debating around the other influences that affect our students every day, and what impact they have. Teachers get told that we are just making excuses for the students not learning at a hypothetical expected level, when in reality, these are completely real for our students. Things like poverty, nutrition, hygiene, and hunger are all massive influences on our students every single day.
    So it should come as no surprise that male teachers can have some (positive) influence on our students lives, even if there aren’t any ‘academic benefits’ because of this. We can certainly assume that any positive influence provided by any teacher will improve student well-being.
    In turn, we can also say that any positive influence from male teachers will have a profound and meaningful impact on boys.

    Providing this role model becomes vitally important when considering the number of families with fathers who are no longer a part of their child’s everyday life. In 2006, Auckland University looked at the change in family situations in New Zealand based on the Census taken over the years [7].
    They found some interesting calculations regarding income, education, and other factors that make up whanau around the country. Using their data, I looked at those families that had dependable children (unable to earn, and therefore dependant on their parent/s) with two parents, and families that had dependable children with only one parent.
    In 1981, only 14% of these children who depended on their adults came from one parent situations.
    In 2006, that number has doubled to 28%. That’s nigh on one third of our kids who are living with only one parent, usually their mother.
    Please note, I am completely aware that some of these ‘one parent families’ will be solo dads who are looking after their kids, and who are providing an awesome role model for their children. But in my experience, I would say that in nine out of 10 cases, it is the mother who ends up looking after the children after a breakup. And while most fathers still remain in contact with their children, it is very rarely a consistent or sizeable influence that a child is experiencing day in and day out, such as that which a male teacher would have for example.

    It therefore becomes vitally important, especially for these 28% of students in our classes, that they are getting the input from male role models into their lives, in some shape or form, and male teachers can be the most influential of all the options. You can see a nine year old boy coming from a broken home where Dad has left the scene and Mum is working, doing the best she can, just how important a male teacher might become in his life. It may not make a blind bit of difference to him academically, but to his well-being, his confidence in himself as a young man, and his perception of men in his life, the influence that teacher could be on his life may be one of the most important things that happens for that child.

    In this same time period where we see more one parent (usually mothers) families, we also see the decline in male primary school teachers.

    From this table we can see how the number of male teachers goes down, while the number of single parent families goes up. Because the single parent family usually (but not always) means the mother, we can assume that the number of male role models is also decreasing at home. The number of stable, reliable, male role models for this generation has deteriorated considerably over the last 35 years.
    The impact that this has had on society as a whole is difficult to determine. It may not become evident until many years, even decades down the track. We often say that children these days are less resilient, less disciplined. But then, people have been saying that for generations, and there’s nothing to suggest that male role models instill any more discipline in individuals than females. This is why it becomes difficult to see the impact that the decline of male role models has had on children of today, and on society as a whole.

    Conclusion

    In summary, I have found out some interesting insights into the struggles that education faces now in the current climate in regards to the imbalance of gender in schools, especially primary schools. Fighting with some complicated statistical equations, we found that there is a 26% chance that your child could go through their primary education without having a male teacher at all. There are less than two male teachers in the average New Zealand primary school.
    Are you okay with that?

    There seems to be an unwritten anomaly that occurs between adult males, and this is something that happens instinctively. This made me think that, as a boy at school, there is something more about having a male teacher. There is an intrinsic link that is difficult if not impossible to put your finger on. This led me to believe that there is something beyond being a good teacher that makes male teachers an important part of a child’s education, especially for boys.

    But none of this can be backed up by figures. So looking at academic results, one has to look at secondary results, as nothing quantifiable, or reliable, is readily available on a
    national level for primary school students. Going back to the 1970’s, I compared the academic results with the decline of male primary teachers. I used a five year offset to see the impact that a 1971 primary teacher has on a 1976 secondary school student, to no avail. There is no evidence to suggest that the lack of male primary teachers is having any effect on secondary school results. In fact, if anything, the opposite is true (though I don’t believe for a moment that male teachers are hindering any academic progress on our generations).
    As we head on into the future, the number of male role models in students lives are diminishing, and this should be a concern to all of us.

    So it comes down to that intrinsic link between males. Be it macho, be it strength, mana, boldness, or the old adage of boys will be boys, the fact is the only ones who know what it’s like to be a boy at school are men. And the only ones who can go about helping these boys become tomorrow’s men with understanding and experience are male role models. There is no doubt that many, many females have had an amazing impact on each and every man going through school. There have been numerous females who have focussed their entire careers around the education of boys. One that comes to mind immediately in this country is the late Celia Lashlie.

    Celia’s work stems from prison and the system and process around the journey boys get set on to end up there. It was with a bit of a shock that we heard of her passing in February this year. Such a strong advocate for boys and men around this country, her shining light snuffed out at such a crucial time.
    But one of the quotes I read of hers when summing up her work, she said:
    ‘My job was only to collect the stories and hold up the mirror, it was not then, nor is it now, to translate for men what they are seeing in the mirror or to tell them what to do next.’ [8]
    In a sense, this is exactly the outcome of my study in the preceding pages. In a sense, only men will know how important it is for boys to have male role models. Females know the importance of it, and are becoming teachers to be role models for them (and all students of course). But they can’t be male role models for them.
    So here I am, telling you what to do next.
    Male teachers who are reading this: keep strong. You chose this profession for a reason. Or if you didn’t, you have surely found one along the way. Hang onto that reason. Don’t quit just because the going gets tough. One of my favourite, and most influential quotes for me from the first season of “The School”, or “Educating Essex (2011)” [9] as it is formally known by in the UK, is from Mr. Drew, who says:

    “I like young people. I find them interesting. I find them exciting, I find them invigorating. I just think it’s so grotesquely critical of adults in the modern age to
    say that young people today are worse. They’re not worse, they are products of what we as a society create. And they have less opportunity to be children.
    So, yes, it’s hard work, but why is hard work a bad thing? Hard work is surely what makes people better. So, yeah, it’s hard work, but okay good, thank you, I like hard work.” [10]
    Ever since hearing that, I’ve kept it. Yes, it’s hard work. But I like hard work.

    If you are male and thinking of becoming a primary teacher; do it. Don’t worry about the attached stigma, or what people think about you. If you feel that you’re going to be a good teacher and want to make a difference in tomorrow’s men, there is no better way. The pay isn’t as much as you could get in the private sector, but its a living, and the rewards are so much greater than anything money can buy anyway.
    The reality is, the difference you can make today, is going to benefit generations to come.
    I can’t and won’t sell teaching to you. It has its benefits and its pitfalls just like any other career path. But you will know if you have the teaching bug. Its a little bug that grows inside. It buzzes with enthusiasm when it sees learning happening. It flutters with excitement when you pass information on to others. It gets a kick out of seeing eyes light up. Its a passion deep inside, and without it, teaching won’t be for you. But with it, you will be the greatest thing that happens for some students that will go on to affect them for the rest of their lives.

    References

    [1] (2014). Efforts to get more male teachers failing | Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/64375435/Efforts-to-get-more-male-teachers-failing.
    [2] (2012). Teaching Staff | Education Counts. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/teaching_staff.
    [3] (2014). Lack of male teachers ‘affecting boys’ – National – NZ Herald … Retrieved May 7, 2015, from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11359588.
    [4] Major, Dayle. “Male Teachers and Boys’ Achievements.” (2000).
    [5] HARKER, R. (2006). Teacher Numbers in New Zealand: Attrition and Replacement. Retrieved from http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume3_issue1/harker.pdf.
    [6] (2013). Male teachers vital role models for boys – The Guardian. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/30/primaryschools.malerolemodels.
    [7] (2010). Measuring Changes in Family and Whānau Wellbeing Using. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Families/changes-in-family-using-census-1981-06.aspx.
    [8] (2015). A life lesson from Celia Lashlie – Bevan James Eyles. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.bevanjameseyles.com/blog/2015/3/4/a-life-lesson-from-celia-lashlie.html.
    [9] (2011). Educating Essex – Channel 4. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essex.
    [10] (2014). Jul. 18, 2014 – adrienne santos. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://adriennesantos.com/post/92143214503/i-like-young-people-i-find-them-interesting-i

    Acknowledgements

    A huge thank you to my sister, Dr. Bridget Ingham who helped with the ‘mathemagics’ that was going on in part two. There is certainly no way that I would have been able to extrapolate that level of statistics to bring the probability of getting a male teacher at primary school without it.

    Thank you also to my current place of employment. You took a risk and employed a fresh faced young male teacher and gave me a start into teaching. There’s not a day that goes by that I am not grateful for the opportunity I have to be an influence in the boys and girls at our school.

    Thanks to my wife who has put up with a semi-unresponsive husband as I work late into the nights typing up my findings. Your ongoing support gives me the strength to face each day.

    Lastly, thanks to the late Roger Mexted, who taught me as a boy, and taught me as a student teacher in his class. Your role model has left a permanent impression on my life, as a teacher, as a person, and as a man.
    Edited by Al Ingham, Bonnie Macbeth and Ruth Hastings. Many thanks.

    Download full article (PDF)

  • Wanted: Male primary school teachers

    Mark Lye had a wide grin on his face. He was acutely aware he was becoming a bit of a modern relic.
    Lye works at Wainuiomata’s Arakura School and is one of New Zealand’s few male reading recovery teachers. The job sees Lye working one-on-one with students aged six and seven who are underachieving in reading. It’s not uncommon for schools to have such a teacher. But it is, Lye admits, fairly unusual for that person to be a bloke.

    “I’m about as rare as a moa,” Lye said.
    “I’m just about extinct.”

    Lye said he first trained as a teacher in the 1970s before joining the Air Force. Back then, a big advantage was that young men and women were paid to train as teachers.

    “We didn’t have to get any of those terrible student loans. I take my hat off to young people today who are prepared to make that commitment despite the costs.”

    When Lye left the classroom for the military, there were a wide range of other blokey options for male teachers – in the military, police and corrections. There weren’t such options these days. But Lye said regardless of gender, a good teacher was just that.

    “If you are a good teacher, you will do a good job.”

    In 2013, just 16.5 per cent of New Zealand’s primary school teachers were men. That means since 2004 there has been an 8.3 per cent drop in the proportion of male teachers working at primary level.

     

    Read the Full Article

    www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/68000905/wanted-male-primary-school-teachers

  • Class Stories – Great read aloud books to read to your class

    Over the many years of teaching in the middle primary school, I have been a huge advocate for reading to the class. I was read to as a student by my teachers and those memories of the stories stay with me today.

    But as a teacher, I head to the library and stare blankly at endless shelves of books and don’t know what books to choose. There are the tried and true favourites of course: Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Paul Jennings. But what other stories are out there that are suitable (and fantastic!) for reading to the whole class.

    Below I have compiled a list and their suitability in terms of year level for teachers to read.
    I don’t want to rely just on my limited experience, but want to gather your ideas as well. What books do you read aloud to your class? Put them in the comments section and I’ll add them to my list.

    Book Title Author Year Level Suitability
    The Giraffe, the Pelly, the Monkey, and Me Roald Dahl Year 3-4
    The B.F.G Roald Dahl Year 3-4
    Un-series Paul Jennings Year 5-6
    Charoltte’s Web E.B. White Year 5-6
    Hatchet Gary Paulsen Year 5-6

  • Assessment Assessment Assessment

    In the current education climate, teachers are finding themselves with the responsibility of making OTJ’s (Overall Teacher Judgements) to report to parents about their child’s academic achievements, but the requirement to have evidence for these judgements. These are rarely school imposed, but instead come from the likes of the Ministry of Education or ERO, who continually ask “How do you know that?” type questions in relation to National Standards data, with schools only being able to say “because of the test results” as a viable and measurable response. Therefore schools are asking teachers to assess their students using a range of different school-set assessments.

    When I think of assessment, I usually can’t get pass the first three letters. It’s tedious, a bore, and whilst I enjoy analysing data from them, they are generally a waste of time when I consider what I could be doing – working alongside students, engaging with them, insipring them, and unleashing them.

    Chris Hipkins wrote an interesting post about Kiwi kids being over tested. He says:

    “Kiwi kids are being over-tested in schools… Let’s get teachers actually teaching, rather than testing to meet ‘reporting’ requirements. Kids deserve nothing less.“

    It has been an issue I’ve noticed increasingly in my career. Whether it’s because I’m male, or because it’s genuinely difficult to do, I find that to test the entire class, I have to shut down the learning programme and go into ‘Assessment Mode’. I find I don’t do any actual “Teaching” during this time, more just provide suitable ‘practise’ type activities for students to work on independently while I repeat 1-on-1 testing. I can’t do both ‘assessment’ and ‘teaching’ at the same time. As a school, we are now moving away from whole-class testing because it gives a very limited view of the student’s abilities. But this means that more 1-on-1 testing is required. This can take 3 to 4 days to complete with a class of 28.

    I wrote a reply to Chris’s post that expressed my ideas:

    “Thanks Chris for this! I’m a primary teacher and I’m constantly going into “assessment mode” to get through the entire class, that sometimes I wonder if I’m actually teaching them anything! By the time I’ve finished one lot of assessment, the next lot is on my desk!
    I feel that if I were able to work constantly alongside my students; encourage, inform, correct, show, teach, and build genuine learning relationships with them that I’d have a much better understanding of them as individuals and thus understand what they need in their learning. Any assessment should only be to confirm what teachers already know about their students.“

    And that’s just it. If teachers were given the trust that a) they deserve, and b) that is required to make OTJ’s in the first place, then I’m sure that there would be better outcomes for all students. We are told constantly that teaching and learning is all about relationships, but I fail to see how sitting tests and being assessed builds any kind of meaningful learning relationship between student and teacher. Secondly – spending time working with these students and teaching them will only enhance my ability to make a judgement.
    We are showed the assessment pyramid regularly in P.L.D (Professional Learning & Development), and it still staggers me that things remain the same. The assessment pyramid works a lot like the food pyramid, with the top tier representing assessment that, whilst is usable, should not make up the bulk of assessment used in the classroom. The bottom tier represents assessments like teacher observations, anecdotal notes, conversations, discussions, behaviours, troubles, problem solving, which should be use more frequently. Yet the rate of importance placed on assessments is opposite. Those that fit down the bottom of the pyramid which should happen daily and make up the majority of our assessment as teachers, is given the least importance, while those at the top which happen once or twice a year, are relied heavily on when schools are asked to “prove it” by Ministry or ERO officials.

    Chris finished up his post by replying with a disclaimer that he in no way intends for there to be NO form of assessment, just that “…there is too much testing for ‘compliance’ rather than to genuinely inform the next steps in a child’s learning.”. And I wholeheartedly agree. If all we are doing is relying on test results, weighing the pig time and time again, it’s not going to help the students. Further to this is the issues happening in education overseas.

    Teachers in the U.S. have the common core to teach and to contend with where the success of the students in their class directly relates to their school image. What has ended up happening? Teachers preparing students for the test; not actually teaching them.

    “My old Principal was so enamored by an awarded Title I school for bringing up test scores. Their formula? Test prep. We copied and plummeted.” – @TeacherReality

    It is highly tempting to give students practise at sitting tests, or answering similar questions over and over again, in order to boost their test score by being able to answer similar questions. But this in no way is why we became teachers. We didn’t become teachers to give test-like questions, show helpful formulas to solve test-like problems, or show them practise tests to help them pass a ‘real’ one. No. We became teachers because we wanted to impart knowledge, to inspire and to encourage, to challenge and watch students struggle in the hope that one day, one day, they would be able to apply themselves in life and succeed.

    As I write this, I find myself thinking; “I know all this, and say all this, but hypocritically find myself in class administering tests. Why!?”. Well, mostly this is because of the school having certain requirements (from external or internal pressures) of the teachers, as most schools around the country will have. So what can be done? What can I do as a teacher?

    These are genuine questions. I don’t have the answers. I have the ideal – which is to make observations and notes the most important and reliable source of information about student learning available. It means teaching and working alongside students. And so I must do that. I must make that a priority. I won’t be able to avoid the summative tests at all, but I can certainly try to maximise the time I do have to assess informally, and use these with more prominence than a one off test.

    How do you manage the balance of testing vs. teaching? What restrictions are placed on you by school or external sources in terms of assessment? How do you deal with that? What suggestions do you have for others? Please leave your comments below.

  • The White and Blue National Standard Box

    This week the internet world was bombarded with seemingly pointless debate around the colour of a dress. To me, it was quite clearly white and gold, and impossible for me to see how it could be any other way. While I could see how people saw the blue, the suggestion that the darker strips could be black was preposterous. But then when my wife commented on the black and blue dress, I was flummoxed. Seriously? I’ve stood by my artistic eye for my entire life; and now it starts to play tricks on me?

    dress-615x342

    For those wishing to find out about the dress and why it is blue and black, please read this article and this from the NYTimes.

    However, when I was thinking about this, it immediately made me think of each and every classroom around the country. We have many, many students who would answer “white and gold” to this question in a test, and many, many students who would answer “blue and black”. Some are restricted by the colours they see from the photo, and others are able to translate that and see the actual colour that the dress would be, based on the white balance of the background. And yet, because of this, many, many students would end up failing this test, through no fault of their own mind you.

    Many teachers all around the country would argue for and against the correct answer, and many, even when faced with evidence, would find it hard to fathom that they too, got it wrong.

    And yet we would continue to use a faulty system. A test that labels students as wrong, as failures, through no fault of their own, purely and simply because their brains aren’t wired that way. It puts everyone in the same box, and only those who are wired a particular way are filtered through to the top of success.

    The National Standards Box

    National Standards is the same. While we’ve come to accept them and we’ve had to work with them since 2010, it doesn’t make them any less flawed. Yes, we have come to manage them and get used to them, but deep down, I am still morally opposed to them. I’ve seen too many fantastic students with so much potential get labeled as “Well Below” or “Below” purely because their brains aren’t wired to think in terms of Reading, Writing, and Maths. They are considered unsuccessful, and targeted programmes are put in place to monitor and try and make these students fit into the box of the National Standards. We’re trying to make them see the dress as blue and black, when all they can see is white and gold. Even if we reason around it, and show them evidence, their eyes will still see white and gold, because thats how their brain is wired.

    Case in point is an ex-student of mine, who at age 9 was reading at an age of a 5 year old (that’s when you could get him to read), and writing not much better. Maths was passible, but only through drawing diagrams rather than numbers, of which many he wrote backwards. However, put a blank page on his desk and a pencil in his hand, and he would draw the most wonderful creations I’ve seen from a child. He had depth of tone, shading, details, feeling and mood, emotion and passion compressed into the graphite lines of his art. At times, he would draw beyond anything I’ve come to expect, even from myself. His talent was incredibly well developed, and I would have loved to continue to work with his drawing and develop it, honing his skills, and encouraging his internal well of creativity that was bubbling away inside. Instead, I spent 80% of the year fighting to get this child on task with his writing, force feeding him books with pictures which he just wanted to draw, and trying to get him to fit into the National Standard box. The other 20% was made up of 15% of me trying to think creatively about how to use art as a means of developing his reading and writing, and the remaining 5% giving up on anything structured and letting him do what he wanted – draw! It was a year filled with frustration, torment, arguments, negotiations, and ultimately, very little progress.

    We label them as they head into the prime of their learning and into the big wide world. They may be genius artists, or fantastic sportsmen, and will be incredibly successful in these fields once they leave high-school. But while they are in primary school, they have to fit into a different box and be measured. And they fall short. The message they get is negative. The internal self talk begins and the possibility of them reaching that potential lessens. Of course some will make it, but many will self combust and be filled with self doubt and lack of confidence in their ability, whether ‘academic’ or not. They call themselves dumb, and they know it. Because that’s all they’ve known since 2010.

    And teacher’s have their hands tied. On the one hand we have a beautiful and wonderfully wide curriculum full of opportunity and wonder, and in the other, the narrow field of vision as we peer into the National Standards box. “Integrate these through the other learning areas” they say, but the desired effect isn’t as easy to come across. As with last year, I never found a way to integrate reading through art, and I’m unsure whether I had, whether it would have made a difference in raising this child’s reading ability. Regardless of this, the dress was still white and gold for him, because that is how his brain is wired.

    As a teacher, what I want to teach is the ability for all students to see the dress as white and gold and blue and black, and accept the differences, while knowing deep inside that no matter what they actually see, that they are right in their own way, and that others are also right. I want them to be able to see them as successful, even if that’s just in one subject or curriculum area. Obviously they still need the basics, but labelling them a failure just because they don’t see blue and black isn’t the way forward to a successful future.

     

  • Student Success

    Can you read? Can you write? Can you count?

    If you say yes to these then you are a success. You have succeeded at school. You’ve made suitable progress through your years at school. Heck… You’re verging on being a genius. You’re probably headed to university, or some high end CEO job, and once you’ve done that, and are trying to work out what to do with your money after all the property you now own, you might just run for prime minister.

    If the importance that is placed on National Standards in this country is anything to go by, then this will be reality. Yet we keep on getting pressured into widening the curriculum day after day, by all the different curriculum areas; science, the arts, p.e. and health. Fitting all of this in within the school year is challenge enough, yet alone finding time in the school day. Many teachers have had to learn and adapt, and thus begin integrating reading, writing, and maths in amongst the other subjects.

    children-99507_640But isn’t success more than this?
    I’ve had a myriad of students through my classroom doors, some who are very successful academically. But I will always remember one student, Polly. Polly of course is a made up name designed to remind me who it is, but disguise her identity for privacy reasons. Polly was a neat student. She was on time most days, was well presented, had lunch, came from a home with supportive parents who turned up to school events when they could.  Polly had great friends, and was always very kind, considerate, and respectful towards others. She didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone. Polly got on and did her work. She was enthusiastic about school and about learning. She wasn’t the best at maths, reading, or writing, but always gave 100% effort and put her heart and soul into her work. But 2010 rolled around, and with it the implementations of National Standards, I found myself having to try and explain to Polly and her concerned parents why she was Well Below in all three areas. It simply wasn’t fair. Polly became a target student, and her progress was routinely monitored. By the time she left school, she was still Below the National Standards in all three subjects, but was a long way from being an ‘unsuccessful’ student. In fact, she was a very long way from being a ‘below’ student as well.
    You see, Polly had a lot going for her. She had perseverance. She had respect. She had kindness and reliability. Polly had great running ability, and determination, confidence, and commitment to boot. She had a dramatic flair, although only used this when she was required, on stage, in assemblies, and class plays. She got along with everyone, even those who crossed her. You see, when I said goodbye to Polly from my class, I knew it wouldn’t be the last I saw her. I knew that out in society, in the real world, whatever Polly chose to do with her life, she would be a success. She had the qualities that will make success inevitable. While she was not the brightest student academically, she will do well for herself regardless. Whether she becomes a stay at home mum, or a fast-food chef, air hostess, veterinary assistant, early childhood educator, bus driver, receptionist, or the second wealthiest CEO in the country, it won’t matter, because what ever she chooses, she will be successful at it – I am sure of it.

    grads

    In my experience, I’ve been through a few different ‘Graduate Profile’ activities, where we as teachers get around and discuss what skills and qualities we would like our students to leave our school with. Each and every time we end up with a list that includes many, if not all of the following skills and qualities:

    Creativity, Resilience,Able to work with a variety of different people, Motivated, Persistence, Expresses themselves, Curiosity, Humour, Endurance, Reliability, Empathy, Leadership, Compassion, Courage, Resourcefulness, Humility, Communication Skills, Thinks of others, Shows respect,  Shows not tells, Trusts others, Social skills,  Role model, Mentor, Volunteers, Gives to others, Active participator, Takes suitable risks, Uses initiative, Confident, Trustworthy, Problem Solver,Self Awareness, Self Discipline, Self Motivated, Ambitious, Flexible, Positive attitude.

    When you look through this comprehensive list, there is no question that they are suitable desires for schools to have for their students to have leave with, and more often than not, when teachers are asked to come up with such lists, no where is academic ability mentioned. No where on our Graduate Profile as a school does it say that a ‘model A’ student that leaves our school will be At or Above the National Standard.

    It’s definitely worth thinking about.

    What does success mean to you in regards to education and learning? Feel free to comment your ideas below.

  • Picture Books and Literacy Learning

    I was perplexed, astonished, gobsmacked, and bewildered when I read this article this morning.

    Picture books hurt reading, says linguist Pamela Protheroe

    Read Article – Stuff.co.nz

    There are very few words I can say right now about it.
    Luckily, most of us in Education circles have gotten used to ignoring such ‘research’ and will continue to listen to trained, practising teachers who know what works, rather than these so-called ‘researchers’ who blow in and blow out of a classroom to report their findings.

    But seriously. Let’s stop for just one moment. Someone has based their research thesis on this. Countless dollars on resources, time, and all sorts to carry out this research, and for the most part, it goes against every bit of logical instincts we have.

    My first reaction was – what are the implications for schools should this research be taken on board? Book rooms around the country turned upside down, with pictures being deleted from Ready to Read books, and replaced with text-only books. Picture books being thrown onto a fire in the school courtyard outside the school library. Its just not an image you even want to imagine books and schools becoming.

    Let’s face it. We’ve all been through school where picture books were more than a staple diet. They have helped us to make sense of the world, and have scaffolded our learning of English, which is confusing at the best of times! They have provided enjoyment and fun for reading. Even today, I prefer a good picture book, and the art covered pages that bring the story to life.

    And guess what. I’m not dyslexic. In fact, many of us aren’t. And even those that I know who are dyslexic, have not only learned to adapt with this world, but have done so from a very young age; suggesting that dyslexia isn’t really something that comes to haunt us in later life like baldness or arthritis might. I’m more than sure that if this research was the least bit true, that with the copious amounts of picture books that have been read over the years, we would have countless adults complaining of suddenly developing dyslexia and getting their words and letters muddled.

    Try, just for a minute, to picture it. Where the Wild Things Are, without the beautiful scratching and muted illustrations. The Very Hungry Caterpillar without the large stenciled fruit and holes in the pages. Green Eggs and Ham without the train going through the tunnel on tracks supported by the bamboo-like truffalo trees. There is no way that these stories, without their illustrations, would remain in our minds, but more importantly, remain in our hearts.

    9985972026_54e0b07122Imagination at heart

    As for ruining imagination; I somewhat agree. I believe the imagination of young people has been harmed by the overstimulation of digital media, film, and video games. But not by picture books. Not by still images. The stationary pictures that grace a page provide just a small portion of the imagination required to gather in the entire story. There are a lot more aspects to a story than even what the picture on a page can show us. Theres movement, there’s action, there’s descriptive settings, and facial expressions. There’s reactions and emotions, all of which change and adapt with the story, something that a still image in a picture book. They rather provide a starting point and a kick start for students imaginations to build on.

    Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

    My personal favourite is a book that has no words in it whatsoever. Most likely this is because of my prejudice towards art and drawings. It’s called ‘The Arrival‘ by Shaun Tan, and it is magical. In my teaching through Daily 5, a world wide literacy programme based on in class practice, developed by teachers for teachers, one of the things that is taught is ‘three ways to read a book’. One of those is to read by using the pictures. Even I ran into problems with this when teaching older children, who are now reading chapter books which contain very few pictures!

    In Conclusion

    I guess it is quite good that this researched doesn’t have a memorable name. I can’t even remember it from the title.

    There are a few things that we need to remember. They completely dispute her findings, and lay them to rest almost instantly. Firstly, like music, pictures are a universal language for all. They tell a story on their own. They are invaluable for communicating ideas for ELL students.

    And lastly, and most importantly, I leave you with one common phrase that is used all over the world, and speaks complete truth every time it is used. And I cannot think of a more suitable time to use it than this.

    “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

  • Are Modern Learning Environments a Fad?

    We’ve all heard it in news, and seen it in the high glossy magazines or furniture websites, claiming ergonomic desks provide a quieter classroom, or driving through the new housing development with a 21st Century school nearby while the state housing that serves the poorer side of society watches on from across the road. Some have even experienced it going to a conference or workshop which are always held in the latest completed building project, often surrounded by glass walls and neatly air-conditioned atmosphere with the fresh aroma of recently laid high tensile carpet.

    Thats right. Modern Learning Environments, or ‘MLE’ for those of us keeping a list of teacher jargon and acronyms.
    Back when my grandparents went to school, every classroom was the same. A blackboard with chalk-filled scratches and impurities, each wooden desk facing the front, lined up in an individual grid for maximum efficiency. The teacher provided information for the masses, delivering speeches from the front like a preacher at a pulpit, and it was your responsibility to remember and follow directions or you would miss out.

    As time went by, we began to question the effectiveness of this. Desks began to get grouped into small clusters, and the term ‘desk groups’ was formed. In junior classes especially, desks were done away with completely, with furniture makers beginning to focus on large tables for schools. A classroom computer (ex-office computer) sits in the corner and is the place for students to go during wet lunchtimes where the class Solitaire challenge begins. The blackboard is removed for the front of a fridge, and is so called as a ‘whiteboard’. The teacher sets group work and walks around the class to ensure students are on task and discussing ideas together.

    Eventually we reach the current predicament where schools feel like they have to provide a range of different ‘areas’ for students. There are small pods of desks which link together in different ways, ottomans which cluster into circles or snakes, carpet pads or cushions instead of chairs, bean-bags are brought out from the corners, barstools with benches instead of individual desks. There is no ‘front’ of the classroom, and the standard whiteboard is now an interactive projector with multi-touch capability. We’ve opened up the school network to enable students to bring their own device (‘BYOD’) to school on which they can complete their school work. The teacher is a facilitator of learning for every student, and provides a model for inquiry, where students learn on their own with support from others around them, finding out what they want to find out, how they want to find it out. The classroom accesses all corners of the internet, and learning outside the classroom happens each week where the class Skypes another class across the other side of the world. The students are connected through a learning management system (‘LMS’), and parents regularly check in with their child’s progress at school through the school Moodle.

    What actually is a Modern Learning Environment?

    The Ministry of Education defines a MLE as follows:

    “A learning environment may be understood to be the complete physical, social and pedagogical context in which learning is intended to occur. …a modern learning environment is one that is capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change – thus remaining modern and future focused.”
    MLE.education.govt.nz

    In short, a MLE is a space that changes depending on the learning at the time, and is future focussed as education progresses. It provides students and teachers with a choice on how to use the space, depending on the learning activity at the time. Students may find it more comfortable to lie on the floor with a laptop, rather than sit upright at a desk with pencil and paper.

    The Ministry website continues to explain that there are eight parts to consider when discussing a Modern Learning Environment.

    1. Accessible
    2. Air Quality
    3. Heating
    4. Healthy and Safe
    5. Lighting
    6. Insulation
    7. Sustainable
    8. Acoustics.

    It is important to remember that this is purely the physical environment. It does not consider online communities, or digital environments within this; but does take into account the idea of ‘ICT everywhere’.

    Why the Craze?

    So why is everyone clambering to get up the property ladder and develop their school into a MLE? Is it the consumer culture we’ve become so entrenched in now filtering into our expectations for school buildings. Is it the same reason that we have to have the latest iPhone as we do have to have the latest classroom fad?

    Firstly, we are attracted to the new. Many classrooms look tired. Those schools that were built during the baby boom in the 1960’s, now have classrooms that are pushing 50 years old. Heck, I bet any of us would look tired if we’d had 1000’s of kids running around us over the course of 50 years! Schools have lots of other priorities as they come to grips with the technical age, and ‘modernising’ classrooms is well down the list of things-to-do.

    It thus becomes very attractive walking into a classroom with clean walls, sharp, clean lines, superb lighting quality, and durable, usable spaces. I’m not sure cleaners will agree that full length glass walls are a good idea, but there is a sense of flow having them, un-defining the boundaries of a space and creating an openness to the area. There is a natural desire for this new environment, given that the alternative is so… old.

    The Need for Guidelines

    In some ways, with everyone wanting the new buildings and new furniture, there has to be suitable reasons and guidelines behind having them installed, so that the government can quantify and add some structure to the wants and desiers of every teacher in the country. The eight parts of the MLE were developed to ensure that there are reasons behind the decisions that are made regarding school property. Even when upgrading old school buildings, the eight boxes can get ticked off as the issues within them are addressed, and though they might not have the latest and greatest technology, or motion sensor lights, or wall to ceiling windows, or enough range in furniture to put a furniture sale to shame, they can still be considered as a MLE.

    So is it a Fad?

    Essentially, no. It’s not a fad. It’s not just the latest thing people are talking about. While environment is important, it is not the be all and end all of learning and education. Can it help? Yes. But a good teacher will teach well in any environment. A good student will learn well in any environment.

    But we are in the 21st Century. There are lots of amazing options out there to explore, especially in regards to our learning environments, and pursuing these is just another step in developing life long learners out of our classes.

     

  • Saving Recent Downloads to Google Drive

    So you’ve gotten used to saving attachments from your G-Mail straight to your Google Drive. It’s pretty handy isn’t it!?

    But what about when you download that PDF resource? You can’t just select your Drive and it goes straight there (unless you have Google Drive for your PC).

    Not to worry. There is a very easy way to do this seamlessly using Google Chrome.

    Step 1

    First you will have to open up your drive in another tab. http://drive.google.com

    Step 2

    Your downloaded files have finished (hopefully) and are now displayed down the bottom of your browser.

    All you have to do, is drag the file from the bottom of the browser into your drive window. They will then begin uploading straight away.

    Step 3

    And you’re done! You will see the little Uploads black box in the bottom right corner and be able to watch your files be uploaded into your drive.

    Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 6.08.15 pm

    No more looking through your Downloads folder or trying to find where you downloaded them to before uploading them manually to your Google Drive. You can do it all from inside your browser window!

     

    I suspect that this trick will work in other browsers that list downloaded files, but have not tested it. Let me know if you’ve tried it and it works in Firefox or IE10!