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  • Tomorrow Schools and the Equity Gap

    It’s interesting to see that word “review” and “reform” getting bandied about.

    At one point, reform was an issue as we fought off “GERM”…

    Now, a review is taking place of our school system, and some suggestions being made, and suddenly those that may have been encouraging GERM are now questioning this review.

    The main objection to the review is stemming from the education elite; those sizeable schools who have clawed in students and money and status through whatever means possible. The bigger the school, the more influence you’re seen to have, as the more students you have, the more parents you have, and usually, the more chances of having very rich or important parents. The sphere of influence grows and it becomes all about who you know, not what you know.

    Take the article They’ve Seen the Future for instance; Martin Thrupp has some very good points that he makes in the article. He says…

    “It is a kind of view that runs through New Zealand society; this great concern about inequality, poverty and so on, but at the same time people who are on the advantaged side of it don’t necessarily want to share their resources.

    “Because of that, we do see principals of high socio-economic schools not particularly supportive of redistribution efforts and greater equity funding for low socio-economic schools.”

    He goes on to say that parents are the same, clustering together to improve their status, keeping up with the joneses, purchasing houses in specific zones (Look at the marketing done in the season of the Block where one house was in zone for a particular Auckland school). They work together to all jostle for position, and not only demand, but provide resources to ensure, that their child gets the best possible education. This carries on at home.
    Thrupp says that this doesn’t always happen in low-socio economic communities.

    We see what money means to those schools as well.

    Wellington College Principal says that with the donations his school receives, he is able… “to make decisions around overstaffing, to pay for a teacher’s salary beyond the [roll-related] staffing. It’s enabled us to sometimes have smaller classes, start new subjects, retain high-quality staff.”

    Now, that’s all well and good, and a great luxury to have. But there is always another side of the coin.

    This kind of luxury is simply not available to schools in low socio-economic  areas – places where smaller classes and decisions on overstaffing would be very much beneficial. These schools have high-quality staff, but they often get burnt out managing classes of 30+ pupils, or leave for greener pastures at schools that might be able to offer smaller classes, better resourcing, or other incentives for them. Needless to say, this also means that any high quality staff these schools have, won’t have the same effectiveness due to their larger class sizes. I don’t really care for what Hattie’s research (however bogus or biased it is) says about class size; if you take a great teacher and put them in front of 30 students, and then put them in front of 20 students, they are going to have better success (not to mention overall better well-being) in the class of 20 students.

    Okay. Time for some maths.

    In the article, it states that Wellington College received $5.7 million in donations in 2017, the most for any school. It’s roll is around 1750 students.

    So taking that $5.7million, and calculating how much that amounts per student, we end up with a figure of $3,257 per student. PER STUDENT.

    I can guarantee, that is more for one student than most schools receive in donations for their whole school. Add to that the notion that the Government suggested during their election run that they would subsidise schools $150 per student if they dropped their school donations for parents. This has yet to happen, but I know of several schools that have waived asking for school donations from their communities, because of this, but also because they know the burden it puts on some of their families.

    Three and a quarter thousand dollars per student is a long way from a mythical $150.

    No wonder these schools don’t want the review suggestions to be implemented.

    I wonder what would happen if, just for a week, those principals in the lofty heights of the wealth and famous, got to see the otherside of the coin, and got to see that we are all here for one reason – to educate our young people, and begin seeing this as a New Zealand wide system rather than just from their ivory insulated tower. Maybe, just maybe, they’d see things in a different light, and hopefully be able to see the disparity that exists and that this taskforce are trying to address.

    How can education in New Zealand provide the same opportunities for every child when there is such a massive gap between the rich and privileged and the rest who are doing the best they can with what they’ve got?

     

    Original Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/110421061/theyve-seen-future–its-not-tomorrows-schools

     

  • Teacher Back to School Bingo – 2019 Edition

    Hi all! It’s that time of year where you put down your book, find the school keys, dust off your TELA laptop and cruise back to school.

    No one finds it fun.

    Unless they have the latest edition of Teacher’s Back to School Bingo!

    Here is the latest edition for 2019. Print it off, hand it out to your colleagues, or simply keep the fun for yourself!

    Of course, you could always play last year’s version, or head on back to the very first Teacher’s Back to School Bingo.

  • Automatic Google Drive student notifications

    As a teacher, I’m constantly looking for ways to make my life easier. The computer is but a tool to use, and it can be used to do many menial tasks that we often end up doing manually or doing ourselves. Because of this, I’m a huge proponent of the saying “Work smarter, not harder”. We can free up additional time and systems by simply handing these over to the computer to do.

    One of the great things that Google Suite has is the ability for students to share their work with the teacher. At first I was hesitant to hand out my teacher’s email address, but since doing so, I have students sharing their latest work with me almost automatically, and providing feedback in this way is really valuable. Further to this is their ability to collaborate together, and this year I am wanting to utilise the function of shared folders more.

     

    To do this, I wish for students to put any file or creation into a shared folder. This then becomes easier to keep track of all of their work. The main problem with doing this of course is that you never know when a student has added a file to the folder or not, meaning you have to keep visiting the folder and checking it yourself.

    Welcome to Zapier.

    With Zapier, I can set it up so that when a file is added to a particular folder (i.e. classroom Shared folder) it will email a notification to me.

    With Zapier you can set up automate processes between different services.

    One of those is between Google Drive and Gmail.

    Simply connect up your accounts, then select which folder you want to “watch” and which email you’d like to be notified.

    Then, whenever that folder gets a file added to it, you will receive an email. Share this folder with your class and wait for students to start dropping their files into it.

    Done!

  • BYOD: It’s not as compulsory as you think

    As a bit of a tech guru, it saddens me to see parents trapped in the psyche that they need to not only “Keep up with the Joneses”, but need to provide their child with a $300+ device to use at school. Let alone stationery, let alone uniforms.

    The reality is that schools should be providing the devices for the students, but this runs into many issues. One is the ongoing costs to the school which many simply don’t want to budget for or have other priorities and are not funded adequately enough to provide for one-to-one devices in their school. Then there’s the requirement to maintain these devices and issues surrounding damages and repairs and whose responsibility that is, along with many others. So instead of dealing with this, schools have been farming this cost off onto their community and expectations land on the parents to provide these.

    Here’s the other reality though. If you can’t provide one, because of whatever reason (including any moralistic ones), then you do not have to. Schools cannot enforce it, and it says so in the following article. It’s against the law. Schools can’t even demand a particular kind of device – they can’t demand any device. These are only recommendations so that they have devices that are all similar and therefore easier to manage within the classroom so that unskilled teachers don’t have to learn how to use a range of device types in order to assist and help with any technological problems.
    But, as we’ve come to know, most devices are usable by the general population and are rarely so dissimilar that they become problematic. Add to this the fact most schools are running Google Apps, which operate on the big cloud in the sky and runs off the internet – therefore look, run, and work all the same regardless of the device being used (allowing for differences between tablet apps and browser based versions).
    Simply put, any device will do. Shop around, and select one that matches your budget, and then your needs, not the other way around.

    Parents who aren’t in the position to splash out for a device that will likely only last 3 years and then you’re up for another one,  should swallow their pride and go and talk to the school. If the school is worth their weight, they’ll explain, discuss, and come to some arrangement for you. It is more than likely some compensation can be made, and in most cases, schools will have a (albeit limited) supply of devices available for student use.

    If not, then it’s more a reflection on the school than you as a parent.

    Don’t just accept it and remortgage your house or go without food for a week to pay for it. It sickens me that this happens because parents don’t want to go to the school.
    Go and talk to the school. Yes they are closed at the moment, but they’ll be open soon enough. Go and have a chat and explain your position. Yes, there may be shame, but it’s not worth just going along with the list of demands, complaining about it later, and missing out on other more important things. Like school lunches.

    I’ve always said schools need to sort out BYOL before they sort out BYOD. If every student is a “Bring Your Own Lunch” student, THEN, and only then, should you start thinking about becoming a “Bring Your Own Device” school.

    Original Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/88562690/schools-byod-or-bring-your-own-device-demands-are-a-rising-cost-to-parents?rm=m

    For many parents, preparing their children for the school year means finding ways to cope with the costs of BYOD.

    BYOD stands for “bring your own device”, and refers to pupils owning devices like laptops, iPads and Chromebooks for use in the classroom, and for homework.

    Prices quoted by electronics retailer PB Tech, which has built a “shop by school” search tool, show the costs of devices expected at schools vary from Chromebooks starting at just over $300 up laptops costing $2000 or more.

    In both cases there can be extra costs for shock-proof, waterproof cases, and accidental damage insurance.

    Schools have worked hard to negotiate deals, and affordable payment plans for families, knowing the extra pressure BYOD policies can put on hard-pressed families.

    But parents without ready cash can find themselves being steered by schools towards finance companies, or even Work and Income.

    It’s not clear exactly how many people do get government help to cope with BYOD costs, but the first three months of last year, covering the back-to-school period, saw 24,278 instances of “hardship assistance” made by Work and Income, adding up to just under $5.3 million in payments.

    DEBATE OVER

    The debate over whether devices have a place is the classroom is largely settled at intermediate and high school level.

    But some primary schools have introduced BYOD for their older pupils, and retailers like PB Tech sometimes pictures of primary-age children on their website.

    The Ministry of Education says ultrafast broadband is transforming education, and has invested heavily in helping schools and teachers to “equip students with the necessary digital skills to take part, create and thrive in a fast-evolving world”.

    Schools cannot legally force families to buy their children devices, but it’s now common practice for them to use words like “require” and “expect” in their BYOD policies and menus of devices.

    Intermediate and high school parents may feel they have no choice but to fund BYOD, and there’s even signs of pressure on some parents of primary school children.

    Primary schools often own a number of devices, but as Buckland Beach Primary School tells parents: “Parents are now offered the chance to improve the access their child has to ipads. This is offered through BYOD where students bring an ipad from home.”

    Other Articles: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/88562690/schools-byod-or-bring-your-own-device-demands-are-a-rising-cost-to-parents?rm=m

  • School Donations: Rich get Richer…

    Original Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/109937537/rich-school-poor-school-top-schools-get-millions-in-donations-while-others-get-0

    About $140 million was donated to New Zealand schools in 2017 – and more than half of that went to just 10 per cent of schools.

    Wellington College received the most money of any state school, banking almost $5.7m.

    Coming in second was St Peter’s College in the Auckland suburb of Epsom, which received more than $3m in donations.

    At Auckland Grammar School, just 350 metres down the road, donations topped $2.2m.

    And a three-minute drive away at Epsom Girls’ Grammar School, the figure was almost $1.8m.

    Between them, the three Epsom schools received just shy of $7m.

    By contrast, 37 schools recorded no donations for 2017, and a further 79 received $1000 or less.

    The data, supplied by the Ministry of Education, included all donations to a school, whether from parents or other sources.

    Wellington College had a bumper year for donations in 2017 because donors contributed to a new performing arts centre, principal Gregor Fountain said.

    Some schools have scrapped parental donations to ease the financial burden on families.

    In its election manifesto, Labour pledged an additional $150 per student for schools that did not ask parents for donations.

    Little has been said about the policy since, with Education Minister Chris Hipkins saying it was “Budget sensitive”, so he could not talk about it.

    Capping the amount schools could ask for was one of the suggestions to come out of the Tomorrow’s Schools review.

    The taskforce heard some families could be “put off” sending their children to a particular school due to high donation levels.

    Limiting the amount schools could request would mean all families had equity of choice, the report said.

    A donation was, by definition, voluntary. However, Post-Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) president Jack Boyle said there were many schools where it “isn’t voluntary, nor is it a donation. It’s a compulsory fee”.

    Read Original Article Here

  • Five Year Limit – Enough time to make a difference?

    It could be a seismic shift in education, tearing apart the model schools have operated on for more than 30 years.

    School leaders are “cautiously optimistic” about radical reforms recommended by an independent taskforce last week, which said there was no evidence self-governance had helped schools improve equity or lift student achievement.

    Its proposals are open for public consultation until April 7, when Education Minister Chris Hipkins will consider what changes to pursue.

    The taskforce’s main recommendation is that New Zealand establish 20 ‘Education Hubs’ to act as the middlemen between the Government and individual schools.

    The hubs would take over many of school boards of trustees’ business and governance responsibilities, leaving them to focus on student achievement, strategic planning, community engagement and local fundraising.

    The idea has caused some uneasiness in the education sector, partly because it is not known exactly who or how many people would act as minister-appointed directors of these Crown entities.

    But the main cause of angst has been the hubs’ potentially wide-reaching powers over property, employment, advisory services, professional development, and funding for up to 125 schools each.

    “The one thing I do like is the personalisation and communication to communities that we currently have; I would hate to lose that,” Canterbury West Coast Principals’ Association president and Burnside High School principal Phil Holstein said.

    “It’s another layer of administration and I’m not sure how that would look.”

    Beyond a massive restructure of school governance, the independent taskforce has made several other game-changing recommendations.

    …

    The taskforce has proposed principals spend only five years at a school before they are moved elsewhere.

    The proposal came as a surprise to New Zealand Principals’ Federation president and Bathgate Park School principal Whetu Cormick.

    ​”We would all be thinking, what does this mean for ourselves? I would expect we would still have a permanent position within the hub arrangement,” he said.

    “The idea of us moving across and sharing knowledge in schools … is an idea we haven’t had for a very, very long time.”

    Under the taskforce’s plan, principals would be appointed by the hubs rather than by boards of trustees.

    Several principals welcomed these ideas as a way to keep them accountable – even if they lost some job stability.

    But it could take five years just to become established in a school community and “white knights” were rarely well received, they said.

    Read the entire article here.

  • It’s Time to Teach Back Home

    Great to see the NZ Government finally getting on board with the latest NZEI slogan “It’s time”.

    Of course, they tried to be cool with it, and put in a New Zullund accent in the spelling – “It’s Toym to Come Home and Teach in New Zealand”.

    In the latest effort from the Government to try and lure teachers back home, the first website has been launched.

    https://teachbackhome.co.nz

    The fancy graphics and videos can’t have been cheap.

    The site goes to outline the incentives to come back to New Zealand and teach.

    • Up to $7000 relocation grant (limited number)
    • Three agencies to assist you finding a job “…in Auckland” (and in other parts of the country!).
    • A child willing to give you their lunch (Seriously!?)
    • Videos of teaching happening in New Zealand.
    • The lack of security checks for weapons in New Zealand schools (Seriously!?).
    • A list of a few latest job listings from the Education Gazette and a link to take you there to see more.
    • A list of registration requirements before you can teach in New Zealand.

    Yes there is a degree of humour in the recruitment drive – but it treats it like a bit of a joke, which isn’t entirely ideal.
    But at what cost? Just looking through the site, there are several areas where the $10 million dollars for recruitment is being spent

    • Website design – probably exorbitant given the visual media costs and prior history of prices paid for websites by the Government.
    • $5K and $7K relocation grants
    • Ministry of Education “contracted recruitment agents”.
    • Several student story videos and other video media.

    However; the grants were already in place PRIOR to the $10million dollar scheme, as per this article: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11981974

    Of course, there are other costs involved as well, and it speaks volumes when those that have returned to teach here are then let down by the system and have since quit! Not exactly the best advertisement.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11924965

    I certainly hope that this isn’t the only plan to address the teacher shortage. Hopefully it’s low down on the initiatives.

    It’s time to start valuing the Teaching profession – make it a viable career, with appealing pay and career prospects. Reduce the workload and motivate the current teachers enough to tell the world about what an awesome job they have, rather than how tough it is at the moment. Don’t offer us a child’s lunch or suggest that not having to walk through a metal detector is what makes our education system the best in the world.

  • More pupils, less teachers

    South Canterbury primary schools are full to the brim for next year but finding enough teachers to teach them is a different story.

    For many of the region’s schools, 2019 is going to be a “bumper” year, with enrolments either nearing or at full capacity, principals say.

    However, recruiting teachers to cover this influx or replace those who are leaving has been a greater challenge.

    While St Joseph’s Timaru School only had to recruit one teacher, principal Carmel Brosnahan-Pye said “it wasn’t easy”. “It’s[recruiting teachers] definitely an increasing issue in South Canterbury,” Brosnahan-Pye said.

    Beaconsfield School principal Hamish Brown echoed Brosnahan-Pye’s comments saying finding new teachers has “changed dramatically over the last couple of years”.

    Despite this, most schools have been able to recruit the teachers they need, although Timaru Christian School is re-advertising​ one of its 2019 positions.

    While principal Bethany Rentoul would not say why, as the process was ongoing, she did say that the school had “filled three other positions recently”.

    “We have received fewer applications for positions overall, over the past few interview rounds, and there has been a big increase in the number of overseas teachers applying,” Rentoul said.

  • Primary school Science results poor

    Teachers lack the confidence and resources to deliver meaningful science lessons, an expert says.

    A leading science educator is shocked by a study that shows just 20 percent of children in their final year of primary and intermediate schooling are reaching the expected level of the curriculum in science.

    The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement said the figure for children in Year 8 was the worst of any subject in the curriculum.

    The founder and chief executive of science education trust, the House of Science, Chris Duggan said the result had huge implications for society.

    “It’s shocking and I’m sure that there’ll be a lot of people very disappointed,” she said.

    “The Year 4s have improved slightly but the Year 8s it’s still really, really bad. To look at that and see that 80 percent of our Year 8s are going into secondary school with insufficient science to allow secondary teachers to start teaching where they should, that’s a real worry.”

    Ms Duggan said many years ago science teaching was well-supported with government-funded science advisors who worked with primary school teachers and specialist resources for use in science lessons.

    But that support had not been available for a long time and in addition the introduction of the national standards in reading, writing and maths had sidelined other areas of the curriculum, including science, she said.

    Read full article here.

     

  • Understanding the Teacher Crisis

    The Side Eye: Everything to Everyone – understanding the teacher crisis:

    A unique take on the Teacher Crisis put into a visual narrative succinctly and accurately by Toby Morris.

    Be sure to check it out over at The Spinoff – The Side Eye.

    For the rest of the story, please head over to the original article here.

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/03-12-2018/the-side-eye-everything-to-everyone-understanding-the-teacher-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR04F0_Wj102NUYIFSY1Th7SJhbX99I83ZLJJwidKkSEwdKfAnvlkLkycqY