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  • The pendulum swings back on school tests | BBC

    Let’s hope that NZ Government can make the change before they have to go back on this. Let’s ditch any National based assessment for primary schoolers. It’s too much. Too much pressure on the children. Too much pressure on the teachers. All for what? Thankfully the UK Government are beginning to see that what they’re doing isn’t helping…

    30 March 2017

    If news stories could have a soundtrack, then this scrapping of tests in the early years of primary school would have the creaking sound of a pendulum slowly swinging back.

    The Department for Education is proposing that national curriculum tests taken by seven-year-olds in England could be ditched.

    Instead there would be an assessment of five-year-olds by a teacher – a so-called “baseline test” – which would be used as a starting point for measuring progress through primary school.

    It represents a step backwards from more and more testing – a shift in attitude as much as policy.

    And it raises again the thorny question of what kind of tests young children should face in primary school.

    Are such tests a helpful indicator for identifying pupils’ needs? Or are they an unnecessary pressure – a case of too much, too young? And are such tests going to mean a paper mountain of extra bureaucracy for teachers, hindering rather than helping learning?

    ‘Hope over experience’

    The teachers’ unions have broadly given their support to the government’s announcement to row back on the tests for seven year olds in reading, writing, maths and science.

    But the National Union of Teachers still says the idea of a baseline test for four or five-year-olds remains a “triumph of hope over experience”.

    The teachers’ union questions whether this can ever be a sufficiently reliable test to be used as a fixed point against which to measure all the following years of a child’s progress.

    But the counter-argument to this is that you have to start somewhere.

    If schools are to be held to account for how much progress children have made by the age of 11 – then it has to be measured against a starting point.

    And isn’t the natural starting point in the first year?

    There is also a strong argument that it is the low achievers and the disadvantaged who will be most in need of the extra help that a test might identify.

    And at the last general election, all three main political parties were sympathetic to the principle of baseline testing.

    But the announcement on testing also raises another great back and forth of the education pendulum. How much data is too much?

    Parents’ evenings, with spreadsheets and targets, can feel like a chat with the accountants.

    And for the schools themselves, the accumulation and analysis of data has become a major part of their working lives.

    Read more here.

    Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-39444999

  • Stop Teaching Students What to Think. Teach Them How to Think

    Original article here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/09/27/stop-teaching-students-what-to-think.html

    For more than a century, we’ve been creating an industrial workforce of human automatons, built for the purpose of performing routine labor not yet doable by machines. And we’ve been operating with the mindset that we should teach students the same way we program actual machines. In the 20th century, schooling became a process of information upload in which students are to be filled with all the appropriate data and applications to function as cogs in the machinery of factories and offices, or in the parlance of today, as walking hard drives.

    Modern mass production did more than increase efficiency. It chopped up work into simpler components in which one small task could be repeated day in and day out without thought and without knowledge of the whole. Centuries ago, shoes were made by hand, by one skilled person who made the entire shoe. And then hundreds of people became involved in making one shoe with one relatively unskilled person doing nothing but attaching soles all day, every day. Now that machines can perform all the tasks in making an entire shoe, what happens to the humans who were programmed to operate the machines?

    Human-automaton creation must end. To succeed in a world of automation will require being as unmachinelike as possible. The entire education system will need to be retooled around no longer teaching kids what to think but how to think. Memorization of facts is pointless in a world where everyone carries around the entire knowledge base of the human species on their person.

    The challenge is not information storage but information processing. It’s not about information itself but how to use information. The teaching of creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, analytical thinking, problem-solving, and a love of learning itself will be critical to transitioning from the industrial age to the automated age. Learning how to collaborate and empathize with others will be key. To be human is not to be a lone robot performing a singular task in a vacuum but to be a member of the whole of humanity contributing in countless interdependent ways, including even entirely unpaid ways. This will require nothing less than a redefinition of work itself.

    Most people when they talk about the future of work are talking about the future of paid work. But the future of work must recognize all work. Take, for example, someone editing Wikipedia, or contributing code to the open-source code-sharing platform GitHub, or even simply taking care of a family member in the same way any paid care worker would. All of that is important work but would be done for purpose, not pay.

    It is for this reason that unconditional basic income—a cash stipend starting everyone above the poverty line each month—needs to be a key characteristic of the future of work. That way, as paid work is automated, humans can focus more on all the work that needs to be done, in the ways that most engage them.

     

    Read more here.

    Source: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/09/27/stop-teaching-students-what-to-think.html

  • ‘Tired of trying to hold the system together when it’s broken’ – NZ teachers prepared to strike for pay hike | 1 NEWS NOW | TVNZ

    Primary school teachers have today announced they are prepared to strike to get a significant pay hike.

    A pay deal with the government ends next year, but teachers say they aren’t prepared to accept a raise of between just one and two per cent.

    At a conference in Rotorua this morning, teacher representatives from the NZ Education Institute Te Riu Roa union voted to take action if they don’t get what they want.

    “Right now, children are missing out on some opportunities to learn because their teachers are bogged down in administration and testing, or are struggling to get support for children with additional needs,” NZEI president Lynda Stuart said.

    “To make matters worse, children are increasingly in doubled up classes because their school can’t find enough teachers.

    “Teachers and principals are fed up with seeing children miss out on the education they deserve and we’re tired of trying to hold the system together when it’s broken.”

    Collective agreements for primary principals and teachers are up for negotiation in the middle of next year.

    NZEI Te Riu Roa members will begin paid union meetings to form a claim from term from next year.

    View Video here.

    Source: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tired-trying-hold-system-together-its-broken-nz-teachers-prepared-strike-pay-hike

  • Disobedient Thinking: Welby Ings – TEDx Auckland

    Welby Ings is an award winning designer, filmmaker and playwright, with his short film ‘Boy’ short listed for the 2006 Academy Awards. An elected Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts and consultant to many international organisations on issues of creativity and learning, Welby is now a Professor in Design at Auckland University of Technology. Having taught at all levels of the New Zealand education system, he has remained an outspoken critic of dehumanised systems of learning. In 2001 he was awarded the Prime Minister’s inaugural Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching Excellence.

  • Watch: Dr Welby Ings talks about ‘Disobedient Teaching’ – NZ Herald Video

    Acclaimed filmmaker Dr Welby Ings who believes thinking outside the box is the key to success releases his new book ‘Disobedient Teaching’.

    Source: Watch: Dr Welby Ings talks about ‘Disobedient Teaching’ – NZ Herald Video

  • Mouldy cheese and minibeasts: tips for teaching science in primary schools

    Research from the Wellcome Trust shows that science is losing out to other subjects at primary level. So what can teachers do to bring it into the classroom?

    Scientific investigation develops flexible thinking and problem-solving abilities, alongside more obvious science-specific skills and knowledge. Yet science is taught relatively little in UK primary schools (typically for one hour and 24 minutes a week compared with an international average of two hours a week for OECD countries).

    It also receives much less attention than English and maths. According to new research from the Wellcome Trust, part of the reason is that its perceived importance is comparatively low: more than eight in 10 teachers say that maths (84%) and English (83%) are “very important” to the senior leadership team of their school, compared to just three in ten (30%) when it comes to science. In addition, it may have something to do with the fact that schools are not held to account for science provision in the same way as they are for English and maths.

    Classroom teachers have a lot of freedom to teach investigative science frequently and creatively, and some do so beautifully. However, in general, there is not enough help for teachers in this area, with just under a third of primary school teachers saying they had no support for science in the past year, and a quarter saying they were concerned they might not be able to answer pupils’ science questions. So what can teachers do to increase the focus on science at primary level?

    Don’t get hung up on what you don’t know

    Science is often seen as content-heavy, and reliant on the understanding of complex ideas. It’s not surprising, then, that some teachers lack confidence in teaching some aspects of science, including enquiry.

    But you don’t need a science degree to be a brilliant primary science teacher– it’s about finding ways to engage pupils with the heart of the subject: curiosity, observation and discovery. At the Wellcome Trust, one of the ways we want to help teachers to do this is through our Explorify platform, which offers activities to spark pupils’ curiosity and develop their thinking skills.

    In general, teachers should look for activities that are inclusive and discursive, using conversation starters to spark curiosity. Crucially, it’s not about anyone (including the teacher) knowing the “right answers”.

    Ask your class questions

    Simple “What if?” activities are a brilliant way to inject creative thinking into lessons with minimal preparation. We spoke to a teacher who asked her class what would happen if plants could talk and was amazed that one child wondered whether plants would have their own language or pick it up from their surroundings – meaning forest trees might talk like a bird and playground trees might talk like children. The exercise brought out some fantastic imaginative ideas.

    Not being frightened to ask big questions – such as “Does colour affect how we taste food?” – is important and helps to prompt interesting discussions. This type of approach is also a great way to develop literacy; think of all the fantastic vocabulary around taste and colour.

    Ask yourself what your pupils already know, and how the class could approach the question. Could you work together to create a plan of action, and then decide how to share it with the rest of the school?

    Get stuck in

    Hands-on science might be viewed as messy, expensive and time-consuming, and teachers may be worried about things going wrong. But we must make sure that pupils learn about science by doing it themselves rather than by watching demonstrations. Without this element, pupils are likely to be less engaged and think that science is something for learning rather than doing. Our answer is to get out and make your own science.

    Use the world around you to inspire scientific discovery. Simple observations could be spotting the odd one out in a group of objects in a playground – perhaps learning about different materials – or peering into a pond to see the mini beasts congregating there, and taking a closer look at organisms and ecosystems.

    And if you are being more experimentally ambitious, don’t get frustrated if things don’t go as planned. Science is famous for significant events linked to mistakes or the unexpected, from mouldy cheese producing penicillin to how an attempt at inventing super-strong glue actually ended up creating the first sticky post-it notes, now used in offices.

    Read more here.

    Source: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/sep/19/mouldy-cheese-and-minibeasts-tips-for-teaching-science-in-primary-schools

  • How my school takes the stress off teachers

    My school has found ways to reduce the workload burden on teachers – while also helping us become more effective in the classroom.

    We all know that stress is a problem in teaching, with workloads and other pressures affecting the health of many across the UK. But I’ve experienced a variety of different approaches to teaching during my career, and I’ve seen that working long hours doesn’t necessarily equal better performance in the classroom.

    At my current school, Torquay Academy, I’ve noticed that staff are far more positive about the impact they’re having on their students than those in previous schools. While it’s difficult to measure staff wellbeing in a statistical sense, staff absence levels are at a record low, which suggests that stress levels are manageable. Our recent Ofsted inspection [pdf] noted that staff take pride in being part of the school and “overwhelmingly” support the principal’s leadership. Meanwhile, our results have improved for the third year running.

    A common approach to lessons gives teachers control

    Our teachers are allowed to talk, and our students are expected to listen. Influenced by Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion strategies, there is a strong focus on teachers embedding structured routines into their lessons so students are clear about what is expected of them. Teachers are almost universally given their subject specialism to teach. Within the structure of the lesson, teachers are encouraged to allow their passion for the subject to drive the narrative of the lesson, instead of spending hours planning bite-sized activities.

    There is a strong correlation between the introduction of these methods in 2014 and the improved results. As teachers have gained increased confidence in their use, results have increased year-on-year, with significantly more students leaving school with five A*-C in 2017 (75%) than in 2014 (28%). Of course, there have been other factors, but placing what happens within the classroom at the centre of all we do has certainly been the most significant.

    We have an efficient whole-school behaviour policy

    We believe the most effective behaviour management tool in any teacher’s repertoire is praise. Success by students at our school is celebrated at every possible opportunity, and those who get it right are noticed and acknowledged.

    When a student’s behaviour impacts on others, the issue is dealt with swiftly. Crucially, it’s not down to individual teachers to set or follow up detentions; this is managed centrally by an assistant principal dedicated to behaviour. Teachers simply need to speak to the child after school, and make a phone call home to inform parents.

    Find out more here.

    Source: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2017/sep/22/how-my-school-takes-the-stress-off-teachers

  • School funding not always linked to results

    Investing in education is one of the most promising ways for countries to secure their future.

    And yet, there is a surprisingly tenuous relationship between the amount of money spent per student and the results of international Pisa tests, at least when comparing relatively wealthy nations.

    South Korea is one of the highest-performing OECD countries, but spends well below the average per-student expenditure.

    Students in Poland, which spends around $68,000 (£52,000) per student between the age of six and 15, perform at the same level at age 15 as the United States which spends over $115,000 (£89,000) per student.

    That means despite spending much more money the US does not gain any advantage in results.

    More broadly, the world is no longer divided between rich and well-educated countries and poor and badly educated ones and success is no longer just about how much money is spent, but about how that money is spent.

    The teacher-pupil ratio in China and the United States is almost identical. But the Chinese chose much larger class sizes than are seen in the United States, up to twice the size. That enables the Chinese to give teachers much more preparation time, lesson-development time, time to collaborate with other teachers, time to work with parents and time to tutor students who are behind in class.

    It is the same cost, but very different approaches. Chinese policymakers traded larger class size for more professional collaboration and more favourable working conditions for teachers, while American policy-makers opted for smaller classes, lower salaries and less time to plan and collaborate.

     

    Read more here.

    Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40511185

  • Kids arriving at school in nappies

    Primary and early childhood teachers have asked the Government to let them divert money away from expert teachers to provide extra support for needy kids.

    Teachers’ union, the NZ Educational Institute, has asked the Ministry of Education to let schools and early childhood centres use some of the extra $359 million tagged for “communities of learning” to create “roles supporting children with learning challenges”.

    The communities, usually groups of six to a dozen schools, have money to pay up to 900 “expert teachers” to help other teachers in the group to meet “achievement challenges”, which have been mainly focused on literacy and numeracy, and pass rates in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

    The institute opposed the initiative when the Government proposed it in 2014 because it was seen as a step towards performance pay – paying expert teachers more than others.

    But it eventually agreed to participate when the extra pay was limited to $8000 a year for expert teachers working within their own schools and $16,000 for those working across all the schools in their group, but with an agreement to review the scheme with the ministry this year.

    Institute executive member Virginia Oakly has told the conference in Rotorua that the ministry has agreed to give the communities some extra flexibility.

    But a review report, which the institute and the ministry had hoped to sign off last week before the conference, has not yet been agreed on because the ministry has not been willing to “stretch” the model as far as the institute wants.

    A main theme at the conference has been that teachers want more support for growing numbers of children who are violent and disruptive because of unsettled home lives, and many schools are reporting children starting school not yet toilet-trained and still in nappies.

    Former institute president Louise Green said the institute wanted ​to use the extra funding for communities of learning “more directly to support children’s needs rather than on allowances for a few rigidly prescribed roles”.

    But the institute “made no progress with the ministry on this issue”.

    President Lynda Stuart said teachers needed hands-on help from specialists who could work with needy children and their families, freeing the teachers to teach other children in their classes.

    “We want to see specialist frontline support that can go in and support teachers and schools – frontline ministry people, psychologists, speech/language therapists, occupational therapists, behaviour specialists,” she said.

    Read more here.

    Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11929058

  • How can teachers support vulnerable children at school?

    In almost every class, there will also be those who find learning a challenge – the children who perhaps cause teachers to wake in the night, or to feel that they are having to manage certain behaviours beyond their usual areas of expertise.

    In my role working to improve the educational outcomes of vulnerable children and young people – specifically those in care and looked-after by the local authority – I have become aware that many will not be in a good place, emotionally, socially or developmentally, to learn. Although the children I work with represent the tip of the “vulnerable” iceberg, there are numerous other children who are on protection plans or identified as children in need. There will be those, too, who are not known to any service but come to school every day having faced significant hardships.

    Teachers I work with often report that schools’ more general behaviour policies don’t seem to work for these particular students – so what can we do to best support these children? Here are some pointers.

    Focus on why

    Behaviour is always a communication, even though we may not always realise it. Imagine a really bad day – you go home and within minutes you find yourself arguing with someone in your family. You probably didn’t plan to take out your frustration on those closest to you, but that’s effectively what happened.

    Many vulnerable students are likely to have had times when they haven’t felt safe – and end up reacting to all sorts of triggers in order to keep themselves safe or feel safe (which of course may be very different things). Similarly, they’ve often experienced multiple rejections.

    Many will have accompanying attachment issues and sometimes will “reject” before they can be rejected. They may push you away because this may be less painful than allowing you to reject them. Or it may be that certain behaviours give them access to a person they are developing an attachment to, so their message is “I need that person”. By acknowledging this, and recognising that what a student needs more than anything is to build relationships that help them feel safe, we may be able to adjust our reactions appropriately.

    Consider their age and stage

    Social and emotional levels of development and maturity in vulnerable children often won’t match their chronological age. In schools, we’re usually good at supporting children when they have gaps in their academic learning – and many of the vulnerable students will have these – but they will almost all have some gaps in their social and emotional development.

    They may not have developed the skills their peers have, and also by virtue of their experiences have developed certain “street-wise” skills that can lead a teacher to think they are much more mature than they are.

    Read more here.

    Source: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/sep/28/how-can-teachers-support-vulnerable-children-at-school