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| We need creativity not standardisation! |
Education
Readings
By Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email
it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz
How
to improve the school results: not extra maths but music, loads of it
Thanks to Al Ingham
for this article.
Helicopter
Parents Need To Let Teachers Do Their Jobs
Education
"Reform" Is a Right-Wing Movement
‘Support
for charter proliferation goes hand-in-hand with a lack of support for adequate
and equitable public school funding. No wonder the political right, which has
set the accumulation of
wealth for a small elite as its highest priority, loves
the charter movement. Second, the ties between SA and the political right
highlight a clear reality: The charter school movement is, at its core, an
anti-teachers union movement. Unions have been the backbone of the
Democratic Party for years -- especially public sector unions. And the teachers
unions have been pretty much the last vestige of professional unionism.’
How modern are ‘modern’ or ‘innovative’
learning environments in NZ?
Not very …
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| Hobsonville Point School |
The
Pedagogy Of John Dewey: A Summary
‘
John
Dewey is one of the giants in the history of educational theory, and it’s
difficult to isolate one of his specific theories to discuss here. He was
influential in so many areas of educational reform, that to choose one theme
would do him a disservice, so I will highlight several of the areas in which he
was ahead of his time.’
Caution:
Chromebooks
This article by Gary Stager has sure got people talking.
‘The
Chromebook might be sufficient if you believe that the primary purpose of
school to be taking notes, looking stuff up, completing forms, and
communication. I find this to be an impoverished view of both learning and
computing. Children need and deserve more. If you find such uses compelling,
kids already own cellphones capable of performing such tasks.’
Education
Isn't the Key to a Good Income
A growing body of research debunks the idea that school quality
is the main determinant of economic mobility. Another neoliberal tenet
bites the dust.
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| A myth? |
Contributed
by Bruce
Hammonds:
National
Standards Plus
Current negotiations to establish the next government in New
Zealand have a good likelihood of bringing about the end of national standards.
However, if this fails to happen, then this is what we will be seeing.
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| No time left to teach! |
‘The government would have parents being updated in real
time every and any progress their child is making in National Standards
throughout the school day. They’re calling this ‘National Standards Plus’, largely because
of the additional time and energy that is going to be chewing into teachers
already busy schedule. The additional testing, the additional data gathering,
the additional reporting and notifying and uploading to the app’s system. All
this PLUS actually teaching the children.’
Consider yourself a 'visual' or 'auditory' learner? Turns
out, there’s not much science behind learning styles.
‘The idea that people have different styles of learning —
that the visually inclined do best by seeing new information, for example, or
others by hearing it — has been around since the 1950s, and recent research
suggests it’s still widely believed by teachers and laypeople alike. But is
there scientific evidence that learning styles exist?’
Children considered 'average' miss out as teachers focus
elsewhere, report warns
‘
Children labelled "average" by teachers are
missing out because more focus goes on those at the bottom of the class, a
report has found.Experts say children who are classified in the middle range
risk having late-blooming ability ignored as teachers assume they are neither
struggling nor overachieving.’
Bigger classrooms, bigger problems
From
Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file
Signs of a creative classroom
‘One thing seems obvious to me, after several decades
visiting primary classrooms, is that real I
nnovation only comes from
creative teachers and not from imposed programmes. Unfortunately, all
too often, creative teachers are the last ones to be listened to in this era of
school consistency and formulaic 'best practices'. It seem we are moving
towards a standardised approach to learning at the very time when we need to
value (and protect) our creative teachers and their creative students.’
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| An exciting environment |
Teaching in Modern Learning Environments (MLEs)/
Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs)
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