National Standards discussion on National radio

This discussion was on National Radio on Monday. With Kathryn Ryan were Professor Robin Alexander of Cambridge University;
Professor Tom Nicholson of Massey University and Ray Newport of the School Trustees Association. It is a rigorous debate really as each person advocates their point of view.

National standards discussion

This is a worthwhile discussion, particularly from Robin Alexander who outlines the impact of national testing on UK schools (which is different to the National Standards). He advocates a broarder curriculum with greater recognition of oral language, thinking and problem solving and discusses the potential of narrowing curriculums to meet governmental directives to raise achievement in literacy and numeracy. UK achievement has been falling as a new generation of children are immersing into a teaching process that is narrow and specific by nature.

You can read the Cambridge report on my blog.

Cambridge report

National Standards

National Standards were introduced last week. Sadly the teaching profession was absent from the celebrations, not because they weren't invited, but more to do with their frustration at the process and based on the empirical evidence that they won't improve student achievement. While the process around the excellent new curriculum has seen it richly embedded into schools, through a lengthy consultation and implementation process, National Standards are being introduced on a much quicker scale. For us at Muritai, I feel very calm about things. We are self-managing, have good processes, our kids achieve well, they are well resourced, and we report to parents in writing about student achievement in regards to below, at or above twice a year. Any change? Well yes - and it is all to do with creating a them and us atmosphere between government and parents and the teachers. It will be a test of leadership to keep a handle on this potentially difficult situation which has changed the education landscape that was progressing so nicely under Labour on the back of John Hattie's and Helen Timperley, BES and others excellent research. The focus on developing quality teaching environments, on the back of assessment for learning, has now shifted to accountability processes based on assessment of learning. While we are currently highly regarded internationally for our education processes we seem to have adopted systems that most mid-ranked countries employ which only serve to achieve longevity of politicians careers.

I particularly enjoyed reading this article from the New Zealand Herald; one of the very few media articles to reflect on the school's side of the fence.

New Zealand Herald editorial