Wednesday, May 4, 2016

OUR SECRET TEACHER'S REPORT

Junior students receiving progress awards at term 1 Achievement Assembly.
Kirsty Johnston from the New Zealand Herald has been doing a series of investigative pieces on Primary Schools and the issues related to the achievement of children.

The whole series is available online at: tinyurl.com/ThePrimaryIssue


I have been following this investigation with great interest, as it has been taking a hard look at how and why children at primary school achieve or don't achieve. The spotlight is on National Standards, whose introduction was a political initiative, designed to raise achievement.

One of the most strident objections to National Standards is that the starting point for children at their enrolment point varies enormously in terms of what they are already capable of, particularly in their language development. Kirsty Johnston's feature highlights the fact that while some children can barely count to five when they start school, or have never held a pencil, they can speak another language, such as Samoan or Tongan. This lag in early school expectations, which doesn't correlate to intelligence, follows many children throughout their eight years of primary (or primary and intermediate) education, and through into secondary school.

The objection focusses on the fact that National Standards do not measure  how far a child has progressed in their learning from their starting point. These children arrive at secondary school, with the expectation that by the end of Year 10, they will be capable of commencing their first year of NCEA. The political mandate is centred around students achieving NCEA Level 2 by the time they turn 18. This is irrespective of the ability level  at which they started their secondary schooling. The philosophy behind National Standards dooms many children to failure well before they arrive at secondary school, as they are being measured according to their ability to reach an established standard of academic competence, not how far they have progressed in their learning from where they started.  NCEA follows the same pattern.

Once students reach secondary school, their academic achievement contributes to the overall profile of NCEA results, which are published nationally. In the eyes of the community, the school's reputation is determined by these published results. Naturally, every school works extremely hard to support students achieving to the highest level. Students are challenged to work to the best of their ability to achieve, irrespective of the point at which they started. Fundamentally, many students whose primary school experience was one of never reaching the standard, and being categorised as failures in the particular criteria which are being measured, will have a tough time in overcoming this stigma at secondary school. During my time as a secondary school principal, I have been inspired by many outstanding teachers who have encouraged and challenged students to be successful, and to achieve to a high level, despite this stigma. I have likewise been inspired by the students whose sucess flies in the face of the expectations of failure, which National Standards have reinforced.



Tuesday, March 29, 2016

TECHNOLOGY AND STUDENT VOICE

Over recent weeks staff have had the opportunity to participate in a range of toolkit workshops and sessions on enhancing their digital pedagogy. These have been greatly appreciated.

I am struck by the fact that the relationship between teacher and students is greatly enhanced when digital tools are being used as part of the pedagogical process.

I recently read a quote in a text that has intrigued me, entitled Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms, by Jane Hunter (Routledge 2015) The quote reinforces what I have been observing in the workshops I have attended: "Technology gives reluctant learners a voice, the student who is not confident or who is not engaged can suddenly be good at something - when they develop their ideas, they can produce something using technology. It doesn't always have to involve technology, but more often it does. The product can then be praised by the teacher." (p.99)

The fact that teachers and students can interact and engage in learning outside of the confines of the school day and environment using Google apps also impacts on that relationship, as both can be in their own space and collaborate at a time that suits. I am very grateful to the staff who are helping their colleagues gain the confidence to be effective in their use of this relationship enhancing technological tool.