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| 99 day to vote for the future of creative teaching |
By Bruce Hammonds
Allan Alach, the regular complier of Educational Readings, is away holidaying in the UK and Europe for a few weeks but plans to take up compiling the weekly Educational Readings from next week Geography is no barrier in the age of the internet. In the meantime I have put together this set of readings with the NZ elections in mind.
The Global Education Reform Movement ( GERM)
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| Corporate control of teaching |
This blog/reading is deliberately biased towards critiquing the current neo- liberal ideology that has ‘infected’ Anglo/American Education. The Global Educational Reform Movement as it is known - often referred to as 'GERM'.
It is important for educators to appreciate that the business/private enterprise approach is not restricted to education – it applies to all aspects of public service organizations. Behind it all is the power of the big corporations and the business elite and, at risk, is a true participatory democracy that focuses on protecting the common good for all citizens.
It is well to remember that it was the business elite that created the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 And also, as a result of decades of the ‘market forces’ ideology, Anglo-American societies have developed very unequal winner/loser societies that weaken the social fabric of their communities. Inequality in these countries is a growing issue; the 'rich have got richer and the poor poorer!'
The upcoming New Zealand Elections – a possible ‘turning point’?.
It is vitally important that opposition political parties present an alternative to this neo-liberal business ideology but so far any sense of a viable alternative has yet to capture the public's’ imagination. The public needs to face up to the realisation there is ‘no level playing field’ and that wealth does not ‘trickle down’ and that the growing inequality will increasingly cause social breakdown’There is an alternative.
The market forces model is not the answer, it is the problem. We need a new vision based on creating the appropriate opportunities or conditions to ensure all people benefit. A vision that values the common good not one biased towards private greed; an approach based on economic and environmental sustainability; one that values collaboration as much as competition; a vision that does not lend itself to measuring only the easy targets.
Transforming education is central to the development this more equitable and innovative society.
Voices such as educationalists like Sir Ken Robinson and Howard Gardner are calling for a transformation of education (not reform which is more of the same at best); an education system that creates the conditions to develop the talents and passions of all students.
In this respect schools (as with society) are facing an ‘opportunity gap’ rather than an ‘achievement gap’.
The coming elections will either cement in and amplify the neo-liberal ideology or be the beginning of a fairer society, providing opportunities for all; one valuing individual creativity and respect for sustaining the environment.
Alan welcomes suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to him at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
This week it has been hard to ignore the debate around the governments Investing in Educational Success (IES) proposals involving the establishment of 'super' principals and teachers to help schools deemed as at risk.
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| Straight shooter |
If want to clarify your thoughts read Pat Newman’s opinion piece against the proposals in the May Education Review and make sure you read the contrary comment by Tom Parsonsfrom the Secondary point of view.
And if you haven’t read Kelvin Smythe’s response visit the links below. The NZEI is against the IES proposal but where does the NZPPF stand? Tom Parsons make the secondary principals approval clear.
Be Afraid
And if you aren’t certain about the desire to capture schools by private corporations read ‘Be Afraid; the Privatisation of Public Education’ in the latest Education Aotearoa by Michelle Nixon.Some thoughtful videos sharing the ‘big ideas’ from the Jan 2014 NZEI ‘Taking Stock. Moving Forward’ Conference.
From England : Meg Maquire- and coming soon to NZ!!
Meg's presentation was based on how teachers face up to the challenges of
holding on to their teaching beliefs while accommodating the corrosive effects of ‘league tables’.
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| Meg Maquire |
The emotional and intellectual demands of teaching, she says, are compounded by the politically inspired crisis in literacy and numeracy, a public nostalgia for rote learning and accelerated calls for accountability.
She also talks about growth of private school academies (charter schools). In England, she says, is all business jargon – raising standards, drowning out the ethos of caring and doing your best for children - and the notion of public educations role preserving democracy .
From The United States: David Berliner – the vital ( and ignored) issue of poverty.
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| David Berliner |
The crisis in education is being manufactured by people like Bill Gates. ‘Mean scores in International Tests are about cohorts .. not to do with the quality of teaching’. There is a lot of lot of inequality in countries with remnants of British Capitalism and class system; in contrast in high scoring Finland only 4% of children are living in poverty.
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| Not quite the real truth!! |
From Australia Bob Lingard says that testing technologies are taking over from ideas in education.
Lingard criticises the OECD’s slogan ‘you can’t improve what you don’t measure’ and that its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is increasingly
influencing local policy and that many of its tests are funded by huge US corporate interests.
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| Bob Lingard |
Lingard talks about the negative effects of the National Australian Assessment Programme – Literacy and Numeracy Tests ( NAPLAN) in Australia. If the National Government returns this could well be the model to extend the power of National Standards.
Now for something positive : Education is about building character.
"he punitive cloud hanging over teachers is darker today than it's been in a long time," writes Nancy Flanagan. "Let's not make it worse by taking the human element out of teacher evaluation, in favour of numbers."
From Bruce Hammonds ‘Oldies but Goodies’
There are well over a thousand postings on my blog and the blog data show which ones are being read each hour, day, week,month , year and all time. One that is popular at the moment relates to the theme of these readings is;
The Corporate takeover of Society
New bureaucratic practices are now well in place in all public organisations and increasingly in education. Corporate jargon is now common in this new educational environment – inputs, outputs, targets, key performance indicators, performance
management, efficiency, accountability, bench marking and quality assurance.
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| The 1% knows best! |
Corporate domination, to be put in place, needs an acquiescent and a disciplined workforce.
The corporate model is pushed on schools by policy makers who have little or no experience of the reality of the classroom ignoring the ‘voice’ of educationalists.
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Valuing creative teachers.
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| Value creative teachers |
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| Super teachers; Not the answer |
Inequality in New Zealand – Max Rashbrooke
There are those who suggest that the inequality gap will become a key election issue in 2014. The divide between the richest and poorest New Zealander has widened alarmingly over recent decades- faster than in most other developed countries.
God’s own country – once supposedly the best place to bring up kids in the world, seems no longer to be the case. A country originally founded to escape the worst of the class structure of England seems to have given up on the idea of giving a fair
go to all citizens. The view of many well off people now is that the poor are the authors of their own misfortune and only need to set about and pull up their socks and all will be well; there seems little empathy for those in difficult situations.
Is this divided disconnected world of rich and poor to be our future? Is there an alternative
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