Educational Readings-looking ahead/John Hattie/creativity and dysfunctional schools

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Playing Video Games Is Good For Your Brain – Here’s How

One to challenge any preconceived ideas you may have …

“However there is now a wealth of research which shows that video games can be put to

educational and therapeutic uses, as well as many studies which reveal how playing video games can improve reaction times and hand-eye co-ordination. For example, research has shown that spatial visualisation ability, such as mentally rotating and manipulating two- and three-dimensional objects, improves with video game playing.”

http://bit.ly/1xa6rBG

 

Looking ahead

Yet another article by UK academic Steve Wheeler - you’ll be starting to think that I have a high regard for him …

“This quote from Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget in 1988 reveals a deep truth that all teachers should apprehend. School is not about teaching subjects, it is about teaching children - and education is not simply about preparing them for a world of work, it is a preparation for life. “

http://bit.ly/1vk3EXp

Half of the Statistics in Visible Learning are wrong (Part 2)

An educational rock star?

If there’s anyone out there who still thinks John Hattie is the ‘rock star of educational research’ (actual phrase used in an Australian newspaper) this may disillusion you.

“Again we are left with two options to choose from

1.   John Hattie is a genius who is doing things that even Mathematicians don’t understand.

2.   John Hattie is a well meaning man with a Social Sciences degree who has made a mistake in using statistical techniques he didn’t realise were unknown to Mathematicians and incorrect.

The choice is yours.”

http://bit.ly/11l0HZe

Teaching neoliberalism: time to replace Ofsted

Ofsted is the English school inspection agency, reputed to cause nightmares wherever they go.

“Ofsted has become a political tool of the GERM project not merely because of senior staff links with academy chains, the recently appointed chair is a trustee of the AET academies chain, but through its judgements on schools being used by the DfE to force academisation of local authority schools, often against vehement parent opposition.”

http://bit.ly/1wIZ4gL

Creativity is the key to education, so why aren't we pursuing it?

“Creativity can provide this trend with a home in education; teachers who are able to determine their own teaching methods in response to what children want and need. School is a notoriously divisive experience for people, with many disengaging entirely with it. Surely if the way in which they were taught was responsive  and creative, students will respond better to education.”

http://bit.ly/1A8JmBO

Link to Creating Innovators book blog/ and Sir Ken Robinson 

Experiential Learning

Good article by Grant Wiggins.

“I always ask all kids when I visit class the three questions at the heart of this caution:

          ▪         What are you doing?

          ▪         Why are you doing it?

          ▪         What does this help you do that’s important?

Alas, many kids do not provide adequate answers. And that’s why we need to worry about merely hands-on learning – even as hands-on learning is vital for making abstractions come to life.”

http://bit.ly/1BJpabA

5 Creativity Myths You Probably Believe

“Let’s start with a fact: We are all capable of conceiving new, useful ideas. Unfortunately our chances of doing this are hampered by a few stubborn myths.These misconceptions cloak creativity in mystique and they foster elitism—the idea that the potential for innovation and imagination is a rare gift enjoyed by only a select few “creative types.” Here we debunk five persistent myths that misrepresent the true neuroscience and psychology of creativity.”

http://bit.ly/1p1tTQ8

Schools will start teaching typing instead of longhand

What’s your opinion about this?

“Teaching children to write is transitioning to a computer era, as traditional cursive writing and calligraphy will not be taught at Finnish schools after the autumn 2016 and will be replaced with the study of typing skills …”

http://bit.ly/1pm72yL

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

What’s Our Vision for the Future of Learning?

Referred by Bruce’s colleague Wayne Morris:

A new Vision for the future

“The new landscape presents a significant upheaval. Inventors and researchers are increasingly working independently outside academia, finding collegial collaboration in the Global Learning Commons. Learners also find themselves in the driving seat because formal education is no longer the only game in town for those eager to learn. How colleges and universities adapt to the customization and personalization of education will largely determine their survival.”

http://bit.ly/1ATf06L

Creativity – its place in education

Following on, here’s an article by Wayne Morris that lays out his vision for education.

“Creative students lead richer lives and, in the longer term, make a valuable contribution to society. Surely those are reasons enough to bother.”

http://bit.ly/129fP7s

Noam Chomsky: Independent Thinking Comes Through Discovery

Noam Chomsky sums up the purpose of education in just over one minute!

‘"It doesn't matter what we cover, it matter what you discover" - In an exclusive interview to WISE, Professor Noam Chomsky speaks about the importance of interaction and participation in the classroom, and what needs to be done to build the future of education.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0027IXxLj-0

How a boy became an artist

“TED Talk: How I become an artist. Importance of art in the life of a young boy who was inspired by two words about his drawing by a visiting author of a picture book. The speaker worries about the lack of imagination in today’s test orientated schools.”

http://bit.ly/1ztzpLw

Doodling: A Teacher’s Secret Weapon for Unlocking Learning

Another TED Talk on the importance of doodling in school.

“Despite centuries of teaching otherwise, researchers and thought leaders alike are increasingly rebranding doodling as a source of creativity, engagement, and yes, even keeping students on task. It’s something Sunni Brown, author of the book The Doodle Revolution, articulates well in her 2012 TED Talk, which emphasizes the importance of looking at doodling as something to embrace rather than shame.”

http://bit.ly/1FqVHzJ

How to tame your inner tiger parent

Tanith and her daughters

Bruce’s comment: I have just listened to Tanith Carey author of How to Tame Your Inner Tiger Parent  on National Radio and felt inspired to buy her book. She gave some very sensible advice about parenting and was very critical of the test culture in the UK –a culture we seem to be heading into. The book was inexpensive and I wait eagerly to read it. Schools do feel pressure from parents eager to ensure their children get ahead and ironically their children are suffering anxiety and stress as a result. Learning is the loser.

http://bit.ly/1y0l8Jd

From Bruce’s ‘oldies but goodies’ file:

Dysfunctional Schools

Bruce’s comment: An oldie but a goody – is it time for teachers to face up to the idea that schools actually harm some students / Shouldn’t the first rule of teaching be ‘to do no harm?’

“I don't think teachers like to face up to the fact that schooling actually harms many of their students but it is clear, reading Kirsten's Olsenbook, it does. Obviously this harming is not done intentionally but it is all too easy to blame failure on dysfunctional students.”

http://bit.ly/1oav3IC

Self managing learners

Bruce’s comment: Some questions to ask about your students now the end of the year draws near.

“If students are to become 'active seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge' then self managing skills need to be 'taught' deliberately as an important goal of any classroom. The best way to see if students are self-managing is when the teacher leaves the room . As Art Costa says, if you do , on your return, 'what intelligent behaviours would you hope to see?’”

http://bit.ly/1ztBhnu

What did you steal from your students today?

What do we steal from our kids?

Bruce’s comment: Poem from John Edwards – what do schools steal from kids?

“I guess the real question is, what do we want our students to leave with so they can continue their learning journey?”

http://bit.ly/1FpWlPR

Creating Innovators - Tony Wagner, Sir Ken Robinson and Kirston Olsen's plea for change.

A must read for educators

While schools are distracted by ensuring they are seen to do well in achieving / improving their National Standards and NCEA data they are creating the very hyper-accountability conditions that make it difficult for creative teachers.

It seems that improving education now depends on what politicians think is right and what is popular with the voters.  Now  National Standards are in place (although we wait for National Tests, League Tables and teacher Performance agreement based on the data produced) schools now are going to be sorted out by a system of collaboration ( reminds me of WW2 France) led by ‘super’ teachers and principals. On the surface this is another populist policy but essentially it is all about bringing schools into line with government policy.

When such a system of conformity is in place then creative teachers will have to go underground.

Sir Paul Callahan

We will have to wait until a future government wakes up to the fact that our survival depends on tapping the talents and passions of every learner. As the late Sir Paul Callahan said we need to keep and attract all the talent we can if we are ever to be an innovative country.

A new book ‘Creating Innovators- the Making of Young People who will Change the World’ by Tony Wagner provides a real alternative if schools are really going to develop an innovation-driven economy.

 His book moves us away from current reform (really tinkering with a failing system) and leads us into thinking about educational transformation. Few of Wagner’s innovators associated their success with their formal schooling but all valued the encouragement of a mentor and their parents who gave them ‘creative confidence’.

In his book he profiles some of America’s young innovators and reveals the conditions that nurtured their creativity and sparked their imagination while teaching them to learn from failures and persevere. 

Wagner identifies patterns that educators could emulate in their classrooms. The innovative individuals all had a childhood that involved creative play and the fostering of deep-seated interests which eventually blossomed into deeper purpose for career and life goals. Play, passion and purpose are the forces that drive such innovators.

Ann Marie Murphy

Although a book focussing on secondary education Wagner writes that the best model for schools are creative kindergartens before schools begin to grade, test, measure and  sort and, in the process, consign many students to educational failure. Current reforms focussing on standardisation is not the answer. The challenge is to set up systems that allow students to follow their interests – something Ann Murphy writes passionately about.

Wagner challenges schools to emulate this knowledge to compensate for poor schooling.

He believes America needs to create an education system that will create the next generation of innovators. Finnish education is one that Wagner admires – the Finns 40 years ago transformed their education system.

Wagner identifies the vital features of innovative schools and workplaces: 

1.  have developed cultures of collaboration
2.  based on interdisciplinary problem solving
3.  and intrinsic motivation.

 He asks, ‘what are the capacities that matter most for innovation and how are they best taught?’ And he worries that currently we do not measure any of the skills that matter most. We need a different answer – a system to create ‘a hyper-imagination- enabling society’.

Wagner quotes Sir Ken Robinson who describes how curiosity and creativity are ‘educated out of us’ and that we need schools to develop such attributes – attributes that are the default ways the very young children learn. It seems it is all too easy to stifle innovation Read what Alison Gopnik has to say about how the very young learn – in one word through play ( children she writes are true scientists.)

.

Those few creative teachers who value students’ natural way of learning ought to be the ones we ought to look to – instead they all too often are ignored even within their own schools. 

 New Zealand has a long history of, all toooften ignored, creative teachers to gain inspiration from – Elwyn Richardson being one such individual. Teachers who focussed on creating a innovative student centred culture: learning through discovery, through enlightened trial and error, through focusing on children’s; interests and through the provision a balance of freedom and structure.

The innovators Wagner studied had all learnt the most important skill of all ‘the ability to learn on their own’. All couldn't stand the tedium of school.

Transforming the classroom experience at every level is essential to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators. 

We need to ‘give them rich experiences and develop their confidence to explore, question, test, experiment, and push on the boundaries of relevance.’ Things not valued in our current school system – and this applies to teachers as well.

We need to create a movement to combat the current press for standardisation and accountability and create the conditions to empower creative teachers – teachers who can integrate learning with the power of information technology and create a new system based on the personalisation of learning.

And if you want to learn more about how schools are failing our students – particularly those form impoverished backgrounds listen to Geoffrey Canada’s impassioned TED talk. 

 Canada asks why school systems look so similar to how they looked 50 years ago? Students were shown to be failing then. He believes it is because we cling to an industrial age model that clearly doesn’t work. He is asking for systemic shifts in order to help a greater number of kids excel.

http://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_canada_our_failing_schools_enough_is_enough 

Take the time to listen to two powerful inspirational TED talks by Sir Ken Robinson if you are still not convinced

  

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. 

Sir Ken believes that current education dislocates students from their talents and to transform education we need to challenge what we take for granted. His advice is similar to Tony Wagner and Karen Olsen and the kind of education seen in kindergartens and in the rooms of creative

teachers. .http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

The talk above has been watched by over 29 million views.

 Below is his poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution

Sir Ken asks teachers to question what teachers take for granted. Such things: as the use of ability grouping, sorting and streaming ofstudents; fragmented subject provision, obsessive testing and assessment; and a focus on literacy and numeracy to the exclusion of  the arts, technology and creativity; and the side-lining of students interests, talents and passions

Kirsten Olsen author of the book ' Wounded by School-recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing up to the Old School Culture' brings to light the devastating consequences of an educational approach that values conformity over creativity, flattens student's' interests, and dampens down differences among learners. Olsen's book shows that current schooling does not favour all students and tends to shame, disable and bore many learners.

http://leading-learning.blogspot.co.nz/2011/03/dysfunctional-schools.html

No change can occur until we first imagine it - or at the very least learn from, and protect, the few creative teachers who are leading the way.

We need to consider how schools need to be changed based on new conceptions of learning assisted by the potential of new technology. Schools ought to models of learning organisations not monuments to past thinking

Let's get back to implementing the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum and ensure every student leaves school 'a seeker, user and creator of their own knowledge'.

That Sounds Like Fun

Generating ideas for 20% Time projects is always tricky. Many times kids just grab onto the first idea they come up with and don't put much thought into how they will sustain it all year long. That's why we have put a lot of time into idea generation this year. We want the kids to work through the first impulse ideas and move on to something they can really sink their teeth into. Most kids have been really successful in coming up with ideas and all of them are based on their natural curiosity and interests. Jimmy was having trouble coming up with an idea and, when asked, he said, "I'm having anxiety about it."

"If you didn't have to come to school, what would you do all day?" I asked.

"Lay on the couch and sleep," he replied.

"That gets old after a while. What would you do after a few days of that?" I asked.

"Play hockey with my friend," Jimmy said.

"I know you're into sports. Is hockey the sport you're into the most?" I pressed.

"No, football. Well, and baseball. Football first, then baseball," he said.

"So if your project could deal with some aspect of football and baseball, you'd be into that?" I asked.

Jimmy went on to talk about Fantasy Football, how he spends hours pouring over players and stats to assemble his team. He pulled out his phone and read off his roster to me. It was pretty impressive. I asked if he was thinking of doing anything like that. He said that he'd love to be a General Manager of an NFL team. I introduced him to the old Street and Smith magazines (the sports yearbooks), explained the concepts of those magazines to him, and asked if he's like to do something like that. The concept of those magazines is to write analyses of each NFL team, critiquing the offense, defense and special teams of each team, predicting finishes for the year and suggesting personnel moves. He said, "That doesn't sound like work. That sounds like fun." What Jimmy, and most kids, don't understand, is that the most rewarding work always seems like fun. Those of us who find themselves in the most rewarding jobs always think of them as "fun" and not drudgery.

For his project, Jimmy will put together, based on his evaluation of each NFL and National League baseball team, a "magazine" site analyzing each team's strengths, weaknesses and personnel needs. I am eager to see how he approaches this project and carries it out. He is excited about it, and I am excited to see what he does with it. - Don

Educational Readings - the Maker Movement/purpose of education/Seth Godin and need for creative teachers

 

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Thinking

Good thinking in this article by Gary Stager.

Papert

‘Piaget teaches us that “knowledge is a consequence of experience.” Schools and teachers serve students best when the emphasis is on action, not hypothetical conversations about what one might do if afforded the opportunity.

Papert was sadly correct when he said, “When ideas go to school, they lose their power.”’

http://bit.ly/1oPm1kK

Self-Directed Learning: Lessons from the Maker Movement in Education

Continuing the Piaget theme…

“Learning through the making of things is a concept as old as education. As psychologist Jean Piaget argued, knowledge is a consequence of experience. But somehow, with the exception of a

The Maker Movement manifesto

small number of schools and vocational education programs dedicated to experiential inquiry-based learning, our nation’s schools strayed from this hands-on approach to education, spending much of the past 50 years focusing intensely on the memorization of information. Information matters, of course, but a growing number of schools and educators are reclaiming our educational roots, aiming to help kids learn by making stuff — but this time with a technological twist.”

http://bit.ly/1sIcPLd

The Purpose Of Education

Ivan Snook NZ

“Somehow we need to reassert the traditional belief in education “for its own sake” (which really means “for life in all its complexity”) rather than for conformity, jobs and the national economy. I dare to hope that teachers themselves, who have kept so many educational ideals alive despite constant attacks, might lead the way to an enlightened view of the purpose of education.”

http://bit.ly/1yElBh1

Derek Weymouth NZ

The conflict continues…

Here’s a response to the call from England for a return to ‘chalk and talk’teaching.

“So that's it then – let's sit back and watch the pendulum swing. With politicians and university professors professing it to be so it must be correct – right? Wrong. Let's put a bit of perspective on things shall we.”

http://bit.ly/1uspzKD

“The worst possible model” – how charter schools have been introduced in New Zealand

“Associate Professor Peter O’Connor takes another look at NZ charter schools 3 years after they

were first announced. Here, he discusses the model, funding, conflicting messages from government, the way charter schools are being rolled out into high growth areas in place of state schools, and more.”

http://bit.ly/1vjYkTN

Rethinking The Use Of Simple Achievement Gap Measures In School Accountability Systems

Albert Shanker USA

This is a very important article.

“Finally, we should also stop using gaps and gap trends in our public discourse about school performance per se. They are measures of student performance (and, when measured within schools, limited ones at that). The goal should be to provide educational opportunity for all, not try clumsily to ensure equal outcomes by rewarding and punishing schools based on the degree to which they exhibit those equal outcomes. In an accountability context, there is a crucial difference.”

http://bit.ly/14Aspn5

Nick Meier USA

Emotional Intelligence

“This leads me to challenge what we just take for granted—what is the purpose of schools. Most of use rarely think deeply about this question, and assume it is self evident—and that it is primarily“academic.”But how about this thought experiment; What if we turned this on its head? What if we thought the primary responsibility of schools was to get a citizenry that has a strong social/emotional education? “

http://bit.ly/1yJP0Gw

New Research: Students Benefit from Learning That Intelligence Is Not Fixed

“Teaching students that intelligence can grow and blossom with effort – rather than being a fixed

Check out link to Carol Dweck

trait they’re just born with – is gaining traction in progressive education circles. And new research from Stanford is helping to build the case that nurturing a “growth mindset” can help many kids understand their true potential.”

http://bit.ly/1sY0OAo

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

Time to return the focus back to encouraging creative teachers - the only real way to transform our education system.

Creative classroom from the 70s!

Bruce has been a leading voice in promoting real education in New Zealand for many years, and was a major inspiration to me in my own school principalship. In this article he reviews things as they were, before GERM arrived, and stresses the need for creative teachers to reclaim education.

“I believe it is vitally important to encourage creative teachers who focus on providing engaging programmes and who develop personalised programmes able to develop the gifts and talents of all students.”

http://bit.ly/1vrOhfu

Project Wildthing

Bruce's comment:

Real learning through senses

Great movement to reconnect children with nature. Children need to swap screen time for wild time. Are our children overprotected? There is need to match an hour outside with an hour on screen. Technology is stealing childhood from our children. We need to get back to the nature habit – even just a few minutes a day to encourage observational awareness. Check out the website Project Wildthing. We need to cut back on the indoor time.

http://bit.ly/1q7P8AI

Bruce continues: Read the below blogs for further inspiration.

http://bit.ly/1uhQgQo

http://bit.ly/1g9hJzl

http://bit.ly/1vjXQNz

Dear Time Magazine…

“I am furious, incensed, and irate at your November 3, 2014, cover depicting every American public school educator as a Rotten Apple and a billionaire from Silicon Valley as the savior of American public schools. So forgive me, if this Rotten Apple, tells you exactly what I think of your reporting since you never bothered to interview a public school teacher for your piece.”

http://bit.ly/11fpQo0

States Listen as Parents Give Rampant Testing an F

Test crazy systems killing learning

Bruce’s comment: WARNING! Tested to death in the USA – time to change directions and certainly a path not to follow. Who would want to be a student or a teacher?

“Florida embraced the school accountability movement early and enthusiastically, but that was hard to remember at a parent meeting in a high school auditorium here not long ago.

Parents railed at a system that they said was overrun by new tests coming from all levels — district, state and federal. Some wept as they described teenagers who take Xanax to cope with test stress, children who refuse to go to school and teachers who retire rather than promote a culture that seems to value testing over learning.”

http://nyti.ms/1A3gPOb

Secrets of the Creative Brain

Not always easy in our School system

“A leading neuroscientist who has spent decades studying creativity shares her research on where genius comes from, whether it is dependent on high IQ—and why it is so often accompanied by mental illness. “

Bruce’s comment: A rather long but important read. Do schools foster the creative brain – I think not. And schools are certainly no place for creative teachers.

http://theatln.tc/1wJ0HuQ

From Bruce’s ‘oldies but goodies’ file:

Do we have the wrong schools for an age based on connections? Seth Godin

“Seth sees schools reflecting the needs of a past factory based  industrial age - one that provides workers who were compliant, schools where productivity can be defined and measured.The development of such factory like schools, he believes,  is not a coincidence. Now,  he writes, is the time for a new set of questions and demands  and to consider how schools need to change to develop the new dispositions young workers need in a connected age. “

http://bit.ly/1xEGXvb

Time to return the focus back to encouraging creative teachers - the only real way to transform our education system

Educating for unknown horizons

I began this blog in 2004 after the website I shared with myfriend Wayne Morris was ended.The intention of the blog (and the website) was to encourage and share the ideas of creative teachers – ideas we both felt were largely ignored by those who determine our education system.

NZCF Straight jacket

The impetus came from the need to oppose the New Zealand Curriculum Framework introduced in the late 80s after the introduction of Tomorrows (‘self-managing’) Schools. This was a curriculum which introduced a technocratic approach to learning- a curriculum based on learning areas with objectives to be gained at defined levels; it was ‘death by strands, levels and hundreds of objectives’. It overwhelmed schools and teachers with accountability problems and side-lined the very creative holistic approach to teaching that New Zealand was internationally admired for.

At this time my blog focused on encouraging schools to leave the excesses resulting from having to comply with the onerous requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework and later to take advantage of the freedom offered by the 2007 NZC. Many school principals, under considerable pressure to comply, had introduced assessment requirements that were destructive to creative holistic teaching. Such an audit and surveillance culture, once established, is hard to escape from – particularly when so many school ‘leaders’ were complicit with such accountability measures.

The election of a National government, after two terms and now entering a third, has with their unwelcome introduction of National Standards all but side-lined the liberating intent of the 2007 NZC. 

2007 NZC now sidelined

The technocratic emphasis of the original New Zealand Curriculum Framework has returned with a vengeance!  Schools are now forced to focus on showing achievement for students based on a limited focus on literacy and numeracy. As a result creative activities (never a strong point of schools) are now of less value as the curriculum narrows to improve student achievement.

Sadly there is a lack of school leadership (difficult with competing self-managing schools whose reputation relies of improving National Standards) to fight for a holistic approach to learning – one that recognises and values student achievement in areas other than literacy and numeracy.

Now schools reflect a formulaic approach to learning – based on improving achievement perhaps but not valuing student uniqueness and creativity. Education is increasingly being standardised in

Standardisation

an era that above all things needs to be personalised so as to develop the diverse talents of all students.

 A visit to classrooms will provide evidence of such standardised procedures. Examples to be seen are: WALTS (‘we are learning to’), success criteria (defining what the teacher thinks indicates success), and teaching to objectives (‘intentional teaching’). All indicate outcomes defined by the teacher. As a result, the work on display indicates conformity of achievement rather than a diversity of student creativity. As one commentator has said, ‘literacy and numeracy have all but gobbled up the entire curriculum’. This is a ‘colour by numbers’/ ‘one size fits approach to learning’. Evidence of authentic inquiry based learning (other than Google ‘cut and paste research’) will be hard to find. 

Inquiry learning

In the few remaining creative classrooms such studies provide the intellectual energy for much of what evolves (not always pre-planned) and in such classrooms literacy and numeracy have been ‘reframed’ to contribute to such authentic inquiry.

Add to this obsessive time hungry recording of achievement data (data which excludes as much as it records) the growing use of ability grouping, setting and streaming makes the possibilities of creative integrated teaching all but impossible. That is unless the school is lucky enough to have creative leadership.

Thankfully there are still such principals to be found.

With the re-election of the National government with its market forces ideology it is time for my blog  to return the focus to supporting individual creative teachers.

New Zealand gained it reputation for innovative primary education from the work of creative teachers who, in their time, had to fight for approval.

Elwyn Richardson

 In the 50s the work of Elwyn Richardson and Sylvia Ashton Warner come to mind.  Elwyn created a ‘community of scientists and artists’ exploring their environment and students personal thoughts in his rural school in the far North. Sylvia based her reading on the ‘stuff inside her students’ heads’

The 60s (an era of creativity, individuality and anti-authority attitudes) provided impetus for creativity in education.

 Juniorschool teachers with their language experiences and developmental programmeswere integral to such creativity. Advisory teachers also helped spread creative child centred ideas. Art advisers, in particular, recognised and supported creative teachers particularly in rural schools well away from the hierarchical control of larger urban schools. To add to the mix there were a number of American writers critical of traditional schooling loosely grouped as part of an open education movement as well as books celebrating English child centred learning. Exciting times to be a teacher.

As an adviser in the 70s I was able to work with small groupof innovative teachers to develop, making use of the above ideas, what came tobe called the Taranaki Environmental approach. 

Taranaki room environment 70s

Teachers involved developed anemergent curriculum based around exploring the local environment, tapping intostudents’ interests and questions, valuing creative expression, and creatingstimulating classroom environments. We believed in ‘doing things in depth’ – ‘doing fewer things well’ and the importance of ‘slowing the pace of learning’ so as to come alongside the learner to assist them achieve their ‘personal best’. Other groups existed in other parts of New Zealand – often well away from the centres of educational authority.

In the 70s I taught for a number of years to implement the ideas myself. An important experience for anyone who wishes to give advice about teaching! One thing I refused to do was to use ability grouping and instead I integrated as much of my reading and maths programme into class studies . I had an overriding concern to develop positive attitudes towards learning – many students, even at age 10, had already given up on such things such maths and reading.

Teacher in 70s

The teachers of this era have by now been well retired.

In the 80/90 the biggest move was to whole school development.

 I was lucky enough to be appointed principal of an urban school where creative ideas were introduced across the school and across the curriculum. Sadly I never was able to convince teachers to move away from ability grouping but all agreed to introduce mixed ability family grouped classes. A number of Taranaki schools became nationally recognised for their quality work.

Then, in 1986 came Tomorrows Schools followed by the introduction of the New Zealand Curriculum with all its strands, levels and objectives. This was to be the beginning of the end of teacher led creative education.

All of the teacher led developments prior to Tomorrows Schools were been put at risk as schools were forced to comply with the demands of the new curriculum by regular visits of the

It takes courage to resist!

newly established Education Review Office. Formulaic approaches to learning and assessment were introduced through contracted facilitators (the old advisory system had been disbanded) for schools to be ‘encouraged’ to follow.

The Ministry (under a Labour government) seeing the error of its way introduced a ‘revised’ New Zealand Curriculum in 2007. This innovative curriculum had far more in common with the holistic beliefs of innovative primary teachers. A key phrase was for each student to be ‘a seeker, user and creator of their own knowledge’. 

It was to be a short lived development.

 With a new government came the unwelcome imposition National Standards and with it its accountability demands came a narrowing of the curriculum around achievement in Literacy and Numeracy. 

These developments are now seen as part of a Market Forces ideology held by the government known as the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). This is an ideology that is based on comparative achievement data and focusses on blaming the teachers for what has come to be known as the ‘achievement gap’; in reality, the one in five ‘failing students, are suffering from more an ‘opportunity gap’. It is an approach that ignores the effects of poverty on student achievement.  In other parts of the world failing schools (based on narrow achievement data, national tests and league tables) have been privatised – Charter Schools!

It will get worse.

As consequence my blog is re-dedicated to sharing ideas of creative teachers, or ideas that will support them in their difficult endeavours. 

I have no idea how many creative teachers are out there, or how tocontact them, but this is no constraint to having a go. I am aware of a number of schools that hold true to a holistic creative philosophy and, as well, a number of blogs sharing innovative ideas.

I believe it is vitally important to encourage creative teachers who

Developing the talents of all

focus on providing engaging programmes and who develop personalised programmes able to develop the gifts and talents of all students.

 Perhaps the recent development of Modern School Environments (MLE) with their genesis in the open schools of the 70s will provide an answer but they do seem to be in conflict with the conformist demands of the National Standard.

 Time will tell.

New Zealand’s future lies in encouraging and tapping thecreativity and talents of all its citizens so as to develop an innovative,entrepreneurial and inclusive culture. 

The only place where this future can be kick-started is in creative schools dedicated to the development of the talents of all its students

To place the focus on creative teachers  education at all levels school cultures need to change.

My blog is dedicated to assisting this transformation.

There is no doubt about the value of being irretrievably committed to developing teacher creativity. As they challenge the status quo their path is not always easy. Far easier to comply.

Schools and teachers can either be part of the problem or part of the solution.

 As Margaret Mead has said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens (teachers) can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ All the best ideas come from the edge but they need to recognized and shared.

There is no shortage of practical inspiration to assist those with the courage to confront those who insist on taking education down the wrong pathway. And lots of inspirational books to read.

No one is saying it will be easy but what is the alternative?