Life in the freezer

Post graduate students at University of Antarctica

I'm very lucky because I get to travel the world and visit many exotic places. My research into learning technology has attracted many invitations to speak at universities in far flung places. Although I sometimes find the travel to these places tedious, once I have arrived I really enjoy meeting and talking to people. I learn a lot and I'm excited to discover new approaches and practices in education. I therefore jumped at the chance recently to visit one of the most remote (and coolest) universities on the planet. It was the mother of all invitations, and an offer that I simply couldn't refuse. Here's the story:

My invitation to present a research seminar for staff and post graduate students at the University of Antarctica, came out of the blue. My first thought was that it must be some kind of a joke. I have played pranks in the past, and others have played pranks on me. Some of the jokes have been quite sophisticated, and I assumed that this was yet another one. Before I responded I decided to investigate, make a few enquires and do some searches, to make sure there was actually such a place as the University of Antarctica. After all, the continent is international territory. No-one actually owns Antarctica, and it is so remote and so covered in a permanent icecap, that only long bearded research scientists and penguins live there, surely? And that of course, should have been the clue. The University of Antarctica (UANT) turns out to be a very small, but never the less incredibly active research university, attached to the U.S. science base, McMurdo Station. UANT specialises in geological, biomedical, marine science, climate studies and astronomy, and of course, it is uniquely positioned to do so.

McMurdo Station thaws out in the summer month of January

And so I took a deep breath, and agreed to go and speak at UANT. I then endured a tortuous journey lasting more than 40 hours to get to the university campus, and I couldn't say that I would recommend the journey to anyone. It wasn't easy. From London Heathrow, on a British Airways flight, I made my way via a stopover in Singapore, to Brisbane, Australia. From there, with New Zealand Airlines, I travelled onwards to Christchurch. After far too long a layover, I then caught another flight down to the very tip of the South Island of New Zealand to a place called Invercargill. Finally I managed to board a supply flight on a cargo plane across the Southern Ocean due south down to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. To be honest, the in-flight catering wasn't much to write home about, and McMurdo isn't the most desirable tourist destination. The live webcam at the base shows the conditions perfectly all year round.

I have to say arriving in such a remote place was a bit of a shock, both culturally and thermally. I have never been so far flung - it felt as though I had arrived on another planet. Everything was white, and even the airstrip was carved out of ice. The -10 C degree temperature (in the Southern Hemisphere summer month of January) cut right through you and took your breath away. There is little at this southernmost air base except for a few squat concrete buildings, several large storage tanks, dozens of half track vehicles and lots of men running around wearing long beards. And of course, there are plenty of penguins. The University of Antarctica is located very close to McMurdo, about 10 minutes away by halftrack. Fortunately there were no blizzards, the sky was clear blue, and I made it to my centrally heated bivouac with no mishap.

My research seminar the following day in the Arctowski College of Education (named after the Polish polar explorer Henryk Arctowski) was well attended by around 20 of the university's bearded academics (they only have around 60 full time staff, so this was quite a turn out), and several penguins.  I spoke about distance education, for which there was a great deal of interest, because clearly, it is difficult to get to UANT, and although it's a great place to visit, no-one in their right mind actually wants to stay there. The university wishes to attract more students, but accommodation is very basic, student life is somewhat dull, and people often go missing and are never seen again. So distance education seemed like the best method for them to gain more students. The college has already invested heavily in correspondence courses, and is also gearing up to deliver its first MOOC later this year once they get their internet connection. The subject? - Antarctic Studies, of course.

After a lunch of roasted penguin, the head of education, the heavily bearded Dr Ivan Ivanovich Zykov and his assistant Annie Spysz (also bearded) took me on a short tour that included a visit to the Astronomy Observatory atop University Peak, and the very small but extremely well appointed UANT history and culture Museum. The display of artwork by the indigenous population was spectacular, but not particularly extensive. It was a brief, fascinating, and very chilly tour, and a fitting end to my visit before catching my flight back to New Zealand. I never got the chance to visit the South Pole, which still remains one of my life's ambitions, but who knows, maybe next time. After all, it's a mere 850 miles journey south across the ice from the University of Antarctica - literally the coolest university on the planet.

Photos by Eli Duke and Gaelen Marsden


Life in the freezer by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Game changers

I was in Spain in early March to keynote the 9th International Conference on Technology, Education and Development (INTED 2015). The event, held in Madrid, is one I have previously written about on this blog. Over 600 people attended from more than 75 countries, and over several days, they explored a range of ideas around new approaches to education, new and emerging technologies and of course professional and personal development. It was a great event, and I remember wishing that I could have stayed for more than one day to join in with the entire conference. I was quite busy on the first and only day I attended, giving one of the two opening keynote addresses, before doing a book signing and then participating in a one hour panel discussion. After this I remember being whisked away by the conference organisers to sit under the lights in a make-shift studio somewhere in the bowels of the hotel for a television interview. The questions were well thought through. I was asked for example, what I thought would be the key game changers in education technology in the coming years, what the perfect school might look like, and what was the best experience in my entire school career. Below is the entire interview - I hope you enjoy it.




Game changers by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Podcast: Twitter Chat and PBL

In this episode, we talk about our first ever district Twitter PD edchat, how 20% Time is bleeding over into our regular PBL classes and how crucial the climate of the classroom is for real learning. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter too! Don is @dayankee and Melissa is @melissahellwig4

An Update from the "Friendly CandEy" Student Blog

Check out this update from the student blog "Friendly CandEy" about an experiment he undertook this past weekend. All learning begins with a few failed attempts.

Friendly CandEy Blog

Once You Start, You Just Can't Stop!

Let us be the first to say, "Our classroom environments are not for everyone, but WE promise the learning is!" We are not the greatest rule or schedule followers (definitely one of our weak areas, no secret to anyone who knows us) but we believe we run a strong student-centered environment where every mostly every kid can find their own place, their own voice and discover who they are as learners.  We want to build our students into strong, confident boys and girls. When you walk into our crazy, chaotic classrooms, you will always see kids moving in all kinds of ways, engaging in student-centered and student-driven learning. You will also see students having fun and just being themselves.

When we started 20% Time, it was a tougher transition on me then it was for Don.  I had trouble with the freedom and autonomy that the kids needed during this project to be successful, which is crazy since this whole project was my idea!  As I started wrapping my head around the project and managing my own feelings of needing to be in charge of every part, it was as if a weight was lifted.  I was able to focus in on the students and their learning. I realized that I had been running a teacher-driven classroom where I needed to be the one who knew all the answers, stood in front of the class and always had all eyes on me.  I felt so selfish. I can say this is the moment that I knew that we were doing something special with learning and my current idea of education had been changed forever.

Student autonomy has become such an integral part of my classroom in all subjects, not just 20% Time.  I love it in my math and science classes too.  I don't even think I could have every single person in class create the same product to turn in anymore; it turns my stomach! Everything looking the exact same, with the exact same parameters, etc.? This isn't showing me who my student is or what they can do. I want to allow my students to meet the learning goals in the way they can best express themselves.  This can look different for every single student and you know what..........THAT IS OK!

I love watching students work through problem-based learning problems, truly being invested, finding solutions and making real world connections.  In math this week, while using scale factors (one of our math targets) students scaled Barbie's measurements to the height of a member in their group. At the end of this exercise, we ask that the students write a professional letter to Mattel stating their findings and their opinions.  We are finishing this lesson with some videos about a Barbie who has been scaled to a real-life person, sharing their findings and opinions and having a conversation about self-image.  It is an awesome lesson (that I took and adapted from someone else!) and it touches across all aspects.  I love watching these types of lessons come to life! After we are finished, I asked which students would like their letters mailed to Mattel and we sent them off!  Below are some of our students hard at work getting their Barbies drawn.

I know it looks awfully crazy but I can't imagine ever going back to my old teaching style.  Like I said, once you get a taste of what this kind of teaching can bring out in your students, you will never turn back.  The excitement it brings to your students, it will also bring to you.  So......take a step outside of your comfort zone, even if it is a baby step, and give it a try.  What do you have to lose?

Education Readings - the battle for education/ PISA/ our brain/ teacher artistry.

Creativity - the way of the 21stC 

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

This week’s homework!

The battle for education

Interesting article by Steve Wheeler examining the differences between education philosophies derived from Socrates and Aristotle. Readers of Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance may notice familiar themes.

“A battle of words and ideals is raging about which is the most effective, and indeed, the most appropriate approach to adopt for the needs of today's society.”

http://bit.ly/1C6rreg

Battle lines

Steve Wheeler’s follow up to the above article.

“I have visited schools that are fully traditional in their approach and I have also been to schools where the ethos is wholly progressive. The differences are stark. Individual teachers do have a choice to determine their approach in the classroom, but realistically, these choices are limited, particularly if they are expected to tow the party line of their leadership. One of the most marked distinctions between traditional and progressive approaches - and a battle line that will play increasing importance as the debate continues - concerns the role of the teacher.”

http://bit.ly/1CW0ltO

The tower of PISA is badly leaning. An argument for why it should be saved.

Pasi Salhberg:

“Just think for a moment what would global education look like if PISA had never been launched? There would be, as there was in the 1990s, a number of countries that mistakenly believed their education systems are the best in the world and should set the direction for other nations. Were it not for the fact that these weaker performing countries that include the United States and England have not been successful in PISA, the worldwide pressures for more market competition between schools, less university-based training for teachers, and more standardization of the curriculum, would have had a far easier ride.”

http://wapo.st/1C8mGRv

6 Myths Of Digital Technology

For the record I’m a keen proponent of educational technology; however we need to be mindful of the cliche, that a teacher who can be replaced by technology should be replaced.

“… it is clear technology alone does not make a difference to learning. Rather, how well the technology is used to support teaching and learning is the key determinant of its impact. There is no doubt that technology engages and motivates young people. However, this benefit is only an advantage for learning if the activity is effectively aligned with clear learning objectives.”

http://bit.ly/1Ac2xXo

5 Reasons standardized testing won't slow down

Add caption

“While we subject our offspring to endless measurement, what is really being tested? It’s our values as parents—the kind of kids we want to raise and the kind of society we want to have. The testing obsession is damaging our children. But our society is locked into a testing arms race.

The parents who have the most time, energy, and resources are afraid to stop playing the testing game for fear their children will be left behind. ”

http://bit.ly/18tMZa3

Challenging the Cold War Pedagogy of Common Core

This article discusses the situation in the USA; however perceptive readers will be able to link this to their own country.

“Common Core’s creators seems hyper-focused on measurement outcomes, while showing a lack of willingness to listen to and collaborate with education professionals who point out the flaws in this approach. For them, test scores are all that matter and charters schools are the solution to all our problems.”

http://bit.ly/1Am0boa

Robert Putnam: When Did Poor Kids Stop Being 'Our Kids’?

"If it takes a village to raise a child, the prognosis for America's children isn't good: In recent years, villages all over America, rich and poor, have deteriorated as we've shirked collective responsibility for our kids.”

http://bit.ly/18d9YpP

Teachers overworked and undervalued but still dedicated to education, survey suggests

This is from England but I suspect the findings would apply in many countries.

“One teacher wrote: “I am happy to work hard, but the current level of scrutiny in my school makes it impossible to make professional judgements about the best way to do things, which is extremely stressful. I have been happiest at times when I have had some control over my workload.””

http://bit.ly/1EE5LK3

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

How Do Digital Portfolios Help Students?

Bruce’s comment: I have always liked the idea of students keeping evidence of their achievements in a folder, file, in their study books or a portfolio..  the idea of extending this digital portfolios is an obvious modern extension.

“It means students can save their work in the form of a web page, CD or disk. Kids respond better when they’re able to share their work because they have a valid audience and it does not go onto the pile on the teachers’ desk. Kids today can create and share their work with the world through digital portfolios; they have an authentic audience who will not only read it, but also care about it.”

http://bit.ly/1Co5N6S

16 Ways Your Brain Is Sabotaging Your Effort To Learn

Bruce's comment: Another article useful for staff to read one and share with others. Read how your brain can sabotage learning – and some antidotes .

“The human brain is our best friend, and our worst enemy, and unless we keep one eye peeled, it can hijack our learning completely. In this article I’d like to examine some of the “traps” the brain sets for us during the course of our academic careers, and what we can do to avoid them. Psychologists have already done the hard work of realising there’s any hijacking going on at all; what’s left for us to do is pay attention.”

http://bit.ly/1EXoAbg

Six Things We Learned At South By Southwest EDU

Bruce’s comment: Flick thru this – implications for the future?

“Student data and privacy will only grow as a bone of contention.

The capture and use of student data from prekindergarten through college is increasing with the adoption of software platforms where every homework problem a student does can be recorded in bits and bytes.

The flipside of the power of analytics and prediction is concerns about privacy. Who owns this data? Who should have access to it? What can be done with it?”

http://n.pr/1BOi7LK

Chinese teachers bring the art of maths to English schools

Bruce’s comment: Well worth a read. UK politicians  are introducing a ‘Chinese’ approach to maths. Not as an art but as training. I like the Chinese ( Asian ?) idea of a belief  that all can

learn maths, that they don’t believe in ability grouping  and that they do fewer things well but as for the rest! You read and make up your own mind. Ironically  the Chinese are looking towards the West to develop more creativity in their education system.

http://bit.ly/1CqYwTM

Why are we blindly following the Chinese approach to teaching maths?

Bruce’s comment: And for a contrary point of view – and mine as well.

“A one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to improve children’s learning. Worse still, it undermines more important features of our culture and heritage, where we punch above our weight in creativity and celebrate originality and difference rather than uniformity.”

http://bit.ly/18EK3ri

From Bruce’s oldies but goodies file:

Learning styles

Bruce’s comment: I have my concerns about learning style ideas but by the use of focussed group work the various personal preferences can be catered for. Group work is used successfully

in reading programmes but, in my opinion (and considerable research) less successful because of the destructive use of ability grouping.

“In traditional teaching teachers presented their ideas to the whole class… Today, with an appreciation of the diversity of student learning styles, the idea of multiple intelligences, the modern emphasis on active learning, and the need for all students to gain success, such a simplistic pedagogy will no longer do.”

http://bit.ly/1GgidNa

Teachers as artists.

Bruce's comment: A real oldie but ain’t it the truth!! Creative teachers a lost resource.

“Isn’t it time that people in power realized that the real insights about teaching comes from the work of ‘master’ teachers. That teaching is more about the artistry and the craft of teaching, than following any prescribed approach.The trouble is these days no one is even bothering to look for such teachers – and of course they are liable to be outsiders, mavericks and idiosyncratic. The very traits those who like to control things hate, but paradoxically, the very same traits required for progress in any field of endeavour.”

http://bit.ly/1blkAVD

Social, mobile, and personal learning futures

Many of my public presentations have the prefix: Digital Learning Futures, because for me, the future of education and learning will be greatly influenced by digital technologies.

The presentation below was for the ELI 2015 (4th international conference on e-Learning and Distance Education) event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where education and learning professionals from the entire gulf region and beyond came together to discuss the possibilities of future education scenarios.

The key argument of my presentation was that social learning, the use of mobile devices, and personal learning environments will all be vitally important components of any future learning ecology. I advised that technology is not a silver bullet, and cannot solve all the problems education is currently experiencing. Nor can it replace good pedagogy. However, once those concerns are settled I said - technology, especially the personalised, mobile devices student now own - can and often does make a huge difference in how people learn, and can neither dismissed nor omitted from any future pedagogical discourse.

Digital Learning Futures: Social, Mobile and Personal Technologies from Steve Wheeler

Photo by Victor Grigas on Wikimedia Commons


Social, mobile, and personal learning futures by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

A Student's Service Project

One of our kiddos, Dominic, is collecting clothes for a homeless shelter as part of his 20% Time project. The clothes drive will be all next week. Here is the flier for the drive. He would love to have your support! Please click the link here (Clothes for the Homeless) to see the details.

Battle lines

In yesterday's post entitled 'The Battle for Education', I showed a chart that characterised two opposing educational philosophies - traditional and progressive. I argued that educators are in a battle over how education is conducted, and this will determine our children's futures. Often, the differences between the two philosophies determine how students are treated, how they are assessed and ultimately, how they view their education and their own achievements.

Some comments on Twitter and on my blog have suggested that the binary between the two positions is unhelpful. There have been arguments that teachers switch between the two positions according to context. I'm not denying either of these two kinds of argument. But I will say this: it matters not whether or not individual teachers switch between modes, what matters is that there are indeed two opposing philosophies, and they both heavily influence the way schools are run. The tension between the two stances has previously caused disagreement, and will continue to do so, among educators. A binary does exist, and if leaders of schools subscribe to say a traditional approach to education, generally the school they manage will tend to follow that pattern of delivery. I have visited schools that are fully traditional in their approach and I have also been to schools where the ethos is wholly progressive. The differences are stark. Individual teachers do have a choice to determine their approach in the classroom, but realistically, these choices are limited, particularly if they are expected to tow the party line of their leadership.

One of the most marked distinctions between traditional and progressive approaches - and a battle line that will play increasing importance as the debate continues - concerns the role of the teacher. In the purest format of traditional education, teachers act as experts who deliver content to their students. They generally take a position at the front of the classroom and this is where all the action takes place. The whiteboard and other teacher resources are located here. Students are physically oriented toward this position by carefully planned seating. They are expected to pay attention to the expert, and learning is largely passive. The teacher's responsibility is to ensure that all students receive the same knowledge, at the same time. Later they are assessed on what they have remembered, and are given a grade to show how well they have been able to do so.

By contrast, progressive education views the role of the teacher as a co-learner. The teacher may be a content expert, but the most important part of their role is to facilitate learning of that content rather than simply to present it. This might involve active forms of learning where students discuss, explore through making and through solving problems. In progressive education approaches, teachers stand back and avoid the delivery of content as much as possible, creating an environment within which enquiry can be undertaken and where students generally assume more responsibility over their own learning. Assessment of learning in progressive education is more likely to be assessment for learning. This focuses more on individual progress than to measuring performance against a specific set of norm referenced criteria.

Again this is a simplistic characterisation of the two positions and there are bound to be more objections, but the definitions of roles above resonate with my experiences of recent school visits. This is by no means a complete argument. You can see them as notes in an ongoing series of thoughts about how education is being shaped and how this will play out in the continuing battle over our children's futures.

Photo by Shakata Ga Nai on Wikimedia Commons


Battle lines by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Kids Creating Podcasts? Yep!

A few weeks ago, we launched TLR Radio, a student podcast about YA Lit. Each week, we gather five or six students together for about twenty minutes to talk about what they are reading. The conversation is easy and fluid. It is quite engaging. One of the boys who has appeared on the TLR Radio podcast is Jimmy, whose 20% Time project is the NFL Off-Season Guide. Last week, Jimmy decided that he wanted to do a podcast about the NFL off-season transactions. Today, he created his first podcast.

Jimmy and I took about fifteen minutes to go through the process of creating a podcast. We found a recorder that is compatible with Chromebooks, TwistedWave. Jimmy then created a free account on Podbean.com. He also created a cool logo for his podcast on LogoGarden.com. 

Creating a logo on LogoGarden.com

After creating the logo, he was ready to record. He opened TwistedWave, went to the hall, found a quiet space, and recorded his thoughts about the NFL off-season thus far. 

The TwistedWave interface, ready to record

Jimmy then saved the sound file to his Google Drive in MP3 format. Now he was ready to sign in to his Podbean.com account, upload his podcast file and publish it.

Uploading the sound file to Podbean.com

As soon as he published his podcast on Podbean.com, Jimmy was able to get the embed code, open an HTML gadget on his website, paste in the embed code, and he had a podcast gadget on his website. Now those who go to Jimmy's website (NFL Off-season Guide) can listen to his podcast. 

This process is another example of the kind of learning these kids are experiencing. They learn new technology tools everyday and use these tools wisely in order to express their learning. 

Bali Haque.The failure of Education Reforms in New Zealand - with an emphasis on secondary schools. NCEA/ NZC and National Standards.

In a recent article in the Sunday Times magazine a recently resigned secondary teacher wrote  , 'teaching is not a cushy job- it's grueling. I had to do so many assessments with the students there was barely time to teach them anything....the NCEA is well intentioned- full of second chances - but the people who dreamed it up didn't consider how perpetual assessment and marking would impact on teaching...... It puts teachers, students and parents on common ground - by bewildering them all.

With this in mind it was interesting to read Bali Haque's book 'Changing Our Secondary Schools'. Bali has been a secondary principal, President of the Secondary Principal's Association and

deputy chief executive responsible for the NCEA.

His book is a critique of two decades of education reform in New Zealand and a call for future action.   (See book review)

The book is based on the premise that our secondary schools are already good but 'have the capacity to be great. An earlier book, 'Our Secondary Schools Don't Work Anymore', by David Hood,  who has a similar background to Bali, is not so positive. Guy Claxton's book 'What is the Point of School' is also relevant. It would seem that good is not good enough!

Looking towards the future

Bali's book  covers the Tomorrow's Schools Reforms , the National Certificate of Educational Achievement ( NCEA) , the revised New Zealand Curriculum ( 2007) and  the National Standards. 'None of these reforms', Bali writes, 'has been as successful as one might have hoped', and adds, 'mistakes have been made again, again , and again.'

The equity gap the real problem!

NZ scores well on international tests, he writes, but scores have fallen because of the 'gap between students from poorer , lower socioeconomic status homes' and that this equity gap 'presents any current or future  New Zealand government with its most serious and persistent .....problem'.

 The situation is made worse by the fact that many Maori families are in this category. 'Maori students perform poorly...largely because of their Socio Economic Status (SES) not their ethnicity' he writes and continues. 'we live in divided communities and our schools reflect theses divisions.'

Culture Counts!

This division provides well off students with cultural habits and dispositions inherited from their families that are critically important to school success. This is obviously not true for all students but there are those ( Pierre Bourdieu ) who believe that schools make the situation worse. There are Maori educationalists who believe that schools do not reflect  a Maori worldview.

Bali asks the question do schooling and teaching matter and answers 'it depends'?

 New Zealand has in recent decades become one of the most unequal Western societies and that this can only be overcome by political action not by blaming schools.

 Focusing only on schooling and teaching to address disparities is 'unhelpful and misleading'. There is more an opportunity than an achievement gap. Research (Marzano) in Bali's book states 80% of student achievement is determined by student background, the school 6.65 and the teacher 13.34.

Teaching as an art.

'Teaching,'Bali writes, ' is essentially more of an art than a science' and what works depends on the relationships between the teacher and the learner.

  Bali  believes that  power of a quality teacher depends on what he calls 'a state of mind' ; the individual teachers 'personal dispositions, attitudes  and assumptions'. This he says is reflected in the New Zealand Curriculum ( Teaching as Inquiry) which asks teachers to constantly ask questions about the effectiveness of what they are doing and be willing to change what isn't working. Such teachers believe all students can learn achieve provided the right conditions and help.

It is encouraging teachers to develop this mindset that provides the greatest opportunity to help all students achieve but real success

1 in 5 have very little

will only be fully realized by improving the socio- economic background of students. Blaming the one in five students currently failing on teaching is 'plainly nonsense' Bali writes.

Now back to the reforms.

Yeah Right!

Tomorrow's Schools.

Introduced in 1989  it was supposed to be all about devolving responsibility to 'self managing' schools to realize greater flexibility and innovation but in reality passed poor performance on to individual school many schools ( low decile schools) did not have the capability or resources.
Rather than having a school system, schools were placed  in a market place unfairly competing with each other. This was a business model that favoured the well placed and discouraged collaboration.

There has been no evidence of system wide gains in achievement or new approaches to learning or greater equality. Lower decile schools are all too often  marginalized and ghettoised and, Bali writes,  'awful for the cohesiveness and social and economic well being of New Zealand as a whole'. 'Tomorrow's Schools continues to harm many of the students  it was designed to support.

NCEA - National Certificate of  Educational Achievement

The NCEA chapter focuses on secondary education and the change from simple pass /fail exams to the provision of all students with opportunities  to succeed. 'For most teachers and parents the changes were astonishing and revolutionary'.  The aim was to unify vocational and academic pathways by shifting to standard based assessment allowing students to demonstrate learning achievements on units passed.  Students were   assigned their own personal Record of Achievement (POR). Such a dramatic change had not been attempted anywhere else in the world. The assessment requirements, Bali writes, were 'light years away from what was mainstream practice for most teachers at the time'. And there is the confusion between vocational and academic units.

Stressed students

It has been a rocky road to success  but after a troubled birth it has become reasonably successful but there are still issues due to a 'poor reform process'. Assessment now drives teaching. 'The trouble was the new standards based NCEA system', writes Bali , 'required a  fundamentally different approach to learning' which is yet to be seen widely. Until things change students and teachers remain stressed trying to implement current all but impossiblee requirements.

The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum

The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum. provided schools with a  broad enabling framework to work within  allowing plenty of flexibility for schools. It's 1993 predecessor was a technocratic and assessment  nightmare. The  intention of the 2007 curriculum was to move beyond subject content towards a greater emphasis on good teaching practice.

Bali makes the point that primary schools were encouraged by the 'front end of the curriculum' which defined the vision, principles, competencies and values. For most secondary school its implementation was complicated by the requirements of  the NCEA. Bali recommends that the 'wash-back effects of the NCEA qualification into the junior school prevented effective implementation of the new curriculum. Schools instead used the junior years ( year 9 and 10) to prepare for the 'realities of the NCEA'.

The new curriculum provided motivation to develop integrated units around common themes rather than compartmentalized and separate subjects so, while it was  satisfactory to provide broad learning objectives in the junior years and in primary schools, it was extremely problematic for teaching in the senior school. 'As well the emphasis on competencies at the front end of the curriculum provided another headache for secondary schools'. How to measure or report on these competencies was problematic and as a result, in many secondary schools, the 'key'  competencies have been sidelined.

Integrated inquiry studies

So has the 2007 NZC achieved its objectives? With regard to secondary school limited progress has been made in encouraging better teaching, particularly in years 9 and 10 but  'the requirements of the NCEA has probably outweighed the requirements of the curriculum particularly at the senior school.' This is not helped by subject specialists protecting their territories making the integration of knowledge and focus a on competencies difficult and, as a result,  'teachers have tended to continue with their current practice'.

 NZC -Opportunities for integrated inquiry studies.

'So, as far as secondary schools are concerned, the NZC has not been as successful as might have been'. Schools have not addressed the fundamental changes required. For all that 'the NZC is viewed positively by a very large number of teachers, including secondary teachers'. Secondary schools need far more help to implement the 'front end' of the curriculum.

National Standards.

Although  supposedly written to support the NZC  Bali writes, 'it seems clear that the new

literacy and numeracy standards are not a good fit with the philosophy of the NZC'. 

Assessment against these standards will lead to 'teaching to the tests'  and the 'narrowing of the curriculum' and the 'demise of a rich holistic and broad curriculum' as it has been demonstrated in countries that have tried to implement similar reforms.  Moderation of standards is a problem yet to be solved - National Tests and League Tables lie over the horizon.

The Minister's aim of preparing all students for level 2 NCEA according to Bali is 'nonsense'. As 80% of students already achieve Level 2 'one wonders why it is necessary for all students to be subjected to a massive accountability regime. Surely a more targeted approach would have been  more sensible?' Bali also recommend the doing away of NCEA Level One to encourage more integrated teaching in years 9 and10.

The introduction of National Standards to 'fix the system' can be seen as a means to reduce the influence of teachers and principals in schools. Imposing such a reform, so strongly opposed by practitioners, makes its success problematic at best and is , according to Bali ' unlikely to succeed because of the contradictions inherent in its development.'

The Ministry and its implementation of the reforms comes into severe criticism by Bali.  'The end result', he writes, 'is the gradual erosion of initiative, creative thinking and risk taking'. 

Education becoming risk adverse.

The Ministry  has failed in working with schools and teachers as partners in reform. This is ironic as Bali comments, prior to Tomorrow's Schools, teachers were involved in curriculum and professional development, worked collaboratively,  and were assisted by respected advisory teachers and school inspectors. Now support is provided through contested contracts open to all comers creating confusion and overload.

Teachers and Principals.

With reference to teachers Bali believes ,'there is an urgent need for some teachers to stop thinking as victims, which appears to be their current default position, and start thinking about creative solutions.'


Although he appreciates 'many secondary school principals are overwhelmed by their jobs many have  failed to ensure appropriate attention is paid to core functions of instructional leadership' and, worse still,  many 'principals behave badly in a competitive environment' and 'take the view that their primary purpose is to maximize the reputation of their school'. I might add this applies equally to primary schools.

Bali concludes his book  with some 'future pathways'.

The first for the government to face up to the impact of socio-economic effects o learning - this is a far bigger factor than whatever a teacher or school can achieve. The current mantra that it is the teachers that make the difference is misplaced. The socio- economic gap is the big issue of the future.

We have to find new tools to measure school effectiveness.

We have become transfixed with comparative data which all too often leads 'naming and shaming that hurts both educators and learning'. Encouraging the best teaching approaches, and identifying positive teacher 'mindsets', are focuses he suggests, as is the use of a sampling process to assess learning.  This approach,  used in Finland, appeals to Bali where the  government runs national sample assessments to keep track of the whole system.Teachers might remember the  Otago University NEMP sampling approach?

As far as providing teacher professional support  the focus needs to assisting 'changing the p

ractice of teachers in the classroom'. The  paying of super principals and teachers to work with other schools  The Investment in School Success scheme ( IES) does not get much approval from Bali. The money, he believes, would be better spent rewarding excellent teachers in schools.

Whatever policies  to be implemented need to be well planned, implemented, and supported. Teachers need to be well trained,  well paid and trusted as they are in Finland.

Bali controversially recommends that to  implement the NZC in years 9 and 10, and to reduce the 'wash-back effect of the NCEA', that intermediate schools be closed down and junior colleges  established for students from years 7 to 10.

Modern Learning Environments need an integrated philosophy

 Such schools need to be 'independent of the constraints of the NCEA or external qualifications. They would be built around an integrated approach to knowledge and competencies, based on learning areas/subjects that would reflect the philosophy of the current curriculum'.

New schools need new pedagogy

Bali believes it is too late to do away with Tomorrows's Schools,   nor is it necessary to return to the top down centralized system of old, instead believes in the establishment of a stronger supportive regional structure for the Ministry.

I have not made an attempt to present all of Bali's ideas. You will need to read his book for yourselves. One thing he says is clear,   'Governments must not be allowed to place all the fixing at the feet of long suffering teachers'.

'No reform', he concludes,' will be successful without a reasonable level  of teacher buy in. It is important  that teachers be encouraged and challenged to see the possibilities ... and to engage in

Schools to develop  talents  

constructive problem solving, even if this means a period of tension and disagreement.The key message to our teachers should be that they are hugely valued and critically important , and will be treated as such by government.'

Well worth the read.

Time for some out of the box thinking