Education Readings - John Hattie is wrong/ Innovative teachers/ UK elections/ mental models and real school leadership.

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!

Hattie’s research: Is wrong Part 3 – meta-meta analysis a monster

The latest instalment in Kelvin Smythe’s deconstruct of john Hattie’s ‘visible learning research’:

Ooops - a big error!

“While what follows points out fundamental statistical and mathematical errors in Hattie’s research, I want to emphasise that the central error in Hattie’s research is not in his mathematics and statistics but in his lack of control over the variables. All other errors, such as the mathematical ones that follow, are symptoms. In a bizarre sense, the errors were ‘necessary’ – necessary to cope with the massive lack of control of variables.”

http://bit.ly/1FB6NX3

Great teacher = great results? Wrong

“Does that mean that teachers don’t matter? Of course it doesn’t. We need teachers who help children to get the most from their time in school. It does, however, mean that the common

assumptions about what schools can achieve are based on a fallacy. Because learning is done by the child, and not by the teacher, and no education system can exceed the desire and capabilities of its children.”

http://bit.ly/1I0hZLB

After learning new words, brain sees them as pictures

Implications for the way children are taught to read:

"The visual word form area does not care how the word sounds, just how the letters of the word look together," he says. "The fact that this kind of learning only happens in one very small part of the brain is a nice example of selective plasticity in the brain.”

http://bit.ly/1HBACIj

Judgement Day: The Double Standard of Teacher Evaluation

‘The plangent perversity of this process is, perhaps, best summed up by Michael Fullan in a recent interview in which he remarked: “A huge apparatus is in place to identify the five to seven percent

of teachers who shouldn’t be teaching. One hundred percent of teachers are involved in a superficial system in order to catch five percent. If you reverse that and say you want to catch the 95 percent in the collaborative culture, then you can do appraisal on teachers who are struggling.’

http://bit.ly/1GU3KsG

8 Characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset

“Building upon Carol Dweck’s work, I have been looking at the traits of the “Innovator’s Mindset”, which would be summarized as follows:

Belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents are developed leading to the creation of new and better ideas.”

http://bit.ly/1I0mXHG

10 very real teacher ailments and diseases

Such as:Endoftermitis: This disease normally occurs at the end of term but sometimes afflicts teachers at half-term breaks too. Symptoms vary but usually include exhaustion, shattered nerves and a common cold. 

http://bit.ly/1ygRFw8

Britain should be wary of borrowing education ideas from abroad

Pasi Sahlberg:

“One thing is true. No country should aim to replicate the educational models of others. Finland is no exception. What governments need to get right is the big picture for the educational landscape of their nation. The road to a better education for all our children is not to return to the past but to build schools where curiosity, engagement and talent can be discovered and nurtured. That calls for integrating research-informed international lessons into local needs and capacities.”

http://bit.ly/1Kp3FgJ

Misconceptions about Mindset, Rigor, and Grit

This is not rigour, grit or perseverance

Beware of bandwagons…

“Among the educational ideas that have gained momentum in recent years are the concepts of Mindset, Rigor, and Grit. While all of these ideas may have merit, as with all shiny new objects that attract our attention we need to proceed with caution and think about whether and why these concepts fit into our personal pedagogy. Being willing to implement the hot new thing is admirable, but not if it is done feet first with our eyes closed.”

http://bit.ly/1KyeQE0

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

The Problem With Math Problems: We’re Solving Them Wrong

Bruce’s comment: Confused about maths then is worth a read. Getting ‘stuck’ on a maths problem is real maths – or the essence of problem solving or creativity. Not knowing  drives knowing

Now start learning!

and not giving up.

“There really ought to be problem solving and imaginative thinking all the way through while kids master the basics. If you’ve never been asked to struggle with open-ended, non-cookbook problems, your command of math will always be shaky and shallow.”

http://nyti.ms/1JdDVmi

Why on Earth Do We Need Teacher Training?

“Much of the teacher training I’ve encountered has been fundamentally top-down in approach; follow the example of the trainer (like the mentor educator), and you too can learn how to work in class.  I’d favor a flipped approach, in which educators tried to listen to their learners and reshaped their classroom strategies accordingly.” 

http://bit.ly/1Ftf3bB

Time to create a positive learning epidemic/virus - says Andy Hargreaves

“In education antiquated educational cultures and structures are increasingly being found wanting and becoming part of the problem. And any new change can no longer rely on central educational architects with some master ideology or plan to provide roadmap into the future.”

http://bit.ly/1I1Nqbu

Shifting Mental Models in Educators

Bruce’s comment: An excellent read – our mental models (often unconscious) determine how we treat students.

‘If we're intent on transforming classrooms and schools, if we are truly committed to seeing equitable outcomes for children, we'll need to take a long and hard look at our mental models. This is hard and scary work, because we need to poke around in the beliefs that we hold about education and children and their ability to learn’

http://bit.ly/1Q48rU4

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Creative Leadership: A Challenge of our Times

Time to break free!!

Bruce’s comment: Schools need creative leadership – are there any around? If schools are to break out the crushing conformity that has resulted since technocrats and politicians captured the education agenda creative leaders will have to emerge.Creative leadership is the challenge of our times. Can you think of any leaders you know of?

“This means principals being brave enough to take sensible risks so as to help teachers open up possibilities for thinking about things in different ways. This represents a new form of leadership, one that 'isn't top down: leading a team in such a way that it's not dictating and yet still scaffolding and supporting’.”

http://bit.ly/1EwOH6h

Bring back the Jesters!

Bruce’s comment: We need modern Jesters to tell us the truth. Time to bring back the role of

Let's abolish the Monarchy!

the jester – the only person in a medieval court to tell the truth.

“Modern boards of directors are a bit like mediaeval courts where no one questions the king or the senior courtiers because they have become far too important to challenge. And as long as they can’t possibly be wrong, they can continue doing the wrong things all the time and never know it.”

http://bit.ly/1PbtD8g

The dark side of Literacy and Numeracy

We don't need your education...

“It would seem heretical to suggest the current obsession with Literacy and Numeracy is limiting the learning of our students. Every classroom you visit is full of the current approaches as introduced by ‘contracted’ advisers following their written scripts; all passing on the John Hattie message of intentional teaching, feedback and the dogma of ‘evidence based teaching’. Not that it isn’t a good message but to restrict it to literacy and numeracy is to limit the potential power to develop students’ talents in equally, or more important, areas. Literacy and numeracy are 'foundation' skills. They do not 'drive' learning – learning is driven by students’ interests and talents and their deep desire to make sense of their lives.”

http://bit.ly/1OK40AF

The Emperor has no clothes/ 

Opening up #learning: Simpler does not mean better

This is a continuation from my last blog post on the affordances of learning technology. In the last post, Access to Knowledge, I wrote about how technology has made access to content - and thus to knowledge - easier and open to all. Of course, the caveat is that access to content that is open requires users to be able to discern good from bad content. There are further caveats when we use technology to learn. The post was based on the first of the four levels of affordances model proposed by Putnam, whose second level relates to automating, simplifying and transforming tasks. Although these three facets are in no way synonymous, Putnam nevertheless places them together. Let's deconstruct this trio of affordances.

Automation of tasks relieves the user of having to spend cognitive energy on (or thinking about) mundane tasks. Spreadsheets and calculators can perform a range of mathematical operations obviating the need to add, multiply, divide, subtract or work out mean averages. Is this a desirable affordance? If you are a graduate researcher working to tight deadlines and needing to complete complex calculations, it is probably essential. On the other hand, if you are a primary school student who needs to understand how to perform these mathematical operations, then the spell checker probably does more harm than good.

The same applies to simplifying tasks. Word processors afford spell checking, which can be a valuable tool for those who do a lot of writing. New iterations can be achieved instantly through continuous editing and polishing of text (known as provisionality), and the spell checker accompanies this, simplifying the normally tedious and time consuming function of proof reading. If however, you are a school student who has learnt to use the spell checker without fully considering what a sentence comprises, or that certain words can be bypassed by the spell checker and still be spelt wrongly (out of context) then it is probably a mistake to use one.

The ability to transform a task, to advance it beyond what would normally have been achievable without the technology, is excellent. Using an interactive whiteboard (IWB) to transform the learning experiences of your students is great pedagogy.  IWBs can display multimedia and multiple pages can be accessed instantly. It has a number of other features such as the capability to transform sizes and shapes of content through touch gestures, and it can of course record an entire teaching session, which can be saved as a file and sent as an e-mail attachment to students who may have been absent from that session. Better still, when students are allowed to use the IWB to develop their thinking, create new understanding, and interact with diverse content, transformation of learning can occur. Yet when the IWB is used in much the same way as a traditional white board, it is often a failure in pedagogy. At the very least, it is an abdication of the affordances of the IWB, which does a disservice to the students who then are deprived of an interactive experience to support their learning.

In the final analysis, we can echo Putnam's view that the consequences of automating, simplifying and transforming tasks through technology are not always desirable, and in some cases, are best avoided. However, when used appropriately and thoughtfully, teaching and learning can be transformed for the better, and our learning experiences improved beyond recognition.

Image by Agsandrew on Deviant Art


Opening up learning: Simpler does not mean better by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Time to create a positive learning epidemic/virus - says Andy Hargreaves

Good ideas spread like a benign virus

 
There are times when something beyond our comprehension emerges with the power to spread and change the world; whether we like it or not.

Central planners can plan away happily only to find all their best work undone by new ideas that simply emerge as part of stress on the environment or even in response stifling conditions imposed by the ‘central experts’ themselves.

This is happening at the present as we ‘morph’ into a post modern world of ideas and creativity leaving behind the

Are we to easliy led?

conformity of an industrial age. Few though seem to have noticed the ‘winds of change’ – too busy complying with the current top down directives!

In education the language is changing from ‘top down’ educational reform to total educational transformation affecting and arising from all levels. When this is eventfully realized it will result in dramatic changes of direction. For the innovative in any area it will a time of real excitement – for most a period of stress, confusion or the fighting of rear guard battles to preserve the past.

In education antiquated educational cultures and structures are increasingly being found wanting and becoming part of the problem.

Andy Hargreaves

And any new change can no longer rely on central educational architects with some master ideology or plan to provide roadmap into the future. The belief in top down change has reached its limit – even the much vaunted imposed UK literacy and numeracy projects, after initial success, have now plateaued and are trending down. 

The new ‘educational epidemic’ (Andy Hargreaves’ term) invites all practitioners and schools to engage in trying out new ideas and then sharing ones that work; a form of enlightened trial and error.

But to achieve these schools will need ‘permission to innovate’ – and this provides a clue for new a role for central bureaucrats. Schools will need to be helped to develop the ‘capacity’ to develop and share ideas and to be aware of others ‘best practices’

When this is realized it will result in the development of a transformed total learning system and as part of this a new relationship for schools with central government and with other schools – even within schools. No longer will centrally imposed ‘directives be of any use.

Schools will need to develop, and value, the ‘intellectual

Schools need to share their capital

capital’ within the school – teacher’s knowledge will be the new ‘invisible assets’. ‘Social capital’ will also be important – the amount of trust between staff members and between schools and with central government. Schools will need to develop new flexible collaborative structures open to ‘boosting’ their ‘intellectual capital’ from any source. For schools currently based on hierarchical power structures, competition, specialization of subjects and isolation of teachers, this will be a real challenge.

Every school and teacher will need to develop the ‘capacity’ to innovate and share; teachers will need to ‘work smarter not harder’ by sharing ‘best practices’.

Let's start sharing ideas

The key to all this depends on the transforming of central bureaucracy. They have an important role to set an example of trust and empowerment for all – and provide the resources necessary. There will be no role for bureaucrats with fixed positions – or for

anybody involved in education; the ‘new millennium will require new minds’.

The future requires everyone to continue learning – and to be a part of an organic learning community. Schools will be vital part of this transformation.

When realized it will be as if there had been a ‘learning epidemic’ – ideas will spread and mutate as if a benign virus.

Opening up #learning: Access to knowledge

Learning is opening up like never before. Open learning was originally used to describe the opening up on education to previously disenfranchised individuals - those who had not followed the traditional pathways to education. In the 70s and 80s, many people suddenly had a chance to pursue a degree when the open universities were established. The British Open University for example, was nicknamed 'the university of the second chance'. As a concept, openness began to gain purchase. Soon there were open colleges, and open learning centres, and then open software appeared - software that could be shared and developed by anyone. The last few years have seen the rise of Massive Open Online Courses, used by millions of students around the world to participate in learning that was previously closed to them. It's something of a revolution for education.

Generally we have technology to thank for this sea-change in education. Based on the work of psychologist J.J. Gibson on perception, Ralph Putnam has identified four categories of technology affordances. All are specifically related to learning:

• providing access to information
• automating, simplifying, and transforming tasks
• representing knowledge and thinking
• communicating and collaborating with peers and experts 

In my next few posts I plan to elaborate on these four (and possibly other) affordances that will impact on learning and education in the foreseeable future.

Here's the first: Access to knowledge. Putnam's view of the Internet is similar to many other educators - it has provided unprecedented access to the world's knowledge. The advent of the Web, and subsequently the rise in use of social media and media sharing services has amplified this capability. The copious flow of user generated content offers great benefits but also presents huge challenges. The benefits are that we can all learn from each other, and can freely share our ideas, developing worldwide communities of practice that thrive on this access to knowledge. The ethos of sharing extends across open content, open source software, open courses and open scholarship. Resources such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons have advanced learning to new levels.

At the same time, users must be aware of content that is inaccurate, ill-informed or otherwise less useful than verified peer reviewed content. Some content is simply misleading, whilst other content can be extremely dangerous. Sat somewhere in the middle of this spectrum is a great deal of personal opinion. Students who use the Web for any serious learning purpose need to develop digital wisdom - the ability to discern between good and bad content. This is a new form of literacy. One of the important challenges for educators in the coming years is to help learners to develop digital literacy. Those who know the difference between good and bad content will be in a far better position to exploit the potential of the Web to its full.

Reference
Putnam, R. (2006) What are the affordances of technology?

Photo by Jacques Cousteau on Wikimedia Commons


Opening up learning by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Podcast: Checkpoint and Twitter

In this episode, we talk about the second checkpoint assignment, our new district Twitter chat and the preparations for the upcoming student TED Talks. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and follow us on Twitter @dayankee (Don) and @melissahellwig (Melissa).

Education Readings- Educational Reform?/ Alfie Kohn/ John Hattie!/ the good teacher / Carol Dweck and Elizebeth Moss Kanter.

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!

Wobbly no more: Work on analogical processing helps children learn key engineering principle

Vygotsky in action?

“Children love to build things. Often half the fun for them is building something and then knocking it down. But in a new study children had just as much fun learning how to keep their masterpieces upright -- they learned a key elementary engineering principle.”

http://bit.ly/1C53b8Q

Education reform: Jekyll or Hyde?

This article, by Warwick Mansell, a freelance journalist and author of Education by Numbers: the tyranny of testing (Methuen, 2007), is about United Kingdom education policies in the run up to their forthcoming general election. As is usually the case, this article has relevance all over.

“The question is whether it is possible to talk meaningfully about supporting teachers to do their jobs well while at the same time espousing ‘zero tolerance of failure’ when the schools in which they work underperform. I think this is a very difficult circle to square, in the reality of how schools operate: the hunch must be that if you use ‘zero tolerance’, so making schools extremely fearful as to their next bad set of results, you probably will make them unattractive workplaces for many teachers or would-be teachers.”

http://bit.ly/1IkZa5t

How Visual Thinking Improves Writing

“Younger kids typically love to draw and aren’t too worried about the outcomes of their artwork — until they get older. By the time they’ve learned to read and write, art takes a back burner to academics, primarily because of what most schools prioritize. Over time it becomes harder for kids to think in pictures the way they once did. But what if students were encouraged to think in pictures alongside words?”

http://bit.ly/1DwbcJy

The 4 biggest mistakes that teachers make when integrating technology

“Being a passionate educator, leader, and coach, I hope for a classroom where everyone (including

the educators) are willing to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them; where technology is used as a tool to enhance learning and pedagogy..

Pedagogy before technology! Get integrating, be willing to take risks and immerse your students in the wonderful learning opportunities that technology provides.”

http://bit.ly/1C6qRNB

To Advance Education, We Must First Reimagine Society

“The formal school system needs to be “turned upside down and inside out.” It should be based on the biological system of weaning — i.e., gradually reducing children’s dependence on teachers. Teacher-student ratios should be high in the early years, then decrease dramatically in adolescence, when “the whole community has to become a place of learning,” with mentorships, apprenticeships and other hands-on learning experiences complementing highly self-directed classroom learning.”

http://bit.ly/1NJLlPF

Ten obvious truths about educating kids that keep getting ignored

This list, by Alfie Kohn, has been around for some time, but its well worth revisiting.

“If we all agree that a given principle is true, then why in the world do our schools still function as if it weren’t?

Here are 10 examples.”

http://wapo.st/1MQRnCV

Story Hui: Bringing Data To Life Visually

(Thanks to Liz Stevenson)

This downloadable booklet from Story Hui is targeted at a New Zealand audience, but there’s a wealth of useful suggestions for teachers all over. Note -  ‘hui’ is a Maori word for a gathering, a meeting. Another Maori word used in the booklet is ‘whanau’ which is an extended family group. Also, 'koha' means 'precious gift’.

From Liz’s email:

“It is a tool for evaluating learning and is not standards based. It’s about using story, drawing & questioning to show clear evidence of engagement, wellbeing and interpersonal capabilities. The feedback from teachers who have trialled it has been overwhelmingly positive and in many cases it seems to have removed a lot of stress. People feel that at last they can really show the whole child’s learning - and if a literacy judgement is not great - then that is only a small part of the bigger story.”

http://bit.ly/1CPuS5Y

Hattie’s research is wrong: Part 1 and Part 2

Distinguished New Zealand educator Kelvin Smythe has major concerns about John Hattie’s ‘research’ and as a result is writing a series of articles outlining his concerns. Here are the first two parts:

What! Me wrong?

“So influential has Hattie’s research become and Hattie along with it, that to critically examine it, whatever the outcome, if integrity and validity of policy information is valued, should be welcomed by all in school education, in academia, in government bureaucracies, by governments, and by Hattie himself. If readers take a stand (as I have) that the egregious errors are just that, the only path remaining is that Hattie has been astonishingly careless and ignorant in the maths, statistics, research design, understanding of curriculum, and presentation. “

Part 1: http://bit.ly/1yDXG6y

Part 2: http://bit.ly/1yDY7Oi

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

Have we lost sight of the purpose of education - to create the conditions to ensure all students develop their creativity or is it about testing and accountability?

“If only New Zealand schools would take the current Zealand Curriculum (2007) seriously. Imagine if every student left our school system as a 'confident life long learner' ,  all with a  positive  'learning identity',  and all  able to 'seek, use and create their own knowledge'.

I live in hope.”

http://bit.ly/1FcWSGK

National Stigma – two teachers speak out

This is a letter from two teachers, posted on the Save Our Schools New Zealand website, that expresses their angst at the impact of New Zealand’s National Standards on children in their classes. National Standards are not too far removed from the Common Core Standards in USA  (of course that’s a coincidence) but instead of a testing regime teachers are required to use their

judgement to rate children’s achievement against relevant standards.

“We are two teachers who have been teaching for about 21 years each but we have never had to deal with anything as heart-breaking as reporting to parents about their child’s achievement in relation to national standards. We feel we have been ‘bullied’ into implementing these standards, have not been consulted during any part of the process and labelled as uncaring and unprofessional when sharing our concerns. Here is the reality of National Standards for us.”

http://bit.ly/1yDXG6y

Build an Innovation Culture – With the Right Leaders

Bruce’s comment: A short but powerful suggestion about the need for leaders to develop a creative culture. As they say – ‘culture counts’.

“But building a culture of innovation is not easy. Any change initiative is challenging building a culture of innovation is one in which many organizations fail. At the center of it all is the leader.”

http://bit.ly/1DhRTPD

Evolution of the “good” teacher

Bruce’s comment:

A great read for the thinking teacher! What is good teaching? Does any body really know? The below link struggles with some possible answers. What is clear is that no approach fits all students.Teaching is in the middle of a change, an evolution, a revolution — the intensity of the description depends on whom you ask. One could argue that this change is natural and part of an ebb and flow cycle, but this change feels faster, and possibly more frenetic — likely due to technology’s role in the change. Is good teaching now for the 21st-century markedly different than it was previously?

http://bit.ly/1IRY7tF

Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff

Bruce’s comment: I still run across teachers who have not heard about Prof Carol Dweck and her notions of fixed or growth mind-sets – here is a link from Australia  for those who want to catch up or just refresh themselves.

“However, in my work, I have found that the notion of developing a growth mindset is as equally applicable to staff and teacher performance as it is to students. This article begins with a brief discussion about the difference between the two mindsets, what that means for education, and concludes with some ideas for how school leaders might seek to develop a growth mindset amongst their staff.”

http://bit.ly/1JdDzvS

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Teachers' key role in fostering creativity.

Bruce’s comment: So what is the teacher’s role in a creative classroom?

“Essential characteristics of creative teachers, according to one US researcher, are a commitment to: deepen the understandings of the world of each learner; believe in the creative ability of all students; encourage empathy in students; value creative expression in learners; teach in ways that facilitate it; adapt the curriculum to meet students individual needs.”

http://bit.ly/1EUJFm2

Slowing the pace of work

Slow learning needed for fast times!

Bruce’s comment: In this fast paced world maybe it’s time to slow down, enjoy the experience, and and do fewer things well?

“Slow learning they believe is essential for our lives and learning by giving depth to our experiences and providing insight for creativity and ingenuity. All too often, in contrast, students are rushed through learning to cover curriculum material. First finished is best seems to be the order of the day! As a result ‘slow learning’ is neglected in schools.”

http://bit.ly/1GWw6E2

We need leaders not accountants.

“It was interesting to read an article by Elizabeth Moss Kanter saying, ‘number, numbers, numbers - is that what preoccupies the school system today – tests and school performance statistics’? It is not that she doesn’t believe in measures but if school systems focus too much on complying with such demands they are in danger of being taken over by accountants not leaders.”

http://bit.ly/1bmMwrX

#EDENchat How effective is mobile learning?

Mobile communication has become increasingly popular for a number of reasons. The cost of smart phones is falling, and we enjoy increased functionality. The advent of social media has further advanced this evolution at a pace. Hence, mobile learning is now becoming a key part of educational strategy. And yet it is still largely an unknown strategy for many educators.

In the #EDENchat on 22nd April we focused on issues surrounding mobile learning. In #EDENchats we critically evaluate what we know so far and share our experiences globally and this chat was no exception. There were several key conversations, around usability, around technological or social trends, around the nature of ubiquity, and of course there was some useful discussion around the perennial question about pedagogy and the impact of technology on learning.

The archive of the discussion on Storify can be found at this link. The transcripts of previous #EDENchats can also be found on the main EDEN site as Storified archives.

Photo by Johan Larsson on Wikimedia Commons


#EDENchat How effective is mobile learning? by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Have we lost sight of the purpose of education - to create the conditions to ensure all students develop their creativity or is it about testing and accountablity?

I have been doing my best to clear my shelves of books and articles I have collected over the decades as I try to focus on other things. The trouble is every time I start I get trapped into wondering why I have kept them  and after reading put them back on the shelf for another day.

It has got me thinking about how things have changed ( or stayed the same) since the heady days of the 1960s when I began my career.

In my early days ( and for most of my life ) I was an educational adviser - first in nature study, then science, then art and, in later years ( after a time as a  teacher and school principal ), in leadership and management. Now I restrict myself to contributing to this blog - which recently received its millionth visitor.

Sadly today education seems more about accountability than creativity. Not that creativity was ever widespread. In earlier days it was conservative tradition that presented the challenge to creative teachers.

 As a member of a team of ten or so advisers  in a small New Zealand region it  was easy to gain, from the various advisers, where the innovative teachers were and, in turn,to support them.  Today in our fragmented 'stand alone' schools, it is not so easy. Interestingly in earlier days creative teachers were easily identified but few creative principals. The same situation can be said about today as principals  are forced to comply to accountability demands.

Sir Ken - go to this link

'Creativity', writes Robert Sternberg  a well respected American educationalist and expert in creativity,' is a habit'. 

The problem is', he says, 'that schools sometimes treat it as a bad habit.' He is particularly concerned with the world of standardised tests that are now a feature of schools. And that such tests do not encourage the development of creativity.

My own experience  in New Zealand schools echoes Sternberg's views. Developing creativity is, and always has been,  difficult but it is a creative mindset , Sternberg believes,that we most need to develop in our students (and in our teachers.)

'Creativity'  Sternberg writes, ' is a habit, a routine response . 'People are creative  ...because of an attitude towards their work and even towards life. They habitually respond to problems n fresh and novel ways, rather than allowing themselves to respond in conventional and sometimes automatic ways.'

He continues,' Like any habit creativity can be encouraged or discouraged'.

 The main things that promotes the habit are:

(a) opportunities to engage in it, and
(b) encouragement when people avail of these opportunities, and
(c)  reward when people respond to such encouragement and think and behave creatively.

'You need all three.....in this respect, creativity is no different from any other habit, good or bad.'

Developing a positive habit it not as simple as it sounds as it all too often confronts the status quo.

'Creative people routinely approach problems in a novel ways. ......( they) look for ways to see problems that other people don't look for; take risks that other people are afraid to take; have the courage to defy the crowd and to stand up for their own beliefs; believe in their own ability to be creative; seek to overcome obstacles and challenges to their views rather people give in to; and are willing to work hard to achieve creative solutions'.

Sounds like a principals nightmare!

 Most school procedures suppress creativity. One of the most destructive aspect,  Sternberg writes,  is 'the emphasis on standardised testing'. And I would add the current narrow focus on achieving achievement targets. and imposed  conformist  'best practices'.

Valuing creativity requires valuing diversity or personalised responses. All a bit hard to measure and compare.It is all too easy for schools to say they believe in creativity but to stop short of actually encouraging it.

Accountability is discouraging creativity ..... except perhaps in the ways schools 'rort' the system to show how they have improved narrow achievement.

Creativity is important because the world is changing faster than ever. Sternberg writes, 'people need to constantly cope with new and unusual kinds of tasks and situations'. 'Learning in this era must be lifelong...We need to think creatively to thrive, and, at times, even to survive.'

Schools may talk about lifelong learning but, in reality, creative thinking is discouraged for both students and teachers.

Imagine a school based on fostering creativity - keeping alive the innate desire to learn that is the default way the very young learn before they enter formal schooling!

  Sternberg believes, we need to promote the kind of accountability in which students must show they have mastered subject matter, but also can think analytically, creatively, and practically with it.'

Sternberg's advice is backed up by another reading I discovered in my sorting out.

Howard Gardner, in his article I found,  defines the minds we truly need in the future if we are to go 'beyond the herd mentality'.

 Gardner is equally concerned with the subversion of the purpose of education by  the need to compare schools and countries on quantitative educational comparisons..

This need to get to the top of international comparisons is , in his opinion ( and mine)  'a fool's errand' because in the process it 'ignores deeper and more important purpose of education.'

Gardner writes , 'the peril of making tests all important and of teaching to the tests have been well documented'. And he, like Sternberg, mentions the problem of schools 'cheating' to protect their reputations.

Gardner's biggest concern is the need to, 'avoid the herd mentality. Instead we should be 'considering the kinds of minds that we want to cultivate in our system' 

Those minds include;

A disciplined mind, that can think well and appropriately in the major disciplines

A synthesising mind, that can sift through a large amount of information, decide what is important , and put it together in ways that make sense for oneself and for others.

A creative mind, that can raise new questions, come up with novel solutions, think outside the box.

A respectful mind, that honours the differences among individuals and groups, and tries to understand them and work productively with them.

An ethical mind, that thinks, beyond selfish interests, about the kind of worker one aspires to be, and the kind of citizen that one should be.

In New Zealand we ought to be having discussions about the kinds of people we would like to have in the future.

At present , trapped in a herd mentality created by the current audit and surveillance culture, we are, Gardner writes, 'like lemmings - marching confidently, but proudly and disastrously, into a sea of ignorance'.

If only New Zealand schools would take the current Zealand Curriculum  (2007)seriously.

Imagine if every student left our school system as a 'confident life long learner' ,  all with a  positive  'learning identity',  and all  able to 'seek, use and create their own knowledge'.

I live in hope.