Education - a new year - a time to reflect

Mount Taranaki reflected in mountain lake

It is a long time since I posted a blog.

The last was to share a new book written about pioneer educationalist Elwyn Richardson.. Elwyn developed his creative teaching philosophy in the 1950s a time not noted for innovative ideas but changes were in the air following World War Two.

Elwyn's book is worth a read as it represents the importance of valuing the views of classroom teachers - more relevant than ever in today's increasingly standardised teaching environment.

Educationalist John Dewey once commented that it is all too easy to forget to take advantage of  retiring experienced teachers . Sharing creative classroom teachers' ideas , past and present, is what this blog is all about - and it is, as mentioned, more important than ever as top down solutions are imposed on schools.

So ,before I lose the habit of blogging, I thought I would contribute a few personal  reflections I have had over the holidays.

I have   been reflecting on the need to continue with the blog as my own teaching experiences fade into the distance.  At heart I believe it is important for everyone to have something worthwhile to contribute and, as one gets older , more important than ever to still feel relevant. Learning is a lifelong

 adventure and I am always impressed with my older friends who continue to learn and be involved in worthwhile things. In particular I admire the small group of retired educationalists who continue to fight for a creative education system - one that values the voice and experience of teachers and students  rather than distant 'experts' or, worse still, populist politicians.

So blogging is my way to express my own thoughts and hopefully be of some use to those who read the blog.  I believe it is important to provide an outsiders point of view because it is all too easy for busy teachers to come to accept as 'normal' current expectations.

 I like the idea of being a 'critical friend' whose role is to ask questions; to ask does it have to be this way; and , what would happen if we tried new ways of doing things? Sometimes it seems that many teachers, overwhelmed with imposed requirements, find it a lot easier not to face up to alternatives to current practice or to  simply take on board imposed directions without question. It is always easier to 'go along to get along'! Unfortunately  this results in many teachers  becoming oblivious to alternatives. I have always liked the phrase that 'fish are the last to discover water'. It seems it is all too easy to become blind to the obvious.

Avoid 'silo' thinking

Teachers at all levels are trapped in 'silo thinking'  more so at the secondary level with fragmented subject thinking but primary teachers an't see past the unquestioned use of ability grouping.

At the end of last term the current local principals always invite retired principals to join them for breakfast. At this breakfast a newly appointed secondary principal talked to us. His appointment ( coming from the business world) had been a bit controversial and he was keen share with us his views and to emphasize that most of his 'business'  experience had been with non profit organisations. He made the point that schools like his have to ensure that they have the responsibility to ensure all students leave positive about  and equipped for their  future lives. Schools he said should  not just to focus and celebrate those who go on to university. He also thought that students working with multi disciplinary teams of teachers worth trying.

Out of the box thinking

Mind you I am well aware that catering for all students rather than just the 'academic' is the current directive from the Ministry


I left the breakfast feeling his appointment was a positive move. Maybe too many current principals have been captured by the status quo and appointments outside of teaching may provide fresh thinking?

At this breakfast meeting it was  enlightening to be told by the chairperson   that some of the innovative ideas being currently considered had been implemented by some of us older  members years ago and were only now being revisited! Consider, for example, the 'new' idea of Modern Learning Environment (MLEs) which simply are a return to the the open plan schools of the 70/80s. They will only be successful if underpinned by a strong student centred educational philosophy, positive relationships between all involved and well informed and skilled teachers..

While holidaying in Melbourne during December I met a young Australian  secondary school teachers who told me that she had resigned from her position working for the Victorian Education Department.  Her role had been to help teachers implement the Australian testing system ( NAPLAN) but  as she felt uncomfortable assisting teachers implemente a system she didn't believe in she had to resign.  She felt that her job was to make teachers conform. I would've like to have learnt more.

Testing isn't learning

I attended  ( as a guest) a Ministry social function in December and  briefly was critical of current education, particularly secondary education. In my opinion, I said too many students still leave alienated from learning.  This was refuted by those whose job is to assist schools develop pathways to employment. Thought it best to focus on small talk! Maybe this was an example of rhetoric not matching reality? Something I would like to learn more about - maybe things are changing?

I was  also interested to read about a local entrepreneur who had just opened a new hotel in town. In an article about the opening  the developer said that he had found school irrelevant but that he had still done well. My thought was that he obviously had the skills and attitude to get on with

Schools don't suit all brains

life's challenges. Maybe this is a clue for those who want to transform our current education system?

I recently had an interesting conversation with a young teacher on holiday from a position in an international school. International schools follow an American curriculum which does not allow the intellectual freedom she was used to when teaching in NZ.I have had considerable experience presenting at international school conferences and appreciated her situation. It would be shame if we were to go any further down the standardised  test orientated American approach.

Passion, effort and skill

My most recent thought comes from watching artists at the local stone carving symposium held on our cities  coastal walkway. I really admire the passion the artists show and the range of skills required to complete such a difficult task. It will take the artists several days of hard dusty work to complete one piece.

When people do what they love they are prepared to put in the hard work required. I also reflected that with practice artists over the years get better at what they do. Reminds me of educationalist Jerome Bruner saying, many years ago,  that 'people get good at what they get good at'.

I had the thought that if schools spent more time identifying and amplifying the innate talents of their students and then set up opportunities for every student to work towards achieving their potential then all students would leave ready for whatever the future holds for them. Such a personalisation of learning would change the roles both both teachers and students.


This personalised creative approach to learning  was the philosophy that Elwyn Richardson implemented in his small rural school in the 1950s and what has driven all my work since I became aware of such teachers as Elwyn all those years ago. Elwyn saw his students as 'a community of artists and scientists exploring their environment'.

Once you think about the requirements for a 21stC education the answers seem obvious.

This means we need to transform schools

 .


.

Sir Ken Robinson and Jerome Bruner.Personalised Learning-tapping the personal world of the learner.

A must read!

I was re- reading Sir Ken Robinson’s latest book (which mustbe a must read for creative teacherslooking for inspiration in this age of educational conformity) and was captured by his thoughts about the two worlds students live in. 

One world- the personal one – all but ignored in classrooms. The other the world they live in.

It is this personal world that was/is the world that creative teachers help students value and explore. This the world that pioneerteachers like Elwyn Richardson described in his recently reprinted book ‘in theEarly World’ and the world that Sylvia Ashton Warner used to write her Maori students reading books.

Elwyn - NZ pioneer teacher

And it is the world that would provide a fertile world or teachers to explore with students who are seen as failing today – students whose lives are not capitalised on in the way that Elwyn and Sylvia did.

It was Dr Beeby, the Director of Education, from 1939 who first encouraged New Zealand teachers to recognise their students as individuals.

Great curriculum

 Personalised learning moves well beyondindividualising learning. I have given up looking for such personalised learning in our current schools even though the New Zealand Curriculum  ask s of teachers to ensure their studentsare ‘seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge’ 

Personalised learning takes into account the thoughts, and feelings  of the students- individualised learning simply takes individuals through preconceived learning . Students learning through the internet is individualsed.

'Two worlds'

Sir Ken writes as human beings ‘we all live in two worlds. There is the world that exists whether or not you exist.’ And ‘there is another world that exists only because you exist; the personal world of your own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, the world within us. We only know the world around us through the world within us, through the senses by which we perceive it, by which we make sense of it’.

All students’, he writes, ‘are unique individuals with their own hopes, talents, anxieties, and aspirations. Engaging them as individuals is the heart of raising achievement’. ‘How we think

about the world around us can be deeply affected by the feelings within us, and how we feel may be critically shaped by our knowledge, perceptions and personal experiences.’

The trouble is the conventional curriculum pays little attention to this inner wold and we see the result disengagement t in this in our classrooms. , Sir Ken writes, ‘making education personalised has implications for the curriculum, for teaching, and for assessment’.

‘He  continues, ‘ human achievement in every field is driven by the desire to explore, to test and prod, to see what happens, to question how things work, and to wonder what if’. ‘Developing young people’s creative and scientific abilities is central to a worthwhile

education.  Elsewhere Sir Ken has written that ‘creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy but this emphasis is not to be seen in our schools where ‘literacy and numeracy, as a result of National Standards, have all but gobbled up the entire curriculum’.

While clearing out my bookshelves I came across a book by Jerome Bruner (Towards a Theory of Instruction) which also focused on

What are the school's teaching beliefs?

the valuing of students feelings, questions and theories they hold and how to challenge and clarify them. His thesis in his book that schools do not have a coherent theory of instruction to underpin their teaching/learning and while published in 1966 I believe this to still be the case; when I check school websites  such beliefs are noticeably absent. 

Bruner writes that growth occurs when students can move away from ‘just in time responses’ to making reflective decisions based on prior experiences. Students move from actions to a means of recognizing patterns and expressing them symbolically to finally understanding them abstractly.  If teachers rush students through this process students fail to learn. They end up with what some call fragile learning – learning they are not confident to use. Much maths teaching falls into this category. With appropriate dialogue (personalised help) young students can ‘discover things of great depth and wisdom’

What's on their minds?

I wonder how many classrooms reflect this depth and wisdom. How much evidence the use of ‘notebooks, the sketch, the outline’ showing tentative thinking and reflective work? I wonder if teachers can show how students’ prior ideas have been recognised and changed through teaching. 

Bruner believes that such an open exploratory approach to education needs to be part of the class culture. Culture counts. Classrooms should be communities of inquiry. This is in conflict with current models of teacher determined intentional teaching. Mental growth according to Bruner is not a process of reaching defined standards but more a matter of ‘spurts and rests’. It is a series of self-rewarding sequences related to the needs and gifts of the student with the reward of deeper understandings. Learning starts with uncertainty leading to curiosity and a resolution of the problem and there is no unique sequence for all learners.

 ‘Knowing’ Bruner writes, ‘is a process not a product’ Bruner writes, If we do nothing else, we should somehow give to children a respect for their own powers of thinking, for their power to generate good questions, to come up with informed guesses’ and later ‘to leave the student with a sense of the unfinished business of learning’ It is all about protecting /amplifying the will to learn.

Competence develops when students put the energy into things they see the point of. ‘We get interested in what we get good at’. The problem is that the intrinsic will to learn can be a problem when students are expected to follow content they have no interest in acquiring and such situations ‘school often fails to enlist the natural energies that sustain spontaneous learning –curiosity, a desire for competence’

The teacher’s role is vital in personalised/creative .inquiry based classroom. Bruner has written, ‘teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation’ and, I would add, an appreciation of the diversity of thought and creativity of every student an also the appreciation also of the role of emotion in learning.  Students need to develop a positive feeling for any learning.

Bruner’s book is ‘about how to stimulate thought in school, how to

Kid's views recorded

personalise learning, and how to evaluate what one is doing’. 

‘Children , like adults, need reassurance that it is alright to entertain and express highly subjective ideas, to treat a task as a problem where you invent an answer rather than finding one out there I the book’, and today I would add the internet. He adds ‘children in school expend extraordinary time and effort figuring out what the teacher wants’.

Bruner write teachers need to ‘establish in the child’s mind his right not only to base his own private ideas but to express them in the public setting of the classroom’. And of course this applies to personal language and artistic expression.

Let's value 'their' ideas

It is time for teachers  to work out what personalised learning really means and  to appreciate the great value it offers to provide real learning for their students – learning that values their feelings, attitudes, talent  and gifts,  the questions and prior ideas of their students and how  their ideas change through  creative teaching.

Sir Ken Robinson’s book could well be the basis of a Bruner’s ‘theory of instruction’ for any school who feel the need to break out

Great book

of current formulaic imposed ‘best practice’ teaching.

Practical ideas (and methods to enrich any schools ‘theoryof instruction) ae to be found in ‘teaching Best Practices – Methods that Matter'.

New Zealand teachers might be able to access information onthe Learning in Science Project which provides ideas for teachers to recognisestudents prior ideas in science education.

The Pedagogy section of the New Zealand Curriculum is wellworth a re-read as it provides an ideal ‘theory of instruction’.

And there are plenty of excellent book to provide further inspiration.

Teaching Best Practices - a book in line with creative teaching in contrast to most current 'best practice'.

I have been clearing out notes I have kept over the decades. It is a difficult thing to do and I couldn’t resist keeping articles that had been important to me – and, of course, material I had written!

My next task is to sort through all the books I have acquired. I plan to keep a small number of books that have been seminal  to the development of my own educational beliefs. In an earlier blog I listed a number of important books.

Still one of the best!

One book , I have decided, is the most valuable for anyone wanting to develop  creative/progressive or/holistic approaches to learning in contrast to the current formulaic approaches based increasingly on standardised testing in literacy and numeracy.

I have chosen ‘Teaching the Best Practice Way’ by  Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar because not only does it provide  a theoretical background to such teaching but also provides classroom based practical examples for teachers to read and gain insight to improve their own teaching.

Marilyn and Harvey

I have the 2004 second edition (the original was published in 1998) which strategic reading is now placed as the first strategy – reading that goes far beyond the current isolated (usually ability grouped) reading approaches. ‘Reframing’ reading (and numeracy) in the service of inquiry learning is a vital idea if developing your class as a community of learners is to be made central.

This is, as mentioned, a very practical book based around the world of ‘real’ experts – classrooms teachers who develop their programmes around their students experience and expression. For schools who want to develop personalised authentic teaching this is a book that will help them to develop quality learning that will be hard to criticize.

The authors write that ‘best practices’ is a phrase that is almost used as a slogan – something teachers are supposed to embrace – practices that have the official seal of approval. This book sees ‘best practices’ as something arising from research in child development and such educators as John

More relevant than ever!

DeweyTo the authors ‘best practice’ means less: whole class teaching;  less trying to cover large amounts of material; less tracking or ability grouping; and less reliance on standardised testing; and more: experiential hands on learning; fewer topics; responsibility  and choice for students;  more modelling democracy and heterogeneously grouped classrooms. The authors favour students learning like scientists, mathematicians, artists and historians etc.

For progressive/creative teachers little is new but in this age of accountability none the less welcome. The book’s ideas relate to pioneer teachers (in New Zealand Elwyn Richardson and Sylvia Ashton Warner) and such educators as Piaget, Dewey, James Beane, and Howard Gardner. In other words the‘best practice’ teachers in this book are heirs to what is commonly called the‘student centred or progressive paradigm of teaching

Elwyn Richardson

The authors research show that thematic integrated units are the hallmark of the highest achieving schools but even such schools are now under attack by the ‘standards movement’ under the banner of accountability imposed by political imperatives. To stand up to such pressures to conform/comply takes considerable courage and for teachers who want inspiration (and practical methods) this is the book for you.

The authors have confidence that schools following an integrated learning approach still do well on high stake standardised testing. As a result of good teaching students become powerful learners, proficient readers , writers and thinkers accustomed to taking responsibility for their own learning., experienced at solving problems..

The book aligns well with the vision, values andcompetencies of the New Zealand Curriculum which asks that students are able to‘seek, use and create their own knowledge’. It

s\ Sidelined?

is unfortunate that the current emphasis on achieving targets in National Standards and NCEA  have all but side-lined an excellent curriculum. The book also aligns well with the current move towards ‘Modern Learning Environments (MLE).

The book is premised on the idea that accomplished teachers possess a small repertoire of powerful structures to make learning happen. These ‘methods that matter’ are recurrent, complex integrated and generative. The book identifies seven building blocks of good teaching.

The seven structures or patterns are applicable to all age levels; they are broad generic strategies or, simply good teaching methods. Although they are process orientated they are adaptable to all learning disciplines and require considerable teacher skill to implement.

All methods include have common features – they all include: student choice or ownership of learning; responsibility which is the other side of the coin to choice; the need to express meaningful ideas in a range of media; a community rather than an individual bias; diversity and an appreciation of student differences;  and the use of modern technology to leverage and support learning.

The Seven Best Practices.

Each practice begins with the theory behind the method followed by practical examples of the method (and learning strategies) in use by teachers across a range of ages and further references.

1 Reading as Thinking.

Reading instruction is a hot topic but the book sees reading not just as a set of sub skills   but rather as a specialised form of thinking. Since reading is thinking ‘we must provide our young readers with rich texts worth thinking about, strategies to help them and others with whom to think.’ Reading isabout constructing meaning – it is about reading to learn not just learning to read. Integrating reading with the current inquiry study is obvious but all too often this is not seen in schools. Literacy time is a time to ‘frontload’ content and strategies for later inquiry learning.

2 Representing to learn.

This relates to the need for students represent experience so as to engage and enjoy life more deeply. This builds on ideas about writing to learn (not just to copy or cut and paste) Writing as a tool of thinking to‘seek, use and create’ as it says in the New Zealand Curriculum. Representing includes drawing, mapping, drama, movement, the arts and the use of modern information technology.

Learning through writing is a feature of this chapter and a number of strategies are explained and modelled through teacher examples but all other learning areas are covered – relating to the ideas of Howard Gardner.

There are a lot of excellent straggles that could be ‘frontloaded’ in the literacy programme to later contribute to the class inquiry study.

3 Small Group Activities.

Students need to be able to practice democracy and to work in small collaborative groups. It seems that the world is catching on John Dewey ideas (or in more recent times James Beane) Several models of collaboration are included. Group structures must have enough inherent structure to operate autonomously for students to remain engaged on tasks.  Students need well-structured collaborative experiences to learn deeply, to really understand, to share knowledge (or their prior ideas) and to ask important questions. All this requires rich experiences to challenge students.

 Fixed ability grouping (or worse still tracking) is not part of such group work but this does not mean assisting small groups with common needs so they can return to their learning with skills in place.

Specific learning centres are one approach with students rotating. During such rotational time  the teacher is typically supervising, roaming, solving problems,  undertaking student conferences, acting as a resource and doing observational assessing of student’s achievement. This, as the book says, requires considerable ‘teacher artistry’.

4 The Classroom as a Workshop.

Classrooms are seen as working laboratories or studios where genuine knowledge is created, real products are made, and authentic inquiry is pursued. The workshop model is simple and powerful – based on children learning by doing... All too often schools fail to provide enough time  for 'doing' maths, science, reading, writing, art, music and history- all too often time is taken up  by an over emphasis on isolated  literacy and numeracy programmes. The book provides outlines for workshop sessions in a range of subjects (reading, writing, mathematics, science) for readers to make use of. The key to good workshops is the provision of student choice. Workshop activities contribute to a  work to contribute to the current topic.

During such workshop sessions teachers involve themselves in a range of student conferences to ensure students comprehend the learning objectives involved.

5 Authentic Experiences.

A range of educationalists have long argued for school to be more lifelike, more genuine, and more authentic. Authentic experiences can range from the simple - like writing a letter to a favourite author, or an unexpected weather event, to the complex such as an ecological study of a local river.

 Authentic studies provide the means to develop an appreciation of the inquiryprocess that is integral to all learning – the process of learning how to learn..

Authentic studies can focus on one learning area or integrate a number of learning areas. In New Zealand the strands of each Learning Area give teachers of the range of areas they could introduce to their students. The immediate environment also provides inspiration for a range of authentic studies.

The key to real learning is tapping (and extending) student’s curiosity, involving students in planning activities, and valuing  their questions and prior theories all of which developing in students a sense of ownership. The wider the range of experiences  the greater the possibility of developing the unique talents of the students.

6 Reflective Assessment.

The authors are critical of the move towards standardised measuring of achievement as they distort or narrow learning and, too often, drag teachers down to 'gaming' or 'rorting' the system, by test coaching. New Zealand teachers will be well aware of such pressure to perform.

Current 'best practices'.

An interesting diversion is a history (and misuse) of standardised testing. To this day schools still screen, track, rewards, and segregate students using tests rooted in bad science and the use of metadata. The trouble is that, in America,  standardised testing is now the main ingredient of ‘reform’ programmes. The areas tested then become the' default' curriculum... This test obsession is a political not an educational issue. Unfortunately the schools that need the ‘best teaching’ promoted by this book , in the poor areas, are the least likely to get such empowering experiences. Such effects of toxic testing are a political issue.

The authors want to be clear about using assessments that relate to the principals of their book.  Good assessment should be an integral part of good teaching. Powerful assessments should focus on the major whole outcomes rather than contributory aspects. Most school assessments should be formative meaning teachers should assess to ensure students learn better and for teachers to teach more effectively.

Traditional norm referenced testing provides little helpful formative assessment. The key of effective thinking is being able to self-monitor and self-evaluate. Rather than checking students against arbitory age grade targets teachers should track the story of each learner’s growth through developmental phases. Current standardised tests yield an exceedingly narrow and unreliable picture of student achievement and are poor indicator of school performance.

The authors outline (and provide examples) of a range of constructive, formative, reflection orientated assessments that can be used at any age level: Portfolios; Conferences; Anecdotal records; Performance assessment rubrics and classroom tests are all covered.

7 Integrative Units

This, the authors write, is the most complex of the methods. In this chapter they show how great teaches blend the other six methods into days, or weeks, or rich, cross –disciplinary investigations driven by student interest and scaffolded by teachers who model, coach, and manage the inquiry process.

With integrated units, teachers step emphatically out of single subject instruction and lead children into inquiries as complex and multi-disciplinary as the real world issues that adults face as workers, parents, and citizens.’

This integrated learning is not new to the few creative teachers in our schools.

The trouble with the separate subject approach is that students do not  learn to appreciate the connected view of learning and also fail to appreciate how real world learning occurs. Stu also dents miss out in a powerful set of tools for solving problems.’

The book encourages teachers  to seek coherence by crossing subject boundaries; by encouraging students to value ‘deep ‘ learning; by providing experiences to develop every students' unique talents, and by integrating ‘basic skills’ into  integrated experiences.

The authors are clear to state that traditional subject matter fields are  not to be disrespected. On the contrary the disciplines of knowledge they see are vital in achieving  learning. Authentic learning takes the disciplines of learning seriously.

The separate subject teaching is powerful and enduring, particularly at the secondary school level, and the authors provide how  schools have changed their approaches to develop integrated learning. Such change requires teachers being given the support to work at the edge of their professional comfort zone. Excellent information for middle schools and secondary school integration is provided by middle school educator James Beane.

Epilogue

Current reforms!!!

The authors conclude by  writing, no matter how passionate their call is for real world  experiences to be the basis for learning  until this happens many students  will continue to find their educational experience problematic.

The application of the best practices outlined would contribute to a powerful transformation of learning and create schools where all students students are given voice, choice and responsibility.

Daniels and Bizar finish their book by saying,‘We possess the tools and structures to make powerful learning happen; we just have to put them to work.’

Business 'guru' Peter Drucker wrote, 'the first country to develop a 21st century education system will win the future'.. Could be New Zealand if only...

 Just imagine!

We could develop the most creative education system, that is, if we listened to Sir Ken Robinson, David Hood,  and Kelvin Smythe and tapped into the wisdom of creative teachers past and present.


Reading Sir Ken Robinson's latest book 'Creative Schools - Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up' has  really impressed me.

I hope it might  even be a' tipping point' to encourage school leaders to challenge current assumptions and start on the journey towards transforming schools into modern learning environments.

 A similar message has also been outlined by New Zealand educator David Hood in his new book 'The Rhetoric and the Reality'. For secondary teachers Bali Haque's book is worth a read.

Maybe I am being over optimistic.

Talking to  current principals  about the possibility of such creative ideas  is , often met by reasons why it is too difficult in the present climate. Both Robinson and Hood are well aware of the current political situation  but both see this as no  reason not to begin the journey to transforming schools. And nor do I.

The recent posting by New Zealand educator Kelvin Smythe  adds another voice to the debate - and his summary of holistic education is worth the read. Essentially the same message as Sir Ken.

Instead, schools busy themselves trying to solve the problem of developing 'sensible'  teacher objective judgments ( TOJs) to sort students into spurious, politically inspired, National Standards in  literacy and numeracy - the very antithesis of creativity.

Are schools risk averse?

I guess what is missing is the courage to take the lead. Principals seem to prefer focus on their own school ( compiling the best achievement data they can -' shonky' at best) and no one seems to have the courage to take the lead to  encourage schools to  to work together towards realizing a creative education. And of course  many think that is what they already do, or that all is well.

Time to break out

To me it all shows the power of the status quo  at best or self deception at worst. But surely there are principal groups who see that what they are currently doing is not the full answer?

Surely , if not principals , then there must be creative teachers who see the need to breakout of the current straight jacket of standardized teaching and imposed, so called, 'best practices' - particularly the demeaning effect of the current emphasis in judging student success based on narrow literacy and numeracy data?

The biggest block to creative teaching is the unquestioned use of ability grouping in primary schools and fragmented subject teaching in secondary schools - both with their genesis in the  industrial aged sorting and grading schools of the past century.

The simple way to judge if a primary school is moving towards developing creative education ( moving away from standardized teaching towards personalized learning)  is whether or not they use ability grouping ( or worse still cross class grouping) in literacy and numeracy- or isolated teaching of subjects at the secondary level.

That would exclude the vast majority of schools being creative as defined by Sir Ken.

Sir Ken, and Kelvin Smythe, write strongly against such practices. Finland gets buy, as do many Asian countries, without the use of this sorting and tracking of students. And there is excellent research both from the UK and NZ  to show the demeaning effect of such practices.

In contrast to these limiting archaic practices imagine a school system dedicated to developing the gifts and talents of all students - whose programmes were based on providing personalised learning

It's all too hard!

opportunities for all students . This would be the basis for transforming education as we know it. This is the thesis of Sir Ken's book. Schools, I believe, do not have an ''achievement gap' rather more an 'opportunity' one.

Sir Ken advises teachers to observe the educational opportunities offered by the best of early education  centres, sadly now increasingly at risk from being standardized, to gain insight.  He asks why does  the early intense curiosity of the early years diminish as students progress through school? Why is that far too many students act as if creativity is to be limited to the few talented individuals when everyone is capable of creative thinking?  Why is it that students, deemed to be successful at school, often fail to shine in later life and conversely why is it, so called, school failures often do well in real life?

Standardized teaching

The trouble may be is that primary students happily accept of whatever programmes are provided and that the trouble ( disengagement) only really starts when the  reach the more critical teenage years.

Maybe students don't fail school , maybe schools fail students? Consider the number of students who leave, as  educationalist Karen Olsen has written, 'wounded' by school?

 Le'ts get back to imagining  schools dedicated to developing the talents and gifts of all students.

Carol Dweck

There are plenty of inspirational ideas to make use of, once schools have re-framed their focus, to achieve such an enlightened scenario. Sir Ken's book includes plenty of examples and their are numerous excellent books to refer to from such educationalists as  Guy Claxton, Howard Gardner, David Perkins  Carol Dweck to name a few.

I am always curious to see what books are available to teachers on their staff bookshelves - or to ask teachers of educationalists that inspire them. It would seem schools are full of unquestioned habits, procedures and practices.

Sir Ken asks what if teachers were to re-invent schooling- what would it look like? What if schools were to focus on the competencies , attributes or dispositions their students will need to thrive in problematic and challenging future?

For those interested the ideas in New Zealand pioneer teacher Elwyn Richardson are worth a visit - ideas developed in an even more traditional era - the 1950s

And there is also the inspiration from Sylvia Ashton Warner from the same era.

Time for thinking out of the box!

And in the 60s and 70 the most innovative groups of teachers were junior teachers who introduced developmental programmes providing their students with opportunities for real choices. Ironically today all the so called, 'best practices' are provided by contracted consultants and Ministry  staff who have long lost a sense of classroom reality - that is if they were ever there in the first place.

Dr Beeby

The wisdom of teachers, particularly creative teachers has been lost in the current top-down surveillance audit culture.

Imagine if the 1940s vision' of an 'education of the kind they are best suited for and to the fullest extent of their powers' of Peter Fraser and Dr Beeby were to be fully realized.

 Imagine if the, all but sidelined, New Zealand Curriculum which asks schools to ensure all students leave confident lifelong learners able to ' seek, use and create their own knowledge',were to be made central.

Imagine a school premised on making student inquiry and talent development central to all learning.

Imagine a school that has re-framed literacy and numeracy to provide the skills to enable students to dig deeply and critically into the areas chosen for study.

Imagine such investigations being open ended, integrating  learning areas as required - investigation that provide opportunities for students to make use of , hone, or discover, their own unique portfolio of talents.

Imagine what this would mean for teachers - it would be impossible to  plans for pre- determined outcomes but rather be prepared to follow  their students leads and questions and to ensure students are given every opportunity to develop  all the appropriate competencies and  skills.

Imagine teachers who really valued students curiosity, questions and prior ideas and then did their best to challenge their students to defend and, if necessary, change their ideas. Teachers who believed that 'teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation' ( Jerome Bruner).

Schools to develop talent

Imagine classrooms  environments that reflected student in depth thinking around their chosen studies and covering the various learning areas - appreciating that such quality thinking is the result of doing fewer things well.

Imagine teachers integrating ICT to assist students in their inquiries - rather than providing ready made answers as is too often the case

And imagine that true accountability is judged by the quality of what students can do, through demonstrations, performances, exhibitions ( such as science, technology and art fair exhibits)-and   seen  by all interested in their electronic personal portfolios.


And all this is entirely possible  - all  that it would require is for principals and teachers to have the wit and intelligence to change

their own minds first.

Teaching , in this scenario, would be the most creative task of all.

It would be a real change from teachers being seen technicians delivering imposed curriculum and

bowing down to reactionary national standards in literacy and numeracy; a shift from compliance and conformity to creativity, diversity and innovation; from the 19th to the 21st century; from standardization to personalization.

Such a transformation would realize the sub title in Sir Ken's book of 'revolutionizing education from the ground up'.

And most of all it would make teaching fun again - sort of like doing the 60s all over again again but this time doing it properly. 

Now I am showing my age.

Some great leadership quotes to inspire action

Now there is a good idea!!!!!