National standards – a failed crusade
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- Date published:
9:35 am, May 3rd, 2016 - 260 comments
Categories: national, schools, useless -
Tags: education, fail, fools, national standards, primary school, schools
Great to see The Herald doing a focus on primary education this week! The first piece in the series seems (from the list at the bottom of the article) to have started life titled “National Standards: A failed crusade?”. Yesterday it was “The $250m National Standards policy – is it working?”. Today it is:
Primary schools in NZ: Is the $250m policy working?
Thousands of children begin secondary school each year without the reading, writing or maths skills needed to make it through. … Six years and $250 million on, Kirsty Johnston asks if the National Standards policy has been worth it.
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Six years and $250 million on, with data showing just a small increase in achievement levels, questions are again being asked about the impact of the standards – not just on achievement but on the whole primary system.
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National Standards was introduced in 2010 after a successful National Party election campaign. They require teachers to judge children twice-yearly against a four-point scale, and were prompted by concerns that one in five students were leaving school without basic literacy and numeracy skills.In a 2008 press release, John Key vowed to fix that. “National believes that the first task of our education system should be to ensure that every child from every background can read, write, and do maths at a level that allows them to participate in a modern economy,” he said. Key pledged $47 million towards a literacy and numeracy “crusade”, including $18 million a year in targeted funding for struggling students.
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After six years, many believe the standards have only served to highlight already well-documented trends. For example, the data shows the largest differences are between rich and poor. Just half of children at Decile 1 schools met maths expectations at Year 8, compared to 80 per cent at Decile 10. Boys, and Maori and Pasifika children, also lagged behind.“None of that surprises me. National Standards haven’t told us anything we didn’t already know, and the problems haven’t gone away,” said Labour’s education spokesman Chris Hipkins. “The whole exercise has diverted time and attention away from what really matters – teaching and learning.”
A related article has the numbers:
Primary school pass rates have virtually flatlined despite an six-year government literacy and numeracy “crusade” costing more than $250 million.
Data shows a quarter of children entering high school are below the National Standards in reading, writing and maths.
Of the almost 60,000 students who began Year 9 last year, 17,900 were unable to meet writing requirements, 18,500 were behind in maths, and 12,700 could not read at the expected level, meaning they would have to be rapidly “caught up” to have any hope of passing a high school qualification.
The figures remained largely unchanged over three years, rising an average 1 per cent across all year levels since 2012.
One percent over four years is statistical noise, and these are subjective assessments with a built-in pressure for grade inflation (just like NCEA).
National told us “New Zealand elected a Government that promised to introduce national standards so that every single child could read, write, and do maths when they left school.” It was always a stupid promise. In reality the standards have made no difference to achievement, just as the experts predicted. What a waste of time and money.
(From The Herald)
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- Government delivering world-class satellite positioning servicesWorld-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor. Damien O’Connor marked the start of construction on New Zealand’s first uplink centre for ...1 day ago
- District Court Judges appointedAttorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...2 days ago
- New project set to supercharge ocean economy in Nelson TasmanA new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...2 days ago
- National’s education policy: where’s the funding?After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...3 days ago
- Free programme to help older entrepreneurs and inventorsPeople aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...3 days ago
- Government target increased to keep powering up the Māori economyA cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...3 days ago
- Continued progress on reducing poverty in challenging times77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...3 days ago
- Speech at Fiji Investment and Trade Business ForumDeputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...3 days ago
- Government investments boost and diversify local economies in lower South Island$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...3 days ago
- Government future-proofs EV chargingTransport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...3 days ago
- World-leading family harm prevention campaign supports young NZersAssociate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...3 days ago
- First Chief Clinical Advisor welcomed into Coroners CourtHon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...3 days ago
- Next steps for affected properties post Cyclone and floodsThe Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...4 days ago
- New appointment to Māori Land Court benchE te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...4 days ago
- Government focus on jobs sees record number of New Zealanders move from Benefits into work113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...4 days ago
- Vertical farming partnership has upward momentumThe Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...4 days ago
- Conference of Pacific Education Ministers – Keynote AddressE nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...4 days ago
- New $13m renal unit supports Taranaki patientsThe new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...4 days ago
- Second Poseidon aircraft on home soilDefence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...5 days ago
- Further humanitarian aid for Türkiye and SyriaAotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...5 days ago
- Community voice to help shape immigration policyMigrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...5 days ago
- State Highway 3 project to deliver safer journeys, better travel connections for TaranakiConstruction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...5 days ago
- Ginny Andersen appointed as Minister of PolicePrime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...5 days ago
- Government confirms vital roading reconnectionsSix further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...5 days ago
- Foreign Minister Mahuta to meet with China’s new Foreign MinisterForeign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...6 days ago
- Education Ministers from across the Pacific gather in AotearoaEducation Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...6 days ago
- State Highway 5 reopens between Napier and Taupō following Cyclone GabrielleA vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...6 days ago
- Special Lotto draw raises $11.7 million for Cyclone Gabrielle recoveryInternal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...7 days ago
- Government delivers a $3 million funding boost for Building Financial Capability servicesThe Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...1 week ago
- Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao – new Chair and memberMinister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...1 week ago
- Scholarships honouring Ngarimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion announcedFifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...1 week ago
- Appointment of Judge of the Court of Appeal and Judge of the High CourtHigh Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...1 week ago
- NZ still well placed to meet global challengesThe economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...1 week ago
- Western Ring Route CompleteAucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...1 week ago
- Briefings to Incoming MinistersThis section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...1 week ago
- Teaming up for a stronger, more resilient FijiAotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...1 week ago
- Investment in blue highway a lifeline for regional economies and cyclone recoveryThe Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...1 week ago
- Next steps developing clean energy for NZThe Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...1 week ago
- Labor set to win thumping majority in NSW election
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Dean Lewins/AAP With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales state election, the Poll Bludger’s results currently ...3 hours ago - Animal Justice Party Shares Views On The Therapeutic Products Bill
...4 hours ago - ‘Exceptional redevelopment potential’: Auckland’s Skyworld complex is up for sale
A former entertainment mecca in the middle of Auckland is up for grabs. The problem? It’s been run into the ground. Have you got spare cash sitting around? Do you want to buy something grand, something special? How does a nine-storey complex covering 3,486 square metres in the middle of ...8 hours ago - Posey Parker drowned out by thousands
Posey Parker appeared in Auckland today for a brief few moments, but it was clear that she was going to have a hard time being heard above thousands of people exercising their own right to free speech The streets of Auckland’s city centre were thick today with the noise of tubas, ...11 hours ago - Marama Davidson hit by motorcyclist after Posie Parker protest
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was knocked to the ground by a motorcyclist who appeared to fail to stop at a pedestrian crossing after today's counter-protest against Posie Parker. ...12 hours ago - Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson struck by motorcycle at protestGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson was struck by a passing motorcycle this morning as she protested Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s rally event at Albert Park. Davidson was standing on Princes St holding a sign reading “trans solidarity” when a band of motorcyclists, there in support of Brian and Hannah Tamaki’s Vision NZ, ...13 hours ago
- News media ‘not an enemy or nuisance’, Fiji editor tells policeBy Krishneel Nair in Suva “The most important thing from my perspective is a strategic partnership — a partnership where the media should not be seen as the enemy or a nuisance.” This was the view of the Communications Fiji Ltd news director and Fijian Media Association executive Vijay Narayan ...14 hours ago
- Anti-trans speaker leaves rally amid thousands of protestersThe noise began long before Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (AKA Posie Parker) arrived. Despite an 11am scheduled start time to her planned rally to “speak for women”, the Albert Park rotunda was surrounded by 10.30. But the crowd was not there to see or hear her. A truck parked at the entrance ...15 hours ago
- The best way to enjoy the new John Wick movie? With your John Wick friendChris Schulz on the nearly three-hours of joy Keanu Reeves’ latest non-stop orgy of violence brings. This is an excerpt from our pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every Friday here. Keanu Reeves has annihilated the place. In what appears to be ...15 hours ago
- Focus on Politics: National's plan to school LabourTeacher unions have criticised National's curriculum plan, but the party was targeting concerned parents and his political opponent, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. ...16 hours ago
- Review: Caged shows the sacrifice and teamwork that go into making a UFC starDon’t underestimate the significance of TVNZ’s new documentary series about Kai Kara-France, a fighter acclaimed on the world stage but still criminally underrated at home, writes Don Rowe. In 2015, when I first profiled Kai Kara-France for the now-defunct Mana magazine, he told me he’d never wanted to sign with ...16 hours ago
- Final NSW Newspoll gives Labor a thumping lead; federal Labor’s lead widensSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Justin Lloyd/AAP The New South Wales state election is today. Polls close at 6pm AEDT. Votes cast on election day ...17 hours ago
- Renting over 65: The uncertain future facing more and more New ZealandersIf current trends continue, by 2053 half of retirement-age New Zealanders will be renters. Right now, options for over-65s who don’t own their own home are limited. This story was first published on Stuff. What’s life like when you reach retirement age, but don’t own a home of your own? Most ...18 hours ago
- Marsupials and other mammals separately evolved flight many times, and we are finally learning howSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Feigin, Postdoctoral Fellow in Genomics and Evolution, The University of Melbourne Anom Harya/Shutterstock Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land on the next tree. Many groups of mammals seem to have taken this evolutionary advice to ...18 hours ago
- Lobbyists in New Zealand enjoy freedoms unlike most other nations in the developed worldWhen a big corporate is alarmed about possible law changes, it asks its well-connected lobbyist to intervene. A text message exchange between a Cabinet Minister and his lobbyist "mate" follows. ...19 hours ago
- Short story: The Islands of Arthur Trimble
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...21 hours ago - Short story: The Islands of Arthur Trimble"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...21 hours ago
- The Week in Detail: Top authors, lobbying, and Muriwai
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...21 hours ago - The Week in Detail: Top authors, lobbying, and MuriwaiEvery weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...21 hours ago
- Why we enjoy the excruciating miseries of the super-rich
The popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their lives Opinion: Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...21 hours ago - Why we enjoy the excruciating miseries of the super-richThe popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their lives Opinion: Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...21 hours ago
- The Detail's Long Read: What's Up With ADHD?
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...21 hours ago - The Detail's Long Read: What's Up With ADHD?This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...21 hours ago
- Inside the radical plan to build ‘the new state house’ and change renting foreverNot content with transforming KiwiSaver, Simplicity is now planning to out-build Kāinga Ora. Duncan Greive meets a pair of of unlikely revolutionaries trying to fix housing – a task which seems impossible, even for the state itself. In September of 2020, a builder named Shane Brealey sat down and typed ...22 hours ago
- What not to miss at the Auckland Writers Festival 2023The Auckland Writers Festival has just launched its 23rd programme, the first since Covid to include its signature line-up of visiting international writers. With 160 events to choose from, here’s books editor Claire Mabey’s top 10 to help you navigate your way through the lit fest universe. Straight Up: Ruby ...22 hours ago
- Family tree key to Twigg's fifth Olympic bid
Taking her her young family around the world as she rows is a key factor in Emma Twigg's decision to defend her Olympic single sculls title at next year's Paris Olympics. And, Andy Hay writes, the next Emma Twigg could be waiting in the wings at the Maadi Cup next week. ...22 hours ago - Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika looking for 80min performancesThe Fijian Drua will need to start and finish well, while Moana Pasifika’s coach wants to see a full 80-minute performance this weekend as the two regional teams continue their Super Rugby Pacific campaigns. The Drua tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin today and Pasifika face the Hurricanes at Mt Smart ...1 day ago
- PNG contractors plead for government to pay up after 12-year waitBy Todagia Kelola in Port Moresby A number of small contractors in Papua New Guinea are still waiting for positive feedback for money owed to them by government agencies after 12 years. A 2015 Post-Courier front page picture showed a man, David Goli, who chained himself at the then headquarters ...1 day ago
- A new review into how teachers are educated should acknowledge they learn throughout their careers (...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University Shutterstock Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia. The panel, led by ...1 day ago
- Analysis: Teachers need a lot of things, another curriculum 'rewrite' isn't oneWe all clearly want the best learning outcomes for our nation's children, but there are deep ideological divisions, writes Cathy Buntting. ...1 day ago
- The Winston Peters greatest hits hourThe New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what you’d expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...1 day ago
- Woolworths is getting into telehealth – but patients need to be treated as more than customersSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...1 day ago
- Winston Peters rails against secret 'woke agenda' in campaign speechNew Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...1 day ago
- At the 2023 Adelaide Festival, the best works shimmer with a brutal honesty on incarceration, exile ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology The Sheep Song. Tim Standing/Daylight Breaks/Adelaide Festival Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the ...1 day ago
- Week in Politics: Minor parties could hold unprecedented influence post-electionAnalysis - The Greens lay down a challenge as the minor parties approach an election in which both National and Labour are going to need coalition partners to form a government, writes Peter Wilson. ...1 day ago
- Repeal Fiji’s media law and start with ‘clean slate’, says CFL chiefBy Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...1 day ago
- Posie Parker wins the beautiful freedom to make an ugly argument
High Court Justice David Gendall regretfully allows anti-trans activist to enter New Zealand, but warns the expression of her views may be harmful to our vulnerable rainbow community. Jonathan Milne does his best to be civil. Opinion: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull calls herself Posie Parker. And that's what I'm going to call her. Because she is ...1 day ago - Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee is an absolute joyIt’s about time somebody made a wacky TV show about how bonkers spelling is. Enter comedian Guy Montgomery and his Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The three years since Covid-19 began have been pretty rocky, but one of the best things to come out of the chaos was Guy Montgomery’s Guy ...1 day ago
- Psychologists Condemn Anti-trans Hate Speech And Urge The Government To Put Hate Speech Laws Back On...Te Rōpū Mātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa, The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) stands beside LGBTQIA+ and Takatāpui communities rallying against anti-trans rhetoric in light of the impending visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker). We are ...1 day ago
- Shocking and controversial: MAFS Australia has outrated 1NewsEarlier this month, everybody’s favourite Monster of the Week series Married at First Sight Australia toppled 1News to become the highest rating television show for New Zealand viewers aged 25-54. The controversial reality series garnered an average audience of 137,000, or 6.7% audience share from March 5 until March 11. ...2 days ago
- Ingredient of the week: FeijoasIt’s the most wonderful time of the year for feijoa lovers – here’s how to make the most of it. Fragrant and sweet, with a delicate jelly centre surrounded by gritty, tangy flesh, all encased in a green sour skin. My parents’ feijoa tree has just dropped its first fruit, ...2 days ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘Bang a Drum’ by Maggie Rainey-SmithA new poem by poet and novelist Maggie Rainey-Smith. Bang a Drum We’ve hit Gentle Annie passed the pub at Okaramio and on the left, at Wakapuaka there’s Sunnybank where parents left their children An oddly named orphanage manned (ha) by Nuns childless women in black habits, scapula, cowls and ...2 days ago
- Teachers need a lot of things right now, but another curriculum ‘rewrite’ isn’t one of themSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato Getty Images Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Party’s release of its curriculum policy – ...2 days ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 24The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) Number one in both ...2 days ago
- High Court Decision The Only Right Result For Nation That Values Free SpeechThe Free Speech Union welcomes the decision of the High Court to reject the application to overrule the decision of the Minister of Immigration to allow Kellie-Jay entry into New Zealand. This was the only right result for a nation that ...2 days ago
- AI chatbots with Chinese characteristics: why Baidu’s ChatGPT rival may never measure upSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University Baidu’s ERNIE Bot was launched to considerable disappointment. Ng Han Guan / AP On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced ...2 days ago
- Ask Fiji military about ‘guns on plane’ claims, says Sayed-KhaiyumBy Meri Radinibaravi in Suva Former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has told The Fiji Times to ask the Republic of Fiji Military Forces about claims that his bodyguards were allowed to take guns on to Fiji Link flights without proper authorisation. “I understand that there’s some enquiries going on regarding that ...2 days ago
- Melbourne Now: a vast, sprawling and inspiring exhibition that seems to burst out of its architectur...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Troy Emery’s work Mountain climber 2022 on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March – 20 August ...2 days ago
- KPIs are for businesses and boardrooms, not children and schoolsNational’s education policy reinforces an old-fashioned and hierarchical curriculum that does lasting harm to many students, writes educational specialist Dr Sarah Aiono. Announcing the National Party’s new education policy this week, leader Christopher Luxon cited a recent NCEA pilot in which two-thirds of students were unable to meet the minimum ...2 days ago
- Last ditch attempt to stop anti-trans speaker from entering NZ failsAttempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...2 days ago
- Urgent hearing under way to determine if anti-trans speaker can enter NZThe High Court is this morning considering an interim order that would prevent an anti-trans campaigner from making it into New Zealand. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is expected to arrive on our shores today ahead of two planned rallies in Auckland and Wellington over the weekend. After immigration officials deemed her safe ...2 days ago
- Statement From Mayor Paula Southgate: Hamilton’s LGNZ MembershipI was disappointed to see yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Auckland has chosen to leave Local Government NZ (LGNZ). Hamilton’s membership of LGNZ is one of collaboration and sharing. Being a member gives us important views from other ...2 days ago
- Review: The Unruly Tourists is fun, but facileIt’s the most talked about local opera production in years – but does it live up to the chatter? The lowdown You’ve probably heard of the “unruly tourists”, the British family who created a media firestorm as they toured around the country leaving trash and turmoil in their wake. You’ve ...2 days ago
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National Standards have been part of arresting the decline in literacy and numeracy and achieving a modest improvement. That’s great news, no matter how you try to spin it.
Can you provide evidence that there was a decline up until NS were implemented?
http://www.educationreview.co.nz/news/new-news-feed-issue/maths-report-raises-more-questions-than-answers/#.VyfhXxV97eQ
“The report highlighted international studies such as PISA and TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) and NEMP (New Zealand’s National Education Monitoring Project) which have all shown a gradual decline in New Zealand students’ mathematics performance since 2002.”
“produced by independent public policy think tank New Zealand Initiative,”
you missed that bit when quoting
plus the bit you do quote doesnt back up your claim in the slightest
and the comments in the article ripping shit out of the report.
The report is sound.
The New Zealand Initiative exists to author sanitised hate speech. They have to self-publish because no ethical journal will touch them.
The article is published by the Education Review. Do you know anything about the numeracy project OAB? It is a horrible experiment foisted on my children by idiot academics. No, I guess you don;t.
The Education Review did not publish the report, cretin, they published an article about it, which quoted people with actual expertise, who noted its failures.
The New Zealand Initiative exists to sanitise hate speech, that’s why they have to self-publish.
“The Education Review did not publish the report, cretin, they published an article about it, ”
Here’s my comment:
“The article is published by the Education Review.”
Article. Where did you learn to read?
“The report is sound”. That’s what you said, cretin. Then, you pretended the Education Review’s credibility is somehow connected to that of the NZ Initiative, which exists to sanitise hate speech.
The Education Review notes this by pointing out that the hate-washing factory’s effluent “raises more questions than answers” – a euphemism for useless.
Asking questions is not an argument, cretin.
+1
Bunch of libertarians the lot of them all running on pure belief.
So?
Yes it does. There has been a gradual decline since 2002. Which part don;t you understand?
The report is self-published, because no honest journal editor will touch it.
PISA is for 15 year olds so has little relevance to a discussion of learning and achievement in primary children.
I looked at a couple of the TIMMS results listings (on the wikipedia site). In the one’s I checked, New Zealand actually improved its SCORE in the TIMSS rankings, but was overtaken by other countries showing bigger increases. So not quite as clear cut as you suggest. And there might be reasons why these countries show apparent large increases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trends_in_International_Mathematics_and_Science_Study#All_average_country_scores
You make an interesting point, and I will do some more reading on this. Benchmarking educational outcomes internationally has its challenges, with differing emphases and teaching philosophies. For example in NZ we place a strong emphasis on mathematics for scaling at high school level – this is a rather blunt instrument, and is not followed in all of the OECD countries.
No one can. That’s the point.
There wasn’t a decline in the first place: Professor Terry Crooks exposed your Daddy’s lies back in 2007. Please try and keep up.
Professor Howard Lee also destroyed your Daddy’s credibility on the issue. Why are you so gullible?
It’s all smoke and mirrors. Any problems with children’s educational progress is dominated by socio-economic issues – this has been known for a couple of decades at least. The case could be made that the first Labour government (through Peter Fraser) was aware of this, hence the need for state houses, free medical care, milk in schools, and so on. Solve the income and social inequities in society and children’s educational development will follow. Note – avoid the word ‘achievement’ as this is neoliberal jargon used to distract attention from the real issues.
Transient kids, living in cars will excel at reading, writing and math. Surely. If they just work harder. Just ask the National Party Brigade in Parliament. I am sure that Paula Bennet will have a handy chart that shows you that being hungry, cold and living outdoors will help form a stellar character and resolve to succeed.
But I am sure someone earned a 250 million and would argue that the system works it just needs a bit more money and time.
Wonder how many state houses could have been build with that money and how many children suddenly not living as transient would have gotten themselves some better school grades.
So you are saying poor kids in india have no chance of a university degree. surely a statement as banal as “Transient kids, living in cars will excel at reading, writing and math. Surely. If they just work harder.” is universal in application.
“Any problems with children’s educational progress is dominated by socio-economic issues – this has been known for a couple of decades at least.”
It’s a small part of the problem. From my experience useless parents is a bigger part. I’ll give you an example. An ECE service in West Auckland provides a free pick up service for children attending their centre. The families get 20 hours free ECE per family, paid for the Gvt. The centre provides healthy snacks and lunch. Despite this, many of the families can’t be arsed getting their kids ready on time. No doubt you’ll have a trendy left wing excuse.
^^^ a witless fool who can’t recognise the symptoms of poverty even when they’re staring him right in the face.
Mind you, this is the same hatemonger who says poor people are to blame for poverty. Who believes and parrots his Daddy’s zombie arguments without a single original contribution to the discussion at any level.
Hey, fuckwit, OECD, GINI, lost wealth and potential. I shall keep rubbing your face in them.
Phaedrus and Sabine are right, and you are wrong, and you have nothing to support your rote-learned drivel.
OAB you have so far confused poverty with inequality and wealth with income. I feel sorry for you, I really do.
Rote learned drivel, and quoting proven liars: your entire playbook.
” Despite this, many of the families can’t be arsed getting their kids ready on time”
no doubt you can prove that this is the cause
Yes, I can.
Why is International Rescue dominating this blog week after week when I look at the comments list? It’s one of the weaknesses of this place, giving such a free rein to people who just purvey their cant, their superiority and disdain for the beaten down.
Parents who can’t get their kids ready on time, are most likely to be people whose lives have fallen apart and just do what they can manage on any particular day. They will be nearly into clinical depression – when you can’t even get out of your bed. There is no joy in life for them, and they have little to give their children.
International Rescue doesn’t add anything to my daily stock of joy. Why do commenters allow such obvious trolls to dominate and put themselves forward as deserving or worth discussion?
Sigh. I am simply engaging in discussion. I you don’t like it, don’t read it. But censorship is so 1950’s soviet.
IR not D
Freedom is so today’s neo liberal obfuscation.
Freedom is not an obfuscation. But then I’m guessing many left wingers would be happier to live on their knees than die on their feet.
. To: Greywarshark
You raise a good point! This could be a first class Blog, if it had a modest filtering system.
Trolls to the dust bin. Others to the pages of the Topic
Observer Tokoroa
I have a strange feeling that your remark is tongue in cheek. You usually seem to be a RW leaner. So sorry I don’t take you seriously. But then again I have learned to be wary of kind people offering sweeties. Oh to be an innocent child again and not have to look under the mat for the real dirt.
I dunno, but not knowing your child has a learning disability for 5 or so years seems like ‘crap parenting’ to me, going by your own logic that is. I know how my children are doing by listening to them read & doing maths with them, but that’s just because I like to be involved in that kind of thing.
No, we knew. But we expected and trusted professionals to know more than we did. You also don’t understand learning difficulties. Children with them are often very bright, and capable of compensating for several years. My son was very much in that category.
International rescue: ” From my experience useless parents is a bigger part. I’ll give you an example…..”
Here you are adducing anecdote as if it were evidence. It won’t do, you know. I’ve noted other commentators who think of themselves as right-wing doing the same thing. It’s very sloppy and damages your credibility.
Consequence of having a large ego coupled with a vast inferiority complex. You get an insecure braggart who is afraid to learn from the written experience of others, preferring instead to explain the world in a series of largely fictional self-aggrandising anecdotes.
They have been common in social media ever since I started using modems a lot about 1985/6.
lprent
If these RW blokes/esses have been common since about 1985/6 and still around it is because they are winning the propaganda war. We have been going down the toilet since then and need to cut their crap and feed it to the plants after suitably treating it.
At present, untreated, it’s slowly poisoning the blog. Few do the deep thinking we are all capable of, their time is frittered away in tit for tat word games. We would all do better playing scrabble till the trolls withered away from lack of stimulus. Bad for numbers on the blog though but you wouldn’t be so distracted as to care more about that I know.
I’ll start with a warm up question. Last night I decided that the words remuneration and renumeration get muddled for me and others and looked it up. So there are words worthy of clarity and one that is very topical now. In fact always!
edited
I didn’t claim it was evidence. I made it very clear it was ‘from my experience’. Our experiences inform our opinions to greater or lesser degree.
he is not gullible…he is simply a shill
http://www.educationreview.co.nz/news/new-news-feed-issue/maths-report-raises-more-questions-than-answers/#.VyfhXxV97eQ
“The report highlighted international studies such as PISA and TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) and NEMP (New Zealand’s National Education Monitoring Project) which have all shown a gradual decline in New Zealand students’ mathematics performance since 2002.”
See post above.
He has a bad case of Key arselicker syndrome? Because all he ever eats is shit excreted by his hero, he has lost the facility for critical judgement.
That is my diagnosis.
I’ve always wanted to say this: who’s you daddy?
IR are the Nat Stds reliable and valid?
They are relatively new, so will have wrinkles. But over time they get more and more useful. As a parent I need to know how my child is faring compared to his and her peers. It is ridiculous that that information was withheld by the teaching profession/politicians for so long.
If you want to know how your child is faring compared to other the std MUST be reliable and valid.
There have been 6 years, so there must be some measure of the reliability and validity, other wise the measurements don’t have much meaning so you really don’t know.
I suspect a lot of the teachers objections were around those issues.
But if you are happy to use a faulty measure then so be it on your kids.
Are you of the view the measures are not reliable? That’s not why my children’s teachers are telling us. Fundamentally if you agree with being able to compare a child’s progress with their peers it is worth working with the data. From most conversations I have had with teachers they support it.
Nope I don’t know if they are reliable and valid.
Can you point me to any studies that show that they are reliable and valid.
With out reliability and validity you actually don’t know if the measures are measuring the progress.
So please point me to some studies.
Had a couple of hours to find the studies on reliability and validity of Nstds.
Nothing yet!!!
I’m not sure what you’re looking for. I’m not aware of any studies done so far, it’s possibly too early to say. My feedback is based on what my children’s teaches say. They have no problem with the reliability of the Nstds, or of its implementation.
That is exactly the point. There are no studies.
So you are saying the evaluations will be the consistent for pupils all thru the country, from year to year based of the responses of several teachers.
Yet you have also said several teachers missed your child learning disability.- so teachers judgements can be faulty. (I think the Nats cut the special help as well)
You have not commented on Validity, where the test measure what it says it does.
Most teachers want to know what each student needs help with the most, not how they compare with one another. Putting so much effort into measuring does nothing to improve achievement.
This isn’t about teachers, it;s about PARENTS!!!!! Parents want to know how their children are performing. I spent 5 years listening to teachers telling me my son was doing fine when he wasn’t, and their incompetence at not being able to diagnose a learning difficulty cost him dearly. Don;t tell me about what teachers want.
Your son’s handicap is you.
My son doesn’t have a handicap. He has a learning difficulty that none of his first 5 teachers diagnosed. And then one great teacher did. In her first week of teaching my son.
The poor little guy: handicapped by his father’s cretinhood and hostility towards his teachers.
Actually, no. My intolerance of poor teachers is shared by any good parent.
Are you proud of this OAB – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/77825339/Teachers-union-protected-Robert-Burrett-claim
Why would I be proud of some principal who seems to have learned right wing responsibility avoidance techniques?
“Why would I be proud of some principal who seems to have learned right wing responsibility avoidance techniques?”
And the union, who sheltered this scum for so long?
The allegation suits your agenda, certainly. Your son will wear the scars of your cretinous hatreds.
“The allegation suits your agenda, certainly.”
Allegation??? No, OAB, you can’t hide from this one. The union protected this ratbag, as they do with many others.
No, the principal blamed the union, whose job it is to advocate, not investigate. The false narrative suits your agenda, because you are motivated by hate. That’s also why your son is handicapped.
“No, the principal blamed the union, whose job it is to advocate, not investigate. ”
1. It was the board Chair, not the Principal.
2. The union surely have a duty of care if they are confronted with these cases. This guy wasn’t just an abuser, he was a useless teacher! “They were quite evasive and defensive of the guy, and it frustrated us to a high level,” Parry said. “Of course a person has rights and has to be protected, but they were really trying to make things confusing and difficult, they weren’t really engaging in the problems we had.”
Oops, my bad, it was the board chair: even less credibility that the principal and far more likely to embody National Party values.
Mike Sabin and Graham Capill spring to mind, and that’s before we consider the fact that your Daddy made it easier for child sex traffickers to launder money.
Sacha…..”Putting so much effort into measuring does nothing to improve achievement.”. Couldn’t agree more.
I’ve said it before but this quote, ‘You don’t fatten a pig by weighing it every day.’purportedly said by an unknown farmer in the USA its relevant to your comment.
‘You don’t fatten a pig by weighing it every day.’
No, but you know whether it’s getting enough feed.
Teachers already know which children need help. They do not have the time or resources to do it because it’s swallowed up by testing.
Sorry, but that isn’t true. Many children slip through the cracks, not because of lack of resources but because the whole onus is on the teacher. NS empowers others with data to track a childs progress.
Not it, they, and no, they don’t, because they are notional. You have zero comprehension of the inherent conflict of interest, or you are ignoring it because your Daddy hasn’t given you your lines yet.
And yet there it is, inherent. Conflictual.
True about the cracks, yes. The system has never dealt well with the bottom 20%.
International rescue: ” That’s not why my children’s teachers are telling us. Fundamentally if you agree with being able to compare a child’s progress with their peers it is worth working with the data. From most conversations I have had with teachers they support it.”
There you go again. Your own experience is anecdote, not evidence. Enough already! The evidence, it seems, doesn’t support what you’re asserting. So: evidence trumps anecdote again. With which state of affairs we evidence nerds are quietly satisfied.
“There you go again. Your own experience is anecdote, not evidence.”
So?
“The evidence, it seems, doesn’t support what you’re asserting.”
Yes, it does.
A cretin doesn’t realise that the same teachers he vilifies do all the testing, and even if he did realise, is too stupid to note the inevitable consequences.
Where have I vilified teachers? You really are having more and more reading issues OAB.
If you don’t know, I’m not helping you out, trash.
Running away from another false claim eh OAB?
Mac1 has been charitable enough to explain it to you below, trash.
Still running.
National Standards don’t compare children against peers. National Standards compares children against standards – that’s the whole point.
PAT and e-astle compare children against the performance of kids at their cohort level. PAT has been around for at least 40 years because I remember doing them as a kid. This data wasn’t withheld – it was just put in a parent friendly format e.g. Johnny needs to work harder etc. Rather than Johhny is at stanine 3.
“National Standards don’t compare children against peers. National Standards compares children against standards – that’s the whole point.”
Sort of. The standards take into account expectations at certain levels of achievement. These expectations are based to some degree on the national data set, and can then be used by parents to compare their children to other children. That’s what parents do.
“This data wasn’t withheld – it was just put in a parent friendly format e.g. Johnny needs to work harder etc. ”
Which means SFA. I want to know more than just a teachers opinion about my child, thanks.
And the report- Nat Standard or what ever,is STILL reliant on the teacher judgement.
I have no reason to believe the data is not reliable or valid. Do you? And I trust most teachers judgement. Most.
What a tangled web you’ve woven. One in five teachers has the ability to cut through your son’s patriarchal handicap, and you trust most of them who aren’t unionists.
What a cretin.
5 teachers failed my son and my family. But I hold no grudge. The union, who protects child abusers and poor teachers, however, are a waste of space.
You failed your son. Choke on it.
My sons doing great! We paid for a wonderful tutor for him, and he is about to start tertiary study in July.
Let’s hope academia can reverse the pernicious handicap he inherited from you.
Do you have any evidence of the NZEI being aware of a teacher behaving inappropriately around children?.
“Do you have any evidence of the NZEI being aware of a teacher behaving inappropriately around children?.”
That’s not exactly what I said, but you’d need to read the whole case. As a taster, this from the Herald:
“Pukenui School tried to fire Burrett for incompetency – alleging he was drunk, unkempt and inept – but a teacher’s union got involved and the case ended in a mediation hearing and confidential Board of Trustees payout in 2001.”
That’s not specifically about the abuse allegation, but they knew this guy was ratbag from way back.
I don’t KNOW it is reliable or valid.
Good to see trusting teachers judgement.
BUT what happens if the judgements are based on non valid assessments.
ANDOAB your comments about his child are out of line.
Teachers make assessments all the time, irrespective of NS. We simply have taken these for granted because they are a normal part of teaching. NCEA involves substantial (and I would ague highly subjective) assessing.
He uses his child as a human shield, to pimp his dogma, and I have a particular contempt for that flavour of dishonesty.
Yes he did introduce his children.
Nope. They’re neither national nor standard and thus are completely invalid. It’s been that way ever since National dreamed them up. National Standards are, and always will be, a complete and utter waste of time and money.
In fact, they”re even worse than that:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8134232/Exams-culture-fuelling-teenage-mental-health-problems.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/over-focus-on-exams-causing-mental-health-problems-and-self-harm-among-pupils-study-finds-10368815.html
They’re actually causing significant psychological damage to your children.
No, actually you don’t:
It wasn’t ever withheld.
And that is why I have been going on about reliability and validity
“They’re actually causing significant psychological damage to your children.”
This is more of this leftist ‘no-one wins or loses’ claptrap. My children suffer no psychological damage by their parents being informed how they are tracking. None.
“No, actually you don’t:”
Yes, I do. And that’s for me to decide.
“Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to human nature;”
Sigh. Never coached sports have you? Never spent any time with a group of young people in a car rally or a quiz night? Competition is ingrained into human nature as part of our evolution. But you miss the entire point. NS is not about competition, it is about comparison.
You wouldn’t know would you? The only way to find out would be to take them to the psychologist and have them ask. I suspect that the result will surprise you.
The other option is that you could accept the results of the studies that show children are harmed by all the testing. But you wouldn’t do that as the results go against your unsubstantiated beliefs.
Yes I have but, more importantly, I remember being a child and being forcefully subjected to competition.
And the reason for the comparison is…?
Yeah, that’s what i thought.
“You wouldn’t know would you?”
Yep, I’d know.
“The other option is that you could accept the results of the studies that show children are harmed by all the testing. ”
Testing is part of all learning, whether it’s maths or learning to juggle a football. It’s also part of life, something education should be preparing our kids for.
Those opposed to testing in schools are either weak minded, or wanting to somehow hide results from parents.
“Yes I have but, more importantly, I remember being a child and being forcefully subjected to competition.”
Poor you. I remember as a child loving and embracing the competition, and that’s why I observe in the kids I’m involved with today.
“And the reason for the comparison is…?”
To determine progress. You know, the way we compare our economy with others, our business environment, our sporting teams. I know, let’s stop measuring unemployment. I mean, no-one really needs to know that, do they?
Those opposed to testing in schools are either weak minded, or wanting to somehow hide results from parents.
A third option (why do Wingnuts love binary false dichotomies so much?) is that they have observed that the best results* are derived from teaching, not testing.
That is one of the reasons Finnish education, for example, has blossomed. Meanwhile, NZ’s PISA scores, which used to be stellar, are not so much. Why is the Wingnut motto, “Per ardua, ad cloacum”?
*as judged by international measures such as PISA.
Testing is part of teaching. Always has been. Even Finland uses it, despite your misrepresentation.
My assertion is that the best results are obtained from teaching rather than testing, and that this is one of the fundamental advantages of the ‘Finnish’* education model: it allows teachers to teach; it applies pedagogical rather than political imperatives.
Meanwhile, in NZ, the Right’s hatred of unions forces it into imposing political imperatives upon the MoE that have nothing to do with pedagogy. We see it in right wing invective against academia, in the pretence that “academics are just like lawyers”, for example, or the Right’s shameful betrayal of Margaret Thatcher’s principled stand on the Greenhouse Effect – her only worthwhile contribution to politics.
Attacking education, all for politics. Shame on them.
*I expect they observed it rather than invented it per se.
“My assertion is that the best results are obtained from teaching rather than testing, and that this is one of the fundamental advantages of the ‘Finnish’* education model: it allows teachers to teach; it applies pedagogical rather than political imperatives.”
You reasoning implies teachers cannot do both. They can, and have been for decades.
That’s always been the case. Do you have any reason to believe the current system delivers measure less reliable or valid than the previous one?
As I have said before I don’t know BECAUSE there have been NO studies that I know of. If there are please point them out.
With out Reliablity and Validity there can be NO sensible comparisons
DV I think this may be the assessment tool you’re looking for:
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/providers-partners/assessment-and-moderation/managing-national-assessment-in-schools/mna-review/
Here you are International. Take comfort from this guru.
“National Standards is invaluable in that it places a level of responsibility on the system, it places it on the school and it places it on the teachers.
It does what should have been done decades ago but wasn’t because the unions who run the system can’t stand accountability and always argue that whatever is wrong is only fixed by more money.”
Mike Hosking is as well informed as you International so it must be so.
Though, to be fair, teachers have had data on success and failures of children for decades. It is just that politicians use kids as playthings without sound evidence to support the plan or the result.
He’s right on the money. Unions opposed NS because they don’t like accountability. But parents love them.
International rescue, did you mean that parents love unions? 🙂
Any hard evidence that unions opposed NS because they are afraid of accountability?
Have you ever sat as a teacher at meet the parents evenings and not understood what a high level of accountability can mean? Have you ever as a teacher been visited by Inspectors? Have you ever been involved in yearly reviews of your performance, and had to write reports to parents, HODs and principals?
Have you ever as a teacher had to undergo constant review out there in the community, as you meet former students, parents of former students, and people who have talked to these two groups?
It is still happening to me, and I’m four years retired from teaching.
“Gidday, Mr Mac1, do you remember me?”
I still teach guitar and every year my accountability includes a public concert where my students show what they have learned, along with comparison to other teachers and their students on other instruments.
Every year I am rehired by a manager who attends that concert and who is in contact with the parents.
Unions and teachers don’t appreciate accountability, International Rescue? Pffffft!
He has no conception of any of this because he believes his Daddy’s malicious lies.
You seem to view my support for NS as an attack on teachers. Nothing could be further from the truth. In my experience as a parent I have met wonderful and terrible teachers, thankfully many more of the former than the latter.
Nope, I saw it as an attack on unions and teachers, especially teachers who belong to unions, as most do. Unions are not faceless entities; they are the membership. To attack unions for not wanting accountability is an attack on those teachers who belong to them.
Many right wing union bashers, of whom you seem to be one, don’t like teachers’s unions especially, since they are still strong unions with a high membership.
Then comes the disconnect. How can I, as a parent, and as member of society, not like teachers because any shred of honesty would prevent me from that sort of blanket condemnation, but still get at unions that I hate with an intensity because they oppose what I stand for- individualism, not collectivism etc.
So, I’ll say “I have met wonderful and terrible teachers”, and have a bob both ways.
And then not address the issue that teachers do know about accountability, which was, after all, my point.
And for my evidence that you conflate teachers, unions and accountability, here is what you wrote- “Unions opposed NS because they don’t like accountability. “
THEY. UNIONS. Most teachers I meet are happy to be held accountable. Their unions don’t like it.
The cretin thinks National Standards are about teacher accountability. They aren’t, and even if they were, he cannot address the fact that the teachers themselves assess the students, which utterly and completely undermines the false intent.
What a moron.
NS are about teacher accountability. They are also about informing parents. As a parent a teachers assessment is only as good as the teacher. As poor teachers are protected by useless union, I’ll take NS thanks.
You cannot address the substance of the argument. The teachers themselves assess the students.
This conflict of interest is beyond your feeble imagination.
Edit: teacher accountability was around for long before your Daddy started lying to Parliament and the nation about it, and you don’t even know that. What do you think professional development entails, cretin?
IR – you don’t seem to understand that teachers rate the students.
So teachers are “held to account” by the very ratings that they bestow.
Reply to international rescue, when you write, “As poor teachers are protected by useless union, I’ll take NS thanks.”
To use your own logic against yourself, these same teachers of whom you say there are many admirable people are the ones who are protecting inadequate teachers? So, how do you explain that? You can’t have it both ways.
You got lost when you come up against your own built-in belief that teachers are good but unions are not good.
The only way you seem to be able to solve your difficulty is to blame the unions, and bring into existence this amorphous, nebulous creation of your belief system that somehow teachers are not the union, but are the unfortunate, unwilling, naive dupes of union stirrers, haters, anti-social, foreign-dominated, agents of deep conspiracy who probably are anti-American………. but definitely opposed to apple pie and New Zealand as the way I want it.
Teachers’ unions comprise teachers. Get it? They are the union. What they believe is what the union believes. Not the other way around.
It’s the right wing ‘dupes’ version of history and society, be it ‘commies’, unions, peaceniks, greenies, or whoever…….
And you say we are deluded?
“IR – you don’t seem to understand that teachers rate the students.
So teachers are “held to account” by the very ratings that they bestow.”
Duh, yes I know. And those ‘ratings’ (wrong term) are subject to the standards and to peer review.
“To use your own logic against yourself, these same teachers of whom you say there are many admirable people are the ones who are protecting inadequate teachers? So, how do you explain that? You can’t have it both ways.”
Teachers are not ‘the’ unions. Teachers are in a union, although an increasing number choose not to be. The NZEI and PPTA have independent Boards. To work for the NZEI a teaching qualification or experience is NOT a prerequisite.
“They” are the fucking union. I have been to enough teacher union meetings to know that.
You have this strange explanation to explain your dichotomy. Teachers are good. Teachers don’t like National standards. Must be the union’s fault. Those nasty machinating union stirrers who subvert ordinary decent teachers and come out with policy and thinking that is different from their natural lords and masters.
international rescue, you’ve obviously never been to a teacher union meeting to understand that teachers don’t get duped by scheming union ‘bosses’.
Only in the moistest of your dreams. mate.
His wet dreams are of authoritarian followers, just like his dry dreams and his day-dreams and his entire waking life. His son will be lucky to escape the handicap of such a witless entitled father.
““They” are the fucking union. I have been to enough teacher union meetings to know that.”
That shows a serious lack of critical thinking. Not all teachers are union members, so how can a collective ‘they’ be the union? Simply, ‘they’ aren’t.
“To attack unions for not wanting accountability is an attack on those teachers who belong to them.”
Rubbish.
“And then not address the issue that teachers do know about accountability, which was, after all, my point.”
I didn’t say they didn’t. I said UNIONS don’t like accountability.
Here’s my point. Teacher unions protect poor teachers, at the expense of good teachers. They protect child molesters and other odious individuals. Their stance towards teachers in Partnership Schools is nothing short of bullying. Thankfully the unions are dying out but not before time.
Yes, all you’ve got is rote learned hatred. You can’t even make up your own lies.
But instead of listening to them, you parrot right wing lie-factories at us instead. What a shithead.
Why would you want to make teachers accountable for National Standards measurements that detract from successfully teaching children?
Isn’t that totally stupid?
Or is that just you?
That’s a joke, right? Are you suggesting providing parents with nationally recognised standards is not appropriate?
That isn’t what he said, illiterate trash.
detract from successfully teaching children
That’s what he said. You have no chance of comprehending it.
That’s rich, you calling me illiterate lol.
Avoid the substance, spew some hate: it’s all you’ve got, Daddy’s boy.
You’re losing it OAB. Keep taking the meds.
They are not nationally anything.
Nothing more than junk data. And yes I very much am in a position to know.
is this going to be another thread where you just throw your weight about and stomp around the place ?
-International Idiot
No, we don’t.
Have you ever tried to read a child’s school report polluted with NS acronyms?
NS hides more than it reveals, which is oh so typical of this government and the damage it is doing to our once supportive society.
“Have you ever tried to read a child’s school report polluted with NS acronyms?”
Yep, no problem. Far better than some of the whitewash we had prior.
ianmac, Ithought I would risk reading Hosking to see if he had any insight – Nah, just another union / teacher bash masquerading as opinion.
Teachers have found NS restricting rather than assisting teaching. Partly because of the time taken in reporting on them, putting gobbledygook ministry talk, into plain language rather than energy into classroom programmes.
International Rescue, for your benefit.
Maths assessment – teachers use amongst other diagnostics, GLOSS, which is an integral part of NUMP – introduced at the turn of the century
Reading – Prose inventories/Probe/Star, – you may have heard of Marie Clay and her running records – been around for decades and very precise diagnostics of reading behaviours.
Writing – asTTle and its forerunner, in depth analysis or writing behaviours across all genre.
All the above in existence and used long before National Standards.
Hosking trots out the “best teachers”. Unfortunately, he cannot define what “best teachers” actually means, but if you throw money at them then they will perform better. Actually, doubling the salaries would probably not make any difference, except that a teacher might then be tempted to pay another teacher to work (jobshare) with them.
The real issue here is work load – let teachers teach.
Boards of trustees govern (and that means the community who elected them there need to have some responsibilities put back on them – deliver a well fed, rested and happy child to the school gates, to allow the classroom to function).
By the way the Teacher’s Union is an Institute. The NZEI is made up of the teachers who run it. This myth that these teachers somehow want to avoid accountability is insulting and just plain wrong.
For decades teachers have used very specific assessment tools to assist the learning needs of their pupils. The blanket and unreliable NS have clouded the issue and the Long Tail still exists after 6 long years of political interference.
Be interesting to know what the problem was for IR’s child. Teachers are not psychologists so would welcome ready access to specialists which this Government abolished.
NS have been part of arresting the decline in standards. Check the data.
Utter rubbish. Nothing has changed. Just lots of teachers wasting time on useless and meaningless measures.
Actually measuring the progress of children is fairly important wouldn’t you think?
No, in fact, it isn’t, you ignorant fuckwit.
I really hope you don’t have children, or any influence over them.
Your hopes are as false as your beliefs, which is a huge part of your son’s handicap.
I’m sure there will be.
Glad you are so trusting
I don’t know of any – may be some else who reads this site knows, ianmac?
But don’t you think it is remiss that such an important change doesn’t have basic statistical support?
You mean like the numeracy project? That abject failure that was foisted onto my children that now has more children in Kumon etc than ever before?
The support for NS comes from parents who want to know how their children are doing. We understand the data will take time, but the longer they are in place, the better they will be.
There already have been. Notional standards aren’t standards because they are notional.
The only reason you argue in their favour is that your Daddy suggested them, and the only reason he suggested them is to support the privatisation of public schools, and introduce an education model that flies in the face of international best practice.
You are too stupid to grasp these simple truths.
Actually benchmarking educational progress has been around a long time.
So have racism, slavery, money laundering, and other right wing behaviours, and your point is?
OAB your blind hatred for anything or anyone to do with National or John Key has you confused.
“So have racism, slavery, money laundering, and other right wing behaviours, and your point is?” – has nothing to do with being right wing…or left wing…bad people are bad people regardless of where they are in the political spectrum.
I don’t think of the world in terms of good and bad: I think of it in shades of ignorance, sloth, and stupidity.
ayup – shift change at tory propaganda central, I see 🙂
International Rescue has an ALGO that restricts posts after 16:58 (business hours only)
Take joy in your sons achievements – help him set realistic goals and nurture him toward them.
Forget this “relativity ; – as good as others – better than others” shit.
Else you will likely impart to him the lie of there being value in winning – and the consequent burden of losing – which, by definition is prevalent.
Else he will likely perpetuate this tyranny upon his spawn.
Thanks for your comments. Just let me say the comparisons are not for his benefit so much as ours. NS enables us to determine whether he (and his sister) are on the right track. Whether they are about where they should be or not. Both of my children have shown great aptitude in some areas, and needed help in others. I guess that’s just like most kids?
Clearly National Standards are a sensitive issue for the government with all the pro government propaganda trolls jumping onto this one to defend them.
That’s assuming that the teachers haven’t been gaming the system. Give people a system and they will game it. Particularly in high decile schools.
You’re likely to get some very defensive responses to that from some here GS. Probably accuse you of denigrating teachers.
A far more likely explanation for any apparent “gaming” is confirmation bias. That’s why professional development depends in part upon peer review and Notional Standards, um, don’t.
You’d understand that if you weren’t a gullible fuckwit.
Is their peer review in National Standards OAB? Is there peer review in standards assessment? You really have no clue, do you.
If you are claiming that there is, it is up to you to support your assertion with evidence. Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Education:
Where they mention peers they are referring to other students.
They rely heavily on “teacher judgment” – hence the obvious (to everyone except your Daddy and his parrots) reference to conflicts of interest.
I have observed that some right wingers think mentioning conflicts of interest constitutes a personal attack. I’m picking you’re one of those.
Go do some reading Fucktard, all teacher judgements are peer reviewed, and not against other students… against the standard
No, you are making the claim: substantiate it: show me the peer-reviewed research, published in a journal of record.
The fact, dupe, is that as the MoE explains, teachers judge their own students and their assessments carry the most weight. Teachers are of course subject to peer review, and your Daddy’s low standards have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
OAB, can you please rethink your use of the word ‘cretin’ as a tool of abuse? It’s ableist and perpetuates stigma against people with intellecutal disabilities.
I’m also pretty shocked at the misuse of the disability of child and reframing it to use against a relative. No-one has the right to use another person’s disability in that way.
http://disabledfeminists.com/2009/10/10/ableist-word-profile-cretin/
http://smallbutkindamighty.com/2014/08/19/five-things-consider-using-ableist-language/
What about the child’s parent using their alleged disability to attack teachers? Did that shock you?
Come on OAB, you are better than this. Whatever your opponent was doing shouldn’t distance you from reconsidering your own actions in the context of disability politics. I’ll have a reread later to look at what IR was doing, but last night I started reading this thread and couldn’t get past the repeated ableist language.
What if there’s evidence that IR’s alleged son’s alleged disability is his father?
Hate speech has to be distributed somehow, after all. IR parrots zombie hate speech: do you think he doesn’t bring his hatreds into his home?
He is the biggest handicap his children will ever face. If my observations offend I sincerely hope so.
Do you know what ableism is? Do you care?
Do you teach your kids to promote discrimination against disabled people?
Yes, and yes and no. Perhaps you can suggest another way to characterise wingnut reckons.
“Perhaps you can suggest another way to characterise wingnut reckons.”
Myself I find it hard not to use certain words that describe stupidity because I like cursing and such and love that kind of language for its expressiveness. It is a challenge.
Interestingly, and pertinently, many of the synonyms for stupid come from words that used to be medical language for a disability and then became pejoratives and thus contribute to stigma. One of the big problems with using those words now is that they are words associated with some of the most vulnerable people in society, esp those with intellectual disabilities or those with mental health issues.
I just had a look in the dictionary and there are a lot of words to use for stupid. Some of them are obviously going to be ableist. But it always amazes me how some I think are so far removed from their original usage as to be not offensive and yet there are people who are still offended because they live with the reality of the pejorative (often a family member or friend has the disability). But after putting those words aside, there are still plenty left.
Fool is good*.
Obtusity (yes, it’s a noun!)
Wooden-headed
Vapid.
Fatuous.
Asinine.
Gormless.
*there is then also the issue about attacking a person instead of their argument 😉
Sorry for the delay.
“An Overall Teacher Judgment (OTJ) is a judgment made about a student’s progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards and/or Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori. An OTJ should be based on a variety of evidence teachers already collect, such as the student’s work, peer and self-assessment, everyday classroom observation, and assessment activities (both formal and informal). This involves drawing on and applying the evidence gathered up to a particular point in time in order to make an overall judgment about a student’s progress and achievement.”
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/National-Standards/Key-information/Questions-and-answers
The OTJ is very much subject to peer review and assessment.
MoE’s description of how OTJs are arrived at demonstrates that peer-review is not a part of the process.
While IR will continue to clutch at his false beliefs like a security blankie, others can read it, and make up their own minds.
The NZ Curriculum reference clearly states there is. You’ve been proven wrong. Again. Still confusing inequality and poverty??
The NZ Curriculum doesn’t clearly state anything of the sort: if you think the passage you quoted supports your opinion, you’re wrong.
Feel free to link to the proof that OTJ assessments are subject to peer review.
The link I provided has a picture to help you understand the process, and even that didn’t help you. Clutch at your security blankie.
“The NZ Curriculum doesn’t clearly state anything of the sort: if you think the passage you quoted supports your opinion, you’re wrong.”
I realise you have some kind of reading/comprehension difficulty, so I’ll give you more evidence:
“Engaging in some form of peer review (moderation) enables teachers to check their …”
“Collegial support and informal discussion were most frequently
mentioned, along with gathering multiple sources of evidence to formulate judgements. ”
“Moderation is more than informal conversations with colleagues (Hipkins, 2010); indeed it involves deep philosophical discussions in which the tensions between assessment, pedagogical and content knowledge are deconstructed and reconstructed in new ways so that teacher understanding is extended. ”
“Furthermore, Reid (2007, p. 144) argues that “engaging in assessment moderation appears to help teachers resolve formative and summative assessment tensions and strengthen links between pedagogy, curriculum and assessment”. Teachers as learners can consider their learning as an interactive social activity as well as one which is individually located. Engaging in some form of peer review (moderation) enables teachers to check their interpretations with other colleagues, to debate understandings New Zealand teachers’ overall teacher judgements (OTJs) 72 Assessment Matters 4 : 2012 about such matters as curriculum, learning and assessment, and to have their views deepened, challenged or confirmed. Professional conversations within moderation processes are the basis of potential deep learning and shared understandings of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. In turn, these clearer understandings help teachers in their instructional and assessment processes to assist students to “develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during its actual production” (Sadler, 2009, p. 45), thus linking assessment with improved learning and teaching.
http://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/AM2012_4_053.pdf
This was from 2010, when the system was just getting underway! You know what you could do, OAB? Ask a teacher. There we go, get off your keyboard and engage with the real world. You’re bound to learn something.
Here’s more OAB:
“How do teachers ensure judgments are soundly based?
Moderation and collegial support were the methods used by most teachers. ”
http://www.educationgroup.co.nz/uploads/Publications/How%20do%20teachers%20make%20overall%20teacher%20judgements%201910.pdf
This article even mentions that teachers were asking for more PD time (that’s Professional Development for ignoramuses like you) to develop their ability at moderation/peer review. That you claim doesn’t exist!
Too funny: your cite supports my position: from the conclusion (otherwise known as “the guts”) of Poskitt & Mitchell 2012
QED.
Here’s more OAB…
Meanwhile, on Earth, what I actually said was:
professional development depends in part upon peer review and Notional Standards, um, don’t
IR has now cited the MoE and Poskitt & Mitchell 2012, who both confirmed my initial statement.
QED again: IR has limited English comprehension skills.
“Too funny: your cite supports my position: from the conclusion (otherwise known as “the guts”) of Poskitt & Mitchell 2012”
Where does that say there is no peer review?
Figures out the difference between poverty and inequality?
“professional development depends in part upon peer review and Notional Standards, um, don’t”
You have been challenging claims that peer review is part of the process. Here’s one of your direct quotes:
“MoE’s description of how OTJs are arrived at demonstrates that peer-review is not a part of the process.
While IR will continue to clutch at his false beliefs like a security blankie, others can read it, and make up their own minds.”
I’ve proven you wrong. Again.
Where does that say there is no peer review?
It’s conclusions support that conclusion.
With specific reference to the OTJ, the cited material supports the conclusion that the OTJ for any individual student is not peer-reviewed.
The point of all this esoterica is that the notional standards model is flawed because it contains inherent conflicts of interest, International experience is that this is by no means a theoretical problem.
The consequent damage to children can be seen in the relative PISA scores between countries.
“It’s conclusions support that conclusion.”
No it doesn’t. And my subsequent references prove that there is. You’re running away from your original claims, and thus isn’t the first time.
That isn’t what ‘subsequent’ means – what is it with you and English? 😆
I do not resile from a single one of my original claims.
“I do not resile from a single one of my original claims.”
Well you’e running pretty fast from your comments about peer review! You making quite a habit of it actually.
As the links you provided demonstrate, Notional Standards are not subject to peer review, and neither are OTJs.
I wonder how many other English words you’re clueless about the meaning of. Thinking “subsequent” means “before” could seriously affect your understanding of a whole bunch of things. No wonder you think your links make your case: you’re semi-literate.
“As the links you provided demonstrate, Notional Standards are not subject to peer review, and neither are OTJs.”
The links showed very clearly they are. I ca’t be responsible for your lack of comprehension.
Nah, I’d just say that this is more an insight into Guerrilla Surgeon’s personal ethics than a sustainable attack on teachers.
There is no sustainable attack on teachers: the right loses the civil wars it wages against intelligence.
What a load of bollocks.
Its set the scene for further ideological funding and dog whistling so job done.
It was never about positive educational outcomes.
All those pesky facts and evidence showed before it was rolled out it was all about politics not kids learning.
Its another of Nationals legacies; farking over one of the best education systems in the world to enrich their mates.
My fear has always been that behind National Standards comes national testing. The standards are so woolly and so up to teacher judgement to be nearly irrelevant. So to make the standards, “standard” along comes national testing!
Consider the results being used to punish under achieving schools with further funding cuts and eventual closure or transfer to private interests.
… and being used to introduce performance related pay for teachers. That has been the typical use of them in the US.
National Standards has never been about improving educational learning environments or outcomes.
Funding to pay for National Standards was cut from support services. Remedial reading programmes are now paid out of the operating budget of schools, not a specialised fund. High needs students – even if they are identified – have less access to support services, and those services, if they are provided are under constant review.
I don’t think national testing will be possible in NZ – it’s just so expensive – mostly in wages. And by the time the results come back they are out of date – the kids have moved on.
There are hilarious tales in the US about what the markers get up to …
Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry
And it’s all really funny until you remember that it’s kid’s lives, thier teachers and schools that are being held “accountable” for the marks that are given so randomly.
National Standards were never about providing education per se. What they were and are about is applying measurable criteria to a system that can then be moneytised so that the system can be privatised.
On that front, is it a failure or a success?
Success. having the means to accurately identify failure is a valuable tool. not something that should be derided for pointing out flaws in the most vulnerable sector of our nation.
National Standards, like N.C.E.A. I have never gotten my head around. The pre-N.C.E.A. system worked fine for me – my mediocre marks were simply because I did the bare minimum.
Can’t blame the system for that.
Back in the day, our scoring system ensured that 50% of students failed. Marks were scaled accordingly in end-of-year tests.
Now, think about that.
If you are testing for knowledge – and everyone knows the material – still 50% would fail. Conversely, if only 30% know the material then 20% of those who don’t will get scaled up to a pass.
The NCEA is a recognition of adaptive and alternative methods of what is required for ongoing learning. I remember reading once, that a new educational system takes 12 years to become the norm, and it is around 15 now. I have my issues with NCEA but it relates more to the impact of political interference and failure to provide for all students an equal sense of success, but not with the intent to allow for students that can adapt.
Agree with all you wrote Molly. But the risk with NCEA is that pupils see learning as a set of chunks and many believe that they should stop once they have achieved a pass. They loose sight of the wholeness of learning.
That is indeed a problem. It is exacerbated by the assumption that learning is all about eventual “earning”.
I don’t think that is brought about by the system, but by the society we have raised our children in, during the last three decades.
By all accounts nearly all Charter schools appear to be doing well stats wise, maybe that’s a model that needs to be implemented in areas where the state sector is letting the children down.
These stats, do they mention that three of the four schools had failed to meet all their obligations?.
One of them has done really well in the ‘farms owned’ stats.
Did you read the article you linked too?
“The documents show the areas of non-compliance were roll numbers and student engagement. Vanguard Military School didn’t meet its minimum roll requirements, but said that was because some students left after achieving NCEA early.
It also didn’t meet engagement targets – having too many suspensions and expulsions – but said as it was a military school it had a hard line policy on behaviour.”
“Terenga Paraoa had not complied with a well-being survey, which was also required.”
“All the schools’ achievement targets appeared to have been met, the documents said”
With over 90% of credits earned at Vanguard Military School in 2014 internally assessed, of course they left early.
/
The government data published on the Education Counts website for each of the charter secondary schools reveals the following for “School Leavers with at least NCEA Level 2” for 2014:
Vanguard Military School 21 out of 35 or 60.0%
Te Kura Hourua o Whangarei Terenga Paraoa 5 out of 9 or 55.6%
Te Pumanawa o Te Wairua 1 out of 15 or 6.7%
These results compare very unfavourably with the national school leaver figure of 77.1% leaving school with at least NCEA Level 2 or higher (School Leaver stats are published by the Ministry on this site under the Find A School application.)
https://saveourschoolsnz.com/2015/08/14/david-seymours-claim-that-charter-school-ncea-achievement-is-very-high-is-utter-nonsense/
You fail to understand how Charter Schools work.
The have high exclusion rates – that should be a clue for you. Which kids would you get rid of if you wanted your data to look better?
Also – are their numbers big enough for the data to be a fair indication of ‘achievement’? I suggest not even close.
Every country has a 20 percent tail in achievement because of the simple fact that 20 percent have an IQ below average just as 20 percent are above average, just the law of nature. We should expect every child to achieve to their potential but in this country we have the hurdles of poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, poor housing, ill health caused by living conditions and the transient lifestyle of the poor in both address and parental partners.
What we also have is an entire industry dedicated to obscuring the facts and shifting the blame: it sells legislation in exchange for lucrative business opportunities and calls itself the National Party.
Psych nurse, did you know you used the language of eugenics? IQ tests were created to give justification to sterilisation programmes. They are very far from being scientific. “Law of nature” a rather nasty eugenics term, used to justify many evil acts.
Then the list at the end is the same list most people were picked for the eugenics programs.
If you have time a great book is http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/ it has chapter one on line, great read – even if it will give you a few nightmares.
adam I don’t think Psych Nurse meant anything adverse. It is true that a certain proportion of kids are not very bright and they will have a lifelong struggle to reach a “norm.” Sometimes those same kids might have been pretty good at something less academic but nowadays the focus on NS makes their opportunities fewer and their sense of failure can be crippling.
It would be impossible for every Kid to be above “normal.” Therefore some will fail regardless of the quality of teaching.
Yes Adam you are right, the measuring of intelligence to determine cognitive functioning is about as valid to our society as National Standards, but the fact remains that about 20 percent fail to achieve in education and they are used to undermine the teaching profession.
National Standards were introduced with the ultimate goal of producing a measure to which performance pay for teachers would be eventually tied. STUPID IDEA.
Looks like it might be a good idea about to save the country millions. teachers simply aren’t performing.
this is a unique situation where the kids that we all care about are simply being held back by ineffectual teaching. this mantra that individuality and creativity leads to better outcomes is not true and has been a ridiculously expensive experiment in allowing standards to slide.
It’s difficult be creative when you don’t have the framework of a basic understanding of the rules that bind the world. be it multiplication, communication through a grammatical understanding of the written word or being able to understand and comprehend arguments via that same medium. the most outstanding creative people I know are proficient in at least one of reading, writing and arithmetic. if not all three. they also learnt these skills 30 years ago. not one kid has come through in any interview that has been half as creative as my colleagues and peers.
Having read a few of International rescues comments it proves once again propaganda wins over substance.
It’s obvious from his comments – he has no idea what ERO is and does.
It’s obvious from his comments – he repeating the spewed propaganda line this government has espoused.
It’s obvious from his comments – he can’t make any connections between privatisation and the use of dumb statistics to justify ideology dress up as social policy.
It’s obvious from his comments – has no idea this is a socialist site and his retarded comments are out of touch with socialist thought, and yes you can thank us for a working education system.
It’s obvious from his comments – his enjoys being obtuse.
It’s obvious from his comments – does not give a damn about anyone else kids, but his own
You know somewhere in Africa there is a far right nirvana with your name on it.
The other interesting observation is that IR has a child with learning difficulty\ that it took 5 teacher to pick upon.
Obviously Nat Stds didn’t do that for him. And yet he is a proponent of Nat Stds .
Wonder what was the miracle diagnosis for IR’s kid?
Yes I thought it was a particularly interesting disconnect.
Just like Nationals promised Ultra fast broadband. Failed to materialise in most of Auckland at least!
An item by Andrew Dickens has just come on in the Herald. Jolly good.
“National Standards….
…..Yes an extra quarter billion has been invested. But remember our population has swelled by 500,000 people in the last decade so that money was needed just to keep pace. When politicians say they’re spending more on health and education remember that they have to because there are more of us.
They’re playing politics. That’s because they’re politicians….
…In 2008 John Key said National Standards will lift education. Who bought that? National Standards is only a measuring device. Nothing more. Not an advance in educational techniques…..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11632795
…and the time spent measuring is better invested in teaching. One small step for humankind, but a giant leap for a right winger.
National standards are a joke. But it is not funny.
Labeling a 5 year old as a failure because they get Non Achieved?? What sort of idiot dreams up this stuff. Oh yes our idiotic government. Labelling a 5 year old as dumb is not really psychologically a sound thing to do. Likewise a kid that has parents that hot house them and are labeled a genius at 5 when really they are more like a well trained robot, and find out at 12 they are just average and flip out. (Not to mention their parents). More importantly rote learning is something of the past. Kids these days face many challenges and creativity is more important and being able to think outside the box.
National standards drains the creativity out of children. Creativity is important for innovation and for the changes that kids will inevitably face in the future.
There is also research into why a country like Singapore which has excellent maths result has few patents and less business starting up. That is because the system labels them early and they start to lack the confidence to actually succeed even if they are good at a subject.
http://www.newsweek.com/creativity-crisis-74665
An extract…
“Back in 1958, Ted Schwarzrock was an 8-year-old third grader when he became one of the “Torrance kids,” a group of nearly 400 Minneapolis children who completed a series of creativity tasks newly designed by professor E. Paul Torrance. Schwarzrock still vividly remembers the moment when a psychologist handed him a fire truck and asked, “How could you improve this toy to make it better and more fun to play with?” He recalls the psychologist being excited by his answers. In fact, the psychologist’s session notes indicate Schwarzrock rattled off 25 improvements, such as adding a removable ladder and springs to the wheels. That wasn’t the only time he impressed the scholars, who judged Schwarzrock to have “unusual visual perspective” and “an ability to synthesize diverse elements into meaningful products.”
The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).”
2+2+ 4. Closed.
How many different paths could you walk to get from your house to the Supermarket? Open. No one answer.
To SaveNZ at 12: To ” National standards drains the creativity out of children”, I heartily agree, but please include ” and of teachers”.
My joy in teaching creatively was inhibited hugely in late ’70’s. Earlier, I felt free, having but to know well the basic syllabus , and that the necessity was to develop thinking skills BUT through whatever topic of interest was presently forthcoming.
Lets be honest here…Teachers union (any union) and the Labour party are joined at the hip. Any policy that comes via a National Government will be resisted at all costs…
National Standards is a tool to help identify where kids need help, and to put resource around the areas required.
“Lets be honest here”. Hah! This kind of introduction, through long experience, usually means the opposite.
Chuck, you obviously don’t know teacher unions to say that they and the Labour Party are joined at the hip. That assertion might explain your world, but it’s not the experience of a teacher of 43 years former experience.
At times, even mostly, views coincide; but your assertion is just that. It implies collusion. That is a lie. Plain wrong. Fuckwit stuff. You just don’t know.
NZEI is affiliated to NZ council of trade unions (CTU)…which if Labour is replaced with National and NZ council of trade unions (CTU) with “big business” the howls of outrage will be deafening here.
Collusion or just views coinciding mostly… is little difference at the end of the day.
So, let’s get it straight here, little Chuck. You say NZEI (and there is more than one teacher’s union just by the way) is affiliated to the NZCTU and therefore is joined to Labour at the hip?
I haven’t heard such breathtaking leaps of logic since the good old anti-communist days of ‘fellow-travellers’, your far-fetched National/big business analogy notwithstanding.
No, they aren’t. because of the inherent conflict of interest in the way they are calculated, and the ways in which they fly in the face of international best practice.
Your Daddy depends upon you finding ways to avoid and deny these simple truths,
Chuck, “identify where kids need help, and to put resource around the areas required.”
So true and that was what was happening for decades, even though we are money/resource poor. NS has deflected the time and energy and money required.
“National Standards is a tool to help identify where kids need help, and to put resource around the areas required.”
If only they did either of those things.
@ Chuck – I heard the government has just reduced the grants for gifted children. All around schools are having their funding cut in real terms.
Apart from failed charter schools as a bribe to the Maori party, where is the so called extra ‘resource around the areas required”?
Also where is the so called increased results from the millions investor in Charter Schools?
So are the standards too tough? or is it the teachers inability to teach basic numeracy and literacy?
It’s either of these. I’ll be interested to see which it may be.
Or some third thing, like, for example, as all local and international evidence attests, household income, or pedagogy, you witless parrot.
I love this, you are basically saying “you are poor, you are destined to be unintelligible and innumerate”
Love the blanket all too. makes your entire statement invalid as it’s a patent falsehood.
but keep spouting your third way, no responsibility or accountability of teachers BS. whatever helps you sleep at night besides your meds, or lack of.
You are mistaken: teachers are already held responsible and kept accountable, and always were, long before notional standards were introduced.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with, for example, the ways the Ministry of Education oversees professional development. Your feeble fantasy that it requires zero accountability is, well, a fantasy.
But then it isn’t really your fantasy, is it? You’ve been swallowing propaganda for so long you’ve abdicated your responsibility for critical thought.
I’m picking you’ll take umbrage with my contempt for you rather than address the substance of my rebuttal. That’s because your opinions are worthless.
Good on ya OAB, consign all kids that live in a household who’s income is on the wrong side of the “medium” to failing school.
All the name calling you take great delight in dishing out is childish at best…
These other schools you say are succeeding, evidence please.
joe90 you need to ask OAB your question…back to 15 / 15.1
You’re the one intimating kids that live in a household who’s income is on the wrong side of the “medium” are being denied the chance to go to a successful school.
Again, any evidence to show these other schools are successful?.
Read 15.0 from Nessalt then 15.1 from OAB “Or some third thing, like, for example, as all local and international evidence attests, household income, or pedagogy, you witless parrot”.
My reply was to OAB comment that income dedicates a child’s success or not.
Which to spell out…I do not agree with on both counts…that “poor kids” cannot succeed just as “rich kids” do not all leave school with A+ results
To be fair I should have replied to 15.1, but I trust this clears it up for you now joe90.
I cite household income as being the single most influential factor. A wingnut misrepresents that as the only factor.
Why do wingnuts tell so many lies? I think it’s because they’re stupid and dishonest: money launderers and dupes.
Not sure they are stupid, just greedy.
Wingnuts do not consider society and community, only themselves. That’s the big difference as far as I can see.
Co-operation is more profitable than self-interest: even their greed is incompetent.
These three?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/302550/ero-reports-on-three-charter-schools
The ERO audits school policys and procedures, not student success.
That the reporting on student progress is left to the schools themselves is a tui moment.
/
Work is currently underway to present the performance of the Partnership Schools | Kura Hourua sector and that of individual schools in an easy-to-understand format. In the meantime, please refer to each school’s quarterly and annual reports below.
http://partnershipschools.education.govt.nz/pskh/quarterly-reports/
Is that what happens in Finland, Chuck? Perhaps you missed my argument that we regard their pedagogy as a benchmark for best practice, given its achievements.
Or perhaps you are simply parroting your Daddy’s effluent.
The problem with your comment is that it validates my contempt. By advocating that New Zealand goes back to following best pedagogical practice – as measured by real world results, not right wing propaganda, I am simply applying common sense.
I’ve witnessed how good pedagogy affects learning. You’ve got your tongue up your Daddy and your every opinion is tainted by that.
OAB you must be one really stressed out person…with a fetish for Daddy’s and tongues in places they do not belong (I am counting at least 6 references in the past 24hours alone!!).
Take the good you see and try to apply it in a positive way…”I’ve witnessed how good pedagogy affects learning”.
Taking umbrage with my contempt for you rather than addressing the substance of my rebuttal merely illustrates that your opinions are as worthless as Nessalt’s. See my comment at 15.1.1.1
As for your tongue, it serves another.
Unlike you, I do not have contempt for you OAB.
Your opinions are yours to make…no more no less. Your form suggests entering into any meaningful conversation / rebuttal will only lead to more x rated fetish suggestions.
Results, best practice, common sense. Deny them for your Daddy.
National Standards = privatisation and commodification of education.
Looking at the above posts its clear why OAB wants to be anonymous. What a thoroughly unpleasant individual.
[lprent: *sigh* You mean that he/she is just as pseudonymous as you are? Let me point out that I really don’t give a shit. However if you want to use that particular argument, then I will boot you off the site for some time.
I really don’t like cleaning up after stupid self-referential politeness arseholes who use it to start flamewars. I tend to demonstrate why I don’t like it. Amongst other reasons because it is usually the first step in some idiotic wanker trying to emulate Mrs Grundy and attempting to set the rules on our site. Read the policy and avoid my ire. ]
Look in the mirror, I’ll be right there.
PS: toerag Tony assumes that I’m less abrasive to wingnut trash in person. He’s wrong.
Save me from International Rescue! Pete George and Cc deniers comes to mind. IR clearly has a mission to railroad the thread. His script is so predictable and tedious. Fast forward. Is IR being paid as this seems to be the only rational?