The lead message from the Trans-Tasman Conference 2012 Liz Hawes and Helen Kinsey-Wightman Photography Bob Bradley, Photolife Studios
This year, New Zealand principals partnered with their Australian colleagues to stage the Trans-Tasman conference in Melbourne. The two countries have differences in the ways they administer education, but they also have many issues in common. It therefore makes good sense to meet together on occasion and share ideas. Melbourne provided an ideal background for the conference. It is a splendid, bustling city where Melbournians thrive in numbers comparable to the entire population of New Zealand. For a modern metropolitan city it is not short on green spaces and attractive gardens where conference delegates could relax and have a quiet think in between sessions. Early settler Charles La Trobe ensured that as the town grew, large areas were reserved as public parks. Amongst others, these include the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Treasury Gardens, Flagstaff and Carlton Gardens. Adding to the city’s ambience are towering trees bristling with lush spring growth bordering several of the expansive inner city streets. These roadways form corridors for Melbourne’s unique transport system, the Melbourne trams. Trams thunder about the city and suburbs, providing an excellent passenger service and convenient access to all of the city’s cultural, recreational, and educational attractions, including its famous Arts Centre in St Kilda, the National Sports Museum at the MCG, the library, theatre and museum, not to mention its vast selection of fabulous book shops. It’s an uncomplicated transport system making it easy for the conference delegates to explore these cultural gems in their free time. Bisecting the city is the Yarra River, its south bank bordered by tantalising restaurants and cafes. The array of tropical breakfast fruits and aroma of freshly ground coffee tug at the taste buds of morning passers-by as they scurry to their inner city office blocks. Principals join the Melbourne work force on their south bank stroll to the magnificent Melbourne Convention Centre, the venue for the conference. From both sides of the Tasman, these school leaders have turned out in unexpectedly high numbers. In fact, 1,460 principals have made the journey to Melbourne to be uplifted by the latest research findings, to experience the camaraderie of their Australasian colleagues and to network and learn. A little known fact is that conference attendance numbers lined up much like the final score of a typical Australia vs New Zealand netball fixture, with Australia this time, edging out the Kiwis by just five!
The Opening The opening ceremony, staged in the Olympic Room of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG, was a cultural dance fest featuring both the Wurundjeri Tribe/Melbourne
People (One Fire Dancers) and Ngā Manu Waiata, a Melbourne based Māori cultural group. The Fire Dancers performed a traditional dance depicting the relationship between the people of the land and its animals. Ngā Manu Waiata entertained the capacity crowd with a spirited performance of action songs, poi dance and a haka so rousing it drew wild applause from the audience. A mihi whakatau led by NZPF executive member Peter Witana, preceded the Māori group’s recital. Opening speeches included the Australian Primary Principals’ Association (APPA) President, Norm Hart, the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) President, Paul Drummond and the Victoria State Minister for Education, Hon Martin Dixon. Dixon, himself a former teacher and school principal shared the sentiments of both countries’ Presidents about the nature and critical importance of leadership for the teaching profession. All commented on the world class programme of speakers conference organisers had lined up. It is timely for the Australasian neighbours to meet. Australian principals continue to grapple with their home-grown national testing system, public league tables and ‘Myschool’ website, just as our government is introducing the Kiwi version of national standards and publishing the first results on a public website. These reforms are part of a global movement commonly known as the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). GERM follows a neo-liberal ideology and is fundamentally about favouring privatisation and choice over public school provision of education. Keynote conference speakers assured the attentive audience that GERMs were best eradicated and one by one proceeded to demonstrate through their latest research the solutions, politically and educationally, which really did make a difference to children’s learning and progress.
Keynote Addresses Tony Cook
Tony Cook is Australia’s Associate Secretary Schools and Youth. His address was entitled ‘Small Country in a global space: how does Australia measure up?’ By Helen Kinsey-Wightman
Whilst he lacks the rock ‘n roll street cred of his Minister Peter Garrett (lead singer of the band Midnight Oil) Cook worked hard to establish his credentials at the chalk-face as a teacher and Deputy Principal in Australia and to indicate that he had grasped the mood of the Principals assembled: ‘If you go to an international summit or conference on
education reform like this one you will notice there is a palpable sense of urgency – we need to educate for the future rather than the past. And there is a great sense of having to catch up while the future doesn’t wait. It is our present.’ His presentation focussed on efforts to reform and transform education based on analysis of international testing such as PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment.) He spoke about the success of Finland in turning around its education system over the last 30-40 years and identified that the driver for this success was the achievement of equity in public education. He then turned to the US where he noted the declining PISA performance and the reform priorities identified there. He went on to look at how Australia measures up against the international benchmark of PISA. Over the last decade, the performance of Australian school students in reading and mathematical literacy has fallen in comparison with the highest achieving OECD countries. Since PISA 2000 Australia has fallen from equal 2nd to equal 7th in reading literacy. Since PISA 2003 Australia has fallen from equal 5th to equal 13th in mathematical literacy. He then set out the steps Australia has taken in their reform programme since the government assumed office in 2007. These essentially mirror the reform pathway mapped out by the US and the UK; building an evidence base, establishing national assessment and reporting and publishing results in an online league table format called My School. He then discussed the reforms currently underway. An online national curriculum being rolled out countrywide in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science and history. In addition the new curriculum tackles the need to equip students for tomorrow’s world and encompasses problem solving, competence in ICT, respect for global diversity and ‘Asia Literacy’, the ability to engage and build strong relationships with Asia. He then quoted from McKinsey and used evidence from the US and Australia to support the benefits of improving teacher quality. In Australia this has involved developing professional standards for teachers. He also identified that teacher training and entry levels are becoming a focus. The Empowering Local Schools Initiative aims to give more autonomy to local schools based on evidence such as the ‘OECD’s 2011 PISA in Focus’ study which found that schools that enjoy greater autonomy in resource allocation tend to show better student performance than those with less autonomy. This is a phased initiative which schools are able to opt into. Finally, he touched on the issue of equity and the significant differences between the academic achievements of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those of their nonIndigenous peers. It is now an expectation of schools to develop school and community partnerships and to develop personalised learning strategies with the involvement of families. In addition the government aims to increase the number of indigenous peoples in teaching positions through scholarships. The government’s most recent initiative is the ‘National Plan for School Improvement’. Having completed a review of funding for schooling the plan aims at consistent funding arrangements for all schools. There will be a benchmark amount for every student, based on the costs of schools that are already getting great results, topped up with loadings for students who need additional support. In announcing the ‘National Plan’ earlier this month, the Prime Minister set an ambitious target: ‘By 2025 Australia will be ranked as a top five country in the world for the performance of our students in Reading, Science, Mathematics, and for providing a high-quality and high-equity education system.’ Tony Cook’s address demonstrated that the Australian Government have clearly done their homework in terms of current educational thinking. His presence – and that of his Minister later in the week – indicated the value placed on garnering the support of Principals for the ongoing reforms. Unfortunately our own Minister was unable to make the same commitment. However, despite acknowledging equity as the basis of the success of Finland’s strategy and continued reference to this as a goal throughout his presentation, it is clear from the targets set out in the ‘National Plan for School Improvement’ that Australia’s strategy much more closely follows the path of the Global Educational Reform Movement which Pasi Sahlberg, referred to so frequently by Tony Cook, quite deliberately calls GERM.
Andy Hargreaves
Professor Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. His mission is to promote social justice and connect theory and practice in education. His address was entitled ‘Professional capital: transforming teaching in every school’. By Helen Kinsey-Wightman
Although Andy Hargreaves now lives in Boston, he has not replaced his broad Lancashire accent with a mid-Atlantic drawl neither has he forgotten his British cultural heritage. He started by asking his audience to participate in a pantomime style exchange of ‘Oh yes he has, Oh no he hasn’t’ in response to
tongue in cheek statements reflecting his knowledge of current political issues in Australasian education. Hargreaves then swung into action introducing the notion of professional capital by referring back to Tony Cook’s earlier presentation and stating that Cook was right to say that an education system is no better than its teachers – but only half right . . . In fact, an education system is no better than its teachers together. He defined professional capital as that which adds value to one’s work and set out 2 contrasting viewpoints current in education. The business capital view, typified by the educational reform model, rewards teachers it deems to be at the top with performance related pay and tests teachers at the bottom. In New York teachers are tested with assessments set up so that 7% automatically fail. This model looks at teachers individually rather than as a community. He contrasted this view with the notion of social capital – the idea that a strong group of teachers can raise the achievement of all, whereas one strong teacher cannot perform highly alone and will not perform well in all environments. I found myself relating strongly to this view that good teaching is not a constant – when I reflect back on my own teaching career my most successful experiences have been at times when I felt part of a ‘winning team’ with a joint investment in and a shared ownership of student achievement outcomes. Hargreaves then posed the question: How many years does it take to produce committed and capable teachers? There was a wide variation within the audience with a mean of between 4–7 years. Research indicates that teachers in their early careers are very committed but less capable whilst teachers in their late career become both less capable and less committed. Teachers in their mid-careers show both higher commitment and capability. He noted that 10,000 hours of practice equates to around 8 years of teaching. Do we want our teachers to be the equivalent of musicians who are just good enough for the pub on a Saturday night or are we looking for an orchestral standard? He encouraged Principals to support teachers by managing and developing collaboration and driving change by putting the new teacher next to the best teacher and creating terrorist cells of insurgency in tough staff cultures.
Hargreaves went on to summarise the research which underpins his latest book, ‘The Global Fourth Way’ – written in collaboration with Michael Fullan. The research looks at countries that perform most highly on PISA: Singapore; the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Alberta and Finland. Also included are California and the north of England where there are schools bucking the trend in otherwise poor performing countries. He summarised the commonalities in all of these countries under 3 headings: The 6 pillars of purpose an inspiring dream education as a common public good (most high performing systems have a tiny private sector) ■■ a moral economy of education (saving money in ways that do not harm children) ■■ local authority (in Finland schools work together at the local level and can even transfer funds to other schools in their area) ■■ innovation with improvement (disciplined innovation is relentlessly pursued despite initial failures) ■■ platforms for change (a platform of resources and a structure so that teachers can make a difference over time.) ■■ ■■
The 5 principles of professionalism professional capital (schools are dynamos of change, they take and create energy and transfer it into another form) ■■ strong professional associations ■■ collective responsibility ■■ teaching less to learn more (less curriculum content taught better) ■■ mindful uses of technology (he gave the example of schools who use cellphones for teacher feedback, encouraging children to tweet their own responses to lessons to a site they have created) ■■
The 4 catalysts of coherence intelligent benchmarking (visit other systems/schools to learn and apply the findings to us) ■■ prudent & professional testing (testing a sample – prudent vs pervasive – also saves money) ■■ incessant communication (The Singapore education minister announces new policy to all principals and takes feedback from them!) ■■ working with paradox (“Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” Ralph Waldo Emerson) ■■
Andy Hargreaves’ presentations are always fast paced and characterised by quantity and quality research findings packaged alongside anecdotes which personalise and inspire. Whilst he presents the characteristics of high achieving educational systems at a country and state-wide level, when he visits schools he clearly engages with leaders and finds the stories to illustrate and add heart to the research. In closing he encouraged and challenged us all in the face of the poorly researched initiatives we face daily to “Remind people of what is important – don’t look at your shoes . . .” He wouldn’t.
Kishore Mahbubani
Professor Andy Hargreaves gets everyone’s attention
Professor Kishore Mahbubani
Professor Kishore Mahbubani had a distinguished career in government and is now the Dean and Professor of public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. His address to the conference was entitled ‘Globalising current educational thinking’.
Mahbubani opened his speech with an authoritative claim that western domination is now over and the future world power will be located in Asia and India. He warned his audience that the implications would be profound, particularly for Australia and New Zealand since they are the two western countries located in Asian territory. He estimated that by 2050 China will be the largest world economy followed by India, the USA and Japan. These were strong assertions and Mahbubani meant no less. Australia and New Zealand can have a very positive future, he said but they will need quite a different mental map to educate the children of the future. It will be necessary to check that the curriculum and text books being used will prepare children for the new world. This Asian return to power is both irresistible and unstoppable and will accelerate in the years ahead. ‘Many leading English minds are sceptical,’ he says, ‘but the reason Asian societies are coming back at such great speed is because they have understood the seven pillars of the western world.’ These ‘seven pillars’ are outlined below with examples of how Asian countries have enacted them: The 7 pillars of the western world Free market economics. The best proof of free market success is China. China is described as the largest human laboratory for understanding two economic approaches. Prior to embracing the free market, China operated a centrallyrun economic system and from 1979 a communistic system. Investment in China was low relative to free market countries and China was far behind the western world. One of the most remarkable shifts is that the largest free market agreements are now signed in China, Asia, India and Japan. ■■ Mastery of Science and Technology. Having lagged behind for many years, China now spends more money on research and development than the USA or Europe. Of all the North American PhD graduates in Science and technology, twothirds are returning to India and China. China now has one of the most exciting space programmes in the world, whereas in the USA, the space programme has slipped hugely. ■■ Culture of pragmatism. This refers to an attitude whereby ‘it doesn’t matter what colour the cat is, so long as it catches mice it is a good cat.’ China is on the greatest learning journey in history right now. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are in education and that is why China is ascending so swiftly. ■■ Meritocracy. Hiring the best entrepreneurial brains is critical to progress and Asia has always had the world’s greatest pool of good brains. In India, even deeply entrenched socioreligious beliefs and practices have been overlooked in order to hire the best person for the job. For example the chief economist of the Reserve Bank in India was an ‘untouchable’. Born to such status once meant living with the same status throughout life. Not so now. ■■ Culture of Peace. Wars are the single biggest obstacle to a country’s development. It is notable that in East Asia wars have now desisted. ■■ Education. There has been an exponential increase in the proportion of Chinese attending university. In 1990 it was 3%; now it is 29%. ■■ Rule of Law. This is improving in Asia. ■■
There has been an explosion of cultural confidence in Asia, with South-East Asia having the greatest diversity in the world. Young Asians are said to be the most optimistic of all. Australia and New Zealand are perfectly positioned to be the bridge between the East and the West.
Mahbubani suggested that one of the ways Australia and New Zealand can lead is by introducing Asian languages into their schools. We can look back to Europe, he said, to see how beneficial learning multiple languages can be. But he urged his audience to look forward by choosing Asian languages for children in the South Pacific so that they better understand and gain a real appreciation for Asian culture. In answer to a question from the audience about the ‘crowded curriculum’ we already have, Mahbubani agreed that we must not push too much content. He referred to Singapore and their efforts to reduce curriculum content and make learning fun. He also observed that education is not about ‘filling a bucket’ but ‘lighting a fire’. We were left in no doubt that in his view, multiple language learning belongs in the ‘fire-lighting’ rather than the ‘bucket-filling’ world. He highlighted another important entity, ASEAN, the only culturally-diverse group that can work well together incorporating Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Communists. This group, he told us, represents 600 million people who live in South-East Asia and will be a necessary vehicle for us if we are to balance our children’s learning towards Asia. Mahbubani’s was an address punctuated with stark examples to remind us that Asia is on its way to lead the world and is coming ready or not!
Yong Zhao
Professor Yong Zhao specialises in educational issues related to globalization and education, creativity, global competitiveness, educational reforms and educational technology. He holds the Presidential Chair and is Associate Dean for Global Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon. He is also Weinman Professor of Technology and Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy and Leadership.
The topic of his address was ‘World Class Learners – educating creative and entrepreneurial students’. Zhao was already well known to the New Zealand audience, having entertained, educated and challenged their thinking at the Wellington NZPF conference in 2011. A dynamic and quick witted speaker, he also proved popular with his Melbourne audience. Zhao opened his address by reminding us which country dominates the world rankings in maths science and reading. With the exception of Finland the top five places in everything are held by Asian countries, and in particular Chinese countries or cities. So he asked, ‘Why didn’t China have a big party?’ China, he told his enthusiastic audience celebrates every achievement! He shortly answered his own question, quoting Kai-fu Lee who says ‘The next Apple or Google will appear, but not in China . . . unless it abolishes its education.’ The problem for China, he said, is that people are not taught to think for themselves. The same, he says, applies to Singapore which has a regimented curriculum driven by rote learning which all helps sustain the city’s ‘formal culture’. China is not celebrating he announced, because its world class achievements will not lead to more entrepreneurs. As a 2011 OECD report on young people in Shanghai stated, ‘While they have learned a lot, they may not have learned how to learn.’ America, on the other hand, leads the world in producing entrepreneurs, has the most prosperous and largest economy in the world, and in 2011 was ranked second out of 82 countries in global creativity, yet it has a long history of doing poorly in tests. What does this tell us? ‘If you want your country to prosper, then best that your kids fail the tests.’
Employable skills for the twenty-first century, Zhao emphas ised, had to take in curiosity, passion and creativity. There is also growing cultural diversity, multiple intelligences and individual differences in the children we educate. The curriculum has to accommodate the need to develop different skills and pedagogy has to respond to take account of changes in the population. Zhao explained that the new middle classes have to be entre preneurial and there are three types of entrepreneurs. They are the business entrepreneurs, who maximise profits, the social entrepreneurs, who maximise social benefits and policy entrepreneurs, or bureaucrats who are the job creators. They create jobs out of finding solutions to problems. So what are the implications for schooling? How can schools draw out and develop qualities in children that will lead them to be great entrepreneurs? First, he said, we must stop reducing human talents down to achieving prescribed skills. Lady Gagas come out of the US because the USA is a ‘broken sausage factory’. We need Professor Yong Zhao Pasi Sahlberg, whose reputation a new curriculum, to change our pedagogy and get children entertained as he enthralled preceded his presentation making things. We need to expand our learning contexts to the There is a set of qualities, Zhao explained that are described globe. Children are naturally curious but forcing them to learn as entrepreneurial qualities. These include confidence, passion, prescriptively reduces their curiosity. They are unique so forcing global competency, friends, creativity, uniqueness, risk-taking, the same curriculum on all of them is unhelpful. In response to comments from the audience he warned that alertness to opportunity and empathy. On confidence, the USA rates very high, but on test scores it certain reading programmes can improve test scores in reading but may cause long-term damage rates low. Asian countries do the to a child’s interest in reading. opposite. Zhao demonstrated his We can look back to Europe, he He also emphasised that greater point through a confidence survey autonomy for students, principals of Singaporean and American said, to see how beneficial schools would be helpful. This students. Students were asked to rate learning multiple languages and echoed comments already made whether they agreed or disagreed with a selection of statements. In can be. But he urged his audience by Professor Hargreaves. Finally in answer to a question about how to response to the statement ‘I usually influence politicians to understand do well in Math’, 18% of Singaporean to look forward by choosing and act on these ideas he quipped, students said they agreed a lot while Asian languages . . . ‘It’s all your fault. You didn’t teach 39% of Americans agreed a lot. Only 5% of Americans disagreed a lot whilst 12% of Singaporeans the politicians right when they were in your classroom!’ disagreed a lot. The maths test scores of the countries however show that Singapore’s students way out-perform Americans. An important question to ask ourselves, Zhao coaxed, is ‘What Pasi Sahlberg do we sacrifice when we raise test scores?’ ‘If all your time is Director General of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility and spent preparing for a test, what are you NOT learning? What Cooperation) in Helsinki, Finland, Pasi Sahlberg has global expertise in educational reforms, training teachers, coaching schools and advising have you given up?’ He then entertained the audience to a humourous sequence of policy makers. Educational change and school improvement, cooperative learning and international education policy are amongst his other areas slides featuring Lady Gaga, who is worth over US$100 million. of interest. ‘What does she do? he asked. ‘Does she create anything that you can eat or wear? What are her skills? ‘She’d be no use in a Chinese village,’ Sahlberg took the stage to a packed auditorium. Some had come to find out how Finland had successfully dealt to equity issues. he quipped, ‘she can’t cook or farm or do anything productive!’ It was now time to draw on his collection of favourite Albert Others wanted to know how to emulate Finland’s high world Einstein quotes: ‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, performance ranking when most were aware that the small Nordic nation hadn’t always done so well. Would the Finnish it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.’ ‘China,’ he said, ‘treats everyone like a tree climbing fish. So secrets to success be revealed? Surprisingly, Sahlberg opened with a statement saying he lady Gaga would never happen in China.’ The future is the globalisation age, Zhao said. The world was not here to tell us that Finland had the best education population is growing and traditional jobs are disappearing. Jobs system in the world. It is not an aim of Finland to compete for for those entering education today have not yet been invented. a higher placing in the OECD PISA assessments or any other Low paying jobs were now disappearing off shore from developed achievement ranking, he said. Nor did he suggest that anything countries and we are losing manufacturing jobs, even though the Finland has done is necessarily the best approach for Australia or value of manufacturing is rising. It is the age of the creative class. New Zealand. What he did say though is that Finland can offer It is global, creative and entrepreneurial. We can no longer rely on important lessons in the global school improvement movement. He described his country as having a very liberal environment traditional jobs and have innovations occur by accident.
where crazy ideas were welcomed. It’s a country in which mad competitions flourish including bizarre examples like ‘wife carrying’ competitions, cell phone throwing, and swamp soccer championships. But in the field of education, he was very clear – competition has no place. Change, he said began in 1972 and educational performance improved rapidly. Simultaneously, in a drive to address inequities, Finland divested itself of its many private schools to the point that it now has only public schools. The new goal is not to be number one or even to be in the top five in the world. It is to focus on equity and the belief that every child has the right to attend a good school with a good teacher in their own community. The focus on equity extends way beyond just education. Finns are also happy people and have very high gender equity, economic competitiveness and are literate and capable in ICT. Sahlberg then addressed the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). He gave examples of what actions countries that subscribe to GERM are taking. They include: Increasing competition between providers Standardisation of process and procedures, so that one size fits all and everybody takes the same test or meets that same standard ■■ School choice, including new types of schools like charter schools and other for-profit providers ■■ Test-based accountability and making teachers and schools more accountable by using standardised tests ■■ ■■
So does the GERM work? So far, in those countries that have subscribed to the GERM, there has been a decrease in achievement. Finland rejected the GERM and took the following approach: Collaboration, not competition Individualisation not standardisation. Standardisation is believed to be the enemy of creativity ■■ Equity, not school choice. You cannot have choice and equity at the same time. There is no change in direction because there is a change in government. All parties agree on education policy. ■■ Trust-based professionalism not test-based accountability. Like doctors, lawyers and other professionals there is no testing or external inspection ■■ ■■
Sahlberg identified three driving forces of this agenda. Enhancing equity ■■
The greater the income inequality, the less students learn The most useful thing about PISA is that it benchmarks equity in education systems and the OECD ranks countries for equity. Both Australia and New Zealand require investment in equity. ■■ All students should not be treated equally but all must have the same equity of access, inclusion and resources. Approaching education from a position of equity means that schools with greater complexities and needs can be allocated additional funding. ■■ ■■
Less is more More funds do not necessarily lead to better results Children spend fewer hours in school and do less homework in Finland than in Australia and New Zealand but test scores are higher. In Finland children start school at 7. ■■ Teachers in Finland have more time for collaboration, planning, assessment, improvement and welfare issues ■■ In Finland results are not just dependent on effort and intelligence level. Culture, cooperation and trust are values that also count towards the results . ■■ ■■
Teacher and Leader Professionalism Teachers and principals have to be highly trained and are well respected ■■ Principals, teachers and academics all belong to the same Trade Union of Education in Finland ■■ High demand for teacher training courses ■■ The profession is trust based and is about collaboration, networking and cooperation and combines quality with equity. ■■
In summary, Sahlberg left his audience with seven lessons from Finland. More collaboration and less competition More trust-based responsibility and less test-based accountability ■■ More professionalism and less bureaucracy ■■ More equity and less marketization ■■ Better gender equality ■■ More personalisation, less standardisation ■■ More pedagogy, less technology ■■ ■■
Finland believes that all children deserve a good school. There is little variation in performance both between and within schools.
His messages hit a chord with the audience who applauded vigorously and appreciatively. You could observe from the faces that these principals were thinking, ‘We must eradicate GERMs’.
All eyes face the front as each of the keynote speakers snatch the full attention of the audience
Three NZPF Life members were announced at the conference. Left to right: Madeleine East, Barry Hambleton, Nola Hambleton