feedback, feedforward, Feedup, feeddown lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz
collaboration |k lab r SH n| noun 1 the action of working jointly with; something produced or created by collaboration 2 traitorous cooperation with an enemy |
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When Mr Key announced IES to an Auckland gathering of his party faithful in January 2014, it came as a complete surprise to the teaching profession. It literally came out of the ‘blue’, with the unsurprising presumption that the tantalising lure of a lot more money for a selected few of the so-inclined would motivate and mobilise the teaching profession into harmonious collaboration within communities of schools. Shamefully, this ‘collaboration’ policy was not inspired or created in the spirit of collaboration with those for whom it was targeted, although it would be no surprise if it had been hatched by a small clutch of bureaucrats and ‘on-song’ academics in collaboration with an insistent and dogmatic Minister of Education. And therein lies the smell! Of widespread concern is that this poorly designed contrivance may simply be the outer crust of a more deeply odoriferous agenda of insidious system reforms and restructuring. Whether or not it reaches fruition, however, could depend largely on the vigilance, strength, courage, determination, ultra-sound judgment and unity of the profession. But therein lies vulnerability to entrapment – as we are already witnessing. IES policy mechanism aside, with its indiscriminately spun rational of raising achievement, the centrifugal force of this thing is the highly prized and undeniably virtuous practice of collaboration. Of late it is being promoted as the new age panacea, but regrettably it seems that little of ‘system memory’ remains in our country to put all of this into perspective, or if there is some memory, it is conveniently put aside or ignored if inconvenient to the big sell. But those privileged with first hand knowledge of the workings of education in New Zealand over a long period of time can recount volumes of examples of highly productive and positive collaborative practice across a wide spectrum of educational endeavor, including teaching practice and policy development. Our internationally acclaimed NZ Curriculum is the outcome of perhaps the most extensive, widespread, respectful and highly successful policy collaboration that we have known – in total contrast to National Standards and IES. Regardless of spin-soaked political policy troughs, no intelligent professional would deny the promise and benefits of collaborative practice. The literature abounds with articles extolling its virtues and attributes. The proponents of learning
communities (communities of learners) have been campaigning and modelling the theory and practice for many years. It’s basically about two or more people sharing, exploring and examining ideas and resolving issues of common interest within an open, honest, trusting, mutually supportive, respectful and non-hierarchic relationship. It is not something that can be ‘engineered’ through policy! Some claims about the results of successful collaborative practice, however, stretch beyond imagination, particularly when they are promoted as generalisable across diverse communities of learners. One of many articles I have read, for example, lists 44 benefits of collaborative learning, including such things as reducing classroom and test anxiety, and enhancing selfmanagement skills. The notion that collaboration can achieve the
Total Teaching PD Opportunities in July/August 2016 Neil MacKay, acclaimed international presenter and educator, returns to New Zealand in 2016 to offer whole school/cluster based professional development around his concept of Total Teaching. This PD equips teachers with just enough RTLB/RTLit skills to “notice and adjust” for students without labels but with clear learning needs in areas like Dyslexia, ADHD and High Functioning Autism. Comments from his 2015 Workshop Tour A Principal writes, “Already I have had several of my staff comment how positive, refreshing and inspiring the day was and that they have already implemented teaching strategies in their lessons this week related to what Neil shared.” An RTLB writes, “The teachers were buzzing afterwards and back at school and I hear lots of talk of change and follow up which is what we want – a paradigm shift and change at the chalk face.”
Individual schools and clusters are invited to make contact Neil at info@actiondyslexia.co.uk to discuss bookings for 2016. Final date for bookings will be end of November 2016. Neil is also happy to discuss events for parents and conferences. More details at www.actiondyslexia.co.uk
same or similar outcomes for all groups, situations, or schools is arguably deeply flawed. Research on its universal impact for significantly raising student achievement (which in Government terms essentially means literacy and numeracy) is at best very patchy and underwhelming. As Goddard, et. al. (2007) note, a review of the literature demonstrates that schools are frequently called upon to improve by developing higher levels of teacher collaboration. But at the same time, they note, ‘there is a paucity of research investigating the extent to which teachers’ collaborative school improvement practices are related to student achievement’. From their own research, they conclude that ‘the relationship between teacher collaboration for instructional improvement and student achievement is likely indirect’. Regardless, Ms Parata and her band of followers proclaim that their IES concoction is the sure-to-rise recipe for school improvement and student success. But the challenge of giving solid evidence to back up the claim is left unanswered. Wonder why? Government ministers (Ms Parata included) are highly averse to recognising or admitting to dark sides of their policies and programmes, preferring instead to paint over these with thickly exaggerated gloss intended to bedazzle the unknowing and uncaring. Moreover, our media columnists and presenters seem largely incapable or unwilling to scratch beneath these deflections, preferring instead to merely repeat and report what is handed to them. A typical example was seen in August this year, when Ms Parata told reporters she was ‘delighted’ with the uptake on IES. Here is an example of an attempt by Jo Citizen
to publicly redress such spin through correspondence published in the newspaper (Otago Daily Times, 21.08.15): Dear Sir So Education Minister, Ms Parata, is ‘delighted’ (ODT 15.8.15) that after a year or more, only 330 of 2532 schools (13 percent) nationally have joined up with her Government's multi-million dollar ‘flagship’ education policy called Investing in Educational Success (IES). She repeatedly claims that this policy will drive up student achievement, yet fails to provide convincing evidence that this dream will actually provide gains commensurate with the very substantial amount of time, money, and energy it requires. Moreover, Ms Parata is intolerant of suggestions for alternative uses of this money. Clearly, with the vast majority of schools declining the bait of many more dollars for a few selected principals and teachers in the clusters, this policy is hardly proving a delight, particularly among those concerned with its administrative fish hooks and suspected hidden agendas. However, there is now the opportunity to actually get some evidence of the worth of the policy in practice. After 3 or 4 years, the achievement of students in the IES clusters could be compared with those outside of the arrangement. By that time, of course, Ms Parata may no longer be the Minister of Education. Yours sincerely But note Ms Parata’s response. More gloss and completely impervious to the concerns raised:
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Education Minister Hekia Parata replies ‘Your correspondent is correct. I am delighted that more than 330 schools have now formed themselves into Communities of Schools. The four-year roll-out is going to schedule and I expect to announce the formation of more communities of learning before the end of the year. That is great news for students because systematic collaboration between schools and teachers raises student achievement. The policy puts kids where they should be – at the centre of the education system.’ There are no guarantees that IES will significantly dent the achievement gap nationally – as is the case with National Standards. So why bother with this ‘scheme’ and all of its strictures as a context for the much vaunted practice of collaboration? It’s right that there should a buzz around collaboration, but do you really want to follow the buzz coming out of the Beehive’s nest? To get stung could put you too into a spin. Reference Goddard, Y.L., Goddard, R.D. & Tschannen-Moran. (2007). A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Teacher Collaboration for School Improvement and Student Achievement in Public Elementary Schools. Teachers College Record, Vol. 109, No. 4, April 2007, pp. 877–896.