National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
The year is racing by and the recent national conference so wonderfully organised by Waikato’s principals, was an opportunity to share some ideas with colleagues on some future directions and pathways which might steer the profession through turbulent and challenging times. There is little to be served by discussing again the past three years of national standards, except to make the point that the government’s agenda remains crystal clear – it is intended that school-level data will become the yardstick for measuring and knowing the relative performance of schools, and perhaps by implication, the relative performance of their teachers and leaders. Two weeks prior to the conference, four sector groups had announced a joint appeal to all school leaders to “boycott” the Progress and Consistency Tool, or PACT. Making such a stand was all very well, but would it resonate with colleagues in schools? When the Minister had to withdraw from her speaking slot on the first day due to a flight cancellation, we used the time created to debate a resolution endorsing the earlier decision. After just twenty minutes the entire conference united to unanimously support the boycott, and in one fell swoop gave a vote of confidence to the four groups’ position. To any school leader left in any doubt, this decision was never about the tool. It is not a criticism of its design, or its innate cleverness. It is however a strong statement that this tool will through its impact on national standards, end up doing harm to children and to schools. Further, it resists the notion that a computer generated judgement can produce a synthesis of the complexity of the human child’s abilities. It will be claimed that once children’s achievement is measured consistently across the country by the PAC Tool, that the national standards are finally above any criticism about their reliability and validity, and now fairly show the relative differences between schools. Already the academics who advise the Minister are happy to assert that 2012 data when viewed en masse are accurate and reliable enough to reflect progress. As the government’s main driver towards raising student achievement, national standards can never succeed in this goal. As a means to reducing the tail of underachievement it will be equally doomed to failure. The impact of unintended consequences arising from the national publication by Fairfax Media of comparative school data is already starting to reveal itself. If we failed to explain our concerns in 2009 as the standards were established in law, it is now more important than ever that principals lead with professionalism and courage. This leadership
will resist the temptation to “game” results in a futile effort to reflect improvement. If leaders believe that a rich and broadly based education is what children need and deserve, it is vital that professional learning and support is directed at delivering that richness and breadth. If we truly believe that the NZC gives us the opportunities and permission to empower and engage our children in authentic and motivating contexts, then we must ensure that our staff have the permission and the resources to give the NZ Curriculum document wings. If we believe that the key competencies lie at the heart of pupils’ future success, then we need to ensure that our local curriculum reflects those competencies, and explains them clearly to children, teachers, and parents.
9th TEACHERS MATTER CONFERENCE
Two Days of Inspiration & Focus for 2014
f o t r a e H e h t t A . .. g n i n r a e L d n a Teaching DAtes:
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sPeAKers inCLuDe: Colin Cox: Psychology and Neuro-Semantics Cath Vincent: Wake Up Your Wow! Bill Potter: Developing Creativity Celia Lashlie: Boys to Men Karen Boyes: Emotional Intelligence Catherine Legg: Philosophy for Children …and more!
Your investment: $495 + GST for 10+ or $595 + GST per person (Early Bird prices end 31-10-2013)
For more details go to www.TeachersMatter.co.nz Or call us on 0800 37 33 77
The NZC has always placed a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy long before national standards, and indeed the RAINS II report released in April warns that the standards risk extending that trend from a virtue to a problem. Ensuring the success and the place of the NZC in schools will require deliberate effort by every school leader. It was never an easy implementation, and the distractions of unwanted subsequent policy have made it doubly difficult. Budgets need to reflect the professional learning and development that will be required, and the underlying rationale should be a focus for school newsletters and parent meetings. When we consider the speed with which the world is changing, and the huge pressures on all of us through the new technologies that come at us from every direction, we need to discuss and debate and plan for the critical competencies which our children will need. This is not to deny the importance of literacy and numeracy, but to embrace the connectedness, the modern tools, whilst considering the expectations of our young people for immediate feedback and engagement during their time at school. If we include our parents in collaboratively planning our schools’ future direction we gain the support and the understanding of our most important allies, as well as creating a trusted platform to explain the harm implicit in high stakes comparison of schools, in widely different contexts. As school principals we get to make these critical choices, and to continue to lead our communities in ways that sit well with our professional beliefs and our experience. How important is that?
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