Everywhere is doom and gloom! That’s the general impression given from every evening’s viewing of the TV News.
It is really difficult to ignore the terrible things happening in the Middle East and Ukraine, the carnage wreaked by storms and earthquakes, the holiday road toll, the almost daily reports of murder, assaults and child abuse in New Zealand, and the decades-long deterioration in our country’s infrastructure (roading, Cook Strait ferries, water supplies . . .), as well as reports of poor school attendance, behaviour and falling achievement standards.
Most who have chosen teaching as a career are ‘Glass Half Full’ people. They see the doughnut, not the hole, and they start each day believing they will make a positive difference for those in their care.
Although well retired from 42 years of principalship, I have maintained a keen interest in local and national education issues as they have emerged, while also closely observing my own grandchildren as they have grown and thrived, through their primary and secondary years, and now entering tertiary learning opportunities. I remain hopeful that there are indicators of brighter outcomes ahead. I also enjoy chats with today’s generation of principals, often on the sideline of a cricket match, and I wonder now if I could do their job.
I do believe that some of the critical factors that influenced our own pathways need to be reconsidered and restored. Some examples:
INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: I see very few positives in the move to take ‘teacher training’ wholly into the university environment. It needs to be a graduate profession, but it also needs redirection to emphasise ‘learning about learning’ and ‘how to teach’, including an extended practicum programme, to ensure a more complete understanding of what teaching and learning is all about.
I also believe there is a strong case for the teaching degree to be fees-free, with a bond period equivalent to the time spent studying. It worked well prior to the late 1980s and it would help keep our bright, young talent in New Zealand.
ADVISORY SUPPORT SERVICES: Most of today’s teachers have never had the benefit of professional curriculum advisers, as they disappeared with the arrival of Tomorrow’s Schools 35 years ago. Advisers in reading, mathematics, science, physical education, art and music, came to our schools and provided meaningful, relevant guidance to our teachers. Their advice was immensely beneficial. I always enjoyed, and greatly appreciated, the many discussions with my various Rural Advisers, never felt threatened by their visits, and gained greatly from their valuable advice. They were sanity preservers!
Costly to restore? Certainly, but what has been the cost of doing away with them? According to all the reports we read, we now have over-stretched teachers, poorer achievement results, curriculum deficits, disappointing international comparisons, frustrated and disillusioned teachers, and overworked, stressed principals.
My own grandchildren give me enormous hope. They are not vaping. Their time on devices is minimal. They are very involved in sports and a host of other activities. Much of their success and engagement can be attributed to good parenting (and grandparenting!). But credit must also go to their teachers who are committed, interested, and prepared to put extra time into helping their students succeed.
Much has been written about New Zealand schools ‘humming along on good will’. We’ve reached a point now where the level of unmet basic needs and learning support way exceeds the ‘good will’ our teachers can give. The funding of school lunches meant teachers were relieved of the burden of sourcing breakfast and lunch foods and preparing these meals so that the growing number of our children living in poverty could learn rather than just focus on their empty tummies.
Funding for learning support remains woeful and the current threats to the school lunches programme makes no sense when we want to lift student achievement. Where is the courage to make critical changes?
New Zealand has a well-deserved reputation internationally as a fair-minded nation. However, there is much that is not fair in this country. Too many children are not getting a fair go. I am not seeing our current government doing anything tangible to reverse that.
Doom and Gloom? Well, Yeah and Nah. Some major decisions will have to be made. It is already later than it should be. How much longer can we keep making short-term calls, and putting off the necessary long-term solutions?
Where is the courage to do something really significant to make things better? Our generation failed to make the big calls, and the current generation (government and business) show few signs of doing anything differently. Will it take another generation to produce a bold and innovative politician like Michael Joseph Savage or Peter Fraser?
I congratulate all teachers and principals for the amazing work you do. Parents and grandparents really do appreciate your efforts to make life meaningful and worthwhile for today’s students. My message is to continue to drink from the glass half-full and eat the full doughnut. Kia kaha!