NZ Principal Magazine Term 1 2018

March 2018 Volume 33, Number 1

A Perennial Controversy?

Religious Instruction in NZ State Primary Schools

Also

featuring

• Waikato Principals’ Association • Ernie Buutveld Retires • The Wellbeing Principal

• We really need to talk about the future • The Power of Expectations

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Editor Liz Hawes Executive Officer PO Box 25380 Wellington 6146 Ph: 04 471 2338 Email: Liz.Hawes@nzpf.ac.nz

CONTENTS

Magazine Proof-reader Helen Kinsey-Wightman Editorial Board Whetu Cormick, NZPF President Geoff Lovegrove, Retired Principal, Feilding Liz Hawes, Editor

March 2018

2 EDITORIAL 3 PRESIDENT’S PEN Whetu Cormick

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Book Review: National Standards – The Search for Better Educational Standards: A Cautionary Tale

Dr Lester Flockton

For all advertising enquiries contact: Cervin Media Ltd PO Box 68450, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141 Ph: 09 360 8700 or Fax: 09 360 8701 Note The articles in New Zealand Principal do not necessarily reflect the policy of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. Readers are welcome to use or reprint material if proper acknowledgement is made.

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13 A Perennial Controversy? Religious Instruction in New Zealand State Primary Schools

Dr Gregory Lee and Dr Howard Lee

18

Ernie Buutveld Retires

23

We really need to talk about the future

27 30 33 35 36

ISSN 0112-403X (Print) ISSN 1179-4372 (Online)

Waikato Principals’ Association

Liz Hawes

Liz Hawes

Carolyn Stuart

The Wellbeing Principal

Sven Hansen, The Resilience Institute

The Power of Expectations

Karen Boyes

SCHOOL LINES

Lester Flockton

Opinion – ‘People at school are racist to me . . . ’

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

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Editorial Liz Hawes

Editor

It seems odd to be using the word ‘restraint’ in the same special education needs to be prioritized. She agrees that special sentence as ‘child’ but how to properly and lawfully restrain education has been under-resourced and that we are not ready young people in schools, has become the issue of the day, as to respond to the severe behaviour challenges facing schools. much as solving the teacher shortages.

On restraint, the debate swings from those who would argue How did we get to this situation where we are lining up that if you are having to restrain young people at school, perhaps teachers and support staff for training they should not be there in the first in the techniques of restraint? We can Still, the issue of the place to the argument that every child understand lawful restraint being a is entitled to attend a mainstream component of Police training – but violent outbursts that school because education is a basic teachers? right. place teachers, other children human Restraint is the collision site of There has to be a middle ground inclusion policies and severe or violent and property at risk, remains. somewhere. The problem is, the behaviour. It is said that New Zealand solution may be greatly more resource has one of the most inclusive education systems in the world. intense than even the most generous of Education Ministers can It often takes a student to threaten the safety of staff and other afford. For a start it is estimated that the number of available students before a principal will seriously consider suspension or psychologists would have to double alongside other specialists exclusion, such is the strength of our inclusion practices. such as speech language therapists. We would need more New Zealand schools warmly welcome a broad range of Resource teachers of Learning and more hands-on assistance students, doing everything possible to equitably and fairly meet in schools. Even if schools do have access to good specialist every student’s special needs and offer them the best educational assistance, if they are not resourced to carry out the specialist’s opportunities they possibly can. Teachers willingly embrace and recommendations, they won’t be implemented. celebrate diversity and the Ministry’s special education service Still, the issue of the violent outbursts that place teachers, has also responded to support schools as they integrate students other children and property at risk, remains. It’s a last resort but into the mainstream. restraining children in these circumstances is all teachers can do.

The problem is that the special needs have now outgrown the I spoke to a principal last year in a decile 8 provincial school ability of the special education services to respond. For a long who showed me a photo of her completely trashed office. She then time schools have lamented that special education funding is showed me the bruises on her legs, where the child had kicked insufficient to fairly meet the needs of the students in their and lashed wildly at her as she tried to protect her computer from schools. There is a shortage of teacher aides to support special being trashed again. This time she called the police. They asked students in mainstream classes and a woeful lack of specialist her why the child was not directed to a padded room. services and educational psychologists.

We can ask what triggers children to behave in this way and These shortages coincide with a growing number of young schools can work harder at building stronger relationships with people presenting with severe autism and fetal alcohol spectrum these children and their whānau to better understand them. disorder. More recently children born to methamphetamine The thing is, there still has to be a backstop when all turns bad. addicted mothers are entering our schools. Principals are The reason restraint has hit the headlines is that schools cannot reporting higher and higher rates of violent outbursts from these reconcile what they are legally entitled to do. The Crimes Act is and other children suffering conditions such as post-traumatic not consistent with the Education Act. An immediate solution stress disorder and sexual and physical abuse. Surveys on student would be to remove the more stringent limitations for restraint wellbeing in New Zealand indicate our children are not in a from the Education Act altogether leaving schools to comply with healthy state. the Crimes Act only, as they are obliged to do anyway.

The most recent survey conducted by NZPF indicated that The bigger problems in implementing inclusion will take a whilst schools are managing to cope well with children who much more concerted effort to solve. have mild or moderate learning or behaviour needs, it is a different story when it comes to severe behaviour. Over 90 per cent indicated that they could not cope and were not resourced or trained to cope with this very challenging group of students.

Associate Education Minister, Tracey Martin, concurs that

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President’s Pen

Ko Tainui te waka Ko Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga te iwi Whetu Cormick

National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation

If 2017 heralded the start of a new educational era, then 2018 the whole school curriculum. There is no one measure that must is the year of making it happen. The summer holidays offered be used. It is up to us to decide. me a perfect opportunity to pull back and take a good look at Evaluation of learning and reporting to parents isn’t the our education system from the safe distance of the South Island’s only area up for change. The Minister also wants to return West Coast. Enveloped in the deep green cloak of pristine New democratic values to the Education Council. There currently Zealand bush, I felt a sense of peace is a bill before parliament proposing and equilibrium. For the first time He justified these to increase the number of Council in a long time I could think calmly members to thirteen, and to allow about the future of education in New changes saying he wanted to the profession to elect seven of their Zealand without the pangs of panic members, rather than have all see less testing and more own that have haunted and distracted me, members appointed by the Minister. as another unwelcome compliance teaching.

The bill also proposes to change the issue has landed on my desk. That’s name of the Education Council to how it has been for some years. We as leaders in our schools Teachers’ Council. were losing our sense of autonomy to make decisions that were Another bill is set to permanently remove all reference in the best interests of our students and our local communities. to national standards from legislation and to remove the We were feeling more and more that the power was shifting back to the Centre and our professional knowledge and expertise was being marginalized.

Calm does not equate to inertia however and my mind quickly turned to ‘what happens when . . . ?’ mode. Already we had BLUE CREAM been given a sense of the new direction for education. It would Pantone (PMS) : 566 Pantone (PM CMYK : 24/2/15/0 CMYK : 7/4/ be based on high quality public education and it would not be RGB : 193/223/217 RGB : 233/2 HEX : #c1dfd9 HEX : #e9ec centred around assessment measures. Minister Hipkins signaled an end to national standards and a rethink of NCEA assessment before the summer recess. He justified these changes saying he AN ALL YEAR ROUND wanted to see less testing and more teaching.

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Adjusting to a new way of thinking will take time. For many, the first reaction has been to ask, ‘What will replace national standards?’ This is an understandable question given we have OVER 900 had a decade of reporting based on standardized assessment.

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legislation that enabled charter schools. With the new emphasis on supporting a high quality public education system, there is no place to accommodate government funded charter school businesses. Those existing charter schools that have survived and whose students are progressing well in their learning will not necessarily close. They will have the opportunity to continue their good work as a different type of school, such as an integrated special character school or a private school, or a mainstream public school. The Minister will negotiate with each of the charter schools’ sponsors to determine their future shape. What we do know for certain is that there will be no further contracts signed to establish any more charter schools.

Our challenge now is to ask ourselves, ‘How can we take advantage of this new thinking about education to help establish systems that will endure? How can we establish systems that will provide greater learning opportunities for our young people?

What are the best ways to provide meaningful curriculum support for our school leaders and teachers? How do we lift the status of the profession so that we can secure a future flow of high quality teacher graduates and not have to face the dilemma of future teacher shortages? How can we build a culture of sharing and relationship building both within and between our schools and with our sector organisations?

We have the opportunity now to make a real contribution to the future shape of our education system which can mirror our professional experiences, views and knowledge. Ministers are talking about a thirty-year plan for education. I am looking forward to joining you in the year ahead and being part of that planning and transformation of our education system.

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The Search for Better Educa

A Cautionary Tale

Martin Thrupp, Springer International Publishing, 2018 Lester Flockton

Professor Martin Thrupp has proven himself to be a researcher of integrity who is committed to uncompromised truth when investigating and responding to Government education policies and associated policy machinations. There are few of his ilk in our country, so he is particularly well qualified to document the sad story of the John Key Government’s National Standards which they made law under urgency shortly after assuming office towards the end of 2008.

The Search for Better Educational Standards is a documentary, a critical analysis, and a warning for the future, written in an informative style that is easy to read and follow. It has arrived hard on the heels of a change of Government and the ridding of National Standards, but this in no way diminishes its importance and relevance for all who care about education policy in New Zealand. There are serious lessons to be learned from the book about the imposition, political tactics and consequences of costly and wasteful policies that fail to achieve genuine benefits for children’s learning and teachers’ teaching across The New Zealand Curriculum.

The first of the ten chapters in the book paints an excellent picture of New Zealand and its education system. This succinct account of social, political, economic and educational contexts provides valuable background to the introduction of National Standards. It should be as informative for the seasoned educator as for those who might benefit from knowing how our system has become increasingly and insidiously politicised. In turn, the next chapter discusses global pressures in education that clearly influenced government politicians and their advisers towards joining the cult of managerialism and the spurious rhetoric of needing assessment to raise standards.

Subsequent chapters variously cover National Standards research, the contested manner in which the standards were developed and introduced, and issues around the production, quality and use of National Standards data and associated target setting. Challenges of attaining reliability of OTJs (Overall Teacher Judgements) receive some attention, although this is not well counterbalanced by exposing myths and mindsets that standardised tests give superior reliability of judgments of what children know and can do. Thrupp’s own research, RAINS (Research, Analysis and Insights into National Standards) occupies a relatively large part of discussions around schools’ reactions to the standards, their different interpretations in how they were implemented and used, and their responses to demands from the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office.

Chapter 5 of the book is titled “Neither National nor Standard”.

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Interestingly this was a line frequently used by Chris Hipkins during national election debates in 2017, and it seems to have caught on with a number of teachers. Thrupp argues this position from his RAINS research, having found that the standards were actually “very local when enacted”. This localisation cannot be denied, however the claim that National Standards were “neither national nor standard” is open to debate according to perspective.

Arguably it is only half true because in fact they were national.

Every State and State Integrated primary school nationally was required to implement them and to measure student achievement in relation to standards defined and published by the Ministry of Education. The point here is that yes, they were national, but practices of implementation and assessment most certainly were not standardised. Indeed, the only way to achieve this would have been through rigorous, inflexible national standardised testing!

Even the Ministry of Education’s PaCT tool could not guarantee standardisation of reported measures.

The concluding chapters include one on the politics of research, and another giving international responses to the book from three reputable academics. The politics of research in New Zealand, particularly in respect to Government education initiatives, is a matter of very considerable concern because so much of it is sponsored by the Ministry of Education itself and conducted by “on-song” academics. Thrupp notes the “setbacks” in doing independent research when pursuing “politically challenging lines of argument”, and “the tensions between being a researcher and an activist”. It is not hard to believe that the system only wants to hear what it wants to hear.

In the international commentaries, Australian Professor Bob Lingard notes that global education policy discourses touch down in given nations, and “So it is with the Kiwi Standards, as Thrupp’s analysis unequivocally demonstrates and illustrates”.

English Professor Meg Maquire comments that “One of the troubling issues raised by this book is what foregrounding these sorts of accountability may be side-lining: issues such as poverty, exclusion and various oppressions such as racism”.

American Professor David Hursh cautions that “New Zealand and the US are at crossroads in their education systems. If some policymakers have their way, education will be reduced to statistics and algorithms. People will be marginalised as numbers take precedence over people”. It’s that unabating thirst for data in the mistaken belief that it is the paramount cure all and key to success.

The title of the book might suggest that it is about a way forward, yet it doesn’t suggest what better educational standards could look like or how the search might be tackled. Nor does it

tional Standards

critique or comment on the validity of the standards themselves, which arguably are a significant part of the problem, although those involved in devising them are bound to deny this. What the book does do, however, is make crystal clear that unless we are genuine “learners” from the authoritative account Thrupp has provided, then the better way might prove elusive, or worse still, an illusion.

There is a banquet of food for thought in this book to the point that those who partake will be professionally nourished. It should be mandatory reading for those politicians and their officials who were responsible for mandating and pushing National Standards, and absolutely prerequisite reading for all who will be engaged in the search for better educational standards.

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Waikato Principals’ Associati Liz Hawes

EDITOR

Principals’ Associations are such enduring entities, it is occasionally surprising little children as they strolled home from easy to overlook them. Across the country, association executives school. The story of Horton the elephant hatching eggs in a tree, have for years been beavering away, organising professional had nothing on Ernie the elephant popping his head out from learning sessions, regional events and local conferences for their the Claudelands Bush to say ‘Boo’! The ‘Roaming Giant’ café’s colleagues. Many also undertake substantial fundraising projects name is the enduring memory of those surreal times. so that principals can be subsidised to attend national events, The Waikato Principals’ Association has a representative executive overseas conferences and other activities. of nine, made up of principals from both rural and urban schools, Some would say an even more important function of the larger and smaller schools. Their agenda for this luncheon meeting principals’ association is providing opportunities for networking, had a strong focus on the up-coming NZPF conference. They were supporting each other and sharing expecting a contingent of over fifty informal advice. They elect their The WPA is a wellprincipals to travel to Queenstown and own executive groups from their own all would receive a generous subsidy members – it is an entirely democratic structured Association from the association. process. In turn the associations have supported by twenty-nine ‘Travel and accommodation to a close relationship with their national Queenstown is a huge budget item body, the New Zealand Principals’ business partnerships. for schools so by arranging group Federation (NZPF). travel and accommodation bookings The national body looks to the regional associations to and then subsidising the costs to each principal, we can get big guide them in their work. For NZPF to be a vital and relevant numbers to conference,’ said Hamish. organisation, the national executive knows it must have a clear Funds for the Waikato Principals’ Association got a substantial and comprehensive understanding of what is happening in the boost after hosting the NZPF Conference in 2014. ‘That really set regions and what support principals are calling for. It needs us up financially, to be able to do so much more for principals to know what stance the regions want to take on political and in the Waikato region,’ he said. educational issues, so it can represent principals’ views honestly, The system of regions hosting conference and sharing in fairly and with integrity. any surplus has now changed. The main reason for the change Each year, NZPF holds an annual event called the ‘Moot’, to was so that smaller regions that did not have the facilities or which all regional presidents are invited. This is an opportunity accommodation options to host conference, could also share in for the regions to bring their concerns and views to the national the proceeds. So NZPF now organises its own conferences and table and debate them. Unlike a traditional Moot, where two it is intended that the profits will be shared with a wider group teams line up against each other, one to defend the pros and the of principal associations. other the cons of a position, and where an adjudicator decides In the Waikato, principals are not just subsidised to attend the winning team based on the quality and persuasiveness of the the NZPF conference. ‘In 2014 over fifty principals travelled arguments, the NZPF Moot is not a debating competition. It is to Melbourne to look at flexible learning spaces,’ said Hamish, more like a broad discussion, a sharing of views on the pros and ‘and we plan to go back in 2018 to see how they are progressing.’ cons of a topic and an attempt to prioritise the most important Flexible Learning Spaces have become a popular topic in issues for immediate action. For NZPF, the regional presidents education and many believe they are an inspired option for are more like a reference or consultation group, brimming with young peoples’ learning. Others feel they are no different from experience and hands-on knowledge of the profession. the failed ‘experiment’ of the ‘open plan classrooms’ of the 1970s.

The Waikato Principals’ Association (WPA) is a good example Perhaps a major difference between the two eras is while physical of a large Association based in the city of Hamilton. Hamish structures drove decisions in the 1970s, now it is the pedagogy Fenmore is the current president. He heads up the U5 Cambridge driving the changes. Pedagogy is the focus for Waikato principals East School, situated just outside of the city. grappling with ideas about how best to deliver learning in their I join Hamish and his executive at the ‘Roaming Giant’, a very schools for the future. pleasant café on the east side of Hamilton city. A café called the ‘This is important professional learning,’ says Hamish. ‘It is ‘Roaming Giant’ begs a story and it inevitably followed. I was much better to observe this new pedagogy in action and see its reliably told that the land on which the nearby Claudelands strengths and weaknesses before embarking on expensive and Events’ Centre now sits, was once home to many a visiting circus. transformative changes which may or may not be the best option Legend has it that from time to time giant sized animals would for us here in the Waikato, in New Zealand,’ he said. make a bid for freedom and ‘roam’ the nearby neighbourhood, This professional learning occurs through the good will of 10

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ion (WPA)

teaching colleagues in Melbourne. ‘It is now not so easy to get access to classrooms in Melbourne schools,’ said Hamish, ‘so we use a consultant principal in Melbourne The Waikato Principals’ Association executive gathers at the ‘Roaming Giant’ to facilitate that.’ café for the lunch time executive meeting The WPA also has connections with the Victoria Education Department in Melbourne and plans to do more work which the developing brain functions best,’ he said. ‘It was so with them on teacher inquiry. enlightening to find what approaches and interventions work ‘We want strong leaders and highly successful schools in the in changing behaviour and which do not.’

Waikato,’ says Hamish, ‘so creating professional learning and The WPA runs three ‘Catch-Up’ days a year and in 2018 development opportunities is critical,’ he said. will host presentations and workshops by Hoana Pearson, the Not all Waikato principals are in a financial position to take national coordinator of the Māori Achievement Collaborations advantage of these Australian visits even when their Association is (MACs), Marcus Akuhata-Brown, on the learning needs of youth offering generous subsidies. For these principals, the WPA offers a at risk and Nigel Latta, psychologist and author, and host of the series of ‘Catch-Up’ days each year. One such example was centred television series ‘Beyond the Darklands’. around Nathan Mikaere-Wallis’ research on neuroscience.

The WPA is a well-structured Association supported by ‘Nathan did a series of presentations for us to show the ideal twenty-nine business partnerships. Many of these business physical, emotional, educational and social conditions under partners are also supporters of the national body, NZPF.

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‘We couldn’t do a fraction of what we do for principals in the Waikato without the generous support of our business partners,’ said Hamish.

Whilst the cost of overseas trips runs into tens of thousands, the Association also covers the full costs of bringing in high profile speakers for the Catch-Up days. It isn’t cheap to run a big Principals’ Association and provide quality professional learning and development programmes for principals.

The work of the Association is not all serious learning however, and each year there are fun social events, like a night out at the trots, organised for informal networking and just relaxing together.

‘Being a principal is no easy ride,’ says Hamish. ‘Principals deserve a fun night out occasionally,’ he grinned.

Membership of the WPA runs into hundreds and the organisation operates like a well-oiled machine. There are regular communications sent out, administration functions are well managed and the membership is regularly surveyed to establish their views on events and preferred presenters for the regular ‘Catch-Up’ days.

Hamish Fenmore is reluctant to take credit for the successes of WPA and is quick to acknowledge presidents who preceded him ‘ . . . who had the vision to establish a strong foundation to build on.’ These include Pat Poland, who was also a founding member of the NZPF, and more recently, John Coulam. ‘These are the ones who deserve the credit,’ he says. ‘I inherited the results of their foresight.’

It is not uncommon in the teaching profession to find this brand of humility. I don’t doubt that a decade from now it will be a new president offering respectful accolades to his or her predecessors and Hamish Fenmore will be one of those receiving the honours.

A Perennial Controversy?

Religious Instruction in New Zealand State Primary Schools Gregory Lee and Howard Lee

Regular readers of newspapers, academic education in religious instruction or not. This principle was founded on journals, and professional education magazines will recall having an older precedent – one stemming from the introduction of seen and engaged with several articles published this year on a Governor George Grey’s Education Ordinance of 1847. wide range of education and/or schooling matters. One of the Because the Education Act of 1877 had stated that school more controversial topics to have been allocated space in these buildings could be “[used] on days and at hours other than publications – alongside sustained debate over the National those used for public school purposes”, provided that permission Government’s Christchurch education renewal strategy and was granted by school committee members, activities that the Government’s advocacy of ‘modern learning environments’ were unrelated to a school’s secular curriculum could then be or ‘open learning spaces’ – concerns conducted on site. Not surprisingly, the perceived merits or otherwise The result was that opportunities for delivering religious of providing religious instruction in instruction existed without pupils religious instruction state primary schools. needing to leave a school’s premises.

We maintain that these press could be provided This provision thus prevented school contributions are not at all surprising, committee members from sanctioning given the historical reality that legally, either before a state the delivery of any kind of religious the Grey Government’s decision instruction during the prescribed in 1877 (effective from January 1, primary school was declared school hours.

1878) to exclude any denominational open or after that school was A committee whose members chose C h r ist i an te a ch i ng f rom t he to ignore this clause was subject to nationally prescribed, compulsory, closed for the day. legal penalties for breaching both the primary school curriculum has been spirit and the espoused principles of discussed, debated, and interrogated regularly over the past the 1877 statute. Given that current, twenty-first century, school 140 years in many communities. A caution will be added at this legislation has not removed this requirement, it is reasonable to point, however, that opinions expressed in newspaper articles – argue that members of any primary school board of trustees (the individually and collectively – should not be taken as indicative successor to school committees from October 1, 1988), can not necessarily of a dominant or overarching perspective held by a claim reasonably any defense based on ignorance of this facet wide section of a given community or across a particular society. of contemporary legislation.

These contributions historically have included consideration of Under the 1877 Education Act, therefore, legislators had ‘the McKenzie system’ (named after a nineteenth century Nelson- made it abundantly clear that the core curriculum to be based minister of religion, the Reverend James McKenzie), where delivered in the state’s primary schools must not include any a clever interpretation was applied from the late nineteenth religious component. In other words, the provision of state century to a particular section of the 1877 Education Act monies depended on the curriculum for such schools being concerning schooling hours and the content and scope of the entirely free from any denominational content and orientation. non-denominational school curriculum. The result was that Private school authorities, by comparison, were able to offer religious instruction could be provided legally, either before a religious instruction of a strictly denominational kind because state primary school was declared open or after that school was it was not intended in 1877 that they receive any state funding closed for the day. directly. As readers will appreciate, this provision satisfied these This practice was not illegal, for the reason that under authorities at one level because their ability to deliver religious McKenzie’s system religious instruction was not to be delivered instruction openly and formally had not been – and could not when a school was ‘formally in session’ – that is, during be – undermined by any agent of the state. the prescribed four hours of schooling each day when “the Dissatisfaction was evident from 1878 regarding the continuing teaching shall be entirely of a secular character.” Whenever absence of any state funding provision for these authorities denominational instruction was being imparted, moreover, it whenever they encountered financial hardship. (It was a was not mandatory for parents or guardians to have their sons controversy that lingered until at least 1976, arguably beyond, and/or daughters participate. To put the point another way a with the introduction of the 1975 Private Schools Conditional ‘conscience provision’ operated so that parents or guardians could Integration Act.) It is important to note that prior to the choose whether a primary school-age child would participate introduction of the 1877 Education Act private school authorities

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had received some government monies – “grants in aid”, for practical purposes – in return for having provided schooling opportunities from the early nineteenth century in an era where no government was prepared to intervene formally in any elementary or primary schooling provision. Church authorities, therefore, were the first providers of schooling facilities and of teaching staff, notably throughout the missionary and Crown Colony eras.

One issue that has provoked some discussion concerns whether or not a parent or a guardian should have to write to a primary school authority in order to request that a child not receive religious instruction. We contend that it is preferable always for a parent or guardian to have to opt a child into religious instruction as opposed to being required to inform school personnel that a son or daughter is not to participate in such instruction (i.e., to act, in order to opt a child out). The latter option has been termed ‘contracting out’ and was adopted under the Religious Instruction and Observances in Public Schools Act of 1962.

That piece of legislation immediately attracted controversy, chiefly because it was at odds with the 1962 Currie Commission’s recommendation issued a few months earlier that ‘contracting in’ ought to be the only practice permissible. Nevertheless, the ‘opt in’ arrangement is now well established in our contemporary state primary schools as a consequence largely of the abandonment of the 1962 statute’s often criticised contracting out requirement following the introduction of the Education Act of 1964.

It should be remembered, too, that provision has to be made by a primary school board of trustees for children whose guardians or parents do not wish them to receive any religious instruction at school. For practical purposes it is highly likely that teachers will be operating in a loco parentis capacity in such a situation – exercising a duty of care for boys and/or girls during the time when religious instruction is being delivered to other children.

Removal of boys and girls from this instruction has to be handled skillfully, we suggest, in order to avoid any allegation that these children may feel discriminated against on account of being separated from their peers at school.

Much will depend on what is put in place at schools to cater explicitly for those children whose parents have chosen not to contract their children into formal religious instruction. Failure to treat this aspect seriously may led to the 1990 Bill of Rights Act being invoked by parents and/or guardians on a child’s behalf.

(At the time of writing the Human Rights Review Tribunal is considering an application from the national Secular Education Network, to consider an allegation of “religious bias” and to examine claims that children have been bullied because their parents have objected to them receiving religious instruction.)

We envisage that members of state primary school boards of trustees will be alert especially to any possible accusation that they have not given due weight to legal requirements concerning the delivery – and non delivery – of religious instruction on

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premises under their governorship. The same caution extends to Ministry of Education officials, we believe.

We should note also that the 1877 Education Act was introduced in an era and within a context where ‘religion’ was seen largely within a Christian framework. In twenty-first century Aotearoa/New Zealand society, however, it is difficult if not unwise to ignore the reality that many different religions are being practiced both nationally and overseas. Accordingly, we wish to ask whether or not the time has arrived for the scope of what has constituted ‘religious instruction’ to be broadened – for those primary school children whose parents request it explicitly.

This instruction could be imparted through a world religions or comparative religions framework, one that should transcend but not marginalise Christian denominations. Our question does (and would) not affect the long established secular primary schooling provision in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Rather, it may be worthwhile ascertaining the level of support for non-Christian religious instruction to have some, or more, space – voluntarily – in primary schools.

We anticipate that many issues will arise relating to who could (and who may not) be authorised to deliver such instruction, who should be able to determine a programme of study, and what level and type of input should representatives of different religious affiliations have. These issues, we acknowledge readily, are unlikely to be resolved easily and unproblematically, but it is possible that encouraging broad community and public discussion may be helpful in an era where a wide(r) range of religions are attracting an increasing number of adherents because of the greater level of migration of non-Christian people to this country. The content of these religions, and the philosophy and values that underpin them, will be largely unfamiliar to many New Zealanders.

In wishing to see discussions concerning the merits or otherwise of broadening what constitutes ‘religious instruction’ we are not proposing that the long-held separation between churches and the state be re-litigated or abandoned. Instead, we believe that it is timely to ascertain the extent to which New Zealanders wish to adhere predominantly, or exclusively, to instruction based on Christian religions as opposed to a clear preference for other religious instruction to be delivered in the nation’s state primary schools. Such an exercise might well stimulate debate about key differences between religious education and religious instruction.

In our increasingly diverse and pluralistic society there ought to be much of value educationally to be gained from encouraging these discussions.

About the Author Dr Gregory Lee is an Adjunct Professor of Education History and Policy at The University of Canterbury. Dr Howard Lee is Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at Massey University’s Palmerston North campus.

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FORMER NZPF PRESIDENT ERNIE BUUTVELD RETIRES Liz Hawes

EDITOR

‘Think about that,’ I hear him cautioning his executive. ‘If Education Reform Movement’. we transpose those research findings to our current education He told his national executive that national standards were in policies we can predict a decline in academic achievement not effect a measure for school, teacher and student performance, a gain,’ he reasoned, whilst debating national standards. ‘Have to create a competitive model and open the door to the myth we considered what happens if you invert that argument . . . ?’ of ‘greater parental choice’. This would mean a greater role an example of Ernie, the expansive thinker applying creativity for private providers to run public schools; would provide a to discussion. measure of accountability; set These are the words of a up a platform for performance man who said and did nothing pay; and give control back to rash and who never acted the Centre. The plan was based impulsively. Everything about not on learning and teaching Ernie was thoughtful and but on economics. reflective and he brought every By now the Government’s PR neuron of his considerable machine had sold the public the intelligence to every debating idea that there was a crisis in table. education and convinced them There was no shortage of that ‘standards’ were necessary debate during his reign as NZPF to address the one in five President. The years were 2009 children failing in our schools. and 2010, unequivocally the The best Ernie could do was most turbulent since the 1980s. to instruct his membership Whilst the profession was to resist and slow down the completely thrown off course process as much as possible. by the introduction of national He cautioned principals not standards, it was Ernie who to abandon New Zealand’s pondered carefully and asked world class broad and rich the most revealing questions. curriculum. Many never did, He recognized the flaws as but the focus on national did many others. He studied standards data gradually seeped the research and realized the menacingly into every corner of national standards were never the sector’s functions. going to deliver on the goal Ernie couldn’t win the war of raising the success rates of to keep national standards out, those not currently succeeding. but he did win the hearts and Unlike many others, Ernie minds of his own members who then asked the next question. never did embrace national ‘What is the real purpose of standards nor any other policy introducing national standards associated with them. Schools to New Zealand schools if logic were forced through legislative and research tell us they won’t requirements to report their Ernie acknowledges the critical role his wife Marie has played achieve their stated goals?’ national standards data but throughout his long career In his thoughtful way, he did so without enthusiasm or examined some of the other education policies pouring out of commitment. Most continued to be innovative and responsive the ‘Beehive’ offices and began the process of ‘joining the dots’. to their individual students needs which meant drawing on the Soon he had the bigger picture. The picture mirrored changes broader curriculum. They never adopted the notion that children occurring in the UK and in the USA. National Standards were arrive in their schools as standard units to be regularly measured not ‘home grown’ but cloned from a blueprint for the ‘Global and recorded.

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The children wait patiently for their moment to perform

Ernie was elected by his peers to lead the Principals’ Federation sharp analytical mind. I watched as he redesigned the school for more than just his intelligence and thinking skills. He was an enrolment form. It was a work of art which only Ernie could experienced and well-respected principal, an outstanding leader possibly have created and then through his acutely honed IT and a thoroughly great bloke. skills he transferred the information onto a single page form with Ernie led Havelock Primary School in Marlborough for twenty- each section carefully and attractively boxed off. Schools flock to five years where unsurprisingly, he adopted a reflective style of purchase pads of the forms, knowing that they will capture every leadership. He subscribed to the collaborative ‘Te Ariki’ model, detail of information required to comply with every enrolment developed by the late Dr David Stewart. The Te Ariki model regulation. Ernie had done all the thinking for them. encouraged professional conversations and reflective critique to help establish meaning and purpose for what teachers and school leaders do. It was a system of continuous quality improvement of practice and fitted perfectly with Ernie’s aspiration to always be seeking better ways and better opportunities for the children in his school.

The school farewell ceremony revealed much about Ernie, his personality, values, motivations, his teaching and leadership skills and above all, how the community and his family regarded him.

I spoke to the Acting Principal who was quick to acknowledge that filling Ernie’s boots won’t be easy.’ He is so meticulous,’ he said, ‘everything has its place in Ernie’s school.’

As a colleague who worked with Ernie in the NZPF national office, I can attest Board Chair, Ben Roborgh, had nothing but praise for Ernie’s outstanding contributions to to his careful attention to detail and his the children and community of Havelock School

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Sakura Urakawa-Murdoch and Ashelyn Horton-Smith proved an entertaining team, as MCs for the day

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In his own school of Havelock, located in picturesque Marlborough, Ernie is affectionately referred to as ‘Mr B’. A former teacher, Dulcie Dennison, told the audience gathered at his farewell that one of the first things she learned from Ernie was that we never stop learning. Her comments were later echoed by a message read by NZPF executive member Barbara Bowen, on behalf of president, Whetu Cormick.

‘Ernie spent his career constantly on the look-out for more effective ways of teaching and connecting with the young people in his school. His devotion to life-long learning was well-known.

On his most recent sabbatical Ernie was researching the Reuven Feurerstein philosophy which states that intelligence is not fixed but modifiable. His search was about finding alternative ways to approach teaching and learning especially for cognitively challenged young people.’

After 42 years, Ernie was still chasing up new and better ways to give every child the best chance he possibly could.

He had always believed in inclusiveness and embracing diversity in our mainstream schools. There was no drafting gate at Ernie’s school. But when his colleagues began to report that there was a growing number of young people coming into schools with severely challenging behaviours, Ernie knew there had to be a way to help his colleagues better manage these troubled young people.

He began a conversation with the Ministry and other sector groups about how they might respond to this new challenge and out of the discussions came the Positive Behaviour for Learning programme (PB4L). It has proven to be one of the most effective programmes for managing difficult behaviour in schools and continues to grow in popularity. Its annual conference attracts

Ernie’s wife Marie is acknowledged for her outstanding support which allowed Ernie to devote so much time to his school and its community

more than 1,000 teaching professionals each year. would feel culturally safe, accepted and secure; a place where it Ernie was a star collaborator and as Dulcie Dennison explained, was easy to build relationships and connect with the kaupapa.

‘We all worked as a team and we learned to communicate It was a spirited haka involving girls and boys from the school’s frequently and openly with each other. That way if a problem Kapa Haka group. arose we would talk about it straight away and get it sorted.’

Next the lively MCs invited a group of children to the stage to She went on to say that Mr B always put family first and that present ‘Mr B’ with a retirement survival kit. It included a box meant ‘he put our families first too.’ This was clearly an endearing of crayons for drawing so that life never gets boring; a rubber aspect of Ernie’s style and much appreciated by his staff. band to remain flexible; a paper clip to hold everything together; The farewell for Ernie was not however dominated by adults’ a hairnet to . . . well keep your hair on; a packet of ‘seeds of speeches. In true Ernie fashion, it was the children at the centre. knowledge’ like he sewed in us; a bag of cotton balls to cushion MCs for the farewell event were two year eight girls, Sakura his seat when having a think on the front porch; and a painting Urakawa-Murdoch and Ashelyn Horton-Smith.

– a tree constructed from the finger prints of every child in the They set the tone of informality by introducing themselves, school with the caption ‘you left your mark on us and now we then settling comfortably onto the stage couch. The farewell adopted the style of a television chat show, complete with entertainment, interesting presenters and above all chatty commentary. Guest of honour, ‘Mr B’ was introduced, à la Graeme Norton style to take his seat on stage, opposite them.

They announced the first item, the Wakamarina Haka, a fitting opening to farewell a man who had invested so much in making his school a The Board Chair presented a painting of the Marlborough Sounds to Ernie in recognition of his service to the school place where Māori students N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 18

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The children present a choral item for their much loved principal

leave our mark for you’.

The children’s kit was a heartfelt, humorous and thoughtful expression of the affection, respect and regard with which they hold their much-loved principal.

The school’s Board Chair, Ben Roborgh thanked Ernie for the difference he made through boosting the educational and social outcomes for so many children and families over his 25 years of service to Havelock school. He spoke of Ernie’s love of the outdoors, of his passion for cycling and his involvement in coaching and playing basketball.

He also thanked him for being a great financial manager, always meeting his operational deadlines and for his outstanding IT and graphic design skills. ‘The school community greatly benefitted from having the most professionally designed newsletters, letter head, notices and communications’, he said.

He also acknowledged the way Ernie provided ongoing education for his teachers. ‘Ernie was an avid reader of all the latest in teaching research and shared the findings with his teachers. He had a vast store of knowledge and all of his teachers were advantaged by having him as their leader,’ he said.

‘Most of all,’ he said, addressing the children, ‘Mr B’ loved you guys, the kids of our school.’

He concluded with a special thank you to Ernie’s wife Marie who had selflessly enabled Ernie to have the freedom to devote so much of his life to their school and for supporting Ernie through all its challenges and successes.

After enjoying the enthusiastic choral interludes performed by the children he so clearly loves, it was Ernie’s turn to take the microphone. Casting his eye over the young people gathered in

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front of him he said ‘each face here today is a whole memory, a whole relationship and that’s the reason we go teaching. Fortytwo years has gone in a flash, he said, because every minute is so rewarding.

He thanked everyone for the sentiments expressed saying that teaching is a collective enterprise and a collective challenge, where no one achieves anything alone.

He said it was a great privilege to teach and lead a school, where you are crafting people to meet them later in life and how fantastic it had been to be part of that. ‘There are people I knew as children who have grown up and done great things in many different corners of the world, so when you are all grown up, and if you ever see me, wherever you are, say Gidday ‘Mr B’.’

Ernie was driven by his own moral compass. He spent his career constantly on the look-out for more effective ways of teaching and connecting with the young people in his school.

Nothing gave him greater pride and satisfaction than seeing his students empowered through their own learning and growing in confidence and self-belief. He brought those same values to his national leadership role, and whether debating political issues or advocating for support for his colleagues, his motivational drive was always to give children the very best learning opportunities so they could all experience success in life.

He will be greatly missed by his Marlborough community, his teachers and his children and by his colleagues nationwide. In acknowledging his retirement however none would say, after his long and devoted service, he is not deserving of a well-earned rest.

We really need to talk about the future Carolyn Stuart

Deputy Chief Executive, Education, Network for Learning

It has been almost five years since I left principalship and with the passage of time I now look back at my 13 (mostly) enjoyable years as a principal and realise that principalship is actually a highly complex version of Whackamole! You get one thing under control and voila here is the next mole popping its head up, whack, and here is another!!! This isn’t to say that my current job isn’t busy (it is) but I don’t miss the daily mole whacking, the unpredictability, and the busyness of a principal’s role.

As I see it, the biggest challenge of principalship is that it is a job that has diverse and constantly competing demands, has an unrelenting focus on coping with the current challenges, and leaves very little opportunity to think further out than tomorrow, next week or even next year. Yet the world outside the school gate is changing rapidly, and in ways never experienced before in the history of human civilisation. Education leaders need to work out how best to understand the exponential changes that will eventually impact every area of our lives and to engage with the implications that these will have on our current models of education delivery.

Industrial Revolution Update Since 1750 the world has experienced three and is now on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution.

Industrial Revolution 1 (1750–1830)

Coal, steam engines, railroads and textiles

Industrial Revolution 2 (1870–1900)

Electricity, internal combustion engines, modern communications, entertainment, petroleum/hydrocarbons and chemicals

Industrial Revolution 3 (1960– present)

Computing and telecommunications

Industrial Revolution 4 (Present–???)

Ever-increasing capability to automate previously human-only jobs

Some commentators have named this fourth industrial revolution the Robot Revolution. It has the following characteristics:

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From mechanical muscles to mechanical minds: Past industrial revolutions mainly impacted ‘blue collar’ jobs with mechanical muscles replacing human muscles. The Robot Revolution will replace human minds with mechanical minds, with the number of jobs in the legal and commercial fields declining significantly as artificially intelligent (AI) machines use big data to search and aggregate information much faster and more comprehensively than any human mind could ever manage.

We will also see significant shifts in the practice of medicine – already AI algorithms are detecting cancer at significantly higher rates than human practitioners. In the past white collar workers have been relatively immune from job losses caused by technological advances. This is no longer the case.

From special purpose robots to general purpose robots As artificial intelligence matures and is integrated more deeply into products and services robots will increasingly perform a multiplicity of tasks. Of significance to education are Soul Machines being developed at the University of Auckland. Soul machines are emotionally intelligent robots and are already being used in Australia as assistants for people with special needs. These robots respond emotionally and through artificial intelligence they are constantly learning about ‘their’ human’s needs and preferences thus increasing their effectiveness with every interaction. As Soul Machines mature how might they support learners in classrooms? Imagine students accessing their own personal robotic assistant, who through artificial intelligence, knows more about how they learn than any human ever could, and is able to offer emotional support as well.

From almost full employment to massive unemployment The first three technological revolutions resulted in an increased number of jobs. As the manufacturing process became more automated, the cost of products dropped therefore more people could afford to buy them which drove demand upwards

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and resulted in more jobs. This is not going to be the case for the fourth revolution. Commentators are predicting massive unemployment as more and more jobs are taken over by robots.

From unemployment benefit to universal basic income Many countries are already investigating the notion of a universal basic income (UBI) which everyone receives. Those with a job receive a payment over and above the UBI. A UBI is set at the level that ensures those without jobs are still able to live a reasonable life. In the past many (including me) have argued that schools will always exist, as society needs its children looked after while parents work. If parents could stay at home, with sufficient income, all the necessary resources for their child to learn available online, and the ability to use an app to organize ‘playdates’ around physical and cultural activities would they continue to send their children to a local school?

Incremental Change to Exponential Change Often when I am speaking to groups about exponential change I pose the following problem.

“Imagine a lily pond in which everyday the number of lilies doubles. On the first day there is one lily and after 40 days the pond is full. On what day is the pond half full of lilies?”

Many people answer 20 days but this is incorrect. The correct answer is 39 days. Because the number of lilies doubles every day then at 39 days the pond is half full, with all the lilies doubling during the next day making the pond full at 40 days.

The reason people say 20 days is that we naturally think incrementally, step by step. But in the exponential space, we have to think in doubles, and one of the characteristics of doubles thinking is that at first it looks like nothing is happening. Another example is paper folding. For normal-sized pieces of paper, seven folds is the maximum number you can make. The first few folds are really easy but unless you are using a piece of paper the size of a football field you cannot fold it an eighth time. Or going back to childhood if someone offered to pay you $2 for every tooth you lost or one cent for the first tooth and double the amount for every subsequent tooth, which one would you take? Smart kids take the doubling option as by tooth number nine you are earning $2.56 with tooth number ten it is $5.12 etc. I’ll leave you to work out what tooth number 20 is worth!

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Graphing technology vs time produces the following exponential curve. Note how long the line is flat before the impact of doubling causes it to rise sharply. Notice also where commentators think humans are in relation to the curve.

Peter Diamandis from Singularity University describes six stages of exponential change. These are: 1. Digitization – a product or service digitizes. In education we’ve seen this with the uptake of G-suite, O365, Chromebooks, BYOD etc 2. Deceptive – this is the flat part of the exponential curve and where I think education is at present. Slowly but surely the use of digital technologies is doubling but we have yet to see it break out of the ‘what we have always done but now we are doing it online’ pattern.

3. Disruptive Growth – this is when the use of a technology reaches the point when it begins to disrupt. This has yet to happen in education but the day will come and many will stand around and wonder why we never saw it coming. Think about the massive disruption Uber is causing to the taxi industry or AirBnB to the hospitality industry. When these apps first appeared no-one saw the disruption they would eventually bring.

4. Dematerialisation – this is when a product or service ceases to exist in isolation. Think about cameras – most people now grab their cell phones when they want to take a photo.

5. Demonetization – once a product has dematerialised its cost drops significantly. You pay no extra for your cell phone because it contains a camera.

6. Democratization – As products become dematerialised and demonetized then they become available to millions of users.

Getting the conversation started There are lots of really important ‘now’ conversations going on at all levels of education; how are we going to solve the teacher shortage, what about the Auckland problem, how do we ensure the wellbeing of our teachers, how do we attract and keep the best and brightest graduates in teaching? And how do we keep these conversations going while at the same time have the important ‘future/exponential change’ conversations? How do we encourage principals’ associations, regional associations and national executive bodies to include conversations about the exponential changes that are about to have a significant impact on life as we know it?

We really need to start talking about the future now, because failure to do so will mean the end of schools as we know them.

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The Wellbeing Principal Sven Hansen

The Resilience Institute

Wellbeing (and Resilience) is high on the education agenda. It is an exciting but confusing opportunity. Principals confront multiple options, parental pressure, expert advice and personal bias. If we consider the next decade in education, most accept that wellbeing will become a key responsibility in every school community. We have much to learn but it is a great time to get started.

With a history of training minds, a principal may well ask what wellbeing has to do with education.

There are many ways to answer this.

First, we know that the health and wellbeing of many young people has declined over the past 50 years. Specifically, obesity, autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression have shown sharp increases. This is partly due to a more sedentary, family-fractured and digital generation.

Second, schools have a duty to prepare young people for the future. Success in life is increasingly dependent on vitality, success under pressure, EQ and social skills.

There is no better complement to strong families than a school that reinforces the life-time skills of wellbeing. Governments may insist on this training when they recognise the healthcare cost savings.

Third, when students are calm, energised and socially engaged, their learning, teaming and academic performance is markedly improved. Destructive behaviours reduce. Many school programmes have begun to demonstrate this evidence. See Social Emotional Learning and the Canadian 24 hour activity initiative.

Centred on Principal Hauora, we reflect on best practice and the principal’s role in leading themselves and their communities.

We focus on four principal deliverables.

1. Clear definition Leaders must be clear on how the school defines wellbeing.

Reducing sugar, bullying, mobile use or stress can be mixed with increasing activity, empathy, mindfulness and sleep. Each one is potentially vast in scope and confronts conflicting opinions. It is easy to lose your way. Clarity, specificity and realistic, measurable

goals will help considerably.

The Hauora model of wellbeing embraces physical, mentalemotional, social and spiritual perspectives. It is a good framework albeit broad. The perspective one chooses must be guided by need, realism and defined goals. For example, does a school focus on bullying, nutrition or empathy? What is the impact and practicality of each?

Our recommendation is a progressive journey that starts with being safe and calm, progresses to physical wellbeing and only then extends into emotional skills.

The evidence is that we are dealing with a tsunami of distress – attention disorders, social withdrawal, anxiety and depression.

They all have a common theme. People feel overwhelmed and unsafe. We live in freeze, flight and fight states. The remedy is to be deliberate and practical in building daily disciplines in breathing, calming and connecting.

Once we feel safe, calm and connected, the physical and emotional layers of wellbeing become much easier to develop.

The social and spiritual elements follow naturally. This perspective on wellbeing is clearly articulated by Stephen Porges in The Pocketguide to Polyvagal Theory, 2017. See also https://resiliencei.com/2018/01/safetyplay-paradox .

2. Lead by example Bottom line: the principal and leadership team must walk the talk. As Susan Fiske has demonstrated, influence is set within moments by the balance of warmth and competence you demonstrate. When your presence conveys care, empathy and openness (emotional) first, followed by strength, fitness and power (physical), your influence multiplies.

If competence precedes warmth, people will be defensive. If warmth is followed by incompetence, you are met with contempt.

The final option is “cold bully”.

In practical terms, clearly demonstrate your warmth and kindness followed by posture and vitality. In our experience principals are generally very strong on warmth but may present as overloaded, exhausted and neglecting their own wellbeing.

Our recommendation is to be deliberate about mastering the key elements of physical wellbeing. These include open and strong posture, healthy weight, good muscle tone and getting decent sleep. One does not need to be wellness-perfect but rather N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 18

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to show that you are deliberate in taking care of yourself so that Three achievable goals, in our view, include: you can care for and lead others. a. Teach an entire school to calm, focus and connect. In a flight, Find a way to raise awareness out of the chaos. Education is fight, freeze state wellbeing is a distant fantasy. Anxiety, complex and in rapid flux. Principals have to perceive, reflect depression, withdrawal, bullying and attention disorders are and decide with clarity, focus and flexibility. The risk of overload, symptoms. Help the school community understand this logic and offer a number of different paths or practices to achieve anxiety and distress is huge. Being physically well will help but a success. Many of these symptoms, diagnoses and anti-social or contemplative practice (prayer, music or meditation) is essential anti-learning behaviours melt away. in our view. Strong relationships at home must be nurtured b. Train your school (families are purposefully. You need loving support key here) in the basic science of in your private lives.

In our experience principals sleep hygiene. Increase awareness

of how much sleep we need, the 3. Achievable goals are generally very optimal time to sleep and wake, With a clear definition that fits your how to improve quality and how strong on warmth school and is authentically aligned to work with digital addictions. with what you can model, the next but may present as Get this right and health step is to define what you will do. improves, appetite and weight We strongly recommended investing overloaded, exhausted gain settle, anxiety reduces, in a good metrics. This may be selfempathy improves, and learning assessment or a specific biometric and neglecting their own improves. Everyone has a much better day. such as daily activity or waist hip ratio. wellbeing.

Select an objective starting point that c. Build intelligent fitness into your focuses attention on securing an achievable goal. school community. Compared with our human need, we are Then, teachers and students are free to select the best path to living a sedentary, posture-collapsed and gadget-invested success. Freedom to choose a path, or practices that fit, secures nightmare. Experts believe the costs of obesity, mental illness, joint failure, and diabetes will cripple society. There is no engagement. Opinionated consultants may be wedded to a place like school to build life-long physical resilience. Include certain practice. For example, “this is how everyone must practice flexibility, posture, strength and muscle balance with fitness. mindfulness”, “do 10,000 steps a day”, “stop sugar/bullying”, or “if you just show empathy everything will be right”.

4. Team New Zealand sport can teach you how to build support teams.

Take a moment to research your favourite team. Succeeding in your quest for school wellbeing is not a solo, part-time crusade.

You will need a team and this team will need training.

Use experts to get started and help you transfer the skills into your school community. Different people will rise to different roles. Make sure that you have a well-rounded contribution in the three areas above – relaxation, sleep and fitness. Nutrition is symbolic and can be rewarding (and contentious).

A sport team’s practice embraces a very holistic range of practices in pursuit of winning. In the same way, a class-room can embrace a wide range of wellbeing disciplines that will improve learning and social outcomes.

In conclusion, wellbeing is here to stay. The principal has to lead this initiative and negotiate through the fog and resistance to change. The benefits of a well-executed initiative will be profound but some may take time. Work to a five-year plan.

Be a wellbeing principal. It is the right thing to do.

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The Power of Expectations Karen Boyes

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars.” Having great expectations and high standards are proven to help raise achievement in the classroom. Recognising that our beliefs also shape behaviour is a vital key to success.

Do you and your teachers believe all students can succeed?

Does the language and feedback given to students reflect high expectations? Are you, hand on heart, giving students ample time and opportunities to master knowledge and skills before presenting or adding the next scaffold?

In his book, Creating Cultures of Thinking, Ron Ritchhart discusses the role of expectations and outlines five areas to be aware of as a teacher and leader:

integrated and connected knowledge.

Focus on the learning, not the work.

Too often, the goal in a classroom seems to be completing the work, getting it finished before the bell, deadline, or next topic starts. Towards the end of the year, it is common to hear teachers celebrating, or lamenting, on how many lessons they have left to complete the teaching of a subject. The challenge in all of this is that just because a student has completed the work, does not mean they have understood or learned it. Go into a classroom and ask your students what they are learning, and they will more than likely tell you about the ‘work’ or ‘activity’ they are doing.

But what are they learning?

The chief goal in the classroom must be about the learning.

For this to happen, students must be able to articulate, firstly, where they are at in the learning journey; secondly, where they are going; and thirdly, what are the steps to get there. Sharing learning progressions is useful in this endeavour. Do they know how to progress in literacy and numeracy? Do they understand the levels of thinking from simple remembering and recall to evaluation, creating and applying?

Students must understand the learning process; that learning is about what you don’t know, learning is often challenging and the learning pit is an uncomfortable place to be. They must be made to feel comfortable with making mistakes in a safe nurturing environment.

As a teacher and leader, ‘Listen for the learning.’ Ask questions such as, “Tell me what you have done so far.” “What questions do you have?” “What does that tell you?” Avoid questions such as, “What have you done?” or “Are you finished?” Rather, ask, “What have you learned?” Of course the learning may not just be about the content. Learning may include life skills, dispositions, personal awareness and so much more. When focusing on the learning, students must understand that mistakes are opportunities to learn and the word ‘fail’ stands for First Attempt In Learning. Remember to provide feedback to inform learning using clear success criteria.

■■

Teach for understanding, not knowledge.

Knowledge is the accumulation and storage of facts, procedures and skills whilst understanding is going beyond the information given to “figure it out” and depends on richly

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Look for evidence of understanding. This may include: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■

■■ ■■

■■

Can your students explain it accurately?

Can students apply the new information in various contexts?

Are they able to teach it to others?

Do students ask questions to further their understanding?

Can your students accurately answer questions on the information?

Can your students give their interpretation?

Are they able to empathise?

Can they take on another perspective?

Do they chat freely and intelligently about the information/skill?

To teach for understanding, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins strongly advocate for starting with the end in mind. Consider what you want students to know and understand before you start planning. Be clear on the outcome and flexible on the approaches to get there. They suggest designing generative topics with a big idea for students to explore with ways to apply their knowledge and understandings as checkpoints along the learning journey.

To do this it is essential to create specific goals for understanding and generate performance tasks that require students to use skills and knowledge. Alongside this a teacher must provide ongoing specific feedback to improve performance.

Encourage deep rather than surface learning.

It is important for students to apply their knowledge at differing levels of complexity and in authentic contexts. Rather than just focusing on memorisation, students are asked to use the knowledge and skills to problem solve and apply their learning to differing contexts. Deep learning includes students being able to ask further and more complex questions, reason a point of view or show connections between ideas. This may involve using a taxonomy such as Blooms, SOLO or the T3 model by Sonny Magana.

Encourage independence over dependence.

To truly prepare students for life beyond school, they require self directed skills and independence. The goal is for students to be internally motivated to be reflective of their learning and behaviour, resourceful when they are stuck or don’t know what to do and effective learners who can accept challenge. This requires the teacher to slowly ‘let go’ of the control and empower students to be self managing, self monitoring and self modifying.

One great strategy to use is ICT: Independent, Collaborative and Teacher. All students start in the teacher group and once they show they are able to participate, contribute or master the skill or learning they move to the collaboration group. When they can show that they can complete the learning three times in a collaborative group they may then do the task independently.

It creates a rite of passage, a goal to become autonomous and

leaves the students who need support with the teacher. Do you remember receiving your pen or sewing machine licence? This works the same way – with teachers explicitly outlining how to become a self-directed learner and encouraging and rewarding progress towards this.

** This article is the first in a series of 8, focusing on the 8 Cultural Forces and Cultures of Thinking.

Develop a Growth rather than Fixed Mindset.

Carol Dweck has challenged the underlying beliefs and concepts about learning and intelligence being fixed. She popularised the idea of Growth Mindset, which maintains that when students believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger and as a result, students put in extra time and effort, leading to higher achievement. This requires using the power of ‘yet,’ knowing that if students are finding a task challenging, it does not mean they will never master it; it is just not ‘yet’ mastered and more teaching, learning, and perhaps focus and effort is required.

As a teacher, giving specific and measurable feedback, which students can expand upon and use to grow is critical to encouraging growth mindset. This is where the role of dispositions can strengthen progress, as it is the effort, such as being able to persist, think flexibly, manage self or use prior knowledge that is the repeatable behaviour to develop a Growth Mindset. An important distinction, when understanding mindset, is mindset can vary between students, tasks and even days.

Reflect on these five areas and how you might address them in your school and classroom – as high achievement always takes place within the framework of high expectation. Ron Ritchhart concludes, “It is our expectations of our students, ourselves and the learning process itself that form the foundation of a great classroom culture.”

Dweck, C. (2006) Mindset – The New Psychology of Success, Random House

References

Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (2011) Understanding by Design Guide To Creating High-Quality Units, ASCD Ritchart, R. (2015) Creating Cultures of Thinking: the 8 Forces We Must Master To Truly Transform Our Schools, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University About Karen Boyes Winner of the NZ Educator of the Year 2017 & 2014 and the NZ Speaker of the Year award in 2013, Karen is a sought after conference speaker, consultant and educator who continually gets rave reviews from audiences around the world. Her dynamic style and highly informative content – which turns the latest educational research into easy-toimplement strategies and techniques – sets her apart from others in her field. Karen loves coaching teachers and conducting model lessons in the classroom alongside her staff development workshops and webinars. For more information please email karen@spectrumeducation.com To download a complimentary copy of this infographic please go to http://www.spectrumeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1. expectations.pdf Want to know more?

To join the webinar series starting 28th February please go to www.spectrumeducation.com/cultures-of-thinking-webinar-series To purchase and download all 8 posters please go to www.spectrumeducation.com/cultures-of-thinking-infographics/

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School Lines Good/Bad System Right/Wrong People Putting the Shine Back into Teaching Lester Flockton

lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz

Does it not seem rather odd that New Zealand’s scores curriculum and, later, for success in further education and and country ranking in international tests of reading and employment, the report said. maths (and the same would undoubtedly apply to writing) But the part of the ERO report that captured headlines was its have been progressively falling? Odd indeed, because these statement that declines have been coinciding with a period of considerable literacy and numeracy intensification through curricular Leaders in some schools talked about the present and the concentration, teaching concentration, Ministry of Education future without paying much attention to what had gone concentration, ERO concentration, government expenditure before, including what may have been working. These concentration, professional development concentration, target schools risk dropping successful practices and wasting setting concentration, assessment concentration, reporting time replacing them with approaches that are actually less concentration – National Standards concentration! effective in raising achievement.

Now there are some serious limitations in international testing More alarmingly the report went on to programmes, and we have to treat say, “In a very small number of schools, them with considerable caution, but The National Standards, leaders were wedded to an action or they are nonetheless symptomatic programme without evidence it relentlessly force and indicative. We most certainly worked”. I say alarmingly, because are not on the rise, despite all of the fed by the Key Government I would argue that it isn’t a small concentrations that have been driven number of schools but a very large from the highest quarters of power. and all of their associated number that have become betrothed Indeed, ERO1 has gone so far as to players, have categorically to actions or programmes without declare that we are “on a trajectory existence of substantive evidence of accelerated decline” according to proven to have made that they work for their children OECD’s PISA tests in mathematics and teachers. (Admittedly, a lot of and science, with reading scores being very little difference forced weddings!) Glaring examples “on a steady decline”. include National Standards, the to our literacy and numeracy Clearly, things are nowhere near as Numeracy Project, and the formulaic shiny as some would have us believe. achievement profile. arrangements for Communities of The National Standards, relentlessly Learners (CoLs). They might work for force fed by the Key Government and all of their associated some, but there is no evidence that they work across the board players, have categorically proven to have made very little or even for most. Yet they have been put before every primary difference to our literacy and numeracy achievement profile. school in the country as recipes for improving learning and as All of this amounts to no gain from a lot of pain. So where are the way forward for raising student achievement. we going wrong?

In Gerritsen’s interview with Stephanie Greaney, advisor to the In a report by Radio New Zealand’s John Gerritsen (Bad chief review officer, she said “I think it is time for some system Marks for NZ Approach to Core Subjects, 29.11.17), he refers change.” She hit the nail firmly on the head, even though the to the latest ERO report, “Teaching Approaches and Strategies realisation has come somewhat belatedly. But that leaves the that Work”, noting that the percentage of children achieving at question hanging: what kind of change, and who should be the expected level of the curriculum fell as they reached the end helping to formulate and guide (not impose) it? The same old of primary and intermediate school in years seven and eight. crew of officials, favoured consultants, advisers and hangers-on, Gerritsen further notes: or those who know from groundwork what has worked well in It (the ERO report) called for change to ensure children the past and why, and who can successfully contextualise those were achieving at the required level before they started practices into the 21st Century and the scope of The New Zealand secondary school.

Curriculum?

Declining rates of achievement must be reversed so David Lange in his lead up to instigating Tomorrow’s Schools students are prepared for the demands of the secondary in 1989 commented that we had “good people – bad system”. So

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what is the situation almost 30 years on: right/wrong people – good/bad system? We have wasted excessive amounts of time and resources replacing approaches of the past that weren’t broken and didn’t need fixing by the fixers. For too long now our system has suffered from those who mistakenly think they know better.

But take heart, the OECD has given some strong pointers for the way forward, including:

Financial Reporting

Help motive students by creating a nurturing environment.

Teachers with high morale, who support and hold high expectations for all students, and help low performers the most.

Distribute resources more equitably across schools and encourage social diversity.

Give school more freedom to decide what to teach and how they assess student progress.

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If system change does not enthusiastically embrace these principles in every attempt to step forward, then we are likely to end up with a different shade of the same old wallpaper. It’s time to put the shine back into teaching.

References: 1

Education Review Office, November 2017. Teaching approaches and strategies that work. Keeping children engaged and achieving in the upper primary school.

OECD. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/Low-performersinfographic-

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People at school are racist to me . . .

Helen Kinsey-Wightman Today, we began recording every student in our school speaking their name. The recordings – all 1250 of them – will be individually uploaded to KAMAR, our student management system. When they are saved there will no longer be a reason why any student in the school should have their name pronounced incorrectly. It will take time but it is worth it because it matters to our students.

We are not the only school to think it matters. As we began the project I reposted a Facebook story by the NZ Human Rights Commission featuring a group of students at Holy Family School in Porirua talking about why mis-pronouncing their names is racist. In the Facebook clip their Principal Chris Theobold says; ‘I believe there is racism in the New Zealand education system and that it manifests itself in lots of different ways.

If you have simply not bothered to learn that name because it’s a language different to your own then I think that’s where the racism issue comes into it.’

It is not the first time this week I have heard students in New Zealand speaking out about their experiences of racism. As I write this I am reading a report entitled Education Matters to me: Key Insights. It is published jointly by the NZ School Trustee’s Association and the Children’s Commissioner, Judge Andrew Becroft – whose credentials in listening to the voices of young people in New Zealand are hard to dispute.

The project collates the voices of over 1600 children and young people from Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch on the subject of their educational experiences. There are 6 key insights under which the voices are collated: 1. Understand me in my whole world 2. People at school are racist to me 3. Relationships mean everything to me 4. Teach me in the way I learn best 5. I need to be comfortable before I can learn 6. It’s my life let me have a say

The term racism is deliberately used throughout the report – in preference to terms like discrimination and bias – because this was the word the children and young people used. Perhaps for this reason the report has been widely discussed across all media in New Zealand this week.

‘Children and young people told us they feel burdened with negative stereotypes, and they believe the stereotypes impact on the way teachers treat them. They talked about sensing that teacher’s assumptions about them affect their relationship from the outset.’ (Education Matters to me: Key Insights p19) The report makes for tough reading for anyone involved in education. I hope that the response from us as educators will do justice to the students who spoke up and those who took the

time to listen. The response from the media was certainly to sit up and take notice.

Radio New Zealand’s story entitled ‘Racism in schools we need to face up to that’ interviewed spokespeople from all of the major teacher representative bodies. Whilst it is tempting to hope that Jack Boyle of the PPTA is right when he said that, ‘teachers were “ahead of the game” in terms of addressing racism and avoiding unconscious bias against their students’ the report very clearly shows that this just isn’t the case. Lynda Stuart president of NZEI talks more candidly about the mono-cultural nature of our education system and as Lorraine Kerr, president of the NZ School Trustees Association says, ‘We can talk about the kind of experience we are trying to give our children and young people. But only they can talk about whether that is what they are actually getting.’

At our first Staff Only Day of the year we heard from Ann Milne, author of Colouring in the White Spaces. It was really hard to hear her talk in similarly stark terms about the work to be done here in New Zealand. She spoke about hegemony and the need for us to talk honestly about New Zealand history in our curriculum and about the legacy of colonisation. Her message is repeated in the report: ‘We heard about the dominant culture for most schools in New Zealand. For young people who come from different cultural backgrounds, they are constantly searching to see themselves reflected in the culture of their educational environment.’ (Education Matters to me: Key Insights p21) Whilst there is much to be done it is heartening to see leaders in our community standing up with the willingness to be held accountable. In a Waitangi speech widely referred to as historic, our Prime Minister spoke of the distance between our two houses, Pakeha and Māori, and asked those assembled to: ‘Hold us to account. Because one day I want to be able to tell my child that I earned the right to stand here. And only you can tell me when I have done that.’

I hope that this year, as educators, we are prepared to ask honest questions about racism in our schools and to be held to account by the children and young people we serve.

References Education matters to me NZSTA Office of the Children’s Commissioner January 2018 www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/101007218/students-tell-ofracism-in-study-of-how-they-view-the-education-system https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/349365/racism-in-schoolswe-need-to-face-up-to-that N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 18

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