According to the most recent PISA results, New Zealand students’ average score in mathematics is 479, which is slightly above the OECD average, but represents a significant decline from previous years, with the score dropping 15 points from 2018, indicating a concerning trend in New Zealand’s mathematical performance compared to other developed nations.
David Seymour’s response is tiny Charter Schools – including a Remuera French School.
Minister Stanford seems to have taken on significant guidance from the Singapore system. That is not a bad thing as we could learn a great deal. She is trying and working hard.
When I was studying Mathematics and Statistics at an under-graduate and graduate level we would often have to do “proofs”. This would always come to a place where an action or condition was a necessary but not “sufficient” condition.
As a nation what we need to be fully aware of is that any improvement we make with schools/curriculum is necessary but not sufficient.
Many miles above schools is parenting and – internationally – there are huge research correlations between parenting, including two parent homes, and school success.
In Singapore approximately 7% of children are in single parent homes.
In New Zealand approximately 20% of children are in single parent homes and 31% of Maori children.
If we are to adapt curriculum practices from a nation, like Singapore, we need to massively support children who do not come from the family norms there.
The key priority for education in New Zealand is not crappy school lunches, or even methodological change … it is enhancing parenting at every level. Until then we are pushing manure uphill with a very loose rake.
Completely shrinking and re-purposing the Ministry of Education is another NECESSARY but not sufficient condition. There are still over 4,200 employees despite the NACT pre-election promises to bring it back to 2,700 (also BLOATED and ineffective).
Our change programme is way too slow and another example of National incrementalism.
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
Minister Stanford seems to have taken on significant guidance from the Singapore system. That is not a bad thing as we could learn a great deal. She is trying and working hard.
When I was studying Mathematics and Statistics at an under-graduate and graduate level we would often have to do “proofs”. This would always come to a place where an action or condition was a necessary but not “sufficient” condition.
As a nation what we need to be fully aware of is that any improvement we make with schools/curriculum is necessary but not sufficient.
Many miles above schools is parenting and – internationally – there are huge research correlations between parenting, including two parent homes, and school success.
In Singapore approximately 7% of children are in single parent homes.
In New Zealand approximately 20% of children are in single parent homes and 31% of Maori children.
If we are to adapt curriculum practices from a nation, like Singapore, we need to massively support children who do not come from the family norms there.
The key priority for education in New Zealand is not crappy school lunches, or even methodological change … it is enhancing parenting at every level. Until then we are pushing manure uphill with a very loose rake.
Completely shrinking and re-purposing the Ministry of Education is another NECESSARY but not sufficient condition. There are still over 4,200 employees despite the NACT pre-election promises to bring it back to 2,700 (also BLOATED and ineffective).
Our change programme is way too slow and another example of National incrementalism.
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
8 comments:
I have much respect for your Charter Schools , but I can't accept at all your conclusion that parenting is a paramount factor in student achievement.
We both probably do cherry picking on research to support our separate stances. .I am not denying parenting is a factor in student achievement but maintain that is not the main factor.
As a dedicated maths tutor, at all primary and secondary levels , for most of my life I saw tremendous success rates with structured learning and most of the English speaking world now acknowledge the evidence for structured literacy is overwhelming and have changed back to this. It is also how reading was taught traditionally in NZ and we scored the highest on international reading scores with this method of teaching
More recent cognitive science and neuro science research also supports structured learning particularly with respect to short and long term memory.
I have studied Singapore maths and the media also notoriously cherry pick aspects like problem solving as a big feature and ignore the fact rote learning of tables and ONLY one method also rote learned, for the basic algorithms of two figure , adding subtracting multiplying and dividing. This was also true for our traditional arithmetic and when we scored among the highest internationally. Advanced maths , which I have also taught does not require these repetitive methods to the same extent.
Higher decile parents also are having to spend money on tutors and workbooks for their underachieving children , to get them up to speed. Lower decile children are denied this because of lack of finance.
In the past very few students were not achieving at the correct level for their age compared with now with a large proportion of a class of students.
Please , please see Singapore maths in a wider perspective . They Have quite a bit on their teaching methods and exercises online available for anyone to see for free. It is soft science sociologists who have wrongly stated parents are the main factor in achievement and universities have incorporated this nonsense into their curriculum giving teachers an excuse to not change their present ineffective teaching methods, ideologically driven.
Charter schools will not have the results , we desire unless methods of teaching are considered .
Alwyn Poole is correct - indeed, statistical research shows that the family environment is a very strong predictor of educational achievement. Socioeconomic status is also a very strong predictor, though the two variables are confounded and overlap greatly.
I am very sorry to have to agree with Mr. Poole that the Ministry of Education must be re-purposed, but so must NZQA, in my view. Having worked at NZQA and interacted with the Ministry, I left in disgust at the appointment of unqualified people or, at least, people with little subject matter expertise, into positions of influence where they were abusive to their staff. Such people have a lot to answer for in relation to New Zealand's decline in educational performance.
Readers of Breaking Views may be getting tired of my repeated references to bullying at my former workplaces, but I do so for a reason - the public must know about it and it must be stopped and the top people held accountable. This is the kind of thing that I observed directly in one of those two establishments, admittedly a decade ago, but I hear that such behaviours continued long after my departure:
Subject the person to endless shouting, public (open plan environment) reprimands from so-called managers, and numerous false public accusations of improper behavior and errors in reports etc
Instruct other staff not to talk to or work with the disliked person who is being exited
Exclude the person from meetings and other fora
Deliver one or more crushing performance reviews
Repeatedly demand in public that the person resign there and then
Engage in physical intimidation (e.g. glaring directly into the person's face for extended periods - in front of other staff)
Refuse to recognise the person's work - reports, developed software, Excel-based systems etc
Give negative referee reports when the person tries to get other employment
Take the person's name off his or her reports and developed software etc
Pass the person's work off as the work of the managers and the team (excluding the disliked person)
Involve Human Resources staff, who are instructed to abuse the person too
I saw all of this and more - and much of it coming from "managers" who had little or no subject matter expertise - and sometimes no tertiary qualifications whatsoever. Statistics managers or team leaders who never went further than a bare pass in the old sixth form; highly paid research managers who have never done any research in their lives and who enjoy pushing others out of work etc. Not only must these places be re-purposed, but they need a completely new workplace culture.
David Lillis
Of course family environment is statistically significant as a predictor of achievement if the education is based on progressivism with so many detrimental elements in it for low decile children.
But consider when the teaching methods are effective , including discipline and a work ethic which low decile children often do not have at home . There is considerable research showing structured learning can have low decile children achieving as well as those from higher deciles.
Statistics alone without considering proximal and distal factors in particularly reading accomplishment gives wrong results.
Incidentally a family member has been involved in writing senior school stats. courses and lectured at University. He concurs with me.
Hi Gaynor.
I agree with you here. Educational attainment is a multi-factorial problem, to use the relevant jargonese. Different factors for different populations and individuals. In particular, I agree with you on structured learning and let's hope that's what the current work on our national curriculum comes up with. David.
I agree with you David, concerning the nature and climate of the Min. of Ed. and other educational institutions Pack of moral degenerates and bullies with a number being tough tarts who are toxic to children . One interaction we have had with them is wrst to teachers bullying small children because they went to our private tutoring out of school hours for 'evil' phonic instruction which the Min. of Ed., because they always knew best , said had to be stopped. Class teachers in Kapiti were directed to quizz small children in their classes to raise their hands if they attended these 'evil' tuitions . Their names were recorded on lists and hints were given the lists would be sent off to the Ministry. Children were terrified. A 20/20 TV documentary programme team , who came to film the situation in 1996 said it was the worst child abuse they had seen !
How did such creeps get into positions of power dictating how our precious children should be so called 'educated' .? I would consider them morally unsuited to even organize programmes to train lab. rats. Lab rats are actually how are children are being treated. One ghastly experiment after another with no regard whatsoever for consequences.
Hi Gaynor.
Again, we agree. I have observed bullying at four workplaces but the worst bullying of all occurred in our public education agencies. People without the necessary qualifications rising to high salaries and influence, behaving like pigs and getting rewarded for it! The idea is that a person does not need subject matter expertise or qualifications to be a manager. Thus, the least qualified, least intelligent and most obnoxious are chosen to "lead" and "manage". They love it because the management salaries they get are well above those of the staff they mismanage.
My own former manager and team leader set brand new benchmarks for abuse but any member of staff who dared to complain was warned about losing his or her job. This is worse than mere bullying! This stuff goes to evil.
I and others have complained to various agencies but those bullies are still happily ensconced in research or statistics management roles. This sort of thing can only happen with the approval of the top people.
Tough tarts toxic to children? I met several "tough tarts" who are toxic to adults and who should have been exited from the public sector decades ago or at least warned about their abuse! These women seem to enjoy ruining other peoples' careers.
Sorry to hear of the bullying of schoolchildren that you noted above, but I am not surprised. David Lillis
Similarly , I can believe everything you say, David . It is easier for me to write about bullying aka persecution in our case than for you perhaps because in your case it is personal observation and the direct cause was because you or others had expertise the bullies didn't have. Family members talk of similar treatment they received in the public service Exactly the same thing - incompetent managers with no subject matter knowledge lauding it over and bullying technically competent and more knowledgeable workers.
I could also mention, at a personal level, the frightful treatment my own children received from Ministry - inspired teachers , they had in local schools solely because my mother and I taught children phonics. Just one example was of my child, with the highest PAT reading comprehension test scores for his year ( yes , phonics instruction gives children high scores in comprehension) being put in a remedial reading class for no reason at all and slandered in the staff room- complete character assassination. I will add it was a small minority of teachers who participated in this foul behaviour. but it came from the Ministry. When we complained there was no response from them.
It isn't just wrong or lacking content in our education system but a whole culture of nastiness and intolerance if you have an alternative view., know more or excel .
Yes, Gaynor. And I am glad that we can share our experiences in this public forum so that others can read what we have to say. I hope that a few senior people note our exchange of views and connsider what New Zealand must do to re-invent first-class education for our children and their children.
If the New Zealand public could see what you and I have seen, then they would demand a complete re-build of our entire education system.
One bright spot is that a new curriculum is under development that I expect will prove to be an enormous improvement over the "refreshed curriculum" of two years ago. Kids and teachers should not have to kowtow to someone's version of a document of two centuries ago, nor have to swallow the notion that they can choose between one form of traditional knowledge and modern global science. David Lillis
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