But she’ll be my politician of the year if she goes further than that and finds money to put some walls and doors in the modern learning environment monstrosities that already exist.
In fact, I think the Government is morally obliged to help any state school that wants to get rid of their open-plan classrooms. It’s morally obliged because this disastrous experiment was forced on the schools.
And it will cost a truckload of money but it’s the only option, in my mind.
Unless, of course, there are schools that are perfectly happy teaching kids in barns. They can fill their boots.
But I bet there are a truckload of schools looking at this announcement and thinking “what about us?”
The way Erica Stanford puts it is that she’s had overwhelming feedback that open-plan classrooms aren’t meeting the needs of students.
She says: “While open-plan designs were originally intended to foster collaboration, they have often created challenges for schools, particularly around noise and managing student behaviour.”
Which is a polite way of saying that it was a hair-brained idea that shouldn’t have seen the light of day. And to Erica Stanford and the Government’s credit, they’re not building any more.
Which Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney says is great, but he wants to know about all the schools that have already been lumbered with open-plan classrooms.
Some of which have had a gutsful and have spent a lot of their own money turning the barns into old-school classrooms.
Rangiora High School is one of them. They spent $1.5 million. Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch spent $800,00. And Avonside Girls' spent $60,000 on screens and acoustic panels because a full fit-out was going to be too expensive for the school to pay for on its own.
Avonside principal Catherine Law says she is “thrilled” to see the move away from open-plan because it’s done nothing for students having a sense of belonging, and it had a really detrimental effect on teaching and learning.
She says year 9 and year 10 kids —the old third formers and fourth formers— are the ones who seem to struggle the most, because they’re the ones getting used to high school.
She says those years especially are the worst times for kids to be expected to try and work in open-plan areas. She says there’s a lot of anxiety with the kids not knowing where they sit and where they belong.
And she thinks that any school that wants to get rid of the open-plan set-up should get funding to do it.
If the experience at Rangiora High is anything to go by, why wouldn't the Government spend some money fixing up this shambles?
Since Rangiora put in the walls and doors, attendance is up by 12%. Which principal Bruce Kearney puts down to “happier teachers, happier kids, and a happier school”.
And he is in no doubt that the Government needs to stump up with the money so all schools that want to benefit from this brilliant move by Erica Stanford, can.
I’m going further than that though.
I think the government is morally obliged to do it. Because even though it wasn't this particular government that forced modern learning environments on schools, it was still the government-of-the-day.
The current administration is now admitting that the experiment has failed. So there is no way it can say that but still expect kids already being taught in these battery farms to put up with it.
And there’s no way it can admit it was a cock-up and expect teachers to keep teaching in these places.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
And it will cost a truckload of money but it’s the only option, in my mind.
Unless, of course, there are schools that are perfectly happy teaching kids in barns. They can fill their boots.
But I bet there are a truckload of schools looking at this announcement and thinking “what about us?”
The way Erica Stanford puts it is that she’s had overwhelming feedback that open-plan classrooms aren’t meeting the needs of students.
She says: “While open-plan designs were originally intended to foster collaboration, they have often created challenges for schools, particularly around noise and managing student behaviour.”
Which is a polite way of saying that it was a hair-brained idea that shouldn’t have seen the light of day. And to Erica Stanford and the Government’s credit, they’re not building any more.
Which Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney says is great, but he wants to know about all the schools that have already been lumbered with open-plan classrooms.
Some of which have had a gutsful and have spent a lot of their own money turning the barns into old-school classrooms.
Rangiora High School is one of them. They spent $1.5 million. Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch spent $800,00. And Avonside Girls' spent $60,000 on screens and acoustic panels because a full fit-out was going to be too expensive for the school to pay for on its own.
Avonside principal Catherine Law says she is “thrilled” to see the move away from open-plan because it’s done nothing for students having a sense of belonging, and it had a really detrimental effect on teaching and learning.
She says year 9 and year 10 kids —the old third formers and fourth formers— are the ones who seem to struggle the most, because they’re the ones getting used to high school.
She says those years especially are the worst times for kids to be expected to try and work in open-plan areas. She says there’s a lot of anxiety with the kids not knowing where they sit and where they belong.
And she thinks that any school that wants to get rid of the open-plan set-up should get funding to do it.
If the experience at Rangiora High is anything to go by, why wouldn't the Government spend some money fixing up this shambles?
Since Rangiora put in the walls and doors, attendance is up by 12%. Which principal Bruce Kearney puts down to “happier teachers, happier kids, and a happier school”.
And he is in no doubt that the Government needs to stump up with the money so all schools that want to benefit from this brilliant move by Erica Stanford, can.
I’m going further than that though.
I think the government is morally obliged to do it. Because even though it wasn't this particular government that forced modern learning environments on schools, it was still the government-of-the-day.
The current administration is now admitting that the experiment has failed. So there is no way it can say that but still expect kids already being taught in these battery farms to put up with it.
And there’s no way it can admit it was a cock-up and expect teachers to keep teaching in these places.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
6 comments:
Of course the Government should pay, but why is Erica Stanford intent on glass walls? They would be hugely expensive, as from a safety perspective they would have to be toughened frosted glass, hence hugely expensive. By all means put a glass top panel if lighting is an issue. What’s wrong with plywood? Just as Housing NZ should be building houses with plywood walls and concrete floors-virtually indestructible.
Now the government needs to admit the educational experiment, of Maorification, for the last 20 years has been a failure. Then they need to get Erica to edit section 127 e of the education act.
Open plan classrooms are a symptom rather a cause. What the government has an moral obligation to do is to get rid of all the woke bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education who promote all these impractical policies, or should I say fashions, that inhibit learning rather than help it. That includes all those who promote the iwi propaganda in history and science. Jacinda doubled the number of bureaucrats. To bring things back to normal they should be at least halved.
Closed classrooms are just more colonialist patriarchy. The Maori only used open classrooms, for the government to force otherwise is surely a insult and breaks the principles Treaty of Waitangi.
You should try tonic water CXH. Dividing walls done in timber and gibboard are actually very cost effective, quiet and fireproof . Any community with an organiser could rattle up the required in a long weekend . Queenstown publicly constructed many classrooms on voluntary labour when Min of ED hated tourism .
This craziness in introducing innovations that counter real learning are an ongoing feature of Progressive Education ( PE) whose overarching agenda is and never has been actual education in the traditional sense of academic learning . Rather the aim of PE is towards a socialist utopia based in Fabianism and other socialist /Marxist beliefs..
Open classrooms were for ' collaborative learning' purposes - group think , collectivism not individual intellectual l pursuits.
Open classrooms for me not the very worst aspect of PE but rather destruction of our literacy ( we now have the lowest rates in English speaking world) . Whole Language reading method was the pinnacle of PEs destructive anti learning agenda.It has now after 50 years been thoroughly discredited through research. and science.. But it will take decades to oust it from our classrooms. Numeracy project in the same constructivist ideology is also anti learning..
The list of iniquitous anti-learning features in our schools is distressingly long but include a vaccum of knowledge , aversion to effective direct instruction , rote learning basic facts, revision , work ethic, homework, discipline , morality, ...........
PE came from the minds of academia and have infested all our educational institutions of Western World, not just NZ , including the NZCER. It started before the current Maorification movement , which is however aligned with PE. , anti - intellectual learning .
There has to be a massive seismic shift back to the principles of Traditional Education , which we had and which mid last century consequently gained us a World Class education . Changing the Min of Ed. alone is not near enough.
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