However, it came massively unstuck towards the end when Kerre asked what parents can do for their children re education.
It is a truism to state that parents are far more important/influential than teachers/schools.
As a parent – when my children were growing up – their mother and I were responsible for their education … not their school. They went to good schools – Cornwall Park District School, Mt Hobson Middle School, Auckland Grammar, Epsom Girls … but, if were living in a place like Whanganui our expectations would have been the same.
As a career teacher I have always seen my role as doing my best for the child and family and ALWAYS holding them in high esteem.
Kerre Woodham asked the question and Stanford’s only response was “talk to your children” and then a false assertion that “research shows that this is the most important thing …”
The role of parents is so much greater:
While the Minister – let alone the Ministry – think that they have the solutions – it matches Ronald Regan’s great quote: that they worst nine words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
The solutions to our problematic education system involve elevating and empowering parents – not with an overwhelmingly boring set of English texts (from Elizabeth Rata who does not seem to know that books have been written since 1950), not with pre-categorizing students as “vocational” in the face of all counter evidence from neuro-science in the last 25 years.
Stanford is positive and highly motivated. She is also often deeply wrong and poorly advised by those in her “tent”. She might be better than Hipkins and Tinetti but that is a VERY low bar.
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
As a career teacher I have always seen my role as doing my best for the child and family and ALWAYS holding them in high esteem.
Kerre Woodham asked the question and Stanford’s only response was “talk to your children” and then a false assertion that “research shows that this is the most important thing …”
The role of parents is so much greater:
– care for yourself during pregnancy – no alcohol, no drugs, exercise, sleep well, eat well avoid stress, inform yourself about great parenting.
– create a physical space for the children before they are born and engage with your family and community (“it takes a village …”).
– surround the child with great experiences from day 1. Music, positive talk (the Minister is partially right ….. lots of words), extensive, activity, a bright room, play groups, …
– as soon as they can sit still – read to the child – complex picture books, Dr Suess, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, A. A. Milne, etc. I read The Lord of the Rings to my oldest when he was 2 – 3 years old. You can read well above their skill level – to their cognitive level.
– make Maths natural – with cooking, normal discussion, fun on puzzles. We had a guest in our home one day when one of our kids said; “is 89squared 7,921?” The capacity of young children is well beyond adult expectation.
– engage with all external learning situations and understand them. ECE, Primary School, High School …. Parents should be fully interested and involved.
While the Minister – let alone the Ministry – think that they have the solutions – it matches Ronald Regan’s great quote: that they worst nine words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
The solutions to our problematic education system involve elevating and empowering parents – not with an overwhelmingly boring set of English texts (from Elizabeth Rata who does not seem to know that books have been written since 1950), not with pre-categorizing students as “vocational” in the face of all counter evidence from neuro-science in the last 25 years.
Stanford is positive and highly motivated. She is also often deeply wrong and poorly advised by those in her “tent”. She might be better than Hipkins and Tinetti but that is a VERY low bar.
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
6 comments:
Alwyn, your criticism appears somewhat petty.
Stanford has taken the very bold steps of implementing a whole new cirriculum, and back to basics teaching methodology, she knows from NZs past and the UKs present, will be successful.
And you criticize her for a simple but accurate answer to a talk show question?
Parents obviously can't teach their children unless they're talking to them regularly.
Hence, it is arguably the most important thing!
>"It is a truism to state that parents are far more important/influential than teachers/schools."
Really?
This rather depends on what level of schooling we are talking about.
Very few parents would have a hope of passing most external exams at Y12/13 level. Many have anything above a vague idea about exactly what various subjects at that level entail and even less about those subjects and the career pathways they link up with at university level.
The statement above may well generally hold true (but is far from a truism) at primary level but even there the school may be the nearest a child from a shambolic domestic background (of which there are so many nowadays) gets to an orderly environment (touch wood).
Good schooling + good parenting = positive education outcomes. It's an instance where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But take either away and you are left with empty promises.
"– as soon as they can sit still – read to the child – complex picture books, Dr Suess, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, A. A. Milne, etc. I read The Lord of the Rings to my oldest when he was 2 – 3 years old. You can read well above their skill level – to their cognitive level."
ABSOLUTELY ! Reading to children like this gives the child a massive start in their intellectual journey,
I figure you meant to say "curriculum"
The 1500 children from high decile Kapiti , who came to our private school room for remedial reading in structured literacy because they had been failed by local schools , who taught Whole lLanguage reading methods, had had 100s of books read to them .
I declare that giving the idea to parents , that reading books to children will ensure they will become literate is a quite wrong.
What is needed is learning off the sounds of the alphabet, learning the alphabet song , learning to print well the letters, and distinguishing between capitals and lower case,, learn off poems to learn rhyming also tongue twisters etc to encourage awareness of sounds in words. Play 'I spy" except say the sound of the letter not the name. Listen to Yolanda Sonryl on u tube if you don't know the sounds of letters. In our school room we taught hundreds of three and four year olds to read and this included Down Syndrome and other handicapped children. Make sure your child can count to 20 as a preschooler and understand what numbers represent .. Make sure your child has memorized all their times tables and number facts by the time they are nine years old . Schools don't teach this essential skill. Write down spelling mistakes and have your child learn them . Buy the graded NZCER spelling book. Follow the guides given by the Min. of Ed online to do with reading and maths but also make sure they have know only one method for two figure adding, subtracting and multiplying. Ask the child to bring home their Maths workbook to ensure they are being done accurately and well.
If parents do nothing else, reading stories and involving them in what you are reading is very important. It gets children interested in the written word. Dr Zeuss books were great with their rhyming text and loopy pictures. Pity there aren't reruns of Sesame Street. That also helped kids count and learn new things
Post a Comment