While there is a questionable moral imperative for the implementation on the National Standards from our government, I must share a gem of an attitude shared with us during the Michael Fullan seminars from early November.

National Standards are to be exploited, not implemented.

This brings in to question our real moral imperative.  I believe our moral imperative as educators is now to use the standards to make a difference to our kids.  If the policy makers make this difficult, we need to stick to our guns.

While I commend all of the work being done by our academic educational experts. it is now time to accept that this is being done whether we like it or not, for better or for worse until cabinet reshuffle do us part…

I have been extraordinarily busy over the last wee while and blogging has taken the backseat.  A bit sad really, because the last post has probably been the forefront of my rants for too long and I don’t want to be known as a ‘one trick pony’.  I stand by the comments, but have more to offer than just political raving.  Check out this space over the next few weeks for some real developments with learning and professional learning.  I am getting very excited about our evolving ideas and the emerging leadership of quality teachers in these ‘innovations’.

Even though I promised I would not do it, I will also have some more on National Standards (Yes, these have been released and not without some growing controversy over the ‘mandate‘) and some ways to implement and integrate these where our kids and their learning is at the fore, and not unwieldy compliance and narrowing of curriculum.

So much to blog… and so much sleeping, work and keeping fit to do too.  This environment will become an increasingly important tool for me and I am planning to make it a more reflective avenue for me to continue to grow and learn.

Great teachers are great teachers, with or without technology, but really great teachers are those who can infuse all of the skills which make them effective while supporting student learning with the use of technologies.  Let me explain…

I was working with a teacher a number years back on his appraisal.  This teacher (for the purposes of comprehension, let’s call this one Teacher A, and he is real) was awesome!  He communicated his messages brilliantly, worked so well with students individually and in groups, knew the needs of his students in the curriculum areas, knew most parents on a first name basis and really motivated his class to learn so well.  These students reciprocated and this classroom was a real ‘place of learning’.  There were two quite new computers in the classroom and the teacher had a laptop he ‘used sometimes’, but eLearning or web 2.0. didn’t feature on his pedagogical landscape  While this resource was present and the teacher new about some of the potential, he didn’t make effective use of ICT in his classroom… however, no one could question Teacher A’s reflective approach, his relationships with the learners, their parents and other staff, his effective communication, his support for school-wide initiatives, his constructivist classroom and strong learning focus.  In short this joker was a very effective, or a ‘great’, teacher.  None of his students missed out.

Contrast this with this fictitious appraisal of Teacher B (who doesn’t exist!).  This teacher was a leader in ICT and also learning.  Teacher B was rarely seen without a laptop or around a computer, a real proponent of IWBs and computer ’suites’ for skill learning.  This teacher claimed to base classroom programmes around strong pedagogies, perhaps mistaking the word ‘pedagogies’ for ‘opinions’.  The word ‘reflection’ was used often by this teacher, but the evidence of it was sparse, and it certainly did not inform this individual’s practise.  There was no outward support for School-wide initiatives, and a prevalent ‘I know better than you’ attitude… clearly not an easy appraisal to do!  Teacher B had some interesting class blogs and websites, focussed largely around ‘knowledge-type’ work or ‘busy’ learning tasks… a website on bees was informative and creative, but largely designed and created by the teacher and only certain kids had the right to contribute.  While this teacher used the tools well, (although one could argue not in a constructivist manner) the grounding in quality practise and focus on quality teaching and learning was less evident… I certainly don’t get the feeling of a ‘learning classroom’… despite being surrounded by computers, cameras and an interactive whiteboard.

The point to these two short parables is a simple one… as stated above, with or without technology, a great teacher is a great teacher.

However, imagine Teacher A with the vision to use the best tools available through technology and develop a real eLearning element to their practice.  What sort of learning environment could be possible?  Imagine also the traditional classroom barriers being ‘blown away’ through such tools as those available through web2.0 and the use of transformational learning and teaching?

Anything’s possible…

I will leave you with these two quotes that I found on Twitter

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read & write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, & relearn.  Alvin Toffler

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.  John Cotton Dana

I read with a great deal of concern two new outcomes from recent news reporting on issues to do with national interest.  The first is to do with international ratings agency Fitch, saying it was worried about New Zealand’s high debt levels and reliance on overseas borrowing… frightening enough (whose footsteps are we following in here?)  However, I won’t go into this in detail – there is another media ‘bone’ I will briefly address.

The second pressing issue ‘bone’ that our media dog is onto, is that our fit and outdoorsy national identity has gone out the window with the revelation that we are now the 3rd fattest nation in the world (only Mexico and the US are ahead of us).  I am unsure of the accuracy of the study or the point in placing a hierarchical order to it… as if winning something like that is something to be proud of.  This does however raise some very interesting discussions for our Nation.

As per previous interventions, such as the ‘anti-smacking’ bill, we seem to have governments who place legislative measures on the nation rather than dealing with the actual problem.  Another popular measure are those endless multi-million dollar ‘hard-hitting’ advertising campaigns, where the only outcomes involve advertising agencies becoming better off than the rest of the nation… not fewer kids being hit, fewer people dying of smoking related illness, OR fewer people dying at the hands of speeding, and/or drunk drivers!

I firmly believe that to sort out the issue of obesity, we do not place further sanctions on Schools, remove the right for junk food retailers to advertise or any other archaic attempt to change the ingrained habits of poor diet, poor lifestyle and poor parenting.  All such attempts will serve to strike at the branches of the problem, not the roots!  Find the problem and deal with the problem, whatever that may be… and if there is a causal factor which is parental, genetic, ethnic or gender related… deal with that, and don’t waste our time on changing the laws for everybody!

Hopefully that may mean we can save up some money in the national coffers too!  Now, anyone for some folate in their bread?

I have reflected a little more on these delightful little gems being proposed by the current National Government. Aside from my concerns about the lack of a clear policy direction in education, this government is really assuming that teachers and schools are incapable of collecting student achievement information to inform school improvement and improve learning outcomes for students. Therefore they are going to do it themselves??? Isn’t that a little like them telling the surgeon how to perform the triple bypass?

If we have the Public Finance Act to prevent governments from having too much control over our nations finances (ok yes, it has it’s flaws too!)… Shouldn’t the Education Act be updated to prevent them from making decisions which, regardless of the intent, can prevent politicians from making poorly informed decisions in education. It is only fair that our students are protected.

Yes, this is a little bit of a rant… but I do that sometimes!

Moving into this new New Zealand curriculum paradigm (you know, the one that needs to be implemented by 2010!) we are going to need strong and effective pedagogical leadership.  This will take courage from school leaders to develop plans for what amounts to significant change in teachers’ beliefs, values and of course, practice.  Successful curriculum implementation, including all of those wonderful curriculum frameworks being developed by schools around the country, will not occur without these shifts in teachers values, beliefs and practice.  Also none of this will happen unless it (the change) is planned for and actioned with a great deal of critical reflection (in my humble view).

So what do we do to get ourselves ready for New Zealand Curriculum implementation?  I have chosen 4 key ideas to explore briefly in this post…

1. Involving teachers as ‘experts’.

School leaders need to involve teacher leaders as ‘experts’ and principals should acknowledge this expertise and build on it through strategic decision making and providing opportunity for staff to be involved, not only in the delivery of PD, but in the planning for change in teacher values, beliefs and practice.

2. Communication of the goals and plans

These plans and associated goals need to be clearly communicated with staff and communities.  Time frames should be set and specific indicators should inform evaluation and reflection on progress and reviews of plans.

3. Make it a ‘lifestyle’ change

What we are talking about here is a major cultural change in schools, not simply another ‘thing to do’.  Much like the dieting analogy (you’ve probably heard this one)… this is not a change to your diet… it is a change to your lifestyle!  You need to change more than your curriculum for there to be successful integration.  This needs alignment to school vision, policy, strategy, pedagogy, values and beliefs, plus many other big and minor players.

4. Involvement of the principal

The school principal needs to lead by example here.  Be passionate about the changes, model effective practice and take pride in the achievements (and failures), and never take your eyes of the prize… improved learning outcomes for students.  Principals need to participate in all of the professional development and communicate with, and involve stakeholders (teachers included) in how things are going.  Plus being the coach to support everyone through the process at the individual and collective levels.  The principal is the driver of the change, this shouldn’t be confused for being the ‘imposer’ of the change.

The school is a ‘place of learning’ and as such all learners (adults too) need to feel empowered and be ‘enabled’ to engage with the curriculum and for the curriculum developments.  As I stated earlier, this development must be based firmly on quality teacher values, beliefs and practice and where possible helping teachers change their own paradigms (as Stephen Covey states – in order to change someone’s behaviour, you need to look first to change their paradigm).

I will add more about this later… it seems to be evolving the more I think about it.