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The walk down to the Junior School This mural assisted by a retired Art Adiser Junior classrooms in earlier (pre  Tomorrows's Schools)days were where one saw the best child centred classrooms . They were run along developmental lines, based on centres of interest and integrated language/arts based experience programmes . Exploring the immediate environment through their students senses with the belief that before the word the the experience was a strong feature of such rooms. The writings of Sylvia Ashton Warner and later Marie Clay were important references .  Welcoming new children and their parents Since Tomorrow's School;s educational change has been imposed from the top often by people with little classroom experience and , worse still, by politicians with competitive intentions contrary to the collaborative culture of schools . In recent years National Standards were introduced that were neither national or standard, and along with them tedious assessment and accoun...

Many years ago I was part of a group of Taranaki teachers who developed activity based programmes emphasizing  quality student work, displays to motivate studies and room environments that  valued and celebrated student w ork. Vogeltown School The programmes were , to a degree, extending the developmental choice philosophy of the junior classes combined with the creative approach written about in Elwyn Richardso n' In the Early World which has been recently reprinted by the NZCER .  Added emphasis also came from the UK Junior Nuffield Science Projec t (which emphasized open science studies) and from English junior school s that encouraged their students to do quality work and for this work to be displayed with care It is a short walk to nearby native bush The emphasis on stimulating room environments became a feature of local schools and can still be seen to this day even if the original developments have been long forgotten . Of late , after observing classrooms shown...

New Minds for a New Millennium  Education Readings By Allan Alach Every week Bruce Hammonds and I collect articles to share with teachers to encourage a creative approach to teaching and learning. I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz We won’t publish o ur readings next week as Bruce will be off travelling. The readings will be back the following week (   Actually I  might do a quick post featuring a creative school I recently visited! Bruce) Are you engaging with the New Zealand Curriculum? ‘ Most great conversations start with a really purposeful question . A question that’s simple but not simplistic. A simple question posed in conversation recently was, ‘ Are you engaging with the New Zealand Curriculum? ’ Before you answer, think carefully about what that question actually means. In my humble opinion the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) is one of the finest documents created . It has guidance...

Education Readings   By Allan Alach   Every week Bruce Hammonds and I collect articles to share with teachers to encourage a creative approach to teaching and learning. We welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Secret Teacher NZ: Why I left teaching? ‘I sat down to write this and had to start over many times. I’m not sure how to go about explaining why I left teaching in a way that doesn’t come off as judgy, or blamey or a woe-is-me tale . I suppose many educators feel like this. Teaching seems to be the one profession everyone feels qualified to have an opinion on, seeing as we all went through a school at some point.’ http://bit.ly/2M4YVYC The Destruction of New Zealand's Public Education System Dave Kennedy wrote this back on 2014. Has there been any change? Worse? Better? About the same? ‘ This government is destroying our amazing collaborative, holistic public education system that recently led the world...

New minds for a New Millenium Time for a rethink about the role of education  in a democratic society. A crisis in education I write this in a week primary teachers are to go on strike for better pay .   Concerns about the  excessive  workload expected of teachers is just as big a concern . Time for new thinking Both issues need to be sorted if teaching is to become an attractive career – a career that values teachers as the professionals they once were. I f conditions are not resolved then improving salaries will not solve the issues of workload and associated stres s. As one wise old rural adviser once said, ‘teachers need to protect their time and energy, if this is wasted on b/s then they will have no time left to teach.’ With this in mind the following is a look into a possible future. It all began with Tomorrows Schools The workload and associated stress has increased dramatically since the introduction of the competitive Tomorrow’s Schools reforms of the lat...