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Horizons and ....... Education Readings By Allan Alach If you’re still a John Hattie fan I suggest you carefully read the article “ The Politics of Education Policy: Even More Beware the  Technocrats . ” .....and whirlpools The first reference listed at the foot of the article attempts to link to an article by Kelvin Smythe. This link no longer works and has been replaced by this one: Horizons, whirlpools, Sartrean secrets, John Hattie and other symptoms of the continuing education  tragedy   I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Why I Want to Karate-Chop the SmartBoard and 19 Other Rants ‘I worked for a district who had the nicest SmartBoards and projectors around. I liked them, they were easy to use, and they were only there a few years . But, the darndest thing happened: the same year we took a forced pay freeze, the district purchased new equipment – because if they didn’t they’d lose the money. Socrates...

Time to escape standardisation, compliance and conformity Education Readings By Allan Alach As we settle in to the post national standards era , it pays us to be mindful that we need to make the most of this opportunity . For a start, it could only take a change of government in 2020 for national standards to reappear, along with the stifling restrictions on teachers and schools. The recent news item featuring a Christchurch principal complaining that schools now have no way to measure children’s progress is a case in point . I have my suspicions that this was a set up by those opposed to the current government’s education policies; however the warning is very clear. Teachers need to make hay while the sun shines, to show how primary schooling can be. The more the boundaries are pushed now, the harder it will be for a future government to revert to the education desert of the past nine years. Available NZCER Seek inspiration and guidance from Bruce Hammonds and Kelvin Smythe, and espe...

Cicadas They have taken their time but the cicadas are now in full song . Information about NZ cicada     And more great stuff What do we know about cicadas? It is always the way. As soon as the summer holidays have past summer actually arrives. Teachers and their students, who have up to now had little experience of real heat, are now feeling it, but now confined to their classrooms. Let's hope teachers have decided to vacate their rooms and do their learning in the cool shade outside. A chance to develop an awareness of the environmen t. Teachers who have not forgotten that environmental literacy is as important as book literacy will no doubt be really enjoying themselves . The big issue of the coming decade is not a literacy crisis but a climatic one - environmental literacy The sooner students develop an awareness of their environment , and in the process learn to love and respect it, the sooner they will see the need to sustain and protect it. As the future ...

Goodbye National Standards. A opportunity for creativity in schools Education Readings By Allan Alach Time for new thinking The New Zealand school year is about to begin, so Bruce Hammonds and I are back again with our education readings . Hopefully New Zealand schools are well prepared to make the most of the opportunities provided by the dumping of national standards, although we have our concerns that too many principals and teachers will struggle to break their mindsets free from the raising achievement focused dictates of the the previous nine years. I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Assessment too often fails to prioritise learning – let's change that ‘By relying less on data and more on teachers’ judgment, schools can give student assessment greater meaning while also cutting workload. Often the focus is on what tracked data tells us about student progress, but I know of no large-scale study that demonstrat...