comment @ whoar:..who d’ya believe..?..the minister..or the expert/academic..?
“..A top academic has told the government its controversial national standards system could be a disaster ..
.. warning it to block league tables, prevent teachers playing “devious games” with marking ..
.. and be prepared to dump the policy if it does not work.
Professor John Hattie of Auckland University predicts that even with the changes he recommends, the system – a key National policy –
- will do little to raise student achievement..”
( um..!..correct me if i’m wrong here..but surely the object of the exercise would be more than to ‘do little to raise student achievement’..?)
“My terror is that if we go down the wrong pathway, it will fail,” Hattie told the Sunday Star-Times..”
(that’s the academic/expert..)
“..Education Minister Anne Tolley says she has had several conversations with Hattie about his concerns ..
.. and the pair agree on some issues but disagree on others..”
(as in the academic /expert says it won’t work..)
“We both acknowledge that this is a momentous moment in time, if you like .. and that it can go ether way.”
(it can ‘go either way’..?..’scuse me..?..
dos anyone else get the feeling we are being experimented on ..?..again..?
and all in the name of some half-arsed/populism-driven national party ideology..?
haven’t we been here before..?..)
“..The controversial national standards system will go live next year, when teachers will start measuring all primary and intermediate school children against set national targets in reading, writing and mathematics.
Parents will be sent charts and clearly written reports showing their children’s progress and, from 2012 ..
.. schools will start to feed their results to the Education Ministry.
Prime Minister John Key has credited Hattie, a highly influential education expert who is often called in to advise officials on education matters, with inspiring the system.
But today Hattie is going public with a critical discussion paper – which he says is a to-do list rather than an attack on the system.
The paper warns that although the national standards system could be a “wonderful opportunity” it:
Could be the most disastrous education policy ever formulated.
Will only barely raise student achievement, if at all.
Could “pervert the nature of teaching” by pitting schools and teachers against one another.
Hattie also writes that the standards themselves – the targets students will be measured against – are “untested and experimental” ..
.. and need to be drawn up based on evidence .. not committees..”
(now..that all sounds ‘fair enough’..as expert/academic-advice..eh..?
but no..the minister is refusing to accept this advice..from her expert..
and who is credited with being the ‘inspiration’ for this half-arsed plan..?..(sheesh..!..)
“..Tolley responds: “It’s been based on a great deal of national and international data…
.. It’s not as if a group of people just sat down and put them together.”
(um..!..to the casual observer..that would appear to be exactly what has happened..
and..y’know what..?..i reckon i’m with the academic/expert on this one..
and the thing is..y’see..this ‘plan’ has been tried elsewhere..in britain..
where it is denigrated as a total disaster..
turning the whol education process into a passing exams exercise..)
go to source/story>>National standards ‘disaster’ feared - national | Stuff.co.nz