Word from John today part 1
I recieved the John Keynote today and education was mentioned quite a bit:
Firstly he says:
I had fun this morning meeting the children at Glen Taylor School in Auckland with Education Minister Anne Tolley. We were there to launch National Education Standards in reading, writing, and maths.
Introducing National Standards was one of our major election policies. They will lift achievement levels for children in primary and intermediate schools, and report children’s progress on literacy and numeracy to parents in plain English twice a year.
As many as one-in-five children are not getting the reading, writing, and maths skills they need to succeed. National Standards will help identify those children early so they get more help. The Government is providing $36 million over four years to support schools to introduce the new standards.
I’m really not sure where I stand on National Standards. The theory sounds great but it has huge potential for collateral damage. By which I mean misrepresentation of schools; there is no indication in results of the effort and skill or classroom practitioners. How much is genes and how much is solid education. There is potential for breeding eliteism (showever you spell it) If a school gets a reputation of high achieving then the motivated parents with the gifted and talented off spring will gravitate toward those institution, thus feeding the reputation by providing highly motivated, scholastically blessed, students.
What other fallout may there be? Please share.
