GB principals outspoken in their criticisms of national standards
The introduction of legislated national standards to measure student achievement in years one to eight has provoked critical responses from the Bay’s principals.
The new standards aim to lift the 20 per cent, tail-end of students underachieving in numeracy and literacy, and require schools to provide reports to parents in clear and plain language.
Schools must integrate national standards into their reports with immediate effect, and are required by law from 2011 to report to the Ministry of Education on their students’ achievements.
The jury is still out on what the standards really are, how to implement them, and whether they are of any benefit to students.
Professor of Education Terry Crooks, of Otago University, has publicly compared the national standards to a dessert that was not the “delightful conclusion to a fine meal, but rather a tart challenge to our taste buds.”
“The published standards are based mainly on the thinking of curriculum experts, not on evidence of current realities. It seems likely that some of the standards will be met by a disappointingly small percentage of students.”
Golden Bay principals see their introduction as being politically motivated, not evidence-based, and being introduced while other countries such as England are in the process of abolishing them. They agree they have been imposed on schools without any meaningful consultation, and in opposition to the new school-wide curriculum, and distracting from its implementation.
Collingwood Area School’s principal John Garner said the standards were “a shambles” and unnecessary.
“Interim evidence says they do not work and they have not been thought through. There was no consultation, there is no funding for it, no training, and what is available is erratic and the Government is unable to answer questions at any depth. The Government made an election promise 10 years ago to bring in a programme for national testing, and now they are going back to it, but we have seen huge changes in education in the last 10 years.”
Mr Garner criticised the standards for trying to bring everyone to the same level without recognising individual learning needs, developmental pace, or factors (such as socio-economic ones) that influence child development.
He said the standards were arbitrary and, pointing to a poster showing examples of students’ expected achievement of standards across their primary school years, said that he would expect only his best students to come up to that quality of work.
“It’s like saying to someone that by age eight they have to be six feet tall; most kids don’t stand a chance. National standards do nothing to raise standards. We lack resources and we have to keep up with the research about how children learn—that is where we need the help,” said Mr Garner. “We have talked about it with our five parent representatives and have written a letter to Anne Tolley against the standards.”
Takaka Primary principal Neil Batten said the standards had “basically no effect on what we have always been doing. Everybody is still in waiting mode. There has been a lack of professional development in terms of the new standards and there is no process in place.”
Reporting to parents in plain language was already happening in primary schools, as well as an emphasis on teaching writing, reading and maths across all subjects, said Mr Batten.
“We have always been collecting data about students using a wide range of assessment tools and teacher’s judgments. We have to identify the children who need help and give them the right programmes. More assessment will not help these children and will tell us only what we already know. We need effective classroom teaching, high expectations; we need to motivate the children and stimulate their curiosity; that will help the children achieve and be creative. You cannot label children as failures; this will damage their confidence and their motivation to learn.
“Our job is to make sure that children’s progress is just as important as their achievements,” he said. “National standards won’t help student achievements. The standards are untried, untested and not based on any evidence.”
Central Takaka principal Liz Batten also said her school sets high expectations for students, and she believes this is the greatest factor in their achievement.
“I don’t think children’s learning needs will be met by imposing national standards onto schools. Children learn best when they are engaged, motivated and see a purpose and meaning in what they are learning,” she said. “At Central Takaka we have refined the way we report to parents on achievement to include three-way conferences, and we will continue to report on achievement through the children’s portfolios, whole-school celebration days and class displays.”
Golden Bay High School principal Roger File said that students were assessed against the appropriate curriculum level, and national standards imposed yet another benchmark against which students had to be assessed.
“My main concern is that we have to implement a new curriculum, and all of a sudden the focus is removed from the curriculum to national standards. The focus should really be on professional development of teachers, to lift their capabilities to lift student achievement and to work across the whole range of children. It is ironic that schools are being hammered at the same time for making financial cuts.”
Mr File agreed with Mr Garner that introducing one target for all failed to recognise that all children learned differently and at a different pace. He was also concerned that students’ achievements statistics were fed into league tables and used to compare schools’ overall performances, without considering contributing factors such as socio-economics and ethnicity.
Motupipi School principal Mark Cullen said the national standard policy encouraged more standardisation of learning, and was in complete contrast to the intent of the new national curriculum encouraging schools to “provide a breadth and richness of a variety of learning, seek local answers, nurture individual talents, cultivate creativity, inspire curiosity and acknowledge the importance of a student’s personal learning journey, all of which are the basic building blocks for lifelong learning.”
He pointed to overseas research showing that when standards are enforced, teachers focus more on the test results than on the whole student and his/her learning development, and other areas of the curriculum tend to be left out.
“Students come to school with different strengths and there is a concern that these may not be recognised if they are not in reading, writing and maths.”
Motupipi was getting on with the task of implementing the standards, he said. “We feel that they are here to stay, though they may be adapted as schools start using them and find inconsistencies with the levelling of them.
“The whole process has been rushed and I can’t understand why they weren’t trialled first so that the Government had some hard data to work with. It would have saved all the antagonism that is out there at the moment.”
Ina Holst
