Education Sucks Big Time!

Education Sucks Big Time!

There seems to be a fair bit of posturing and name calling going on in the arena of education. In the play ground we would call in the mediators and teach the children how to problem solve. In professional education circles we just tell each other that we suck!

Metaphorically, if there was a terrible accident with victims lying, bleeding on the road, we all know what needs to be done. Get hold of emergency staff, take first aid action, and divert traffic…However our response to the National Standards debacle is to stand over the dying victims and finger point. Literally thousands of children come out of our school system every year without being able to read and write.
We see the violent bloody results in family dysfunction, families lacking homes, food and clothing. We see thousands of dollars lost every year in our businesses and economy due to illiteracy. We see the victims in our prisons, youth centres and in rising numbers in our morgues. Poverty is a killer and one of its parents is illiteracy.

We need to take an account and focus ourselves on the issue at hand. At the risk of being stoned by my fellow practitioners, I’d like to say that the National Standards is a good idea. We need an agreement between teachers, government and parents about what children need to achieve to succeed as a member of New Zealand society. In the past we have let children’s difficulties go unnoticed because there were no standards of measurement. We reassured ourselves by saying we just need to give them some time and they will grow out of it. Parents want peace of mind that their child will emerge at the end of their schooling to a successful happy life and rightfully so. Teachers need to have a simple system for identifying and helping students with their needs. We have a limited budget so we need an agreement about what services we should expect at school and what services we need to seek for ourselves. This gives us a basis to ask for the help we need to do our jobs.

However at the risk of more stones coming from the other side, I’d like to point out that saying to teachers ‘you will do this or else’ is not very effective people management! Neither is sending out letters that will end up pitting the public against teachers. Creating yet another paper trail further exasperates the problem. I don’t know any teachers who lie awake at night wondering whether to take ham or salad sandwiches to work and conducting time and motion studies into how to get out the school gate on the dot of 3pm.Their relative hourly rate would show their dedication. Keeping thirty odd children happy and focussed and learning is not a small task. Thousands of parents are even now heaving a sigh of relief at the welcome break from umpiring arguments and arranging entertainment all holiday long, for the average 2.5 children.

I think we, meaning both sides, need to focus our attention on how to use this agreed measurement.
Several questions come to mind. For example should there be a period of evaluation on this document?
I have sneaking suspicion that a large number of children are not going to meet these new National Standards. What will happen when they don’t?
Have we looked at why the child is not reaching the standard? What diagnostic tools do we have at our disposal? Where do we get the educational psychologists from to do the testing? The best diagnosis tools we have at the moment for dyslexia is the Woodcock Johnson III, and I believe there are only 4 people in Auckland (not sure about the figures for other parts of the country) who can execute this test. I’m no mathematician but I foresee a shortage!
We only have a few teachers who would know how to use one of these reports and even fewer who would know what to do about the issues outlined in one. No teacher no matter what their training and dedication can help these students on their own. There needs to be teacher aide and specialist teachers.
By the way I haven’t got to the bit about specialist equipment yet either.

I believe we need to adjust our disability allowances also. I have a number of students who don’t meet current school funding for specialist audio equipment, extra help and tuition. They don’t meet our current disability allowance criteria despite the fact that their disability is preventing them from receiving an education, from participating and making a valuable contribution to society. I have a child on my books that needs a piece of equipment to help her hear what the teacher is saying above the general noise of the classroom. At the moment, being a very smart wee cookie, she is coping too well to get education funding. She doesn’t qualify to get disability allowance either. Mum and Dad don’t have enough to fund the equipment, although they are trying. We are chasing other sources of funding, but it all takes a lot of time. In the meantime a subtle slide will occur in her schoolwork. In a few years time, the high school could be wondering what to do with yet another failing and disruptive student.

So lets stop standing around posturing and bemoaning the future and start practicing some problem solving skills. I have suspect that some of our other social issues might be solved on the way. We have a problem. It is illiteracy. We have an agreement about what we think a child should be able to do. Now we need to look at what to do when a child doesn’t meet those standards. How will we pinpoint the problem? How will we solve the problem? How can we stop the ‘blood’ being spilled?
The classroom doors have opened, the children are waiting, and the clock is ticking.

ends

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