Teachers' Unions have been totally politicised and standing up for what is right is no longer of importance. Nicole Shanahan talks to a teacher at the sharp edge:
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
May 30, 2025
September 04, 2022
What they did to Education
Oh dear, New Zealand, what have you done? Reading this I almost cried. New Zealand's education system has been destroyed. Ministry of Education, principals, boards of trustees, hang your heads in shame.
https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/09/03/letter-from-a-mandated-teacher/Some days it is just painful.
It’s tough to get out of bed, to pretend to my kids that everything is OK, and that our country is a safe and fair place to live. I cannot count the times when I have completely melted down in the last ten months, while driving alone so that they can’t see the heartbreak I feel – the broken heart that I don’t want them to see.
<snip>
Instead, we had principals, colleagues and our unions pressuring us to make us follow – or else suffer the consequences. In staffrooms around the country, a line had been drawn. If you did not roll up your sleeve, you were branded an anti-vaxxer, a threat to the students and staff, and someone who shouldn’t be an educator.
The mandate also pulled students into this division when teachers (people in positions of power) spewed their rhetoric about the unvaxxed and how dangerous they were. My heart shattered when I had a student approach me and laugh, cruelly, while saying that I would die from Covid. It seemed like all compassion and kindness had been wiped out, and at that moment it became clear we were in a two-tiered society.
<snip>
In effect, it was now unlawful for us to step foot on the property. We could be arrested and fined. Upstanding citizens who had never done anything illegal, who had cared deeply for our young students, who had dedicated years of service to teaching and helping Kiwi children to be set up for good and solid life paths, were suddenly treated like criminals. Unable to even have contact with the students into whose education we had put our hearts and souls, and years of dedication.
<snip>
Fast-forward to now. For those lucky enough to have their jobs back, or those who have been given a lesser role, such as babysitting/relief (at a much lower pay rate), they now find in the staff rooms that people who took the jab barely acknowledge what happened. They certainly don’t acknowledge the pain they have caused to their innocent fellow Kiwis. They don’t acknowledge that those of us who were thrown out like garbage, actually needed someone from our former school to call up and ask if we were OK. We needed them to stand up for our shared humanity, and our shared and sacred Human Rights.
December 07, 2018
NZ: Education Shake-up
Finally, an admission that Tomorrow's Schools was a disaster. That's the way I read the proposed changes to the way schools in New Zealand are organised.
Read about it here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12172927
What is proposed is essentially reinventing the wheel, putting in place the framework that existed before Labour destroyed education in NZ. I note the media are avoiding attaching blame. They're such suck-ups.
However, I'm not convinced scrapping Intermediate schools is a good idea. Many Intermediates do an amazing job. Likewise, year 1 through 8 primary schools already exist and they're often fine too. Where things could go badly wrong is having year 1 through 13 at the one school in urban areas. That's fine in Area Schools in the rural areas but it's misguided to allow it in urban areas. There are some schools already set up like this, we are yet to see if they work. I'm not holding my breath.
It comes down to how these changes are implemented. Given Labour's poor record on Education, I remain doubtful.
Read about it here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12172927
What is proposed is essentially reinventing the wheel, putting in place the framework that existed before Labour destroyed education in NZ. I note the media are avoiding attaching blame. They're such suck-ups.
However, I'm not convinced scrapping Intermediate schools is a good idea. Many Intermediates do an amazing job. Likewise, year 1 through 8 primary schools already exist and they're often fine too. Where things could go badly wrong is having year 1 through 13 at the one school in urban areas. That's fine in Area Schools in the rural areas but it's misguided to allow it in urban areas. There are some schools already set up like this, we are yet to see if they work. I'm not holding my breath.
It comes down to how these changes are implemented. Given Labour's poor record on Education, I remain doubtful.
October 15, 2018
Teacher Shortage New Zealand
Well it's happened, New Zealand has finally reached the crisis I've been pointing out would arrive sooner rather than later. The solution is not just more pay, though that would help. To address the issue it has to be accepted that everyone is to blame; teachers, school management and the government.
What went wrong? The main problem is with the way teaching is structured; teachers are paid more the less classroom teaching they do. Correct this imbalance and you're halfway there. Then you pay more for teachers who teach and not so much for teachers who manage, and open up management positions to a wider pool of candidates, allowing other management professionals a pathway into those jobs.
And finally, take Teach First NZ across the whole country. Make it possible for suitably qualified individuals to cross into teaching without needing to spend a year at teachers' college.
What went wrong? The main problem is with the way teaching is structured; teachers are paid more the less classroom teaching they do. Correct this imbalance and you're halfway there. Then you pay more for teachers who teach and not so much for teachers who manage, and open up management positions to a wider pool of candidates, allowing other management professionals a pathway into those jobs.
And finally, take Teach First NZ across the whole country. Make it possible for suitably qualified individuals to cross into teaching without needing to spend a year at teachers' college.
August 15, 2018
Teachers Strike
Today, New Zealand primary school teachers are on strike. I've noticed they want more money, and they deserve that, but I see repeated often is they're snowed under with paperwork. How can extra pay make that go away? It can't right? So how about just doing away with a lot of the bureaucracy and let the teachers get on with their jobs. It'd mean better teaching and hence better educated children. Yay.
May 27, 2018
New Zealand Education Crisis
The new Labour government of New Zealand is owned by teachers, nurses and social workers. That said, teachers in NZ have been having a lot to say; they want more money.
Fine, give them more money. But along with that extra pay do the following to avert the crisis and have NZ rising in the rankings again. Failure to do these things will mean collapse of the education system. That's right, collapse, and by that I mean widespread illiteracy and innumeracy or worse, a failure to know how to think.
The first step would be to merge the Education Council, Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office into one agency under the one roof. And give it teeth.
Then when that's done, make all teachers subject to objective and peer assessment. This would be done by ensuring that new teachers pass exams. Then while teaching they must conduct research and publish those papers. These results would determine rates of pay. Think this is too tough? What about accountants and lawyers? They're subject to professional examinations and when on the job they must function in certain ways to get the money. If teaching is a profession, why are they not subject to similar rigour?
Then pay more to teachers who stay in the classroom, and less to those who leave the classroom to administer. The flaw in the NZ system is it provides strong incentives for teachers to not do any teaching. To advance within teaching, teachers must get out of the classroom. Stop that happening.
Then scrap all school boards of trustees. Instead have schools run in groups managed by asset managers on a regional level, the board for which may be elected, but having each and every school with its own elected board of trustees is a nonsense. In effect it hands the day to day operation of schools to teachers. Teachers teach, they're not facilities managers.
Then lastly, bring back the three hour exam for most subjects. Replace the current NCEA system. I'd describe NCEA as delivering curriculum in a modular fashion. The problem with modular snippets is the student does not learn a subject end-to-end. Why have a student assessed on, say, 25% of the subject at hand before half way through the course? Until the student knows how all the parts fit together, they cannot be reliably assessed. The current assessment model disadvantages slow learners, those that may take all year to know a subject. What NCEA does is deliver failure early, and hence a large number switch off. It's the current NCEA system that promotes failure. This is hard to understand and denied by NCEA promoting apologists but this is the reality and the government has got to realise that NCEA does not work.
Oh and just in case you missed it, what I'm saying needs to be done is a re-creation of the Department of Education, Boards of Education and School Certificate. That was before Labour wrecked education with its Tomorrows Schools of the late 1980's, early 1990's, followed by more reform which effectively threw the baby out with the bathwater. From then on it was all downhill.
Fine, give them more money. But along with that extra pay do the following to avert the crisis and have NZ rising in the rankings again. Failure to do these things will mean collapse of the education system. That's right, collapse, and by that I mean widespread illiteracy and innumeracy or worse, a failure to know how to think.
The first step would be to merge the Education Council, Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office into one agency under the one roof. And give it teeth.
Then when that's done, make all teachers subject to objective and peer assessment. This would be done by ensuring that new teachers pass exams. Then while teaching they must conduct research and publish those papers. These results would determine rates of pay. Think this is too tough? What about accountants and lawyers? They're subject to professional examinations and when on the job they must function in certain ways to get the money. If teaching is a profession, why are they not subject to similar rigour?
Then pay more to teachers who stay in the classroom, and less to those who leave the classroom to administer. The flaw in the NZ system is it provides strong incentives for teachers to not do any teaching. To advance within teaching, teachers must get out of the classroom. Stop that happening.
Then scrap all school boards of trustees. Instead have schools run in groups managed by asset managers on a regional level, the board for which may be elected, but having each and every school with its own elected board of trustees is a nonsense. In effect it hands the day to day operation of schools to teachers. Teachers teach, they're not facilities managers.
Then lastly, bring back the three hour exam for most subjects. Replace the current NCEA system. I'd describe NCEA as delivering curriculum in a modular fashion. The problem with modular snippets is the student does not learn a subject end-to-end. Why have a student assessed on, say, 25% of the subject at hand before half way through the course? Until the student knows how all the parts fit together, they cannot be reliably assessed. The current assessment model disadvantages slow learners, those that may take all year to know a subject. What NCEA does is deliver failure early, and hence a large number switch off. It's the current NCEA system that promotes failure. This is hard to understand and denied by NCEA promoting apologists but this is the reality and the government has got to realise that NCEA does not work.
Oh and just in case you missed it, what I'm saying needs to be done is a re-creation of the Department of Education, Boards of Education and School Certificate. That was before Labour wrecked education with its Tomorrows Schools of the late 1980's, early 1990's, followed by more reform which effectively threw the baby out with the bathwater. From then on it was all downhill.
February 24, 2018
Labour Announce Education Shake-up
Okay so New Zealand has a new coalition government, led by Labour. It was needed, a change of government that is, and NZ clearly voted for change despite what National say when bleating about their defeat. A lot of good to talk about in the change; we'll get investment in construction, regional development, primary industry as that's where a lot of Labour voters are. All good.
But the not-so-good we can see starting to happen already. Labour, this may come as a shock so I hope you're sitting down when you read this, are owned by teachers. That's right, teachers in schools own the party that now runs the country.
So they're going to make changes. This could be good or it could be really bad and I'm picking really bad as it's the fox being put in charge of the hen house. Teachers are a lazy bunch you see. If they weren't lazy then they wouldn't be teachers, they'd be doing something that involved hard work (stop right there, I used to be teacher, don't tell me it's hard work, just don't, I stopped teaching to do something that was difficult). Teachers are necessary, very necessary but they're not rocket scientists. If they were rocket scientists then they'd be building rockets but they're not, so they're not.
What will happen is more control being put in the hands of teachers, and what you'll get is even less teaching. The new age of the illiterate and innumerate is about the dawn on the good people of NZ and they don't even know it. I'm just glad my children dodged this bullet.
I've written about this before, you can check some of my posts out here:
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/reform-of-nz-education.html
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/ncea.html
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2016/05/more-nz-education-and-bryan-bruce.html
But the not-so-good we can see starting to happen already. Labour, this may come as a shock so I hope you're sitting down when you read this, are owned by teachers. That's right, teachers in schools own the party that now runs the country.
So they're going to make changes. This could be good or it could be really bad and I'm picking really bad as it's the fox being put in charge of the hen house. Teachers are a lazy bunch you see. If they weren't lazy then they wouldn't be teachers, they'd be doing something that involved hard work (stop right there, I used to be teacher, don't tell me it's hard work, just don't, I stopped teaching to do something that was difficult). Teachers are necessary, very necessary but they're not rocket scientists. If they were rocket scientists then they'd be building rockets but they're not, so they're not.
What will happen is more control being put in the hands of teachers, and what you'll get is even less teaching. The new age of the illiterate and innumerate is about the dawn on the good people of NZ and they don't even know it. I'm just glad my children dodged this bullet.
I've written about this before, you can check some of my posts out here:
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/reform-of-nz-education.html
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/ncea.html
http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2016/05/more-nz-education-and-bryan-bruce.html
May 03, 2016
Beckenham School
Oh god teachers are such a pain in the arse aren't they? You are not going to believe what news my eleven year old daughter came home with. Now they're not allowed to eat before play. That's right, they have to play first then eat, then straight into the classroom. I mean, what sort of world is this? Are teachers that stupid?
Well yes they are. You've got children wandering around the playground grumpy cos they're hungry and of course they certainly haven't got the energy to do anything. Is this a means to control behaviour during breaks? Food as a weapon?
What I think it is is a misguided attempt to ensure food is in bellies in the classroom. But it overlooks school is also about the quality of play and social interaction. Take that away and what have you got? Personally I was of moderate athletic ability, but I went to school with several people who became professional athletes. They didn't get there by not eating before practising. You eat, then you do. It's that simple.
Beckenham School has slipped badly. They have this teacher hub system, which is silly, and the children have to use the teachers first names. Hi Thaddeus, or Mark or Jane, or Sandy. Yeah right. Nice professional distance there Beckenham (I'm not talking about pupils knowing the teachers first name, but routinely using it? C'mon).
Beckenham School is getting too silly now, they've lost the plot.
Well yes they are. You've got children wandering around the playground grumpy cos they're hungry and of course they certainly haven't got the energy to do anything. Is this a means to control behaviour during breaks? Food as a weapon?
What I think it is is a misguided attempt to ensure food is in bellies in the classroom. But it overlooks school is also about the quality of play and social interaction. Take that away and what have you got? Personally I was of moderate athletic ability, but I went to school with several people who became professional athletes. They didn't get there by not eating before practising. You eat, then you do. It's that simple.
Beckenham School has slipped badly. They have this teacher hub system, which is silly, and the children have to use the teachers first names. Hi Thaddeus, or Mark or Jane, or Sandy. Yeah right. Nice professional distance there Beckenham (I'm not talking about pupils knowing the teachers first name, but routinely using it? C'mon).
Beckenham School is getting too silly now, they've lost the plot.