Tag Archives: Teachers

Value of parents praised

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 Value of parents praised

 

By JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN – The Press

Parents are just as good as teachers when it comes to educating toddlers, an early-childhood educator says. Dr Sarah Farquhar, who presented her findings at the New Zealand Playcentre Federation’s Diamond Jubilee conference in Auckland at the weekend, said teacher-led early-education services had little added value to a child’s development compared with parent-led services. Farquhar said the impact of family was consistently greater on a child’s achievements than Early Childhood Education and government policies needed to recognise the value of involving parents in children’s early education. “If we want to make more of an effective difference for our young children, we should be valuing programmes that involve parents learning much more than they are currently being valued,” she said.

https://docs.google.com/a/hef.org.nz/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=13b2a352fe2bf351&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D4c1acbe1e0%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13b2a352fe2bf351%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_h9ufm5zq0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbRo_ScsJOO0ONaU5Jb5O6viYSMGWw

PC warriors serve up a slanted education – Mark Lopez

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http://www.leightonsmith.co.nz/Default.asp?s=Topics&id=5372

PC warriors serve up a slanted education – Mark Lopez

IN her address to her union’s conference in 2005 the Australian Education Union president Pat Byrne openly acknowledged the ideological bias that dominates the school system. As she put it: “We have succeeded in influencing curriculum development in schools, education departments and universities. The conservatives have a lot of work to do to undo the progressive curriculum.”

This bias is the consequence of historical factors originating in the politics of the 1960s that led to a domination of school curriculums by the ideology of the politically correct Left. Correspondingly, the majority of high school teachers appear to have many values compatible or consistent with this ideology. This ideological hegemony is one of the salient features of “progressive” education. This means that for the numerous students with non-Left views, the education system presents additional challenges.

Although many teachers are likeable people who generate a pleasant atmosphere in their classrooms, what pervades in the school system is a way of looking at the world characterised by the Left, an outlook presented not as ideological but as normal, correct, legitimate and just. More importantly, in terms of assessment, what also exists is a subtle un-stated pressure to ideologically conform if students want to succeed academically.

It should be noted that most of the teachers exerting this pressure would probably be unaware that they are doing so because they would be unaware of the bias affecting their assessment. From the teachers’ perspective, they are simply sharing their enthusiasms with their classes and responding positively to what they prefer to see in students’ work. Meanwhile, the politically incorrect arguments presented by some students in their essays would be assessed more severely because, from the teachers’ perspective, they are genuinely seen to be flawed.

As a private tutor, what I have noticed by closely observing patterns of ticks and comments made in the assessment of students’ papers, is that when students clearly indicate in the introduction of their essay that they share their teacher’s politically correct beliefs, the teacher automatically clicks into what I describe as a non-critical frame of mind.

Consequently, the teacher is less inclined to notice mistakes in grammar, argument or in the presentation of evidence. Meanwhile, if students cross the teacher’s bias, the opposite happens. The teacher clicks into a critical frame of mind, finding every justification in the essay to deduct grades.

Due to the psychological subtlety of this behaviour, it is highly likely that the teachers displaying their bias would not recognise it as such, but rather see the grade solely as the product of their professional judgment. It is human nature to display an affinity for those who appear to be like-minded, and to favour them, and this is as true for the assessment of essays as it is in most human interactions. However, because so many teachers share an ideological disposition, the aggregate effect of this tendency is a politically correct bias that appears to be both systematic and widespread.

In addition, this bias is so prevalent and so deep-seated that it has achieved a degree of normalcy or a taken-for-granted quality, thereby being virtually invisible to many involved with the system. This is much like the way we become more aware of the constant hum of an air conditioner when it is suddenly switched off than when it is running.

Consequently, if greater intellectual diversity was introduced into the education system, for example, to reflect the degree of diversity in the mainstream community, it would probably initially appear strange to many people, especially to many of those working in it.

Unfortunately, some teachers are not subtle in expressing their Left-wing bias, being quite militant in the expression of their views and intolerant of dissent. Although evidence of commendable attempts at broad-mindedness and fairness among teachers can be found, evidence of blatant bias is far from rare in the school system.

For example, a student came to me late in his Year 11 to receive early preparations for Year 12. Soon after I commenced helping him in English, he reported to me a recent incident when he suspected that he had experienced ideological bias in the assessment of an essay. He had written an informative piece that appeared to be broadly appreciative of the US in its victory in the Cold War, which the teacher had severely criticised. Concerned, he made an appointment to see his teacher to discuss the matter.

Unfortunately, what resulted was a severe haranguing, with the teacher yielding no quarter and even boasting to the student that she was anti-American. To many of the politically correct, the US is perceived as an international villain for being a militaristic capitalist superpower.

When the student renewed his attempt to put his case, her convoluted and uncompromising argument worked its way towards a reference to Pearl Harbor. Initially stunned by this irrelevancy, the student soon realised that this was a cruel dig at his Japanese heritage. It did the trick. The student ceased putting his complaint. Coming to the teacher with what he felt was a legitimate grievance, he left feeling that his efforts were futile. He also found the experience somewhat humiliating.

Teachers responsible for scenes like this are probably likely to forget them minutes later. Unfortunately, the students involved are likely to remember them long afterwards.

It is also highly likely that these teachers would not remotely see themselves as politically or ideologically oppressive, or as part of a system that creates an environment where free thought and expression can be compromised.

The idea that the beliefs of the politically correct, which are seen by them as so noble and emancipating, especially when they were touted by radical students in the ’60s, could have become a means for compromising the intellectual freedom of the young in the 21st century would be unimaginable to them.

As for the student who expressed those moderate pro-American views, upon appreciating the realities of the school system, he produced politically correct essays, perfectly tuned into his teachers’ biases, to receive A grades that were (thank goodness) hassle-free.

Like the characters Winston Smith and Julia in George Orwell’s classic anti-totalitarian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, students with non-Left views need to learn to outwardly conform to inwardly remain free.

Prevailing educational practices suggest that the custodians of the education system, like the teachers’ unions, have not realised that they are on the wrong side of a growing desire among Australians for greater intellectual diversity and freedom.

There is a need for an education system that would better serve the young in terms of their need for knowledge and acceptance. However, as the president of the Australian Education Union recognised regarding the process of reform, there will be a lot of work to do.

Mark Lopez is an educational consultant who was a participant in the Howard Government’s History Summit in August 2006.

Exemption – assessment

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Tags: HOW TO GET AN EXEMPTION FROM SCHOOL IN NEW ZEALAND

Question:

I have received a letter back from the MOE saying;
“Please add to the sections on assessment, including your plans to set learning goals for………… and the evaluation of these goals over time in a planning and review cycle. You need to show how you will evaluate the overall teaching and learning programme you have set for………….”.

Answer:

They aren’t really asking for much. And also, having your exemption held up while they ask for more information is standard procedure….it happens to everyone.

I should point out that when they ask you to list learning goals they are in fact going outside their legal parametres. The law says the MoE must be “satisfied the child will be taught at least as regularly and well as in a registered school.” Note that it is the teaching, not the learning, that needs to be as regular and well. Note also that “Registered school” is not the same as state school, but includes all the schools in the country, including alternatives and weird ones too who never do any assessment. In other words, there are no objective standards by which your application can be judged apart from “as regularly and well”.

You shouldn’t have to write more than a single paragraph. I’ll attach (and pasted below)some lengthy examples of what schools have written in their ERO reports…this will give all kinds of ideas. Here is what I wrote a while back to someone else on the topic:

“The question on assessments is easy. Because you observe your child nearly all day, everyday, you know when the child has understood the material and when he has not. You know when he has mastered the skill involved and when he as not. When he has understood/mastered the material/skill to your satisfaction, you progress or move on to the next subject. When he has not understood/grasped/mastered it, you review until he does. So you do an informal assessment based on intimate observation. That’s all that’s needed. You may do the odd oral quiz or written one you make up yourself. You may also get a hold of formal tests which are available here or there, tests like the P.A.T., Progress and Achievement Test, which is available from: Alan Curnow, 200 Hill St., Richmond, Nelson, (03) 544-7728.”

Do spend a bit of time thinking about assessment, remembering that there are no hard and fast rules or anything specific that they’re looking for, just that you appear to know what your’re talking about…also remembering that what you write down is not a contract or a promise of what you WILL do, but more of a statement of intent.

Russell St. School 1999, Primary

3.2.3 Student Assessment

Although there has been a clear schoolwide focus on developing sound learning programmes, considerable progress has also been made in the area of assessment. Assessment schedules each term set out the requirements for assessing student learning. The focus areas for both Terms 1 and 2 this year have been English and mathematics.

Goal setting is an integral component of every classroom programme. Class, and individual goals in some classrooms, provide the base for students to take responsibility for their own learning. Students are assessing their own work to varying degrees, throughout the school.

A schoolwide report on student achievement in mathematics (number and basic facts), spelling, and reading, provided the school with good information from which to analyse student achievement and evaluate programmes. From the results, recommendations have included introducing a schoolwide programme for spelling. The school has also established expectations for students’ recall of addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. Regular and consistent review is leading to continual improvement in school programmes and ultimately, student achievement.

Teachers monitor student progress by including achievement objectives and learning outcomes in their unit planning, and continually assessing these. In some classrooms learning logs are being used as an effective record of student progress and achievement. A variety of other methods of recording ongoing achievement is being used. The school acknowledges that a further stage in the assessment system will be the development of a schoolwide cumulative record of student achievement.

Russell School, Porirua East, Decile 1, Primary, 2000

Assessment Processes

The assessment policy and recently developed school achievement statement provide appropriate guidance to teachers for monitoring, recording, and reporting student achievement. Since the 1998 Review Office report a great deal of work has been done to address the recommendations relating to assessment. The school is well on the way to developing an effective and manageable assessment system. The recommendations that follow are designed to assist the school in ensuring that valid and useful information is generated by valid and useful assessment practices.

Teachers use a range of suitable monitoring procedures to evaluate students’ performance. These include checklists, anecdotal notes, and formal and informal tests. The administration of entry, one month, six month and six year net diagnostic tests provides sound baseline data for junior school teachers. The senior teacher compares each result with previous data so that student progress is monitored. Results are used to ensure that appropriate intervention programmes are provided to students with identified needs. New entrant teachers use the information to determine suitable groupings for literacy and numeracy teaching sessions.

Under the leadership of the deputy principal the school has developed links between planning and assessment requirements. Junior, middle and senior syndicate teachers maintain a consistent system of assessing and recording progress and achievement as students move through the school. However, because the national achievement objectives are not always redefined as specific learning outcomes, the quality of the assessments suffers. Some teachers do not always have a clear focus for their teaching, therefore they do not always have a clear focus for assessing the learning. Specific and accurate assessment of individual students and their level of attainment should result from clearly established NAO, SLO and assessment item links.

The codes used to record achievement levels are open to interpretation. This affects the accuracy of assessments. It is exacerbated by the fact that there are no consistent criteria for determining the extent to which a student has met the stated learning outcome. No moderation across classes takes place, leading to inconsistencies in applying the codes. Senior managers are aware of the need to address this to ensure that assessments are comparable and fair.

The points reported above lead to difficulties in keeping accurate cumulative records. At present the cumulative record cards show very broad notions of progress and achievement, with a ‘best fit’ curriculum level being allocated. The usefulness of the cumulative record would be enhanced by the addition of brief anecdotal notes to detail actual achievement against the stated learning outcome.

The school has a well-established system for reporting to parents on student achievement. This includes interviews and written reports. Reported comments are based on assessment data, work samples and test results that are collected in individual student profiles. The profile samples would be enhanced by the inclusion of brief annotations that record the level of achievement and the context for it. This should, alongside the improved cumulative records, provide teachers with a more substantial base of evidence for reporting purposes.

The deputy principal has undertaken comprehensive analyses of art, social studies and mathematics test results, to determine school-wide trends and patterns of achievement in these areas. The data analysis has provided some useful information, however, it is important to ensure that the tests are appropriate. This will help ensure that information gleaned from the analysis of results is valid and reliable. Staff and trustees would then have more accurate information for determining priorities in planning and resource allocation.

Some teachers undertake evaluation of units of work. The evaluations tend to be general and descriptive rather than evaluative. As senior managers and teachers make the suggested refinements to the assessment system, the data gathered should provide a useful base for achievement related evaluations of units of work. This will add an important facet to the school’s curriculum quality assurance system.

Russell School BoI, Decile 5, Primary, 2000

Assessing Student Progress

Teachers regularly monitor and assess student progress against curriculum objectives. They demonstrate a good understanding of the cyclic nature of planning and assessment, and evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching programmes after each study unit.

In a number of essential learning areas, teachers individually select what they consider to be appropriate learning outcomes against which to assess students. It would be beneficial for teachers to work together to identify more consistent benchmarks of achievement criteria that could provide a developmental profile of expected achievement over time in different subjects. This would help teachers track student progress more consistently and provide an established framework of appropriate learning outcomes for planning purposes.

The principal and staff are exploring summative methods of collating and analysing student achievement. They have prepared some good reports on student performance for the board in aspects of English, mathematics, and social studies. Staff are seeking ways to provide comparisons for trustees and parents about the performance of their students against general age expectations in New Zealand.

Teachers are attempting to do this by having advisers provide them with external tests such as the one recently completed in mathematics. Using this material in comparative ways can be problematic. Comparisons of this nature should be made against normed and standardised materials such as those already used by the school in the Progressive Achievement Tests. Analysis of these results would provide better quality comparative data against national age expectations. It would also be interesting for staff to compare these results with the school’s own achievement information to determine the effectiveness of its own assessment procedures.

Paroa School, WHK, Decile 1, Primary, 2001

3.2 Assessment of Student Learning

Assessment practices have strengthened since the last review. What is to be assessed against the relevant achievement objectives is decided for all essential learning areas and all levels across the school. Teachers assess student learning in specific units of work against the specific learning outcomes identified in unit planning. Students’ learning is monitored in a way that is methodical and purposeful.

A school-wide formal assessment timetable ensures there is consistency in data collection. The timetable includes all essential learning areas and is well understood and followed by teachers. This should lift the quality of assessment data that is collected.

Individual student profiles are used consistently and well. Formal assessment requirements are fully reflected in these profiles. They provide a cumulative record of achievement for students across the school. Parents are invited to view them when they attend report interviews. They report that they are able to understand more graphically what their children can do. To make this information more useful, work samples and evaluations should be dated.

The growing use of student self evaluation and assessment is commendable. Students are taking a more active part in their learning. They are being encouraged to become independent learners and reflective of the learning process.

Conclusions drawn from assessment information at year eight indicate that there is little difference in levels of achievement in English between rümaki and mainstream students.

Tamariki School, Primary Integrated, Decile 5, 2001

Assessing, Recording and Evaluating Student Achievement

The principal and teachers have made some progress in managing these aspects of learning. Their involvement in the Assessment for Better Learning (AbeL) contract is enabling them to consolidate their ideas and improve their assessment practices. They have trialed a number of different data gathering methods and have introduced portfolios and cumulative record cards. These development have helped the teachers, the students and their parents to identify some of what the students have learnt and to begin evaluating students’ progress more effectively.

The next development for teachers is to establish assessment programmes that identify students’ progress against the national achievement objectives. They need to make sure that these developments result in school-wide assessment and recording procedures that enable teachers to evaluate student achievement and their curriculum programmes more effectively. [Action 4.2]

The teachers and principal have also taken steps to formalise their curriculum evaluation and reporting procedures. A curriculum delivery report by the principal to the board in 2001 contained some useful self-review information. This process needs to continue so teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of their programmes as part of the school’s self-review programme. [Action 4.3]

PN Boys High, Decile 8, 1999

Assessment

The emphasis on external examinations also limits the development of approaches to assessment. While a wide range of classroom assessment practices is used, formal school assessment systems currently reflect a norm referenced approach. Student achievement at all levels in many subjects is recorded and reported in terms of marks, percentages and grades. Such an approach yields limited data on student performance that can be used to improve learning. It does not demonstrate what students can do and what their learning needs are.

Some departments are developing a wider range of methods for recording and monitoring progress. Examples include the reporting format used in physical education, core art, metalwork and woodwork, which more clearly indicate levels of performance in defined areas. Also, an approach to assessment and reporting that reflects the objectives associated with national curriculum levels is used for students requiring additional support in English. This approach should be extended across the department.

In addition, the school’s approach to assessment impedes the progress of departments in fully implementing the new curriculum. The link between recorded assessment and the achievement objectives of the national curriculum in mathematics, science, English and technology is often tenuous or non-existent. Consequently, the requirement to monitor student progress against the national achievement objectives cannot be met. The school needs to face the challenge of reviewing its approaches to assessment, recording and reporting, and develop systems that enable it to demonstrate student progress more effectively.

The development of approaches and systems related to the assessment and recording of student achievement would enable the school to better respond to the changing nature of its intake. Increased rigour in approaches to the identification of students’ individual needs on entry and the collation of information on a schoolwide basis, would promote a more proactive approach to decision making, and the planning and resourcing of programmes to respond to learning needs. The availability of more meaningful and useful assessment information, would inform departmental evaluation, and facilitate the setting of specific targets for improving student performance and the development of appropriate programmes.

Some large departments, such as mathematics, have well-developed systems for monitoring curriculum delivery. Similar systems need to be developed to track and ensure implementation of the technology curriculum.

Collingwood Intermediate, Decile 7, 2002-08-07

Student Achievement and Assessment and Reporting Practices

During the review, the board adopted a potentially useful policy on the reporting and analysis of student achievement information. When this policy is implemented, the board and teachers will be in a better position to use student achievement information to target support for individuals and groups of students.

At present, the board receives only a limited range of information on student achievement. In 2001 trustees received curriculum review reports in mathematics and English. The mathematics report described the organisation of student class placements resulting from two sets of standardised tests. The results of these tests were later made available to trustees. The English review report included graphed information from standardised testing in aspects of English, with a generalised statement of results.

The principal and teachers have worked hard to implement a computerised assessment system to report to parents on the achievement of individual students. When it is fully operational, teachers expect to use this system to report to trustees on the achievement of students and groups of students, and to analyse trends and patterns in achievement.

Teachers use the computerised assessment system to report to parents on their child’s progress in the essential learning areas and essential skills. Parents receive comprehensive reports on their child’s achievement. These reports include information on the levels of achievement that a student has reached, and the effort the student has shown.

Aspects of assessment and reporting practice need to be improved to ensure that the information on student achievement is more useful and reliable. The computer system records student achievement against sets of progressive criteria. Teachers acknowledge that this criterion-referenced assessment provides only a snapshot of a student’s learning. Some of the criteria do not give a reliable and accurate picture of a student’s level of achievement. The principal and teachers should ensure that these progressions of learning are moderated by comparisons with external benchmarks and exemplars, as they become available to schools. [Action 4.3]

To report effectively to trustees and parents on student achievement, the board, through the principal, should:

establish comprehensive guidelines for the management of the assessment and reporting of student achievement;

specify the duties of the persons responsible for managing the reporting of student achievement and the development of the assessment system;

ensure that staff continue to develop the computerised assessment system; and

ensure that the board receives detailed analysed information about trends and patterns of student achievement and progress over time, including information about the progress of Mäori students. [Action 4.3]

The principal and teachers are likely to require further professional development if they are to be successful in completing the development of the assessment and reporting system. At present, teacher knowledge of the system is limited. Teachers report that the school librarian, who has responsibility for this area, has made significant progress in the development of the system. As the librarian was unavoidably absent for a major part of the review, and in the absence of much achievement data in hard copy, reviewers were unable to obtain information on student achievement.

Teachers keep individual portfolio records of student achievement that are shared with parents. Where students take care with the presentation of work, these portfolios form an attractive record of student achievement. For portfolios to be more useful, teachers should ensure that they consistently contain information for parents on the learning expectations for each piece of work, and information on whether the student has met the expectations. Teachers should make more extensive use of these records to identify and address student learning needs. [Action 4.3]

Parents vs. Professionals

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How can parents armed with only love for their child and good intentions provide an education anywhere near as good as a professional with a teaching degree?

Ok, ok, I can already hear all you veteran home educators out there choking and gagging at this one. But let’s break it down and examine it.

The stated issue is that trained and certified teachers are obviously superior teachers to untrained parents. The assumptions behind this are many: that certified teachers are far more knowledgeable than parents about what constitutes education; that the money and resources behind certified teachers in registered schools are clearly superior to what all but the more financially endowed parents can provide; that the entire school environment, from dedicated Ministry personnel and curriculum developers to textbook providers to overworked school administrators and board of trustee members to the enthusiastic teachers at the coalface and the brilliant variety of peers within the typical classroom, that all these things combine to provide a palpably well-rounded and comprehensive educational experience the like of which an isolated mum at home with only some out-dated School Certificate passes could never hope to match.

These assumptions, however, are all false for they are based on the false foundational idea that politically conceived, taxpayer-funded, secular and compulsory mass schooling is equivalent to even a basic education. Leaving aside completely the argument as to whether Christians should allow their children to attend secular schooling institutions, let us examine the simple logistical advantages of one mum teaching a small number of her own beloved children at home compared to the conventional classroom situation.

Most of us are aware of cases where teacher certification has not meant the same as teacher competency. In addition, there is the almost unrecognised fact that classroom logistics can make even the best teacher’s efforts an exercise in futility: over-crowded classrooms, lack of discipline, unsupportive administration, inability to give needed individual attention, time restraints which force them to move on to new material before the previous material is comprehended. Teacher certification does not ensure a quality education. In fact, many students who do not catch on at school must go home and get their parents to help out. There are already many parents out there who do the real teaching at night after school while the certified teacher gets the credit.

Home education is a tutoring or mentoring situation. One mum can give her full attention to one or two or three children at a time for whatever period of time is practical and comfortable for them all. Or she can focus on just one child for a piece of time and move to the next and then to the other. Overall she will have far, far more significant one-to-one time than what occurs in the typical classroom where the teacher can often expect no more than one minute of significant one-to-one time per pupil per day. Because of this the home school mum can cover a vastly increased measure of subject matter in the same length of time even though she may be dealing with a range of ages, possibly including a toddler and a newborn. She can assess more exactly whether each child has grasped the concepts or mastered the skills for she is observing the child for most of the waking day, is far more concerned for the child’s welfare and future prospects and is more intimately in tune with the child, being her own flesh and blood, than even the most highly trained and skilled professional teacher could ever possibly be. The enthusiasm, commitment, love, vision, intimate knowledge, and one-to-one tutoring situation of the home school mum, combined with the God-given heart-desire of the child for its mother, ensures that the average home education teacher/parent is starting with vast logistical and relational advantages the classroom teacher can only dream about.

So what does a true and useful education consist of? For the school teacher it is in a politically determined mix of subjects pitched a certain way for a classroom full of children from all sorts of backgrounds and filtered through legal and other socio-political parameters with the aim a producing an outcome in students’ lives which matches a stated objective in a Ministerial document. If the powers that be decide a change is necessary, it will be a good seven years before the drafts are formulated, trialled, assessed, redrafted, approved, adopted and actually introduced and implemented. By then of course the initial problem has mutated beyond recognition and the target children have passed through the system and a new set are being served a special mix designed for a situation and a time which no longer exist.

For the home educating mum it consists of those basic skills plus general and specific knowledge she knows are required to get on in the world: she and her husband and extended family talk about what it’s like out there to be a worker, an employer, a homemaker, a spouse, a parent. They know the character qualities employers want, that they have always wanted throughout history, and that neither School Certificate exams nor university degrees impart those qualities. Christian parents in particular are individually crafting unique children to serve the God of the Universe according to the syllabus He has provided in the Scriptures. They are not that impressed with the state’s attempts through the schools to improve children, which the politicians constantly tell us are this country’s most valuable natural resource (right up there with wool bales and chilled lamb carcasses), or with the socialists’ attempt to inculcate the simplistic non-judgmental vision of tolerating every perversion under the sun, somehow making our “global village” a “better place in which to live”.

The home educating mum knows that rooms, desks and books are dead things. It is imparting life from her heart to her child that makes an education. The most important lessons in her life she did not learn in the classroom but in the school of hard knocks. This is what she imparts. The children are not left interminably to interact with books or CD ROMs, but are encouraged to interact with mum and dad and other siblings and people in the real world of the home, the marketplace, the workplace and the community. They don’t only do word problems from a text book, but do real-life problems like working out the week’s menu from the available budget, balancing the cheque book or helping plan and implement a strategy for improving the safety of the neighbourhood.

Christian parents in particular can hardly justify leaving their children in the care of those who discount, deny and even despise their Christian faith. Even Christian teachers in state schools have their hands tied, for the NZ Education Act Section 77 declares that “the teaching shall be entirely of a secular character”. Every Minister of Education with whom this writer has communicated from David Lange onwards has concurred that the working definition of “secular” as it is used in the Act is “with no religious instruction or observance”. This clearly is not a neutral stance toward Christianity, but one that seeks to eliminate it from the classroom.

The Scriptures tell Christian parents what teaching qualifications are necessary. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.” Not much left to love anything else. Do you love the LORD this way? Well, one thing is for sure, that teacher in the state school is not legally allowed to demonstrate such a love even if he or she should actually have it. And how many of them that you know actually do? Then Deuteronomy 6:6 says, “And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart.” Of course, that which is on your heart will be constantly running through your mind and coming out of your mouth. The Christian teacher in a state school cannot allow that to happen, for it would mean her job. Yet these are the Bible’s credentials for teaching, as the next verse, Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “and you shall teach them diligently to your children.” Note that the word “them” is referring to the words of God. What the Bible commands teachers to teach, teachers in state schools are forbidden by law to teach. Mum at home has no such restriction.
If you are inclined to argue that the verses in Deuteronomy are addressed to parents and not teachers in the classroom, think again. Some say that teachers are still considered in loco parentis, in the place of parents, and therefore theoretically required to conform to whatever parents demand (impossible in our pluralistic society), and Christian parents would need to demand teaching according to these verses. Otherwise the Christian has to justify allowing his child to be filled with nonChristian presuppositions and philosophies, which of course he cannot do and still remain consistent with Scripture. The fact is, Christian parent, you will be held responsible for what you allow your children to be exposed to and influenced by day after day after day.
Deuteronomy 6:7 further says, “and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise.” There is the context and frequency parents are to employ when teaching: all the time in every situation; that is, in the context of everyday life. Classroom instruction is in an artificial environment, segregated by age groupings and separated from the real everyday life experiences in the workplace, the home, the marketplace and the wider community. Classroom instruction cannot do as the Bible here bids. Mum at home can do this as she goes about her everyday business.

In short, marriage, parenthood and homemaking are probably the best teaching credentials one could have.

“Loving and genuinely concerned parents are the best qualified of all to teach their own children. Who else is more motivated to invest the time, the money, the blood, sweat, toil and tears required for the child’s best interests than the parents? Who knows and understands the child better than the parents?
“Parents only need a shot of confidence to realise that they are qualified to teach, and in most cases will actually do a superior job. Whatever they may lack in the area of formal educational qualifications they will usually more than compensate for in motivation and the advantages of one-to-one teaching.”
– Craig Smith

Read It and Weep

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The many negative aspects of public schooling are well reported in the daily papers.
Schools were also becoming seriously affected by social problems becoming in the worst cases mere baby-sitting services. Do you want your children to go to a school where social problems rule the programmes?
–Massey University vice-chancellor Dr. Neil Waters, Manawatu Evening Standard, 21 June 1991

CHRISTCHURCH: A 3rd- former at Kaikoura High School has been suspended after he admitted giving drugs to fellow students.
–Manawatu Evening Stnandard, 28 June 1991.

AUCKLAND: Hundreds of South Auckland school children spent a tense two hours confined to their classrooms as armed police hunted for a gunman after a man was shot near their school.
–Manawatu Evening Standard, 8 June 1991.

WELLINGTON: An average of 980 primary school children were killed or injured in road accidents each year during the ’80s, the Transport Ministry says. One third of all the casualties occured between 8am and 9am and 3pm and 5pm. Accidents were more evenly spread during holidays.
–Manawatu Evening Standard , 23 February 1991

SYDNEY: Children who go to child-care centres are more likely to get coughs and colds than those who remain at home, an Adelaide survey says. A research team has found the risk of picking up respiratory infections increases the earlier the child starts attending child-care and the longer the child spends there.
–Manawatu Evening Standard , 17 June 1991.

The School Trustees Association has warned schools to check job applicants thoroughly after a Christchurch language aide was convicted of sexually abusing his pupils.
–Dominion Sunday Times, 12 May 1991

WELLINGTON: Hutt Valley schools were more vigilant today after a man with a knife threatened a six-year-old at Eastern Hutt School yesterday.
–Manawatu Evening Standard, 18 April 1991

What I would like to see in the political debate about education is a recognition that public education is an exercise in social engineering by definition.
–Phillip Capper, PPTA, Dominion Sunday Times, 14 October 1990

CHRISTCHURCH: Unresearched government-decreed practices in schools could socially, emotionally and intellectually deform children, says Christchurch Teachers’ College principal Colin Knight. Dr. Knight said the education system placed children at risk by continuing to neglect educational research. “It is of serious concern to me that, despite the far-reaching effects of teaching on society, few educational practices have a sound research basis.” He said changes in what went on in schools were mainly brought about by politically initiated reviews and reports on questionnaires and Gallup polls, by parliamentary debate and political expediency.
–Manawatu Evening Standard , 4 December 1990

The Auckland Lesbian and Gay Youth group has been approaching schools asking to talk to staff and students about the difficulties that young gays and lesbians face and to suggest ways to make schools a more supportive environment for homosexual students.
–Dominion Sunday Times, 8 July 1990

Ad in Manawatu Evening Standard of April 1991:
“IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PARENTS
Members of NZPPTA have voted to withdraw their labour for 24 hours on Tuesday, April 30, in accordance with the CTU day of action. The following secondary schools will be affected:
(nine schools listed)
Signed by:
Bronwyn Cross, Manawatu/Wanganui Regional Chairperson-NZPPTA”

WELLINGTON: About a third of Form 3 mathematics teachers are not qualified in the subject, a study of mathematics in secondary schools released yesterday says.
–Manawatu Evening Standard, 27 March 1991.

Only five percent of physics teachers in New Zealand schools were qualified in the subject.
–Massey University vice-chancellor Dr. Neil Waters speaking at SciTech 2000 conference in Wellington, and reported in the Manawatu Evening Standard , 21 June 1991.

Palmerston North’s Queen Elizabeth College Re-Invents the Wheel with “Achieve” Programme. Principal Alison Collett: “Teaching does not equate with learning when it is imposed on classes, and in one-hour slots in which students are controlled to conform, rather than empowered to learn.” (On the Achieve programme students) interact with each other in learning groups, which is unusual, as children at school ordinarily mix only with others from their own age group. Staff say this type of interaction results in improved interpersonal skills, by having children of not only different ages, but at different academic stages help each other. Co-operation is a big part of the programme.
–Manawatu Evening Standard of 23 March 1991 and 26 June 1991

Drug use among school-aged children is a major reason why achievement standards are slipping, according to Life Education national director Trevor Grice. Discussions with principals showed drug use was widespread in (NZ) schools and there were 500 drug- related expulsions last year.
–Dominion Sunday Times, 10 March 1991

TAURANGA: A playground game involving sinking teeth into an unsuspecting school mate’s bottom has left five students suspended. In the game, tagged barracuda, victims are forced to the ground and restrained while attackers bite a buttock.
— Evening Standard, 16 March 1991

During cross-examination, defence counsel Les Atkins QC played a rap tape made by the girl and her friend the same year as the alleged (sexual) offences (were committed against them). The tape contained obscenities as well as inferences about the girl’s current boyfriend’s sexuality. She said the obscenities on the tape sung by her had no meaning. Everyone at school used such language freely.
— Court Reporter, Manawatu Evening Standard, 19 February 1991

The School Trustees Association has warned schools to check job applicants thoroughly after a Christchurch language aide was convicted of sexually abusing his pupils.
–Dominion Sunday Times, 12 May 1991.

WELLINGTON: School insurance is proving too high a risk. Insurance of school furniture and equipment is proving too costly because of arson and vandalism.
–Manawatu Evening Standard, 22 Nov. 1990

Auckland: Detective Senior Sergeant Mark O’Connor said violence had been building up as one gang tried to move in on the other’s cannabis-selling territory. The gangs had been targeting schools in the area and the worst case was when they tried to sell drugs to 10-year-olds. Mr O’Connor said the gangs had caused problems for young people and their parents by peddling drugs in or around schools. Police knew that the dealers were waiting outside schools and in some cases getting into school grounds to sell to students.
–The Dominion, 16 Aug 1994

Author Alan Duff has questioned the motive of the primary teachers’ strike…(He) said (they) weren’t going on strike “for the kids, but for more pay. I have never known teachers go on strike in protest because there were no books in the homes, or because children were coming to school hungry.”
–Evening Standard, 11 July 1994.

Wellington: School Trustees Association deputy president Mark Farnsworth (said,) “I have a personal sympathy with them (teachers) over the issue, but I’m dismayed they have to go on strike, because once more children are the pawns of the game.”
–Evening Standard , 12 July 1994.

Invercargill: Six children were taken to Southland Hospital …after a school bus and a…vehicle collided near Nightcaps.
–Evening Standard, 22 July 1994.

Christchurch: Acceptance of school bullying as part of growing up, to build character, and teach survival skills, is no longer acceptable (!!!!!), says Commissioner for Children Ian Hassall. Bullying included standover tactics to get another child’s lunch, and serious physical abuse. Teasing on the basis of race, sex, and disability was also a form of bullying.
–Evening Standard, 22 July 1994

The bus left the road and landed in a ditch with much of its floor ripped out. About 40 Hamilton secondary school students were on board. Ten teenagers were injured and were taken to a medical clinic with grazes and bruises. A 15-year-old German exchange student was taken to Hospital with a fractured letg. It was the fifth bus crash in the North Island in the past month. Four have involved school buses. Police said initially fears were held for the safety of the students after an LPG tank in the dead woman’s car ruptured.
–Evening Standard , 23 July 1994.

New Zealand still lacked a quality education system, Education Minister Lockwood Smith said last night. “It comes as no surprise to me that the work of our Education Review Office has shown we have little idea just how effective our schools have been,” he said.
–Dominion, 3 August 1994.

Auckland: Two students at Auckland’s Mt Albert Grammar School have been suspended for four years after they were involved in a fight in which another boy received stab wounds.
–Evening Standard, 23 April 1994.

Auckland: Fires destroyed classrooms at two Auckland schools yesterday. Police blame arsonists.
–Evening Standard, 27 June 1994.

An Auckland boy who will be five in October has been refused entry to his nearest primary school, even though his two sisters go there.
–Evening Standard, 27 June 1994

Wellington: The Education Ministry has resorted to television advertising in its fight against truancy. Ministry communications manager M Deaker confirmed ??.that the ministry had begun a $300,000 campaign to try to boost school attendance.
–Evening Standard, 27 June 1994.

Wellington: Children are being used as pawns in the pay dispute… says School Trustees Association president Les Maxwell.
–Evening Standard, 9 July 1994

A book, Challenges and Change , was launched by the Family Planning Association yesterday. (FPA spokesman Ms Hughes said,) “Young people will make their own decisions to have sex or not, and it’s necessary they have the knowledge to make informed decisions. Abstinence isn’t the only option.” A course called Challenges and Change was launched last night at Auckland’s Penrose High School by Health Minister Jenny Shipley. The final session encourages heterosexual students (!!!!!!) to accept homosexuals and aims to build self esteem in gay and lesbian students.
–Evening Standard, 28 June 1994.

Wellington: Large increases in the number of pupils suspended from school showed the education system was failing to meet the needs of its consumers, (Youth Law Project education advocate Tim Howard said.) The high level of truancy also related to schools not being able to meet their students’ needs.
–Evening Standard, 5 July 1994.

Children as young as four were being banned from early childhood centres and schools because they were likely to kill themselves or their classmates if they stayed, Special Education Service Manukau North area manager Chris Hilton-Jones said yesterday….The case of a Christchurch eight-year-old being suspended from school for terrifying teachers and trying to strangle other children was “the tip of the iceberg”….Schools were “unsafe” and it was time teachers and principals stopped pretending violence did not exist….Some children….had been banned from kindergartens and kohanga reos because they were “severely dangerous”. She said pupils were….taking knives and bits of wood to school and using them as weapons. A survey of 960….pupils in South Auckland schools last year showed sexual abuse, serious assault and extortion were common….But the survey showed only half the cases were dealt with by schools when students did seek help.
–Dominion, 18 August 1994.

Parents, pupils and teachers of Feilding’s Manchester Street School….contemplated three classrooms destroyed by arson. A Ministry of Education property officer at the scene yesterday estimated the cost of repair or replacement of the block to be as much as $500,000.
–Evening Standard, 22 Nov 93.

Wellington: The Teacher Registration Board knew of some teachers, struck off the teaching register for poor performance, who were back in the classroom, director Peter Barlow said yesterday. There was a danger teachers with criminal records could be re-employed, he said.
–Evening Standard, 11 April 1994.

City pupils are turning to weapons to guard themselves against bullying. Senior constable Bob Filbee….is aware of the amount of bullying in schools — three-quarters of students normally put up their hands when he asks how many have been bullied.
–Tribune, 15 May 1994 ?

Auckland: A 12-year-old boy was punched unconscious during a gang initiation rite at a South Auckland intermediate school yesterday, police said.
–Evening Standard , 9 April 1994.

Allegations of physical abuse at Eketahuna School are being investigated by Palmerston North CIB.
–Evening Standard, 26 May 1994.

Rotorua: A former Rotorua school principal who indecently assaulted his pupils to satisfy his sexual appetite had disgraced his profession, Judge Fergus Paterson said in the Rotorua District Court yesterday. He jailed retired teacher Colhoun John Wiseman, 57, for three-and-a-half years on 11 counts of indecently assaulting young girls.
–Evening Standard , 9 April 1994.

Auckland: A strip-search of teenage girls at Otahuhu College in Auckland could result in parents suing the school, and an investigation by the Commissioner for Children.
–Evening Standard, 4 June 1994.

Poverty is having a far-reaching affect on Palmerston North’s schools…. Five schools are supplementing the diets of some students by providing them with food. And with truancy and violence on the increase, several schools felt their educational role was being undermined.
–Tribune , 12 June 1994.

Large numbers of people were unable to read when they left school — Common theme presented to Employment Taskforce’s visit to Palmerston North.
–Evening Standard, 18 June 1994.

Good NZ image masks “pockets of illiteracy”. Research by Auckland University education lecturer Tom Nicholson….showed poor reading levels were linked not just with Maori and Pacific Island students but also with other children whose first language was English.
–Sunday Times, 12 December 1993.

Wellington: About 10 percent of schools had “serious problems” and only 14 percent were up to standard, the Education Review Office said yesterday. Almost a quarter of schools were failing to consult the community on health education, particularly sex education.
–Evening Standard , 10 December 1993.