Education in Aotearoa - the fairy tale we are being fed and the fairy tale we need.

Maybe it's the English teacher in me, but I can't help coming back to two fairy tales when I think about what is going on in education in Aotearoa at the moment. One fairy tale we seem to be currently living through, 'Chicken Little' and one fairy tale we could very dearly learn from 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. 

Part One: Chicken Little and Maths education in NZ - There's no crisis like a manufactured crisis!  

The fairy tale of Chicken Little, also known as "Henny Penny" or "The Sky is Falling," tells the story of a small, fearful chicken who is struck on the head by a falling acorn. Mistaking the acorn for a piece of the sky, Chicken Little believes that the sky is falling and sets out to warn the king.

Along the way, Chicken Little meets other animals like Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Loosey, who join the journey to alert the king. However, they are eventually deceived by a clever fox, Foxy Loxy, who invites them into his den under the pretense of showing them a shortcut to the king. In some versions of the tale, the animals are eaten by the fox, while in others, they manage to escape.

The story is often interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of panic and misinformation, encouraging critical thinking and the importance of verifying facts before spreading fear.

Several times over the last two weeks we have heard from both our Prime Minister and Minister of Education about the "shocking" results of a group of Year 8 students that clearly proved only 1 in 5 students were numerate (and possibly ever going to be numerate!). This was clearly evidence of a monumental failure, a monumental decline in Mathematics and it was time to ensure we instigate a countrywide state of moral panic about the failure of our education system. 

Is it coincidence that our PM Chris Luxon shares the same initials as our fairy tale friend Chicken Little? I think not! Time and time again we have seen C.L. running around hollering about the fact that "the sky is falling", whipping through parents, voters and even some educators like a tornado, in what seemed like a concerted effort to clear the path for some quick and easy fixes in the form of a prescribed curriculum of "Structured Maths" supported by textbooks and teaching guides for all. 

The truth of the matter was of course far more nuanced than this. As NZCER highlighted in their post about the report where these stats came from: 

“What we’re seeing in mathematics is a change in curriculum and a new benchmarking process rather than a change in achievement,” notes one of the study leads, Dr Charles Darr.

“We’ve been tracking student achievement in mathematics at Year 8 for more than 10 years, and in that time, there has been no evidence for improvement or decline. We do have a new draft curriculum however, and the provisional benchmarking exercise we carried out indicates it requires a higher level of proficiency than the 2007 curriculum.”

So in fact what looked like "shocking" results was in fact the results from a small group of students being tested against a draft version of a new curriculum statement in mathematics. That's correct, a group of students being tested against a yet to be released curriculum which they haven't been even been taught yet!

Now, I am not pretending we have nothing to worry about. Like any educational leader or teacher I know that current literacy and numeracy rates can and should be improved upon, I even have a few thoughts about what we do actually need (more on that later) to address this. What I cannot sit by and accept is this attempt of a the CEO of NZ to manufacture a large scale crisis in the interest of efficiently rolling out a series of rip, shit and bust interventions (which we appear to be buying in) in a matter of months without due consultation or collaboration with the very people they expect to be delivering the this silver bullet solution. 

A cautionary note about silver bullets:

The phrase "silver bullet" is often used metaphorically to describe a simple, seemingly magical solution to a complex problem. A warning about silver bullets typically cautions against the expectation that a single solution can resolve all aspects of a complex issue.

Key Points of the Warning:

1. Complexity of Problems: Most complex problems, whether in business, education, healthcare, or technology, don't have one-size-fits-all solutions. Believing in a silver bullet can lead to oversimplification.
2. Overconfidence and Complacency: Relying on a silver bullet can lead to overconfidence and complacency, as it may cause individuals or organizations to neglect other critical aspects of the problem that require attention.
3. Short-Term vs. Long-Term Solutions: Silver bullet solutions may provide short-term relief but often fail to address the root causes of issues. Long-term solutions usually require a more nuanced, multifaceted approach.
4. Risk of Unintended Consequences: Implementing a silver bullet solution without fully understanding its implications can lead to unintended consequences, potentially making the problem worse.

Conclusion:

While it's natural to seek out quick fixes, especially under pressure, it's important to critically evaluate whether a proposed solution truly addresses the complexity of the problem at hand.

Part Two: Goldilocks and the Three Bears - just give us something in the goddam middle!

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is a classic fairy tale about a young girl named Goldilocks who stumbles upon the house of three bears while wandering through the forest. 

The three bears—Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear—each have their own bed, chair, and bowl of porridge. While the bears are out for a walk, Goldilocks enters their home. She tries out each of their belongings, finding Papa Bear's too big or too hard, Mama Bear's too soft or too small, but Baby Bear's just right. She eats Baby Bear's porridge, sits in his chair until it breaks, and eventually falls asleep in his bed.

The bears return home and discover what Goldilocks has done. They find her asleep in Baby Bear's bed, and depending on the version of the tale, she either wakes up and runs away, or the story ends with her learning a lesson about respecting others' property.

The story teaches lessons about curiosity, respect, and the consequences of one's actions.

However when I consider the last decade or so of education in Aotearoa it is less about consequences of one's actions and more about the beds. I feel like we are getting sick and tired of bouncing from National's 'education bed' which is "too big or too hard" with an over-reaching controlling hand, too prescriptive and top down with a focus on quick fixes and 'stick' style accountability measures (see National Standards and current focus on prescribed syllabus and national assessments) culminating in the current no-collaboration, scant-consultation bullet train rollout of singular solutions. And then there is Labour's 'education bed' which proved "too soft and too small" with too much focus on consultation and a seemingly inability to take action quickly enough or implement a change package in any kind of efficient coherent order. I adore Labour's principle-driven, child-centric and Te Tiriti-led vision for education but my goodness, the roll out was a goddam Jackson Pollock style splatter fest. I often think what we might have today if only we had actually managed to craft and gazetted a fully refreshed 'Te Mataiaho'.  

So in closing, Goldilocks over here just wants a bi-bloody-partisan Baby Bear education bed, one that's just right. 

Give us the education system our young people deserve, an education system that is protected from being treated like a political volleyball, that is protected from being (re)designed to meet any one government's series of KPIs that is more about pleasing voters than meeting the needs of young people from Aotearoa who live in the 21st Century!

In fact this Goldilocks wants the following:

• An education system that has a ten year high level plan (minimum), a plan informed by a cross-party committee who has consulted and listened to young people, parents, educators and has looked to global research about futures thinking.
• A 3-5 year strategy that is Te-Tiriti-led and has social justice and equity of outcomes as the measure of success. And a Ministry of Education who is expected and supported to lead and implement this strategy beyond the three years of any one political party's reign. 
• A rich refreshed 'Te Mataiaho' that leverages the "front end" of curriculum past, laying out clear vision, values, effective pedagogy and expectations around the kind of adaptive expertise that is expected of all schools and the educators within them to ensure schools are inclusive and relevant for all.
• A clearly structured "back end" curriculum covering a wide range of learning areas with clear learning objectives for Curriculum Levels 1-8 recognizing that these may be achieved throughout a learner's journey from Years 1-13. Note - our young people aren't on a conveyor belt of narrow learning they are on a journey of discovery and development that should be messy and winding. 
• A curriculum that is a clear balance of knowledge and skills, that has absolutely clear "non-negotiables" but also has space to let contextualization and creativity flourish. A curriculum that is designed in partnership with recognized subject academics and current practitioners and subject associations. 
• Generous resourcing that recognizes that there is a number of ways to teach any area of knowledge or skills. That is informed by the science of learning AND the art of teaching. All resourcing is built around the principles of universal design for learning. 
• Digital resourcing that ensures we close the digital divide and that we invest in digital solutions (NZC and NZQA AI platforms) that enable educators to personalize learning experiences and automate and enhance assessment for learning. 
• A national assessment plan that sees no formal formal national assessment at primary level and minimal national assessment at secondary level with a focus instead on powerful assessment for learning tools and summative senior assessments that are a rich tapestry of internal assessment, external testing and portfolio style assessments. 
• Targeted, generous funding to the schools and communities that need it. Stop wasting money with singular solutions for all and instead divert that money to schools in need. Half the student to teacher ratio where its needed most. 
• Reintroduction of local and national facilitators across all levels and learning areas who are available to provide fully funded support and PD where it's need, when it's needed. 
• And finally. No charter schools. But instead support all schools to innovate to meet the needs of THEIR community, and grow character schools that are fully state funded and expected to comply with the demands of NZC, NZQA and supported by our unions. See these as an opportunity to open small lab schools that con innovate with new approaches to learning, new timetable structures but done in partnership with academics and the ministry to ensure that action research is happening alongside them. 

THE END.