Having just completed Mid Year reports and sent them home, I refected on this blog post I read. I used an OTJ - Overall Teacher Judgement - to assess if the students
- required further support
- on track to achieve the standard
- likely to exceed
The students have the usual reaction when handing them their reports with the instructions that they are addressed to their parents so they have to take them home and not open them. Mixture of pretend terror and nervousness and bottled excitement. My comments to the students - there will not be any surprises in the report. You know where you are achieving, you know how much effort you have put in and you know what you can do and what you need to do next. If there are surprises, then you and me need to talk - so email me when you have read your report and we can talk through anything that did surprise you. I ddint get any emails and the next day, students all said they didnt have anythi ng they needed to talk to me about.
National Standards - 10 reasons why they have to go
So what are my feelings towards National Standards? Like many teachers I was opposed to them when they were first introduced. No consultation, seemingly forced on us, a reluctance to "assess" the studenst on a set of criteria that seemed to move away from the group teaching model that enabled students to move at their own pace and make progress at their own speed.
So as I read through the blog post linked above, here is my current thinking on National Standards.
1. They are not standard.
No, I guess they are not standard but they do set a standard to be acheived at a certain level of schooling. By using these standards, I believe my uderstanding of what students are expected to do at the levels through their school life gives a base line that we didnt have before. I believe there is less variation across schools now than there was before, even though there are questions around moderation from school to school.
2. There was little consultation.
No, there didnt seem to be but we need to move on past this. They are here so just get on and make the most of them!
3. They are confusing.
I dont find them confusing. I find them straight forwards and descriptive and progressive through the levels. I have a good understanding of what is expected at Level 1, 2 and 3 and am starting to understand Level 4.
4. The first 3 years is an absolute nightmare.
No, not an absolute nightmare - difficult in some cases yes, takes a bit of thinking around but this is possible. There are problems though with students who havent started on their 5 year old birthday so even though the anniversary report is after their first year at school, this catches up with the student between third year and Year 4 - they may have only had 2 years at school where they are at standard however by the time they get to Year 4 they are now below based on year level.
5. Label children as below and well below.
Yes, but maybe this needs to be said? Life isnt always about being the best and the brightest - and schools can design reports so that the other qualities that students bring to learning are highlighted and reported on. It deepends on how narrow you make your focus. I think wording could be changed to say not meeting the standard, meeting the standard or exceeding the standard - semantics maybe but gives a different perpective.
6. They cause teachers to rush.
This one I do agree with. The early learning years are a time for students to adjust to school at very different levels that they come in with. Students need time to learn at their own spped and especially literacy must come when the students are ready. Learning through play and Move to learn I think are vital components of a junior school programme which will address the key competencies which is where I truly believe our focus should be on developing rather than the narrow academic band.
7. Schools are compared against each other.
The story behind each school is important as all schools have their own strengths - however - and maybe this is said becasue of the school I work in and have worked in for a 14 years - the standards are achieveable when the key competencies are addressesd and focussed on.
8. Narrowed the curriculum.
Rubbish. They standards have not narrowed so that I no longer have the teachable moments or the arts - take a look around my room and it is full of colour and students work - I simply find a way to integrate what I know the students need into the direction they are interested in. If the learning intention is aming no sense, then you need to look at what you are teaching ......
9. The standards give us nothing.
Disagree. The standards give a guide as to what students are expected to do at certain levels in their schooling. They do not take away the students talents - they enable teachers to look for ways to incorportae the talents and thus enhance the learning in math and literacy - If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have alwyas got. Teachers need to be willing to take a risk, as we encourage our students to do and move out of their comfirt zone.
10. They cause us to feel that we have to prove ourselves.
Scared of accountability? Scared to be learners and to grow? Children are very very much the centre of my classroom. I dont believe the standards are killing our education system - but teachers who can't move away fromtraditional styles of teaching and look to what really is going to help children to be successful learners - KEY COMPETENCIES - I believe are the vital missing ingredient.
I dont want to go back to what I had before. My learning has increased enormously in the past 5 years and the edcuation expereince I offer my students now is hugely more than what I did before national standards. National Standards were not the catalyst for change - but the teaching and learning that has come out of managing national standards has been instrumental in my development as a teacher.
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