Winter - Education Aotearoa

eA
education aotearoa
winter 2016
EA.org.nz
wi n
an n
zcer
wor
k
solu load
ti o n
p
ag e
14
It's time to talk about workload
Govt's radical
funding plans
Early intervention
– the best investment
Make the most of
e-portfolios
www.cyclone.co.nz
OUTCOMES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Contents
We want to get to know your school!
Achieving your desired outcomes through technology isn’t always a simple process. Give your teaching staff and
students the confidence that, regardless of the type of technology being used in your school they will get an IT
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We employ staff who have been school principals, teachers, education ICT advisors and engineers that can all
partner effectively in schools. Cyclone has expertise in Microsoft, Google and Apple and their eco-systems
ensuring that whichever platform your school chooses (or all of them!) our products, services and training will
support your direction.
Why Cyclone?
We’d like to spend time understanding the school and community aims and how ICT
forms a part of that vision.
Managed Services and Network Support:
• ICT is now embedded across the curriculum and the key to being a good service provider is being
connected to the school’s teaching and learning goals. Your school network should be supported by a
team you trust to provide relevant expertise, responsiveness and transparent support.
• Flexible contracts that are designed to work for the school. Remote and onsite support model to fit
different scenarios as required. With the right partnership, managing schools should be getting simpler
so your services bill should be decreasing too.
Procurement:
• We help schools find the right solution at the right price. With access to direct vendor pricing we ensure
that schools obtain the very best price on their technology purchases.
• Being truly cross platform ensures that we recommend the best solution for the school, not the reseller.
• We are able to offer payment plans using leading and trusted lease providers.
up front
4 Editorials | 6 News
Cyclone is the only school provider to hold the highest certifications directly with
Microsoft, Google and Apple. This ensures that schools get recommended, and choose the
right solution for their project or task.
10
Workload
18
Bulk funding
22
e-Portfolios
It's time to talk
16
Early intervention
Bring it on!
recycle
spread the word!
Once you’ve read EA ,
let others see it too:
• Leave it in a waiting room
(dentist, doctor)
• Give it to your Board of Trustees
• Leave it out at school for
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And other nasties
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Give peace a chance
24
Shaping the future
How to settle community strife
• Donate it to your local library
or information centre
• Leave it at the gym
Digital Learning Support:
• Cyclone has a team of digital learning specialists that can support Apple, Google and Microsoft and
provide professional learning solutions to educators with a vast range of levels of digital confidence and
expertise.
• The Cyclone team of digital learning specialists who are all New Zealand registered teachers. The team
are able to provide a country-wide capability supporting schools to plan, develop and implement
successful and sustainable digital teaching and learning programs.
BYOD:
• Buying through Cyclone allows parents to take advantage of our personalised educational bundles that
are recommended focused learning devices that fit the minimum requirements of the school.
• Cyclone’s purchasing portal is available exclusively online. This allows families to purchase the right
device in their own time and not be confused with other promotional or potentially lesser appropriate
options.
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extras
25 The Professionals Kōrero with Scientists, Anne Smith, resources
28 Reviews Ka Ngaro Te Reo, Better Classroom Relationships, and more
30 Giveaways NZCER workload solution, Hell Pizza, Kings Seeds School Starter Kits
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winter 2016 | 3
editorials
Managing editor Stephanie Mills
Editor Jane Blaikie
Design and production NZEI
Cover Shane Lavery, Jason Ataera,
Libby Morris
Cover photo Mark Coote
Contributors
Louise Green, Paul Goulter,
Jane Blaikie, Melissa Schwalger,
Dr Paul Potaka, Rikki Sheterline,
Diana Clement, John McRae
All rights reserved.
Address:
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this
magazine are not necessarily those of NZEI
Te Riu Roa or its members. Education Aotearoa
is dedicated to celebrating and informing
educators who work mainly in early childhood,
special education and primary education.
ISSN 1176-5062 (Print)
ISSN 1176-516X (Online)
Back to the future
The government is talking about
a new form of bulk funding. In the
1990s a National government also
tried to bring in bulk funding – and
failed after a big campaign by
NZEI members.
heritage.nzei.org.nz
Tension
United
In a recent speech to an Education
Council seminar, the Minister of
Education Hekia Parata stated: “A
key indicator of success (of the new
council) will be if in two years,
teachers are giving their fortnightly
fees to the council instead of the
union.”
Obviously, that is an inappropriate
comment. We enquired further of
her office and were told the minister
differentiated between an industrial
role for education unions and a
professional role for professional
associations “…to develop the
standards, qualifications, professional
learning and development (of) the
corpus of knowledge that distinguishes
one profession from another”.
The problem with that thinking is
captured in the time-honoured phrase
– “Teachers’ working conditions are
the children’s learning opportunities”.
The distinction made by the
minister is artificial. The industrial
work of NZEI Te Riu Roa and the
professional work of NZEI Te Riu
Roa are two sides of the same coin.
Look at the interplay in our career
development work.
The minister’s email message says
she can reconcile these differences
and take a collaborative approach
with the education unions. However,
it illustrates a longstanding tension
between the education unions and the
minister because it goes to her view of
the legitimacy of education unions to
be the professional voice of teachers.
In the eyes of the teaching
profession, it is the legitimacy of the
council that is in question. Currently,
the profession is denied a say in the
election of the governance of the
council.
The government has been saying for
some time that decile funding is a
“blunt instrument”. With the review
of education funding for age 0-18 now
underway, some very “sharp” alternatives
are being trotted out for consideration.
The experiment has already begun
in this year’s Budget: instead of an
increase to schools’ operational grants,
the government is putting $43.2m over
four years into schools educating about
150,000 children who have spent a
significant part of their lives in benefitdependent households. This is despite
the fact that many children who need
extra help are not from these homes. It’s
no solution to give a small group extra
educational support at the expense of
many others.
I am a member of the Review of
Funding Systems Advisory Group which
will make recommendations to the
minister. It’s quite an understatement to
say that we have a big job ahead of us,
particularly as we have been told there
will be no extra funding forthcoming.
Somehow we have to find a way to reslice
the existing pie in a better way, even
though we know that more funding is
needed if children’s learning needs are to
be met successfully.
Another proposal that Minister Parata
has floated is “global budgets”, which
would lump schools’ operational funding
and staff salaries together (see p18).
Despite her assertions to the contrary,
this sounds very much like another
attempt at bulk funding, which educators
soundly rejected 20 years ago.
Make no mistake – the outcome of
this funding review will have significant
repercussions across the education
sector, particularly when combined with
upcoming changes to the Education
Act. We must be vigilant and united
to protect and improve quality public
education.
Upload the art in your class or centre – and show
your community, and all of New Zealand, the
inspired learning going on in schools and centres.
Kaboom is the online art competition open
to students in schools and centres. It’s easy
to enter – photograph your art and upload it
to www.kaboom.nz.
Any problems, email [email protected].
Students can comment on and share their art with
family and friends. Entries go into 10 categories –
one for ECE, one for video, one each for years 1-8.
Each category winner receives an HP Chromebook
(sponsored by Cyclone), PLUS their school or centre
wins an HP Chromebook. PLUS each winner has the
chance to visit a local artist, or for an artist to
visit their class or centre.
Judges’ advice and tips at www.kaboom.nz
GOOD LUCK!
Paul Goulter
National Secretary
NZEI Te Riu Roa
4 | EA.org.nz
Louise Green
National President
Te Manukura
winter 2016 | 5
news
Ministry’s response
to ECE injury leaves
parents shocked
A Ministry of
Education official
told an injured
toddler’s parents
that a child pretty
much has to die
before it can do
anything
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare –
and for Rachel* it came true.
Rachel left son Stephan, aged 23
months, at his centre at 8am.
The phone call came an hour
later – “there’s been an incident and
you need to come and drive Stephan
to the hospital”. No details. No
explanation.
“When I got there they said he
had burnt his hand. They didn’t
really explain. They had put his
hand in cold water.
“But when we started driving
to the hospital then I realised how
much pain he was in. It was terrible
for him. He was crying and crying.”
In fact, Stephan had a second
degree burn. He was in hospital for
the day, and then closely monitored
for 10 days because of the high risk
of infection. Six months later the
wound is still evident.
More stress
“I was shocked – we
need to protect our kids
better than this.”
– parent Giorgio
Rachel, who migrated from France
to Auckland seven years ago, and
Italian husband Giorgio haven’t been
able to find out exactly how the
accident happened.
Giorgio was told Stephan had put
his hand in a bowl of boiling water.
But the burn was on the top of his
hand and on two fingers. He wonders
whether another child did it.
Rachel discovered Stephan was
with an unqualified staff member,
who was preparing clay, in the over
three’s room when the accident
happened, but details are unclear.
Both parents work full-time, and
with no family support and limited
*Names have been changed
6 | EA.org.nz
leave, they thought Stephan would
have to go back to the centre. “I
asked for assurances they would be
a part of his recovery,” says Rachel.
“Monitoring the wound. He couldn’t
get wet or anything like that. I
wanted him to be in the babies’
room, in the under twos. But they
gave no assurances.”
Luckily they were able to find
another centre with a vacancy and
moved Stephan immediately.
Ministry complaint
Then Giorgio made a complaint to
the Ministry of Education. He says
the report came back giving the
centre the all clear, and stating staff
were aware of health and safety
requirements. There was no breach
of the legislation, the centre had
been visited, and the “teacher” had
been given an informal warning.
“I was shocked,” says Giorgio. “I
work in event management and if
anything like this had happened
there, I know, all hell would break
loose.”
He rang the ministry. “This is
what she told me – she told me, ‘the
rules are there but the only thing we
can do is suspend the licence. And
for that the kid needs to die, pretty
much, or be very close to it.”
On the phone and months later,
Giorgio still sounds astounded. “We
need to protect our kids better than
this.”
An ERO report published earlier
this year found that only 43 percent
of services met current health and
safety requirements.
news
news
Good money
after bad
Support staff celebration
Support staff made gains last term in the on-going campaign for better recognition. On June 8, centres and schools around the
country celebrated Support Staff Day with events, ideas, enthusiasm and determination to keep the fight alive. Support staff
won their annualisation case in the Employment Relations Authority over their pay being cut to fit with Novopay’s requirements
around pay periods. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education then filed an appeal against the ruling so the case will drag on.
The Ministry of Education has agreed to NZEI’s request to begin pay equity discussions, firstly for teacher aides. Pay equity
recognises that women in traditionally female-dominated roles are paid less than men in comparable male-dominated roles.
Pressure must now go on government to
adopt the principles into law and budget
funding to settle pay equity cases. Member
leaders have also worked with the ministry
to develop a new online teacher aide
resource (inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/
teacher-aide-practice). Join the Support
Staff Professionals Facebook page for more
information and actions.
Support staff at Rowandale
School were celebrated as
“Heroes of Our School”.
Funding for public education took
a series of hits in May. Operational
funding was frozen in the Budget,
while seven new charter schools were
announced along with a new entity
to promote the charter school model,
costing $500,000.
The charter school announcement
was made on the same day that
sector leaders in an Advisory Group
met to discuss the government’s
funding review of the education
system (ages 0-18). Papers later
released suggest the government
already has firm intentions on future
funding – a new form of bulkfunding
of teacher salaries, more money for
private schools, and taking equity/
decile funding from a large group
of children in order to focus on a
much smaller group identified by data
held by government agencies (see
story p18).
Beginning Teacher charter takes off
The new NZEI Beginning Teacher Charter is being adopted by schools around
the country. It sets out how a school intends to look after new teachers, and
sends a strong, positive message about recruitment, induction and mentoring
practices to all staff. An online resource is now being developed by NZEI
Te Riu Roa member leaders for new ECE graduates.
On-the-job training. No thanks
NZEI Te Riu Roa member leaders
have actively opposed moves by the
government to allow unsupervised trainee
teachers into classrooms. Tauranga
principal Jan Tinetti told a Select
Committee that “on the job” training was
too risky and would not address supply
issues that are emerging in places like
Auckland and Queenstown, where a
shortage of affordable housing is making
it difficult to recruit teachers.
South Auckland principals, in particular,
are struggling to find experienced
teachers and have been negotiating with
the Ministry of Education on a scheme
to support BTs in the classroom to gain
experience before schools take over their
employment.
W
Education Law Conference
promotion
Now in Auckland and Wellington
On the wings
of TPDL
They lived with locals, visited
schools in Nouméa and in
rural New Caledonia, learnt
to cook a “bougna”, attended
community events, and even
gave speeches to education
authorities in French.
In April 2016 these New
Zealand teachers spent two
weeks in New Caledonia
to immerse in the French
language and to learn about
the culture of this close
neighbour. Their backgrounds
could hardly have been more
8 | EA.org.nz
diverse, but they shared a
common experience before
travelling to the “Pacifique au
Coeur” – they had completed
TPDL.
What is TPDL?
Teacher Professional
Development Languages
caters for teachers of French,
German, Spanish, Chinese,
Japanese and Pasifika
languages. It is a Ministry of
Education funded in-service
year-long professional
development programme
combining language study,
second language acquisition
pedagogy, and in-school
support to enable effective
language teaching.
If you are teaching a
language and wish to spread
your wings, apply for TPDL
2017. Explore the website
www.tpdl.ac.nz.
TPDL leads on perfectly to an
immersion scholarship, also
funded by the Ministry of
Education.
Above: (l to r) Sheryl Everitt, Whakatane
High School; Marty Hantz, principal,
Taradale Primary School; Glenda Palmer,
National French Adviser; Andrew Francis,
Royal Oak Intermediate School; Donna
Bowler, Somerville Intermediate School;
Anne Passmore, Cashmere High School.
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SOLD
OUT
Wednesday 14 September 2016,
9.00am to 5.15pm,
Stamford Plaza, Auckland
Friday 16 September 2016,
9.00am to 5.15pm,
InterContinental Hotel, Wellington
Call us on 09 363 3322, email us at
[email protected] or visit our
website, www.legalwiseseminars.co.nz
www.tpdl.ac.nz
winter 2016 | 9
wellbeing
(L to R) Libby Morris, Jason
Ataera and Shane Lavery from
Raroa Normal Intermediate.
“We have to address [workload]
in terms of workplace culture.
You have to be prepared to act.”
Is the education system at a tipping point and how do educators
deal with workload demands that are too often impossible?
workload:
the problem
is the problem
(not you)
“We don’t want exhausted teachers,”
says Team Leader Shane Lavery
from Raroa Normal Intermediate.
“We don’t want people coming in
more than two or three days in the
holidays. We don’t want them going
home on evenings to do marking.
“We want them to recharge and to
come in each day fresh.”
But that’s a far-off dream for many
in the sector.
From high contact hours in ECE,
to Novopay for support staff, to
endless paperwork for everyone – the
conversation is more often about “my
two jobs”: the one you love – working
with children – and the other one
of endless assessment, data entry,
meetings.
At recent primary teacher meetings
a groundswell of frustration at
workload issues was clear. Now it
looks as if the government would like
to unleash a new round of disruption
on schools and ECE with radical
changes to funding (see story p18).
Will this be the tipping point where
educators simply say, “No more”?
Stress
In an ideal world, all schools and
centres would be in a position to
tackle workload as Raroa Normal
Intermediate does in Wellington.
Lavery says, “We address it in
terms of workplace culture. You have
to be prepared to act.”
Recently he had started to hear a
few negative comments. “There were
indicators that people were tired, a
bit stressed. The team leaders got
together. We want people to enjoy
what they do, rather than just try to
get through the day.”
Team work
As a result, changes were made to the
school programme. A before-school
fitness class for staff has started,
with circuit training and personal
goals. An evening cooking class will
tie into design and production (the
old technology stream) but will also
support young teachers who can’t
cook and remind others to eat well.
Libby Morris, another team leader,
says her MLE (modern learning
environment) helps keep a lid on the
pressure.
“We are four together – and we
do all our planning, assessment
and appraisal as a team before and
after school so we don’t work in the
evenings or at weekends. It’s organic.
“For sure, we work harder at school
than we did before in a single cell, but
it’s done by the end of the day.”
Lavery chips in with, “There’s
plenty of research to show that
appraisal works best when you’re
talking with the child. It’s timely, on
the spot, and with the child.”
Both are actively supported by
Deputy Principal Jason Ataera. “We
don’t have all the answers. Workload
issues never go away but we aim to
keep at it.”
In 2013, the school won a “Great
Spaces for Teachers” award from the
New Zealand Council for Educational
Research (NZCER), because of good
results in a Teacher Workplace
survey (see giveaways, p30).
“We were on a bit of a high,” says
Ataera. “We had new leadership
and there was a lot of change.
Teacher-only days were introduced.
photograph: adrian heke
10 | EA.org.nz
winter 2016 | 11
wellbeing
principals under pressure
Principals work an average 56-60 hours a week
77%
87%
64%
Enough
support to
do the job
effectively
53%
41%
Enjoy
the job
37%
72%
48%
High or
extremely high
stress levels
Morale good
or very good
*Figures from NZCER national survey,
Primary and Intermediate Schools in 2013
n 2010 n 2013
New Zealand primary teachers’
high contact hours
1200
1100
hours per year
1000
900
800
700
600
500
“We hear the horror stories,” says
Ray Farnsworth, who runs the NZEI
Te Riu Roa Member Support Centre.
“The staff meeting that goes on until
9pm once a week, then the syndicate
meeting and the sub-syndicate
meeting.”
Workload and related stress is a
frequent cause of calls to the MSC,
which offers a mix of supports,
ranging from the practical to the
interrogative. “We try and find
out what is going on behind the
immediate issue.” NZEI branches and
area councils can also offer support
and be a vehicle for change.
Educators, says Farnsworth, are
committed and passionate about what
they do, but this can also mean they
develop tunnel vision in their singleminded drive to see children succeed.
“Then there’s all the media
and political commentary about
kids failing, and that impacts on
teachers because they feel they’re not
succeeding no matter what they do.”
Some of the worst cases end up
with NZEI’s legal officer David Martin.
“Teachers can be efficient in their
workload but it’s generally not the
individual who determines workload
– it’s the workplace culture and
systems.”
400
It’s not personal
300
What a school or centre has to do, in
terms of accountability and reporting,
is immutable, but how efficiently
it does this is critical, he says. Is
planning disciplined and focussed?
Good prioritisation? Can data be
easily used to fit different reporting
requirements – for parents, the board,
the ministry? Are IT systems in place?
At one school, it might take a teacher
two hours to upload the data, but at
another, 12 hours.
And this can be extremely
stressful, says Dr Maria Kecskemeti,
whose book Better Classroom
Relationships sets out a framework to
help lighten the load (see review p28).
“Personal responsibility comes
from a liberal humanistic tradition of
the autonomous individual but if you
take the individualistic approach then
200
100
0
NZ
Canada
Aust
OECD
avg
Finland
Korea
Japan
From OECD Education at a Glance 2015
Management met with individual
staff. Aspirational goals, personal and
professional, were set. We had a twoday, overnight, offsite camp for staff.”
The survey is a perennial, and it’s
now supplemented by “snapshots”
each term. “These help us set a focus
for the term,” says Ataera. Currently
he’s helping put together a resource
pack for staff on wellbeing.
Horror stories
Being a large school, with a relatively
affluent community and a supportive,
pro-active board of trustees, helps
Raroa in its quest for sustainable
workload. Other schools may
face bigger challenges in meeting
students’ needs, and burnt out
educators all too often become
less efficient.
“We want to be
compliant but we don’t
want to be exploited.
We're looking for a valid
career pathway.”
– Support staff leader
Alison Gray
people end up being crushed under
the pressures of being responsible for
everything.
“Instead you have to look at
relationship practices, the collective
approach to problems. It’s a very
practical approach and it helps deal
with the stress.”
Kecskemeti has spent decades
working with schools, as a counsellor
both for students and practitioners.
“Teachers get stressed when they
don’t have support for managing
problems that are beyond their
control – organisational structures,
time and resource allocation.
“You might have 10 high-needs
students in your class so your job
is unmanageable – but you are not
incompetent. Teachers need collegial
support. A collective response is better.”
She advises educators to watch
out for warning signs that they’re
not coping. “If people constantly feel
resistance. If they don’t want to do
what is being asked, then it’s best to
listen to that.”
Work intensification
In some cases, the cause may be
cultural – a teacher who prefers
restorative practices (talking,
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MOTAT_Education Aotearoa_Nature Tech Winter 2016 187x80.indd 1
12 | EA.org.nz
negotiating, mediating after an event)
will be stressed if they work in a
punitive school and they’re expected
to dish out punishment. A person
who is strict might find restorative
practices weak.
“Stress can be a mismatch between
professional identity and school or
centre practices. If you constantly feel
angst or anger, then you need to be
looking at it.”
Or it might simply be about
working too many hours. Teachers
work, on average, 18 hours a week in
addition to the 32.5 classroom hours.
According to surveys by the New
Council of Educational Research, the
extra hours peaked at 18 in 2007 and
stayed there in the 2010 and 2013
surveys.
NZCER Chief Researcher Dr Cathy
Wylie wonders if a threshold has
been reached and teachers can't
physically sustain working more
hours, week in, week out, and
manage other commitments such as
study and family. “Teaching is very
intensive work.”
Primary principals work an average
56-60 hours a week, which plateaued
in 2013, at the same time as morale
fell and stress levels rose (see p12).
The 2016 NZCER survey of primary
schools is underway this term,
and Wylie urges schools to fill out
17/06/2016 9:47:41 a.m.
winter 2016 | 13
wellbeing
promotion
giveaway
“I never feel like I’ve done enough”
Someone who appreciates the
demands on educators is broadcaster
Mihingarangi Forbes (above, with her
son).
The daughter of a teacher, she
juggles being a parent of four
children with a high-profile media
career, currently as Māori Issues
Correspondent for Radio New
Zealand. Her hard hitting stories for
Campbell Live and Māori Television
have seen her at the centre of
controversy.
Her advice is “not to overcommit,
work hard as a couple to parent
together (easier said than done),
and try and enjoy things as they are
happening.”
Forbes recently joined her
daughter’s school board of trustees
and “the work our teachers’
representative and principal put into
the job is extraordinary”.
“I can imagine the role is similar
to any other busy job so time
14 | EA.org.nz
management is important. These
days not many of us have a nine
to five job. My job requires a lot of
reading and research and I never feel
like I’ve done enough.”
All her children have gone through
immersion and bilingual education.
“I’ve been part of the te reo Māori
education family and one of the
things I’ve learnt is that when it isn’t
working, leave and start again.”
Her working day varies
enormously, and she thrives on the
excitement and challenge. “I’m a
fairly motivated person but my last
tip is – marry a good partner who
enjoys being around family and
having fun!”
Perhaps her most telling comment
though is a comment from a teacher
at her child’s school. The teacher
said the requirements of national
standards reporting were getting
in the way of her teaching. She is
teaching year 1.
the online survey. “It gives us vital
information.” But response rates to
the survey have been falling and this
may also be a sign of “intensifying”
workload.
As for the myth about teachers
getting all those long holidays,
it’s well and truly over. The most
recent survey on this, from 2003,
found that even then New Zealand
teachers worked, on average, 22 days
of the holidays. Given the long hours
worked in term time, this means
teachers and principals are giving
hundreds of hours a year to the job,
over and above the 40 hours a week
that is considered “a reasonable
week” in the teachers’ collective
agreement.
Some release
An informal survey of around 100
NZEI Te Riu Roa member leaders
(ECE, support staff, principals,
teachers and special education)
found most had experienced
increasing workload in the last three
years, related to more compliance
reporting, more assessment, more
payroll issues, more students with
complex needs, and new initiatives
and programmes being added on top
of existing programmes.
A frequent comment was that
the extra tasks often did not help
children, and could hinder teaching
and learning.
Methods used to deal with
workload included: planning ahead,
shared delegation and leadership,
saying “No”, prioritisation, clear
communication and timeframes,
seeking support from BoTs, making
job lists, working longer hours,
employing a time management
coach, triaging, actioning “the small
Win a Workplace Survey from NZCER, worth up to $500. Teachers
fill in an anonymous, online survey. NZCER provides a report
that indicates, among other things, the state of staff morale and
pressure points. Use it to build a better workplace culture. To enter,
go to ea.org.nz/giveaways and click on the tab.
things as soon as they hit my desk”, sharing fun and laughter
with colleagues – and being active in NZEI Te Riu Roa to work
for change.
Last term member negotiators held out for more release
time as part of bargaining for a new primary teacher collective
agreement. This claim met strong resistance from ministry
negotiators but eventually an extra day of release was secured
for 2017.
As one negotiator described the one-day of release time,
“It’s like putting a band aid on the Titanic. We’ve had years and
years of change being done to us. You have to ask how much
power educators actually have now over what goes on
in the classroom. It is complex, and there are many factors.
Some are in our control but a lot aren’t. We have to find ways to
fight back.”
In the UK, a growing teacher shortage has focussed attention
on unpopular data-driven reforms that have led to plummeting
morale and an exodus from the profession. In July, UK teachers
held a one-day strike that closed schools, in a heightening row
over funding and workload.
Underfunding
Much of this awareness and research is focussed on teachers
and principals in schools, but it is clear the same issues are
prevalent in ECE and are faced by support staff.
“Underfunding has a huge effect,” says kindergarten head
teacher Sally Wooller. “Employers have less flexibility to support
teachers to provide the best learning they can.”
Fifty-hour weeks might have been sustainable when
broken up by term holidays, but kindergarten restructuring
means many are now open in the holidays or running holiday
programmes. Of particular concern is the reduced time available
for teachers to meet as teams, says Wooller.
In the for-profit ECE sector, low wages and very high contact
hours are widely seen as detrimental to both teachers and
children.
For support staff, there is pressure to work unpaid hours
because of the threat of losing paid hours in the next term or
not being considered for extra paid hours.
“We try to encourage support staff to be confident in saying,
‘I’m out of my paid hours, I’d love to do it, and I’ll put it on
my worksheet for tomorrow’, but a lot feel uncomfortable,”
says NZEI support staff leader Alison Gray. “We do want to be
compliant but we don’t want to be exploited.”
“‘We are looking for a valid career pathway in schools that
will progress the many roles we carry out.”
HELL getting Kiwi kids
hooked on books
The HELL Reading Challenge has
motivated young New Zealanders to
read more than 2.5 million books!
This reading revolution may very well have already
been sparked in your school, with 344 schools
registered and more following suit. Now in its third
year, the HELL Reading Challenge has seen 400,000
Pizza Wheels distributed to date – and HELL is so
intent on firing up young Kiwis’ passion for literature,
50,000 more wheels were printed last month on the
back of a call for more schools to sign up.
“The Pizza Wheels provide young bookworms
with a personal record of their reading achievement,”
explains HELL general manager Ben Cumming. “Each
book read equals one stamp on the wheel – and once
all seven ‘slices’ have been stamped by a teacher or
librarian, kids are rewarded with a free ‘333 kid's pizza’
by redeeming their completed wheel at their local
HELL store.”
The programme is completely free for primary schools
and local libraries to enter. For more information and
how to register, google ‘HELL Reading Challenge 101’.
A snapshot of responses so far:
“We have a boy who would not even read to his
teacher aide. Since taking part in the HELL Reading
Challenge, we are thrilled with the progress he has
made.” – Teacher, Tauranga Intermediate
“Alyssa has become a much more confident reader.
She is more willing to attempt new words and try new
books. She is not discouraged by mistakes.” – Parent,
Chaucer School, Akl
The Challenge runs until 4 December 2016.
CMYK
8/ 5/ 30/ 0
CMYK
0/ 100/ 100/ 0
100% K
www.satanslittlehelper.co.nz
winter 2016 | 15
early intervention
Early intervention:
Yes please! But
where’s the money?
“Social investment” is the latest buzz phrase on government
spending, but for Special Education it increasingly looks like
a harsher form of rationing
Figures bandied about by officials
suggest that a $30,000 investment
in early intervention education
will save the government around
$150,000 down the track.
Yet officials are also clear that there
will be no new funding for the early
intervention, and in fact the Ministry
of Education may have less to spend.
Last term, the ministry’s National
Director Special Education, Dr David
Wales, addressed NZEI’s Special
Education Needs Reference Group
about the update of services underway.
Wales said that different ways
of working would free up resources
and he wants to get the new model
working well before looking at roles
and funding.
“It’s ridiculous to
suggest that we can
save money in the
future by helping
children early on, but
then not fund the roles
to do that now.”
Wales envisages strengthened
collaboration and an early triage
system to ensure quick decisions and
early action plans. This would save
money because most intervention is
less costly, the sooner it happens.
“But we already have an early
triage system. We already collaborate
and we already ‘work smart’. The
problem is we simply do not have
enough staff to meet need,” responded
one member, who did not want to be
named.
“It’s ridiculous to suggest that
we can save money in the future by
helping children early on, but then
not fund the roles to do that now.
We’re already well over-stretched in
our efforts.”
Figures released to EA under the
Official Information Act (OIA) show
that early intervention cases have
risen from 683 a year in 2011 to 879
in 2015. In 2015 there were also 298
cases allocated to the new Intensive
Wraparound Service.
Squeezed by the cap
Special education specialist staff
remain subject to a government cap
on public service staffing, despite
clearly being “frontline” services.
Former and current education
ministry heads Karen Sewell and
Peter Hughes have both lobbied for
the cap to be lifted, according to
OIA documents, but staff shortages
remain.
When staff leave it takes months
or even years to get permission to
replace them, and funding is sitting in
the Budget unused because staff can’t
be replaced.
Meanwhile, a little more money
was released in Budget 2016 to the
Intensive Wraparound Service, for
children in years 3-10. Another
$16.5 million in Ongoing Resourcing
Scheme funding over the next four
years includes funds for specialist
help that special education staff
provide. But if the cap is not lifted,
it will be difficult to assist these
children.
And this money does not target
the pre-schoolers that Wales wants to
receive earlier intervention.
Early Childhood Council CEO
Peter Reynolds said the Budget had
delivered “not a penny for children
in early childhood education [with
special education needs]”.
He said a recent survey of early
childhood centres had revealed
59 percent of centres waiting, on
average, more than three months for
assistance with the assessment of
children, and almost a quarter waiting
more than six months.
Educators are also concerned at
reports that the new CYFS agency will
take as much as $200m from Vote
Education, which will undermine
the ministry’s ability to provide a
universal Special Education service.
This money will be targeted, by
way of “social investment”, to
children identified by data, but early
indications are that there is very little
overlap between these children and
the children who currently receive, or
who are waiting for, support from the
ministry.
The question then remains under the new system would a child
like Alfroi, and his family, be able to
access help?
Melissa Schwalger
“it’s nice to see families gain confidence”
Alfroi (above left) will turn five soon and head off to school just like any other
child from his central Auckland centre.
But just a year ago he was showing frustration at his inability to
communicate. So his parents and teachers contacted Special Education at the
Ministry of Education for help.
Early intervention teacher Katherine Reilly (pictured here with teacher
Nisha Rani, centre) worked alongside his parents and teachers to create a
practical plan. Through an in-depth conversation, she helped the family identify
what they wanted to work on.
“It’s really nice to see families gain confidence in supporting their child’s
learning,” says Reilly. She finds the role very rewarding, every day is different,
and she enjoys the partnership with others including speech language
therapists, occupational therapists and education support workers.
After completing a Bachelors of Education in Early Childhood Studies in
Ireland, Reilly moved to New Zealand where she completed a Postgraduate
Diploma in Specialist Teaching.
As an Early Intervention Teacher, she supports families and educators
of children with a variety of learning needs, ranging from autism and Down
Syndrome to behavioural issues and developmental delay.
photograph: chris traill
16 | EA.org.nz
winter 2016 | 17
education reform
The new
bulk-funding?
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUNDING
More about the review at nzei.org.nz
18 | EA.org.nz
At the end of last term, primary
teachers and principals voted to
accept new collective agreements
It took months of intense
negotiations, within a legal
framework, but achievements
included: a day of release time
Early childhood education funding
0.80%
0.70%
Percent
of GDP
Percent of GDP
0.60%
Rises in ECE funding are mainly due
to very rapid roll growth, which is
expected to plateau around 2016-17
0.50%
0.40%
0.30%
0.20%
0.10%
The move to a two
year term, from the
previous three years,
acknowledges the
enormous amount of
change going on.
Fiscal years to June, Treasury actuals and predictions
0.00%
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
(Fiscal years to June, Treasury actuals and predictions)
primary
sector funding
PRIMARY sector fundimg
1.60%
SUPPORT PER STUDENT RELATIVE TO GDP PER PERSON
2008/9-2019/20
Treasury Actuals and Projections
Percent
of GDP
Percent of GDP
1.40%
1.20%
1.00%
0.80%
in 2017; a 2%+2% pay rise, backdated, over the two-year term;
improvements to the Maori
Immersion Teaching Allowance; an
acknowledgement of the importance
of teachers being able speak out
publicly on education; an agreement
on education; and an agreement on
Career Path development.
Negotiator Liam Rutherford, a
teacher from Palmerston North,
said the move to a two year term,
from the previous three years,
acknowledged the enormous
amount of change currently going
on in the sector.
“Members were clear in meetings
they may want to deal with some
of this industrially.” More frequent
negotiations give members more
options.
NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiator,
Liam Rutherford, a teacher from
Palmerston North – the settlement
may open the door to addressing the
“enormous amount of change going
on in the sector”.
and roles (U1 principals and SENCOs).
NZEI member leaders will continue
this Career Path work over the next
two years with ministry officials, and
any agreement will be brought back to
collective agreement negotiations in
two years’ time.
Teachers in ratifications meetings
last term were already discussing
questions to feed into the work,
including:
• W hat sort of support should be
available to all teachers (time,
teacher aides, resourcing, etc)?
• W hat sort of opportunities for
professional growth and career
development should be available
(professional development,
qualifications, etc)?
• W hat sort of roles would be available
across the primary sector (AP, DP,
SENCO, specialist roles, new roles)?
0.60%
0.40%
0.20%
0.00%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013Fiscal
2014
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
(June)2015
Year
2008/9 = 1000
The government is floating radical changes to school and ECE
funding, including a new form of bulk-funding for schools, as
part of its Education Funding Review.
Last term, government invited a group of sector leaders,
including NZEI president Louise Green, to join the review as an
Advisory Group. However, instead of being asked to give advice,
the group is being stepped through a series of documents that
indicate a pre-determined direction.
Schools would receive a mix of cash and credits for teachers.
Both these would be generated on a per-student formula.
Schools could decide how much of their funding to use on
credits, and how much to use as a cash component paid in
instalments to cover operational costs. At the end of the year,
schools could cash up unspent credits. This could penalise
more experienced “expensive” teachers, incentivise schools to
use unqualified staff, and lead to increased class sizes.
There are many unknowns, in particular, how the perstudent rate would be calculated, but it is a given that certainty
and transparency on staffing would go. Currently, the system
of school staffing means that every year a school is entitled to
1200
a certain number of teachers, based on teacher-student ratios
and year levels.
Schools and centres also look to lose equity/decile and special
1000
education funding components, and this funding would instead
be tagged to children who meet criteria, including being in a
800
long-term beneficiary-dependant household. This is of particular
concern to kindergartens and not-for-profit ECE services which
currently receive a much larger share of equity funding, for 600
demographic reasons, than for-profit ECE services.
As EA went to press, the government was refusing Official
Information Act requests for its modelling and research related
400
to the changes, instead putting up selected documents online.
Documents that have been released also indicate private
schools are in line for more money. The current cap on private200
school funding would go, and private schools would receive a
percentage of public school, per child funding.
0
At the same time the review is underway, figures show
the government is also intending to cut education spending,
relative to income, in the next few years.
The dollar amount of funding may rise, due mainly to roll
growth, but the share of national income going to education
will fall.
The graphs (right) were compiled for NZEI Te Riu Roa by
award-winning economist Dr Brian Easton, and are from
documents released in the 2016 Budget.
Collective
effort!
(Fiscal years to June, Treasury actuals and predictions)
SUPPORTchanges
PER STUDENT to
RELATIVE
TO GDP PER PERSON
Relative
education
funding
2008/9-2019/20
Treasury Actuals and Projections
from 2009, by sector*
1200
9
2008/9=1000
2008/9 = 1000
1000
800
600
10
11
400
12
13
14
16
17
18
Fiscal (June) Year
200
Early childhood 0
15
9
10
11
12
Primary
13
14
Secondary
15
16
17
Tertiary
18
19
20
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Fiscal (June) Year
Early childhood (Fiscal
years to June,Primary
Treasury Secondary
actuals andTertiary
predictions)
*Taking 2008-09 as the base year, this graph shows changes in government funding per
student relative to GDP generated per person. In effect, it shows that while GDP per person is
growing, relative spending on students is projected to fall.
19
20
Educators have also won an
agreement to undertake Career Path
Development work with the Ministry
of Education.
Its aim will be to make teaching
more attractive so that experienced
practitioners have more options on how
to stay in the classroom.
The work will cover a number of
claims that were raised in bargaining,
including recruitment and retention,
winter 2016 | 19
community
Left: NZEI Te Riu Roa’s four Principal
Support Officers (l to r) Paul Nees,
Jackie Nicholl, Graham Jones and
Roy Fletcher. “There is usually a way
through and people have come out
of very difficult situations stronger
and vindicated. PSOs are always
available if things start to go awry” –
Paul Nees
Accusations from the
board chair
give peace a chance
When school communities go bad, it can cost your health,
your budget, your job and go all the way to the court of
appeal. Stop trouble before it starts
Principals are great people
managers. Good leaders have the
support and trust of whānau and
their working relationships with
boards and staff are positive.
But good relationships take time
and effort, and it’s not unusual
for overloaded leaders to miss the
warning signs and suddenly find
themselves in turmoil.
No matter how dire the situation,
though, there is usually a way
through, and people do come out the
other side of very difficult situations.
Frances Nelson, immediate past
president of the Auckland Primary
Principals’ Association and a former
NZEI president, says principals, teachers
and support staff alike need to seek
advice from NZEI Te Riu Roa, and act on
it, as soon as things start to go awry.
“There are usually warning signs
– relationships getting a bit frosty,
criticism from the board, or someone
on the board not engaging with the
principal as much as they did in the
past. I’ve seen a number of principal
colleagues go through that.
“Sometimes it’s because they’re not
managing their working relationships
well, and other times the problem is
purely the other person. Either way,
you need to get advice,” she said.
The four NZEI Principal Support Officers
work around the country and are very
experienced at resolving conflict.
In one recent case a principal was
under personal attack by the board
chair. The principal had always had
a positive working relationship with
the board, but a new chair came
in and started trying to dredge up
historical issues. The chair also
accused the principal of failing to
act against a teacher facing conduct
allegations, and failing to act in
another case involving teacher
competency.
However, the principal had handled
both situations appropriately with
the then-Teachers Council and the
chair didn’t understand the processes
that had been followed. Even though
the situation seemed dire for the
principal, and the rest of the board
was just sitting on the sidelines, the
issue was easily resolved when the
PSO helped the principal to craft
a lengthy letter responding to the
accusations. That was enough to
silence the chair and they resigned
soon after.
Keep staff onside
Lynda Stuart is principal of May Road
School in Auckland and a member
of the NZEI National Executive. She
stresses the importance of keeping
teaching and support staff team
onside and letting them know they
are valued.
“We know the huge workload that
teachers in particular are under. We
principals are busy and facing all sorts
of pressures from the ministry and
elsewhere, but it’s so important as
leaders not to project our stress and
“Principals are busy
and facing all sorts
of pressures from the
ministry and elsewhere,
but it’s important as
leaders not to project
stress and frustration
onto staff.”
frustration onto our staff,” she says.
“We need to shield them and
support them while sensitively keeping
them in the loop about those things
that potentially will impact on them.”
Stuart said staff appreciate it
when school leaders take a personal
interest in them and make time for
team and one-on-one catch ups to
inform, debrief and hear concerns
from staff.
“You can’t build a relationship by
email and memos – keep that for the
mundane stuff,” she said.
Stuart said the principal sets the
tone and the culture in a school,
either deliberately or inadvertently. A
principal who builds strong working
relationships will bring their team
with them when they want to make
a change in the school.
“You can’t drag people with you;
that’s painful for everyone and liable
to cause resentment and pushback.
But if you put your people first,
they’ll see that and they’ll gladly
follow you anywhere.”
Melissa Schwalger
“You can’t build
a relationship by
email and memos
– keep that for the
mundane stuff.”
latnerap lufgninaeM
htiw tnemevlovni
dna seitivitca s’nerdlihc
tsom eht si stseretni
rieht ni rotcaf lacitirc
Top.ttips
nempfor
oleved s’nerdlihc
successful
leadership
• Develop a good working
relationship with your board and
catch up with the chairperson
regularly so there are no surprises.
Help them to understand the
parameters of governance and
management.
• Face-to-face communication with
staff is essential, especially for
significant or sensitive issues.
• Don’t rush change. Ensure your
team knows where you are taking
them and why.
• Be visible and don’t delegate
the people interactions. The
principal should be the one to
do things like taking prospective
families on a tour around the school.
Do school crossing duty or be at the
gates at 3pm regularly so parents
can say hello or feel able to stop for
a brief chat.
• Respond, don’t react. If you’re
approached with concerns about
a staff or board member (or about
you!) don’t take it personally or
downplay the issue. Be prepared to
have honest, robust discussions and
seek solutions for small issues so
they don’t become big issues.
• Even if you’re right, be open to the
idea that you could be wrong or that
others may have an equally valid
point of view.
photograph: adrian heke
20 | EA.org.nz
winter 2016 | 21
technology
e-portfolios are an effective way to start conversations
and share learning with working parents, wider whānau
and parents who may be overseas on business.
For many schools, e-portfolios are paper
portfolios on electronic steroids that
encourage lively two-way communication
with whānau. But are e-portfolios all
they’re cracked up to be?
The best and
best of
e-portfolios
Software such as Blogger from
Google, Microsoft’s Sway and smaller
e-portfolio suites such as Storypark,
Educa, Seesaw, and Kidz allow
teachers and students to:
• record their work as well as goals
and achievements
• work with a range of media such as
video and sound as well as text
• reflect on their learning and share
it with whānau.
Instead of a two-dimensional portfolio
that comes home once a term or
twice a year, children can upload
documents, images, blogs, videos, and
more to show off what they’re doing.
Parents receive notifications whenever
there’s something new to view, and
can feedback stories from home, says
education consultant Tara Fagan.
Proponents such as Fagan see
e-portfolios as an additional tool
in the arsenal to engage whānau in
children’s learning journey.
They can also open communication
lines with wider family. When auntie
or another relative comments on their
e-portfolio the children realise that
they have a wider audience, says Fagan.
As a result they often make sure they
put their best effort in.
Sometimes, says Fagan, busy
families don’t know the children
their own offspring are interacting
with during the day and many make
connections outside of school as a
result of the group stories on the
e-portfolio.
Ebbett Park School in Hastings
has only been using e-portfolios
this year, but already it has been a
“game changer in terms of engaging
with the parents,” says principal
Steve Bloor. Bloor, whose school uses
Seesaw, predicted that by the middle
of this year he would have 50 per
cent of parents engaged through their
children’s e-portfolios. By May, that
number was 70 percent and growing.
Foster believes
e-portfolios reduce
teachers' workload,
not increase it, and
it connects City Kids'
wider whānau in
a way that never
happened before.
Student ownership
Yet there are teachers who cite
e-portfolios as the bane of their lives
and say parents never read them.
Some, of course will be technophobes
but given New Zealand educators’
internationally high rate of new
technology uptake, the problem is
more likely to be around workload.
The answer to this is to get students
to take ownership, upload, and peer
edit, says Fagan.
In early childhood centres, however,
it really does need to be the teachers
who do the uploading. Nonetheless
centres are finding e-portfolios as
a particularly effective way to start
conversations and share learning
with working parents, wider whānau
and parents who may be overseas
on business, says Rachel Foster,
supervisor at parent run co-operative
City Kids in Wellington.
Pre-schoolers often don’t have
the verbal skills to tell parents what
they’ve been doing with their day.
If, however, the ECE teachers upload
stories to the children’s e-portfolios
parents receive a notification and can
see in nearly real time what their
children have been doing.
Foster believes Storypark has
reduced teachers’ workload, not
increased it and it connects City Kids'
wider whānau in a way that never
happened before. Foster remembers
one kuia who attended the fourth
Students and teacher Rachel Foster at City Kids in Wellington delight in their e-portfolios
birthday party of her mokupuna at the
centre and who said she felt like she
knew the place thanks to the videos she
had seen on Storypark. One issue going
forward for teachers and parents is the
use of proprietary software. E-portfolios
should be a record that travels with
students as they go through from ECE
centres all the way to university.
Memory sticks
One school we spoke to planned to give
children their portfolios on memory
sticks when they leave in Year 6. The
issue there is that the memory sticks
could be lost, the media deteriorate,
or be incompatible with e-portfolios
used by their chosen intermediate
or secondary schools. What’s more
children who move schools often could
be disadvantaged. On the other hand
locally sourced e-portfolio apps such
as Storypark and Educa can be used to
link into the New Zealand Curriculum,
which give them an advantage over
their larger multinational cousins such
as Blogger and Sway.
“Teachers can click (the content)
and link to where it meets the
curriculum. They can say for example
‘this learning assessment fits into
well-being’ and give examples of how
it fits in,” says Fagan. She adds that
it’s important for schools to choose
e-portfolio apps that allow for the data
to be exported to other systems so that
the lifelong record isn’t lost.
Schools also need to consider who
owns the portfolio and who can access
it. Fagan recommends that the children
and their whānau own the portfolio,
rather than the school. The school
must also consider who else has access.
Schools such as Point England School
in Auckland have their e-portfolios
accessible by anyone at ptengland.school.
nz/our-blogs. The children, however, are
schooled in digital citizenship to make
sure that they don’t share too much in a
public forum.
Getting started can be the big
hurdle for some schools. Ebbett Park
School’s staff voted to transition to an
e-portfolio after Bloor trialled Seesaw
in one classroom in term 4 last year.
The response from whānau, students
and teachers was such that rolling it
out school-wide in term one 2016 was
an easy decision.
Diana Clement
photograph: adrian heke
22 | EA.org.nz
winter 2016 | 23
community
the professionals
Kōrero with
scientists
An NZEI branch in
Waiuku shows how
to help build a
healthy Community
of Learning
Sarah Hammersley
photograph: john mcrae
shaping the future
“We’re a small branch so we
need high levels of engagement
to succeed,” says president Sarah
Hammersley, a teacher at Sandspit
Road School, west of Pukekohe.
“That means we work hard to build
relationships and include all groups
across the community.”
When it became clear a local
Community of Learning (CoL) was
being planned, members decided to
get involved and make it a space for
everyone.
The branch organised a big social
event at the Sandspit Yacht Club
at the start of 2016, bringing in
teachers, principals and support staff
from around the district. It was a
chance to begin new relationships,
build on existing ones, and start
discussions about where the
community should head.
Sandspit School Principal Graeme
Newall says the event helped set
in train a strongly collaborative
approach to the CoL that has got
people thinking about the whole
community.
Powerful visits
The branch has added momentum by
organising professional development
involving visits of teachers to
classrooms across the region.
“It’s been part of our branch
focus to build engagement in those
areas where we haven’t had great
involvement, and those visits
have been really powerful,” says
Hammersley. “We’ve also built a
good dialogue with the principals’
group and our next push is to grow
involvement in the ECE and support
staff sectors.”
Waiuku branch also makes an
effort to connect with beginning
teachers. Hammersley’s own
career in NZEI Te Riu Roa dates
from when she was encouraged
to attend the New Educators’
Network National Hui and then
asked to share her new-found
knowledge and enthusiasm with
others. This year, PCT Claire Lyford
from Waipipi School, Waiuku, was
sponsored to the hui and is now
sharing her learning with other
new educators in the area.
Share the work
“It’s part of our succession planning,”
explains Hammersley. “We’re a small
branch so it’s important we keep
growing the pool of experience and
enthusiasm. We share the work
around and try to get as many people
as possible exposed to the big picture
of education that NZEI provides. If we
want the best for our kids we need to
see that big picture and be involved
in shaping the future.”
John McRae
A partnership between the
MacDiarmid Institute and NZEI Te Riu
Roa has boosted science learning for
ECE and primary teachers.
Hundreds of teachers around the
country have attended sessions with
scientists. But instead of outside
“experts” instructing teachers on how
to deliver new content, the Kōrero
with Scientists have inspired teachers
with the confidence to “act like
scientists” in the classroom and foster
inquiry learning.
The partnership began in 2012 after
a fortuitous meeting between then
MacDiarmid head Professor Kathryn
McGrath and an NZEI educator.
NZEI has a long history of providing
Above: Primary teachers in Auckland last term attended a Kōrero with Scientists.
Read more about the Kōrero programme at ea.org.nz
professional development for and by
members, now focussed through Te
Kete Aronui: Centre for Educational
Excellence (nzei.org.nz/tka).
The MacDiarmid partnership
was inspired by several factors,
including the relatively new New
Zealand Curriculum; the loss of science
advisors at the Ministry of Education;
Subscribe for $99
+GST each
per year
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school subsc
Supporting
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Level
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24 | EA.org.nz
and a “fear factor” about science
voiced by teachers, who are more
likely to have an arts background.
New ways of delivering PLD were
devised by focus groups of educators
and scientists, and the first Kōrero
with Scientists ran in May 2013, with
teachers working alongside scientists
on science activities.
LIVE
[email protected]
WWW.CAXED.CO.NZ
winter 2016 | 25
the professionals
the professionals
Resources
Health and safety rep
training NZEI’s PD arm Te Kete
Aronui is running popular two-day
courses for reps on the new Health and
Safety at Work Act. The face-to-face
courses include assessment for Unit
Standard 29315. Successful completion
of the standard allows a rep to issue
provisional improvement notices and
direct unsafe work to cease. The course
is run in partnership with Worksafe
Reps, of the Council of Trade Unions,
which has been running this kind of
training since 2003.
Best evidence Two new titles in the
award-winning Best Evidence Synthesis
series, led by Dr Adrienne Alton-Lee
at the Ministry of Education, are now
online at Education Counts. Developing
Mathematical Inquiry Communities looks
at ambitious mathematics teaching
founded in equity. What’s New is a round
of excellent new resources, including
on Learning Logs, Counter Bullying
Pedagogies, Reciprocal Teaching, as well
as videos and e-books.
Phonics is back The pendulum
appears to be swinging back to the
phonics theory of how children learn to
spell and read. Phonics is useful to help
children crack code (think texting), but
it’s hopeless on its own, says educational
psychologist Craig Jackson in his essay
“Thi trubil wiv foniks in speling”. Read it at
ea.org.nz
20 years of
Te Whāriki
NZEI Annual conference
2016 Around 400 NZEI Te Riu Roa
delegates from branches and area
councils will meet in Rotorua at the end
of September for Annual Conference.
It’s a jam-packed event with elections
for National Executive and a new
President plus sessions and speakers on
the likes of privatisation, system change,
climate change and communities of
learning. Keep up with developments at
www.nzei.org.nz/ac2016
Obituary
Early education champion Anne Smith
1940-2016
Emeritus Professor Anne Smith was a leading
academic and children’s rights advocate. She
established the Children’s Issues Centre at
Otago University, supported teachers towards
further academic goals, and her landmark initial
teacher publication, Understanding Children’s
Development, is in its fifth edition. Her most
recent book, Children’s Rights Towards Social
Justice, represents her passion for child wellbeing,
child perspectives and the continuing need for
children’s rights in everyday life.
Rārangi maunga, tū tonu, tū tonu
Rārangi tangata, ngaro noa, ngaro noa
You have gone
But your mountain is everlasting
Te Whāriki,
New Zealand’s
Early Childhood
Curriculum, is
celebrating its 20th
birthday – and it is
still world leading.
In 1996, Te
Whāriki was the
world’s first national
ECE curriculum, a
bicultural document,
and a ground-breaking text for initial teacher education. It is still
cited around the world, by the likes of the OECD, as the gold
standard of its kind.
Sector leaders today say it is as needed and as relevant as
it was 20 years ago. It remains a unifying document amidst
on-going upheaval caused by rapid growth, privatisation
and a funding freeze. Its main problem in New Zealand is
the lack of professional development available to support its
implementation. Commentary, including from ERO, suggests that
implementation is patchy.
Meantime, NZEI Te Riu Roa members will celebrate the
anniversary at Annual Conference in September.
Conference 2016
August 19 & 20 | Shed 6, Wellington
promotion
Empowering People
Living with Autism
Keynote speakers include:
Karen Pierce
Co-Director of the University
of California, San Diego Autism
Center of Excellence.
Craig Smith
Deputy Principal of the Aspect
Hunter School for children with
Autism in NSW, Australia and author
of Minecraft In Your Classroom
and The iPad Model Classroom.
Early Bird tickets available
Register now @ www.autismnz.org.nz
26 | EA.org.nz
Philosophical Inquiry in the Classroom
Meet Philosophy for Children (P4C)
– a programme focused on thinking
together. It allows students to explore
“big ideas” on their own terms. It
empowers them as independent thinkers,
and gives them a voice. It's been proven
to tick many boxes on our wish lists
for students: deeper and more critical
thinking; the ability to articulate and
explore complex questions; being able
to meet and exceed national standards,
even in maths – yet without having
Find out more at www.p4c.org.nz
to “teach to the standards”; better
relationships with peers; enhanced self
responsibility and self esteem; greater
engagement in learning. It's especially
effective for disadvantaged students –
and it only takes 40 minutes a week!
Read the rest of this article at ea.org.nz
winter 2016 | 27
best new books + apps for kids
reviews
Competing ideas led to
conflict
Ka Ngaro Te Reo: Māori
language under siege in the
19th century
Paul Moon
Otago University Press
In the early part of the nineteenth
century, te reo was the main
language of social and economic
interaction in New Zealand. But
European settlers’ views of te
reo hinted at what was to come:
te reo was “... at best a linguistic
antiquity ... a worthless anomaly with
no place in the colony’s progress.”
Different groups had competing
views about what they wanted. The
Crown wanted order; missionaries
wanted Christian converts; settlers
wanted land; and, Māori wanted laws.
Ideas about how their visions
should be fulfilled also differed - the
British “government” wanted to
make as little impact on Māori as
possible; politicians wanted Māori to
adopt British language and culture;
missionaries wanted to have Māori
come to Christianity through te
reo; settlers wanted a “civilised”
population with which to share their
beliefs and values.
Competing ideas often resulted in
conflict and te reo came under seige.
In Moon’s view, much of the assault
originated outside of government,
including from philosophies and
events such as the Enlightenment.
By the close of the century te reo
Maori had been supplanted by English
as the main language of politics,
commerce, education and social
interaction.
Moon’s thoroughly researched
treatise on the way te reo was
usurped by English is a sad expose
on New Zealand’s racist past. Given
developments in te Ao Māori,
especially since the 1960s, I am sure
the story isn’t over yet and I look
forward to a sequel – Ka Puta Anō Te
Reo perhaps?
The book will be of use to readers,
especially teachers and students of
New Zealand history.
HHHH Dr Paul Potaka
World-acclaimed educator Professor Yong Zhao is in New Zealand in late July,
as a guest of NZEI Te Riu Roa. His innovative thinking challenges many of the
current education shibboleths. His new book is Counting What Counts: Reframing
Educational Outcomes. In it, he talks about the harmful effects of overemphasising
test scores and the need for a more “humane” education system.
28 | EA.org.nz
Reading changes lives
Better classroom
relationships
Dr Maria Kecskemeti & Professor
John Winslade
NZCER Press
When I read a book, I want it to
challenge my thinking and also,
hopefully, affirm some of my practice.
This book ticks both boxes.
If we are honest, we know that
relationships underpin everything we
do. By way of lively case studies and
practical advice, this book links a lot
of what we know about collaboration,
taking shared responsibility, and
taking control of our personal identity
and that of the profession. It builds
strongly on the earlier work of Te
Kotahitanga, Restorative Practices and,
to a lesser degree, PB4L.
The authors state that our individual
identities depend on relationships and
ask whether we (students and staff) are
autonomous individuals or whether
we are relationally connected. They
suggest we reflect on our practice and
consider re-positioning and diffraction
to support opening and strengthening
relationships. From this understanding,
they arrive at a model of how to
meet in a climate of listening, and
listening from a place of curiosity – to
support relationships, inclusion and
understanding.
The following statement sums up
the text, “In the rush … relationships in
the classroom can be easily neglected.
Yet teaching and learning are built on
relationships.” Enjoy!
HHHH
Rikki Sheterline, principal,
Turaki School
Star Ratings
HHHHH H
Excellent
Dismal
When 11-year-old T.A. told John
Campbell on Radio New Zealand
about the quality of her life living in a
van with her family of eight, and
he asked her what the hardest part
was, she said not having enough
batteries or space to read at night.
The thing she wanted most was a
library to read in.
In the movie Hunt for The
Wilderpeople, 13-year-old Ricky
Baker, both trouble and troubled, is a
voracious reader who hunts the huts
of the Urewera for books. They take
him to his happy place.
Many of us lose ourselves in books,
but for some reading is a lifeline,
an escape into another world and a
chance to explore other lives. Readers
discover people who are in worst
states than they are, meet people
pulling themselves out of downward
spirals, and learn how others have
prospered despite the setbacks and
challenges.
For young readers, true stories
like Chinese Cinderella (Adeline Yen
Mah), Malala, or Hope in a Ballet Shoe
by Michella DePrince are epics of
courage and triumph against injustice
and suffering.
Novels, too, stories of refugees
and orphans, the downtrodden and
the victims of war bring empathy and
understanding.
When Campbell asked T.A., whose
family had been relocated to Te Puea
Marae, what she would say to the
Prime Minister, she said he should “try
to walk a while in my shoes”.
Eleven years old yet so wise.
Former teacher John McIntyre is a
children’s bookseller and commentator:
[email protected]
ancient
and modern
The Road to Ratenburg
Joy Cowley & Gavin Bishop
Cowley has created what is sure to
become a modern classic with this fable
of a charming rat family who must flee
their bombed out home. Age 8+
Favourite apps for students
Behaviour management app
ClassDojo is a favourite at
Koputaroa School, says teacher Becky
Ward. Each child is assigned a profile,
chooses an avatar, and earns or loses
points called “dojos” for behaviours.
Points can also go to groups or
tables, and toward goals. A “random”
button gives points away for a bit
of fun. Teachers can decide what
the points can be cashed in for, says
Ward. Parent access is available. Free.
Works on Android, iOS, computers
and other devices.
Book Creator is CORE
Education Alannah King’s standout favourite app. It allows students
to create their own iBooks on iPad.
The latest version costs $7.49 per
child. Students drag and drop
pictures, video, text and other
elements onto the page, create
backgrounds and stickers, share
and, of course, read. A pen tool
allows students to draw straight
onto the page. It’s simple with many
uses. iOS.
Gladys Goes to War
Glyn Harper
Gladys Sandford loved to tinker with cars
and drive at top speed. When World War
I broke out, she knew she needed to do
more than knit socks. Age 5+
The Doll’s House
Katherine Mansfield
Deliciously edited and illustrated version
of the classic story for a younger
audience. Its themes of prejudice and
injustice are just as relevant. Age 8+
Rasmas/Ko Rāmā
Elizabeth Pulford
Te reo and English versions of an
engaging story, involving an orphaned
goat, about grief and changing family
dynamics.
winter 2016 | 29
Giveaways
Great prizes to be won!
NZCER
Teacher
Workplace
Survey
20 Kings Seeds Starter Kits
Kings Seeds are gurus at growing a great garden from
seed – and they’re big supporters of children gardening. To
support educators, Kings Seeds has released a School Starter
Kit. For NZEI members, the kit costs $30 (RRP $37.50) and
contains 10 seed varieties that are easy to grow, and includes
a catalogue, seed sowing instructions and a seed tray! The
varieties include Carrot Rainbow Blend, Pepper Jingle Belles,
Cucumber Diva and Radish Halloween Mix, to name a few.
To purchase a starter kit, email [email protected]. Kings
Seeds is giving away 20 School Starter Kits to EA readers.
Each kit includes a bonus pack of Daltons Organic Seed
Raising Mix – everything you need to get sowing! To win, go
to ea.org.nz/giveaways and click on the tab
Makeover
Two great giveaways for
educators in Auckland
from Rodney David
Hairdressing!
Rodney David in
Kohimarama is offering:
• a cut, colour and style
valued at $250 and
•a cut and style valued
at $100
www.rodneydavid.co.nz
To enter the draw, go to
ea.org.nz/giveaways and
click on the tab
Build a better
workplace culture
at your school! The
NZCER Teacher
Workplace Survey
allows school leaders
to understand what teachers think about their work
and their working environment. There is increasing
evidence that the way schools are organised and
run has an impact on teacher retention and on
effective teaching. Important workplace factors
include safety, an atmosphere of trust, a staff who
share high expectations for all students, and effective
school leadership. Teachers fill in an anonymised,
online survey. NZCER analyses the data and provides
reports which give schools a sense of teacher morale
and any pressure points. Win one survey, worth up to
$500. More at nzcer.org.nz/tests/teacher-workplacesurvey. To enter the draw, go to ea.org.nz/giveaways
and click on the tab
TOURING
NEW ZEALAND
2016
Register your school for the
HELL Reading Challenge and
win morning tea from HELL!
The HELL Reading Challenge has motivated young
New Zealanders to read more than 2.5 million books!
Google "HELL Pizza Reading Challenge 101" for more
information and to register your school now.
PART OF
All registered schools will be in the draw to win one
of two $120 vouchers from HELL Pizza for a special
staff treat at your school!
C M YK
8/5/30/0
C M YK
0/100/100/0
100% K
Terms and conditions Competitions are open to New Zealand residents only. Only one entry per person per prize category. Prizes are not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be redeemed for
cash. Entry for this competition is limited to NZEI Members or NZEI Honorary Members. The prizes will be drawn on or after August 30, 2016. Winners will be notified by email. If a winner is unable to
be contacted or is unable to receive the prize, another winner will be chosen at random. Any personal information collected may be held by NZEI or the supplier of the prize. You have rights to access
personal information, and to request correction of that information. NZEI has no liability or responsibility for lost, late or misdirected entries or prizes. Entry constitutes consent for NZEI and the supplier
of the prize to use names and/or photographs of winners for promotion and publicity purposes. As permitted by law, NZEI will not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage
whatsoever, including personal injury which is suffered as a result of, or arising from persons(s) participating in the promotion or in connection with winning a prize. NZEI reserves the right to change
these terms or cancel the competitions. By entering, you are deemed to accept these terms.
30 | EA.org.nz
BASED ON THE BOOK BY GAVIN BISHOP, PUBLISHED BY SCHOLASTIC NZ
DIRECTED BY JAMIE MCCASKILL
ORIGINALLY DEVISED BY
RACHEL HOUSE,
JAMIE MCCASKILL,
ERINA DANIELS,
STEPHEN TAMARAPA
AND MARIA WALKER
PRINCIPAL FUNDER
MAJOR FUNDER
IDEAL FOR AGES 7+
BOOK TICKETS ONLINE AT CAPITALE.ORG.NZ
AFFORDABLe HEALTHY foOD
In YoUR SCHOOL. HERE’S How.
Fuelled4life is a practical tool that can be used to identify
and offer healthier food choices to children.
Sign up today at www.fuelled4life.org.nz
to receive our many free resources.
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