http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/03/uk-students-education-oecd-pisa-report
Wonder how NZ has fared relative to 2009?
Edit: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=11166346 But rankings don't match the Guardian table (OECD countries only I guess)
Full report here: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm
Looks like we have dropped in all three areas since 2009. On par with Oz and slightly better than UK.
3rd rate journalism.
3rd rate journalism.
Edumacashun.
NZ seems to be paralysed by a highly politicised primary school teaching profession that has a poor ability to teach science and maths with an intractable bias against comparing results between schools.
Now some universities are coming out and saying that NCEA "achieving" levels for science and maths in secondary schools do not prepare students for tertiary level courses, but this is disputed by secondary schools: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11164854
I wonder how much of this is "business as usual" - secondary students have always struggled to adapt from a highly structured teaching system to a self-motivated tertiary education system (i.e. developing an independent work ethic).
Of more concern is this statement: "One submission to the TEC from Victoria University and Wellington Institute of Technology said students who received merit or excellence NCEA grades generally coped well with tertiary study. But most who got an "achieved" grade did not, and many would've had a "fail" grade under the old system."
Interesting choice of words - I thought labelling kids a "fail" was not appropriate anymore (the NZEI mantra)?
Edumacashun.
NZ seems to be paralysed by a highly politicised primary school teaching profession that has a poor ability to teach science and maths with an intractable bias against comparing results between schools.
Now some universities are coming out and saying that NCEA "achieving" levels for science and maths in secondary schools do not prepare students for tertiary level courses, but this is disputed by secondary schools: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11164854
I wonder how much of this is "business as usual" - secondary students have always struggled to adapt from a highly structured teaching system to a self-motivated tertiary education system (i.e. developing an independent work ethic).
Of more concern is this statement: "One submission to the TEC from Victoria University and Wellington Institute of Technology said students who received merit or excellence NCEA grades generally coped well with tertiary study. But most who got an "achieved" grade did not, and many would've had a "fail" grade under the old system."
Interesting choice of words - I thought labelling kids a "fail" was not appropriate anymore (the NZEI mantra)?
More on science, maths and the PISA report: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11168357
Three steps have been indentified to boost student performace:
I think that NZ is basically going to be munted for a generation or two due to the last step.
I would have thought the Government might have spent some money on teaching teachers self defence. Kids can do what ever they like in a classroom these days without any consequences. Being suspended is a reward for them to hang out in the mall or on the streets these days.
as a person who trained to be a teacher when they introduced the degree in education as well as the teaching diploma you do not need a degrtee to teach a 10 year old math or how to write or spell etc. You need patience, laughter and the ability to guide kids to understand how things work.
You will never learn this in a university lecture theatre. The degree may be required if you were say teaching Chemistry to year 12/13s. (16/17 year olds) - but even then a masters degree in chem teaching in college - get real!
as a person who trained to be a teacher when they introduced the degree in education as well as the teaching diploma you do not need a degrtee to teach a 10 year old math or how to write or spell etc. You need patience, laughter and the ability to guide kids to understand how things work.
it's not difficult to teach algebra if you've passed it in school yourself - they teach you what the curriclum is in teacher's college and what you need to teach it. No degree in math at uni is going to help you teach a 10 year old how to work out this x+3=5, what is x
Not sure how I feel about the Masters thing. But I would imagine that teaching like any other profession is getting more complex as our global society becomes increasingly complex and our information and understanding on "how to learn stuff effectively" increases.
I'd rather have a teacher that has the right bit of paper than one without. I'm also making a huge and probably erroneous assumption that the teacher is motivated to teach kids (maybe even educate them) rather than pick up a pay cheque and attend a union meeting.
As for the gifted people who value the work they do - they need to be supported and encouraged to undertake further study if that is what is needed. I would have thought that those that enjoy their career are always keen to learn more.
it's not difficult to teach algebra if you've passed it in school yourself - they teach you what the curriclum is in teacher's college and what you need to teach it. No degree in math at uni is going to help you teach a 10 year old how to work out this x+3=5, what is x
If your stabbing device is bigger than mine, X is whatever the fuck you want it to be.
Just my $0.02 on the teaching thing. One of the real problems we have is this incessant desire to rank our kids all the time, through NCEA, National Standards, PISA etc etc. Not that I have a problem with that in itself, but teaching these days has become far more concerned with getting kids across the line on various assessment, and real learning is becoming a secondary and often forgotten objective. And no, I don't believe that making sure that little Johnny can remember the three things he need to know for the NCEA quiz tomorrow is good learning.
Sounds a lot like the old School Cert debate...
School cert ftw.
You used to have to learn everything, just in case it came up in the exam.
Now internal assessment gives you half the marks, then you only need to learn the 3 achieved questions (and I literally remember teachers telling me to ignore trying to learn the excellence questions and focus on getting the achieved ones right) to get over the line.
It may have changed since then however as that was 7-10 years ago.
it's not difficult to teach algebra if you've passed it in school yourself - they teach you what the curriclum is in teacher's college and what you need to teach it. No degree in math at uni is going to help you teach a 10 year old how to work out this x+3=5, what is x
it's not difficult to teach algebra if you've passed it in school yourself - they teach you what the curriclum is in teacher's college and what you need to teach it. No degree in math at uni is going to help you teach a 10 year old how to work out this x+3=5, what is x
X is the location that the treasure is buried
School cert ftw.
You used to have to learn everything, just in case it came up in the exam.
Now internal assessment gives you half the marks, then you only need to learn the 3 achieved questions (and I literally remember teachers telling me to ignore trying to learn the excellence questions and focus on getting the achieved ones right) to get over the line.
It may have changed since then however as that was 7-10 years ago.
Don't forget, everyone is a winner too. No losers allowed. Its participating that counts.And no playing cowboys and Indians, no climbing trees and no tackle, it has to be touch.
School cert ftw.
You used to have to learn everything, just in case it came up in the exam.
Now internal assessment gives you half the marks, then you only need to learn the 3 achieved questions (and I literally remember teachers telling me to ignore trying to learn the excellence questions and focus on getting the achieved ones right) to get over the line.
It may have changed since then however as that was 7-10 years ago.
Don't you think a mix of internal assessment (ooh err) and a national exam is better?
Sounds like you had teachers who weren't in it for the students.
Actually yes, and it prepared you for university better. I did like that aspect of NCEA (despite being better at exams than internal assessment).
But the rest...I really hope they've changed it since I was there because it was a joke.
I agree with you FT.
A good friend of mine is studying to become a teacher. She does this thing called 'placement' where she goes to a school to teach as part of her uni work. Its quite good i think because you get that experience you talk about at the same time as doing the 'professional' stuff at uni.
the pacement thing is key to any teacher's development, practical teaching experience in a safe way is the only way for you to learn what actually works with kids.....
I agree with you FT.
A good friend of mine is studying to become a teacher. She does this thing called 'placement' where she goes to a school to teach as part of her uni work. Its quite good i think because you get that experience you talk about at the same time as doing the 'professional' stuff at uni.
Turning 50 yesterday............
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/9559523/Icebreaker-trying-to-free-NZ-expedition-stuck
Russians, Chinese, French and Australians... sounds like the little yellow digger all over again.
Russians, Chinese, French and Australians... sounds like the little yellow digger all over again.
An international incident will break out.
Between them they will keep Antartica as a wilderness area.
The Russians will exclude all gays, the Chinese will demand all flights seek pre-approval, the French will blow up any Greenpeace vessels and those that are left will be diverted by Oz to the Christmas Island immigration detention centre.
After 17 years we have replaced our top loading washing machine for a sexy front loader (Bosch) c/o the boxing day sales.
It arrived today but the cold water hose (metal) connection to the tap doesn't screw on at all. So am using the old top loader hose (nylon connection) while I ask the store to sort it out (or I might have to end up getting a plumber in to charge me losts of money to put in a new tap or construct some sort of adaptor).
After 17 years we have replaced our top loading washing machine for a sexy front loader (Bosch) c/o the boxing day sales.
It arrived today but the cold water hose (metal) connection to the tap doesn't screw on at all. So am using the old top loader hose (nylon connection) while I ask the store to sort it out (or I might have to end up getting a plumber in to charge me losts of money to put in a new tap or construct some sort of adaptor).
School cert ftw.
You used to have to learn everything, just in case it came up in the exam.
Now internal assessment gives you half the marks, then you only need to learn the 3 achieved questions (and I literally remember teachers telling me to ignore trying to learn the excellence questions and focus on getting the achieved ones right) to get over the line.
It may have changed since then however as that was 7-10 years ago.
Don't you think a mix of internal assessment (ooh err) and a national exam is better?
Sounds like you had teachers who weren't in it for the students.
Actually yes, and it prepared you for university better. I did like that aspect of NCEA (despite being better at exams than internal assessment).
But the rest...I really hope they've changed it since I was there because it was a joke.
After 17 years we have replaced our top loading washing machine for a sexy front loader (Bosch) c/o the boxing day sales.
It arrived today but the cold water hose (metal) connection to the tap doesn't screw on at all. So am using the old top loader hose (nylon connection) while I ask the store to sort it out (or I might have to end up getting a plumber in to charge me losts of money to put in a new tap or construct some sort of adaptor).
N-Bomb. School cert, 6th form cert and Higher School cert were all jokes too.
Back in the day UE, Bursaries and Scholarships were the currency for employers, universities and professional degree schools (medicine, engineering etc) respectively.
PS. Have done our first wash including 3 yf tees.
Great seeing them tumble around in 40oC suds. It's more exciting than tv.
You mean tvnz and your machine have something in common, they keep on recycling the same stuff over and over.
Been watching a couple of washes now. The clothes don't follow a set pattern as they tumble through the wash cycle. Ergo each wash is unique and not a repeat event. unlike tv repeats.
After 17 years we have replaced our top loading washing machine for a sexy front loader (Bosch) c/o the boxing day sales.
It arrived today but the cold water hose (metal) connection to the tap doesn't screw on at all. So am using the old top loader hose (nylon connection) while I ask the store to sort it out (or I might have to end up getting a plumber in to charge me losts of money to put in a new tap or construct some sort of adaptor).
True. Just a bit surprised that the new shiny advanced machine has a hose that doesn't hook up to a standard tap.
It has a fancy "auto stop" valve which might be useful. Dunno.
So am happy to use the hose and connections from old faithful until the store can sort it out.
OzKiwi has drafted a letter of complaint to News Corp, which it has posted on its Facebook page. It has gathered more than 1000 signatures for a "massive class action" against the media giant, which would be launched if the group did not receive a retraction and apology, Mr Faulkner said.
I bet that they claimed those 1,000 signatures from New Zealander's by going down a dole office in Sydney for about an hour.
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