Friday, April 27, 2018

A close look at John Hattie's research / the Future of Education / the importance of play / school gardens and before Tomorrows Schools


Valuing the power of imagination
Education Readings

By Allan Alach

Every week Bruce Hammonds and I search out articles to encourage a creative approach to teaching and learning.

We welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Hattie’s Research is False
Here’s a three part series from Kelvin Smythe, addressed to New Zealand University Vice-Chancellors, that comprehensively deconstructs John Hattie’s so-called ‘research’. As Hattie and his acolytes have done, and are still doing, great damage to holistic education, all teachers need to be aware of the falsehoods in his findings. Other educationists have also found similar issues.

‘My concern is that none of the variables in his research are validly isolated or under control, resulting in an academic shambles that, in being left unexposed, has had devastating consequences for teachers and children around the world, and especially New Zealand.’




Times tables – the phony, proxy war between traditionalists and progressives

‘These are tablets from Mesopotamia. They show a multiplication table and a practice tablet by a schoolchild. A practice that has been going on for millennia.And sure enough, the ‘times-tables’ wars have erupted again. This time, however, it has become a proxy, even phony, war between traditionalists and progressives, which in turn shows that both sides are often wrong-headed. It's a litmus test for the whole debate.’



There is no silver bullet
How to spot education research myths and read research properly
“I think it is useful for teachers to analyse and read articles, but more to get a sense of the enormous complexity and variables at play rather than trying to find a silver bullet that says ‘look, this works’ because science is incremental; we keep on building, one study will never be enough, there will never be a single study that shows this finally worked.”

Pernile Ripp


How to Stop Killing the Love of Reading

‘But when I see what my kids do in school for “reading,” it doesn’t really look like reading. I ask them what books they are reading in school, and a lot of times they give me a blank stare. What they do in reading, they tell me, is mostly worksheets about reading. Or computer programs that ask them to read passages, not books, and answer multiple-choice questions.’


The Future of Education: How To Get Ready

‘I am not sure what education or the world for that matter will look like in 20 years, but I know that as educators we have the opportunity to shape what the future will be and the power to make it what we want it to be, which is, hopefully, a better place for our kids.  I implore you to join me in dreaming, in speculating, in being different, not only because it is so exciting, but because our kids deserve it.’


Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:

A playful approach to learning means more imagination and exploration

‘Play in education is controversial. Although it is widely accepted that very young children need to play, as they progress through the school system, the focus moves quickly to measuring learning. And despite the fact that play is beneficial throughout life, supporting creativity and happiness, it is still seen by many in education as a frivolous waste of time, and not really relevant to proper learning.'


Here’s What Happens When Every Student Gets a Personalized Learning Plan

'All students can learn; however, not all students learn in the same way or at the same pace. Acknowledging this fact has driven the recent shift toward personalization in education.'


Imogen Stubbs laments 'awful treadmill' of UK education system

'Stubbs is a fan of the ideas of educationist Sir Ken Robinson, who gained international acclaim for his 2006 TED talk Do Schools Kill Creativity? She despairs of the “utilitarian” approach to arts subjects and hates the jargon of the modern exam system with its “texts” and “assessment objectives”.’


How Small Steps Can Create Outdoors Experiences In Schools

It started with a school garden at Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School. The garden did so well that students built another garden. Then they added native plants, where seventh-grade students learned lessons in data collection as they counted pollinators. The students wanted more pollinators, so they added a beehive. The bees made honey, and the kids used their sweet surplus to learn about the economics of commodities…’


Curriculum wars: coming to Aotearoa?

To grossly simplify, it’s the argument between ‘knowledge vs skills’. To personalise it, it’s E.D Hirsch vs 21st Century Skills. Or in the New Zealand context, it’s Elizabeth Rata and Briar Lipson vs Jane Gilbert and Frances Valintine. And I think it’s mostly a good thing that we’re starting to talk about this.  Sure, polarising rhetoric can be unhelpful, but it’s a disservice to our students not to think seriously about curriculum, and part of that means expressing and teasing out differences.’


From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

The killing of creativity by the technocrats.

Bruce Hammonds has also found fault with John Hattie:

John Hattie
‘Somehow, just because Hattie has amalgamated every piece of 'school effectiveness' research available ( mainly it seems from the USA) his findings, it seems, ought to be taken for read. The opposite ought to be the case - we need to be very wary of such so called 'meta research.'. More worrying however is that the approaches he is peddling is pushing into the background the home grown innovative creative learning centred philosophy that was once an important element in many classrooms. Overseas experts always seem to know best - or those that return with their carpet bag full of snake oil.’


The forgotten genesis of progressive early education

An example of the pedagogical knowledge that is totally foreign to the Hatties of this world.

‘Since 'Tomorrows Schools' ( 1986) teachers would be excused if they thought all ideas about teaching and learning came from those distant from the classroom - and more recently imposed by technocrats and politicians. This was not always the case. Progressive ideas that helped New Zealand lead the world in education, particularly in reading, were developed by creative early education teachers who were well aware of the modern educational ideas of the time.’





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