MrBainbridge

The rational for the introduction of National Standards was the then National Party’s education policy to raise standards and introduce plain language reporting to parents (the latter stolen from Australian Prime Minister Rudd).  It’s well documented that New Zealand has a long tail of underachievement – approximately 20%.  The National government’s solution was to introduce the concept of National Standards to follow Labour’s analysis of variance reporting and in the 90’s, achievement statements.  Because National Standards is so fundamentally flawed and so poorly introduced, given a couple of years it will fade into oblivion.  Most university academics, the teacher unions and the principals groups together with many leading educational commentators are opposed to the introduction of National Standards.  The government and the media clearly support their introduction.

What was the lie on which National Standards were based?  In 2007 the Education Review Office produced a report on assessment in schools.  Various excerpts were selectively used to imply that schools were not doing enough to raise the achievement of children and were making poor use of assessment data to inform their teaching.  The report quotes;

In about half the schools (52%) the teachers used assessment information to inform their teaching and learning programme.  Less than half (44%) used worthwhile information.

This extract is the basis of the National government’s national standards and is widely quoted as their rational.

Unfortunately (as quoted by Kelvin Smythe) neither the government nor Ministry used the very next sentence in the ERO report;

“Figure 5 shows that 90% of primary schools were able to demonstrate their student’s achievements in the curriculum areas of English and Maths…….”

“Figure 6 shows 88% of primary schools were effective at demonstrating progress in English and 82% in maths”

“almost all primary schools had made literacy and numeracy key learning priorities….in most schools the teachers had built a shared understanding of how, when and why to measure student achievement in these areas”

Why then was the original selective quote so out of kilter with the original 52% figure – because it was based on the average figures for all curriculum activity like health, social studies, P.E., music etc which schools do not assess so vigorously and for which teachers produce qualitative rather than quantitative information (Kelvin Smythe).

This is the deliberate lie or distortion on which National Standards has been predicated and the facts deliberately ignored by the Ministry and their apologists.  The reality is, according to ERO, that schools were assessing well and using the information to inform their teaching and to raise the achievement of the 20% tail.

A number of principals and schools were adamantly opposed to National Standards, some were in favour, but the vast majority resigned to trying to implement them but, very sensibly, asking for a year’s delay in order to implement the new initiative in an ordered, informed way.  ‘No’ was the emphatic answer of the Minister and the Prime Minister.

What is the result?  – A complete botch up with confusing and changing information, a lack of resources, muddled and under-resourced inservice leading to ‘non aligned’ principals walking away in despair.  If National Standards is implemented at all it will be because of the good will and effort of principals and staff.  The promised in-service is poorly delivered with anecdotal comments from facilitators saying “they were making up in the morning what they would say in the afternoon”.  There is no money for relievers so schools have to pay $250 per day per teacher for staff who attend the courses.  For some schools this may potentially cost $5000-$10,000.  No teacher-only-days are authorized unlike for the introduction of NCEA and the NZ Curriculum.

Interestingly, not one person at the Ministry of Education is willing to put their hand up as authors or project directors of this ill conceived, hurried, muddled piece of party politics being transformed into political policy.  It is a complete and utter farce and based on a lie, a deliberate piece of distortion.

What sort of books or periodicals does your child like to read which would be suitable to buy for the school library?

I write to you to tell you of my pride in being Principal of Matipo Primary School. This is a very good school with very good standards. We are very well resourced and have excellent facilities. We have a strong staff and have particular strengths in the arts, literacy, numeracy, IT and inquiry learning. Our staff include a dance tutor, a viola player, two children’s authors, a singer, an astronomer and several very enthusiastic band members.

In 2008, 92% of children right across the school were reading at or above their chronological age. (The national average is 74-80%). We were delighted with this achievement. I am really proud of our children. They are collectively really nice kids. They get on well together and they work well. There are strong, positive relationships with teachers. On trips internationally, locally and to sports exchanges, they have never let me down. The children are confident and by and large, socially mature. As parents, you too should be proud of them.

Our school puts an emphasis on formality and routine, structure and expectation and plenty of proactive intervention. We are a strongly child centered school. We have approximately 15 intervention programmes for children who have learning issues plus a behavior intervention programme, a support worker and a Resource Teacher of Learning & Behaviour.

Children can learn violin, guitar, drums, keyboard and brass instruments. We have coached sports at lunchtimes plus about seven lunchtime clubs. Additionally, senior and middle classes get taught Spanish language and we offer a school wide Samoan language class.

In 2009 we are trying very hard to minimize financial demands on parents so are offering no costly trips and are trying hard to attract free performances at school. We have also created a trip subsidy fund to subsidize the cost of out-of-school trips.

I believe we offer really great opportunities to all our children and have created a very positive learning environment.
We are proud to exceed your expectations of a primary school and look forward to continuing to meet and grow the educational, sporting and cultural aspirations of your children.

Kia toa
Kia manawanui
Kia kaha
Kind regards

Wayne Bainbridge

Apart from plain common sense, much has been said and written about the power of positive thinking – Dale Carniegie, Norman Peale, even Forest Gump to name a few.

There is a strong metaphysical school that links positive thinking with the ability to self heal – Louise Hay writes strongly about this link. Alternative cancer treatments suggest visualisation and various positive karmas to cure cancer.

Many influential thinkers and leaders of the 20th century are living testimony to the power of positive thinking to overcome adversary eg: Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King.

Positive thinking is a lifestyle choice, it is a personal philosophy choice, it is both a physically and mentally healthy choice, it becomes habitual and it promotes a far more fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable life and career as well as guaranteeing more meaningful and happy relationships.

Sports psychology, business mentors and various forms of counselling all promote the value of positive thinking – identifying, accentuation, duplication and enhancing the positive things in people’s lives. It is focusing and dwelling on the good points of self-image and self-esteem, the good things happening in your life and looking for the good in others.

It is about looking for and maximising the positive qualities and features in the people we mix or work with. It is about looking at the positive qualities and values of our partner rather then dwelling on the negative. It is about what we can do rather then what we can’t. It is about our friend’s good points rather then their failings and as teachers, what is good and positive about our children and our school rather than the opposite. It is sometimes easier to see the failings and faults in people and systems by focusing on the narrow and the specific rather then looking at a wider picture.

Developing a habit of positive thinking involves the concept of ‘will’. ‘Will’ is the capacity to choose among alternative choices particularly when; definite ideas and principals of conduct govern the action. Willed behaviour is deliberately aimed rather then stemming from instinct, impulse, or reflex. ‘Will’ dominates every other aspect of an individual’s personality, knowledge, feelings and direction in life.

Philosophers see ‘will’ in different lights but the great pragmatic philosopher John Dewy sees ‘will’ not as an innate faculty but as a product of experience evolving gradually as the mind and personality of an individual develop in social interaction.

People with weak wills, will have difficulty embracing the concept of positive thinking and its consequential effects on the pursuit of happiness. Serial killers are notable for being loners with low self-esteem, poor social interaction skills and an incapacity to resist impulses or break habits.

Modern psychologists see the act of ‘willing’ as being manifested by:
a) Focusing on relatively distance goals and relatively abstract standards and principles of conduct – a global, generalist view.
b) Weighing up options and making careful calculations rather then quick, judgemental decisions.
c) Perseverance against obstacles and frustration’s in pursuit of goals and values.

Common deficiencies that prevent the development of strong will are absence of goals and standards (aimlessness), vacillating attention, incapacity to resist impulses, inability to forward plan, stick to a decision or decide among alternatives.

My premise is that positive thinking is a deliberate learned behaviour – it may be harder for some people then for others depending on the development of their personalities which is governed by their experiences. People who have suffered hardship, trauma, loss or accident are more likely to recognise and practice the concept of positive thinking.

The converse is a focus on the negative – what’s wrong with your life, your children, your partner, your friends, your job, your work place. Louise Hay argues that with extreme pre-occupation, comes a compulsion to blame – always someone else.

Negativity leads to the development of a pessimistic outlook on life, work and people. Negativity often manifests itself in complaining ceaselessly, sulking, moping, being bored, easily distracted, being re-active rather then pro-active and responding emotively rather then rationally. Whining becomes an art form.

There is an interesting contrast between the Warriors Rugby League team, (how do your know the Warriors have arrived in Sydney? The whine continues after the jet engines have been turned off), and the ‘Black Caps’ Cricket team. For the Warriors it is always the fault of the referee, the linesman, the video referee, the judiciary, the travelling, the coach, the contracts etc. For the World Cup Cricket team, there has been a quiet acceptance of their weaknesses and a positive belief in their strengths and abilities. When they lost, they didn’t blame the weather, the umpires or their mothers! They accepted they hadn’t played well and determined a will to do better and articulated a positive belief in their abilities and the outcome.

My conclusion is to strongly suggest that a focus on the positive rather then the negative makes you a happier, healthier person. It enhances your outlook and your relationships. It can become a learned behaviour but requires a focused will to change. A simple question to pose is whether you prefer to be in the company of positive, outward going people or negative, inhibited people. Try and look at the positive in children, colleagues, friends, and systems and focus and accentuate on the positive while trying to minimise or overlook the negative. At the very least, look at the negatives in the wider context of the whole scenario, the wider picture and the full story. Enjoy life to the full for it is a very finite condition and look at any school problems in the wider context of life. You will find they pail into insignificance.

Some Related Points

1. Positive thinking is a deliberate lifestyle choice.

2. Take a deep breath, count to ten and respond in a rational not an emotive way.

3. Don’t let trivial, minor things cause concern – look at the wider picture, the full context.

4. Assign ownership to stress and sources of stress.

5. Accept yourself. Look for the positive in yourself – list your positive points. Enhance these; work on your weaker points.

6. Accept others. Look for things to like about them rather than dislike.

7. Be honest with yourself, your maker, and with others.

The Columbine High School massacre has focused attention on identification and provision for children at risk.

Realistic observers can not help but observe that our youth culture has major problems. Many causes are blamed – television violence, the breakdown of the family, societal changes etc, and many reports, indeed gabfests, commissioned. Many an academic and professional career will be launched on the tragedy of Columbine.

An encouraging international trend is a recognition of the importance of early identification programmes for child mental health. The evidence in favour of early intervention is almost universal – the question is what form.

A Christchurch longitudinal study at the Christchurch School of Medicine (David Fergusson) has gathered data on 1275 children born in a four month period in 1977 and tracked the group since then. The study is acclaimed worldwide and is used to strongly advocate for early intervention. Says Fergusson “by age 7 or 8 you have enough information to make a prognosis.” Factors impacting on child mental health included social and economic disadvantage, impaired parenting, especially poor monitoring of children (the parents of the Columbine killers had absolutely no idea of their children’s demeanour or behaviour), inconsistent discipline, abuse, high levels of family conflict, high levels of mental disorder in parents, poor peer relationships and other individual factors. However, the study cautions against basing early intervention programmes based on any one factor. “Where the truth lies is not in the isolation of any one risk factor, but in the accumulation and patterning of risk factors.” The Christchurch study concluded that up to 15% of adolescents have mental health problems.

Patrick McGorry – Professor of Psychiatry at Melbourne University talks of a rising tide of mental disorders showing up in increased violence and youth suicide (New Zealand – highest in the world, Australia 4th). He sees the causes as being sociological and sociopolitical.

The adult world now is more competitive and less forgiving.
Jobs are more fluid and less accessible.
Families are less stable.
Communities are more urbanised and less subsistant.
There is higher material needs and pressures
Puberty is earlier

Mental disorders and disruptive anti-social behaviour have high instances of overlap. Some studies show depressive illness occurs in up to 7% of youths by age 15 and 15% by age 18 and depression can now be identified as the major predictor of youth suicide.

Some significant (but worrying) implications come from early intervention research. Professor Mark Fraser (University of North Carolina) observes a child who is aggressive at age 5 years, was equally or more likely to be aggressive at age 10 years and that poor school achievement at age 10 is a predictor of delinquency at later ages. He believes the combination of aggression and rejection by popular peers as the most “potent combination” (studies of serial killers would confirm this opinion).

Anne Williams – Adelaide Women & Children’s Hospital, also believes many warning signs appear in early childhood – “What you can measure at age one you can measure at age five.” Babies with insecure bonding often have relationship difficulties and peer problems later in life. (An interesting sideline to her research is that while maternal postnatal depression can cause behaviour and learning problems for boys, girls are immune. She speculates that girls many internalise feelings which later emerge as adolescent eating disorders and depression which effects more girls then boys).

A University of Queensland researcher, Margaret McFarland, studied detection of mental health problems in primary schools and found that because of the close and holistic nature of primary teaching, teachers were aware of potential at-risk children but for various reasons decide not to intervene (the process, the stress, the risk, the lack of resources).

David Fergusson agrees, “many children with problems are well recognised by their teachers, parents and peers by age 8. The problem is not so much in terms of recognition, but in a lack of response to the recognition.”

At Matipo School we articulate that we are a child centred school dedicated to children. We articulate that we advocate for children and that we cater to the whole child.

I concede that we haven’t catered to some of our children as well as we could have. We advocate strongly for our children in terms of resources, special needs, and some aspects of child protection and care. We try hard in the provision of a good quality balanced education. However, for other children we have been guilty of taking the easy option of doing nothing, of putting it in that too hard basket, for the reasons stated above – it’s too time consuming, too frustrating, there is a lack of responsive agencies, we buy a fight with parents and there is too much risk.

I would like to think that we could do better and make a more sincere commitment to our mission statement and to our children. We need to provide some compensatory intervention to children at risk of poor care, mental health disorders and varieties of emotive behaviour. We need to be aware of the warning signs:

Aggressive behaviour
Depression
Withdrawal
Poor peer relationships
Anti-social or deviant behaviour
Abuse
Family conflict/trauma
Socio-economic factors impacting on adequate care and hygiene
Effective parenting difficulties
Known parent factors – alcoholism, mental disorders

Where there is a combination of these factors or serious concern of one factor, the situation should be referred to the principal to investigate possible causes of action. Referral to Public Health Nurse and C.Y.P.S. are obvious options.

We are taking part in a pilot programme involving a social worker/counsellor internship with Unitech. The principal has access to funding and other sources for food, clothing and medical attention. I am going to establish a part time “field worker” position to work with a small group of “at risk” children (with care deprivation problems) and hopefully with their parents. The task will be to establish a rapport and trusting relationship with the children, to complete a needs analysis, to give the children reinforcement and security of their worth and to address basic caring issues. Hopefully, successful contact can be made with the parents to offer support and if necessary to put them in touch with supportive agencies.

At the same time our intern counsellor will work with cases referred on from our field worker or directly from the principal and if necessary cases will be referred on to outside agencies (see flow diagram).

The bottom line is that I intend to be more pro-active in trying to provide an early identification of children at risk and trying to do something about it. I have avoided the school being involved in child protection and social work provision but the harsh conclusion is that if we don’t do it, no one will, and we will have failed our children. Neither this school, nor society, can continue to look the other way.

Teacher Concern Parent Concern

Principal

Field Worker

Counsellor

Other Agencies*

* Other Agencies May Include: Public Health Nurse, Special Education Service, C.Y.P.F.S., Glenburn, Lawyer, Presbyterian Support.