Posted by: Cynic
on Mar 10, 2010
Government funding cuts hit the Ministry of Education
First they shuffle the money out of PD into National Standards, and perhaps out of the Behaviour Action Plan/Special Education into Truancy action, now job losses.
Apparently this will mean the Ministry will be more efficient, and less bureaucratic
Possibly the same logic that says cuts to staffing in schools will allow schools more flexibility?
Posted by: Albatross
on Mar 3, 2010
It is interesting that MoE officials have turned to slogans in an effort to sell National Standards.
This is no doubt a response to the dearth of data supporting such a programme.
The current slogan is “The kids can’t wait” As with all good advertising, the sentence is never completed.
Posted by: Observer
on Feb 17, 2010
What’s the real story on this crazy report from the from the rogues gallery that calls itself the inter-party working group.
From the look of the report (available here http://www.act.org.nz) not a lot of working went on and almost zero thinking.
That wouldn’t normally matter because usually MPs on working parties can mitigate their ignorance by drawing on the full resources of the State to provide information.
In this case though, the Ministry of Education wasn’t asked to provide any information to the group – probably because it would have raised some awkward questions about the huge cost of setting up a school anywhere that a parent wants, the expense involved in creating an unqualified bureaucracy to mediate between schools and parents, the difficulties of simply closing a school when there is a whole cohort of students still in it, the cost and traffic problems created by transporting kids all across town and the cost and difficulty of developing a “weighted funding formula based on student need”.
Cost neutral? Hardly.
The report avoids words we all know and understand replacing them with politically correct econospeak. Schools become “providers” or occasionally “institutions”; students are “learners” or “clients”; assessment is “context value added measure” and teachers are “learning brokers”. That’s what we need in the New Zealand education system – more jargon.
Posted by: blogger
on Feb 10, 2010
By Flying Pig
Last month PPTA was notified that the Quality Teaching Partnership Fund (QTPF) will be the latest casualty of cost-cutting at the Ministry of Education.
The QTPF is a fund that has supported the last two subject association forums by covering the cost of accommodation for participants. PPTA also had funding from it for one of our professional conferences.
Posted by: blogger
on Feb 4, 2010
By Winged Avenger
2010 should be all about the NZ curriculum. Instead, the government is determined to railroad teachers into focusing on national standards.
Secondary teachers already know the downsides of too much summative assessment and league tables, both of which are key features of the national standards.
Teachers want to use the NZC as a platform for developing great teaching for diverse learners; parents want plain-English reporting of their kids’ progress. Neither group needs the national standards to achieve these goals.
Posted by: Cynic
on Feb 3, 2010
National standards for patients
The government intends to introduce national standards that will enable patients and concerned observers to compare medical practices online, and potentially identify poorly performing doctors.
This comes after political analysis of a new report revealed 30% of doctors have only a rudimentary understanding of human physiology and inappropriately low expectations, passing up opportunities to motivate and engage patients.
