Tags >> secondary schools
Posted by: Flying Pig
on 05, Dec, 2011
Some teachers seem to have got their knickers in a twist about the circular from NZQA about the changes to external moderation for next year. They seem to think that it's going to add to their workload.
How wrong could they be? How could a few teachers in a school having to collect a sample of every piece of assessment work for one or two students chosen by NZQA possibly be more work than every subject having to randomly choose eight students and collect their work for maybe two or three standards at each level and send it off? 500 students across about 400 secondary schools will mean that some schools don't even get sampled!
PPTA fought for a reduction in the 10% random sample for an agreement rate because it made no sense. Political polls don't sample 10% of the population to find out what people think! NZQA has delivered on this, so let's celebrate that.
Posted by: PPTAweb
on 23, Nov, 2011
Tagged in: Tomorrow's Schools , teaching , teachers , students , student achievement , secondary schools , public education , professional learning and development , National Party Education Policy , Mrs Tolley , league tables , elections , education politics , Christchurch schools , Anne Tolley
Dear Anne
I have just read your party education policy. This letter is written in disappointment that National Party education policy can so blithely ignore the best evidence in education research and policy, and dismay that you appear not to have heard the education hopes, dreams and aspirations that teachers have for their students.
National takes credit for all improvements in the education sector over the past three years; some achievements - such as retention rates in school, are unlikely to have been influenced by National education policy, others are simply manipulations such as 'employed 1600 more teachers"; shuffling funding from one education area to another doesn't double it; league tables encourage some particularly unpleasant uncooperative competitive behaviours so how on earth can your policy blithely state "ensure schools make the most of their facilities and resources and they collaborate rather than compete with each other" or does this only apply to Canterbury?
We'd like you to know that all actual improvements in the secondary education sector can be attributed to school communities, the hard work of parents, boards, students, teachers and, most importantly, quality teaching.
Posted by: PPTAweb
on 08, Nov, 2011
 "Can head shape determine chances of business success? gu.com/p/33499/tw"@PPTAWeb tweeted.
Nothing much to do with education - but everything to do with stereotypes and, of course, what is published under the heading 'research'.
The trigger was the ongoing conversation in this office about stereotypes: gender, age, ability, ethnicity, technological prowess, looks i.e. physical characteristics (eye of the beholder of course) ... good schools, bad schools, good teachers, bad teachers, unions .... got the picture?
Posted by: PPTAweb
on 31, Oct, 2011
Tagged in: unions , teaching , teachers , students , student achievement , secondary schools , schools , public education , professional , profession , PPTA , parliament , education politics
I described PPTA as being 'apolitical' recently and then immediately thought "oops don't think I used the right word", Kevin Bunker (PPTA General Secretary) always carefully describes PPTA "as not supporting any particular political party". So to Wikipedia I turned
"The state or quality of being apolitical can be the apathy and/or the antipathy towards all political affiliations. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased position in regard to political matters."
Wiktionary took it further
Posted by: PPTAweb
on 25, Oct, 2011
Tagged in: unions , teaching , teachers , students , secondary schools , public education , professional , profession , PPTA , elections , education spending , education politics , conditions , collective agreement
Decisions are made by those who make themselves heard ... and those who vote
Not only is it election time where, next month, we get to have our say on what the future of New Zealand will look like and under whose leadership; but over the next fortnight secondary teachers will have the opportunity to vote on the leadership of PPTA. There are two nominations for president and three nominations for junior vice president (JVP).
There is a saying around elections along the lines of "we get what we deserve" - i.e if you don't vote you'll just have to put up with the result!
The leadership of PPTA, an incredibly important voice for teachers and public education, is too important to leave to chance.
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