Posted by: PPTAweb
on 24, Aug, 2012
Tagged in:
teaching ,
teachers ,
student achievement ,
social disadvantage ,
schools ,
Office of the Auditor General ,
OAG ,
NCEA ,
Maori achievement ,
evidence ,
ERO ,
equity ,
Education Review Office ,
education politics ,
education policy
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has announced a 5 year foray into Māori education.
"School visits for education performance inquiry
Radio NZ, 22 August 2012
About 30 schools are to get a visit from from the Auditor-General's office, as part of a new drive to make regular checks on how well the education system is supporting Maori students." |
It seems the OAG has spare resources and is looking for work. The OAG document "Education for Maori: Context for our proposed audit work until 2017" is a document of somewhat selective references. It has a five year plan for this and a very very select group of advisors.
But why is the OAG duplicating work in an area that another statutory body is responsible for? It seems a wasteful duplication and use of the financial and human resources of government and schools.
The Education Review Office is set up specifically to evaluate and report on the education and care of students in schools and early childhood services.
Within the Education Review office the leadership team have extensive education experience and qualifications including in the area of Maori education.
"The Education Review Office (ERO) plays a valuable role as an agency for change in the education system. ERO has a quite specific legislative role – to review and report on the performance of schools and early childhood services. Increasingly, however, ERO regards its institutional reviews and national evaluation reports as levers for system change. ERO’s findings are used by services, schools, the Ministry of Education, and other policy agencies."
Posted by: Cynic
on 11, Jul, 2012
Posted by: Cynic
on 23, Jul, 2010
In 2005 ERO came up with the 20% gap - no data, no proof, no evidence. In nearly every government and education press release since then you will find this expanded myth - that teachers and schools are "failing 1 in 5" students.
Now ERO are re-using the 20% in their latest report - this is not a fact but a convenient reusable guesstimate:
"As a result, little statistical data is provided in this report. Schools are evaluated against highly variable contexts in terms of the different proportions of students with high needs they have and the range of needs these students may exhibit."(p.12)
How can ERO bring about change and improvement in the sector when their strategy appears so negatively focused on blame and bringing schools and teaching into disrepute. A strategy that values teachers, values schools, and aims to work together to improve one of the better functioning education systems in the world, would surely be better placed to promote successful learning. Together we can make it the best education system for all students.
A strategy that says there are schools that are fabulous role models, we will work out why, perhaps parts of their model will work elsewhere. There are schools not coping, we will resource them to investigate why and work together to improve learning opportunities for students, teachers and school communities.
NAH way too hard - let's drive up the crises, let's diss the teachers, diss the schools, and put the jackals out to feed on the bones of an education system that was doing reasonably well but nobody wanted to defend.
Posted by: blogger
on 14, Aug, 2009
By The Flying Pig
Has anyone else noticed how much school property money goes into flash administration blocks these days?
You arrive at a school and are greeted by a receptionist behind a huge counter in a spacious area with soft couches, huge pot plants and a groaning cups cupboard. This admin area can be miles from the rest of the school, and sometimes without even an internal connection between it and the rest of the school.
