"NI schools are good at attaining exam results but poor at
promoting thinking." Discuss .
A really wide ranging discussion this week which touched on the
issues of selection, streaming, differentiation, thinking skills, active learning,
assessment, parental involvement and multiple intelligences.
Chats shouldn’t really be so wide ranging but the *facilitator*
decided on a change of tact this week and opted for a “free-for-all” approach
to discussion management which may have to be reviewed before the next #NIedchat.
With regard to selection it was felt that Primary Schools
felt under pressure to prepare pupils for the transfer test to the detriment of other learning activities. If primary schools
refused then parents would take their children elsewhere. It was mentioned that
some parents were asking questions about school policy on transfer test
preparation as early as the Y1 induction! I was generally held that parents
expect selection as it is the system they experienced however one participant
remarked on how strange he felt selection was from an outsider’s perspective.
The traditional method of rote learning was next under the
microscope. Rote learning was seen by some participants to have its uses, for
the learning of tables for example however I was interesting that a lot of the
tweets mentioned ideas like active, independent and life-long learning. There
was a big input to this part of the debate from languages teachers and the
general vibe was that in order to be proficient with a language rote learning
would never be enough. The NI Curriculum came in for some praise however it was
remarked that it was having little impact upon practice in some classrooms.
Basically it was felt that it was left to individual teachers whether they
embraced the ethos of the NI Curriculum or not.
The debate veered towards streaming and differentiation. It
was suggested that mixed-ability teaching could help teachers think more about
learning strategies and less about content. There was a lot of support for
streaming by ability although the question was asked as to how this was
different from selection. A debate for another day maybe!
A number of other issues were touched the unfairness of
using exam data to assess the effectiveness of schools. It was generally felt
that there needed to be an overhaul of how education was viewed by the general
public and by government. In closing the group felt that the NI education
system as it stands does not equip our children with many of the skills that
they need.
Tweet of the Week
A system that worships
at the altar of academic selection is always going to be results-led, and not
child centred.
Links
Stimulus Article
The Lazy Teacher’s Handbook
Shared by @amandasalt
Changing Paradigms##
No comments:
Post a Comment