TheFlippedScientist

In a recent post ,  in response to  a study that found  New Zealand has one of the most unequal education systems in the world ,  NZ Initiative Research Fellow Jenesa Jeram says this focus on inequality in relation to educational achievement can obscure the real gains and improvements some schools and students are making. To more clearly measure any gains in learning in schools, she has in conjunction with t he New Zealand Initiative developed a model that controls for a student’s socioeconomic background (and other factors that might contribute to education outcomes) to estimate the value a school adds to its students. This is an age-old problem in education. If a chemistry class all gets excellences, is that down to the school, the individual Chemistry teacher, the English teacher who taught them how to construct written arguments or the pupils themselves? This does not even consider the influence of parents and the general community. The ...

In recent years parts of the world have become increasingly disconnected, with nationalism increasingly driving many countries' policies, rather than a global perspective. However, is this the best approach when it comes to teaching our learners? As ISTE Global PLN Chair, I would suggest exposing learners to global connections has many inherent advantages. The process of building a classroom beyond national borders builds cultural understanding, communication skills, and knowledge and awareness of the wider world. Additionally, while this approach to learning is not novel, it is reaching a new level of efficacy as technology allows the development of global student collaboration allowing students to tackle a local issue of concern and solve problems with their international peers.  Classrooms tend to focus on knowledge acquisition and are driven by assessment. However, education is more than offering knowledge. It is also about offering skills, opportunities, and instilling em...

One of the common mantras from educational speakers like Sir Ken Robinson is that schools don’t change. That schools are stuck in some dystopian nightmare of a Dickenesque factory which is not keeping up with the demands of the 21st century.  It is true that many things may have remained the same in education but one thing that is new is the amount of data that is being produced in classrooms. We now obsess about data, from providing evidence of learning that has occurred in a classroom to  how our countries stack up in the international PISA rankings.   This data has divided educationalists. In one group lies those who believe that making student performance data accessible leads to teacher accountability and evidence-based teaching allowing improved outcomes for learners. Others reject the use of such data as an overly simplistic approach and not a true reflection of the complexities associated with teaching and learning. They argue that the numbers are often b...

Having moved to Malaysia to teach, I have become more aware of the educational achievements of their close neighbor Singapore. In 1965, Singapore became an independent nation with few natural resources. So the country's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew developed a strategy to develop Singapore's only natural resource - the people of the newly formed state of Singapore. 53 years later, Singapore’s education system is lauded as being one of the best in the world. PISA rankings constantly have the country at the top by a margin as illustrated below.  So with this in mind, surely Singapore must have something to offer the world of teaching. However, it appears few countries are asking just what makes Singapore head of the class. The reasons for this are most likely manifold. Traditionally, Singapore has tended to favor a more teacher-directed instructional approach also known as didactic teaching. That contrasts with the present global preference, at least in W...

In the second week of July, I had the privilege of spending the weekend with some amazing educators from across New Zealand discussing everything from computational thinking to dancing micro-bits as part of inaugural New Zealand Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert hui held in Microsoft's offices in Auckland. Anne Taylor, Teacher Engagement Manager for Microsoft NZ, kicked off the Hui on Saturday morning For those unaware, MIE Experts are part of the  Microsoft Innovative Educator program  who have consistently demonstrated the use of Microsoft Educational applications in innovative ways and who share their knowledge, skills, and expertise with other educators both locally and globally. The efforts on New Zealand's MIEE's are highlighted in the following website:  https://mieexpertsnz.org/ .  The two-day event was organized by MIE Fellows  Nikkie Laing ,  Morgan McKeen ,  Rachel Chisnall  and  Steve Martin  who are a small...

Earlier this month I blogged in response to the keynote of Katherine Birbalsingh made while at the recent ResearchEd conference in Auckland challenging her claim that the only effective way to teach is through employing a primarily teacher-led approach to learning. I received the following response from Ms Birbalsingh. I reflected on the response, as a good Jed'aii must and despite not actually addressing my argument that skills and content need to work in concert, I do concede that in saying in my original post that Ms Birbalsingh advocates for content over skills, I was incorrect as we both agree that both are required as I suggested, although we disagree on the timing on when to teach them. This was further reinforced by my reading of her book the Battlehymn for the Tiger Teacher  which in many parts actually illustrative of what a majority of teachers in New Zealand would actually see as good practice including the teaching of skills explicitly, exactly what I was adv...