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Theme - Reclaiming the Creative Teacher's 'Voice'!

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Introduction - a few thoughts from the Editors.

What is the point of this newsletter? Why do we bother?

We believe someone has to represent the voice of creative teachers, schools and communities. It is not good enough to wait for the distant 'elites' to provide us with these weeks answers. We all know that, as our fragmented social system crumbles around us, that the 'Emperor has no clothes'. We need to break down this dependency on others and trust that 'ordinary' people, given a chance, know what is required for their schools and children

And as we visit schools we are appalled at the mountain of folders and paperwork that have diverted schools from focusing on teaching and learning. It is all a bit depressing. Principals have been turned into managers continually responding to the latest Ministry edict.

We believe it is time to start a conversation with our communities about want they want for their children? How can we all help students to develop their talents to live in future so different from our past? How can we all contribute to creating a better community? Let's insist that the politicians and their advisers respond to our needs for a change

Education needs to be transformed for a new age of ideas, creativity and continual innovation. This cannot happen if schools are constrained by the Ministry compliance 'straightjackets'. This is the challenge that inspires us, and we hope, many of you?

With this in mind we want our website and newsletter to be at the forefront of this revolution, so, are you with us? Let's know about your thoughts. We would love to hear from you.

'There are three sorts of people, the ones who make the changes, the ones who follow and the others who ask what happened'.

What we have been up to this term.

Wayne is now full time working in the corporate sector to pay for his new house! Bruce, this term, has been assisting a new school develop a vision and teaching beliefs, running TODs , contributing to the development of a middle school, and involved in contributing ideas for a proposed new secondary school for Maori students. What with school reviews and Principal appraisals it has been very exciting term. Let's know if Bruce can be of use to you in 2004. We can at least put you in contact with schools he has worked with. bhammonds@leading-learning.co.nz

We really appreciate those of you who respond to our newsletter. We believe it is through networks, conversations, and 'informed gossip' that new ideas spread.

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What's in this Newsletter.

1. Still waiting for a Vision for our country!
2. What's the Vision for your school?
3. The answer to 'How' is 'Yes'!!!!
4. Three practical books to inspire creative teachers.
5. An apology from the Minister and Ministry - not!
6. A note from Leading-Learning to the Minister.
7. Recent Research; the Ministry discovers the obvious.
8. Passionate teachers / Teachers as 'Artists'.
9. Creative principals are 'Mavericks!'
10. Feedback - we love feedback!

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1. Still waiting for a vision after all this time.

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If human societies are to flourish they need a vision of something better to inspire and unify them. We are at the 'cusp' of a new post industrial society full of new opportunities for those willing to let go of old certainties. How long can we all turn a blind eye to the inequality that is a feature of our current fragmented bureaucratic environment before the system cracks? In this new era of ideas, imagination and innovation (and uncertainty) we all need to learn to play a new game with new rules and strategies. If not, we will follow the once all powerful dinosaurs into extinction. Changes made after a system has failed are always much more painful. Vision and courage will be required at all levels to change - we ought to act now!

As Darwin wrote 'It is not the biggest, the brightest or the best that survive but those who adapt the quickest.'

What is the vision for NZ to thrive in the 21stC?

We like Kevin Roberts visionary ideas www.saatchikevin.com. He writes, 'We don't have a vision (for NZ) and God knows we need one..' His vision for New Zealand is of a country at the 'edge of the world'; the first country to see the new day. The 'creative edge', the 'learning edge' - 'edgy' people - explorers. A country not locked into the traditions of Europe or the corporatism of America. His is a transformational vision, one requiring 'new mindsets for a new millennium'.

'Learning to Dance at the Edge of the World'
Recent NZ novel.

Peter Biggs (of Creative New Zealand) likes the idea of 'living life like an artist' continually improvising. Whatever, a vision has to be worth it spiritually - worth the effort and pain. Not much happens without a dream and more is required than a dream, but the dream must be there first.

In the meantime we wait vainly for our pragmatic politicians to provide a vision to 'glue' our country back together again. Instead, we must look towards ourselves. We are all visionaries in our own lives - we just need to engage with others to develop a vision we can all feel part of. Our newsletter hopefully sows a few seeds!

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2. Do you have a 'vision' for your school?

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A number of schools have used the vision on our site to 'customize' to suit their school: www.leading-learning.co.nz/creating-vision.html

When we work with schools we like to ask the Chairperson, 'What is the vision for 'your' school?' All we are after is a simple phrase or motto that can be transformed into reality in each classroom. We also like to ask,' What are the values that provide a 'moral compass' for the behaviors of teachers as well as students at the school?' Then we ask, 'What are the few key teaching beliefs (no more than 5 or 6) that enable the vision and values to be translated into reality?' Finally we ask, 'How do you know your school is achieving it's vision?' Simple but powerful questions.

Obviously we expect the principal and staff to articulate the above but so should the students and parents in their own words. It is all about alignment - if it is worth it they will join up! A powerful vision is something to say 'yes' to and is more powerful than those endless clear folders! We have helped a score or more schools develop such a simple vision and many others have 'adapted', 'customized', 'morphed', or 'mutated' the example on our site. www.leading-learning.co.nz/creating-vision.html

We invite you to have a look at the vision on our site. If you do, let us know what you think of it, and let us know if we can help you.

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3. The answer to 'How is Yes!'

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This is the title of an interesting new book by Peter Block a business philosopher. Block believes we have become obsessed with a 'how to' mentality with its basis in efficiency and rationality and, in the process, avoiding the more important issue of purpose. Managers who keep their heads down, stick to the rules and get sidetracked in amassing doubtful data and evidence lose their souls and never have the courage to voyage into uncharted waters.

Peter Block challenges us to say 'yes' and then have the faith in our ability 'to work it out as we go along - there are no right answers'. He believes we have the leadership and the ideas within us; all we need to do is to affirm our idealism and let our values guide our actions. Block asks us to 'live like artists', to 'find our voice', 'to choose freedom over safely' and use our combined talents 'to question and confront those who would impose their ideas on us'.

In his book, Block says we have been led for too long by the 'economists' and the 'engineers' and that this has limited our potential. The strategy of the 'economists' and 'engineers' is to control, to set goals and targets, to measure and predict. They love efficiency, competition, standards, performance indicators and feedback. Sounds familiar!!

One voice, Block believes, that has been ignored in the past, is that of the 'artist'. Artists are ideas people and are unhappy in a too ordered world, often feeling like outsiders. They are into personal meaning and depth and seeing things with 'fresh eyes'. Many 'artist' teachers feel like outsiders. Many have left.

A fourth group, Block writes, offers real hope of synthesizing the energy of the 'economists' and 'engineers' and the creativity of the 'artists' - the 'social architects'. An architect combines beauty and practicality; aesthetics and utility, serving the soul as well as the market. 'Social architects', Block believes, work with others to develop common visions and values, integrating in the process individual and collective possibilities. 'Social architects' are concerned with purpose and the realization of the talents of all citizens. As educators we are 'social architects'.

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4. Three great books to help you say 'yes!'

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(1) 'The Passionate Teacher' by Robert Fried. A coordinator for the Coalition of Essential Schools www.essentialschools.org his book is all about doing 'fewer things well' and striving for excellence. It is about the 'importance of passion' and 'depth of engagement'. Full of practical idea to develop a 'creative stance'. Truly inspirational.

(2) 'Smart Schools' by David Perkins. Perkins tells us we now know enough about learning that no student need fail. He talks about a 'use- of- knowledge gap' and the 'everything agenda of school change being an energy vampire'! He focuses on the need to establish 'focused teaching' principles before rushing off into other ideas .Perkin's is worried about 'fragile learning', caused by a desire to cover far too much content. He also believing we should 'do fewer things well'.

(3) 'Methods that Matter' by Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar. Check it out at www.stenhouse.com - an excellent source of teacher orientated books. This is another book that is critical of the imposed agenda that has been pushed on schools. They outline 'six basic 'best practices'' that will be familiar to all creative teachers. Each is expand with practical examples. Lots of 'rich topics'. Very practical - all about rediscovering the 'art' of being a teacher.

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5. An apology from the Minster and the Ministry! Faint chance!

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All over the world educational 'elites', including our Minister, are 'rediscovering' that the classroom teacher is a more powerful influence than the curriculums! We are now being told that teachers need to have high expectations and need to work in partnership with parents and the wider school community! Talk about the power of the blindingly obvious!

The irony is that the Ministry is now on a crusade to save us from being obsessed with curriculum coverage, wasting time checking endless learning objectives and collecting mindless assessment data that was their 'old plan'. Naturally these new development were all part of their 'master plan' - not! The 'engineers' are catching up with the 'artists' teaching in innovative schools where all the creative ideas are to be found.

While all this is welcome what we would rather see is an apology from those in power for taking us down the now discredited market forces track! Something like the below:

Dear schools and teachers (and students and parents)

Since Dr Lockwood Smith and his Ministry advisers picked up on the idea of defining the curriculum into seven learning areas, strands and several hundred learning objectives - all able to be taught tested and reported, we have trying to implement this technocratic dream.

Well it hasn't worked out as planned, in fact the vision has become a bit of a nightmare. We eventually listened to the wise voices coming from the schools and we changed the National Guidelines to help a bit. A t present we are 'stocktaking' the curriculum statements. To be honest, this is a bit of a dilemma because creative schools are doing better by ignoring them. I guess we will eventually come up with a compromise which means we won't lose too much face. Anyway we have people working away on the problem so they are at least busy. Other countries are well ahead of us in this area and we will adapt their ideas as usual.

Because we didn't like the idea of schools working collaboratively sharing ideas, believing that competition was a more important driving force if we were to have efficient schools, we introduced ' self managing schools'. We eventually noticed that schools still liked working together and now we are encouraging this. We seem to have lost a lot of collegiality and cooperation but we are at least taking advantage of this by closing as many small schools as we can for educational reason of course - nothing to do with economics. One day we may realize that these school provided excellent training ground for school principals - that is once we realize that laptops and off site course in leadership don't really work. We haven't really thought too much about the importance of schools preserving a sense of community in NZ but this is not in our national strategy plan. We will learn about this too late I guess.

We have dragged you through School Charters (several models) Strategy Plans, Performance Management, Professional Standards, Targets, all of which, we were told by our management advisers, would sort out inefficient teachers and schools. Well, we all know now that they don't really work but at least lots of contracts were involved. We also know that ERO have been more destructive than helpful - but it did seem a good model at the time! School culture, leadership and the expertise of classroom teachers, our research now tells us, is the key to real change. Why didn't we know this earlier?

As for all those curriculum contracts they all seemed to have been swallowed in what is now called an 'implementation dip' - more a 'black hole'! We were so desperate to be able to show improvement in student learning but the gaps are wider than ever. We've spent a lot of money in the process that could have gone to schools but at least kept a lot of advisers employed.

We sure have dragged you through a lot of things. God knows, we were desperate to find some way to change things without challenging basic assumptions. We have switched from change to change almost as fast as we could read about them. We have gone from one panacea to another .In the process we forgot to consider each change carefully instead we just kept changing while you progressed from skepticism to cynicism, to downright intransigence and boredom. Like you, we have realized too late, that all our compliance requirements have just created an illusion of change. Now we have lot of burnt out teachers and principals, tired of reacting to all the changes and unlikely to listen to our next idea, no matter how good it might be.

What do you feel about us establishing a nationwide 'conversation' to see what it is you think might be useful to try? What sort of vision for education do you and your communities have? We have had our turn and it hasn't worked out, so perhaps our truer role is to support you in your endeavors?

Maybe schools, parents and students are the key to transforming schools? Our role may be to trust people and then help in whatever way we can?

For our complicity in this dismal state of affairs we are sincerely sorry.

The Minister and the Ministry.

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6. A note from the Minister from Leading-Learning

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Dear Minister

The areas that we see as real problems at the moment are:

(1) School working in isolation - not sharing ideas with each other nor their wider communities .Every school for itself!

(2) Schools isolated from other social agencies - this is now painfully obvious to all for students 'at risk'.

(3) The 'transitions' between schools - particularly at year 9. Many students don't show up and others not are 'engaged' if they do.

(4) The difficulty of at least 1/3 of students to cope with traditional fragmented structures and 'mindsets' of secondary schools.

These are issues that your Ministry could sort out? They are all symptoms of an outdated fragmented industrial mentality that results in far too many students 'falling between the cracks'. Too often all we seem to do is blame other without looking at the total 'system'.

These problems ca no longer be laid at the feet of teachers and schools - they require intellectual leadership and courage from our politicians.

Yours faithfully

Leading and Learning.

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7. Ministry research - more rhetoric than reality?

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The back room people at the Ministry have sure been busy!

The '2003 Ministry Report on the Performance of New Zealand Schools' points out the gaps 'they' have allowed to persist in student achievement. Their answer is raising the quality and effectiveness of teaching but what is missing is any appreciation that it is the 'silo mentality' of educational 'system' that is the major problem. To 'engage learners' (a mechanical metaphor best suited to the 'engineers') needs more than rhetoric. The Ministry needs to ask how they can create the conditions to encourage creativity and at the same time remove the structural barriers that restrict school innovation. Some fine words in this report but to engage all our students need some real leadership to establish a range of local experimental schools. This is the post- modern 21stC!

We suggest the Ministry take a look at 'Learning for the 21stC' Report: www.21stCenturySkills.org Why do we need any more research? We know more than we put into practice already!

'Leading -Learning' has also read the three Best Evidence Reports. Quite a task! They remind us of Mark Twain's saying, that if he had more time he would've written less!

We are in full agreement of the executive summary of the Early Foundation Report and the Teaching for Diverse Students. They contain little original material but there findings are in line with the views of innovative teachers and schools. Because it sums up research it misses out on some new thinking.

We are pleased to see that the Teaching Frameworks we have posted on our website www.leading-learning.co.nz/quality-learning.html are inclusive of the research findings. Both reports provide the rationale for the current emphasis on pedagogy that the Ministry is pushing.

The third in the Trilogy, the 'Complexity of Community and Family Influences' is the longest but comes up with obvious conclusions - 'the influence of families/whanau and communities are identified as key levers for quality outcomes for diverse children'. Their implications that 'cross-Ministry collaboration at national, regional and local levels for building on current initiatives need to be explored..' is extremely relevant in this era of gaps between social agencies and 'at risk' children'. The Government could well use the findings of this research to give then the inspiration to give education (and other social agencies) a total make over!

The role of current education structures in limiting innovative ideas, and in turn restricting student's life chances, are noticeably lacking in these reports. Fish, it seems are the last to notice the water!

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8. The Power of the Passionate Teacher/Artist!

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Queensland's 'New Basics' has been the 'Holy Grail' for many NZ teachers. Leading-Learning are enthusiasts for the philosophy behind 'New Basics' and the same for the ideas coming out of Tasmania and elsewhere in the world. There is no shortage of ideas.

Dr. Bob Lingard is a part of the 'New Basics' team. He also has provided evidence that teacher efficacy has a 'powerful and sensationally positive effects on the learner.' He notes, however, that in NZ, the discussion focus is 'more about the influences of the home and not the structures of schools'. One of his criticisms of secondary schooling in NZ, '..is the degree to which it is powered by curriculum, assessment, time bells and other bureaucratic controls and not by responsiveness to students'. Easier to blame others we presume!

We were particularly interested in his picture of an 'expert' teacher which seems to us in conflict with the more 'technocratic' model which we have been pushed into in NZ as a result of the curriculum model.

He describes expert teachers as possessing integrated content knowledge who make lessons uniquely their own, continually changing according to student needs. A key notion, he discusses, is flexibility - they are adept at improvisation, continually monitoring and providing feedback to the learners. Of most interest 'none used written lesson plans but all could easily describe mental plans for their lessons', all their teaching was personalized. Most of they are passionate!!

Wow! This is the image of the teacher as an 'artist' - or 'social architect'. An ideal model of a 21stC teacher. The challenge for principals and the Ministry is to create learning conditions to encourage such teachers. Imagine a school full of such individuals!

Sharing their energy is the key for future educational transformation!

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9. Creative Principals

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Michel Fullan, in his latest book, 'Change Forces with a Vengeance' 2003, indicates that successful leader are not what they seem. A group of 10 selected 'maverick' principals in the UK, principals who had done something dramatic or impressive in their schools - and five in particular who had achieved 'breakthrough results - had six themes in common. They:

(1) 'Crossed the line' and questioned basic assumptions.

(2) Took risks - risking their careers and reputations.

(3) Were creative (but not original) connecting thinking seeking out ideas and making them fit their context.

(4) Made enemies - were stubborn.

(5) Were enterprising - related to the wider environment

(6) Shared leadership

They were also strong on 'holding people accountable' and 'coaching and developing staff'. Fullan comments that some of the less desirable behaviors of these leaders may have arisen because of the inadequacies of the present system. The real answer for transformational leadership, Fullan believes, is to improve that total system. It is about capacity building. We couldn't agree more.

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10. Feedback - we thank all who contact us!

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We have only room for a sample - but we read and reply to them all! We love feedback. Also check out www.fno.org/sept03/covsept.html by Jamie McKenzie for his review of our site. Thanks Jamie. The below are just a few extracts from e-mails:

'I stumbled upon your site... I was overwhelmed to the point of tears. You see I hold many of the philosophies and beliefs that are apparent on your webpage.'
Lora USA

'Just found your newsletter... a real support and encouragement. Creative teachers are dying in Auckland'
Vicky Auck

'Thanks again for inspiring thought provoking and timely newsletter'.
Lorna - British Virgin Islands

Have kept up with your inspirational work and love it. You are an inspiration.
Suzy NZ

Great stuff. I am now emailing it all over the place. It is exciting times and we want to be part of it.'
Jo PN

'Once again thanks for your stimulating thoughts.'
Mervyn UK

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Kai Kaha - have courage. Enjoy the rest of the term.

Bruce and Wayne

Please visit our site now: www.leading-learning.co.nz

And send us an e-mail! We will get back to you. Share your responses or concerns? We have special treat for you next e-zine!