'Vege class' deserves equal care in garden of education

BY PERRY RUSH

OPINION: I hadn't seen Thomas* since he'd left to go to college. I'd been his teacher in intermediate school. He was a tough kid who languished at the bottom of the class in the "basics", but had fiercely competed on the rugby field, led our kapa haka group with authority, and exuded a cocky confidence that charmed everyone.

So, how is college? I inquired.

"I'm leaving," he replied. "Can't stand it."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Well," he began. "You know when you go up to college you have those tests."

"What tests are they?" I asked knowingly.

"Reading, maths and science tests. Well, depending on how well you do on those tests depends on which class you get put in and I got into the vege class."

"The vege class?" I responded.

"It means that you're thick. You get the stink teachers and all you get to do all day is read books."

"And you're thinking of leaving, eh?"

"Yeah, school sucks. It's boring."

In primary school Thomas was a big recipient of taxpayer investment; reading recovery, help from the resource teacher of literacy, one-on-one help from teacher aides, resource teacher of learning and behaviour input: the list was extensive.

His progress in reading and writing was not a good return on the investment. He was not hard-wired for success in literacy. He could not easily make the required links despite many years of excellent teaching. Thomas had strengths - they just weren't the right ones.

Thomas's struggle speaks volumes on the failure of government and schools to innovate approaches to teaching and learning that cater for diverse learners. It is an imperative not helped by the present Government's myopic focus on reading, writing and mathematics. Good schools have a strong focus on the basics but never to the detriment of other areas of potential strength. Legions of successful Kiwis are living testament that there is life beyond literacy and numeracy.

The revised national curriculum is a considered document and lauded internationally. It reflects an attempt to move away from a singular focus on literacy and numeracy which for some causes disillusionment. It builds a challenge for schools that is complex and a conception of pupils as diverse. It does not reflect the industrial model of education we grew up with in which the only pinnacle of success was a career for life that exercised the academic muscle.

We now live in an age that has many pathways to success. Despite this the Government is peddling simplistic beliefs about learning. Central to the argument for more "basics" is the claim that a "tail" exists because schools are not trying hard enough. It follows that if the Government can make schools more accountable with simple external measures like national standards, then everyone will be motivated to pull their socks up.

It is not more of the same that is needed but something entirely different. There are many in that tail that would respond to a different medicine. Shoehorning industrial era education policy into a 21st century curriculum has left many educators cold. The once clear vision for schooling in New Zealand is muddy. A hitherto innovative Education Ministry is shell-shocked and the work to implement the revised curriculum by many of our brightest and bravest school leaders is in danger of being snuffed out before it has begun.

The decision to wait until 2012 before requiring schools to report national standards literacy and numeracy data has, as intended, taken some of the heat out of the growing impasse between government and school leaders.

As national standards are introduced next year, vigilance is required by teachers and parents to avoid losing sight of the revised curriculum and its explicit challenge to ensure schooling supports success for all learners.

For a Government allergic to consultation, the challenge is clear. Deliver education policy that is congruent with the revised national curriculum and resource programmes that diversify the schooling experience, particularly for those children in the tail.

Commitment to the highest possible achievement for all pupils in literacy and numeracy is a goal for all schools, but it should not be the only goal.

* Not his real name

- Perry Rush is principal of Island Bay School.

- © Fairfax NZ News