Pasifika principal says National Standards won't help under-achievers

BY SIMON EDWARDS

Money and effort spent implementing National Standards would be better used directly helping pupils who are struggling, as well as bringing parents into the loop.

The vice-president of the New Zealand Pasifika Principals Association, Iosua Esera, says it's "foolhardy to suggest the National Standards will dock the tail of underachievers" when there's no additional resources injected to intervene.

In a paper prepared for the association, the principal of Petone Central School says there is a real risk some schools will focus teaching on meeting the standards, turning to "rote learning, deficit pedagogies and test-driven curriculum", rather than meeting students' wider learning needs.

He holds a Master of Education  Merit, but says his primary and secondary education in Samoa was under a system where teachers gained better pay according to how many pupils met standards under a strict national testing regime. It meant the "demise" of formal education for many young Samoans, Mr Esera says.

"The quality of education was very questionable and I would not like to repeat that."

Mr Esera is not a principal who talks of boycotting the standards and believes the vast majority of Hutt Valley schools are running with them. He even sees some advantages.

Under the assessments Petone Central School was already using, he'd get feedback on pupils' achievement levels in February and late in the school year.

"It's positive that I now get to know where our children are at mid-year," he told the Hutt News last week.

Schools now have to provide two reports a year to parents of pupils aged five to 12, written in plain language and indicating whether they are at, above, below or well below national benchmarks in reading, writing and maths.

Mr Esera says the more detailed reports can be a useful wake-up call to parents. "There's value there. It can be a way for us to engage parents constructively.

Teachers are becoming aware parents are more than just fundraisers for the school; if you engage them in their child's learning progress, it can make a real difference."

But his assessment overall is that National Standards are politically amped and won't help the 20 per cent of pupils already identified as under-achievers by existing assessment tools.

He says 24 years work as a principal in New Zealand tells him there are schools which need "a boot up the proverbial end" to make changes to improve outcomes for Pasifika students, but the fact is the high representation of Maori and Pasifika students in the 20 per cent "tail" also has much to do with their background of low income, poor housing and poor health.

Asked what he'd do if he was in charge of education funding, Mr Esera says he'd make more money available to schools to engage with parents, and teacher professional development.

For many Pasifika and Maori parents, their own English language skills are "not so good". They feel unable to help their children with reading, writing and maths.

Their own experiences at school may have been dreadful, so they're fearful about coming to talk to a principal or teacher.

"Where we could make some gains is bringing in the parents and saying 'this is how we do the reading; you should listen for this and this is what you look out for.

If we provide some support to coach parents fearful of maths and give them information, they have more tools to support their children's learning."

The Ministry of Education has some liaison programmes along these lines but they're limited. Mr Esera says schools like his could better use the money directly.

More than 60 per cent of Petone Central's roll is Maori and 20 per cent is Samoan. A high proportion of teaching is in te reo and Samoan.

To those who say it would be better to teach in English, because proficiency in that language is what's needed to gain good jobs later, Mr Esera says language and learning "is a reciprocal relationship".

"If you don't have the language, you don't learn. Learn in the language you are comfortable with and later on you'll find it easier to pick up a second language."

Being bilingual has known cognitive benefits, and teaching in the language of pupils' parents also has social and cultural dividends.

Some pupils who struggle with learning in English, and who are also denied the chance to learn in te reo or Samoan, end up totally turned off school, he says.

"That's why there are so many disconnected youths.

When they fail at school they can't properly function in society. If the system denies them the opportunity to learn even in their own language, they end up in a situation where they don't feel able to take part even in Maori or Pasifika [events]."

- Hutt News