Tag Archives: Politicians

NAPLAN chaos week.

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NO DISTINGUISHED WRITER THIS SUNDAY.

IT’S NAPLAN RE-FORM WEEK DOWN UNDER AND IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

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The Treehorn Express

A tribute to the poor unfortunate blanket testing victims everywhere.

‘Care for Kids’

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NAPLAN WEEK OF CHAOS

The NAPLAN idol went crazy this week.

 THE TESTS were held, accompanied by the usual array of impacts on children’s learnings: assault on the cognitive domain of learning, induced stress on children, endless weeks of heavy practice, 3 days sweating over statistically invalid tests, suspension of professional ethics, teaching to the test, side-lining of more important aspects of the curriculum, parental worry and concern, indulging in the blame game, reporting of cheating and of leaks of writing topics. The airways were full of advice to mums of little Year 3 kids on how to handle their stress. Nothing unusual. Situation normal. Unreliable twisted results in about five months!

Heaps of money is available for this form of schooling. NAPLAN WEEK was BUDGET WEEK as well. Who’s worried about costs? A small part of cost includes the printing of the test papers: $46 per paper x 1,030,00 victims = $47.5 million. Now starts the marking of the papers….$10 million. We’ll learn the entirely useless scores in five months. Great system of testucation, we have. Needs re-form or replacement with an education system, perhaps?

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 HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

The presentation by Channel 7’s TODAY TONIGHT was exceptional. It featured Kimberley College on the outskirts of Brisbane. This is a world-renowned school that emphasises LEARNING through its curriculum patterns adapted from de Bono’s lateral thinking techniques. Its multi-age structure supports a cheerful approach to high-level cognitive development. It’s philosophy dismisses the threats to learning that NAPLAN embraces, but it makes arrangements for its 10 NAPLAN contestants whose parents want their children to contest. 140 parents, whose children were ‘expected’ by ACARA to be part of the test cohort, refused.

The TV program featured parents from other schools who are worried about the damage that the testing does, the distress that it causes to emotional develoment and the impact on enrolment possibilities if they wish to send their children to a high-fee private school. It also showed an ACARA officer defending NAPLAN against the growing criticisms of the tests, saying that the scores were useful. It also showed the founders and beneficiaries of the NAPLAN system – Joel Klein and Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert...’the man who has most shaped the world’ as Tony Abbott describes him. Heil.

It’s worth looking at, again. It’s a doozie.

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PRINCIPAL TELLS PARENTS HIS OPINION OF NAPLAN

http://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/1499101/principal-tells-parents-they-can-opt-out-of-naplan/?cs=8

What an amazing state of affairs. The principal of a school tells parents what authorities should be telling them….their children don’t have to sit NAPLAN. He shares his professional opinion with the parents of his school and it makes national headlines. Mentioned on the front page of Sydney’s finest. Extraordinary!!!!?????

What has Australian education come to? Have we sunk so low– that this sort of school business is even mentioned?

[I wonder what support he will get from his colleagues. Will they render support by following suit[e]….or will they sycophantically comply with the politically deliberate cover-up ?]

The issue at stake: The more parents pull out, the more useless the tests become, the quicker they are abandoned, the more the kids return to learning activities, the more money for the Treasurer to transfer to Gonski reforms. Bingo!

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QUEENSLAND WINS AGAIN

The Courier Mail reported on the number of NAPLAN cheating incidents during the 2012 tests. A principal was sacked.

Queensland had already won the award in the previous NAPLAN tests for the most cheating incidents in Australia. [GO QUEENSLAND!] There is no evidence as to who won the A Grade Award for cheating on the widest scale of all :using all sorts of non-learning test-prep devices as much as possible.

Make sure you read the comments.

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WRONG ANSWERS

Keith Williams of Bargara wrote this week about a book “..by David Owen titled ‘None of the Above’. It exposes the SAT as a total sham and nothing’s changed. I’m surprised that Gillard hasn’t followed their lead and charged the kids to sit NAPLAN to help plug her party’s abyss.

I did a quick search to see if anyone has researched the multiple choice answers. From what I’ve seen whoever writes NAPLAN hasn’t got any much of an idea what wrong answer should be. Owen’s book covers this among a lot of other disturbing facts.”

Over to all the holy testucators. Agree? Right wrong answers can be a learning experience, but then…..you are measurers.

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SENATE REPORT

You might recall that a Senate Committee of Inquiry was established in September 2012, following a plea from The Greens, to deal with “Teaching and Learning – maximising our investment in Australian schools”. It was widely representative of states and political parties. Its establishment was not mentioned in public. Controlled Press Silence is still well organised down under. Some [chosen?] institutions and organisations knew of it’s existence, so almost all submissions came from individuals who claimed to represent esteemed groups. Very few submissions came from the chalk face where real teaching and learning operates.

The report was tabled this week in the Senate on 14 May, Not a mention in any form of media. What else?

Its 116 pages are very readable; a tribute to the seven-member secretariat. Don’t anticipate headlines in newspapers any time soon.

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SENATOR PENNY WRIGHT,

disturbed by the Fish Oil, Teddy Bear, Test-prep Booklets and Back-yard Test-prep lessons furore, called for a snap senate inquiry into NAPLAN and it was approved by the Senate. Apparently contributors are protected by parliamentary privilege from the kinds of harassment now being experienced, if they wish to speak their mind.

Check FaceBook:

Link One.

Link Two.

PLEASE SEND YOUR SERIOUS CHILD-CARING COMMENTS ASAP TO:-

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=eet_ctte/naplan_2013/index.htm

or

senator.wright@aph.gov.au

The question now arises : How will all schools be encouraged to tell teachers and parents that there no constraints on expressing their opinion? How will this be arranged? Will the Senate send a notice out to every school in time for the close of responses on 7 June?

In the meantime, please encourage everyone you know to send a comment to senator.wright@aph.gov.au or direct to the senate officers. It will be an enormous shame if every teacher and parent is not informed of the rights and privileges extended to them …..under the present totalitarian regime, too.

If the Terms of Reference seem soft and aimed at maintaining the status quo, still send your own sincere comments. There is a need for a few million hard-hitting responses before the present lot of politicians from all parties will cancel standardised blanket testing. They just don’t understand the words of ‘Care for Kids’

A hint for contributors: Claim chairmanship of an organisation or group or anything e.g. GONSKI SOCIETY [Kumagutsa Branch] – (Guiding Our Nation’s School Kids Intelligently in Kumagutsa) – or something. It helps. A doctorate is also impressive. You could follow the lead of one of the authors of 1066 and All That who claimed to be a B.A.[Failed]……Try Dr.[Failed], UHK..not Hong Kong. More notice will be taken and you are likely to be quoted at length.

I’m being facetious…….

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ALLAN ALACH of Treehorn Express will ensure complete anonymity if you should like to ‘sound off’ about any issue. In Educational Readings May 17 by Allan Alach, you will find that guarantee.

 PLEASE EVERY-BODY. EVERYBODY USE EITHER ALLAN or PENNY’s offers to help get rid of the NAPLAN scourge – completely.

 LET’S HAVE OUR NAPLAN WEEK

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TEACHERS BLOWING WHISTLES

The attached arrived on Friday from a Treehorn reader. I know nothing of its origin. It’s all part of this topsy-turvy NAPLAN week.

http://www.theteachersareblowingtheirwhistles.com/

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POOR KIDS

I received this distressing comment from a reputable consultancy firm that concentrates on helping kids in need.

 ‘Phil. I have spent the week talking to stressed-out kids and their parents. They are coming in pale and exhausted. I have children who are not sleeping. Some kids are having their results of preparatory tests rank ordered and written up in rank order on the whiteboard. One Year Five child told me she was really worried because if she did badly she would not get into a good high school. For the dyslexic and Irlen Syndrome children it is completely impossible to do well on the test.

Every year it gets worse as I see an increasing focus on the preparation for NAPLAN in Term One. The curriculum is tossed out.”

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19 MINUTES OF SIR KEN

To complete a really stunning week, Allan Alach circulated a telling presentation by Sir Ken Robinson. Watch it again…

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WHAT A WEEK

Julia and Peter, and your replacement Chris, are probably proud to continue doing this sort of treatment to young innocent children; and then have the temerity to pat yourselves on the back for the sake of ill-gained useless scores. It’s a political mess that no one dares to tidy up. Maybe Penny…if you write to her. Don’t forget : ‘Care for Kids’

Phil Cullen

Caring for Kids

41 Cominan Avenue

Banora Point 2486

07 552 6443

cphilcullen@bigpond.com

Cross Party Resistance to Charter Schools

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Reposted from Save Our Schools NZ

Introduction.

Yesterday (May 14th) the New Zealand Parliament debated the Education Amendment Bill that will allow for the establishment of charter schools. In this post, Dianne Khan provides an excellent overview of the debate and includes video links of the key speeches from opposition members of Parliament.

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Cross Party Resistance to Charter Schools

 

“Is this change good for education?”  

That’s the question Chris Hipkins tells us to ask ourselves of the proposed charter schools.  And after trawling through mountains of evidence over the past year, I have to say the answer is no.

Like Chris, I believe we should be focused on making sure every student in New Zealand can achieve their potential, in all schools.  We should be raising the bar, focusing on those not achieving their potential, and supporting all of our schools to innovate within and share good practice so that the whole system s brought up and improved further.

Charter schools are not the answer.  They are not about education.  They are not about improving our system.  They do not aim to make things better for all students – not even for all  Maori or Pasifika students.  They are not about collaboration and the sharing of best practice.

They are about privatising schools, pure and simple.

Chris points out that all evidence is clear that teacher quality is a huge factor in the success of a student, and yet this Bill lowers the bar rather than raising it.  Last year the government were saying all teachers needed a Masters Degree – now, apparently, a teacher can be anyone, with no training whatsoever.  Why the change?  It’s simple – the government will say anything to attack teachers, but suddenly change tack when it comes to “private, profit-making institutions”.

Chris’s speech in full is here and raises many issues with charter schools that people (including many teachers)  may not be aware of.  It’s really worth watching.

Catherine Delahunty put it bluntly but correctly, yesterday, when she said “this Bill is ridiculous and it is also quite sick”, going on to point out that it allows for children to be used in an experiment that evidence shows to work very poorly for minority groups.

Catherine pointed out the obvious that when parents in poor families are working very long hours to bring in a pitiful wage, there isn’t a whole lot of time left to help with a child’s education.  Little time to give a hand with homework.  Not much spare to buy computers so kids can work at home.  Nothing left for school donations.

Poverty is a key factor in poor education achievement, as recognised by the OECD, and yet nothing has been done to address that important issue.  While families are facing inequality on the level New Zealand sees, there will always be inequality in education, too.

Why does government not tackle poverty? … Maybe because it doesn’t make businesses any money?

What this Bill is really about is privatisation for the benefit of businesses and corporates, some of whom are not even Maori, Pasifika or Kiwi.  If it were about helping all kids succeed, then ALL schools would be given the same freedoms.

Metiria Turei challenged National and ACT politicians to send their children to a charter school.

They probably would, to be honest.  Not yet, but in the long run.  Because once the pretence of charters being for the poor kids, the brown kids, the lower achieving kids,  is over, the truth is we will see charters appearing for wealthy kids, essentially providing publicly-funded private schools with no accountability.

Be very clear: This is not about the ‘long tail of underachievement’- it is a sneaky and underhand way of bringing in private schools that public money pays for, and in the end those schools will be for wealthy kids.

Tracey Martin gave an outstanding speech, too, outlining why this Bill makes a mockery of the submissions process and democracy  Many on the panel choose to ignore expert and popular opinion, instead listening with deaf ears and closed minds, following an ideology that they were predetermined to accept no matter what.

This is New Zealand under this government – they forge ahead in favour of only themselves and businesses.

Tracey pointed out that Maoridom is not in favour of charter schools.  Submissions from Maori were overwhelmingly against.

She pleads and I plead with Maori and Pasifika people to contact their MPs and tell them how you feel.

Even if you do want charters, make sure you tell them what boundaries you expect, what support, what oversight.

If you do not want them, speak up now, because time is running out, and the Maori Party is about to sell you down the river.

Sue Moroney hit the nail on the head when she said “Our kids are being used as guinea pigs,” saying that it wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t already know from the evidence that charter schools do not work.  She asked why the select committee ignored the concerns of Nga Tahu, who do not want charter schools.  She asked why the children of Christchurch are being used in this experiment when they are already in the middle of upheaval and stress.

Why indeed.

Nanaia Mahuta acknowledged the thousands of parents, teachers and others who took the time to make submissions to the select committee.

With over 2000 submissions, just over 70 were for charters, about 30 had no opinion, and the rest were against.  Just read that again:  The Rest Were Against.  And those against came from all quarters, from professors and parents, from teachers and students, and from iwi.

Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA, said charters ”represent a direct attack on kura kaupapa Māori, and on public education generally,” pointing out that  ”successive governments have starved kura kaupapa of funding from the get-go, [yet] they remain one of the most successful educational initiatives for Maori by Māori, in the last 100 years.”   Like many observers, he is aghast at the Maori Party for supporting charter school proposals, saying “The Maori Party should be ashamed for turning their backs on everything that kura kaupapa Maori stands for.”  Source.

So let me close by asking you this.

Who does support charter schools?  And why?

Ask yourself that, and really think about it.  Not on political party lines, but as a Kiwi.

Ask yourself what the motivation for charter schools really is.

Ask “Is this change good for education?”  

~Dianne Khan

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EDUCATION LOBBYING in AUSTRALIA?

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by Phil Cullen

Some forms of lobbying are underground operations. A lobbyist can influence decisions of governments by targeting government advisors and legislators, without their target realising that the new contact has a special subterranean purpose.

Lobbying is big business in Australia. There are said to be over 4000 lobbyists working full time trying to influence the directions of public policy. There are 293 lobby companies on the official register http://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/who_register.cfm as well as 600+ individual recognised lobbyists for hire, and part-time ‘in-house’ lobbyists attached to firms and companies. There are also ‘interest’ group members who represent groups and organisations with special needs. It is a big, big, busy, complicated industry. The way that it operates on the schooling industry in Australia is worthy of systematic empirical study.

When one speculates how educational innovations that have clearly failed in America could possibly be copied by Australian federal and state departments of education, there is small need to wonder too much how it all happened. One would be very naive to accept that vested interests have not been at work and that ‘someone’ close to a state or federal Minster has not been subterraneanously ‘worked over’.

Take charter schools. The value of these to publishing companies, school management consultants and school management firms is enormous. White Hat Management, which runs 33 schools in the US is the largest for-profit charter operator and ‘has been under fire for poor performance’. Apart from full-time lobbyists, it pays a few million dollars to political campaigns to maintain a presence in the money-making education industry. In spite of all the evidence provided about the usefulness of ‘charter’ schools or ‘private-public’ schools or what ever disguise is used, charter schools are part of the landscape in some states of Australia. The movement represents conquests by testing business lobbyists over good sense, and confirms the adage: ”If something fails in the USA, we copy it.”

It would be extremely naive to believe that Rupert Murdoch and his mega-test-publishing company and his off-sider Joel Klein did not establish the way that Australian schools are now run and manipulated. We are now in place, a large warehouse; part of his empire.

Sucker jurisdictions can be so easily manipulated and the fancies of their operatives’ belief-systems easily controlled, so that they believe that such gimmicks are for the ‘common good’. There has never been any push from any group of education professionals, over the past few decades, for schools to reform. Schooling as we know it, has its origins in New York and any proposed changes are US based and purely political. NAPLAN itself is an example.

The value of these chartered corporate out-stations to Murdoch and Pearson on the Australia scene is in quick access for their products. Red tape takes time and professionally-based government scrutiny can be slow. Underground lobbying then establishes itself within these ‘autonomous’ schools. They are part of the plan.

Performance pay for those who produce the better test results is another example of the subtleties of control over the maintenance of SBTs [Standardised Blanket Tests] in school settings.

Gene Glass, highly reputed world educator, says that he is seeing the fingerprints of education companies on public policy in ways that “would curl your hair”.

“The corporations just woke up a few years ago to the billions and billions of dollars that exist in public education, and they decided to go for it. The incredible thing is how easy it is.”

There is little doubt that the effects of lobbying in Australia have been profound. It has been a fertile field. How else can the so-called ‘reform’ movement be explained? Australian educators, not allowed to pursue original thoughts, are easy prey to the lobbying of the politically-aligned measuring and publishing and on-line providers. Their lobbyists are good at their job, even though they don’t have to be.

One of their methods is to create minor companies ‘with neat-sounding names’ that peddle educational goodies. There’s the ‘Foundation for Excellence in Education’, established by Jeb Bush that is connected to companies such as Amplify, Charter Schools USA, K12 Inc., McGraw-Hill Education, Microsoft, and Pearson Education. It was involved in writing legislation for Florida that meant a $250 million contract for Pearson Education.

Connection Education, now owned by Pearson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_Education employs folk who are part of ALEC, a task-force that writes legislation for state governments. There is a tendency for legislators to use such companies because they are unfamiliar with cutting-edge technologies and they know that IT is an emerging component of future modes of schooling. We will surely end up with something that has a profit-base.

An organisation called K-12 Inc is an enormous company with deep pockets http://www.pearsoned.com/press-room/. It has spent $6 million on federal lobbying. It has a partnership with Connections. Connections Education had 99 lobbyists on the payroll from 2002 to 2011. The K-12/ Connections partnership works with a number of volunteer organisations to support their legitimacy. Such companies have openly stated that they will “…protect their investment by influencing the process.”

The workings of lobby groups in Australia are complicated and obtuse; and are as ‘hair curling’ as they are in the USA. The maintenance of a Klein system of schooling is a tribute to lobbying operations. A launch-pad for further study of how lobbying is undertaken down-under is contained in this article supplied by Bruce Jones :

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/24/29ii-politicalpower.h32.html

Bruce concludes : “We’ll wake up when it is too late I guess.”

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Phil Cullen AM

41 Cominan avenue

Banora Point 2486

07 5524 6443

cphilcullen@bigpond.com

Educational Readings May 3rd.

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By Allan Alach

Testing is pretty much dominating the educational scene in Australia as the time approaches for their poor kids to be ‘naplanned.’ Good luck kids. Sorry you have to go through this.

If it’s any help, you may be interested to know what your Minister of Education, Peter Garrett, thinks about you and your parents’ rights.

https://treehornexpress.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/parents-are-stupid-people/

Hard (impossible?) to believe he used to be the singer of Midnight Oil, a politically minded rock band. Hypocrisy then, or now, Peter? One or the other, mate – you can’t have it both ways. Guess there are some rather disillusioned fans out there, not just in Australia.

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

 This week’s homework!

 Problems in American education: let teachers teach.

Letting teachers teach would also solve most problems in New Zealand and Australian education…

http://bit.ly/17ZhkGA

 The Coming Revolution in Public Education

As Bob Dylan wrote: ‘The times they are a’changin…’  Keep fighting against GERM, people. We are winning.

‘It’s always hard to tell for sure exactly when a revolution starts. Is it when a few discontented people gather in a room to discuss how the ruling regime might be opposed? Is it when first shots are fired? When a critical mass forms and the opposition acquires sufficient weight to have a chance of prevailing? I’m not an expert on revolutions, but even I can see that a new one is taking shape in American K-12 public education.’

http://bit.ly/14UBhCz

Education Reform Party is Over — What a Mess!

More of the same.

Some market-driven “reformers,” undoubtedly, are motivated by profits. Mostly, I suspect, it is the egos of the true believers in Big Data that have kept this testing alive. With the help of the best public relation flacks that money can buy, the top corporate “reformers” and the top state and federal accountability hawks might be able to fend off the evidence-driven protests of teachers. But as these testing outrages grow, they will not be able to stop the ridicule. As more of these absurdities are lampooned, we get closer to the endgame chorus of, “Good night, the party’s over.”

http://bit.ly/184vol1

Eighth grader designs standardized test that slams standardized tests

‘A 13-year-old eighth grader in upstate New York woke up on Sunday and decided that it would be funny if she designed a standardized test that made fun of standardized tests.’

http://wapo.st/Y1bvas

Online education is mostly a fantasy

The neo-liberal dream is to replace teachers with online education (e.g the Khan Academy, that Gates has described as the future of education). They dream of rooms of computers with children logged on to their own online ‘teaching’ (indoctrination?) software. No troublesome teachers to worry about, think of the money to be saved and profits to be made. Not so fast, GERMers, maybe you should read this.

http://bit.ly/Yd8Tsk

 Testing, Testing… But Not Teaching

-How standardised classroom tests are producing some frightening outcomes in the US.

‘Migration to Finland however, is not an option for New Zealand teachers. Although many of them would probably share Jerry Conti’s fears about where the undue emphasis on standardised classroom testing is leading us, and the damage it is doing to children’s creativity.’

http://werewolf.co.nz/2013/05/testing-testing-but-not-teaching/

 High-stakes test time for state’s schools

‘Preparations for standardized testing include assemblies, free food, high-tech analyses’

As Bruce Hammonds comments, ‘God help us!’

http://bit.ly/17AoJhh

 

Like an invitation to dinner?

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 Like an invitation to dinner?

Apolitical folk might be interested in this extract from a Get-Up letter. As one of the apolitical great middle, I‘m waiting for a child-respecting political party to promise to stop NAPLAN testing. That’s where my vote is going. Haven’t found any yet. If you are a party member, please tell your party to start thinking seriously about kids and the damage that NAPLAN does to them and to Australia.

If your party says,”NO to NAPLAN” that’s where my vote goes……with many thousands of teachers and their friends.

 Rupert – the sponsor of NAPLAN, which is run for his benefit more than most, was at the dinner described below. He employs Joel Klein who introduced Kleinism [feared-based schooling] to Australia.

And….Don’t forget that Julia ran one of these dinners, funded by bankers, when she brought Joel Klein to Australia. Together, they sure started something!

It’s the way we do things.

 Care for kids. Not enough good people do.

Phil Cullen

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Extract :

It was the most exclusive of events: a glittering $500 minimum per head gala fundraising dinner last week for a right-wing think tank. Tony Abbott, Gina Rinehart and Rupert Mudoch took turns sharing the stage. Andrew Bolt was MC. Tony praised his fellow key-note speakers, especially Rupert, and promised the crowd a “big yes” to many of the think tank’s list of 75 policies to radically transform Australia.

So what, exactly, is on this think tank’s wish list?

  • Public broadcasting – gone. The ABC to be broken up and sold off, SBS to be fully privatised.
  • Corporations to be allowed to make secret payments to political parties.
  • Medicare gone for most Australians.
  • A return to WorkChoices, just by another name.
  • The clean energy fund and the renewable energy target – scrapped.
  • Funding for sport and arts – including the Australian Institute of Sport – axed. Same for science, with the CSIRO to be privatised.

The campaign is funded by exclusive dinners with Australia’s richest people. 

We know that most Australians, including conservative-leaning voters, don’t want to see Medicare wound back, the ABC abolished, help for families scrapped and our environment handed over to Big Mining and run away climate change. Most of us take tremendous pride in Australia’s ethos of equality and a fair go — and believe that fair taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised, prosperous nation, instead of a third-world Banana Republic.

Fortunately, right-wing think tanks aren’t the only ones with an agenda for our future. While their big money donors were busy bidding on the chance to visit Fox news headquarters in America or go behind the scenes of Andrew Bolt’s show, ordinary Australians talk about what matters to us this election. Their visions for our nation couldn’t be more different:

  1. Climate change: expand renewable energy, keep a price on carbon and cut massive public subsidies to fossil fuels.
  2. A humane policy on refugees and asylum seekers.
  3. More funding for education and a high quality education system.
  4. A progressive tax system and effective mining tax.
  5. Stopping the expansion of the coal seam gas industry.

 REMEMBER:

  1. Schools are learning places – not warehouses for the wealthy;
  2.  Standardised Blanket Testing creates fear and discomfort in the classroom; and dislike for fundamentals;
  3.  The exercise of professional ethics in ALL school matters is paramount.

Murky dealings in New Zealand education.

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(Originally posted here)

One of the hidden educational policies leading up to the 2011 New Zealand general election was to introduce charter schools. Well, to be accurate, it was hidden from the general public, as the trail goes back to 2009.

However post election, the National Party, who had retained the largest vote in the election, while falling short of an absolute majority, arranged a coalition arrangement with John Banks, the one-man band ACT party member, which ostensibly included an agreement to implement ACT’s policy of charter schools.

This process has now started in a very underhand and deceitful way, such as implementing establishment processes before the legislation has been passed, and also by the withholding of key information. A complaint was made to the Ombudsman about this and to no-one’s surprise the Ombudsman found that Banks had withheld information without valid reason, including:

‘Charter schools would get money for set up costs and property funding that their private-sector backers would be able to keep if a school folded.’

Excuse me?  Overseas corporates will get paid to set up regimes to enable them to take profits from New Zealand children?  Risk free and taxpayer funded? Like the Warner Bros deal over The Hobbit, with added extras? Heard of the Robertson Foundation?

“The Robertson Foundation is one of the new breed of so-called ‘philanthrocapitalists’, private sector investment funds and trusts that view charity not as altruistic giving, but as just another  business investment opportunity to influence government policy and the delivery of public education. And, to do so by lobbying behind closed doors, completely outside the democratic process.’ 

However the underlying issue isn’t so much as charter schools and shady deals, but the government’s overall education agenda.

There is no problem with New Zealand education, other than those imposed by politicians and the unseen influences behind them.

There wasn’t any problem with New Zealand education in 1987 either, but then, as now, problems were created – a standard disaster capitalism technique, through using or creating a ‘crisis’ to justify privatisation.

National standards have been, and still are, the government’s trump card in justifying ‘reform.’

It is vital to their agenda that these standards are manipulated to show two things: New Zealand schools have been failing to lift ‘achievement’ and that National’s policies since 2009 have started to address this.

Over the last few months a disturbing trend has become apparent. In order to explain this, it is first necessary to review the national standards processes that are in presently in place – apologies if the next section gets technical.

Readers may not be aware that back in 1999, the then Minister of Education, Nick Smith, had signalled, in a never-to-be forgotten and truly mind boggling rant at the NZEI Annual Meeting, that national testing would be developed should National win the 1999 election. Seems a mother he met at the local market had complained about not knowing how her kids were doing at school…

Since National lost the election in 1999, we were spared the testing regime, only for a variation to reappear in 2009. Same agenda, different delivery.

This variation chose to establish ‘national standards’ of achievement in literacy and numeracy for all public school children commencing from the end of the first three years of schooling, and for each level from year 4 onwards. It is has never been explained why these have been deemed as not necessary for private schools and now charter schools.

The very short time frame for the development of national standards, combined with their dubious educational value, resulted in considerable fall out in the Ministry of Education. This led to the departures of many of the key people behind the development of the New Zealand Curriculum, and, presumably, their replacement by more compliant staff.

Recent news about problems within the Ministry is not surprising. Guess there’s a price to pay for demanding adherence to politically imposed and educationally suspect policies.

Given the decision not to test children, the government chose to require all classroom teachers to ‘assess’ each child’s achievement against relevant standards using their ‘overall teacher judgement,’ (OTJ) based on evidence collected over the year, and comparing this with published exemplars – a very time consuming process.  This process was not based on research evidence and has resulted in ‘square peg in round hole’ syndrome that has left New Zealand and international assessment experts rather bemused.

This syndrome has resulted in two predictable problems:

Problem number one: teachers are required to use their judgement (a necessarily subjective process) to rate each child’s achievement for reporting purposes.

This leaves us to the conundrum that teachers have to use a subjective judgement to get an objective outcome.

Problem number two: Since teacher judgements are subjective, then it is necessary for there to be a moderation process, so teachers of similarly aged children in the same school establish some level of consistency with their judgements. Several meetings needed.

So far, so good, and in fact these kind of moderation processes have been used in schools for many years, although not overburdened by sheer volume of national standards.

But….. while teachers of similar class levels can relatively easily moderate judgements, there also has to be moderation with teachers of older and younger classes, so that there is internal consistency throughout the school. More meetings.

Whew, after many meetings, reviewing judgements in reading, writing and mathematics, each school should now be satisfied that the national standards rankings for all children are ‘accurate.’

Not so fast – how can each school be certain that their internal rankings are consistent with neighbouring schools? Or with schools across the country, in city or rural areas?  The impossibility of nationally moderated should be obvious to all but the ideologically blind.

Or is this the case? Are these ideologues really blind to the problems?

How have schools tended to cope with the challenges, both with workload, and with moderation?

Many/most have fallen back to pre-existing tests, developed for diagnostic, not ranking purposes, but which do provide a basis for national comparisons.

STAR (Supplementary Test of Achievement in Reading) was developed by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) over a decade ago, and has recently been upgraded.

Another test, e-asTTle (electronic – assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning – an acronym that helps explain dazed looks in teachers’ eyes) is more recent, and provides for online assessment of reading, writing and mathematics.

Overseas readers will be aware of the issues relating to online testing, but these have yet to impact on New Zealand teachers.

The third test, still widely used, is one familiar to many who have long left primary schooling – the Progressive Achievement Tests (P.A.T.).

This now means that a national test programme is developing by default as schools strive to be as accurate and fair as possible with the assessments of all children’s achievement, and as an inevitable response to workload issues. Teachers don’t have time to spend hours on OTJs and moderation meetings, preferring to put their efforts into planning and teaching. Fair enough.

There’s a very big BUT here. Towards the end of 2012 schools found that their students’ nationally benchmarked scores on these tests had mysteriously jumped, so that the bulk of children were now achieving relevant national standards. A principal of a lower socio-economic school suddenly found that the majority of his school’s pupils were now at the national standards in reading according to STAR results.

Two possible reasons for this: the first being that all schools had now become extremely effective due to the benefits of national standards, while the second, for the more cynical ones amongst us, is that something untoward had happened to the tests.

And this has turned out to be the case. The way test scores are normed has been changed for both STAR and e-assTTle, so that children are now shown as achieving at a higher level. Instant fix.

This then will reflect on school’s national standards results that are submitted to the Ministry of Education, and then published in league tables by the media.

This year’s results will be submitted to the ministry in early 2014, will be available to the media some months before the election and will inevitably be compared to previous years’ results.  Surprise, surprise, national standards results will show that New Zealand schools are now much more effective at raising achievement, just time for the election campaign.

Is that rat starting to smell yet? There’s an even bigger and nastier rat in the cupboard – the subject of a future article.

Naturally, the Ministry of Education are ‘now aware’ of the issue (even though their fingerprints are all over the test revisions) and will investigate, following on from an article in the Listener, which in itself was based on inside information from educational commentator Kelvin Smythe: Article on e-asTTle and STAR coming up in Listener

To conclude, a couple of quotes from Kelvin:

‘The politicians want to free up the tests so certain actions by the review office or by the Wellington bureaucrats can move the results up or down for advantage in the election cycle.’

And;

“This is the Novopay [a shambolic teacher salary payment system that was introduced in August 2012 and which is proving to be a total crock] of testing: old reliables (for instance, PAT) have been distorted by the high stakes’ national standards environment; and now we have this colossal mess up with two widely used literacy markers, and Parata  [Minister of Education] calls this ‘quality data’. We had quality data, now we have the rubbish.”

Indeed.

Allan Alach
March 27

Let’s trade our Labor Party for the NZ Labour Party

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For Pupil People who sincerely like children and believe in PUPILLING – honouring the contract between a teacher and a learner.

PUPIL PEOPLE believe….

* When the affective is secure, the cognitive is limitless – no fear tactics.

* Schools are learning places – not warehouses for the wealthy.

* Standardised Blanket Testing creates fear and discomfort in classroom; and establishes a dislike for fundamentals.

* The exercise of professional ethics in all school matters is paramount.

Let’s Swap Labo[u]r Parties with N.Z.

In a recent address to the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association, the NZ Labour Party’s shadow Minister for Education, Chris Hipkins, spoke of matters that relate to the improvement of schooling, that the Association has described as …”The speech we have been waiting for.”

Here are a few extracts for your consideration…. [Note his name: Chris Hipkins. Note his party: Labour Party.]

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“New Zealand has one of the best education systems in the world, and our curriculum is widely recognised for its competency-based approach and for the flexibility it provides.”

“I mentioned every school being a great school. I totally reject the notion that increasing competition between schools will lead to better outcomes for everyone.”

“So let me be very clear about Labour’s position on charter schools. We see no place for them. And any charter schools established under the current government will have no future under Labour.  Our focus will be on ensuring that every school is a great school.”

“One of the most destructive things this government could do to quality education in New Zealand is introduce so-called ‘performance pay’ based on a narrow range of student achievement measures. If the alarm bells aren’t ringing, they should be.”

“National Standards [NZ version of NAPLAN] results are no measure of effective teaching. National Standards [aka NAPLAN] narrow the focus of teaching, encouraging teachers and students to focus time and attention on getting students over an arbitrary hurdle, rather than supporting that child to achieve full potential. National Standards [NAPLAN} are being used to stereotype schools through league tables [‘My School’ in Australia] that don’t measure pupil progress, only the number of students jumping the hurdle at a particular time.”

“We recognise that parents want to know how their kids are going, but they’re just as interested in how their kids are doing in Art and PE as they are in reading and writing. Parents want to know how their kid’s social interactions are developing. National standards [NAPLAN] tells them nothing about any of these things.”

“But we need to make sure that parents understand that league tables [i.e. “My School’] that aggregate a bunch of inconsistent data don’t provide any reliable basis for comparing the performance of schools. And without a doubt, we need to recognise many of our out-of-school factors that influence student achievement.”

Read full script:

http://leading-learning.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/success-for-every-student.html

or

http://www.networkonnet.co.nz/index.php?section=latest&id=229

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Imagine! A Labour Party acting like a Labour Party….and it’s just across the ditch .

Imagine! A Minister for Education [real or shadow] knowing something about schooling. We salute you, Mr. Hipkins. Shift across. We need you.

HOWEVER…

Imagine! A learning future for kids, when Australia has a Minister organising a nasty dysfunctional system that suits only wealthy predators.

Imagine! A cheerful learning future for kids, when Australia has a stand-by Minister who is a bad-tempered tyrant wanting to make the learning climate ‘more robust’.

Saying No to NAPLAN is the ONLY option for voters. Whichever party says this, vote for it. We need to CARE FOR KIDS…..SERIOUSLY.

Phil Cullen caring for kids.

cphilcullen@bigpond.com.au

Right Wing Takeover of New Zealand Education

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New Zealand teacher ‘Boonman’ wrote the following article on his blog http://boonman.wordpress.com . I felt that this provided another insight into the mad rush to ‘reform’ and privatise New Zealand education. I’ve added explanatory notes in italics.

Allan

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The Right Doesn’t Know What the Right Hand is Doing

Hello y’all.

This week has been pretty cool. As a teacher that is. It’s been the first week of the year (yes, that’s right, year!) where I’ve managed to do a whole week of teaching in the classroom with little or no interruptions.

Little or no interruptions? “What are you talking about Mr B?” I hear you asking… Being a Year 5 & 6 class there is the seemingly continuous issue of what I’m sure Mrs Parata (Minister of Education) would call non-core subjects.

So far this year my “learners” as her highness would call them have been on a week-long camp, have swum every day in the school pool, and attended the local swimming sports. All this non-core stuff comes nowhere near being measurable by any national standard AND is far more valuable to a kid’s long-term growth than being able to work out 9 + 7 by changing it to 10 + 6. In my opinion.

Anyway… this week I wanted to expand on an idea I raised during last weekend’s rant post: how can a charter school fit with the ideologies of right and centre-right neo-liberal political parties? A mid-week NZEI union (primary teachers union) meeting to discuss so-called “negotiations” with the ministry (Ministry of Education) has also got me fired up.

Here in New Zealand our current government is a coalition (and I use that term in its broadest possible sense because two of the parties signed up to the coalition are one man bands) likes to call themselves a centre-right government. Their various social policies pitched as sound fiscal management by the ruling party suggest the are actually a ideological-driven far-right junta. The Prime Minister is a bit of a dick and whips out the odd classic one-liner now and again so everything’s alright according the voters – the National Party currently stand at 50% in various polls despite numerous and regular stories highlighting of mismanagement and cronyism by the media.

I’m not sure what’s going on – but that’s a blog for another time.

So we have a neoliberal ideological coalition in charge. Where should they stand on education?

The classic neoliberal party – say the Libertarian Party, or here in New Zealand ACT would be the example – believe in a very low-level government that keeps their interference in the markets to a minimum. Free trade, privatised state assets and very little regulation will allow the markets to thrive and provide. Everything will be ok.

Of course, the economists who invented the theory failed to take into account what would happen when they added people to the mix. Stupid people with their free will and beliefs.

Here in New Zealand our ACT Party does have an education policy. It’s there, promise. But before we look at it, please read quote from their own website:

Government spending in New Zealand is out of control. Governments can justifiably take money from New Zealanders when there are clear public benefits such as infrastructure, education and healthcare.  However, the previous government set the country down a wasteful path of transferring money and services to influence swing voters instead of to provide public benefits.  (here’s the link)

That policy comes under the heading Spending Cap. This is where they argue that the government is wasting the money it spends on social policies. You’ll see in the above that the say governments can justifiably take money from taxpayers where there is a benefit.

What about their education policy then? Again I quote:

While education for many children is among the best in the world, we have a well-known “long-tail” of underachievers, who become the next generation of under skilled, unemployed, disengaged citizens.  After 70 years of state controlled and mandated education, we have a situation where around 20% of our children left school last year unable to read or write sufficiently to fill out a job application. (here’s the link)

Again, there are statistics in this that need further analysis, but that is for another time.

So their education policy is driven by state failure – the repeated failure of the state, in their eyes, to cater to the educational needs of young New Zealanders.

So the state has failed. Ok then, what do we do next? Do we open the education market up? Let free enterprise reign supreme and provide the panacea to all our education woes?

Yes. BUT…. what do you mean, yes BUT?

Yes BUT we don’t believe the private sector should have to front up any of the cost for this enterprise.

Sorry? Aren’t you the party that has been arguing for years – two decades nearly – that there should be very little government and the markets should be freed up and allowed to rule?

Well… um… yes… um… sorry, what was the question? Ooooh look, isn’t that a pretty cloud up there in the shape of Jesus on a piece of toast (scuttles away hurriedly).

That’s right. Although the ACT Party believe in private enterprise and entrepreneurship, when it comes to their policies on charter schools this part of their dogma is conspicuous by its absence. It is missing because the charter schools policy is not about improving educational outcomes. It is part of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) which aims to open up the billions of dollars spent on education by governments around the world to the private sector. Who will benefit from this policy? Children? No. Teachers? No. Right-wing old white men like Rupert Murdoch? Probably a more likely outcome.

Once that door is open, it will be very hard to close.

New Zealand has a very open education system. Anybody is allowed to open up and run a private school anywhere they want. There are a huge number of examples of successful private schools that have been operating in this country for decades. If you believe your education policies are going to work that amazingly well, then set up a privately operated schools with your own money. You’ve got enough.

But no. Like all political parties they are full of contradiction and hypocrisy. Yes they want a low government, low regulation economy. BUT…

Charter schools are not about “improving educational outcomes” for our children. It’s about making rich people richer. If the neoliberals really, truly believed in their policy, they wouldn’t be wasting their time going through government channels. They’d be creating a brand-new market to provide for the HUGE demand. BUT there is none, so they’re not.

That is the contradiction of the Global Education Reform Movement.

WANTED: “EDUCATION SMART” POLITICIANS

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Treehorn Express:

Shared opinions soaked in knowledge & experience – all well tested.

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Distinguished Guest Writer

Les Treichel

image[2]If there is a more experienced educator in Australia than Les Treichel, I should like to meet him or her. His astounding, genuine, dedicated service to children started as a primary teacher at Beaudesert, then Southport 1959-60.  From small school to large as a hands-on principal in the most remote and urban places in Queensland,  he served at Wahpunga, Kajabbi, Burketown, Minbun, Boulia. Kin Kin, Aramac and Theodore [both with Secondary Departments], Weir [Townsville] from 1961 to 1978. As an Inspector of Schools, he flew with pollen on his wings in the Northern, Brisbane North, North Western, Darling Downs, South Western Regions and was the inaugural Regional Director for the Sunshine Coast, based at Nambour until 1991 when he was appointed as State Director for the Priority Country Area Program, known as PCAP.

In the 1992 state elections, Les contested the newly created electorate of Maroochydore. Unsuccessful, he was subsequently submitted to some of the worst forms of politico-bureaucratic skulduggery ever inflicted on a teacher whose desire to teach children was intense. Determined, he undertook occasional employment with the then managerialised Department as a temporary teacher and supply teacher at a number of schools on the Sunshine Coast from 1995 to 1998.  Wishing to return to principalship, he was forced to start again towards the lower rungs of the promotional ladder at Bollon School in 1998, then as acting-principal at St. George Primary in 1999.  He took all that was thrown at him on the chin. In 2000 he served as Principal Education Officer Performance Measurement [in Roma] and as Staff College Director for the S.W. Region. Following a year of acting principal at Injune, Charleville, Wycombe and St George High, he became the Principal Education Officer [Performance Management] for Roma and Warwick Districts, then spent 2008 as Executive Director [Schools] in Roma followed by Principal Education Officer for the Darling Downs South West Region.  He retired in July 2010;  fifty-one years after he started in that classroom in Beaudesert.

I first met Les Treichel, when, as principal at Boulia State School, he was teaching about 8 children in Years 10, 11, 12 on the veranda of a dilapidated school.  A dedicated reader of professional literature, he had a unique capacity for converting useful ideas from his readings into action. I recall his subject-based classroom arrangements at Aramac and a unique resource centre in an old, isolated room at Theodore. He mentored a large number of teachers and principals who now influence useful learning habits in children in many parts of the state. When he retired at 70 years of age, he was as innovative, professionally stimulated and intuitive as he was at any time in his productive career.  If I was an Education Minister and wanted to know which way learner-based schooling ought to go, I’d have a good long talk with the most experienced teacher [that I know] in Australia…..and respect his opinions.  His views expressed below are those of a person who knows what he is talking about.

[When I asked Les for a photo, he returned the above with the caption, "”Let’s unshackle NAPLAN for education.”]

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WANTED: “EDUCATION SMART” POLITICIANS

Will “Caring for Kids” be at the heart of the “moral crusade” that will define the legacy of those in whom we place our trust on September 14? Unfortunately kids don’t have the right to vote but I guess there is a tendency for those holding the decision-making power not to listen to them anyway. However, School Principals, Teachers and Parents do have that right and in exerting it “Caring for Kids” should always remain the centre-point of their considerations.

The “crusade” currently being led by those in power is nothing short of being “immoral”, ignoring as it does the basic premise and tenets of how children learn and how best to cater for their educational growth and developmental needs.

The school curriculum has been high-jacked by an imported, farcical testing regime which has resulted in Teaching and Learning being subsumed by Terror, Testing and Intimidation!

School Principals, teachers and kids have become the “whipping posts” in the course of the school curriculum becoming increasingly “NAPLANISED”. In the process the true spirit of learning has been killed and “robotic kids” are now being engineered through assembly-line production techniques to take their place in and contribute to an ever-changing global society that demands so much more than the narrow set of learning experiences to which they are now being exposed and into which they seem securely locked.

One must be seriously concerned about what the future holds for these kids and for our nation as a whole. Not only will these “Naplanised Victims of the System” be ill-equipped to meaningfully participate and positively contribute to society, their inherent potential as creative, well-rounded, thinking individuals committed to life-long learning will have been stifled.

What has NAPLAN data really revealed? Absolutely nothing that School Principals and classroom teachers don’t already know! Our schools are best placed to know exactly the specific challenges that beset them in their unrelenting quest to deliver quality Teaching and Learning which will, in turn, maximise student learning outcomes.

They know and relate to their individual students in caring and clinically meaningful ways and certainly do not need any imposed battery of external “point-in-time” tests to flag under-performance or to identify individual student achievement levels. Their comprehensive school-based internal school monitoring systems and associated data bases are well-structured to provide all such relevant information.

Understandably they become disenchanted when their school is distastefully nationally and publicly ranked by the NAPLAN fanatics. Such rankings fail to take into account the myriad of factors contributing to the score line and simply act to denigrate the well-intentioned endeavours of the band of dedicated school personnel who are working under duress. Consequently school morale suffers!

Our schools simply require Government support in terms of enhanced human, material and financial resource provision in order to address the short-comings of which they are all well and truly aware and need no NAPLAN reminder! The bulging NAPLAN PURSE should be re-directed towards meeting this end!

“Education Smart” politicians will commit to rekindling the “love of learning” and in doing so take immediate action to snuff the raging NAPLAN FIRE and re-direct the massive wastage of taxpayers’ funds to the schools and classrooms where every dollar counts and where every dollar stands the only chance of making a real difference to children’s learning.

“Education Smart” politicians will take the time to listen to the workforce and flexibly respond to the unique and locally-informed needs expressed by those who are confronted daily by what must seem as insurmountable barriers inhibiting effective Teaching and Learning.

“Education Smart” politicians will realise that NAPLAN is irrelevant as both an accountability and diagnostic tool and will seek to re-introduce a more humanised approach in assessing, supporting and developing our diverse range of school communities.

I WILL BE VOTING FOR THE “EDUCATION SMART” POLITICIANS WHO CAN GIVE ME THESE ASSURANCES- I TRUST THAT IN THE INTERESTS OF “CARING FOR KIDS” YOU WILL DO SO AS WELL.

AUSTRALIA

OUR SCHOOLS ARE YOUR SCHOOLS

THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT –THEY NEED YOUR VOTE!

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“What has NAPLAN data really revealed? Absolutely nothing that School Principals and classroom teachers don’t already know! Our schools are best placed to know exactly the specific challenges that beset them in their unrelenting quest to deliver quality Teaching and Learning, which will, in turn, maximize student learning outcomes.” [Les Treichel ]

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Click: ‘Care for Kids’

Phil Cullen

February 17th  2013

treehorn@bigpond.com

Question Time for MPs

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Aussies who read this….please send this on to your local members and let Treehorn know of your responses.

This email is being sent to those members of parliament who are listed below [in alphabetical order].

Please send this to your local representatives TODAY in case the busy-ness of Christmas catches up with you.

Phil

The Treehorn Express

Opinion soaked in knowledge & experience.

and Anecdotal Evidence.

Treehorn is the hero of an easy-to-read, sad children’s book, “The Shrinking of Treehorn” by Florence Heidi Parry. She cleverly exposes adults’ couldn’t-care-less attitude towards the needs of children, even when the circumstances of mal-treatment of children are patently obvious. Treehorn found that parents, teachers and principals only pretend to care. His principal ignored his problem but was still able to say, “You were right to come to me. That’s what I’m here for. To guide. Not to punish, but to guide. To guide all members of my team. To solve their problems.” And Treehorn kept shrinking.

When he started to turn green, his mother told him to comb his hair before the Smedleys arrived for bridge.

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Question Time for M.Ps.

A safe party-endorsed path for politicians ..who prefer not to consider the basic issues of teaching and learning, is to cadge a lift to the election on the back of each party’s rigidified ‘instrumental functionality’, as Giroux describes such behaviour : ‘the belief that systems and practices should be organized according to principles of standardization, efficiency, practicality and measureable utility [over and above philosophical, humanistic and ethical considerations.]’ It saves thinking and reading too much. However….

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I sincerely request a response to the following questions from those friends of ours in Parliament who make laws and approve rules that effect the learning atmosphere and general welfare of our children at school.

  1. Why does Finland do so much better than Australia on the one-hit PlSA tests for 15 year-olds when Australian kids spend four years more at school than Finnish kids do?
  2. Do you think that Pasi Sahlberg of Finland and other world-renowned, school-oriented-knowledgeable-experienced educators don’t know what they are talking about when they claim that high-stakes testing impedes children’s ability to achieve at any known school subject?
  3. Do you agree with the prevailing belief that billions of dollars are better spent on high-stakes testing than on any other kind of school reform?
  4. Why are school principals and teachers discouraged by state and federal authorities from reading beyond supplied material and expressing their professional opinion about the effects of standardised blanket testing on children’s learning?
  5. Why aren’t parents given the opportunity of withdrawing their children from the NAPLAN testing regime….especially from the school time spent on preparation for the tests?

I should like to print the responses in The Treehorn Express in 2013. Thank you to our worthy representatives for taking part in this survey. .

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This email is being sent to the following M.Ps. listed below [in alphabetical order], each of whom receives The Treehorn Express .

BACK Chris, CASH Michaelia, DICK Cameron, DUtton Peter, ELLIOT Justine, Emerson Craig, HANSON-YOUNG Sarah, KATTER Bob, KROGER Helen; LANGBOEK John-Paul, MARSHALL Gavin, PALASZCZUK Annastacia, PICCOLI Adrian, PITT Curtis, PYNE Christopher, RIPOLL Bernie, SAFFIN Janelle, THOMPSON Elisa WINDSOR Tony.

Recommended Links

Phil Cullen AM FACE FACEL FQIEL
Gold Medal : ACEL
Life Member : CCEAM, QSPPA, QSPSSA
Classroom Teacher : 17 years
Primary Principal : 22 years
State Administrator: 17 years
Author
Grandfather
41 Cominan Avenue
Banora Point 2486
07 5524 6443