Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Research Fail

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  • Tom Semmens,

    Sofie, I agree. The response has been very muted. I'm surprised too...

    Anne Tolley is having the repoprt re-written in bright crayon font 45.

    Once she has read it out loud, the opposition will get a feel of how seriously the giovernment is taking the report...

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Chad C Mulligan,

    'There is something quite demeaning about a government which talks in the argot of photocopier salesmen'

    I so want this on a t shirt I may have to steal it.

    Currently in exile, plott… • Since Sep 2009 • 8 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Paul, if success is the only option, as any Double-Plus-Good-Duckspeaker knows, success is then assured.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    How does that work? Will they be putting on a mini van to transport the kids to the other school? Or will the kids have to coordinate public transport (if, indeed, their school is serviced by public transport).

    I wonder if they'll include art and PE in with the other subjects kids are assessed for. I can just see hordes of skinny geeks being bussed to South Auckland for their daily dose of "real rugby training". It'll be like the end of that sex education skit in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Clubfoot .,

    That's funny - there's no mention of this story on Stuff? - http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/more_headlines

    Cook Strait • Since May 2009 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    It's still there, just listed under "Politics", not "Education".

    Fitting, really.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Doesn't the Swedish system also have a demographic balance policy in place which makes compulsory busing look like a picnic? If so, that's one fact the voucherisation supporters won't mention.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson,

    Intentionally or not, this rosy view carefully avoids the realities outlined in a Guardian story last week:

    By "realities outlined" you mean the lobbying undertaken by the state schools of Sweden (Director General - Per Thulberg) for a bigger budget.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson,

    But it gets worse:

    Over that worsening period of degradation in Swedish educational achievement about 90% of pupils were taught in Swedish state shools.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    What is a step-change when it's at home?

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    ...the giovernment...

    OMG! it's all too late then,
    he's taken over everything!

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    By "realities outlined" you mean the lobbying undertaken by the state schools of Sweden (Director General - Per Thulberg) for a bigger budget.

    No, actually.

    Thulberg is director general of the Swedish National Agency for Education, which oversees policy and research for the whole system, including the independent schools, which are part of that system.

    Most recently, it produced this report, What influences Educational Achievement in Swedish Schools?

    If you bother to read it, you'll see it is not the work of a lobby or interest group. Its approach to the growth of independent schools is quite measured. It concludes, cautiously, that the school-choice reforms have contributed to segregation between schools and, in particular, a shift in school populations such that middle-class populations have concentrated in some schools, and the less wealthy and immigrants in others.

    This shift has coincided with a fall in performance of the whole system. It is absolutely a fact that Swedish standards have fallen against Sweden's neighbours and the world.

    From the introduction:

    International studies of educational attainment, since the middle of 1990s, have indicated a decline in performance by Swedish compulsory school pupils (Skolverket, 2009a). Declining results are most notable in mathematics and natural science, but are also apparent, though to a lesser degree, in reading comprehension. This raises the question as to how to explain these declining performance levels. How might Swedish compulsory schools have changed since the beginning of the 1990s? Can these observed changes be explained through research about those various factors that might have an impact on educational attainment?

    So it would seem Thulberg is eminently qualified to comment on outcomes since 1990.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    What is a step-change when it's at home?

    It used to answer to "quantum leap", in the days of an earlier strain of copier-salesmanese.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    ...the giovernment...

    OMG! it's all too late then,
    he's taken over everything!

    Cue ethnic stereotype... It'll never last...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Cue ethnic stereotype... It'll never last...

    >:(

    I for one welcome our well-meaning ethnic stereotype overlords.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    a step-change
    Into something rich and strange.

    Well, it's strange and for the rich, so...

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Tristan,

    Have a listen to Roy trying to explain this on national radio last night

    here

    I can almost hear mary wilson say "education broker what the fuck is that!?"

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 221 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    Step right up folks, step right up...

    What is a step-change when it's at home?

    in some school's it's a pest
    and in others it means pets
    optimists see it gainfully as et ps
    pessimists bleakly see EST & P

    for some a step-change
    is a quantum move up
    and for others a flight of fancy

    and when the game's afoot
    it can be the difference between
    choreography and coprolalia
    and the social swerve from
    hang on a minuet mate
    to FoxTrotskyism

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Heather Roy at the end of the RNZ piece.

    "In some cases schools that are doing the best, have less money [given] to them."

    Sounds like tax funding of Independant schools to me.
    What do you think?

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    An education broker makes education broken.

    Of his bones are coral made;
    Those are pearls that were his eyes;

    See: rich and strange but useless.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    "education broker what the fuck is that!?"

    The new paradigm...
    if it ain't brokered
    don't fix it...

    You can lead a horse to water, dept...
    Horses eat Swedes don't they?

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Have a listen to Roy trying to explain this on national radio last night

    That was scary.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Have a listen to Roy trying to explain this on national radio last night

    That was scary.

    Nah. The weirdest explanation evar was John Key this week explaining Whanau Ora as being "a bit like a waterbed".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    "In some cases schools that are doing the best, have less money [given] to them."

    Sounds like tax funding of Independant schools to me.
    What do you think?

    Or an argument against the decile funding system.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Isabel Hitchings,

    How are they identifying the top 5%? Are they taking the ones who do best in the standardised tests (which is going to miss a lot of girted kids) or are they using some other form of assessment (which is going to be expensive and time consuming)? What will they do with kids who are gifted in one area and struggling in another? What about the many kids who are "twice exceptional" ie those who are gifted and have a learning disability?

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2007 • 719 posts Report Reply

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