From time to time we hear calls for a return to an idealised time of the 1950s and 1960s where the three Rs were physically belted into learners; where rote learning and "teaching to the test" were standard This was a curriculum where problem solving, deep thinking, creativity and teamwork were shunned. It was a time when 50 per cent of students were deemed to have failed their School Certificate and told to go out and get a trade. This stigma of failure would follow them for the rest of their lives

The SCT and the Brain Friendly Classroom Moving from Good to Great In almost every international survey of student achievement our students on average are in the top half with our best students footing it with the best in the world. However we have too wide a spread between the achievement of our top and bottom students. And this variability exists in virtually every school. Reducing this disparity must be priority. And there is growing evidence that this can be done. The first thing that needs to be done is to rename the Department of Education. If we entitle it the Department for the Development of Individual Potential we will all know exactly why it is there. Emphasis on 'teaching' and academic attainment instead of the individual learning to be who s/he is what s/he is is a barren policy. There need to be objectives and they need to be established by some kind of criteria but the profession, better lead, should be left to decide how best to deliver. This will provide the opportunity for innovation to flower by challenging them to meet the criteria their way. We should concentrate on what is to be achieved, development of the individual, rather than what is done/

Why? NZC Uncover potential Support Teachers The initial years following Tomorrow's centred on the Schools and wider system infrastructure. Today the focus on is strongly centred on what happens inside the classroom. Can not have classroom as drab and joyless assessment factories. it is often in those schools with the toughest challenges that innovation is most needed. Disadvantaged students need content that is engaging and relevant, but they can find themselves in institutions obsessively focused on avoiding failing-school status. every school to be a place of creativity and invention It focuses on how all of us involved in education can support and increase the quality of the interaction between student and teacher. As trustees set the school's strategic direction, developing business plans and setting priorities for the principal, you need to think about how best to deliver for every student. You need to think about ensuring a learning culture across the whole school. Students themselves make clear that they learn best when they are surrounded by positive relationships and people who believe in what they can achieve. We are good at talking about the need for change- the need to adapt to a changing world is as great in the education system as it is anywhere else- greater

Disadvantaged students need content that is engaging and relevant, but they can find themselves in institutions obsessively focused on avoiding failing-school status

Why? We need creativity Indexes of divergent thinking show that 98% of all pre-school children demonstrate the ability to think divergently. By the end of children's school years this has been turned round completely to the extent that only 2% of young adults demonstrate the ability to think divergently Assessing creativity is probably impossible, although assessing some of the required prerequisites of creativity is possible in individuals. Indexes of divergent thinking show that 98% of all pre-school children demonstrate the ability to think divergently. By the end of children's school years this has been turned round completely to the extent that only 2% of young adults demonstrate the ability to think divergently. In other words, whatever schools, the National Curriculum, SATs testing and all this "accountability" are doing, and the results they are achieving in terms of maths, English etc. the most effective measure of the education system's performance is its destruction of children's ability to be creative. This is by far the most effective element in our education system.

cannot have classrooms as drab and joyless assessment factories

????? the most effective measure of the education system's performance is its destruction of children's ability to be creative…

Today Silivia Gaugatao - Pasifika students Sandy Crump - Experiments with Differentiation Nigel Bassett - Deep Learning

The first thing that needs to be done is to rename the Ministry of Education

…to the Ministry for the Development of Individual Potential

every school to be a place of creativity and invention

To bring creativity back into the average classroom, limit the amount of words teachers are allowed to utter in declarative and interrogative sentences

Prohibit teachers from asking an questions they already know the answers to

Throw Down the Gauntlet: Break the Chains of Bad Practice, Build Our Future

There is a baby in this picture…

We are living in a world “…that needs creativity, innovation, and common sense more than ever -- why are our school places of routine, standards, and senseless bureaucracy. I know teachers that spend an hour of time filling out forms for every hour of class time. When do they plan? What are most of the forms?” Cool Cat Teacher

HOW MANY PEOPLE ?

W]hen our students leave school they are steeped in a system that says find the 'right answer' and you have solved the problem. Unfortunately the real world is not like that. For almost every problem there are multiple solutions…

“B. F. Skinner actually worked with pigeons “B.F. Skinner actually worked with pigeons. This is where the learning theories that I was schooled under, and that I was taught to school, comes from.” Pat Wolfe, Educator

The two most useless questions: 1. Do you understand? 2. Are their any questions?

Can you see the word LIFT?