Class Size and Student Achievement


There's no getting away from it, a good teacher in a large class is better than an average teacher in a small class.  However, even a good teacher will have less time to support children's learning if class sizes increase. Good teachers in smaller classes equal better learning outcomes for all our children.

The misconception behind all the talk about teacher pupil ratios is that it is a resource funding ratio not a class size ratio at all. Our roll generates approximately 25 government funded staff positions based on current ratios. Of the 25 positions this includes the principals position, support teachers and non teaching management staff. At Pinehill this means nearly three (3) of the 25 government funded positions are not available to put into classes. This means we cannot provide the stated ratio of teachers to pupils. Our class sizes are already larger than those stated in the budget announcements.

Our school by and large has very good teachers delivering quality learning for all our students. The issue with the latest round of budget announcements on class pupil teacher ratios is that it could result in increased class sizes for Pinehill. Any increase in class size will have an impact on the number of interactions a teacher is able to have with a child - which may impact on the quality of the learning all our children enjoy.

While the politicians say repeatedly that its the schools choice about class size, the reality is that we have little flexibility on setting class size while retaining effective leadership and support for our teaching staff.

Here at Pinehill our Board has long recognised this by resourcing the provision of up to 2 additional teaching positions each year in order to maintain lower class sizes.  As a state funded public school, one needs to ask the question - Should this be necessary?

We will continue to deliver the best learning outcomes for all our children - in spite of Government policy, however if you find this policy concerning you may wish to write to our local MP and let him know your thoughts.

Thank you to everyone who came out and attended the parent information evening on digital learning. If you would like to view the slides from the presentation click on the link below.

http://www.slideshare.net/julienlesueur/digital-learning-pie-160512

http://www.slideshare.net/dakinane/2012-pinehill-parentmeeting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PQ3pSfKziU

Questions and comments, we look forward to your thoughts.

We have now confirmed the details for the Digital Learning Parent information evening. This will be held on Wednesday 16 May starting at 7.15 in the hall.

The first part of the evening will be a presentation outlining the role of digital learning and how it is impacting on our children. We will also discuss the DL survey results and some of the initiatives we are planning.

Part 2 will be a hands on demonstration of some of the work our children are doing using digital technologies to enhance their learning. A range of class levels will be on hand in Pohutukawa block for 30 minutes.

It is expected the evening will conclude at by 8.30pm.

We look forward to you joining us

A need for real change.....

They say there are two givens in life -  death and taxes. However in the world we live in, most people would agree that change should be added as the 3rd given.

Yet how often do we resist or fight change that is positive simply because of a fear of the unknown. In education we would probably be viewed as one of those institutions most resistant to change when in fact our role in society  -  to prepare our students for the world they are living in, demands we be responsive to changes in that world.

Our children born in the last 10 years ( let's be generous) are digital citizens. Their world is one of computers, smart phones, youtube, social media, Google... you could add many more. Yet as schools we are only just coming to realise the students we teach no longer engage with the methodologies of the past.  Why ? Partly because they can access their learning 24/7 and partly because the new technologies they have access to outside school are more engaging in an increasingly media centric world.

Imagine for a moment what this might have looked like in a 1960’s school. Children of the time live in a world of pencil, paper, radio and a little broadcast television. They arrive a school to find that these things are forbidden. Writing on slates is the only way children could record their writing.... Are you getting the picture. There would have been a revolution.

Back to today’s school. How much longer can we delay introducing the technologies that our children use at home into our schools. In a world where many older students are increasingly seeing school as an irrelevant part of their lives, schools effectiveness in preparing our children for the world they live in is at risk - unless we embrace the need to change both the way we teach  and the technologies we use.

Yes, there are some hurdles to jump. Cost of devices, equity of access,  security of equipment. These are not insurmountable obstacles. The longer we delay the inevitable, the more our learners will find schools as we know them, increasingly irrelevant.

9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn

In the following article from Daily Good, Leo Babauta, author and creator of the blog Zenhabits, states the following:

"Unfortunately, I was educated in a school system that believed the world in which it existed would remain essentially the same, with minor changes in fashion. We had no idea what the world had in store for us. And here's the thing: we still don't."

View the original posting by clicking here

9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn

by Leo Babauta
Original Story, Mar 10, 2012
www.dailygood.org

Kids in today’s school system are not being prepared well for tomorrow’s world.

As someone who went from the corporate world and then the government world to the ever-changing online world, I know how the world of yesterday is rapidly becoming irrelevant. I was trained in the newspaper industry, where we all believed we would be relevant forever — and I now believe will go the way of the horse and buggy.

Unfortunately, I was educated in a school system that believed the world in which it existed would remain essentially the same, with minor changes in fashion. We were trained with a skill set that was based on what jobs were most in demand in the 1980s, not what might happen in the 2000s.

And that kinda makes sense, given that no one could really know what life would be like 20 years from now. Imagine the 1980s, when personal computers were still fairly young, when faxes were the cutting-edge communication technology, when the Internet as we now know it was only the dream of sci-fi writers like William Gibson.

We had no idea what the world had in store for us.

And here’s the thing: we still don’t. We never do. We have never been good at predicting the future, and so raising and educating our kids as if we have any idea what the future will hold is not the smartest notion.

How then to prepare our kids for a world that is unpredictable, unknown? By teaching them to adapt, to deal with change, to be prepared for anything by not preparing them for anything specific.

This requires an entirely different approach to child-rearing and education. It means leaving our old ideas at the door, and reinventing everything.

My drop-dead gorgeous wife Eva (yes, I’m a very lucky man) and I are among those already doing this. We homeschool our kids — more accurately, we unschool them. We are teaching them to learn on their own, without us handing knowledge down to them and testing them on that knowledge.

It is, admittedly, a wild frontier, and most of us who are experimenting with unschooling will admit that we don’t have all the answers, that there is no set of “best practices”. But we also know that we are learning along with our kids, and that not knowing can be a good thing — an opportunity to find out, without relying on established methods that might not be optimal.

I won’t go too far into methods here, as I find them to be less important than ideas. Once you have some interesting ideas to test, you can figure out an unlimited amount of methods, and so my dictating methods would be too restrictive.

We had no idea what the world had in store for us.

Instead, let’s look at a good set of essential skills that I believe children should learn, that will best prepare them for any world of the future. I base these on what I have learned in three different industries, especially the world of online entreprenurship, online publishing, online living … and more importantly, what I have learned about learning and working and living in a world that will never stop changing.

1. Asking questions. What we want most for our kids, as learners, is to be able to learn on their own. To teach themselves anything. Because if they can, then we don’t need to teach them everything — whatever they need to learn in the future, they can do on their own. The first step in learning to teach yourself anything is learning to ask questions. Luckily, kids do this naturally — our hope is to simply encourage it. A great way to do this is by modeling it. When you and your child encounter something new, ask questions, and explore the possible answers with your child. When he does ask questions, reward the child instead of punishing him (you might be surprised how many adults discourage questioning).

2. Solving problems. If a child can solve problems, she can do any job. A new job might be intimidating to any of us, but really it’s just another problem to be solved. A new skill, a new environment, a new need … they’re all simply problems to be solved. Teach your child to solve problems by modeling simple problem solving, then allowing her to do some very easy ones on her own. Don’t immediately solve all your child’s problems — let her fiddle with them and try various possible solutions, and reward such efforts. Eventually, your child will develop confidence in her problem-solving abilities, and then there is nothing she can’t do.

3. Tackling projects. As an online entrepreneur, I know that my work is a series of projects, sometimes related, sometimes small and sometimes large (which are usually a group of smaller projects). I also know that there isn’t a project I can’t tackle, because I’ve done so many of them. This post is a project. Writing a book is a project. Selling the book is another project. Work on projects with your kid, letting him see how it’s done by working with you, then letting him do more and more by himself. As he gains confidence, let him tackle more on his own. Soon, his learning will just be a series of projects that he’s excited about.

4. Finding passion. What drives me is not goals, not discipline, not external motivation, not reward … but passion. When I’m so excited that I can’t stop thinking about something, I will inevitably dive into it fully committed, and most times I’ll complete the project and love doing it. Help your kid find things she’s passionate about — it’s a matter of trying a bunch of things, finding ones that excite her the most, helping her really enjoy them. Don’t discourage any interest — encourage them. Don’t suck the fun out of them either — make them rewarding.

5. Independence. Kids should be taught to increasingly stand on their own. A little at a time, of course. Slowly encourage them to do things on their own. Teach them how to do it, model it, help them do it, help less, then let them make their own mistakes. Give them confidence in themselves by letting them have a bunch of successes, and letting them solve the failures. Once they learn to be independent, they learn that they don’t need a teacher, a parent, or a boss to tell them what to do. They can manage themselves, and be free, and figure out the direction they need to take on their own.

6. Being happy on their own. Too many of us parents coddle our kids, keeping them on a leash, making them rely on our presence for happiness. When the kid grows up, he doesn’t know how to be happy. He must immediately attach to a girlfriend or friends. Failing that, they find happiness in other external things — shopping, food, video games, the Internet. But if a child learns from an early age that he can be happy by himself, playing and reading and imagining, he has one of the most valuable skills there is. Allow your kids to be alone from an early age. Give them privacy, have times (such as the evening) when parents and kids have alone time.

7. Compassion. One of the most essential skills ever. We need this to work well with others, to care for people other than ourselves, to be happy by making others happy. Modeling compassion is the key. Be compassionate to your child at all times, and to others. Show them empathy by asking how they think others might feel, and thinking aloud about how you think others might feel. Demonstrate at every opportunity how to ease the suffering of others when you’re able, how to make others happier with small kindnesses, how that can make you happier in return.

8. Tolerance. Too often we grow up in an insulated area, where people are mostly alike (at least in appearance), and when we come into contact with people who are different, it can be uncomfortable, shocking, fear-inducing. Expose your kids to people of all kinds, from different races to different sexuality to different mental conditions. Show them that not only is it OK to be different, but that differences should be celebrated, and that variety is what makes life so beautiful.

9. Dealing with change. I believe this will be one of the most essential skills as our kids grow up, as the world is always changing and being able to accept the change, to deal with the change, to navigate the flow of change, will be a competitive advantage. This is a skill I’m still learning myself, but I find that it helps me tremendously, especially compared to those who resist and fear change, who set goals and plans and try to rigidly adhere to them as I adapt to the changing landscape. Rigidity is less helpful in a changing environment than flexibility, fluidity, flow. Again, modeling this skill for your child at every opportunity is important, and showing them that changes are OK, that you can adapt, that you can embrace new opportunities that weren’t there before, should be a priority. Life is an adventure, and things will go wrong, turn out differently than you expected, and break whatever plans you made — and that’s part of the excitement of it all.

We can’t give our children a set of data to learn, a career to prepare for, when we don’t know what the future will bring. But we can prepare them to adapt to anything, to learn anything, to solve anything, and in about 20 years, to thank us for it.

Digital Learning Survey - final data

Now that the survey has closed it is time to share the outcomes with you

76% of homes have 3 or more internet devices and on average children use at least 2 of these devices.

More than half of children have their own internet capable device

Significant numbers of children use or own a personal device

Nearly half of your homes don't filter web content

Many of you are uncertain about your child bringing their own device to school

Many of you support the educational use of social media

The results give us an important insight into your thoughts about how you see digital technology being used at Pinehill. The narrative responses extend this information and provide a very clear picture of the issues many of you would like to find out more about.

In the next few weeks we will be providing a "live" information sharing time where you will be able to see - hands on, some of the things your children are doing at school with their digital learning and ask all the questions that you have about this exciting opportunity your children have.

Swedish educators visit Pinehill

Today we hosted a group of 7 educators from Sweden who were here to look specifically at how we transition our 5 year olds into school. It is always a two way learning experience when we meet with school leaders from overseas and today proved again how much in common we have with schools all around the world.
Takeaways from today -
NZ schools are open to students significantly longer than in Sweden
Our teachers enjoy far greater professional autonomy
Our reputation for providing high achievement is world wide
Schools in Sweden are looking at digital learning - just like us
They have very generous PD budgets - this is the 4th time some of these educators have visited Pinehill