tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/back-to-basics-19382/articlesBack to basics – The Conversation2024-02-12T19:04:31Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228462024-02-12T19:04:31Z2024-02-12T19:04:31ZChanges are coming to Ontario’s kindergarten program — what parents and caregivers need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574435/original/file-20240208-24-5pusnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C592%2C4927%2C2697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Back to basics' language used by the government distracts from the importance of continuously updating and revising curriculum. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce recently announced Ontario’s full-day kindergarten program is undergoing an <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-announces-overhaul-of-kindergarten-curriculum-1.6738400">“overhaul” which will help “to create more systemic approaches to reading instruction and the introduction, in a very basic way, of mathematical skills and numeracy skills</a>.”</p>
<p>What do these proposed changes mean for educators, parents and children? </p>
<p>The proposed revisions must be considered and understood in the context of 1) <a href="https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/kindergarten">the current full-day play-based kindergarten curriculum</a>, and 2) <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-to-read-inquiry-report">recommendations and research that emerged from Ontario’s Right to Read report</a>, released in February 2022, stemming from an inquiry of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/Right%20to%20Read%20Executive%20Summary_OHRC%20English_0.pdf">Right to Read inquiry</a> revealed Ontario’s public education system was not using evidence-based approaches to teach children with reading disabilities (and others) how to read. The education minister also said curricular updates are in keeping with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/right-to-read-inquiry-report-literacy-ontario-1.6378408">the Right to Read report’s recommendations</a>.</p>
<p>While the province says kindergarten updates will be <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1004097/ontario-unveils-a-back-to-basics-kindergarten-curriculum">combined with “hands-on and play-based learning</a>” there are concerns that play-based aspects of the curriculum — also grounded in <a href="https://theconversation.com/full-day-kindergarten-the-best-of-what-we-imagined-is-happening-in-classrooms-112602">evidence-based approaches to child development</a> — could be impacted by curricular revisions.</p>
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<img alt="A child seen holding a book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574439/original/file-20240208-18-9w9ojl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Curricular updates are in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read report recommendations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piqsels)</span></span>
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<h2>Teaching reading isn’t basic</h2>
<p>The “back to basics” language used in the province’s kindergarten announcement is intentionally and strategically tied to Premier Doug Ford’s promise in his <a href="https://ontariopc.ca/">election campaign</a> and is a slogan that Ford (and his team) have <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/premier-doug-ford-says-education-is-going-back-to-the-basics/article_50d11e2c-871b-5818-9c8d-c4aa33b6bc47.html">continued to use since becoming premier</a>. </p>
<p>It is not surprising that this political strategy is being used to market updates to the kindergarten program. </p>
<p>However, this language distracts from the importance of continuously updating and revising curriculum across the kindergarten to Grade 12 education sector. </p>
<p>It’s also important to note that the phrase “basics” is contradictory to what we know about the science of reading: teaching reading is anything but basic and <a href="https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2020/moats">involves understanding reading psychology and development, understanding language structure, applying evidence-based practices and using validated and reliable assessments to inform teaching</a>. </p>
<h2>Ontario’s full-day play-based kindergarten</h2>
<p>The current kindergarten curriculum has been in effect following a 2010 public policy shift. <a href="https://childcarecanada.org/resources/issue-files/resources/issue-files/resources/issue-files/resources/issue-files/resources">Based on recommendations from Ontario’s special advisor on early learning</a>, <a href="https://www.hdsb.ca/Documents/FDK-Parent-Fact-Sheet.pdf">in 2010 Ontario</a> began phasing in full-day play-based kindergarten for all four- and five-year old children. </p>
<p>This shift was also informed by <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/home/sites/default/files/2023-10/6-2014_-_ontario_s_full-day_kindergarten_a_bold_public_policy_initiative.pdf">interviews, focus groups and published scientific research on early learning</a>.</p>
<p>Essential to the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016">revised kindergarten program</a> was the play-based structure of the full-day program. So was the delivery of the model by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-team-approach-makes-full-day-kindergarten-a-success-113339">teaching team</a> of an Ontario certified teacher and a registered early childhood educator. </p>
<p>Decisions to revise the earlier half-day kindergarten program acknowledged and leveraged research on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kindergarten-scrapbooks-arent-just-your-childs-keepsake-theyre-central-to-learning-117066">value of play</a> and its role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3097">supporting academic, social and emotional development</a>. </p>
<p>It is important to note that <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_english_aoda_web_oct7.pdf">misconceptions exist about play-based learning</a>, including the belief that play-based learning means letting children do whatever they want. Evidence-based play-based learning <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_english_aoda_web_oct7.pdf">“…involves educators being deliberate and purposeful in creating play-based learning environments</a>.” </p>
<p>Furthermore, play is a basic human right of all children as recognized in the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. The revised play-based model in Ontario had (and continues to have) both empirical and philosophical grounds.</p>
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<img alt="An educator seen at a table with children with musical instruments." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574443/original/file-20240208-22-4mox38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Educators are involved in the purposeful creation of play-based learning environments.‘</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>The OHRC Right to Read report</h2>
<p>Changes to the above model are now being made in response to recommendations from the Right to Read inquiry. </p>
<p>The inquiry’s report includes 157 recommendations directly tied to addressing systemic issues affecting children’s right to read. These <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-to-read-inquiry-report/appendix-1-list-recommendations">involve changes to curriculum, instruction and interventions and screening and assessments</a> related to reading. The recommendations for curriculum and instruction focus on the need for evidence-based direct and explicit instruction. </p>
<p>These recommendations were made based on the <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-to-read-inquiry-report/executive-summary">most up-to-date research on reading, lived experiences of students, families and educators and informed by expertise in the area of human rights</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-disabilities-are-a-human-rights-issue-saskatchewan-joins-calls-to-address-barriers-214129">Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers</a>
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<p>The Right to Read report states: “Implementing the OHRC’s recommendations will ensure more equitable opportunities and outcomes for students in Ontario’s public education system.”</p>
<p>In keeping with prior revisions to the Ontario Kindergarten program, current plans to update kindergarten curriculum are being made based on empirical and philosophical grounds.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iney0cEpx24?wmode=transparent&start=13" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video from the Right to Read inquiry.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Not an either/or conversation</h2>
<p>As revisions to Ontario’s kindergarten curriculum unfold, stakeholders need to ensure the best scientific research in both play-based learning and early reading are leveraged to ensure the success of all young children. </p>
<p>The beauty is that play-based learning is not an all-or-nothing approach. Drawing on the benefits of playful learning and using these strategies in combination with evidence-based direct instructional practices in kindergarten will be essential to successfully integrating proposed revisions. </p>
<p>There are many educators in Ontario who already offer meaningful play-based learning opportunities and direct and systematic instruction in their classrooms. </p>
<p>This is evidenced in research published in 2016 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2016.1220771">by early childhood researchers Angela Pyle and Erica Danniels</a> and also in follow-up research by Pyle and colleagues in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0852-Z">2018</a> which focused on how play and literacy interface in full-day kindergarten classrooms. </p>
<p>My current research in kindergarten classrooms, to be published later this year, examines how educators use a range of approaches (including teacher-directed play) to support children’s literacy and self-regulation outcomes. This research has, to date, also documented kindergarten educators using systematic instruction in combination with play-based learning.</p>
<h2>Educators need development, resources</h2>
<p>What’s needed is to ensure kindergarten educators are being provided with training and professional development to effectively lead classrooms utilizing both play-based learning and systematic instruction in reading, writing and math. This task is anything from basic — but is 100 per cent possible and necessary. </p>
<p>As curricular revisions are made, we must ask: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Who are the stakeholders that are being invited to make the revisions to the curriculum? </p></li>
<li><p>Who is missing from the conversations? </p></li>
<li><p>What research is being used? </p></li>
<li><p>What type of training will be provided to educators? </p></li>
<li><p>Will this training include a focus on what it means to teach in evidence-based ways — and how to do so? </p></li>
<li><p>Will policymakers consider class size and sufficient resourcing for teachers so all students have the classroom supports required to ensure these changes will have real impact?</p></li>
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<p>In updating a curriculum, we cannot merely add additional content for educators to cover each day. </p>
<p>Instead, we need to consider what these changes mean and how we can best support educators in successfully supporting children’s learning — through both play-based learning and direct instruction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222846/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristy Timmons received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Queen's University, an Ontario Certified Teacher, and a Registered Early Childhood Educator. </span></em></p>We need to ensure the best scientific research in play-based learning and early reading is leveraged, and teachers receive supports to meet children’s developmental and academic needs.Kristy Timmons, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2027142023-03-29T02:54:33Z2023-03-29T02:54:33ZTeaching the ‘basics’ is critical – but what teachers really want are clear guidelines and expectations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518052/original/file-20230328-24-s4t4vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8230%2C5495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone watching the debate over the National Party’s recent curriculum policy announcement could be forgiven for thinking there is a deep divide in education philosophy and best practice in New Zealand. The truth isn’t quite that simple.</p>
<p>In fact, most (if not all) interested parties would agree that teaching and learning the basics of literacy and numeracy are vital. As one <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018883129/literacy-expert-dissects-new-literacy-numeracy-model-and-national-s-education-policy">expert observer noted</a>, the policies of the major political parties actually have much in common. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.national.org.nz/teaching_the_basics_brilliantly">National Party policy</a> promises a curriculum focused on “teaching the basics brilliantly”. The government says much of this work is already under way with its current curriculum “refresh”. So where exactly is the issue?</p>
<p>The idea of mandated testing checkpoints clearly has some worried that the National Party’s policy is a return to a “<a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=7020">back to basics</a>” mentality that ignores or minimises other vital areas of teaching. As <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-03-2023/kpis-are-for-businesses-and-boardrooms-not-children-and-schools">one headline</a> had it, “KPIs are for businesses and boardrooms, not children and schools”.</p>
<p>While the basics are important, the argument goes, there are other things schools should focus on. That may be true, but it need not be so binary. Basic early literacy and numeracy skills are the foundation on which much other success is built. </p>
<p>Perhaps a better way to frame the discussion might be: a wider view of learning is important – <em>and</em> the basics are necessary.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518053/original/file-20230328-14-50spm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Learning literacy is a complex process: handwriting skill is the best predictor of writing success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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<h2>Learning to read and write is hard</h2>
<p>Foundations take time to put in place, however. With reading and writing, for example, it’s common for capable adults to assume that many of the foundational skills are easily achieved. </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://blog.learnfasthq.com/how-the-brain-learns-to-read-professor-stanislaus-dehaene">neuroscience shows</a> literacy learning is a remarkably complex process. Learning to identify letters and the sounds associated with them, and learning to read and retain words, involves a kind of repurposing of the brain’s architecture.</p>
<p>Learning to correctly spell words is even more complex than reading them. Successful teaching of spelling requires clear and systematic guidelines. Mastery cannot be left to chance or done through rote learning lists of words.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/has-a-gap-in-old-school-handwriting-and-spelling-tuition-contributed-to-nzs-declining-literacy-scores-155371">Has a gap in old-school handwriting and spelling tuition contributed to NZ's declining literacy scores?</a>
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<p>Another often undervalued basic skill is handwriting. It can be seen as purely a presentation technique and simply about neatness. But research shows handwriting skill contributes directly to writing achievement and is the <a href="https://www.ldatschool.ca/literacy-skills-handwriting/#:%7E:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20handwriting,et%20al.%2C%202000">best predictor of writing success</a> in younger students.</p>
<p>Reading and writing also rely on a foundation of oral language skill, including understanding sentence structure and having a strong vocabulary. Being proficient with sentences is the building block for paragraph formation, essential to more advanced writing tasks. Vocabulary knowledge is a <a href="https://theeducationhub.org.nz/effective-vocabulary-instruction/#:%7E:text=Vocabulary%20knowledge%20is%20a%20strong,to%20support%20accurate%20word%20recognition">strong predictor of academic achievement</a>, connected to both reading and writing success.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518056/original/file-20230328-16-3koz90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Clear guidelines and specifics: teachers want to know what denotes progress, and when they should be concerned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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<h2>What teachers want</h2>
<p>None of these skills develop by chance. So the question becomes, how can a curriculum best support teachers to teach literacy from its foundations upwards, with as many students as possible succeeding?</p>
<p>In my work as a literacy facilitator, I find teachers want specifics. They want to know what to teach at each stage. They want to know what the children in their classes should be able to do within that year. They want to know what denotes progress, and when they should be concerned.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-need-a-lot-of-things-right-now-but-another-curriculum-rewrite-isnt-one-of-them-202438">Teachers need a lot of things right now, but another curriculum 'rewrite' isn't one of them</a>
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<p>But the curriculum as a whole is necessarily broad and all-encompassing, to reflect the complex needs of society. The <a href="https://curriculumrefresh.education.govt.nz/why-new-zealand-curriculum-changing">curriculum refresh</a> groups learning in broad bands – and this presents problems for specific guidance and benchmarks.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://curriculumrefresh-live-assetstorages3bucket-l5w0dsj7zmbm.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-03/CO3101_MOE_English-A3_008-DRAFT.pdf?VersionId=chGkn5jpuCHH7wQVHHD17VnDR1X.5Q.I">English curriculum</a>, one of the literacy goals for learners in the year 1-3 band is to “use decoding strategies with texts to make meaning”. This is far too broad to be helpful in teaching or assessment in any specific way.</p>
<p>More nuanced progress indicators are still being developed, but the draft examples suggest there will be more guidance in more specific age bands.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/education-expert-john-hatties-new-book-draws-on-more-than-130-000-studies-to-find-out-what-helps-students-learn-201952">Education expert John Hattie's new book draws on more than 130,000 studies to find out what helps students learn</a>
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<h2>Guidelines and benchmarks</h2>
<p>As well as through the curriculum, teaching will be supported by the <a href="https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/curriculum-and-assessment-changes/literacy-and-communication-and-maths-strategy/">Literacy & Communication and Maths Strategy</a> and the <a href="https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/curriculum-and-assessment-changes/common-practice-model/">Common Practice Model</a>. As an educator, I hope the final versions of these documents will offer clear guidelines for both teaching and assessment.</p>
<p>And there are new resources recently provided to schools that contribute usefully to a systematic and successful approach to literacy teaching. These are based on current evidence of how reading is best taught. They include a <a href="https://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Instructional-Series/Ready-to-Read/Ready-to-Read-Phonics-Plus">progression of word learning</a> framework, and <a href="https://instructionalseries.tki.org.nz/content/search/(offset)/10?SearchText=&SubTreeArray%5b%5d=29181&Scope=all&Phase=K%C4%81kano%20%7C%20Seed">decodable readers with lesson plans</a>.</p>
<p>All of these resources should provide useful direction for schools in their literacy teaching. While we can never make the task of teaching literacy simple, specific guidelines can make the pathway for teaching more straightforward. </p>
<p>More focus on the basics need not be boring for learners, either. I recently observed a lesson where the children were learning to decode new words. At the end, a six-year-old said “that was fun, can we do more?” The act of laying foundations for literacy is anything but dull.</p>
<p>The National Party’s call for guidelines around “teaching the basics brilliantly” speaks to a vital part of a rounded education. More detail is now needed about what “brilliance” will mean in practice, just as we need more detail on the current curriculum refresh. Making foundation skills a key component of the curriculum may not be the whole answer, but it is absolutely necessary for overall success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Braid has been involved with the MoE NZC refresh as an advisor on the literacy indicators; and had worked on the scope and sequence, and decodable text resources for the MoE.</span></em></p>The ‘back to basics’ debate over curriculum policy obscures what teachers say they really need: clear guidelines and benchmarks of progress.Christine Braid, Professional Learning and Development Facilitator in Literacy Education, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1792462022-03-21T15:17:40Z2022-03-21T15:17:40ZJohannesburg’s first woman mayor speaks on effective coalitions and fighting corruption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453001/original/file-20220318-21-h2fzmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mpho Phalatse, mayor of Johannesburg.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: City of Johannesburg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South Africa’s nationwide local government elections held on <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/Elections-and-results/Municipal-Elections-2021">1 November 2021</a> saw a continuing trend of no outright winners in some key cities, resulting in coalition governments. This is a relatively new phenomenon in South Africa, resulting from the decline in support for the African National Congress, which has dominated politics since democracy in 1994. The coalition governments have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/marriages-of-inconvenience-the-fraught-politics-of-coalitions-in-south-africa-167517">marred by volatility and instability</a>, owing to posturing and power plays. Research specialist Joleen Steyn Kotze talks to <a href="https://www.da.org.za/get-to-know-mpho-phalatse">Mpho Phalatse</a>, from the opposition <a href="https://www.da.org.za/">Democratic Alliance</a>, the first woman to be elected the mayor of the economic powerhouse of Johannnesburg.</em></p>
<h2>Local government councils are often political theatres. How do you manage this?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Multi-party governance requires a high level of political maturity and a full understanding of our role in society. It can be brought into focus through the Kenyan proverb, when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. Meaning that our political disagreements leave communities without services such as healthcare, safety, security, housing as well as job opportunities.</p>
<p>While as partners we have agreed on certain principles and values, which are non-negotiables, there are matters that we may not agree on and that require negotiation, which play into processes like budgets. Without the budget there can be no government. Ultimately it is the people that suffer.</p>
<p>So, we cannot be ideologically rigid or stubborn. All parties <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-09-da-eff-actionsa-joburg-council-set-for-showdown-over-city-manager-appointment/">must compromise</a>. </p>
<h2>What are the interventions you will advance to ensure meaningful change?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Before we can start hoisting up cranes and rolling out capital projects, we need get the basics right. These are the foundation on which we are going to build the city we desire.</p>
<p>These basics align with our priorities. When we table the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/2020-21%20Integrated%20Annual%20Report/City%20of%20Johannesburg%20Annual%20Intergrated%20Report_1st_Council%20version.pdf">state of the city address in April</a>, followed by the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/IDP,%20Budget%20Process%20Plan/IDP,BUDGET%20-PROCESS%20PLAN.pdf">budget in May</a>, these will signal the start of the multi-party government’s full control of the city and its direction.</p>
<p>Some basics include establishing good governance as the gold standard. This means playing by the book, identifying corruption and acting against it. This way, we can stop financial leaks in the system and direct those funds to their intended service delivery programmes.</p>
<p>Through operation <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/MediaStatements/Pages/2018%20Press%20Releases/National-and-Provincial-Government-embrace-Operation-Buya-Mthetho.aspx">Buya Mthetho</a>, a campaign aimed at restoring rule of law and creating safe communities, as well as a <a href="https://sandtontimes.co.za/operation-buya-mthetho/">revenue collection programme</a> we have identified that our revenue collection is not where it ought to be. So, we have embarked on a campaign to collect as much of the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2022%20Media%20Statements/February/R38-billion-in-unpaid-bills-could-build-a-well-run,-safe,-and-business-friendly-Joburg.aspx">R38-billion</a> owed to the city in outstanding rates, taxes and levies. Those who have the means to pay but simply refuse to, have their service suspended until they pay what is owed. </p>
<p>For those who are unable to pay, we have reopened the <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/debt-rehabilitation-programme-for-citys-customers-to-be-reinstated-johannesburg-mayor/">debt rehabilitation programme</a>. It assists financially distressed ratepayers and defaulting customers to bring their outstanding municipal accounts up to date.</p>
<p>We have also accelerated maintenance projects. Our service delivery teams from City Parks and Zoo, the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Joburg Water and City Power are conducting region-by-region blitzes to fix potholes, clean open spaces and curbs and cut trees, paint lines on the roads, fix traffic signals, repair leaking pipes and taps, and so on. This is part of getting the basics right.</p>
<p>We have deployed an additional <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/city-of-joburg-unleashes-1-800-metro-cops-to-curb-crime-in-the-city-centre-20220119">1,800 city police officers</a> to supplement existing patrols to prevent and fight crime in the Central Business District (CBD) and other business nodes. We will be deploying 150 park rangers to safeguard the city’s open spaces.</p>
<p>The rejuvenation of the CBD is important. We have begun taking back <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/city-of-joburg-target-hijacked-buildings-returns-47-properties-to-lawful-owners-20220210">hijacked buildings</a> – buildings, mostly in the CBD, which were either shuttered or abandoned by their owners and taken over by criminal syndicates who then rented out without paying rates and taxes – and returning them to their owners. If the owners can’t be traced, we will convert the buildings into affordable housing, among other things, to bring more people closer to economic opportunities.</p>
<p>And we recently launched a site and services project in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcEWagkt1KI">Zandspruit informal settlement</a> that will bring decent housing to communities that have been left behind. </p>
<h2>Your term will be five years. What legacy would you like to leave?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse</strong>: The administration of the city must work, regardless of who leads it politically. This means having professional, skilled and dedicated staff at all levels who appreciate what it means to work for local government.</p>
<p>One can have the best political and policy intentions but, without a working administration, making ones’ priorities reality becomes difficult. This is why I am obsessed with getting the basics right.</p>
<p>In short, governments come and go, so we must leave the administration stronger than we found it so that there is smooth transition between governments as well as lasting and equitable development.</p>
<h2>How will you ensure balanced consultation in the volatile context of coalitions?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Consultation and implementation are not mutually exclusive. It is understanding what we need to consult on. For example, we consulted extensively ahead of the adjustment budget. We will also consult ahead of the budget in May.</p>
<p>The budget is a key policy and implementation document. Once we pass it, we’ll get on with the job of delivering services.</p>
<p>There was wide consultation on the appointment of board members to serve the municipal entities. Thus, we have highly qualified board members who must now be given the space to do their jobs. Likewise, we will again consult on appointing the right city manager. </p>
<p>All multi-party partners understand what needs to be done. </p>
<h2>What are the lessons from the previous coalition governments?</h2>
<p>In many ways we are writing the multi-party government playbook as we go. But, key to the success of this project is working together, mutual respect and abiding by the <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/da-signs-five-year-agreement-with-coalition-partners-dreams-big-for-2024-20211216">coalition agreement</a> all partners have signed.</p>
<p>In a nutshell the rules of engagement must be clear, understood and followed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joleen Steyn Kotze receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Parties must forego ideological rigidity and compromise for the common good, says Mpho Phalatse about making coalitions work.Joleen Steyn Kotze, Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653202021-09-21T05:34:28Z2021-09-21T05:34:28ZWant to improve our education system? Stop seeking advice from far-off gurus and encourage expertise in schools<p>Over the past two decades, Australian governments have committed exorbitant energy and resources to transform our nation’s schools.</p>
<p>The driving force behind many reforms has been a narrative of panic and failure, often centred on <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pisa/key-findings-2018">the steady decline</a> of Australian students on the OECD’s <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA).</p>
<p>When federal education minister Alan Tudge announced <a href="https://theconversation.com/john-hattie-why-i-support-the-education-ministers-teacher-education-review-160181">yet another review</a> of teacher education in May, he followed a predictable reform script. Australian students, <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/being-our-best-returning-australia-top-group-education-nations">he said</a>, have “dropped behind” on global PISA rankings, are “being significantly outcompeted” and this will have grave consequences for the nation’s “long-term productivity and competitiveness”.</p>
<p>Tudge set a target to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/teacher-training-review-key-to-arresting-declining-academic-results-tudge-20210414-p57j6i.html">return Australia to the top education nations globally</a> by 2030, and argued more national reforms are needed to make this happen. He was mirroring a long line of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-pledge-for-top-five-school-spot-20120902-258k5.html">similar goals and proclamations</a> from federal ministers who have argued we must pursue common national reforms based on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2016.1252855">evidence about “what works”</a>. </p>
<p>The problem is, these grand attempts to revolutionise schools are not working. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-doesnt-define-education-quality-and-knee-jerk-policy-proposals-wont-fix-whatever-is-broken-128389">PISA doesn't define education quality, and knee-jerk policy proposals won't fix whatever is broken</a>
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<p>Not only has Australia gone into <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/alarm-bells-australian-students-record-worst-result-in-global-tests-20191203-p53gie.html">a rapid free fall</a> on PISA but <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-2019">multiple other measures of performance</a> have stagnated or gone backwards. Roughly <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/secondary-education-school-retention-completion">one in five young people</a> in Australia do not complete year 12, <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/reports/closing-the-gap-2019/education.html">intolerable gaps</a> in outcomes persist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and the race for <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/02/22/higher-education-inequality-how-well-has-australia-limited-differential-access-levels-by-socioeconomic-status/">high ATARs</a> (and entry to elite universities) is dominated by young people from the wealthiest backgrounds.</p>
<p>Australia <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-02/educating-australia-why-our-schools-arent-improving/8235222">is replicating</a> a deeply inequitable and underperforming system.</p>
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<p>This begs a crucial question: if “what works” doesn’t actually work, then what should we be doing differently? In my new book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Quest-for-Revolution-in-Australian-Schooling-Policy/Savage/p/book/9780367681876">The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy</a>, I outline multiple ways we could re-imagine schooling reform.</p>
<h2>What’s the problem with doing “what works”?</h2>
<p>All over the world, governments and policy makers are seeking to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2018.1545050">align schooling policies</a> to evidence that tells us “what works”.</p>
<p>Underpinning this reform movement is a seductive <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780199942060.001.0001/isbn-9780199942060">allure of order</a>, which assumes positive outcomes will flow from standardising diverse schooling systems around common practices that are apparently “proven to work”.</p>
<p>This logic has informed every major schooling reform since the late 2000s, from the introduction of standardised literacy and numeracy testing (<a href="https://www.nap.edu.au">NAPLAN</a>) to the creation of an <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au">Australian Curriculum</a> based on common achievement standards.</p>
<p>To a casual observer it might seem logical we should aspire to be the world’s best and develop standards based on “the evidence” to achieve that. Yet there are multiple reasons why doing “what works” often doesn’t work at all. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-becoming-more-segregated-this-threatens-student-outcomes-155455">Australian schools are becoming more segregated. This threatens student outcomes</a>
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<p>The primary issue with this approach is that while there might be some evidence to tell us a reform works “somewhere”, proponents often take this to mean it will work everywhere.</p>
<p>This can produce a range of adverse impacts. For one, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Politics-of-Evidence-From-evidence-based-policy-to-the-good-governance/Parkhurst/p/book/9781138570382">privileging evidence</a> that can apparently be applied across the board can devalue local and context-specific knowledge and evidence. </p>
<p>While it might be broadly useful to consider what “<a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/improve/Pages/hits.aspx">high impact teaching strategies</a>” look like, we should never assume such evidence can be equally applied in all schools.</p>
<p>After all, what works best in a remote public school in Broome is highly unlikely to be the same as what works best in an elite private school in Darlinghurst. </p>
<p>Without critical and nuanced engagement with evidence claims, such lists and toolkits can act as powerful disincentives for the profession to generate and share locally-produced evidence. This, in turn, can lead to an erasure of evidence that does not align with dominant knowledge. </p>
<p>At its worst, when evidence is determined through top-down government intervention and based on global knowledge curated by leading think tanks, education businesses and organisations like the OECD, educators are relegated to being mere “implementers” of ideas from elsewhere.</p>
<p>At work here is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319563/">an arrogance of design</a> and a privileging of the perspectives of remote designers over that of professionals with deep knowledge of the local spaces in which they work.</p>
<h2>What is a better way forward?</h2>
<p>Australian schooling policy is being put together backwards. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Quest-for-Revolution-in-Australian-Schooling-Policy/Savage/p/book/9780367681876">book outlines ways</a> to reverse the reform script. Let me briefly mention three.</p>
<p>First, Australia needs to stop listening to the loud voices of education gurus and members of the global “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48879-0_8">consultocracy</a>” who claim to have “the answer”.</p>
<p>Instead, we should invest energy and resources to inspire local networks of evidence creation and knowledge sharing. This organic and bottom-up approach puts faith in the profession to experiment, solve problems and collaborate to create solutions in context.</p>
<p>This is not an argument against experts and expertise but is a call for re-framing how we understand these terms. </p>
<p>Australia has fallen into a pattern where the experts and expertise that shape reforms are no longer in schools. This needs to be urgently re-balanced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-has-education-policy-changed-under-the-coalition-government-113921">How has education policy changed under the Coalition government?</a>
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<p>Second, we need to move beyond industrial modes of thinking that liken the work of educators to those of factory workers on a production line. </p>
<p>Rather than investing millions in reforms that tie educators to lockstep standards and lists of strategies, we need to recognise that schools are complex and diverse social ecologies and the work of educators is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319563/">non-routine based</a> and always evolving. </p>
<p>So, while it can be useful to have some external evidence and standards to inform practices, its relevance to practical and local knowledge is only partial at best.</p>
<p>We only really <em>know</em> evidence works when we see it work in specific classrooms, and what works in one class won’t work in all classes.</p>
<p>Third, we need to move beyond the damaging assumption that sameness and commonality across systems and schools is the path to improvement. </p>
<p>Grand designs to revolutionise and homogenise practices are not the panacea.</p>
<p>Rather than approaching education reform as technicians seeking to make “the machine” work better, perhaps we should think and act more like gardeners, seeking to build the ecosystems needed for diverse things to grow and flourish.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn C. Savage receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Australian governments have committed a lot of money and effort over the last few decades to improve schooling using “what works”. But this hasn’t worked. So what can we do to improve education?Glenn C Savage, Associate Professor of Education Policy, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1576902021-06-03T02:35:18Z2021-06-03T02:35:18ZA ‘crowded curriculum’? Sure, it may be complex, but so is the world kids must engage with<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403740/original/file-20210601-17-twdd6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pile-old-books-dramatic-dim-light-1555865240">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Curriculum is <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/consultation/">going through a review process</a> with proposed changes released for public consultation at the end of April. </p>
<p>When Australian state education ministers commissioned the review in June 2020, the <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/curriculum/ac-review_terms-of-reference_website.pdf">terms of reference</a> specified the aim to “refine and reduce the amount of content across all eight learning areas […] to focus on essential content”. </p>
<p>The draft up for consultation <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/consultation/">states</a>:</p>
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<p>The Review looks to improve the Australian Curriculum by refining, realigning and decluttering the content so it focuses on the essential knowledge and skills students should learn and is clearer for teachers on what they need to teach.</p>
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<p>But is the curriculum actually “cluttered” or “crowded” as commonly claimed? And what does that even mean?</p>
<h2>Who says it’s crowded?</h2>
<p>Claims of the Australian Curriculum being “crowded” have been heard far and wide. For instance, in December 2018 then Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/too-much-being-taught-tehan-says-national-curriculum-is-overcrowded-20181209-p50l5s.html">told a conference</a>:</p>
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<p>Teachers tell me that there is too much being taught and we should be concentrating on developing a deeper understanding of essential content.</p>
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<p>Preliminary research from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (ACARA) <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/7058/transcript-talking-the-australian-curriculum-review.pdf">does reveal teachers</a> are in the chorus line of those voicing concerns about the need to refine and reduce the curriculum’s content. </p>
<p>ACARA’s Director of Curriculum Janet Davey <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/7058/transcript-talking-the-australian-curriculum-review.pdf">said</a> teachers are looking to the review for clarity about “what it is we want teachers to teach and what it is we want learners to learn”. </p>
<p>Today’s teachers are increasingly called on to play an active role in translating a wide range of contemporary social agendas into age-appropriate curriculum content for their students. This includes fostering young people’s understandings of <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx">respectful relationships</a> , <a href="https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/sexuality-education/policy">consent</a> , <a href="https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/fundingAndSupport/Documents/eatsips_2011.pdf">cultural awareness</a> and the <a href="https://www.sustainableschoolsnsw.org.au/teach/climate-change">environment</a>. </p>
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<p>While few would reject the importance of these issues having a presence in the contemporary curriculum, they inevitably add to the time and content demands already placed on teachers. </p>
<p>At the heart of accusations of a crowded or cluttered curriculum are concerns learning in key areas — such as literacy and numeracy — will be compromised by an insidious creep towards a breadth of content, such as gender and environmental issues. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-new-curriculum-acknowledges-first-nations-view-of-british-invasion-and-a-multicultural-australia-160011">Proposed new curriculum acknowledges First Nations' view of British 'invasion' and a multicultural Australia</a>
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<p>Of course schools have always been active sites for the delivery of important social policy. Key social agendas associated with population health, welfare, security, nutrition and hygiene have all had prominence in the curriculum at various moments in history. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760930220405?journalCode=thed20">historical example</a> of curriculum adaptation to accommodate national priorities can be readily tracked during times of war. Both world wars saw an increase in gender segregation in the curriculum, in which greater emphasis was placed on the disciplining and conditioning of boys, while welfare and health education were heightened for girls. </p>
<h2>Going ‘back to basics’</h2>
<p>Accusations of a crowded curriculum are often amplified following the publication of international educational test results. At the end of 2019, the OECD released the latest results of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The <a href="https://theconversation.com/aussie-students-are-a-year-behind-students-10-years-ago-in-science-maths-and-reading-127013">results showed</a>, since PISA first assessed reading literacy in 2000, Australia’s mean score had declined by the equivalent of around three-quarters of a year of schooling. </p>
<p>Australia also trailed 23 countries in maths, and 12 countries in science.</p>
<p>Whenever the comparative performance of Australian students is seen to fall against their international counterparts a blame-game is set in motion.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-doesnt-define-education-quality-and-knee-jerk-policy-proposals-wont-fix-whatever-is-broken-128389">PISA doesn't define education quality, and knee-jerk policy proposals won't fix whatever is broken</a>
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<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/education/educationtime-to-take-a-chainsaw-to-the-curriculum/news-story/007d63cfac9c0dc83ac1ebcf8a8e39f1">Dan Tehan had said</a> he was disappointed with the results and would “take a chainsaw” to the Australian Curriculum — again saying it was too “cluttered”. Together with this is generally the declaration for an urgent need to, “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/education-minister-pushes-for-back-to-basics-approach-in-schools-20191209-p53i7z.html">go back to basics</a>”. </p>
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<p>Indeed, successive federal education ministers have called-out the crowded curriculum as a major reason for Australia’s international underperformance in literacy and numeracy (see, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abbott-government-to-overhaul-crowded-curriculum-20141012-114vrg.html">Christopher Pyne</a>, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/too-much-being-taught-tehan-says-national-curriculum-is-overcrowded-20181209-p50l5s.html">Dan Tehan</a> and current Education Minister <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/sky-news-andrew-bolt">Alan Tudge</a>.)</p>
<h2>It’s not so simple</h2>
<p>While the rhetoric around stripping back the so-called crowded curriculum has an appealing simplicity, its application is considerably more problematic. </p>
<p>At stake here are the perceived merits of each of the eight key learning areas that comprise the Australian Curriculum. </p>
<p>It would be a hotly contested decision to declare the content associated with any of the eight Learning Areas (English, Maths, Science, The Arts, Humanities, Technologies, Health and Physical Education and Languages) should be purged.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1202133383486160896"}"></div></p>
<p>So rather than concede the curriculum is crowded, ACARA has opted to describe it as cluttered. The prevailing view here is that it is not excessive curriculum content causing teacher angst, but uncertainty about its structure. </p>
<p>ACARA’s CEO David de Carvalho <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/curriculum-review-set-to-declutter-students-workload-and-strip-back-lessons/news-story/24702ee6875162805a28b6cdae986c0d">believes clarifying the structure</a> of the Australian Curriculum and the relationship between the three dimensions of the curriculum — Learning Areas, General Capabilities (key skills and dispositions) and Cross-Curriculum Priorities (regional, national and global priorities) — will go a long way to addressing current teacher concerns.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-education-its-no-longer-just-about-getting-a-job-117897">What's the point of education? It's no longer just about getting a job</a>
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<p>Indeed, ACARA defends the current curriculum’s breadth as <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/curriculum-review-set-to-declutter-students-workload-and-strip-back-lessons/news-story/24702ee6875162805a28b6cdae986c0d">necessary for preparing</a> young people for active citizenship in an increasingly complex world. </p>
<h2>A complex world</h2>
<p>So the challenge is to strike a balance between the competing curriculum demands for “back to basics” and the need for “formative futures” — understood as the fundamentals for effective personhood in an increasingly complex world. Numeracy and literacy may be important but they are not enough to prepare young people to be active shapers of the world they live in. </p>
<p>Yes, the curriculum is busy and requires regular updating and refining. But breadth is not the enemy of depth. A balanced curriculum has the power to deliver a wide range of important lessons. </p>
<p>So, rather than rehearsing old rhetoric about the curriculum being crowded, we should shift the focus to the quality of the learning experience, and how we can best nurture productive interactions between teachers and students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Hickey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At the heart of accusations of a crowded curriculum are concerns key areas — such as literacy and numeracy — will be compromised by an insidious creep towards content such as gender issues.Chris Hickey, Professor, School of Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1486112020-11-03T19:42:44Z2020-11-03T19:42:44ZLeaked Alberta school curriculum in urgent need of guidance from Indigenous wisdom teachings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367114/original/file-20201102-15-1qqshgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C352%2C2861%2C1755&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Cree concept 'wâhkôhtowin' emphasizes more-than-human kinship relations. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Alberta, drafts of a proposed kindergarten to Grade 4 curriculum for social studies and fine arts were recently leaked to the media and have been broadly criticized by education experts. </p>
<p>The leaked curriculum suggests references to residential schools “can probably best be saved for later when learners are more mature,” for example Grade 9, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/learning-about-residential-schools-in-elementary-grades-non-negotiable-education-minister-says-1.5772176">and minimizes the impact of the schools and their harmful reach in the Canadian colonial context</a>. </p>
<p>The drafts would see Grade 1 students become familiar with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/education-experts-slam-leaked-alberta-curriculum-proposals-1.5766570">the art of Claude Monet, Georgia O'Keefe and Pablo Picasso and introduce learning Bible verses and Indigenous stories about creation as poetry</a>. In the leaked documents, the social studies curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 4 contains a list of points with the header <a href="http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/7273491/2020-07-31-Social-Studies-K-to-2-Champion.pdf">“sounds like mysticism” with a list of crossed-off items that includes oral history and the wisdom teaching that “the land sustains everything.”</a></p>
<p>The leaked documents also show signs that the authors prefer a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1494485">back to the basics</a>” approach that stresses learning key facts. The authors express nostalgia for an imagined simpler time when students were required to memorize key dates and events related to the history of the Canadian nation, heritage and Indigenous Peoples. These dates include histories such as 1701 being the date when the Great Peace of Montréal between New France and 39 First Nations was established or 1885 as the date of the second Riel Rebellion/Métis Resistance. </p>
<p>The problem here is that simply plugging in more information about events that include Indigenous Peoples maintains an education model focused on consuming facts as the scaffolding for knowing.</p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-37210-1">helping students find meaning from the study of the past is much more complex than simple memorization and recall</a>.</p>
<p>The leaked curriculum documents also frame references to Indigenous topics and themes in the past — as though we as Indigenous Peoples don’t exist in the present. Incorporating course content that devalues and marginalizes the significance of Indigenous knowledges, experiences and histories <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-senator-criticizes-alberta-proposal-to-shield-younger-students-from">is an expression of racism and white supremacy</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of this, we need to focus on leading students to understand relationships with each other, with Indigenous communities and with the world in qualitatively different ways.</p>
<h2>Stories for good guidance</h2>
<p>When teaching and learning is reduced to simply memorizing and recalling information, this ignores the complex and varied ways that humans perceive the world.</p>
<p>School curricula are compilations of stories told to students regarding knowledge and their relationship to it. The stories children hear in schools are meant to foster qualities and understandings that express specific notions of what it means to be human and how to live as citizens. </p>
<p>As a descendent of the amiskwaciwiyiniwak (Beaver Hills people) and the Papaschase Cree who has studied how Indigenous philosophies can expand and enhance our understandings of what and how children should be taught, I find there is much at stake in these curriculum debates. </p>
<p>Soon after Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) was elected in April 2019, a UCP-appointed panel of experts reviewed curriculum work undertaken by the previous NDP government and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-curriculum-review-panel-1.5256237">Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced a new direction</a>. The government says the leaked material consists of only early drafts, but <a href="https://www.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/NewsReleases/Pages/Teachers-Have-Lost-Trust-in-Curriculum-Redesign-Efforts.aspx">the Alberta Teachers Association has criticized</a> the goverment’s process and its direction.</p>
<p>In the context of Alberta today, we need leadership that provides foresight and guidance on how to understand and address the key concerns of our times: climate change, systemic racism, wellness and economic sustainability. We need stories that <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2019/02/25/Cree-Way-of-Living">teach how humans are related to each other and to all life forms</a> rather than reinforcing inherited colonial divides.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VM1J3evcEyQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Dwayne Donald discusses how 2009 Alberta curriculum advanced ideas of resilience understood within the confines of our existing capitalist oil economy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reviving colonial myths</h2>
<p>The leaked curriculum documents express a clear desire to revive the old story of the Canadian nation told in schools for many generations. This story characterizes Canada as a nation created through the hard work and perseverance of settlers who <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/canada%E2%80%99s-vanishing-point">brought prosperity and progress to a land perceived to be empty</a>.</p>
<p>Prioritizing this narrative marginalizes Indigenous standpoints and experiences. It draws on a divisive colonial approach to education that my research has explored through the <a href="https://www.mfnerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/004_Donald.pdf">mythic symbol of the fort</a> at the heart of the creation story in Canada.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/ata%20magazine/Volume-93/Number-4/Pages/Teachers-aboriginal-perspectives.aspx">fort is a symbol of colonialism that teaches separation</a> and exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from everyone else. In the Canadian West, forts normalize the colonial divides in Canadian society. Schools and what they teach are founded on these colonial divides. Such teachings reinforce Eurocentric standards and enhance existing divides. </p>
<p>When European explorers landed on Turtle Island they instigated a centuries-long process of imposing a universalized model of the human being upon people they encountered. Jamaican cultural theorist Sylvia Wynter has noted that this process served to present a European-specific <a href="https://cosmopolis.woo.cat/media/pages/events/08-11-19/collective-thinking/2931087183-1573123705/sylvia-wynter-1492-a-new-world-view.pdf">conception of being human that is presented as universally good for all people to aspire to be</a>.</p>
<p>Formal schooling became a primary means by which those with power could discipline the citizenry to conform to this model. This has resulted in schooling approaches that perpetuate <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-intimacies-of-four-continents">falsely universalized assumptions of human knowing and being</a>. These assumptions have become so pervasive that it has become difficult to imagine different ways to be a human being.</p>
<p>This struggle is perhaps the most pressing challenge we face today if we wish to live in more collaborative ways. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Walls of Fort Edmonton" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366791/original/file-20201030-17-viq44v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fort Edmonton seen in July 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">(John Stanton/Wikimedia Commons)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Kinship relations</h2>
<p>The recent leaked curriculum documents in Alberta are evidence of the desire to continue with this “fort-ified” approach to education. They provide little guidance on how to proceed differently. What is urgently required instead are stories that teach young people to be good relatives to their human and more-than-human kin. </p>
<p>The Cree wisdom concepts most central to this understanding of kinship relationality are <em>wîcêhtowin</em> and <em>wâhkôhtowin</em>. </p>
<p><em>wîcêhtowin</em> refers to the life-giving energy that is generated when people face each other as relatives and build trustful relationships by connecting with others by putting respect, kindness and compassion at the forefront of our interactions.</p>
<p>Translated into English, <em>wâhkôhtowin</em> is generally understood to refer to human kinship. <em>wâhkôhtowin</em> describes practical ethical guidelines regarding how you are related to your kin and how to conduct yourself as a good relative. However, <em>wâhkôhtowin</em> also emphasizes more-than-human kinship relations. This emphasis guides human beings to understand themselves as fully enmeshed in networks of relationships. </p>
<p>Following the kinship relational wisdom of <em>wâhkôhtowin</em>, we’re called to repeatedly acknowledge and honour the fact that the sun, the land, the wind, the water, the animals and the trees (just to name a few) are quite literally our relatives: we carry parts of each of them inside our own bodies. </p>
<p>Taken together, <em>wîcêhtowin</em> and <em>wâhkôhtowin</em> can be understood as promoting an ecological understanding of kinship relationality that becomes apparent to us as human beings when we honour the sacred ecology that supports all life and living. </p>
<p>Today, now more than ever it seems, young people need stories that teach them how to be good relatives with all their relations — human and more-than-human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dwayne Donald has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada</span></em></p>Leaked curriculum drafts in Alberta show a desire to revive old colonial myths. To face today’s challenges, we need stories that teach how humans are related to each other and to all life forms.Dwayne Donald, Associate professor, Faculty of Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1154452019-05-02T21:54:22Z2019-05-02T21:54:22ZOntario math has always covered ‘the basics’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272086/original/file-20190501-113830-1stfftu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C108%2C5090%2C2560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Provincial leaders' portrayal of developments in math education over the past 20-plus years has been disturbingly poor. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some disturbing statements have been made recently about Ontario’s student math achievement and curriculum. Premier Doug Ford told the media that “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5173501/ontario-students-lowest-math-scores-canada/">Grade 6 students are the lowest math scores in the entire country</a>” — this is false — and Minister of Education Lisa Thompson has described Ontario’s math curriculum as “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4416177/ontario-elementary-school-math-scores-down/">failed experimental curriculum</a>.” </p>
<p>We are mathematics education faculty members who also also have extensive years of experience classroom teaching in Ontario. We have researched <a href="http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/journalarchive/FMEJ/53.html">math curriculum in Ontario</a> and we spend much of our time working with future Ontario teachers and observing current teachers in classrooms. </p>
<p>We feel our provincial leaders’ portrayal of teachers’ efforts, and the developments in mathematics education over the past 20-plus years, has been disturbingly poor. Here’s why.</p>
<h2>The myth of ‘discovery math’</h2>
<p>During his campaign, Ford said many times that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-math-free-speech-1.4654966">he wanted to get rid of the “discovery math” curriculum</a>, and before this school year the minister of education issued a <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2018/08/statement-by-education-minister-on-eqao-results.html?_ga=2.61762409.410064977.1555452822-1319607232.1555117882">news release citing the end of “discovery math” in Ontario</a>. </p>
<p>The current curriculum is not, and never has been, based on “discovery.” <em>Discovery</em> is not one of the verbs used in the curriculum to describe the actions of students in math classes. </p>
<p>If you do a word search on the Ontario math Grades 1 to 8 curriculum document, The words “discover” or “discovery” are <em>not contained in the learning or process expectations</em>. One sentence states students will “discover” <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf">a connection between effort and achievement on page 4</a>.</p>
<p>The current curriculum advocates for the development of <em>understanding</em>, along with fluency. What <em>are</em> in the curriculum are words like “investigate,” “determine” and “explore” <a href="https://thelearningexchange.ca/videos/dr-christine-surrtamm-a-balanced-approach/">to explain students need to do mathematical thinking, not just compute formulas</a>.</p>
<h2>Curriculum already covers ‘basics’</h2>
<p>A more recent news release from the minister of education called for “<a href="https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2019/03/back-to-basics-math-curriculum-renewed-focus-on-skilled-trades-and-cellphone-ban-in-the-classroom-co.html?_ga=2.51267113.1846165903.1555117882-1319607232.1555117882">back-to-basics</a>” with math. </p>
<p>This statement overlooks the fact that the “basics” are not omitted in the current curriculum and never have been. Understanding the four fundamental operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) and developing fluency with them is front and centre. </p>
<p>In fact, the Ontario Ministry of Education released a document early this school year, <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math.html"><em>Focusing on the Fundamentals of Math: A Teacher’s Guide</em></a>, showing how this learning has always been part of the current curriculum. </p>
<p>While he was campaigning, Ford also blamed the previous Kathleen Wynne government for alleged failures in math, stating that he intended to replace her “<a href="http://www.fordnationlive.ca/watch_doug_s_plan_to_fix_ontario_s_education_system_by_respecting_parents_and_getting_back_to_basics">ideological ‘discovery math’.</a>” Reality check: the previous government didn’t create the math curriculum. The research behind Ontario’s math curriculum did not even begin in Canada. The current curriculum is based on decades of worldwide research.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nctm.org/store/Products/Curriculum-and-Evaluation-Standards-for-School-Mathematics--Executive-Summary/">National Council of Teachers of Mathematics</a> is a U.S.-based math education organization that <a href="https://www.nctm.org/About/">advocates for high-quality math teaching and learning</a> and is the largest math organization in the United States or Canada. It also <a href="https://www.nctm.org/Standards-and-Positions/Principles-and-Standards/">issues math principles and standards documents</a>. </p>
<p>This council released a document in 1989 that described many of the principles that have guided Ontario’s current math curriculum since it was first launched in 2005 (a slight revision of a 1997 version) — that when children are doing math, they should create <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-your-child-will-benefit-from-inquiry-based-learning-97245">math understanding through investigating and exploring</a>. These ideas are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312026004499">based on solid research, and they have been around for decades</a>. </p>
<h2>Ontario math scores ranked 2nd in Canada</h2>
<p>When you play the video in a recent animated tweet by Ford, it’s alleged that Ontario students haven’t been properly taught math “because of a program brought in by the Wynne Liberals called discovery math.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1106591888033742849"}"></div></p>
<p>The tweet also suggests the standardized provincial test, the <a href="http://www.eqao.com/Pages/launch.aspx">EQAO</a> is a “basic math test” — a comment that shows no grasp of what the EQAO assesses and also insults teachers’ hard work. Don’t take our word on it, look at the types of <a href="http://www.eqao.com/en/assessments/examples-of-the-assessments/Pages/default.aspx">questions</a> asked. If you look at the image below, you can see that simply memorizing formulas will not help kids do better on this test. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271858/original/file-20190430-136787-s0omfh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sample EQAO question.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jennifer Holm)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is another problem with the premier’s tweet. The video voiceover states that “over half of Grade 6 students are failing to meet the provincial standards in math.” It might sound like half of Grade 6 students are <em>failing</em>. In fact, this statement refers to the fact that 51 per cent of Grade 6 students did not get a “B” level or higher (which the Ontario Ministry translates to a 70 per cent or over) on the EQAO. Put differently — about <em>half of Grade 6s (49 per cent) are scoring higher than “B.</em>” </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.eqao.com/en/assessments/results/assessment-docs-elementary/provincial-report-junior-achievement-results-2018.pdf">the EQAO</a>, an additional 31 per cent of students are approaching the provincial standard (which translates to 60 per cent to 69 per cent). </p>
<p>Indeed, if you consider the 2015 <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a> scores, Ontario is doing quite well in the world in terms of math. Québec is the only Canadian province statistically ahead of Ontario. It’s worth noting that Québec does not use a “back-to-basics” curriculum characterized exclusively or largely by learning formulas instead of mathematical thinking.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271852/original/file-20190430-136810-17wdqkj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where Ontario sits with PISA scores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jennifer Holm)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reasonable criticisms of Ontario’s math</h2>
<p>Having said all this, there is room for improvement in how Ontario teaches math. Ontario teachers were never universally given the professional development that should have accompanied the new curriculum released in 1997. </p>
<p>We teach people who are studying to be teachers, who are mostly products of Ontario’s educational system over the last 20 years. In our data on over 1,000 future teachers amassed over more than the last decade, we note most are still learning through memorizing formulas and procedures. In other words, very few have been taught using the current curriculum as it was meant to be taught since 2005. </p>
<p>After students spend a year “re-learning” math in our courses, using the mandates of the current curriculum <em>as intended</em>, the overwhelming response is they wished they had <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14926156.2012.649055?journalCode=ucjs20">learned math like this before</a>. </p>
<p>We propose that Ontario should provide significant and ongoing professional development and resources to teachers so that they can support students in truly learning math. </p>
<p>Let’s stop letting our leaders sell teachers short and instead hold them accountable for what they say.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Kajander receives funding from the Ministry of Education Mathematics Knowledge Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Holm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two math professors set the record straight on Ontario math curriculum and achievement.Jennifer Holm, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityAnn Kajander, Associate Professor of mathematics education, Lakehead UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1064332018-11-14T23:50:38Z2018-11-14T23:50:38ZFor the sake of kids, embrace math<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244827/original/file-20181109-36763-19zhz42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C64%2C5277%2C3224&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parents have a responsibility for their children’s math development too. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mathematics is causing headaches in schools across Canada, Australia and many other parts of the world. Teachers in both Canada and Australia feel neither competent nor confident in math and, frankly, they are the first to admit it. </p>
<p>As researchers, educators and authors who have advised globally about best practices for improving learning and achievement, we have had opportunities to notice common trends and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/07/pasi-sahlberg-finland-teach-australian-schools-education">obstacles</a>, and notable gains, in math education. </p>
<p>Up close, we’ve heard from teachers in <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2017/08/ontario-appoints-new-advisors-to-guide-transformation-in-education-system.html">Ontario</a>, Canada, and in <a href="https://pasisahlberg.com/news/gonski-2-0-a-conversation-with-pasi-sahlberg-and-adrian-piccoli/">Australia</a> and we’ve considered how people can best <a href="http://www.clri.com.au/article/collaborative-professionalism/research">collaborate</a> to protect and grow students’ love of learning. </p>
<p>We’ve seen that some math improvement efforts get bogged down by fears of the unknown. Others get an initial spark but soon lose energy.</p>
<p>Let’s start with the bad news. </p>
<h2>‘Way more effective?’</h2>
<p>In response to a year-on-year decline in math scores, Ontario, for example, has started to give math achievement high priority. An underlying principle of the Ontario mathematics curriculum is to “<a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf">investigate ideas and concepts through problem solving</a>.” A September report from Canadian think tank The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity pointed out that inquiry-based approaches to mathematics <a href="https://www.competeprosper.ca/uploads/2018_WP33_Teaching_for_tomorrow.pdf">actually get better results than more “basic” alternatives</a>. </p>
<p>But many parents and some educators remain skeptical, if not downright hostile, towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-math-how-to-support-your-child-in-elementary-school-87479">unfamiliar math strategies</a>. </p>
<p>In Australia, critics of inquiry-based mathematics curricula have suggested a change of course. In a recent story in the <em>Sydney Morning Herald</em>, with the headline “There is a better way of teaching bored Australian students,” a research fellow at Australian think tank the Centre for Independent Studies lamented that “explicit, direct instruction across the board is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-is-a-better-way-of-teaching-bored-australian-students-20181030-p50csj.html">way more effective</a> in achieving higher student outcomes.” One could not help but wonder how many parents might have been nodding their heads over their coffee. </p>
<p>But while we can’t resolve the math problem simply by getting “back to basics,” we can revive good ideas about math education. </p>
<h2>More oxygen please</h2>
<p>From the early 2000s, Ontario’s government pledged to improve achievement in literacy and math (or numeracy, as it was then called). The government invested significant resources and established a Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat to spearhead the effort. </p>
<p>Principals made literacy their top priority. Expert coaches worked alongside classroom teachers, demonstrating effective strategies and giving teachers feedback on how to use them with students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245588/original/file-20181114-172710-10g65c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We can revive good ideas about math education such as addressing how comfortable and competent elementary teachers feel about math.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-helping-pupils-studying-desks-classroom-139406252">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The gains in literacy were impressive and are now <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/Empowered+Educators+in+Canada%3A+How+High+Performing+Systems+Shape+Teaching+Quality-p-9781119369622">the envy of the world</a>.</p>
<p>But, like in a number of other countries, the literacy strategy consumed all the attention and left math with too little oxygen. It’s almost impossible to reform literacy and math all at once — the scope is too great, so the effort either <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/26/why-we-cant-reform-literacy-and-math-all-at-once/">leaves one of them to fall by the wayside by default</a> or just burns teachers out. </p>
<p>It’s time to give math reform the same treatment as literacy. But math reform has to confront an obstacle that literacy reform didn’t: Almost every primary and elementary teacher in many countries, including Canada and Australia, loves reading, writing and books, as do many of the kids. </p>
<p>Literacy reform had a lot to build on. This is not the case with math. </p>
<p>In interviews one of us conducted last year with more than 200 Ontario educators, teachers would say things like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://ccsli.ca/downloads/2018-Leading_From_the_Middle_Final-EN.pdf">“I’m not a math person.”</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>One principal reflected how they had all been “amazing readers and writers.” But she also wondered:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Did we share that similar passion and appetite for numeracy?” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Fear of math vs. higher salary</h2>
<p>Compared to literacy, there is a shortage of teachers who feel competent in math and confident enough to teach students what mathematics is and what mathematicians do. Many schools also have shortages of colleagues with the expertise to help them. </p>
<p>Some of the current answers to this problem — such as more hours allocated to how to teach math during elementary teacher training, or assigning professional development days to improving math teaching — won’t do any harm. But we must also address how confident and comfortable, and not just minimally competent, elementary teachers need to feel about math. </p>
<p>In Ontario, for example, <a href="https://www.competeprosper.ca/blog/why-are-elementary-school-math-scores-declining-in-ontario">80 per cent of elementary teachers have no university qualification in math</a>. However, in Finland, one of the world’s leading performers in mathematics, around half of elementary teachers <a href="http://www.finland.org/Public/default.aspx?contentid=238689&nodeid=35833&contentlan=2">have studied math or science and how to teach them effectively during their university degrees</a>. </p>
<p>Second, in Singapore, the world’s No. 1 performer in math, elementary teachers are paid as much as engineers when they start teaching. This means students who are good at math choose teaching based on their mission and purpose in life, <a href="https://www.nie.edu.sg/news-detail/learning-from-singapore-the-power-of-paradoxes-by-ng-pak-tee">not on salary differentials</a>. Perhaps Canada and Australia need to think harder about how to attract more people with math and science backgrounds into elementary teaching. </p>
<h2>Teacher and parent aid</h2>
<p>Third, improving teaching mathematics should be built on collaboration between experienced teachers and those with less confidence in schools. This coaching should focus not just on how to teach math but also on teachers’ relationship to math generally. </p>
<p>Intensive coaching was a big factor in raising literacy achievement. Because math expertise is now thinner, teachers need more resources and resourcefulness in classrooms. </p>
<p>Last, parents have a responsibility for their children’s math development too. But two-thirds of surveyed Ontario parents <a href="https://www.competeprosper.ca/uploads/2018_WP33_Teaching_for_tomorrow.pdf">don’t know how to help their elementary-aged children with mathematics</a>. </p>
<p>Supporting school interventions known as family math that help parents <a href="https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/parentGuideNumEn.pdf">converse about numbers and shapes with their children as easily as they might about words could do a lot to rectify this</a>.</p>
<p>We need to make math as much a priority now as literacy has been. We need to get teachers in primary or elementary schools just as comfortable as well as competent with math and how to teach it successfully to all children as they are with reading in their lives as well as in their classes. </p>
<p>If we avoid falling for simplistic solutions, then eventually, the words “I am not a math person” may become a thing of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Hargreaves has received funding from the Council of Directors of Education for Ontario (CODE) - the report of this research is cited in this article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasi Sahlberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Instead of getting “back to basics” to improve math skills, we should make math literacy a priority by developing, attracting and supporting skilled teachers, and improving math literacy at home.Andy Hargreaves, Research Professor in Education, Boston CollegePasi Sahlberg, Professor of Education Policy, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1043882018-11-05T22:39:10Z2018-11-05T22:39:10ZMusic also matters in the real world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243879/original/file-20181105-12015-8v2xue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C3000%2C1315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Montreal-born pianist Oscar Peterson waves after playing at the Montreal Forum in July 1984. The Coalition for Music Education is inviting schools and communities across Canada to sing “Hymn To Freedom,” written by Peterson and Harriette Hamilton, on Music Monday 2019, a day to celebrate music.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=34&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=oscar%20and%20peterson&fileId=27F557D8E300A91F940FEBF84AD7995148F72A6AF0A0AFBFDD0EDF364DA6E051850C78CE6772FDE2EB3616831C8363188C593A035A08299B11F60BDD5072AC471187D11B3A3E7FB4D9CB57E5F05EED2017D720C8275F9C8AEFF70AEEBD0E24A95A5C3F53446C808F5E5A171DE58FF283D9F857E90E3EA5205AF3CB27B9DD15035423884EA24671DF263AE586A36191A3">(CP/Jean F. Leblanc)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Full self-disclosure — I’m a “bandie!”</p>
<p>In junior high school, band provided me with a safe haven during the challenging years of adolescence. Band was essential to my emerging identity and to building my self-confidence. </p>
<p>But wait, didn’t I become a physics teacher, and then a teacher educator in a teaching program focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)? Double yes. </p>
<p>Music helped me gain the confidence and grit to pursue my dreams and to reach my full potential. I came to realize that science and music are complementary, not contradictory. </p>
<h2>Verge of extinction</h2>
<p>But band is on the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-schools-music-education-1.4114622">verge of extinction in many schools</a>. Students, parents and administrators increasingly see band as a “frill.” Music education is being <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-schools-music-education-1.4114622">drastically cut</a> and is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/10/music-disappearing-school-curriculum-england-survey-gcse-a-level">not valued</a> by many as it once was. </p>
<p>The trend can be traced to the “back to basics” movement fuelled by neoliberalism, and in particular the seminal 1983 U.S. report <a href="http://neatoday.org/2013/04/25/a-nation-at-risk-turns-30-where-did-it-take-us-2/">A Nation at Risk</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, we don’t have to look far to see the impact of misguided government policies framed by the rhetoric of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4330893/doug-ford-ontario-1998-sex-ed-curriculum-teachers/">“back to basics” movements in education</a>. In many regions, the education pendulum has swung decidedly back to “traditional” ways of learning <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17508487.2013.776990">that in effect has narrowed the curriculum</a>.</p>
<p>Amid a neoliberal/neoconservative climate of “practical” and “evidence-based” schooling, even <a href="http://files.rc.mu/Examinations/2018/Files/Mar21/Benefits-Music-Education/Benefits-of-Music-Education.html">The Royal Conservatory of Music</a> highlights neuroscientific research demonstrating the many benefits of music. </p>
<p>But efforts to encourage music lessons may largely stand to benefit students from wealthier families whose parents can pay for extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately, the recent changes to our British Columbia curriculum might not happen in time to save our music programs in schools. </p>
<h2>‘There is nobody judging me’</h2>
<p>That’s a shame. In Canada, we pride ourselves on providing excellent public education for all, regardless of socioeconomic status. A recent comprehensive meta-study clearly shows that <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0002831217701830">fine arts education positively influences child development</a>. If music is a “frill,” and not accessible to all income brackets, children from poorer families will not have the opportunity to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01777/full">benefit from what may be music’s boost to literacy, fine motor skills and spatial reasoning in the early years</a>.</p>
<p>For youth, music contributes to development of an individual’s emerging self-identity, and can shape <a href="https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/music-health.aspx">mental health</a> and our future. This could be one reason the Coalition for Music Education says that as much as we learn to make music, <a href="https://www.musicmakesus.ca/">music makes us</a>. </p>
<p>Most importantly, as demonstrated in my research, music education <a href="https://www.kamloopsmusiccollective.info/forum/40-years-40-stories">has made a huge impact on the lives of many individuals</a>. In an age of scrutiny, music offers <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/canajeducrevucan.34.3.317.pdf">a host of other benefits</a> and a safe space for children. </p>
<p>A 10-year-old participant in our study said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Going to music camp] is better than school. At school I am quiet and reserved because I get bullied for being different. When I am here, I can express myself easily because there is nobody judging me. We are all the same and share a love for music which makes it easy to interact with others.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant (aged 13) said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Going to music camp] helped me to keep an open mind to trying new things and helped to build my confidence, especially as I navigated a new role for High School Musical where I was unsure my role…I think it will help me be a better student next year.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet what I’ve seen in my own son’s school mirrors larger trends: A band program completely relegated to outside the regular timetable. Students are opting out of band because it is not offered during regular school hours and it is seen as a “frill.” </p>
<p>The rationale is that the fine arts are not as important as academic subjects such as English, math and the sciences. But without the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0255761410370658">social, psychological, cultural and self-regulatory</a> benefits of music or other arts, what kind of students are we raising, and how to we expect them to thrive in the world?</p>
<h2>Teaching to the test</h2>
<p>British Columbia has only recently shown signs of <a href="https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca">holistic thinking</a> with the introduction of a new K-12 curriculum. The focus is on core competencies like thinking and communication rather than an exhaustive list of learning outcomes. </p>
<p>While some Canadian provinces are mandating “<a href="https://www.canadianliving.com/life-and-relationships/family/article/the-future-of-standardized-testing-in-canada">teaching to the test</a>,” B.C. is doing away with exams measuring a limited amount of knowledge and moving towards a more balanced approach to learning. These educational reforms are based on current educational research and best practices.</p>
<p>What can be done to support and encourage music education for all? I hope the discussion is not marginalized by STEM, but can develop alongside our concerns for STEM education. Because just like <a href="https://tru.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/tru%3A1984">gaining digital skills</a>, music matters. </p>
<p><em>I wish to thank my Research Assistant, Allysha Sorba, for her work on my music research project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward R. Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What kind of students are we raising when music is seen as a “frill?” The decision to drastically cut music education is a misguided policy.Edward R. Howe, Associate Professor, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1031922018-09-17T21:32:31Z2018-09-17T21:32:31ZNo matter what method is used to teach math, make it fun<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236683/original/file-20180917-158237-1lj212i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ontario government "back to basics" approach to the curriculum will not best serve children who need a mixture of traditional and discovery learning methods. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a change coming to Ontario’s elementary school math curriculum. The new provincial government says it is responding to a decline of standardized test scores and plans to recommend a return to “back-to-basics” teaching methods for mathematics teachers. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2018/08/ontarios-government-for-the-people-respecting-parents-by-holding-unprecedented-consultation-into-education-reform.html">Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Lisa Thompson have told educators that directives for changes will be coming within a matter of weeks</a>. Teachers, whose lesson plans for the fall are already drawn, are possibly now scrambling to implement new curriculum guidelines.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4416177/ontario-elementary-school-math-scores-down/">Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) scores</a> for students in Grade 6 and Grade 3 in Ontario are both down one percentage point from last year. Previous efforts, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/30/eqao-results-show-60-million-strategy-hasnt-made-ontario-students-any-better-at-math_a_23191535/">including a $60-million initiative by the former Liberal government</a> to improve the EQAO scores, have not worked.</p>
<h2>What are ‘back-to-basics’ methods?</h2>
<p>What exactly are “back-to-basics” teaching methods for mathematics? These traditional methods of mathematics education include an emphasis on drills, formulas and memorization. If you are old enough, then this was how you were taught mathematics in grade school. In contrast, discovery-based methods spend less time on rules and puts more emphasis on problem solving and applications.</p>
<p>The two methods have somewhat opposing approaches. In traditional methods, rules are taught first and then drilled into students via memorization and solving problems. In discovery methods, problems and examples come first and are abstracted to rules and formulas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236688/original/file-20180917-158231-1fbo5k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doug Ford’s ‘back-to-basics’ approach to mathematics is a traditional method where math is drilled into students via memorization.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in a traditional math lesson, children are told the rule that the order of multiplication of two numbers doesn’t matter, and then they would work on problems related to that topic. In discovery math, children would work out examples such as 2 times 3 and 3 times 2, and then abstract this to the general case. Both approaches teach the same thing, but in different ways.</p>
<p>No one should be surprised by these changes after the Progressive Conservatives won a majority in the Ontario election in June. During the election campaign, Ford tweeted, “…We are going to scrap discovery math, and replace it with proven methods of teaching:”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"993866009080680449"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-sex-ed-curriculum-1.4794889">A similar change was announced regarding Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum</a> and elementary school teachers are now required to teach a curriculum essentially dating back to 1998.</p>
<h2>Which option is better?</h2>
<p>There are pros and cons to both traditional and discovery methods.</p>
<p>My issue with the debate about the “correct” way to teach mathematics to children is the way it is phrased as a binary, either-or approach. The choices we are given are:</p>
<p>1) Drill students on topics such as fractions and timetables.</p>
<p>2) Have children discover math rules and formulas from scratch.</p>
<p>Neither approach in isolation does justice to math education or reflects how people learn mathematics.</p>
<p>Learning rules and formulas in mathematics is an essential skill, as you need a foundation from which to build. Children need to know what the product of 6 and 8 is without having to rediscover it every time.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236692/original/file-20180917-158213-aydfp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children gain critical skills through discovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, children gain critical problem-solving skills via discovery. They get to think more deeply about the subject. No one would teach language skills by only teaching grammar. You teach children the rudiments of grammar to get them speaking, reading and writing.</p>
<p>In my university teaching, I employ a mixture of traditional and discovery approaches. For example, in a first-year Calculus course, I introduce a formula or rule at the beginning of a lecture but spend most of the class working out examples interactively with the class so they may figure out how things work. In a more advanced, upper-year mathematics course, I state a theorem or problem, but then break up the class into smaller groups and have the students discover the proof with hints from me along the way.</p>
<h2>A third path: Math specialists</h2>
<p>When I was in elementary school, our classes had the occasional visit from specialist teachers who focused solely on art or music. These teachers didn’t perform the regular, daily instruction in classes but instead floated between classes enriching the curriculum. It was always a treat when these specialist teachers came and it also was a break from the routine of everyday instruction.</p>
<p>Let’s imagine something like this with mathematics education. Math specialists could be teachers with a mathematics background in their university education, or even math professors or university students with the proper training to engage with elementary school classes. I can think of plenty of fun and engaging lessons in my research area of networks for a Grade 6 class, for example. Math specialists would float between classes with the sole goal of enriching math education for kids.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236693/original/file-20180917-158213-1xv01l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lisa Thompson, Ontario’s Minister of Education scrums with reporters following Question Period, at the Queens Park Legislature, in Toronto on Thursday, August 9, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Math specialists may assist with the teaching of core material, but more importantly, they would help coach teachers and provide lesson plans that <em>complement</em> the material. Their goals would be to engage students and cultivate their interest in learning mathematics. </p>
<p>While mathematics educators like myself might point to the positive impact of math specialists, research on their effectiveness is still emerging. A study funded by a National Science Foundation <a href="http://www.vamsc.org/index.php/research-on-mathematics-specialists/">at Virginia Commonwealth University</a> found that math specialists have a significant, positive impact on student achievement. Similar results were reported by the <a href="https://www.nctm.org/Standards-and-Positions/Position-Statements/The-Role-of-Elementary-Mathematics-Specialists-in-the-Teaching-and-Learning-of-Mathematics/">National Council of Teachers of Mathematics</a>.</p>
<h2>Beyond test scores</h2>
<p>While test scores are important, there is much more to mathematics education. Despite the declining EQAO scores, our kids aren’t exactly flunking out of math in droves. <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/reevely-ontario-students-math-scores-keep-slipping-but-new-government-is-changing-little">The EQAO standards require a 70 per cent or better to qualify as meeting the standard</a>, not the typical passing grade of 50 per cent. </p>
<p>Our children must be exposed to a rich, engaging mathematics curriculum, even if they don’t become mathematicians or have anything to do with STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) directly in their adult lives. Numeracy, like literacy, is an essential skill in our modern world.</p>
<p>A generation with weak math skills will not be competitive to tackle the next set of challenges in our knowledge-based economy. And a dislike of math tends to pass on from one generation to the next. No child should think it makes them cool to boast that they hate math.</p>
<p>While we are rethinking math education in Ontario, let’s use the best of both traditional and discovery methods and add in math specialists. Done correctly, this should not only increase test scores, but also bolster student engagement.</p>
<p>Let’s also take the time and effort to make math <em>fun</em>. Imagine if children were excited to learn mathematics? Isn’t that what we all want?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Bonato does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Lisa Thompson have told elementary school teachers to expect curriculum change directives for “back to basics” mathematics, a move that could hurt students.Anthony Bonato, Professor of Mathematics, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1023162018-09-11T21:39:07Z2018-09-11T21:39:07ZLet’s teach students why math matters in the real world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234923/original/file-20180904-45181-10qk96e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teaching students about how ancient civilizations used geometry to build structures like the pyramids in Egypt is part of a new integrated approach to learning science, technology, engineering and math.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“When will I ever use this?” It’s a question math and science teachers hear all the time from their high school students.</p>
<p>Teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills is more important than ever, but it’s often difficult for students to understand the practical applications of such fundamental learning and how it will help them down the road.</p>
<p>Classroom activities should be relevant, meaningful and connected to students’ prior knowledge and experiences. Learning must be based on lived experiences within both formal and informal educational settings.</p>
<p>Increasingly, teacher educators are realizing that we must break away from traditional silos of courses, disciplines and formal schooling. Educators must lead by example and provide students with opportunities to explore interdisciplinary approaches to learning. </p>
<h2>Creative thinking</h2>
<p>The new <a href="https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/">British Columbia curriculum</a> embraces these principles of learning. In the same spirit, I’m part of a new and unique Bachelor of Education program at Thompson Rivers University where <a href="http://inside.tru.ca/2018/06/12/love-for-teaching-stems-from-science/">teacher candidates are learning to teach STEM by actively engaging students</a>. The program promotes cross-curricular and interdisciplinary approaches to learning and is tied to the provincial curriculum <a href="https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies">core competencies</a> of communication, critical and creative thinking.</p>
<p>So how do you teach a subject like math differently in a way that can help students learn through creative thinking and experience, rather than rote memorization?</p>
<p>Let’s take, for example, Pi. </p>
<p>I often ask my teacher candidates: What is π? Many respond “3.14” and, if probed further, explain the meaning by merely stating an equation like A=πr² (where A is the area of a circle and r is the radius of a circle). Or they may tell me C=2πr (where C is the circumference of a circle).</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234925/original/file-20180904-45175-140osom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A door handle in the shape of Pi at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York,</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Teaching through discovery</h2>
<p>I encourage these teacher candidates to think differently and to help students discover mathematical concepts for themselves. What better way to teach students that π is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter than to have them trace any circle and then measure it with a piece of string?</p>
<p>They will soon learn that regardless of the size of the circle, the ratio of circumference to diameter will always be 22/7, an approximation of π.</p>
<p>Innovative educators can integrate history, geography, math and science lessons by teaching a thematic unit on ancient civilizations.</p>
<p>For example, the Egyptians succeeded in building great pyramids with incredible precision and accuracy. These magnificent architectural accomplishments have stood the test of time, remaining largely intact after centuries — a tribute to their construction.</p>
<p>The ancient Egyptians understood the significance of mathematics through the very beauty and symmetry of nature. They used geometry to solve everyday problems.</p>
<h2>Tearing down silos</h2>
<p>Increasingly, teacher educators are realizing that we must break away from traditional silos of courses, disciplines and formal schooling — exactly the opposite of the <a href="https://www.ontariopc.ca/on_education_doug_ford_will_respect_parents_and_get_back_to_basics">“back to basics” approach suggested by populist politicians like new Ontario Premier Doug Ford</a>.</p>
<p>Students benefit from learning experiences that are meaningful, relevant and well-connected to their own experiences. For that to happen, the people teaching those students must be prepared to take on new attitudes of reflectiveness and inquisitiveness.</p>
<p>What is necessary is to follow in the footsteps of the great thinkers like Galileo and Newton, who questioned our perceptions of reality and sought answers from tactile experiences rather than textbooks or teachers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward R. Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To get more students interested in STEM subjects, teachers must break out of the traditional subject-matter silos and use an approach that helps kids understand how math is used in the real world.Edward R. Howe, Associate Professor, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/458862015-08-11T01:10:39Z2015-08-11T01:10:39ZWe lose more than we gain by paring back the curriculum<p>For the last four decades the passe debate about paring the school curriculum “back to the basics” has continued to surface. This time it has been brought about by <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/national-primary-curriculum-shifts-focus-to-core-skills/story-fn59nlz9-1227474939995">Education Minister Christopher Pyne</a> on the basis that the broad and inclusive Australian curriculum is not providing students with competitive 21st-century skills.</p>
<p>Although arguments are compelling for both “decluttering” and “rebalancing” the curriculum and addressing the learning needs of Australia’s most disadvantaged, the call to focus on “the basics” of numeracy and literacy implies the current research-based Australian curriculum does not address numeracy and literacy skills.</p>
<p>This is not the case. Numeracy and literacy are rich and substantive elements, inherent across all learning areas as important capabilities.</p>
<h2>Phonics and whole language aren’t mutually exclusive</h2>
<p>On closer examination of the “back to basics” refrain, we can see a <a href="https://theconversation.com/lost-for-words-why-the-best-literacy-approaches-are-not-reaching-the-classroom-19561">pointless and distracting</a> argument around phonics and whole language practices. Pyne has advocated a focus on phonics (sounding out words) in teaching reading.</p>
<p>A balanced and integrated approach to literacy of course incorporates phonics. But not all words can be sounded out and students need a range of strategies to tackle our complex language. For learning to be most effective, it targets the learners’ needs and shows students how it is relevant. </p>
<p>With a few exceptions, rote learning can be likened to memorising the phonebook – that is, rather pointless with little meaning. An over-reliance on “drill and kill” teaching is arcane and redolent of the industrial age. </p>
<p>The learners of the 21st century are required to read and write and <a href="http://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/Swimming%20out%20of%20our%20depth%20final.pdf">interact with knowledge</a> through critiquing, manipulating, creating and transforming it. Higher-order skills such as critical and creative thinking, as prerequisites for the knowledge age, are inherent in numeracy and literacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91354/original/image-20150811-11068-1p0d2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Focusing too heavily on ‘drill and kill’ teaching, or direct instruction, is antiquated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With exponential social, economic and technological changes taking place in the world, we want our youth equipped with the skills (basic and sophisticated) and the capabilities to solve problems and meet new challenges. </p>
<p>We want them to apply, construct and reconstruct knowledge in new ways. This form of complex knowledge transfer is not addressed through a curriculum that focuses exclusively on low-level skill acquisition, gained primarily through transmission teaching. This is a teacher-centred orientation that imparts information without consideration of student meaning-making processes. </p>
<h2>What are we losing in paring back the curriculum?</h2>
<p>It seems paradoxical to suggest that we can “add more depth and less breadth” to a “<a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/better-national-curriculum-all-australian-students">robust, balanced and relevant</a>” curriculum by integrating key learning areas. </p>
<p>We are losing critical engagement with who we are, where we are from and where we are going, when we collapse history, geography, civics and citizenship and economics and business into a single combined humanities and social sciences subject for primary schools as has been recommended.</p>
<p>It is likely that this reductive move could exacerbate a widening gap between private and state education. Over 30 years ago, groundbreaking research by education policy professor <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01596306.2014.888847">Jean Anyon</a> determined that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to be exposed to legal, medical or managerial knowledge than the “working classes”. </p>
<p>The “working classes” were offered a functional and practical curriculum that targeted clerical knowledge and vocational training. In the “working class” schools of Anyon’s study, knowledge was seen as a set of procedures handed down to students by some authority. In contrast, students in the affluent schools conceived of knowledge as something that they could create through their critical thinking.</p>
<p>More recently, in support of Anyon’s work, researcher <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/27366/3/27366a.pdf">Alan Luke</a> cautions that the key policies of scripted, standardised teaching risks offering working class and cultural and linguistic minority students precisely what Anyon described: a curriculum of basic skills, rule recognition and compliance.</p>
<p>This conception of what is “basic” falls significantly short of the “robust” and “relevant” curriculum <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/better-national-curriculum-all-australian-students">Pyne said we require</a> for 21st-century learners.</p>
<p>The “basic” curriculum, with its reduced focus on narrow conceptions of literacy and numeracy, is at the expense of a broad and rich Australian curriculum. Education is a social good, a mechanism for social justice and a vehicle for social mobility. </p>
<p>We run a significant risk that the divide between the haves and have-nots will widen even further through the “back to basics” approach advocated. The private sector will offer an enriched curriculum whereas the public sector will provide a second-tier “basic” focus. </p>
<p>It is questionable whether a “dumbed down” curriculum of this ilk can offer the complexity required to address Australia’s needs as we progress in the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Charteris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We run a significant risk that the divide between the haves and have-nots will widen even further through the “back to basics” curriculum approach advocated by Education Minister Pyne.Jennifer Charteris, Lecturer in Pedagogy, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.