The reasons why no one likes us!

Photo by Colin Rex on Unsplash

While painting the horse float during this Easter weekend, my wife (a nurse) and I discussed a range of stimulating subjects. Along the way we spit balled reasons why we our professions are so disrespected.

Here I modestly present our theories regarding why the teaching and nursing professions have never been valued as they should be (and therefore why skinflint governments don't pay up). 

As my wife is never wrong, you should sit up straight and pay attention:

1 The if-you-can't-teach... myth. This perverse notion has, at its core, the idea that if you don't quite have the chops then you can teach others. Think of tennis or golf coaches or music critics - very few, if any, were stars in their own right.

2 The old uniforms. Cartoon shorthand for teachers is a pompous old git wearing a batman cape and mortar board and nurses: a stout women in a heavily starched nun-like white outfit with an origami headpiece - you know what I mean. This bizarre get up has no relationship to reality but it makes us a figure of fun and therefore, something that can't be taken seriously. 

3 It's not a real job. Anyone can do it. Unlike say doctors, chemists, pilots, and computer software engineers, the popular perspective on teachers and nurses by older generations (okay - our fathers) was and is that taking on life in a service career is akin to dressing up and playing house.

4 There's no money in it so, why, you know, would anyone want to do a lowly perceived job for crap money. Instead - become a professional sportsperson and earn quadrillions. The altruistic impulse to battle it out in an under-resourced environment like a school or a hospital seems glamorous in comparison huh.

5 We're always on holiday. It cheeses people off. So teachers are lazy and should work harder. And be grateful for the allowance they get.

6 Glorified nannies. At heart, teachers look after children and that generalised stigma applies to nurses as well. They look after us when we're sick - like our mums do. These stereotypes persist deep in the psyche.

7 Teachers are trendy lefties: long haired, bearded, pipe smoking, sandals wearing tree huggers. That image has legs. 

And so the perceptions continue. Perceptions are hideous blue meanies - hard to battle, and the poor pay continues, unless you happen to live in Finland that is. Ah, Finland...

Bottom line: So, because we're not valued, is it any wonder that NZ is desperately short of attracting men and women to nursing or teaching?

It's a world gone crazy (Tears For Fears)

...and school is back (actually for me it started yesterday - Sunday - with Parent Teacher Student conferences).

Hear ye, hear ye - here are five more cool things to bookmark (or they were when I did):

1 Brainstorming does not work! 
What?? I love brainstorming - what the...Have a read! And see your mind ticking over the possibility that working alone may be best.

2 True confession time
I admit it - I am struggling to use my ipad in creative ways in the classroom. My students laughed at me using the ipad to take a picture - I didn't realise (but they did) that it was on video setting! So I read this article and felt better!

3 A great Guardian article on Ken Robinson and creative schools.

4 A personal testament from a Less is Morer about (yeh) Finland

5 I love this one - I've blogged about it before. Books! And why we can't read anymore.

Come follow me, it's a new day (The Answer)

An article in Synapse recently mentioned Finland's teacher evaluation system

Blue sky thinking in Finland.

For a variety of reasons, the educational system in Finland is often viewed as one of the best in the world. As arguable as that claim might be, it’s easy to look at what the school system of Finland does with regard to teacher evaluation. There’s only one problem with this approach: Finland doesn’t have a centralized teacher-evaluation system. Finland’s teachers are evaluated entirely by locally-determined measures established through agreement between schools and the teachers’ union (there are also no standardized exams in Finland’s schools). This fact stands to demonstrate that...centralized teacher-ratings are not a requisite for an educational system that is viewed as a model for the World.

And with blackboards and chalk!

Hmmm - interesting. Even Ofsted in the U.K. have now recognised that evaluating teacher effectiveness by lesson observation is deeply flawed. Yes - you read that right - Ofsted!

While reading this I couldn't help thinking about my time in the U.A.E. as an advisor working in Ali bin Abi Taleb school. The company I worked for was deeply driven by statistical data gained from our regular teacher observations which ran to about thirty bullet pointed focus points.

Yikes! You do the math (or not). 

Finland has it all (Monty Python)

In the previous post I alluded to the news from Finland that they are moving away from subjects. 

The Finns. What is it about the Finns (no relation to Neil and Tim I believe)?

Apparently, according to an article I read about the wonderful education systems in South Korea and Finland (the bold is my addition): 

'Finnish culture values intrinsic motivation and the pursuit of personal interest. It has a relatively short school day rich with school-sponsored extracurriculars, because culturally, Finns believe important learning happens outside of the classroom. A third of the classes that students take in high school are electives, and they can even choose which matriculation exams they are going to take. It’s a low-stress culture, and it values a wide variety of learning experiences.'

Okay now this is interesting too. I guess the third of electives has now gone to two thirds or more with the doing away of subjects.

I know other countries can't replicate a culture but some of this sounds a lot like NZ: the low stress, variety, extra curricular accent is us.

Even the intrinsic motivation part is what I see in the majority of cases in my school (this may not be the case throughout the entire school network I freely admit).

So wot's...uh the deal? I know I'm not conducting any kind of deep scientific analysis here but: why aren't we way up there with the Finns (again - no relation) and the South Koreans?

it could be this:

Finns share one thing with South Koreans: a deep respect for teachers and their academic accomplishments. In Finland, only one in ten applicants to teaching programs is admitted. After a mass closure of 80 percent of teacher colleges in the 1970s, only the best university training programs remained, elevating the status of educators in the country. Teachers in Finland teach 600 hours a year, spending the rest of time in professional development, meeting with colleagues, students and families. In the U.S., teachers are in the classroom 1,100 hours a year, with little time for collaboration, feedback or professional development.

Finland, Finland, Finland (as Monty Python would say), the country where I quite want to be.

Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star (Deep Purple)

A recent story about Finland did the rounds at school. Seems they've boldly done away with subjects! Yahoo! This is something I thought may have eventuated in NZ when we moved to standards based assessment with NCEA. But, no.

I thought about Finland and NZ's NCEA when I read a recent post on mind/shift. It was written by Thom Markham. During his post he asked this great question:
Are we making 21^st century competencies the centerpiece of instruction? 

The inquiry method places 21st century competencies bang in the middle. As Mr Markham says:

Inquiry isn’t designed to teach information; it’s designed to set up the conditions under which students become more skillful. That’s why it’s inherently student-centered. Successful inquiry requires skillful competencies, which are a deep amalgam of habits, personality, and an experiential knowledge base.  

The NZ curriculum set out a number of skillful competencies, five in fact:

• thinking
• using language, symbols, and texts
• managing self
• relating to others
• participating and contributing

that suit perfectly the inquiry method.

To me this equals Synchronicity Part... um, I forget what number we're up to, but it must be a lot!

Suddenly subjects DON'T matter. Skillful competencies do.

Your witness...