Education 'set back 50 years' by reforms

Primary schools will be "going back 50 years" if teachers are forced to stick to national standards in reading, writing and maths, says a top education researcher.

Professor John Hattie, who has won international recognition for his work on student achievement, said the Government's education reforms looked like a backwards step.

Under the changes, primary and intermediate schools will have to measure the progress of all children against nationally set benchmarks from next year.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has downplayed the prospect of league tables to rank schools and promised the new system will not revolve around passing a series of national tests, as in Britain and the United States.

But Professor Hattie said the changes still looked likely to force teachers to teach children according to their school year, rather than their ability level, which was nonsense.

"You've got gifted kids and slower learners - it's absolutely absurd to believe they are working at the same level."

The changes threatened to destroy one of the great strengths of the New Zealand education system, which was teaching children according to their own abilities.

It would make New Zealand more like the United States, where schools moved children mechanically through all subjects at the same pace. The result was mediocrity because teachers just aimed to meet the minimum standard.

Professor Hattie is regarded as an international expert on student achievement. Last year the Times Educational Supplement in Britain described his 15-year study on the subject as education's "Holy Grail" and Mrs Tolley predicted it would have a profound influence on the future of New Zealand schools.

Many schools already use his Asstle (Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning) tests to review children's progress.

He warned that a standards-based system clashed badly with the levels-based school curriculum - "that will almost have to go out the window" - and would send the wrong signals.

"If this system comes in the correct job for the teacher is to teach to the test. And that's the problem."

Professor Hattie said national standards were likely to make teachers less accountable to parents, contrary to the Government's intention.

"With some kids, there is much better information than a test score. It's the teacher's judgment. And it's the teacher's judgment that should be held accountable, not the test score."

The Auckland Primary Principals Association has also highlighted the clash between ability-based learning and age-based standards as "a major issue and a contradiction" in its submission to the Government.

"We want to be able to show improvement over time, not be required to report against standards that are much too low for some and much too high for others."

Mrs Tolley said the system would not force teachers to meet a single, pre-determined standard as in the United States and Britain.

"What's really important is what happens for each child and the progress that they make against those standards. If you like, it's the value added."