AN ECOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

© Julie Boyd 2012 Traditional models and theories of leadership are not necessarily helpful in a contemporary world. One of the challenges for educational leaders is in the realisation that education can no longer be quarantined from our broader society and environment. A theory of leadership derived from principles of ecology calls for a radical […]

Teacher Performance Measures: A Reflection

(C) Julie Boyd 2011 Not everything that can be counted, counts, and not everything that counts can be counted                                                                    Albert Einstein     The Grattan Institute recently wrote that a new system of teacher appraisal and feedback in Australia would improve teacher effectiveness, recognise our best educators and lift the outcomes of Australian students to […]

Why Teachers are Leaving the profession

This story shows how, and why, NOT to improve teacher performance through standardised test links to merit pay. A very salutory story. Terrific story by a brave ex-teacher. A teacher’s story: Why the DC Impact system Bloomberg wants NYC schools to emulate caused me to leave teaching First published on, and well worth a visit […]

The Flipped Classroom -newly invented – but used in Austalia 20 years ago

The Flipped Classroom Original post by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.  at http://wp.me/pKlio-cq Due to Khan Academy’s popularity, the idea of the flipped classroom has gained press and credibility within education circles. Briefly, the Flipped Classroom as described by Jonathan Martin is: Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and […]

Why Public School Teachers are Occupying Wall Street

5 Reasons Why Public School Teachers are Occupying Wall Street The classroom and the boardroom are often seen as dissimilar spaces. In classrooms, there are students and teachers; two groups of people that have the most insight on the current debate about what to do with the broken education system, but whom have rarely been […]

Two-thirds of teachers want to quit. What is the Purpose of Education

NEARLY two-thirds of Australian teachers are considering quitting their jobs for a new career. So are teachers all over the world See: A love of teaching, but fear for the future: Fight over collective bargaining leaves one teacher uncertain about career choice http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42306729/ns/business-us_business The Centre for Marketing Schools was commissioned to survey staff satisfaction levels […]

I’m Sorry I’m A Teacher

This powerful letter was written by an American Teacher, Alan Haskvitz, a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has been recognized many times as one of the nation’s most successful and innovative teachers. Accounts of his students’ accomplishments have been featured in books, periodicals, and on national radio and television. He is […]

The (immediate) future of technology

Last night I watched my new 9 month old grandbaby totally bamboozle her father by flipping a skype screen- he had no idea how she did it or how to undo it! Technology makes for great toys. The question is how your do we expose kids to what forms of technology. This video raises the […]

The Future of Cooperative Learning

The Future of Cooperative Learning In a time of accelerated and massive change, when conventional resources are quickly being depleted, cooperative effort is needed to navigate the “rapids of change.” ABSTRACT The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation. Bertrand Russell Cooperative Learning is one of the best researched fields of classroom based practice […]

Student test data in assessing teacher quality.

A study released last month by the Gates Foundation supposedly offered up “some of the strongest evidence to date of the validity of ‘value-added’ analysis.” VAA makes the claim that teachers’ effectiveness can be reliably estimated by gauging their students’ progress on standardized tests.  But Jesse Rothstein, an economist at UC Berkeley, argues that the analyses in the […]

Testing turning kids off of learning

Comments from Blog ‘for the love of learning’ http://www.joebower.org/2011/01/our-system-tests-and-grades-young.html “It’s impossible to discuss education without being hit upside the head umpteen times by the word accountability. At the root of this word is a demonizing fear that there is this horde of pension-sucking, union-loving teachers who are laughing their lazy asses to the bank. This […]

Math is is not linear

http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf  Math is not linear on Prezi

Global Change Makers. Youth Economic Forum